Between the Buried & Me - Selkies: The Endless Obsession

White New York

Jayson Werth: Professional Thief

Jayson Werth is a stud, no question, but this is one more reason why Russell Martin gets no respect from me. The guy's stolen three bases off you, and you don't even pay attention to him?

Go Giants!

Fuck the Dodgers and their serious lack of discipline.

Fuck the M.T.A.

Props to The Hairdryer Treatment.

Steroids

You give me the opportunity to earn $22 million a year by taking steroids, I’ll shoot the pharmacist if I have to. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying I shouldn’t be punished for shooting the pharmacist. I am saying it is self-righteous to pretend that I don’t have the same human failings that these guys do, and further, if you are insisting that you don’t have them, I don’t believe you.

Bill James

What a Joke

Source.:

President Obama on Thursday offered a more detailed look at his 2010 budget proposal, which includes recommendations to cut funding for 121 federal programs and save $17 billion in 2010.

"There is a lot of money being spent inefficiently, ineffectively, and -- in some cases -- in ways that are actually pretty stunning," Obama said.

The $17 billion in savings amounts to roughly 0.5% of the more than $3.5 trillion in spending approved for next year, or 1.2% of the projected $1.4 trillion deficit next year if the president's overall budget is adopted.

Obama said it nevertheless is real money -- even by Washington standards.

"To put this in perspective, this is more than enough savings to pay for a $2,500 tuition tax credit for millions of students as well as a larger Pell Grant -- with enough money left over to pay for everything we do to protect the National Parks," he said.

Our president loses more and more credibility by the day. Take a look at the chart that accompanies this article:


The government will take $426 billion from the people in the name of individual income taxes, while $290 billion goes to TARP legislation (a.k.a. Troubled Asset Relief Program, a.k.a. give the banks your hard-earned income)and $317 billion goes to national defense (a.k.a. stimulate the economy by making defense contractors very very rich). Oh, and what the fuck does "Other" mean, and why does it account for $546 billion (a.k.a. more than 25% of the overall projected spending)?

I know it's been two months since I last posted - who knows if anyone still comes by. But I think I'll start up again.

It's About Time

Source:

Secularism is gaining ground in the United States, eating away at the percentage of Americans who identify with the Protestant Christianity of the founding fathers, a poll published Monday showed.

The percentage of Americans who adhered to no particular religion jumped from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent last year, the third American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) conducted over 10 months last year by pollsters from Trinity College in Connecticut, showed.

When the survey was conducted in 2001, 14.1 percent of respondents said they were not religious.

"Americans are slowly becoming less Christian... The challenge to Christianity does not come from other world religions or new religious movements, but rather from a rejection of all organized religions," said a report of last year's survey, in which 54,461 people took part.

The percentage of Christians in the United States declined slightly between 2001 and 2008 from 76.7 percent to 76 percent, after seeing a precipitous fall since 1990, when 86.2 percent said they were Christian.

Welcome to the world of rationality.

It's about time more people realized that organized religion only encourages divisiveness and intolerance while keeping us from uniting around the things we share and have in common.

The Crisis of Credit, Visualized

Hello Snow

Props to the AP photog who shot this.

Karl Rove: One Fat Straw Man

From today's Greenwald column:

In 2005, the dignified statesman who disdains straw men because they "cheapen" rather than "enrich" the "dialogue of our age" said this:

Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.

There, Rove was respectfully and substantively critiquing the widespread belief among liberals that the way to address the threat from Al-Qaeda was to offer them complimentary therapy sessions so that they could explore their anger issues. If I recall correctly, providing free psychologists to Osama bin Laden and his followers was one of the central planks in the Democratic Party platform, so Rove had not only the right, but the responsibility, to critique that widely held position.

As for Rove's claim that Obama was invoking a blatant "straw man" when Obama decried "a philosophy that says every problem can be solved if only government would step out of the way; that if government were just dismantled, divvied up into tax breaks, and handed out to the wealthiest among us, it would somehow benefit us all": someone should tell Rove about this person called "Grover Norquist" -- unquestionably one of the most influential movement conservatives in the last two decades -- who famously said: "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

Based on this one column alone, any decent society that had even the most minimal standards of honesty and dignity for its political discourse would forever shun Karl Rove.

Gideon Levy On Israel's Next Prime Minister

Source, and quoted in full:

Benjamin Netanyahu will apparently be Israel's next prime minister. There is, however, something encouraging about that fact. Netanyahu's election will free Israel from the burden of deception: If he can establish a right-wing government, the veil will be lifted and the nation's true face revealed to its citizens and the rest of the world, including Arab countries. Together with the world, we will see which direction we are facing and who we really are. The masquerade that has gone on for several years will finally come to an end.

Netanyahu's election is likely to bring the curtain down on the great fraud - the best show in town - the lie of "negotiations" and the injustice of the "peace process." Israel consistently claimed these acts proved the nation was focused on peace and the end of the occupation. All the while, it did everything it could to further entrench the occupation and distance any chance of a potential agreement.

For 16 years, we have been enamored with the peace process. We talk and talk, babble and prattle, and generally feel great about ourselves; meanwhile the settlements expand endlessly and Israel turns to the use of force at every possible opportunity, aside from a unilateral disengagement which did nothing to advance the cause of peace.

With the election of a prime ministerial candidate who speaks of "economic peace," the naked truth will finally emerge. If, however, Tzipi Livni or Ehud Barak are elected, the self-delusion will simply continue. Livni herself is enamored with futile, useless and cowardly negotiations, and Barak has long abandoned the brave efforts he made in the past. The election of either will only perpetuate the vacuum. The world, including Washington, will breathe a sigh of relief that for once, Israel has elected a leadership that will pursue peace. But there is no chance of that happening.

The record of each of these candidates, and the positions they have championed until now, proves that what has been will continue to be. Livni and Barak will rush to every photo opportunity with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan. The Americans and Europeans will be pleased, but nothing will come out of it other than the sowing of a few more illusions. We will move from war to war, uprising to uprising, settlement to settlement, and the world will continue to delude itself into thinking an agreement is within reach. Hamas will grow stronger, Abbas weaker and the last chance for peace will be irretrievably lost.

Netanyahu would offer something else. First, he is a faithful representative of an authentic "Israeli" view - an almost complete distrust of Arabs and the chance of reaching peace with them, mixed with condescension and dehumanization. Second, he will finally arouse the world's rage towards us, including that of the new U.S. administration. Sadly, this may be the only chance for the kind of dramatic change that is needed.

The Palestinian Authority, another mendacious facade, will finally collapse, and Israel will face the non-partner it has wanted and sought all these years. The world may not rush to embrace Netanyahu as it would the "moderates" - Livni or Barak, who have led Israel to more unnecessary wars than Netanyahu, the "extremist" - while the real difference between them is almost non-existent.

Lifting the veil will lead to a crisis situation, which unfortunately is the only one that can bring about change. We must hope that both Kadima and Labor do not join a Netanyahu government (regrettably, another futile hope), as Israel's exposure will then be that much starker. A government composed of Netanyahu, Shas and Avigdor Lieberman will not, of course, have to deal with an opposition of Netanyahu, Shas and Avigdor Lieberman, and may therefore behave differently once in power than one might expect. Have we mentioned Menachem Begin?

But even if Netanyahu is the same old Netanyahu, this will be an opportunity to place the right's policies under the microscope. Let's see him stand before Barack Obama and speak of the grotesque idea of "economic peace," or wage foreign or security policies according to his stated positions. Let's see him answer just what exactly his vision is for 20 to 30 years down the road.

In due course, his anticipated failure may just hasten an alternative route, on condition that Kadima and Labor do not join the government and bring us another year of fraud. The lemons may yet yield lemonade - maybe the establishment of a right-wing government will remove all of the masks for good. The alternative, known and expected by all, is far more ambiguous, dangerous and threatening.

So let Netanyahu win. There is no alternative at this point anyway.

These Shoes Were Made For Throwing

Source:

Muntadher al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist on trial for throwing his shoes last year at then-President George W. Bush, said the former American leader's "bloodless and soulless smile" and his joking banter provoked him.

Al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at Bush during a December news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad. Neither shoe hit the president, and other people in the room quickly knocked al-Zaidi to the ground before security officials arrested him.

He explained his actions in an hour-long appearance on Thursday at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. Asked if anyone pushed or motivated him to do this, al-Zaidi said he was spurred on by the "violations that are committed against the Iraqi people."

"I could only see Bush and feel the blood of the innocents flow under his feet, as he was smiling that smile -- as if he had come to bid farewell to Iraq and with the last support and more than 1 million martyrs," al-Zaidi said. "At that moment, I felt this is the man who killed our nation ... the main murderer and the main person responsible for killing our nation."

Bill Moyers, Jay Rosen & Glenn Greenwald

Elections in Israel

"To the victor belong the spoils."
- Senator William Learned Marcy, b. 1786-1857

Source:

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima Party was forecast to eke out a surprising victory in Israel's election Tuesday, but exit polls showed strong support for hard-line rivals that will make it difficult for her to form a coalition government.

The exit polls announced on Israeli TV stations said the centrist Kadima had a narrow edge over Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line Likud Party. The results, if confirmed, marked a stunning turn of events for Netanyahu, who had held a solid lead in opinion polls until just before the parliamentary election.

At Kadima's election night headquarters, the crowd erupted in cheers when the results came out, with some supporters jumping up and down, giving each other high fives and hugs, and screaming and whistling. Netanyahu's party also claimed victory, saying it was in a better position to put together a parliamentary majority.

A hawkish coalition would complicate things for President Barack Obama, who is promising an aggressive push for peace by his administration.

Israelis vote for parties, not individuals. Since no party won a parliamentary majority, the leader of one of the major parties must try to put together a coalition with other factions -- a process that can take up to six weeks.

The exit polls predicted that ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, an advocate of stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship, would play a key role in the next coalition.

I've Just Begun

Saw Slipknot perform for the first time last week, at Madison Square Garden. I was happy to see a band I should have seen a decade ago, and felt that Slipknot gave a good, if imperfect, performance. For all the criticism they take, some of which is deserved, Slipknot certainly make an impression - visually and aurally.

Some photos of the show, grabbed from Flickr.com.

Rage Against the Machine - Down Rodeo

Drowning In It All

Paul Krugman and Nicholas Kristof, two of the few remaining mainstream voices who have both credibility and intelligence, write about the current stimulus package.

I'd like to note that I am opposed to government-sponsored stimulus spending, in general, but especially when the recipients of our taxpayer dollars are Wall Street investment banks.

I have not examined the provisions of this particular stimulus bill, but many economists - including Krugman - have been saying for months that the only way for government to short-circuit the current recession is to drastically increase spending, which would theoretically lead to increased consumer confidence and spending. Excerpts below.

Today's Krugman:

Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

It’s as if the dismal economic failure of the last eight years never happened — yet Democrats have, incredibly, been on the defensive. Even if a major stimulus bill does pass the Senate, there’s a real risk that important parts of the original plan, especially aid to state and local governments, will have been emasculated.

Somehow, Washington has lost any sense of what’s at stake — of the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss, and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again.

It’s hard to exaggerate how much economic trouble we’re in. The crisis began with housing, but the implosion of the Bush-era housing bubble has set economic dominoes falling not just in the United States, but around the world.

Consumers, their wealth decimated and their optimism shattered by collapsing home prices and a sliding stock market, have cut back their spending and sharply increased their saving — a good thing in the long run, but a huge blow to the economy right now. Developers of commercial real estate, watching rents fall and financing costs soar, are slashing their investment plans. Businesses are canceling plans to expand capacity, since they aren’t selling enough to use the capacity they have. And exports, which were one of the U.S. economy’s few areas of strength over the past couple of years, are now plunging as the financial crisis hits our trading partners.

Meanwhile, our main line of defense against recessions — the Federal Reserve’s usual ability to support the economy by cutting interest rates — has already been overrun. The Fed has cut the rates it controls basically to zero, yet the economy is still in free fall.

Today's Kristof:

So this is what the Senate seems to be coming down to: keeping bridges and throwing students out the window. The effort to prune the stimulus package to make it more palatable to Republicans is focused on slashing money for education.

The proposed cuts, by various accounts, include $40 billion to help states (in large part with education budgets), possibly $14 billion for Pell grants, and $14 billion for other education programs (though late word from the Washington Post is that the Pell grants may have survived). The argument is that these would be ongoing programs, not a short-term stimulus, and conservatives are very wary of expanding education programs in ways that will increase the federal presence in the education space or the burden on taxpayers. They particularly don’t want Headstart and school construction in the stimulus. Mel Martinez says: “I love schools; I love children,” but he adds that such measures “don’t belong in this bill.”

He’s wrong, for a couple of reasons. First, the priority has to be to get the stimulus passed, and it’s better to err on the side of a big stimulus than a small one. I lived in Japan from 1995 through 1999 and saw how crucial it is for a government to act decisively – and, rather like Colin Powell’s doctrine of “overwhelming force” – with real power in confronting an economic crisis. Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke and Larry Summers were all close students at the time of Japan’s mess, and that’s why they’re all determined to get enough of a stimulus and avoid a lost decade. And constructing schools or paying Headstart teachers delivers just as much economic stimulus as a new bridge or road; indeed, the economic multiplier effect is probably greater in low-income communities than in America as a whole.

Second, I’m increasingly of the view that our nation’s top priority — which I used to think was a national health care system — must be revitalizing our education system. The good suburban schools are great, and do just as well as Singapore’s or Hong Kong’s. But our inner city schools are a disaster, and they fail the students and our country’s economic future.

My thinking shifted partly after reading The Race Between Education and Technology, by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, one of last year’s most important books. As I wrote at the time, they argue that the central reason America became the most important economy in the world was its emphasis on broad education, at a time when Europe educated only the elites. Yet that edge has disappeared, and America is the only country today where parents are more likely to graduate from high school than their children. If we want to maintain America’s economic greatness, then we need roads and bridges, yes, but we also need a more educated work force.

What, Exactly, Has Changed?

Slipknot - Before I Forget

Old Dreams

We walk miracle miles emphasizing all the while
The dalliance of mischief in agonized smiles
We break out the charm and put out alarms
We'll find another reason to hold off the dawn
We take life one chunk at a time, like paragraphs
Live one minute at a time and we're moving fast
We creep steadily towards a better path
Different routes end up working out in different crafts
The dark cloaks over your shoulders in a killing swath
Tearing down the white picket fences of your epitaph
The last breath we take can be another memory
Recycling constantly in waking reveries

Can we...
Can we disguise the old dreams?
As life falls apart at the seams
With a dollar on the ground you can't reach?
Can we disguise the old dreams?

We can shine brighter than diamonds in a heart of glass
The blood is pumping out at full volume and falling fast
Our history towards astonishing things
Twisting forth and gleaming and quickening me
Life moves forward even with your head in the grass
Snaking, nah, undulating towards you like a seismograph
We move indiscreetly like light moves forward
Bouncing off the surface of a prism we've formed
Life stabs back with a whispering plea
Knocks you back and over, your head is unclean
You twist yourself and lower expectations and dreams
You call yourself a word, the meaning's lost on me

Can we...
Can we live our lives just as we preach?
As life kicks the back of your feet
Tripping over rocks we can't see
Can we disguise the old dreams?

Teach us of the world, times of peace and times of war
Trembling in terror at the newest massacre
Are we the latest martyrs? Are we the latest foils?
Are you the one and only? Are they the last to fall?
Life moves forward and death moves forward
Locked in a dance eternal with no reward
Caught in machinery, you step through the scenery
Littered by blood and mayhem and thievery
Have we discarded the ways we've maintained
The sum of human knowledge, the ethics we've ingrained
Within our selves and children, our hope for the future
Is falling into quagmire and looking for solutions

Can we...
Can we recall our old dreams?
Can our lives measure up to a speech?
Can we testify that we are still free?
Living in a huddled mass of defeat
Can we live by our old dreams?

Have you ever tried swimming in quagmire?
Have you ever fed on the hearts of the young?
When the windows blow out and death creeps in
Will the lions of your mind rescue you from hellfire?
I have walked often in the valley of the sullen
Where victims of desire and the trophies of the fallen
Surround us in the corridor with songs of devotion
Walking towards the cliff where we meet the horizon
Looking at the sun whispering for inspiration
My pupils dilate with a dimly lit sensation
My tongue is raw, the buds are bitter and torn
But if we bow our heads our dreams will die alone.

Someone Smack Somebody

Source:

Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller.

While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.

Some bankers took home millions last year even as their employers lost billions.

The comptroller’s estimate, a closely watched guidepost of the annual December-January bonus season, is based largely on personal income tax collections. It excludes stock option awards that could push the figures even higher.

The state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous. He urged the Obama administration to examine the issue closely.

“The issue of transparency is a significant one, and there needs to be an accounting about whether there was any taxpayer money used to pay bonuses or to pay for corporate jets or dividends or anything else,” Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview.

60 Minutes: Israeli Settlements in West Bank

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains (SNL)

Congratulations, America

Harper's Index: GWB Special

Source:

Number of news stories from 1998 to Election Day 2000 containing “George W. Bush” and “aura of inevitability”: 206

Amount for which Bush successfully sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1999: $2,500

Year in which a political candidate first sued Palm Beach County over problems with hanging chads: 1984

Total amount the Bush campaign paid Enron and Halliburton for use of corporate jets during the 2000 recount: $15,400

Percentage of Bush’s first 189 appointees who also served in his father’s administration: 42

Minimum number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98

Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy: 2

Number of Chevron oil tankers named after Condoleezza Rice, at the time she became foreign policy adviser: 1

Date on which the GAO sued Dick Cheney to force the release of documents related to current U.S. energy policy: 2/22/02

Number of other officials the GAO has sued over access to federal records: 0

Months before September 11, 2001, that Cheney’s Energy Task Force investigated Iraq’s oil resources: 6

Hours after the 9/11 attacks that an Alaska congressman speculated they may have been committed by “eco-terrorists”: 9

Date on which the first contract for a book about September 11 was signed: 9/13/01

Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182

Number of them ever charged with a terrorism-related crime: 0

Number charged with an immigration violation: 762

Days since the federal government first placed the nation under an “elevated terror alert” that the level has been relaxed: 0

Minimum number of calls the FBI received in fall 2001 from Utah residents claiming to have seen Osama bin Laden: 20

Number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since January 2002: 105,075

Percentage of Americans in 2006 who believed that U.S. Muslims should have to carry special I.D.: 39

Chances an American in 2002 believed the government should regulate comedy routines that make light of terrorism: 2 in 5

Rank of Mom, Dad, and Rudolph Giuliani among those whom 2002 college graduates said they most wished to emulate: 1, 2, 3

Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who said they hoarded Cipro so as to avoid an “ironic death”: 1

Estimated total calories members of Congress burned giving Bush’s 2002 State of the Union standing ovations: 22,000

Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50

Minimum number of laws that Bush signing statements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069

Estimated number of U.S. intelligence reports on Iraq that were based on information from a single defector: 100

Number of times the defector had ever been interviewed by U.S. intelligence agents: 0

Date on which Bush said of Osama bin Laden, “I truly am not that concerned about him”: 3/13/02

Days after the U.S. invaded Iraq that Sony trademarked “Shock & Awe” for video games: 1

Days later that the company gave up the trademark, citing “regrettable bad judgment”: 25

Number of books by Henry Kissinger found in Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion: 2

Number by then–New York Times reporter Judith Miller: 1

Factor by which an Iraqi in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime: 3.6

Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be violence: 120

Chance that an Iraqi has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war: 1 in 6

Portion of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4

Percentage of U.S. veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed for disability with the VA: 35

Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4

Number of all U.S. war veterans who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003: 452,677

Number of eligibility restrictions for admission into the Army that have been loosened since 2003: 9

Percentage change from 2004 to 2007 in the number of Army recruits admitted despite having been charged with a felony: +295

Date on which the White House announced it had stopped looking for WMDs in Iraq: 1/12/05

Years since his acquittal that O. J. Simpson has said he is still looking for his wife’s “real killers”: 13

Minimum number of close-up photographs of Bush’s hands owned by his current chief of staff, Josh Bolten: 4

Number of vehicles in the motorcade that transports Bush to his regular bike ride in Maryland: 6

Estimated total miles he has ridden his bike as president: 5,400

Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3

Minimum number of times that Frederick Douglass was beaten in what is now Donald Rumsfeld’s vacation home: 25

Estimated number of juveniles whom the United States has detained as enemy combatants since 2002: 2,500

Minimum number of detainees who were tortured to death in U.S. custody: 8

Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006: 200

Date on which USA Today added Guantánamo to its weather map: 1/3/05

Number of incidents of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2007: 897

Number on shows during the previous seven years: 110

Percentage change since 2000 in U.S. emigration to Canada: +79

Number of the thirty-eight Iraq war veterans who have run for Congress who were Democrats: 21

Percentage of Republicans in 2005 who said they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62

Seconds it took a Maryland consultant in 2004 to pick a Diebold voting machine’s lock and remove its memory card: 10

Number of states John Kerry would have won in 2004 if votes by poor Americans were the only ones counted: 40

Number if votes by rich Americans were the only ones counted: 4

Portion of all U.S. income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 3/4

Increase since 2000 in the number of Americans living at less than half the federal poverty level: 3,500,000

Percentage change since 2001 in the average amount U.S. workers spend on out-of-pocket medical expenses: +172

Estimated percentage by which Social Security benefits would have declined if Bush’s privatization plan had passed: –15

Percentage change since 2002 in the number of U.S. teens using illegal drugs: –9

Percentage change in the number of adults in their fifties doing so: +121

Number of times FDA officials met with consumer and patient groups as they revised drug-review policy in 2006: 5

Number of times they met with industry representatives: 113

Amount the Justice Department spent in 2001 installing curtains to cover two semi-nude statues of Justice: $8,650

Number of Republican officials who have been investigated by the Justice Department since 2001: 196

Number of Democratic officials who have been: 890

Number of White House officials in 2006 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the DOJ: 711

Number of Clinton officials ever authorized to do so: 4

Years since a White House official as senior as I. Lewis Libby had been indicted while in office: 130

Number of U.S. cities and towns that have passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush: 92

Percentage change since 2001 in U.S. government spending on paper shredding: +466

Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60

Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are causing climate change: –4

Number of total additions made to the U.S. endangered-species list under Bush: 61

Average number made yearly under Clinton: 65

Minimum number of pheasant hunts Dick Cheney has gone on since he shot a hunting companion in 2006: 5

Days after Hurricane Katrina hit that Cheney’s office ordered an electric company to restore power to two oil pipelines: 1

Days after the hurricane that the White House authorized sending federal troops into New Orleans: 4

Portion of the $3.3 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief spent by Mississippi that has benefited poor residents: 1/4

Percentage change in the number of Louisiana and Mississippi newborns named Katrina in the year after the storm: +153

Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000: 1

Months, beginning in 2001, that the federal government’s online condom fact sheet disappeared from its website : 17

Minimum amount that religious groups received in congressional earmarks from 2003 to 2006: $209,000,000

Amount such groups received during the previous fourteen years: $107,000,000

Percentage change from 2003 to 2007 in the amount of money invested in U.S. faith-based mutual funds: +88

Average annualized percentage return during that time in the Christian and Muslim funds, respectively: +11, +15

Number of feet the Ground Zero pit has been built up since the site was fully cleared in 2002: 30

Number of 980-foot-plus “Super Tall” towers built in the Arab world in the seven years since 9/11: 4

Year by which the third and final phase of the 2003 “road map” to a Palestinian state was to have been reached: 2005

Estimated number of the twenty-five provisions of the first phase that have yet to be completed: 12

Number of times in 2007 that U.S. media called General David Petraeus “King David”: 14

Percentage change during the first ten months of the Iraq war “surge” in the number of Iraqis detained in U.S.-run prisons: +63

Percentage change in the number of Iraqis aged nine to seventeen detained: +285

Ratio of the entire U.S. federal budget in 1957, adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the Iraq war: 1:1

Estimated amount Bush-era policies will cost the U.S. in new debt and accrued obligations: $10,350,000,000,000

Percentage change in U.S. discretionary spending during Bush’s presidency: +31

Percentage change during Reagan’s and Clinton’s, respectively: +16, +0.3

Ratio in 1999 of the number of U.S. federal employees to the number of private employees on government contracts: 15:6

Ratio in 2006: 14:15

Total value of U.S. government contracts in 2000 that were awarded without competitive bidding: $73,000,000,000

Total in 2007: $146,000,000,000

Number of the five directors of the No Child Left Behind reading program with financial ties to a curriculum they developed: 4

Amount by which the federal government has underfunded its estimated cost to implement NCLB: $71,000,000,000

Minimum number of copies sold, since it was released in 2006, of Flipping Houses for Dummies: 45,000

Chance that the buyer of a U.S. home in 2006 now has “negative equity,” i.e., the debt on the home exceeds its value: 1 in 5

Estimated value of Henry Paulson’s Goldman Sachs stock when he became Treasury Secretary and sold it: $575,000,000

Estimated value of that stock today: $238,000,000

Salary in 2006 of the White House’s newly created Director for Lessons Learned: $106,641

Minimum number of Bush-related books published since 2001: 606

Number of words in the first sentence of Bill Clinton’s memoir and in that of George W. Bush’s, respectively: 49, 5

Minimum number of nicknames Bush has given to associates during his presidency: 75

Number of associates with the last name Jackson he has dubbed “Action Jackson”: 2

Number of press conferences at which Bush has referred to a question as a “trick”: 14

Number of times he has declared an event or outcome not to be “acceptable”: 149

Rank of Bush among U.S. presidents with the highest disapproval rating: 1

Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37

Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country took under Stalin: 37

Dissent = Death in Russia

Source:

A Russian human rights lawyer renowned for his work on abuses in Chechnya was shot to death Monday by a masked gunman who followed him from a news conference, officials said. A young journalist who tried to intervene also was gunned down.

The broad-daylight shootings of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova prompted grief and outrage in a country where lawyers and journalists who challenge the official version of justice are frequently targeted.

Markelov had fought the early release of a Russian colonel whose killing of a Chechen woman in 2000 put names and faces on the gruesome rights abuses in the war-wracked region. His death Monday angered many Chechens, already upset by the release of last week of the military officer.

Colleagues drew comparisons with the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya — a client of Markelov's and a fellow enemy of rights abuses in Chechnya and across former President Vladimir Putin's Russia.

"This is a horrible, frightening crime," said Tatyana Lokshina of the Human Rights Watch.

Prominent rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva called the shooting "a disgrace for Russia," the Interfax news agency reported.

Markelov, 34, was shot near a building where he had just held a news conference, about half a mile (1 kilometer) from the Kremlin, said Viktoria Tsyplenkova, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee of the Moscow prosecutor's office.

Markelov was shot in the back of the head at close range by an attacker who followed him after the news conference, wore a stocking-style mask and had a silencer on his gun — clear signs of a planned killing, state-run RIA-Novosti news agency reported, citing an unidentified law enforcement official. Police also reportedly said there were several witnesses.

Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist in her mid-20s who had worked for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was shot when she tried to intervene after Markelov was attacked, said Andrei Lipsky, a deputy editor. Another Novaya Gazeta editor, Sergei Sokolov, later said she died on an operating table.

Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in 2006 after years of reporting on, and criticizing Russian conduct in, Chechnya. She never hesitated to remind her audience of the horrors of war; she cautioned against giving government too much power to limit civil liberties and conduct clandestine business. It is widely believed that her death was ordered by an unnamed Russian politician, most likely working at the behest of Vladimir Putin. Markelov was her attorney and ally in the battle for human rights in Russia.

Martin Luther King Day, 2009

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Cease-Fire

Source:

Palestinians have been venturing out to survey the devastation of Israel's war on Gaza as separate ceasefires called by Israel and the Palestinian fighters appeared to be holding.

Israeli troops and tanks were on the move on Monday, heading away from some key points in Gaza towards the border, but it remained unclear whether they would withdraw completely for the Palestinian territory.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from the Israel-Gaza border, said Israeli military sources were saying that it was largely reservists who were leaving Gaza.

"Regular troops, by and large, are holding their positions and will remain alert, they will remain poised, to deal with any violation, as Israel sees it, of the Israeli ceasefire," he said.

"Given that the Israelis were always very unforthcoming about exactly how many troops were in Gaza at the height of the fighting, it is difficult for us to say how quickly they will leave."

Israeli army radio quoted unnamed military officials as saying that troops would pull out of Gaza by the time Barack Obama, the US president-elect, takes office on Tuesday.

Current estimates have the death toll at over 1,300 Palestinians, plus over 5,000 injured, and 13 dead Israelis. It is very convenient timing that the cease-fire was agreed to mere days before the inauguration for President-elect Barack Obama. Despite it all, let's be thankful that this temporary peace has been agreed to, for the time being.

Tragedies

"I don't know, but today seems kinda odd..."

Brilliance as a flow chart.

Check out the link if you ever spent an afternoon humming along with Ice Cube, back in the day...

The Accusations Fly

In my opinion, nothing does more to undermine the arguments of the pro-Israel faction than their constant accusations of "Anti-Semitism" against those who would disagree with them. Not only does this stifle any semblance of intelligent and civilized dialogue, it unfairly clouds the reputations of those who seek truth and discourse while trivializing real anti-Semitism, which sadly still exists in this world.

Nothing could highlight this better than the exchange below. In response to the recent Bill Moyers piece on Israel and Gaza, posted on this blog a few days ago, Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, sent Mr. Moyers this letter:

Mr. Moyers,

In less than a thousand words, you managed to fit into your January 9 commentary: (1) moral equivalency between Hamas, a radical Islamic terrorist group whose anti-Semitic charter cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and perhaps America’s greatest ally in the world; (2) historical revisionism, asserting that Canaanites were Arabs; (3) anti-Semitism, declaring that Jews are “genetically coded” for violence; (4) ignorance of the terrorist threat against Israel, claiming that checkpoints, the security fence, and the Gaza operation are tactics of humiliation rather than counter-terrorism; and (5) promotion of an individual, the Norwegian doctor in Gaza, who has publicly expressed support for the September 11 attacks.

I have seen and read serious critiques of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and I have disagreed with many of them. Your commentary, however, is different, consisting mostly of intellectually and morally faulty claims that do a great disservice to the PBS audience. It invites not disagreement, but rebuke.

On one point you are correct – “America has officially chosen sides.” And rightly so. Fortunately for our nation, very few of our citizens engage in the same moral equivalency, racism, historical revisionism, and indifference to terrorism as you. If the reverse held, it would not be a country that any decent person would want to live in.

Sincerely,

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League

Mr. Moyers' response is quoted below:

Dear Mr. Foxman:

You made several errors in your letter to me of January 13 and I am writing to correct them.

First, to call someone a racist for lamenting the slaughter of civilians by the Israeli military offensive in Gaza is a slur unworthy of the tragedy unfolding there. Your resort to such a tactic is reprehensible.

Earlier this week it was widely reported that the International Red Cross “was so outraged it broke its usual silence over an attack in which the Israeli army herded a Palestinian family into a building and then shelled it, killing 30 people and leaving the surviving children clinging to the bodies of their dead mothers. The army prevented rescuers from reaching the survivors for four days.”

When American troops committed a similar atrocity in Vietnam, it was called My Lai and Lt. Calley went to prison for it. As the publisher of a large newspaper at the time, I instructed our editorial staff to cover the atrocity fully because Americans should know what our military was doing in our name and with our funding. To say “my country right or wrong” is like saying “my mother drunk or sober.” Patriots owe their country more than that, whether their government and their taxes are supporting atrocities in Vietnam, Iraq, or, in this case, Gaza.

Contrary to your claim, I made no reference whatsoever to “moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel. That is an old canard often resorted to by propagandists trying to divert attention from facts on the ground, and, it, too, is unworthy of the slaughter in Gaza. Contrary to imputing “moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel, I said that “Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead.” I said that “a radical stream of Islam now seeks to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth.” And I described the new spate of anti-Semitism across the continent of Europe. I am curious as to why you ignored remarks which clearly counter the notion of “moral equivalency.”

And although I specifically referred to “the rockets from Hamas” falling on Israel and said that “every nation has the right to defend itself, and Israel is no exception,” you nonetheless accuse me of “ignorance of the terrorist threat against Israel.” Once again, you are quite selective in your reading of my essay.

Your claim that “the checkpoints, the security fence and the Gaza operation” [I used the more accurate “onslaught”] are not humiliating of the Palestinians is lamentable. I did not claim that these were, as you write, “tactics of humiliation rather [emphasis mine] than counter-terrorism,” but perhaps it is overly simplistic to think they are one and not the other, when they are both. Also lamentable is your description of my “promotion” of the Norwegian doctor in Gaza when in fact I was simply quoting what he told CBS News: “It’s like Dante’s Inferno. They are bombing one and a half million people in a cage.” The whole world has been able to see for itself what he was talking about, and as one major news organization after another has been reporting, is reeling from the sight.

And, to your claim that I was “declaring Jews are ‘genetically coded’ for violence,” you are mistaken. My comment – obviously not sufficiently precise – was not directed at a specific people but to the fact that the human race has violence in its DNA, as the biblical stories so strongly affirm. I also had in mind the relationship between all the descendents of Abraham who love the same biblical land and come to such grief over it.

From my days in President Johnson’s White House forward, I have defended Israel’s right to defend itself, and still do. But sometimes an honest critic is a government’s best friend, and I am appalled by Israel’s devastation of innocent civilians in this battle, all the more so because, as I said in my column, it is exactly what Hamas wanted to happen. To be so indifferent to that suffering is, sadly, to be as blind in Gaza as Samson.

Sincerely,

Bill Moyers

Check the video for yourself and make up your own mind.

The Tragedy of the Past Eight Years

Some of the best commentary I've ever heard from Chris Matthews.

Mr. Bush, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Another Day, Another IDF Attack on the U.N.

From today's New York Times, hardly a dependable source for objective information about the Israeli/Gaza conflict, information about another attack by Israeli Defense Forces against the United Nations Relief & Works Agency. Today Israeli forces are alleged to have attacked UNRWA Headquarters with white phosphorus shells - a clear violation of international law and an action that deserves serious investigation by the international community.

Israeli forces shelled areas deep inside Gaza City on Thursday, hitting the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and injuring at least three people among the hundreds taking shelter in the compound, according to United Nations officials and witnesses.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel expressed regret for the strike but said that Israeli forces were fired on by Hamas militants from just outside the United Nations compound and then ran inside to take cover, according to Mr. Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev. “It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place,” Mr. Olmert said in broadcast remarks, according to Reuters.

A spokesman for the Relief and Works Agency, Christopher Gunness, said that the Israelis had been provided with the GPS coordinates of all United Nations facilities in Gaza. He said that two buildings were ablaze and that there were five fully laden fuel vehicles at the site.

In the attack on Thursday, Mr. Gunness said, the Israelis used phosphorous shells, according to Bloomberg. “The Israelis have shot three phosphorus shells against the compound, where hundreds of civilians are being sheltered,” he was quoted as saying.

The Israeli military would not give precise details of its latest ground operations in Gaza City on Thursday, but a spokesman said that “fierce fighting” was under way “relatively deep inside Gaza.”

More information on the attacks can be found through Al Jazeera, the only international news organization with actual journalists inside Gaza.

Three hospitals and a UN compound have been bombed by Israel as troops continue to advance into the densely-populated Gaza City.

Around 500 people were sheltering in the Al-Quds hospital in the city's southwestern Tal Al-Hawa district when it was bombed by Israeli jets and set ablaze on Thursday morning.

Hospital officials said the fire was sparked by a "phosphorus shell".

"We have been able to control the fire in the hospital but not in the administrative building," one hospital official said.

"We hope that the flames don't spread again to the wings of the hospital."

Two hospitals east of Gaza City were also hit by Israeli shells as Gazans fled tanks advancing into the city.

The Israelis also bombed a UN compound in Gaza City, setting fire to warehouses of badly-needed food and medical aid and prompting international outrage.

Around 700 Palestinians were sheltering in the UN complex at the time of the strikes which left two civilians and three staff members injured.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said fires were still raging hours after the attack and "tens of millions of dollars worth of aid" had been destroyed.

John Ging, the director of UNRWA operations in the Strip, also accused the Israelis of using phosphorus shells.

"They are phosphorus fires so they are extremely difficult to put out because, if you put water on, it will just generate toxic fumes and do nothing to stop the burning," he said.

Israel insists all weapons used in the conflict comply with international law.

UNRWA officials said they would evacuate the complex.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, justified shelling the UN headquarters claiming armed Palestinians within it had fired at Israeli troops first.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place … but the consequences were very sad and I apologise for it," he said.

However, Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, robustly denied that Palestinian fighters were among refugees sheltering there.

"At no stage during the fighting today did any Israeli official pick up the phone and tell us there were militants in our compound.

"We always take action against militants ... there were no militants in our compound and now they [the Israelis] are changing their story, saying militants were 'in the vicinity'," he said.

Gunness called for a "proper investigation" into the incident.

Louis Michel, the European Aid Commissioner, also condemned the bombing of the UN complex, branding it "unacceptable".

"I am deeply shocked and dismayed to learn of this incident ... I have made it very clear that all sides must respect international humanitarian law.

"It is unacceptable that the UN headquarters in Gaza has been struck by Israeli artillery fire," he said.

Notice how the Times article conveniently omits the strongly worded quote from Chris Gunness refuting Israel's claims about Palestinian attacks originating from UNRWA headquarters and essentially accusing IDF of attacking the building without cause.

Hip-Hop For Gaza

Musicians, hip hop artists, poets, and visual artists concerned about the ongoing attacks on Gaza are coming together for two public performance events this Sunday, January 18th, in the spirit of Martin Luther King weekend, to highlight the dire human rights violations in Gaza. Featuring video messages from Palestinian musicians Shadia Mansour and DAM. The events will be "bridged" by a Subway Freedom March leaving Alwan for the Arts at 7:30pm and ending at Sugarland in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The MLK Day weekend events will be to raise money for Gaza Humanitarian Relief. Hip-Hop artist and activist Immortal Technique and other Prominent Musicians, Artists, and Poets will perform and speak at these two sister events.

Some of the confirmed hip hop performers and speakers include:

HANDS OFF GAZA: Immortal Technique, G.O.D, M1 from Dead Prez, Aalikes, Rebel Diaz, Remi Kanazi, Tahani Salah, Khalil al Mustafa, Hasan Salaam, Marcel Cartier, Sabreena Da Witch, and DJ Johnny Juice (Public Enemy)

I (HEART) GAZA: DJ Unconquer'd, Rebel Diaz, DJ K-Salaam, Remi Kanazi, Koba, Queen Godis, Sabreena Da Witch, DJ Oja, Donny Goines

HANDS OFF GAZA: Excerpts from the documentary "Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land," poets and artist performances and invited speakers: 5-7 pm, Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver St, 4th floor (between Broad and Broadway)Manhattan. $20 suggested donation… no one turned away.

I (HEART) GAZA: A night of hip hop, dancing, and artistic resistance. 9pm- 4am at Sugarland 221 N 9th St (between Driggs Ave & Roebling St) Williamsburg, Brooklyn. $10 ($5 if you go to HANDS OFF GAZA)

100% of the money raised at the events will be donated for humanitarian aid to Gaza through MAP UK and Anera.org.

For more information on the sponsors visit:

http://www.myspace.com/shadiamusic

http://www.freepali.com

http://www.hiphoparabia.net

http://www.thinkpep.net

http://www.alwanforthearts.org

http://www.fatimacouture.com

Ghostface Killah - Winter Warz

BART Officer Charged With Murder

The Oakland district attorney's office decided to do the right thing and charge Johannes Mehserle with murder, in the death of Oscar Grant.

Source:

Mehserle was arrested Tuesday evening at a home on Skyland Drive in the Zephyr Cove area near Lake Tahoe, authorities said.

The ex-officer is being held in connection with the shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old supermarket worker from Hayward who was lying facedown after being pulled off a BART train by police investigating a fight.

An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant alleging murder, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said. He is being kept in a segregated area of the jail facility and is on a precautionary health and welfare watch, authorities said.

Sources said Mehserle was in Nevada because he feared for his safety after death threats were made against him.

The shooting, which was recorded by passengers in videos widely circulated on the Internet and television, prompted public outrage, and some viewers said that the shooting appeared to be an execution. Some city and community leaders have joined protesters in denouncing BART's handling of the investigation.

Regardless of what Mehserle's intentions may or may not have been, his actions in the aftermath of the incident do nothing but cast more doubt on his motives.

Mehserle declined to speak to BART criminal investigators after the shooting. Then last Wednesday he resigned rather than answer questions from BART's internal affairs division.

Here's to hoping for justice.

Death in Gaza

Source:

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's 19-day war in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials have said, as clashes continue throughout the Strip.

Civilians make up about 40 per cent of casualities with children accounting for a third of the dead, aid agencies and Palestinian medics said.

At least 4,630 people have been injured, Hasanein Myawaya, the head of Palestinian emergency services, said.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said while fewer Palestinians had been killed on Wednesday than during previous days, the situation for Gazans remained one of "complete fear and terror".

"For those who venture out [for food]... they know that anytime they leave their house it could be the last time.

"More than 80,000 Palestinians have now fled their homes because of the fighting around them ... there is a sense of overcrowding ... UN schools have taken in 35,000 refugees.

Highlights of U.N. Noon Briefing

SECRETARY-GENERAL BRIEFS COUNCIL ON GOALS FOR MIDDLE EAST TRIP
Highlights of the Noon Briefing: Tuesday, January 13, 2009

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed the Security Council in closed consultations this morning on his visit to the Middle East, which will take him over the coming week to Egypt, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. Council members expressed strong support for his trip, he said afterward.

• At each stop, he told the Council, he will repeat his call for an immediate and durable ceasefire and insist that Security Council resolution 1860 be respected. He will also demand that urgent humanitarian assistance be provided, without restriction, to those in need, and he will encourage the diplomatic efforts underway among concerned parties.

• As he said in his press conference on Monday afternoon, his goal is to step up the pace of joint diplomatic efforts regarding Gaza and southern Israel. The Secretary-General sent a simple and direct message to all sides: the fighting must stop.

• He said he expects the parties now meeting in Cairo to do what is required. They must agree to the elements of an immediate ceasefire.

• At a minimum, he said, that means a halt to rocket attacks by Hamas militants and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The international community must come together to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, he added, but by the same token, border crossings into Gaza must be re-opened in full.

• Asked whether the Secretary-General would meet with Iranian officials during the current trip, the Spokeswoman said no meeting was planned at this time.

• Asked whether the Secretary-General's call for an "immediate" ceasefire was practical, the Spokeswoman stressed that he would continue to work for an immediate ceasefire, and that he had stressed that negotiations could take place afterward, but for now, too many people are being killed.

• The Spokeswoman noted that his call for an immediate ceasefire and the resolution adopted by the Security Council could prod the international community to push for one.


U.N. HUMANITARIAN OFFICE SAYS OPEN SEWAGE FLOWS IN NORTHERN GAZA STREETS

• The Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) reports that a total of 94 truckloads, including 46 for aid agencies, were allowed entry into Gaza from Israel today through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Included in those truckloads were 35 for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which contained, among other things, flour, whole milk, cooking oil and food. An additional five trucks went to the World Food Programme (WFP), containing flour, cooking oil and high-energy biscuits.

• In addition, the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt was open today for aid supplies and medical evacuations; but the Nahal Oz fuel pipeline and Karni crossing, both between Israel and Gaza, remained closed.

• According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of this morning, 60 percent of Gazans were not receiving any power. OCHA adds that Gaza's electricity provider's warehouse in Gaza City has been hit, which has led to the destruction of desperately needed spare parts.

• OCHA also says that many water wells and sewage pumps are still not functioning due to the lack of electricity, diminished fuel supplies for back-up generators, and the lack of spare parts.

• Half a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip still do not have access to running water. That includes 60% of the people in Gaza City. In addition, 80 percent of drinking water in Gaza is not safe for human consumption, according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, which are both in northern Gaza, sewage is flowing in the streets.

• In other developments, WHO reports that the emergency room of the Dorah Pediatric Hospital in Gaza was directly hit on Monday. Staff are continuing to work despite the damage caused to the infrastructure. OCHA says that the number of people who have fled their homes in Gaza remains unknown, but is estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

• Meanwhile, in Geneva today, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is currently in session, expressed deep concern at the devastating effects that the current military engagement is having on children in Gaza.

The Only Journalists in Gaza: Today's Update

Testimonials From the Victims

More Weapons, More Fire

From the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace comes a less than reassuring report on the silly spending habits of American government.

Yeah, I know, it's a real big shocker.

The United States spent over $52 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs in fiscal year 2008, but only 10 percent of that went toward preventing a nuclear attack and slowing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. That is the main finding of Nuclear Security Spending: Assessing Costs, Examining Priorities, a new study that uses publicly available documents and extensive interviews with government officials and experts to calculate the comprehensive U.S. nuclear security "budget." The United States has never tracked nuclear weapon-related spending comprehensively, hindering effective oversight and public understanding of the government's nuclear priorities.

These misplaced budget priorities signal to the world that the United States is more interested in preserving and upgrading its nuclear arsenal than in reducing and eliminating the growing threats of nuclear proliferation and limited nuclear or radiological attack. Because classified expenditures and some other relevant costs are omitted from the analysis, total actual spending is significantly higher.

Key Conclusions:

• Only 1.3 percent ($700 million) of the nuclear security budget was devoted to preparing for the consequences of a nuclear or radiological attack.

• Another 56 percent of the total went toward operating, sustaining, and upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

• Nuclear security consumes $13 billion more than international diplomacy and foreign assistance; nearly double what the United States allots for general science, space, and technology; and 14 times what the Department of Energy (DOE) budgets for all energy-related research and development.

• Nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs account for at least 67 percent of DOE’s budget, 8.5 percent of the FBI’s budget, 7.1 percent of the Department of Defense budget, and 1.7 percent of the Department of Homeland Security’s budget.

Who Dictates U.S. Policy?

Source:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.

"She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution last Thursday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the three-week-old conflict in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza where hundreds have been killed.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, which was later rejected by both Israel and Hamas.

The United States, Israel's main ally, had initially been expected to voted in line with the other 14 but Rice later became the sole abstention.

"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said

"I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me.

"I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour."

Bush has consistently placed the blame for the conflict on Hamas, telling reporters on Monday that while he wanted to see a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza, it was up to Hamas to choose to end its rocket fire on Israel.

White Phosphorus in Gaza

Who Are the Real Barbarians?

Source:

Human Rights Watch has called on Israel to stop using white phosphorus which it says has been used in military operations in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

The US-based group said that its researchers observed the use of the chemical, which can burn away human flesh to the bone, over Gaza City and Jabalya on Friday and Saturday.

"We went by Israeli artillery units that had white phosphorus rounds with the fuses in them," Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera.

"Clearly it is [white phosphorus], we can tell by the explosions and the tendrils that go down [and] the fires that were burning," he said.

"Today there were massive attacks in Jabalya when we were there. We saw that there were numerous fires once the white phosphorus had gone in."

Meanwhile, there is no end in sight to the violence in Gaza as the IDF inundated the streets with leaflets warning of an escalation of the ground offensive that has already resulted in over 800 dead and 3000 injured, the majority of those being civilians.

Source:

Weary Palestinians watched from apartment windows as thousands of leaflets fluttered from aircraft with a blunt warning: Israeli forces will step up operations against Islamic militants who have unleashed a daily barrage of rocket fire on southern Israeli towns.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only," the leaflets said in Arabic. "Stay safe by following our orders."

The leaflets urged Gaza residents not to help Hamas and to stay away from its members. There was no immediate sign of an escalation, though earlier in the day, witnesses said Israeli troops moved to within one mile of Gaza City before pulling back slightly.

Israeli defense officials say they are prepared for a third stage of their offensive, in which ground troops would push further into Gaza, but are waiting for approval from the government.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the army also has a fourth stage planned that calls for a full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling of Hamas.

The leaflets reflected Israeli efforts to cast Hamas as the source of the conflict that has brought additional misery to Gaza's 1.4 million people, who live in poverty in the densely inhabited shard of land along the Mediterranean. Israel hopes the suffering will erode support for Hamas, which won 2006 elections and engineered a violent takeover of Gaza in June 2007, overrunning the forces of its Palestinian rival Fatah.

For now, though, the fury of the Israeli onslaught has deepened bitterness toward Israel among trapped Gaza residents. Traffic through border crossings with Egypt and Israel is heavily restricted, and many Gazans survive on international handouts or goods smuggled through tunnels that are also used by Hamas to bring in weapons.

Bill Moyers on Mid-East Violence

"Yes, every nation has the right to defend it's people; Israel is no exception, all the moreso because Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead. But brute force can turn self-defense into state terrorism. It's what the U.S. did in Vietnam with B-52's and napalm and again in Iraq with 'Shock & Awe.' By killing indiscriminately - the elderly, kids, entire families - by destroying schools and hospitals, Israel did exactly what terrorists do and exactly what Hamas wanted: it spilled the blood that turns the wheel of retribution."

Congress Bends Over for Israel

If these pandering assholes knew half of what was really going on, their tiny little heads would explode.

There are not enough politicians like Ron Paul, Keith Ellison and Dennis Kucinich - who actually educate themselves on issues and take a nuanced approach to policy-making. Unlike their sheep colleagues who are so afraid of losing the funding of Israeli lobbyists, or being called "Anti-Semite" by right-wing Zionist media shills like Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Marty Peretz or Michael Goldfarb, that they completely disregard the interests of an unarmed and oppressed people who are being bombed to kingdom come.

It probably has something to do with the fact that Palestine doesn't have lobbyists on K Street.

Shocking News: Cops Shoot Unarmed Black Men

The first instance actually happened in the morning of New Year's Day, but I neglected to post about it until now. You might as well see it for yourself.



What can you possible say to that? Excuses have been made on behalf of the officer: his wife was due to deliver a baby and he hadn't slept; he was reaching for his taser and not his pistol. But the fact is, Oscar Grant was not - and is still not - accused of any crime, he was unarmed and he was lying face down on the ground being restrained by another officer. The officer who murdered him, Johannes Mehserle, was not compelled the give a statement in the six days that passed before he tendered his resignation to BART police - a highly disturbing procedural maneuver from an embattled department. In most officer-related shootings, statements are taken as soon as possible.

There have been protests all week, including several that have turned violent and resulted in clashes between angry citizens and police.

The second instance comes to us from Bellaire, Texas - a mostly white suburb of Houston. Robbie Tolan, son of former Major League Baseball player Bobby Tolan, and his cousin, Anthony Cooper, were returning from a late night fast food run when confronted in their own driveway by a police officer, who allegedly did not identify himself, and ordered them to get down on the ground. He accused them of driving a stolen SUV, parked in the driveway and belonging to Tolan's mother. When Tolan's mother came out to investigate the commotion, the officer is accused of pushing her roughly against the garage door - at which point Tolan reacted from the ground and was shot for his troubles. Tolan is expected to survive, but the bullet pierced his lung and lodged in his liver, and he remains hospitalized.

Barack Obama will be the President of the United States come January 20th, but this country has miles to go before race is no longer an issue in this country.

We Reap What We Sow

Juan Cole lends some perspective:

In 1996, Israeli jets bombed a UN building where civilians had taken refuge at Cana / Qana in south Lebanon, killing 102 persons; in the place where Jesus is said to have made water into wine, Israeli bombs wrought a different sort of transformation. In the distant, picturesque port of Hamburg, a young graduate student studying traditional architecture of Aleppo saw footage like this on the news [graphic]. He was consumed with anguish and the desire for revenge. As soon as Operation: Grapes of Wrath had begun the week before, he had written out a martyrdom will, indicating his willingness to die avenging the victims, killed in that operation -- with airplanes and bombs that were a free gift from the United States. His name was Muhammad Atta. Five years later he piloted American Airlines 11 into the World Trade Center. (Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 307: "On April 11, 1996, when Atta was twenty-seven years old, he signed a standardized will he got from the al-Quds mosque.l It was the day Israel attacked Lebanon in Operation grapes of Wrath. According to one of his friends, Atta was enraged, and by filling out his last testament during the attack he was offering his life in response." ).

On Tuesday, the Israeli military shelled a United Nations school to which terrified Gazans had fled for refuge, killing at least 42 persons and wounding 55, virtually all of them civilians, and many of them children. The Palestinian death toll rose to 660.

You wonder if someone somewhere is writing out a will today.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Speaks

BAN KI-MOON CONDEMNS ISRAEL'S ATTACK ON U.N. AID CONVOY IN GAZA

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemns the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) firing on a United Nations aid convoy in Gaza, the killing of two UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) contract workers and the injuring of another. Since the conflict began 13 days ago, four UNRWA local staff have been killed. The United Nations is in close touch with the Israeli authorities about full investigation of this and other incidents, and about the need for urgent measures to avoid them in the future.

• The Secretary-General calls once again for an immediate ceasefire in order to facilitate full and unhindered humanitarian access, and to allow aid workers to work in safety to reach persons in need. UNRWA has been forced to suspend food distribution as it cannot guarantee the safety of its staff. The inability of the United Nations to provide assistance in this worsening humanitarian crisis is unacceptable.


SECRETARY-GENERAL APPEALS URGENTLY FOR A BINDING AGREEMENT TO END VIOLENCE IN GAZA

• The Secretary-General continues his around-the-clock efforts with world leaders to achieve an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. He is appealing urgently to the Security Council to come to a binding agreement to this effect, so this devastating violence can be brought to an end.

• Those efforts continued this morning with calls to Prince Fahd, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, and he is trying to reach Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Yesterday, the Secretary-General's many discussions included meetings with the U.S. Secretary of State and the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, Egypt, France, Jordan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

• On the ground, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reports that the situation is dire, with one million persons at least in Gaza without electricity and 750,000 persons without water. All the hospitals in Gaza are running on emergency generators 24 hours a day.

• UNRWA has food supplies for some days, not weeks. The Agency underscored the problems it has in distributing aid. In addition to the attacks on its own personnel, UNRWA says that the only company authorized to pick up and distribute goods in Gaza has also had its personnel shot at twice over the past 24 hours.

• UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres this morning told the Security Council, in an open meeting, his concerns that Gaza's civilian population is not allowed to flee to safety elsewhere. He reasserted his call for a strict adherence to humanitarian principles in and around Gaza, including respect for the universal right to seek and receive asylum.

• Meanwhile, the World Health Organization, in a press release, says that health services in Gaza are on the verge of collapse, if steps to support and protect them are not taken immediately.

• UNICEF said it used today's three-hour cease-fire to provide some 560 family water kits and five health kits to families in Gaza.

• And, in a letter to Israel's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka requested that the Israeli Government ensure immediate access for international journalists into Gaza. He recalled Security Council resolution 1738, in which the Council urged all parties involved in situations of armed conflict to respect the professional independence and rights of journalists.

• In response to a question, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General supports the call from UNRWA for an independent investigation into the Tuesday attack on the school in the Jabaliya Camp which he had qualified as "totally unacceptable".


BAN KI-MOON CONDEMNS FIRING OF ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL

• The Secretary-General strongly condemns the firing of rockets against Israel from southern Lebanon on 8 January. Israel Defense Forces returned fire with several artillery rounds directed at the location from where the rockets originated.

• The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is investigating the circumstances of the incident in close cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces.

• The Secretary-General is relieved that today's incident did not escalate and urges both parties to exercise maximum restraint. He takes this opportunity to remind the parties of their obligation to fully adhere to Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and respect the cessation of hostilities agreement.

• UNIFIL today confirmed that at least three rockets were fired into Israel from the general area of Tayr Harfa, in south Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Forces returned fire with a few artillery rounds directed at the location from where the rockets originated. In coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces, UNIFIL has taken immediate measures to identify the perpetrators of this attack. There has been no claim of responsibility.

• Additional troops have been deployed on the ground, and patrols have been intensified across UNIFIL's Area of Operations to prevent any further incidents. The Lebanese Armed Forces have also decided to deploy additional units in the south in order to further enhance security in the area.

• UNIFIL is investigating the circumstances of the incident, in close cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces.

• General Claudio Graziano, the UNIFIL Force Commander, is maintaining close contact with the parties and has called for maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation. The parties reassured the Force Commander about their continued commitment to maintain the cessation of hostilities, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1701.

• Asked whether Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the firing, the Spokeswoman noted media reports suggesting that. Asked whether the Secretary-General believes, following what happened in Lebanon, that the violence in Gaza is threatening peace and security in the region, Montas said that the UN Secretariat was assessing the situation. So far, she added, the incident in southern Lebanon was believed to be limited.