"Hope is a good thing - maybe the best thing, and no good thing ever dies"

Stephen King

The latest news suggests that the Lieberman-Warner Coal Subsidy Act (theClimate InSecurity Act, CISA) has moved from critical condition to the morgue.  As it will require 60 votes to get past any threatened filibuster (not that the Senate Democratic Party leadership could force a filibuster on anyone other than their own Senators fighting for Americans' privacy rights),  corraling enough Senators to vote for even the CISA's inadequate measures looks to be an impossible task.  

It is now official: every single justification behind the Afghanistan War and its seeming never ending occupation have been disavowed - by the very politicos that have been not only responsible for the lauching and conduct of this war, but likewise by those who have been staunchly supporting this conflict.

In other words: the Afghanistan war was absolutely for nothing.

I hate change. Always have. If the patterns of my life have shown anything, it's been that change means giving up something out of the little that life/fate's left me with.  Normally, it's had little to do with losing much materialistically (truth be told, I've never had that much materialistically, nor did I ever want much), although I've let go of my share; mostly it's about giving up a parts of myself.

In many cases, it's been my pride; the lessons learned humbled me, hurt a lot, taught me well, and contributed much to my growth as a person. In some cases, it's been my dignity; those lessons hurt a lot and seasoned me.

The lessons that hurt the worst, jaded me far too much, and challenged me the very hardest were the ones that tested my integrity and contributed most to the person that I've grown into. I'm facing one of those now. I'm going home.

Much noise has been made re Barack Obama's former association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

A limited amount of noise, though worrisome enough, has been made of Hillary Clinton's association with Doug Coe, leader of the secretive "Family" group.

What has gotten surprisingly little coverage in the press--especially compared to the coverage of Obama and Wright (I'll grant the lack of exposure re Clinton's association because "The Family" is so darn secretive and only one person is really writing about them)--is John McCain's association with no less than John Hagee--a guy who thinks gay people are responsible for Hurricane Katrina, that reproductive rights caused the 11 September terror attacks, and wants to use the State of Israel and the world's Jewish population as a trigger for Armageddon.

Read on, and educate yourself...

On Wednesday, John McCain's home state Arizona Republic did some good excavation work in the ongoing demolition of the GOP nominee's maverick myth.  Analyzing his Senate voting record since 1999, the paper found McCain rarely strayed from the Republican Party line.  But that's only a small part of the unraveling of the McCain maverick fable.  As I previously detailed, John McCain in his eternal quest for the GOP nomination has repeatedly reversed long-held positions and compromised supposed core principles to curry favor with right-wing Republican primary voters.

Even though I've been a regular visitor here, I've never posted my own diary. However, as I see a lot of people wanting to help and the traditional way of helping (red cross, doctors without borders etc) are being hindered by the junta's red tape, stubboness, and paranoia, I'd like to suggest an alternative way of helping.

As a Burmese being in the States for 14 years, I believe I have a better understanding of what is happening. As is the case of 2005 tsunami, the military government is extremely weary of outsiders, regardless of the purpose of the visit. It (the ruthless regime machine) is also afraid of any single reporter that would return home and plaster a couple of pictures on the front page of Newsweek or Time magazine.

I am working with a group of Kossacks on a project to make a formal complaint to the US Commission on Civil Rights regarding bigotry, racial-stereotyping and hate speech in the media.

As you may know, one of the USCCR's commissioners, Micheal Yaki, has already called for immediate hearings on this matter.  However, Yaki, is a San Francisco Democrat, on a committee with four Presidential Republican nominees.

We fully intend to move forward with our complaint, but, we would like to know more about the other individuals on the Committee.  In addition to our own research, we would be thankful for any information you can provide, including biographical information, e-mail and telephone numbers.

Note: I have contacted the USCCR and asked for this information by phone and they have promised to get back with me--no surprise they have not.

I sent an e-mail requesting a formal complaint form.  No response.

When I first decided to run for the Congressional seat in New Jersey's Fifth District, I did it because I knew that I wanted to be a voice for the families of North Jersey who have not had a voice in Washington the past five years.

Tuesday night, I met with leaders of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, whose land was used as a dumping ground for industrial waste for nearly two decades, and are now left to deal with the after-effects of an industry which has since pulled its jobs, and the wealth that came with it, out of the community.

Some of the excruciating details of their plight can be found at this invaluable website, http://toxiclegacy.com/ .  

This is Johnny-Boy O'Smithy, reporting from CAPITAL CITY, U.S.A.! Newtman has just emerged from the Newt Cave to address a throng of his fellow Republican Superfriends about the growing threat of the evil Dr. Baracko, mad elitist muslim mastermind! I'm here with reporters from the L.A. Times, who earlier reportedthat Newtman today released his first Hero's Manifesto in years, to address the imminent approach of this terrible new supervillain!

The article is headlined "My Plea to Republican [Superfriends]: It's Time for Real Change to Avoid Real Disaster," and he warns that the Louisiana election is the latest bit of evidence that unless his party heeds his call, it is "going to suffer decisive losses this November."

He notes polls showing John McCain a potentially strong GOP presidential candidate, but then immediately argues that there is reason "that this extraordinary personal achievement should not comfort congressional Republicans."

He also cautions that if the problems afflicting the Republican "brand" persist, McCain's candidacy ...

could be doomed, as well.

It appears that any electronic communications by the president or his immediate staff during March through May 2003 are lost forever

On Monday evening, In a response to a court order, the White House's chief information officer (CIO) acknowledged that there are no backup tapes of emails sent or received by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) from the period coinciding with the start of the Iraq War (March 1, 2003 to May 22, 2003).  These emails were to be turned over due to a civil suit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a progressive watchdog group, and the National Security Archive, a non-profit research institution located within the George Washington University, in response to the levels of secrecy the Bush administration has imposed over items that are supposed to part of the federal record and available for review by the general public.

Seeing as it appears that Obama has pretty much wrapped up the nomination (Face it Hillary really has no hope of catching up at this point) and after being emboldened by the whopping five recommendations I received on my comment on this excellent diary by Dragon5616 Gulity pleasure (VP speculation) I am officially throwing my hat in the ring for Obama’s VP nomination.
Come on and jump the shark with me and see why I should be the VP!

    We all know that John McCain famously remarked that he didn't know much about economics. Given that, who are the people advising McCain? Today I've chosen three members of McCain's "Brain Trust" to highlight. Let's take a look:

Yesterday I wrote about the security guards who are striking at Kaiser Permanente because their contractor-employer is engaging in illegal tactics while trying to block them from forming a union.  The guards work for Inter-Con Security Inc., which is contracted by Kaiser to provide security services.

Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t

I'm on the run today, but want to get the latest from the DNC research department out there. Today's Daily Flipper has the following stories:  
Sen. John McCain is all mixed up on his wars
He needs to go back to health care 101
McCain Gets White House Sign Off Before Criticizing White House
McCain Wants World To Look The Other Way On Shady Connections
How Much Does McCain Love Nuclear Power - Billions of Giga-Bunches
Giuliani Having Trouble Raising Money for McCain

Read the full report in the Daily Flipper.  Flip it good.

 Farmers get health care via a variety of means, depending upon their means and quite often their spouse's employment. Itinerant farmhands dreaming of rearranging the world have even fewer options.

 I've felt pretty darned good these last few weeks, until I took a little tumble yesterday. Being inside has given me time to ponder the national shame that is our current health insurance system.

At least one high profile war critic sounds alarmed by a recent revelation that Mr. Bush signed a “secret finding” against “the Iranian regime” six weeks ago.  I’m frankly less than agog about it.

In a May 2 CounterPunch article, Andrew Cockburn wrote that Bush has launched a “covert offensive” on Iran that is "unprecedented in its scope."  The “directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan.”  The directive, according to Cockburn, also permits an expanded range of actions, “up to and including the assassination of targeted officials.”

Wow, I thought as I read it.  That’s some scary sounding stuff.  Then, out of habit, I rescanned the piece to note who Cockburn’s sources on the secret finding were, and here’s what I found: “those familiar with its contents.”

Great.  Caesar’s.  Ghost.  Credibility wise, that kind of thing puts Cockburn and CounterPunch on an even footing with Michael R. Gordon and the New York Times.

There's so much discussion about the economy and what can be done or proposed to enhance it that I felt that a diary dedicated to the economy might be something that others (besides me) were interested in!).

I'm currently a single woman age 50 and live alone.  I've been through the raising of children and having to provide for them as a single parent.  Between the 'gas tax holiday' and the 'tax incentive checks' and some of the recent media attention on our economy there are some basic, overlooked facts.

Now we all know and anticipate that prices are going to go up, it's just the way it is - I'm grounded in reality whether I want to be or not.  As a grandmother I wonder how my children manage today - especially when compared to when I was bringing them up!