mousemusings

The President's fans

2007-08-28T02:23:00.001-04:00

The President's fans
Originally uploaded by Lynn.

The President's fans
Outside Mayor Larry Abraham's ranch, where George W. Bush attended a fund raiser today for Senator Pete Domenici, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The caption says these people are "fans" of Bush. But just looking at the picture, there is no way to tell if they really are fans. There are many reasons to pray for someone.

Lone Protester

2007-08-28T02:20:00.001-04:00

Lone protestor
Originally uploaded by Lynn.

Outside Mayor Larry Abraham's ranch, where George W. Bush attended a fund raiser today for Senator Pete Domenici, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Weathervane on Gazebo

2007-07-18T01:33:00.001-04:00

IMG_0008
Originally uploaded by Joseph j7uy5

One of the first pictures with the new camera. "You don't need a weatherman."

Casual?

2007-07-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

He calls it casual. Let's make it serious.
This should be a concern to all Americans and the future of our Constitution regardless of partisanship or petty politics.

Dear Ms. Roy:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for
the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney. It is good to
hear from you, and I appreciate having the benefit of your views.

As you may know, H.Res 333 was introduced in the House
by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) that would bring
impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney. There is
no cause at this time to consider impeachment proceedings against
the Vice-President. He has served this nation honorably and to the
best of his ability. Furthermore, the casualness with which
impeachment is thrown around simply for partisan purposes over
policy differences should be a concern to all American's and the
future of our politics.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me on this issue. I
am glad you have let me know this is an important issue for you.
Please continue to call, write, or email me with any other questions
or comments. Visit my website at http://pearce.house.gov to find
out what I am working on in Washington, or where you can find
me around in New Mexico.

Sincerely,

STEVAN PEARCE
Member of Congress

Another Act of Madness?

2007-06-15T00:22:00.000-04:00

The US didn't bother to listen to the IAEA before attacking Iraq. Has anything changed to make me think that we wouldn't continue the madness? When ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA says attacking Iran would be an act of madness, does the US stuff sand in everyone's ears again and attack like a bunch of cowards, or do they finally grow up and discuss events diplomatically? My money, or lack of, has to go with recent past history, the madmen still have the power. Until the people take the power away none of us are safe.

Datura

2007-06-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

Jimson Weed, growing in my yard
The Sacred Datura, A Grim Fairy Tale

No minimum wage or overtime for Home Care workers

2007-06-12T23:59:00.000-04:00

Businesses are not required to pay the federal minimum wage or overtime pay to workers who provide home care services for the elderly and the infirm, says the Supreme Court.

What does this say about the quality of care my mother receives if I hire a home care worker for respite care? I pay the business $16.95 an hour. 'Government lawyers told the Supreme Court in April that the goal is ensuring that the elderly who most need home care service receive it "at a reasonable cost."'The worker is lucky to get one third of that.(?) Of course the company has a CYA requiring me to sign a contract saying I won't negotiate private care with any worker they send out.

No More Blood For Oil

2007-06-12T00:11:00.000-04:00

Kucinich Presidential campaign unveils first TV spot, 'No more blood for oil'
produced by the campaign's in-house creative staff, headed by Chad Ely, National Media Director, and video editor Eric Blumrich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRl4YLVW0b4

Just Read This

2007-06-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

I want you to just imagine this. Just imagine if the US were to do this.
To even think that it could happen, no, to even think that it might happen, almost shuts my brain down making me unable to imagine the aftermath.
Excerpt below, but read it all to understand the players and the game.

The neocons have changed US war doctrine, which now permits the US to preemptively strike with nuclear weapons a non-nuclear power. Neocons are forever heard saying, "what's the use of having nuclear weapons if you can't use them."

...) Many US military officers are horrified at what they think would be the worst ever orchestrated war crime. There are reports of threatened resignations. But Dick Cheney is resolute. He tells Bush that the plan will save him from the ignominy of losing the war and restore his popularity as the president who saved Americans from Iranian nuclear weapons. With the captive American media providing propaganda cover, the neoconservatives believe that their plan can pull their chestnuts out of the fire and rescue them from the failure that their delusion has wrought.

The American electorate decided last November that they must do something about the failed war and gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress. However, the Democrats have decided that it is easier to be complicit in war crimes than to represent the wishes of the electorate and hold a rogue president accountable.

The prospect of nuking Iran doesn't seem to disturb the three frontrunners for the Republican nomination, who agreed in their June 5 debate that the US might use nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.

What to Do?

2007-06-03T12:44:00.000-04:00

I am really not sure what I want to do about this, but I have a case. I'm certain of that.
From the EEOC: Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities Thank you Amy Joyce, who is Looking Out for the Caregivers

Shopping with Elizabeth Kucinich

2007-05-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

I like it when people walk the talk and that's what Dennis Kucinich has always been about. His wife Elizabeth went shopping with a reporter from Cleveland's Plain Dealer. She also walks the talk. There is no reason to be wasteful even if you are a potential first lady, or maybe I should say, especially if you are a potential first lady. In the spotlight, setting an example, and even tolerating a Plain Dealer reporter, a publication never kind to Kucinich, Elizabeth gave tips on buying gently used clothing.
I think it's about time the US had an interesting, resourceful first lady who has a kind heart, is beautiful, and chooses to share her vision.
Imagine. What exciting changes could be, if only the people in the US could get beyond their ridiculous obsession with her husband's height.
My father was even shorter than Dennis Kucinich, but he was huge in my eyes.

Senators Who Need to Be Booted

2007-05-25T12:05:00.000-04:00

NY Times has the list, Senate Roll Call on Iraq Spending.
Mine are on the list, are yours?

More About the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive- NSPD 51 and HSPD-20

2007-05-23T00:15:00.000-04:00

can be found here: New presidential directive gives Bush dictatorial power

and here: Bush To Be Dictator In A Catastrophic Emergency

There isn't 4 years to waste before Congress finally begins to take a stand against this. We wasted that much time and untold lives getting someone to begin taking a stand on Iraq. With this, there won't be a country to take back from a reactive, not a proactive, power hungry liar.

Think of this as PNAC 2.

Bush Appoints Himself Dictator

2007-05-21T19:34:00.000-04:00

In case of a catastrophic emergency as outlined in "National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51" and "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20."

It defines a "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function."It defines a "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function."

I suppose he could embrace global warming and instantly become dictator, or more likely, when the economy sputters due to his irresponsible policies he will be in complete charge of all branches of government.

Contrasts

2007-05-20T23:18:00.000-04:00

by Carol Warner Christen

...look what we have done. Look hard and closely because much cannot be undone without a serious reality check. I hear excuses for not listening, not changing. I hear people avoiding reality to wallow in whatever their favorite distraction may be. I see women degraded beyond belief. I see children shot as "collateral damage." I see piles of rubble. I see an occupation without honesty called a war. I see soldiers ignored for their injuries, denied healing funds and doctors. I see denial as if everyone were a practicing saint praying, preying. I see laws justified, such as "for every action, there is an opposite, but equal, reaction" as the center of our country is devastated again and again by storms and our rubble piles up, too, pitifully evening the score.

There is a story about the blind leading the blind. Where are the great ones of humanity? They are dead, many shot to silence them. Are you lost in the crowds? Lost for want of an audience? Lost for want of time, of life, of love? Life is a process of creation. Are we lost for want of imagination except for weapons and games and profit? Radical complexity has filled space and time; one man is testing its opposite.

More Comes Out In US Attorney Scandal

2007-05-20T21:41:00.000-04:00

I don't know if this is the real crux of the story, or just a sideline, but it sounds bad. The McClatchey Newspapers Washington Bureau is reporting that one attorney's efforts to curb voter fraud were so vigorous as to threaten voting rights.

Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article.

Writing as "Publius," von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was "no evidence" that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately.

Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters.

"Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

The article goes on to say that research into the severity of any problem with voter fraud suggested it is not a big problem, but the final report suggested that to say that "a great deal of debate" surrounded the subject. In fact, the study said no such thing. The study also showed that voter ID laws suppress minority voter turnout, but that finding was rejected. Why even do the study?

Of course, true voting rights proponents know that the more serious issue is not with voter fraud, but with election fraud. Voter fraud occurs when individual voters cast illegitimate votes. It is hard to swing an election that way. Election fraud occurs when insiders deliberately alter the voting or tallying process. If someone is truly worried about the validity of our election process, it is the potential for election fraud that needs attention.

Wasting Time

2007-05-18T18:10:00.000-04:00

"I really did expect that the president would accept some accountability for what we're trying to accomplish here." Harry Reid

No, accountability has to be forced onto people like Bush. Impeach!

Hello! Somebody Help Me!

2007-05-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

"Hello, somebody help me!"
I used to hear those words often, over and over again when I was a kid while doing volunteer work in a nursing home. I would hear them when I was older as I visited every inpatient floor in the hospital while I added the lab reports that had been generated for the day into each patients chart.
It seemed there was always someone yelling those words. More often than not, the nurses ignored them. I wondered why, but I didn't question.

The answer is cruelly apparent to me now as I force myself to ignore the same pleas from my mother.

Over the past two weeks a new and mysterious sensation seems to have overtaken my mom's world, and subsequently my own. She seems to think that she needs to pee constantly. Constantly, means 30 minutes to an hour intervals, and, even on occasion, more frequently than that. Though she has been treated for two UTI's in the past 6 months, there is no infection now. Even when she had the UTI's she didn't have these symptoms and had been quite content to leak urine into her 'padded panties' during the 6 months I've been here, interspersed with normal requests to go to the bathroom.

With her immobility this means I have to take her to the bathroom each time she yells to go. That leaves virtually no time for me to go outside to water the plants, take a shower, or think about going to the store.

I decided I would test it one day and refused to take her, telling her, 'If you need to go that bad and can't pee in your depends, you'll have to find you own way to the bathroom'. She did! She hasn't done that in more than two years as a rule. It isn't safe, because even with all the railing in the bathroom that my dad installed, she is still a fall risk, but what that did tell me, pointedly, is that the sensation she's getting is very compelling. Most often when she gets to the bathroom, she really doesn't have to go. No surprise there, but try as I might, I just can't get her to make the connection.

It's one thing to her if the urine leaks into her pull-ups, but quite another thing for her to 'try' to pee into her pull-ups. I can understand that. I don't think I could make myself pee my pants either if there were any other option in my surroundings.

The biggest problem comes at nap time. She used to take 3-4 hour naps. Now she is waking in an hour having to go to the bathroom and yelling, 'Hello, somebody help me!'

I have tried everything. Yesterday I even made a sign to set by her clock that read 'Cyndy will be back at 3:30'. I silently refused to go in there until 3:30 while she yelled for and hour and a half. I had really hoped she would eventually give up and go back to sleep. Of course when I did get her up, she didn't produce any urine because it had already leaked out, yet that sensation was still there and she continues her bathroom trips hourly.

We have a prescription now to help deaden the sensation, but it doesn't appear to be working yet, after two days. I'll give it a few more days and hope.

I have set up my own little refuge in the garage where I can go to get away from the yelling, and I'm forcing her to undertake the risky habit of taking herself to the bathroom late in the day when my patience is spent in the hopes that she will wear herself out, give up, and try the depends.

I fully understand now why there is always that old person in the nursing home yelling, "Hello! Somebody help me!'. The nurses have tried. They can't help.
They probably dream those words at night, like I do.

A Fresher Democracy

2007-05-14T23:22:00.000-04:00

Click on the photo to send a handful to your congressmen. I did.

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-13T11:00:00.000-04:00

Heh! Yeah right.
I won't bother. First, because it wouldn't be sincere, and second, because I'm her servant named 'somebody', not her daughter.

Extremist Lunatic

2007-05-11T18:24:00.000-04:00

Dick Cheney warns Iran from deck of aircraft carrier in Gulf
We are being led by a bunch of madmen, with this guy, (whom none of America wants) acting like we all stand behind him. Impeach.

Evil Bobby, Fighting Evil With Evil

2007-05-11T14:28:00.000-04:00

Evilish Eclectic.
He finds video clips that are completely off the wall and spreads his evil all over the world.

If I saw a skinny guy like the aleksey vaynerof this video benching 400+ pounds, I would never hire him. The way he lifted that weight, he was probably having a small stroke. Repeat that many times, and you have yourself a life long Republican.

Supporting What Troops?

2007-05-11T14:04:00.000-04:00

Long excerpt from William Rivers Pitt "Two Hearings, One Reality"

Another hearing took place on Capitol Hill yesterday that was truly chilling to observe. Representative John Murtha's (D-Pennsylvania) Subcommittee on Appropriations heard testimony from two investigators whose work has been focused on the phenomenon of private military contractors in Iraq. The first to give testimony was Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army." The second witness was Robert Greenwald, a documentary filmmaker who recently released a new film titled "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers."

Both men painted a stark picture of reality in Iraq. According to Scahill, there are tens of thousands of private military contractors - a kind euphemism for mercenaries - operating today in Iraq. They are paid with American tax revenues to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while operating with virtually no oversight and free from the strictures of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Dozens of acts of brutality and murder reportedly committed by these contractors have been alleged, but almost no contractor has been punished, sanctioned or even investigated for these acts. Because the Iraqi population does not make the distinction between American soldiers and these private contractors, the questionable activities of these contractors are blamed on US troops, further fanning the flames of outrage and vengeance.

Even more disturbing was the testimony offered by Greenwald. Some excerpts:

I remember clearly my interview with Stewart Scott, a former Halliburton employee. With pain and rage in his voice, he asked how dare Halliburton put its people up at five-star hotels while the soldiers, who he was there to help, were sleeping on the ground. I did not believe him at first, but then he began naming the hotels and the locations. It was all true.

I also spoke with Shane Ratliff, a truck driver from Ruby, South Carolina. He saw Halliburton advertising a job for truck drivers in Iraq and he signed up. When Shane started telling me that empty trucks were being driven across dangerous stretches of desert, I assumed he was mistaken. Why would they do that? Then he explained that Halliburton got paid for the number of trips they took, regardless of whether they were carrying anything. These unnecessary trips where putting the lives of truckers at risk, exposing drivers and co-workers to attack. This was the result of cost-plus, no-bid contracts.

Another young Halliburton worker named James Logsdon told me about the burn pits. Burn pits are large dumps near military stations where they would burn equipment, trucks, trash, etc. If they ordered the wrong item, they'd throw it in the burn pit. If a tire blew on a piece of equipment, they'd throw the whole thing into the burn pit. The burn pits had so much equipment they even gave them a nickname: "Home Depot."

The trucker said he would get us some photos. And I naively asked, how big are they, the size of a backyard swimming pool? He laughed and referred to one that he had seen that was 15 football fields large and burned around the clock! It infuriated him to have to burn stuff rather then give it to the Iraqis or to the military. Yet Halliburton was being rewarded each time they billed the government for a new truck or new piece of equipment. With a cost-plus contract, the contractors receive a percentage of the money they spend. As Shane told me, "It's a legal way of stealing from the government or the taxpayers' money." These costs eat up the money that could be used for other supplies.

Cost-plus, no-bid contracts are hopelessly undermining our efforts and costing the taxpayers billions. They do not operate within a free-market system and have no competition, but instead create a Stalinist system of rewarding cronies. In a letter from Sgt. Jon Lacore talking about the enormous amount of waste, he said, "I just can't believe that no one at all is going to jail for this or even being fired or forced to resign."

They're Not Benchmarks

2007-05-11T13:25:00.000-04:00

So, after destroying their country, occupying it for years, slaughtering perhaps a million citizens, driving millions more to flee the country, and generally ruining their society, while dumping hundreds of billions of US dollars into war profiteering corporations pretending to reconstruct Iraq, we're going to demand that the Iraqis shell out $10 billion to pay for the reconstruction themselves. Or else, you guessed it, we'll leave and allow them to begin ending their nightmare without our "help".

Why Have a Constitution?

2007-05-09T13:39:00.000-04:00

Jack Lessenberry says, "So Maybe I Was Wrong"

Quite possibly, I may have been thinking too much like a political insider, or a wimp, or both. The fact is that the simpering George W. and his sidekick Dick clearly deserve impeaching, if anyone ever did. Not only that, there seems to be more sentiment to throw the bums out than official Washington knows.

I'm glad to see Jack come around. Now, what can be done about the wimpy political insiders of 'official Washington'? How can they continue to have sand in their ears? Does the money lining their pockets render them deaf? Do they not try to keep feelers out for public sentiment?
It's quite easy to see the sentiment if one is looking for it. The interest in Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel is escalating. They need to look at Technorati on occasion. MSNBC needs to pay attention to their polls. It's very clear the people want change and they want big change. It's also clear they see value in the Constitution.

Dave Lindorff writes:

Suing Bush over a signing statement, given the number of Federalist judges that this administration has named to the federal district and appellate courts, and to the US Supreme Court, is not just an exercise in futility; it is a dangerous tactic which could backfire disastrously by leading to a ruling that it’s perfectly constitutional for a president to ignore laws passed by the Congress. Does Pelosi really want to risk such a catastrophe?

Yes, Pelosi would probably like to make it perfectly constitutional for future presidents to ignore laws passed by Congress. It would make the future newly elected Dem just that much more powerful, a tit for tat, if you will.
No need for Congress anymore, just a dictatorship as we apparently have now.

No, the blatant disregard for the Constitution must be dealt with in the manner provided for in the Constitution, by the Congress, assuming they want to keep the profession intact and viable. To do less assumes we don't care if the very Constitution remains intact and viable.