Thursday, July 31, 2008

...Revised in Secret and Signed on Wednesday...


And even the Republicans aren't buying it this time!

July 31st, 2008 5:24 pm
Bush orders expands role for national intel chief

Associated Press

President Bush's new executive order revising rules for intelligence agencies expands the national intelligence director's powers and may further erode the CIA's traditional autonomy.

The order, revised in secret and signed Wednesday, is drawing criticism from civil liberties groups and even lawmakers from the president's own party.

House Republicans on the intelligence committee walked out of a Thursday morning briefing by the national intelligence director, Mike McConnell, on the order to protest what they consider the White House's pattern of disrespect for congressional oversight......

You know, I'm going to vote for Barack Obama because it's the right thing for me to do. But I hope that McCain wins. We deserve McCain. And McCain deserves the stinking cesspool that the Bush Administration has made of our land and our laws. I may not believe in Gods, but I sure as hell believe in penance. And it looks like it's past time to pay the piper.

Speaking of paying the piker....oops, I mean 'piper', please follow this link to our friend, Rich Simon, over at SCORP10N BOWL to see how Exxon has posted the largest corporate profit in history, once again.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Let's Give a Warm TacomaGal Welcome To....


.....Cherry Bomb!


Our new commentator is a person who's skilled in health care and is enthusiastic about trips to the seaside, dinner and a movie, and cats (and dogs!). So what makes her different from the rest of us old (sorry, Cath) battle axes on TacomaGal? Politics, that's what! She's here to temper the blasts, balance the scales and provide a much-needed point of view. She's well-read, well-informed and intelligent. (And she's still a Conservative....I can't figure that out...)

Hail to thee, Cherry Bomb.

- Maggie

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

There are a Lot of Uses for Cheez Whiz....

.....but it looks like they may have missed one.

Poor P.Z. Myers over at 'Pharyngula' has been taking a beating because he doesn't believe that a soda cracker can be endowed with special powers. He's been rude to a flat, dry sliver of dough. (By the way, I happen to know a devout Roman Catholic who keeps Holy Water in an old Sprite bottle. She's Dutch and very frugal, but what could be ruder than that?) If you are so inclined, please visit him at his site and support his impudence. Big time religion is in a little need of disrespect.

My comment to P.Z. Myers at Pharyngula:

(I'm comment # 349)

You know, if you hadn't thrown out that cracker, you could have sprayed some Cheez Whiz on it and had a delicious snack.

In my youth I was forced to partake of many a communion wafer. The Nuns told us that we weren't allowed to chew it. Indeed, if our teeth even touched it, it would be a sin. It seems you're not supposed to bite the body of Christ, you're supposed to let him melt in your mouth like M&Ms. Sadly they were made of some sticky, styrofoam-like substance that simply wouldn't dissolve. You don't know how many times I had to pry the body of Christ off the roof of my mouth with my finger!

- Maggie

Posted by: Lois Carneiro | July 30, 2008 5:07 PM

HAH !!!


And about time too!

"House Panel Votes to Cite Rove for Contempt."

Of course this all depends on whether 'Pontius' Pelosi decides to allow a final vote. She is quoted in this same article as saying, "I will be asking Chairman Conyers to consider legislation to ensure that the politicization of hiring of career employees at the Justice Department never happens again," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.

And then she went to dry off her hands.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Fargin' Brilliant!!

The Odd Weed and A Little Blow...
Perfect.
You know, 1000 years from now the whole Obamessiah epic will be inscribed somewhere and it will be taken for truth...which it is, I guess.
I loved the opening picture of GWB.

...From the Ancient Land of the Hooligans.....


This is pretty funny. I mean, I'm going to vote for the guy, but this is still pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com

- Maggie

Some inadequate ramblings on Hate


This guy probably goes to church--he's probably a christian.
For some sensible remarks on the subject see Rich Simon's Blog for July 29th:
Ever since humankind came to be we've been singling out groups and races and religions to hate and blame for our failings. Do we ever consider that the difficulty is the hate and blame itself?
Well, of course it is. Not to make sweeping generalizations but the fundamentalist, conservative, radical right wingers who are always carrying on about accountability and responsibility are really REALLY good at finger pointing and blaming everyone one else for their troubles. You've got to start with yourselves, people. How about some self reflection?
Probably not.
There's no end to the harm we do to each other eon after eon. Maybe some scientist can locate this intrinsic madness on the genome and find a treatment. God knows that religion hasn't been able to get a grip on it. Look at the 7 deadly sins. You'd think that a list like that would mean something to people who'd 'got' religion. But it seems that if you start to feel lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy or pride you're supposed to make someone else dead and not to feel for a moment that it's your own soul that's being killed.
What a bunch of dopes we are.
Well, all except me...

Monday, July 28, 2008

If You're Unemployed, Shoot Unitarians.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/28/jim-d-adkisson-charged


Or, if you've got some other bug up your ass, you can shoot little Amish school girls. It's really the only logical course of action.

I know nothing about this man. My guess is that he was begotten of cowards, raised by bigots, and listened to Rush Limbaugh. A LOT. I wonder if he would have attacked those Unitarians with only a knife, or with his bare hands as weapons. I don't think so. He brought a shotgun, his own personal weapon of mass destruction, because he was entitled and those liberals deserved it! Men, women and children who had the audacity to stand up for Gay Rights and the ACLU were blasted into beyond because this guy figured that somehow, they were cheating him out of something.

What builds a mind like that? My sister and I were raised by a bigot. A ranting, reactionary bigot who came from a long line of bigots and/or insane people. How did we turn out to be merely garden-variety neurotics? Were we saved by our patrilineal blood?

And is this guy truly insane or just pissed off? I think he's just pissed off. He knew well enough that he shouldn't walk into a police station or the local chapter of the NRA before he swung up that gun and started firing. If it hadn't been the Unitarians, it would have been a kindergarten. Prick bastard!

- Lois Carneiro (mkampp@yahoo.com)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Neil Speaks


We have received a reply from our Esteemed Leader:

Dear TacomaGals,
Thank you for your kind words. I try hard to bring the universe down to Earth. I am glad to learn that I occasionally succeed, even when I am wearing a tuxedo.
All the best, on Earth and in the universe
NDTyson
He did not apologize for the tuxedo, however.
But you've got to love a guy who hasn't let academia lash him to the deck, so to speak. He's all enthusiasm and energy and go Go GO...Neil hasn't forgotten that we are capable of thinking a new thought. Neil doesn't want to think about the old "Glory Days" ---he wants to look forward to new ones.
Come here, people!! Listen up!! It's time to turn our faces once more to the sun.

The Smartest, Loopyest, Most Wonderful Man in The Universe

Neil degrasse Tyson

Watch Parts 1 & 2:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J3mudwgz18&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxZxPSad77U&feature=related

This man knows progress when he sees it---and he's not seein' it!!
We've got to wise up.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Randy Pausch July 25, 2008


Now this is a subject close to my heart. I spent 20 years as an Oncology Certified RN working out there with patients and families. Treating, advising, educating, coordinating and advocating through the course of therapy.
Hard work for everyone concerned. Patients would ask us how we could do it everyday and I and all the staff at the clinic would reply words to this effect: "...because you give us hope, because we want to walk this road as well as you are walking it."
I loved being an Oncology RN because after patients get a diagnosis of cancer all the bullshit falls away. You deal with people on a full, rich level--the laughs are incredible. Living life on the edge is such a rush.
Randy Pausch was a guy who took advantage of living on the edge. He did all the things he wanted to do. He believed--and you should believe too--that cheating the reaper is not living longer but living deeper and loving and teaching and laughing and crying a little and making sure your bills are paid and your family is cared for.
Don't deny death--it is out there for everyone of us. Work with it, use it, dance with it--all the people you love are watching you and are going to have to do this dying thing too. Teach them well.
Teach them like Randy did and continues to do through his book and lectures.

Oil, Contraception, Torture, Obama as JFK (?)


Under All That Ice, Maybe Oil




Arctic Has Riches



Ok, and what's this T. Boone Pickens thing? All of a sudden he's going on about wind power. Where's he been up until now? Wind power isn't new.

An what's with BMW and Honda? All of a sudden--alacazam--Hydrogen Cars!! Where were these companies 10 years ago? Were they strong-armed into silence by their respective governments? Or were they just making their last few oil pesos while they could?

Hydrogen vehicles aren't new either but it wasn't cost efficient to make them for the general public for some reason.

A girl can't take a week off....

CONTRACEPTION=ABORTION: this from Hermana:

"And did you hear that GWB is introducing a bill that would define oral contraceptives and IUDs as forms of abortion? I think he's just f****** with us now. He's figuring that he's either got six months left in office OR he'll be 'elected' Dictator-for Life, so he's just going to sc***us up as much as he can in case of either event. Jerk! " - Maggie

The only way I'll go along with the abortion/contraception thing is if all women of childbearing age are issued carry permits & Brugger and Thomet machine pistols and none of this cr** about "he wasn't going to kill you he was only going to rape you."

OBAMA--was his Germany Speech on a par with JFK's? That's what I hear. Hmmm...words, words, words...

WATERBOARDING FOR CHRIST--Let's talk about torture. This from a previous conversation with Tia Hermana:

"I'm having a hard time deciding what to blog about--everything is so wacked.
I'll just have to pick a subject and run with it.
Yes, I heard about the whole contraception/abortion thing. This is a a hot button issue that people respond to violently--the voters can be swayed by right to life and prolife issues. And you know what...not one of those b**** on Capitol Hill gives a s*** about who lives or dies. They'd all sc*** their grandmothers to the wall for a vote.
And torture--that's another thing. I'm sure there's torture in the bible but does Christ approve of it? There's nothing in that book about Jesus waterboarding anyone.
I'm pissed off. "
-LINDA

See Christopher Hitchens on the Waterboarding Experience:http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens

Simulated torture--that's a new concept for me.

Yes, I just jumped back into reality. I'll be cohesive again soon.

Friday, July 18, 2008

'Phobos' and 'Deimos'


Or 'Fear' and 'Panic', if it sounds like Greek to you.

I got another one of those emails today. The instructions on the bottom request that I keep it going around until the November elections. No problem.

The email is as follows: (My reply is below, in italic.)

33 Senators Voted Against English as America 's Official Language on June 6, 2007.
On Wed. 6 June 2007, Colonel Harry Riley, USA , Ret. wrote:
Senators:
Your vote against an amendment to the immigration Bill 1348.... to make English America's official language is astounding.
On D-Day, no less, when we honor those that sacrificed in order to secure the bedrock, character and principles of America , I can only surmise your vote reflects a loyalty to illegal aliens.
I don't much care where you come from. What your religion is. Whether you're black, white, or some other color...male or female......Democrat, Republican or Independent....... But I do care when you are a United States Senator representing Citizens of America ...and Vote against English as the official language of the United States .
Your vote reflects Betrayal. Political Surrender. Violates Your Pledge of Allegiance. Dishonors historical principle. Rejects Patriotism. Borders on traitorous act ion and, in my opinion, makes you unfit to serve as a United States Senator...impeachment... Recall........Or other appropriate action is warranted, or worse.

Four of you voting against English as America 's Official Language are Presidential Candidates: Senator Biden, Senator Clinton, Senator Dodd and Senator Obama.

Four Senators vying to lead America, but won't, or don't, have the courage to cast a vote in favor of English as America's Official Language when 91% of American Citizens want English officially designated as our language.
This is the second time in the last several months this list of Senators have disgraced themselves as 'political Hacks'..... Unworthy as Senators and certainly unqualified to serve as President of the United States .

If America is as angry as I am, you will realize a backlash so stunning it will literally 'rock you out of your socks'......... And preferably totally out of the United States Senate.
The entire immigration bill is a farce... Your action only confirms this really isn't about America ... it is about self-serving politics......despicable at best. It has been said: 'Never Argue with an Idiot....They'll drag you down to their level!'
PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID:

'Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damages morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, quickly tried and hanged!!!'
PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING AROUND THE UNITED STATES UNTIL THE ELECTION IN NOVEMBER!

**********

My Reply:

What perfectly paranoid poop! I begin to understand why deaf people have become so defensive about not 'speaking' English.

Please take a glance at this detailed article on the subject which manages to make its point without calling anyone a 'saboteur'.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jwcrawford/question


- Maggie http://tacomagalblog.blogspot.com/

-Lois Carneiro

Unlike Little King George.....


.....I don't happen to have a lawyer. But if I did, I wish that other people's tax money would pay MY bills.


Glenn Greenwald has posted a terrific column today:

(Excerpt)
Look, what you have is a very smart attorney general who's trying to protect his client and that's the president of the United States, an executive privilege.
That is about as warped a view of how our Government is supposed to work as one can imagine. The core attribute of the Justice Department is independence, not allegiance to the President as "client." The President has his own lawyers in the White House Counsel's Office. The Attorney General is not and never was one of those lawyers. To the contrary, the Attorney General represents the people of the United States -- if he has any "client," that's who it is -- and is often required to take positions and actions adverse to the President. Few things could subvert -- and have subverted -- the American justice system more than thinking of the President as being the "client" of the Attorney General.

This all used to be so basic. But the belief that the DOJ exists to advance the interests and wishes of the President has become a central premise of how our Government now works. The Justice Department has been transformed into but another cog in the instruments of Government that protect and serve the President. And that transformation isn't unique to Alberto Gonzales (who, during a CNN interview while Attorney General, actually referred to Bush as "my client"), as The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin pointed out yesterday:

Such a sense of entitlement must be a quite a rush for Junior.


-Lois Carneiro

Thursday, July 17, 2008

There Goes Dennis, Being Brave Again.....


Maybe we should all try to be as brave as Dennis.

http://www.theseminal.com/
(Look for link to video of 7-17-08 at the top of the article.)

The question isn't whether the country can survive impeachment proceedings. The question is whether the country can survive WITHOUT impeachment proceedings. This administration has turned us into something slimy and small. Impeach this administration! Turn us back into a country that is proud to stand by it's principles.

- Lois Carneiro

Well then, we'll just have to be......


.....flamboyantly subversive! We'll apply for a Block Party permit and assemble just for the hell of it. We'll need lots of people carrying lots of signs: "No Blood for Oil", "Gay Rights", "Bring Back Habeas Corpus", "Hell No, We Won't Go", "Eat Cheese or Die", "Don't Tread On Me", etc.

I spent most of this hot day doing my pro bono nursing. Chemo in the morning and a consult for chronic lymphedema, secondary to a lymph node dissection. Kurt drags all of his sick friends to me. Poor people. He insists that they let me check them out. (I'm not the only one who brings home strays.) I'm thinking of hanging out a shingle.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

A Big D.C. Hello!

Good Afternoon, All. I have nothing special to report today.
And, by the way, I'm not in D.C., I'm in Tacoma, Wa, as usual.
People are actually reading our blog!!
And so far they seem to be intelligent...
Blessings on you all. Keep coming back to visit us and thanks for dropping by.
Well, what's in the news today...Big Brother says we can eat tomatos again. Hurrah!
Oil is down. Only $129.00 per barrel--we are allowed to be grateful.
Maryland State Police has been surveilling (so much better than watching--officers with Masters Degrees are authorized to surveil) Peace Groups and Groups opposed to the death penalty. No reason why, other than they were 'Groups'.
Pretty soon we won't be allowed to assemble.
And Seattle is selling its automated toilets--Seattleites are beyond the pale as far as dirt goes--not even an electronic toilet can part them from their grime.


Here are a couple of good sites regarding immigration:
http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/2008/

http://www.citizenorange.com/orange/2008/

Thanks again to those who stumble over us and actually take time to read something.

'Ethnic' Fest This Weekend.


Unless something stunningly funny happens over the weekend, I probably won't be posting until Tuesday. (I'll need Monday to recuperate.) And it's going to be Hot, Hot, HOT! And humid! Maybe I shall 'grow faint' and have to be sent home.....

Tuna is totally cowed by Duko. He's spent the last three days living under the TV, coming out only for 'essentials'. The problem is Jabba. If Tuna gets anywhere near him Duko goes straight into 'KILL' mode. And the baby likes to run after Tuna, so the poor guy is nervous as hell. Oh well, they're on their own this weekend.

- Maggie

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Photos from Point Defiance, Tacoma Wa












There. These are from Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Wa.
It was a beautiful day. About 75 degrees and low humidity. Sunny.
I may go Mount Rainier tomorrow or to Fidalgo Island. I've got to take advantage of this weather. The clouds could move back in anytime.



Wednesday! I'm Awake!!


It is really amazing what some sleep will do for you. I worked Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. All day yesterday I was incapable of functioning, I got home at 8AM, put on my pajamas, slept, watched TV, fed the cat, but was otherwise useless. This has been the case since I went back to nightwork last year. Pretty much useless all the time. Grouchy, lacking intiative.
But now I'm free! For the most part. I'll try not to work more than 2 nights in a row and always at least 3 off--that still leaves plenty of money-making time. Maximize the $$ and minimize the actual working time. So nights, weekends and holidays, but not all of them, will be mine--premium time.
I have some photos to put up (re:scrotums and such) but the blogger upload is being fussy.
I'll try again later

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Common Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus)


There just aren't any pretty pictures of male genitals on the internet. (I looked on Google Images but didn't click on any thumbnails because I didn''t want to get caught in a 'Pornado'.)

You asked when I first noticed that Sweden looks like a scrotum. I can't remember when it occurred to me, but I'm sure that it happened after I became a nurse. It looks like an old man's scrotum. Specifically, the whole of Scandinavia looks like elderly male genitalia.

That's the way of the world, I suppose. In this profession, you see more genitals than you can shake a stick at, so after a while they just seem to 'pop' out at you. But that doesn't explain why England and Scotland look like a witch riding a pig.

Phallus impudicus. What a perfect name.

- Maggie

Monday, July 14, 2008

P.S. re: Cupdate

The Biocup is looking wonderful. I'm going to get me a biocup, too.
Or maybe a terrarium. Do you remember the terrarium you made for Frank and I? It was beautiful and we had it for years.
It would be nice to have a living thing like that in the house. I'll have to get a full spectrum light, though. This place is cave-like. I can't make a plant grow.

Sleeping Woman


Too tired to post...
I'll be up and running again on Wednesday.
Sweden does look like a scrotum. Is it only you that noticed that, Mag?
Well, form follows function. What do you suppose they're so afraid of? You know, they have a lot to loose. Isn't Sweden kind of well off?
Mostly people who have a lot to loose get scared.
We, who have not much to protect, don't give a shit- we can afford to be libertarian and egalitarian and liberal and anarchist and things like that.
Oh but I'm tired. It's the middle of the month and I've worked 5 whole days...taxing, don't you know.
Per Diem is very good. Just show up, work and waltz out---oh, and collect paycheck.
I'm going to be more poor than I was before (good line, that). But it's sweet to stay home and bask in the sunshine.
I'll be back to my old self on Wednesday. I'm working tonite and its surgery day today--10 fresh joint replacements and 2 RN's all crying and having to pee (RN's as well).
But this RN doesn't have to go back for a week!!
Later...

Can't Sleep. (C)update Time.



Might as well do a tank update. (I consolidated the Cup stuff into the big cookie jar.)

It's been over two months now and life persists. It's pretty to look at, especially when it's 4:15 am and there's nothing on TV except infomercials. I wish, I wish, I wish I were a fish. It would be so nice just to swim around and not think.

- Maggie

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Dear New Yorker Magazine,

(I wrote this to The New Yorker Magazine today:)

You MAY be overestimating the comprehension of the average magazine buyer.


The average magazine buyer is going to pick up a copy of 'People' or "Auto World' or 'The Sporting News'. They're not going to buy the 'New Yorker'. But they'll see it sitting there on the rack and they'll take the image of your July 21st cover with them. without ever reading the accompanying article. Good choice!

Lois Carneiro
http://tacomagalblog.blogspot.com/

Anarchy Lite


This beautiful and glowing picture doesn't do justice to the good will and friendliness of the Tacoma Anarchists.
They're a friendly bunch...just trying to make a buck to bail their buddy out of jail.
Skinny kids dressed in black with tattos and piercings. Smiling, eating coffee and donuts.
Ah, well...
I guess I'll have to look around for some frothing-at-the-mouth anarchists and join them.
I did buy some books.
Anarchy 101 by Noam Chomsky
Something by Howard Zinn
And something else by a fella named Quinn.
I'll educate myself in the ways of the true anarchist and get back to you...

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Sweden Doesn't Look Like a Big Scrotum for Nothing!


They're in worse shape than we are, the poor dopes.
**********
From Google Today:
**********
To be fair to the Swedes, they're not taking this lying down:
".....An editorial in the liberal daily Dagens Nyheter likens Sweden to dictatorships around the world, warning that now all Swedes are deemed guilty until proven innocent. Even the editor of the conservative Svenska Dagbladet urged Swedish politicians to ‘think of Orwell and vote no’. The blogosphere protested wildly in the run-up to the parliamentary vote on the FRA law. Critical Facebook groups were created, including FRI (‘for freedom and rights on the internet’); several individuals and corporations planned ‘civil disobedience’ actions. The internet company Bahnof said that it would reroute all its traffic to ensure it does not fulfil FRA’s requirements for interception. The telecom company Telia Sonera moved its servers for Finnish traffic in order to protect the integrity of its Finnish customers....."
**********
We can't submit to this sort of abuse because if we don't stop it, it will escalate. What will be next? Barcodes tattooed on our foreheads? Chips implanted under our skin? Five years ago I would have labeled that sort of speculation as paranoid hysteria. Today, it seems like the sound of approaching thunder.
**********
- Lois Carneiro

The Red Cross Has Performed Above and Beyond


Please watch this video from MSNBC.
Lois Carneiro

Head ‘em up, Move ‘em out.


Regarding the Postville I.C.E. raid; I find it particularly distressing that the arrested immigrant workers were detained for processing at the cattle exhibit hall. How perfectly dehumanizing.

Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

ICE Raid

This is the tip of the outrage iceberg. I was going to the Anarchist Bookfair with a song in my heart today. To enjoy the fine weather and maybe get a picture of a police car photogenically parked. But now when I go my heart will be heavy and I'll be buying books to study and to learn from so these last years of my life are not wasted on typical old person retirement pursuits.
I'd like to do some good.

Please, someone who has some useful argument for this particular raid, let us know what your reasons are. We are always open to the humane and the sensible, so bring it here.

Why are we prosecuting and deporting people who actually WORK here?

This is interesting:
http://www.citizenorange.com/orange/2008/07/

This too:
The Children of Postville, Iowa
By kyledeb on May 18, 2008 4:25 PM Comments (41) TrackBacks (0)
Shuya Ohno, Director of Communication for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, flew into Iowa this weekend to help with the aftermath of the largest raid in the U.S. history. The New Bedford raid wasn't too far behind. Ohno sent me the following pictures and asked me to put them up on Citizen Orange:
My fingers ache trying to type out this entry because there is so much that is wrong here. Postville, Iowa, truly became POSTville after 389 people were yanked out of town with only 2,273 people in it. What about the employers you say? No officials at Agriprocessors have been charged.But these migrants were bringing down wages for U.S. citizens you say? The United Food and Commercial workers were actually in the process of trying to unionize people at the plant. There was also government investigation of labor law violations under way which probably would have resulted in officials at Agriprocessors being charged. But this fight isn't about statistics, or the law. This is a cultural war. This is attrition through enforcement. Nativists want migrants to suffer and the U.S. government is carrying out their wishes. That's why I ask any nativist reading this to look into the faces of the children above. These children have done nothing to deserve the suffering that you wish upon them. The only sin their parents committed was to pursue happiness in a nation that refuses to recognize their humanity.Read this from the Washington Post:
Half of the school system's 600 students were absent Tuesday, including 90 percent of Hispanic children, because their parents were arrested or in hiding.
Spencer S. Hsu - Washington Post (18 May 2008)As is always the case, most of these 300 now missing students were probably U.S. citizens. These children are not going away. They will grow up and remember the terror that the U.S. government put them through. Terror that other U.S. citizens stood by and watched.

Nation of Immigrants. Hearts of ICE.


Here's a good article, written by a government employed interpreter, who was present during the processing of almost 400 illegal immigrants in Postville, Iowa.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/


Here's a video of interviews from Postville citizens.

http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/

Both of these sources are definitely in sympathy with the immigrants and their families. (As am I.) But I'd like to find a more objective source to reference before I post. (Editors Note: I decided to post it without doing further research. I'll correct any factual errors that are brought to my attention.)

I continue to be amazed and disgusted by our antipathy to brown-skinned immigrants. Who were the workers who constructed the Transcontinental Railroad? They were Scots-Irish, Mexican and Chinese. The white Scots-Irish are fully integrated. The Mexicans and the Chinese are still being told, four generations later, to go back where they came from. (It's especially stupid to tell this to Mexicans, who had been here thousands of years before Colonial Europeans came, brokering land deals and delineating political borders.)

Just what middle-class family is willing to pick broccoli, or work on road crews, or as night janitors in office buildings? Just what jobs are immigrants stealing from us? They're working as cleaning women and nannies for wealthy citizens. They're picking peaches and lettuce. They're slaving away in kosher slaughterhouses, which are now in danger of closing down because the 'legal' replacement workers they hired have refused to work for the $10-$12 wages that the immigrants accepted. All they're doing is trying to provide for their families, to make their futures secure. 'Real' Americans are going to be in for a real shock when they find that the shelves in the stores aren't being stocked, that crops are rotting in the fields, that landlords, who housed immigrant workers, are being foreclosed upon due to an inability to pay their mortgages and property taxes. All those immigrants who shopped in our stores will no longer be paying sales taxes. All those immigrants who contributed to Social Security using false SSNs, with no hope of ever collecting, (due to their illegal status) will be gone.

This all in the name of Homeland Security. I may be wrong about this (and I'll check) but I think that everyone of the 9/11 hijackers was in the US legally. We're idiots.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Friday, July 11, 2008

Anarchists Are Such Innnteresting People!


Yeah, be sure to bring your camera to the Book Fair. I want to see some flamboyant anarchists. (They'll probable all be conservatively dressed librarians. Bummer.)

I feel very tired today. And I have many things that I should do. Maybe I'll feel more like it tomorrow.

Hey, did you see that Dennis Kucinich introduced a single Article of Impeachment yesterday (a really good one, too.) and Nancy Pelosi is considering that it be put 'on the table'? Also, the ACLU has brought suit against the new FISA Legislation. These are good things.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Notorious



So how exactly did you get to be so famous, Ms. Carneiro?

Linda OReilly comes up lots of times on Google--but none of them are me!!

Oh, to be notorious...

I Wish I Could Be There With You.


I'd look good in one of those 'Anarchy' T-shirts. Black has such a slimming effect.

I just wrote and asked you if you were at home, because I had something I really wanted to tell you or ask you. But now I can't remember what it was!!! Poop! I'm an OLD anarchist.

Oh, I remember. I wanted to tell you that I'm appending my REAL name to all my political posts. I just 'Googled' myself as 'Lois Carneiro' (thru Firefox) and I'm Number #1 on their page. Isn't that cool?
(I'm number one when I put my name into Google using Internet Explorer too. I just tried it.)

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Anarchists Amok


I don't go to Borders or Barnes and Noble since I discovered Amazon. I wonder if the chain bookstores have a Gay and Lesbian Section.
That book about the penguins is a true story, isn't it? I think it was damned decent of them to take that baby in.
Anyway, here's the rest of the blurb about the Anarchist Book Fair:

July 12 - 13 * 11 am - 5 pm. Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair.
Workshop topics include: yoga, consent, sailing, Tacoma ICE detention center awareness, Israel/Palestine conflict, and herbal medicine. More details will be added as they become available.
I bet they'll have a massage class. I'll give a full report on Anarchist Yoga.

Since We've Been Discussing Penguins...


.....this is the book you should get.

Children’s book on male penguins raising chick tops ALA's 2007 list of most challenged books

CHICAGO – For a second consecutive year, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s award-winning "And Tango Makes Three," a children’s book about two male penguins caring for an orphaned egg, tops the list of American Library Association’s (ALA) 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007.


If you really want to be subversive, buy it and then go put it in the 'Sexuality' section at your nearest Barnes & Noble. And while you're there, move all of Anne Coulter's books to 'Fantasy & Science Fiction'.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Don't You Mean.....?

.....that workshops will run amok throughout the two-day event? Hahahahahahaah!

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Anarchy - Right Here in Tacoma - Wow



July 12 - 13 * 11 am - 5 pm. King's Books. Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair.
The 2nd annual Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair will feature distributors and booksellers from around the region. Workshops will run throughout the two-day event.
Find out more.


The last time there was an anarchist bookfair in Tacoma the police got all feverish and shut it down.
This one is at King's Bookstore, right down the street from here. I'm going to be there with my camera and enough money to buy a book.
Which anarchist book shall I buy?
Just what is the last word in anarchy these days?

Tacomagal's Bureau Chief of Right-Wing Diatribes and Conservative Manifestos


Still waiting, Shempy.
You've got a lot to say so jump in here!

Damn Cat


I was trying to get an action photo of MuBai but he'd spent an hour this morning galloping around the house screaming while I was on the phone with the Hatchling.
Now he's in a coma.
So, here he is, actively sleeping.

Revolt


I'm not much of an organizer. But it is high time for a revolt.
Whatever happened to the children of the '60's?
They made money, I guess.
Money corrupts.
Well, I don't have any money. So, I'll think about lighting a fire under someone.
Paraguay, huh? That's where old Nazis go to die.

Having said all that, in my previous post, I do recognize that Gail Collins made some good points. So, although I think that we've been already been compromised up the wazoo, and that GWB is a stinker who has been planning his escape from prosecution since he bought his 100,000 acre ranch in Paraguay in 2006, I promise to keep my eyes open for penguins who're just acting like turncoats for the greater good.

I'll try not to let that perverse little corner of my mind hope for a McCain win. I'll try not to believe that what we need is a taste of revolution. I'll endeavour not to smile every time gas prices go up and congressional approval ratings go down. Really.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Military-Industrial Complex/Wall-E


Too much, too much, too much...
Con artists and scalawags. Maggie, you are so right about the Legal Depts of the Telecoms. I didn't think of that at all. They should've been all over it.
I wonder what the conversations were like amongst the corporation attorneys? Who wanted to dig in and fight and who wanted to duck and cover? And what were the reasons offered?
I went to see Wall-E last night--secondary to reading Frank Rich's Sunday column. There was an Industrial Complex--and there was spoon-feeding of comforting information to the populace (who just'ate it up' so to speak). While I watched it I was wondering what was being spoon fed into me. It's really hard to tell. All we know is what we read in the papers and godknows the newspapers only print whatever will bring in the readership--truth and lies artfully pieced together to confound and amuse. Pablum for the great unwashed (that would be us)
I value truth and honor. I know that a lie from time to time is well-advised. Like Gail Collins pointed out I realize that there are some things that must be fought for--but lately it's all about the money. Incredible, unbelievable amounts of money for people who already have much more than they need. Actually, this has always been the case--ever since people and money were invented--why are we always suprised and/or disappointed when governments screw their citizens over? It's a grand tradition, for heavens sake!
What can we the people do? Vote? That dosen't seem to work. Revolt? Americans are still too comfortable, we fear for our jobs and our measley retirements.
I guess we just keep stepping and posting to our Blog and pointing out the ridiculous and the criminal when it comes along---yes, lots of material for us.
I will stubbornly retain my sense of humor in the face of deceit. I'll keep posting and reading the news. If there's anything else I need to do you'll let me know, won't you?

Master Plan? Perhaps.




If I were a publisher of a funky, little blog, and I was ordered to provide the government with personal information about Eeyore or Cherry Bomb, I would refuse. (I know this has more to do with First Amendment Rights than 4th, but the principle holds.) They would threaten to throw my ass in jail. And that would be bad, but it would just be MY ass. I wouldn't be jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of innocent employees.

On the other hand, these telecoms are BIG companies and they're just chock full of legal counsels who have certainly heard of the 4th Amendment and the FISA Act . GWB could have gotten all the wiretaps and warrants he wanted and abided by FISA limitations at the same time. That he didn't, that he pretended that the rules didn't apply to him, time after time, was an action borne of arrogance and disrespect. He has now set a precedent, a prototype for others who will succeed him. What he has done needs to be declared unconstitutional, thus illegal.

From the Washington Post last week:

.....Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) continue to oppose the new legislation, as does Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). All Obama backers in the primary, those senior lawmakers contend that the new version of the FISA law -- crafted after four months of intense negotiations between White House aides and congressional leaders -- provides insufficient (FISA) court review of the pending 40 lawsuits against the telecommunications companies alleging privacy invasion for their participation in a warrantless wiretapping program after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"The immunity outcome is predetermined," Feingold wrote in a memo today.

Obama came down on the side of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who argued that a provision in the new law reaffirmed that FISA, and that act's courts, gives the final say over government spying. President Bush has argued that a war-time chief executive has powers that trump FISA.

"It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance -- making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law," Obama said today.

Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the most prominent Republican opponent of the compromise bill, issued a statement today calling that exclusivity provision "meaningless because that specific provision is now in [the] 1978 act." Specter said Bush just ignored existing law in starting the warrantless surveillance program.

The reason Barack/Pelosi support the compromise bill is that it contains a provision that was already there in the first place! (In other words, we get nothing new while George and his minions get immunity from prosecution.) Of course, Mr. Obama promises he will more strictly monitor intelligence operations, that these abuses should not occur in the future. So, it all comes down to whether or not we believe that promise.

Mr Nixon, whose illegal wiretapping of the DNC (Watergate) inspired the FISA Act, would be proud.

- Maggie (Lois Carneiro)

Contrition?


I read this article by Gail Collins:
She makes a good point--I hate being a reactionary and I certainly reacted to Obama's apparent betrayals.
Do you think that he went for the immunity issue because the Telecoms really had no where to turn on cooperation with the Gov't? If they didn't go along with George & Co. what would've happened to them; the ones who refused would've gotten the dirty end of some kind of stick. Would have been shut down; would have their bottom line compromised?
Hmmm, on one hand I hate it when any person or group of people compromises my standards.
On the other hand each Telecom employs thousands of US citizens and supplies services to millions of us. Capitulation to the Gov't saved jobs and services (and profits).
Rats, I hate gray areas.
Advise please.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Meet Jabba the Nutt

Jack was never a good name for him. I had to give him a quick name to take him to the Vet. (Somehow, 'Baby Boy' Kampp sounded creepy.) I told Kurt to give him a big name, one that reflects his confident and inquisitive personality. Kurt named him 'Jabba'. (I added 'the Nutt'). Jabba loves Kurt and follows him all around. This is good. I'm sure we'll have Shadow for a long time yet, but he's eleven years old now and won't last forever. Kurt needs a boy cat, and with Duko and Shadow raising him, Jabba will be a fine fellow. Cross your fingers that he doesn't develop the dreaded 'Callie' disease. No sign of it yet, No intention tremor, no problem eating. I hope, I hope.....

I was supposed to do my 2 month (C)update today, but I was too busy taking pictures of a black kitten lying on a navy blue comforter. (NOT EASY!) I'll do the (C)update tomorrow. But it'll be a tank update. I consolidated everything into the big jar. Those Seattle's Best cups aren't designed for long-term occupation.