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This is my first diary so bear with me.
The New York Times has an aricle on Obama's Foreign Policy Team.  It is a cast of 300 and organized like a mini State Dept.
This man is organized!

http://www.nytimes.com/...

This is a crummy brief diary but that is because what I have just seen makes me litrrally sick.

The Times of London has posted a story with a video tape showing the appalling depth of corruption of this, the most corrupt administration in history. A Bush pioneer is shown trading access to Cheney, Rice, Stephen Hadley, and others, as well as positive public policy statements, in exchange for cash "donations" to the Bush Library and the guy's own firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners.

It's one thing for me, as well as others, to continually assert that the Bush administration is nothing but a criminal enterprise designed to extort and steal cash. "

No time to do a full diary, but time enough to read things that cheer me to the point that I want to hide under a bed.

Explanations after the jump

This past Wednesday, at the Annual Policy Conference of AIPAC- the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, presidential candidate, Barack Obama drew a standing ovation when he pledged his "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security" if he is elected president in November, and declared that Jerusalem should stay an undivided Israeli city.

Robert Greenwald's new video titled "McCain's You Tube Problem Just Became a Nightmare" couldn't be more true. McCain will be beaten silly by all of the video footage of his past comments available online to anyone who knows how to use a search engine.

I don't know about you, but I saw red when listening to Bush's speech before the Knesset. I also read it caught McCain by surprise and he had to make a quick decision as to whether he wanted to jump on Bush's bandwagon and use his speech to beat up on Obama. Bad, bad move Senator McCain.

I started to wonder if I should begin hoarding rice......

I usually do grocery shopping as I usually find it relaxing as I stride through the aisles planning a gourmet menu.  Lately though, I see a real crisis.  It's not the election.

The global food crisis has been getting a lot of well deserved press recently, and while several different crops have experienced varying levels of inflation, I thought I'd look at rice in particular. Although rice isn't a staple crop in America the way wheat and corn are, it's very much a staple crop here in Asia.  Asian reactions to the price increases for rice have varied dramatically.  Singapore, for example, has tried to reassure the public that there is plenty of rice while keeping price controls off and allowing companies to bring in additional supplies above and beyond what's normally imported to hedge against any future supply shocks.  On the other hand, some other countries in this region (e.g., Vietnam, India and China) have temporarily banned the export of rice.

In only four months oil's made nearly 20% gain, gold has been one of the best investments of the last decade and you might want to stockpile your Costco food now, if you haven't already.

Unemployment claims spiked about 17,000 last week.

Know what these warning signs all point to?

Hot off the wire today, apparently the CIA has over 7,ooo documents relating to our government run torture program. Of course, we ain't gonna see 'em. If we do I'm sure they'll include pages upon pages of blacked out paragraphs. Heck they didn't even want to admit they have them until now.

http://news.yahoo.com/...

Of course this speaks to the larger issue of the land of the free authorizing the use of torture on it's own citizens and the citizens of other countries. People who have been declared "enemy combatants" but many of whom have been found to have been erroneously captured.

How did we get here?

http://indepthleft.blogspot.com  for these and other stories.  Come check it out and leave a comment.  

This is a diary about toilet paper shortages in the United States. That's right, bare shelves, devoid of any material for wiping. Sounds horrible? It sure would be. As we've all read, major news outlets are reporting that Costco and Sam's Club are rationing rice. Is there a major toilet paper shortage on the way as well?

Today, MSNBC and the Associated Press is reporting that Sam's Club and Costco began rationing the amount of rice you are allowed to purchase.

The two biggest U.S. warehouse retail chains are limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., called on Wednesday "recent supply and demand trends."

This morning, long before I was out of bed,  Steven R posted a diary that recieved very little notice. I think this deserves a great deal more attention!

This is NOT good news.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Sam's Club warehouse division said on Wednesday that it is limiting the sale of Jasmine, Basmati and Long Grain White rices to four bags per member visit.

The retailer said the limits are due to recent "supply and demand trends," and it is working with its suppliers "to address this matter to ensure we are in stock."

Costco did the same in Bay Area

And at least one Bay Area store is asking customers to hold back on their rice purchases. Costco has posted signs asking customers to follow their regular rice-buying habits.

The rice price increase is a result of a domino effect, NBC11's Noelle Walker reported. Drought in Australia led to a severe decline in rice production that in turn led the world's largest rice exporters to restrict exports. That spurred higher rice prices and hoarding in Asian countries, NBC11 reported.

Here is a music video that some find funny, others find heart breaking.  In 3 1/2 minutes I set out 7 years of scandal.

Last week, Bush was pandering to Catholics by pretending to have some kind of close relationship to the Pontiff, as Jay Carney(!) pointed out, referring to CNN teevee coverage:

Aan unnamed White House official explaining why no one could be sure how long the closed-door session between Bush and Benedict would last: "When you're meeting with the Holy Father, a schedule is just a suggestion."

At that point I wanted to gag.

On last night's episode of The Daily Show a significant amount of coverage was given to the recent story about White House meetings on interrogation techniques. Jon Stewart, in his usual fashion, does not hold back at all.

The segment is followed by an interview with Jack Goldsmith, author of "The Terror Presidency". This is great and important television.

What President Bush and the NSC Principals have done is far, far more unAmerican, far, far more destructive of American values than any thing Reverend Wright, or, for that matter, Reverend Hagee have said or done.

McCain should repudiate the President, demand the Secretary of State's resignation.  Rice cannot possibly represent this country in international affairs. And it may become literally impossible for her to leave the country if she is charged with war crimes in Europe.

Today's quiz:  Which is more accurate, the first article or the second?

The first article is from the BBC:

The Philippines has always had to import rice. Unlike neighbours Thailand and Vietnam, which have turned themselves into the world's two biggest rice exporters, successive governments in the Philippines have failed to invest in the agricultural sector.

link

The second article is:

The Philippines used to be self-sufficient in rice and other agricultural product.

link