Amaranth grain

This is a diary which will try to bring to the attention of those that are interested in food resources a grain that may well be what saves the human race from starving to death. It is an ancientt grain, grown by early American civilizations. The article linked above, one of many that I will be using, says

Amaranth has a long and interesting history in Mexico where it's been grown and harvested for thousands of years by the Mayan and Incan civilizations. The Aztecs believed Amaranth had magical properties that would give them amazing strength.

Because it was important culturally to the Aztecs, the conquistadors did their best to eradicate it. Fortunately for us, they were not entirely successful. I say fortunately because it may be the grain that saves us from mass starvation on a global scale.

More below the fold..

I saw this in one of the FL newspapers and went to the site. It is fascinating, and the eagle seems to still be sitting on the egg, so it hasn't hatched yet. I thought this would give people a break from the candidate diaries, and a chance to watch one of our national symbols come into the country for the first time.

The egg is supposed to hatch this week. How is that for timing, given the politcal scene at the moment? LOL

And since diaries are supposed to be at least three paragraphs, here is the third, and the link to the page where the Eaglecam is. The diary code wouldn't allow me to link the camera link directly.
Enjoy!!!

This article in Vanity Fair will scare hell out of you and then enrage you. The idea that any detail of our lives is available to any politician, or person, willing to pay for it is scary as hell, and an invasion of privacy guaranteed to put you in the hypertension range in blood pressure.

Hello?? Has anyone seen the Constitution lately?? ANYONE??

Why bother with the Bill of Rights, who needs warrants, when you can just buy the info from your jolly local data miner!! HO HO HO!!

I saw this in the Vanity Fair story in  about Giuliani's business practices. He apparently sold a company to an Australian company that is currently doing business in the U.S. This diary is about what that company, Macquarie Group. What does this company do?? You aren't going to believe this..I didn't.

what they do below the fold...

Iraqis who lost family in the Blackwater massacre and the man who was wounded have filed lawsuits against Blackwater for their actions on Sept. 16, 2007. This story, from the Washington Post, outlines the charges against Blackwater. When I saw the story, I grinned to myself thinking, so this is what that FISA add-on is all about. If they prevail in the suit, there will be thousands more, I am sure. We may not get our money back from Blackwater, but the Iraqis who were injured by them may get a good chunk of it. I wish them all the luck in the world with their suit. Rest of the story below the jump.

The Department of Justice is actively covering up massive fraud, into the billions, by Halliburton and its subsidiaries. They are using the regulations of the whistleblower investigation to do this. And the Halliburton connections go deep into the DOJ. For instance, Vinson & Elkins, Halliburton's legal counsel, gave Alberto Gonzales his first job as a lawyer.

There is more. A lot more.

Get out your shovels and follow me past the fold.

The appointment of former Sec.Def. Donald Rumsfeld as a Fellow at the Hoover Instute is being vehemently protested at Stanford. The faculty at the University do not think that his appointment is compatible with the goals and standards of the University. Frankly, I don't blame them.

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The people at Homeland Security have really gone over the line, not only in the criteria of who is a threat, but in their treatment of persons against whom nothing has been proven. I read about this this morning and was totally flabbergasted. I know they are a bunch of fascists, but this is just too much. If this woman is a terrorist, then so is Laura Bush.

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I found this on AlterNet did a search and found no diaries here.  I was astounded to find that if a person dies for the U.S. in this war, their families can still be deported if they don't have green cards yet. Why the families of dead soldiers don't automatically get green cards is a question I want asked at the highest levels. These people come here looking for a better life, they answer the call when asked to fight for the U.S. They die for the U.S. Surely, their families deserve to stay here given the sacrifice on OUR behalf made by their loved one. Remember, it's a volunteer army, so they didn't have to go.

I was driving into town today, in the "RealFeel" 117 degree weather, and almost drove off the road when I heard a radio host on the local classic rock station tell the joke about Bush hearing that 3 Brazilian soldiers had been killed in Iraq. He told the joke like it was a news story, which made it even more effective, and his co-host was going, Oh, no..when she thought it was about dead soldiers, and then he did the punch line..

I was at the corner store getting gas today and glanced over at the Gainesville Sun. And almost fell over, right there. The headline said..

Report: Deceased farmers paid $1B.

So, I bought the paper, ran home and did a search and found no recent diaries on the USDA, or farm subsidies. So, herewith the diary.

The GAO found that the USDA had approved payments without any review 40% of the time. AND the USDA does not cross check with Social Security or any other government agency to verify that these people are actually alive before sending the checks.

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I proffer this diary as a reflection in contrasts, between the greatest president we have had and the worst one we could possibly ever have.

I read a book review this morning about the new biography of FDR that has just come out. It is apparently quite excellent and I plan on buying it as soon as possible. What struck me, especially on Memorial Day weekend, was the contrast the book review presented of FDR and the present occupant of the White House. Not that the book seems to deliberately do so, but some of the passages were such contrasts to what we are now dealing with from the Bush administration that I was compelled to diary it.

Read on, McDuff..

I am a fan of Law&Order, and no more so than tonight. They did the veterans, especially the wounded veterans, a great service tonight. The show was about a group of three people who had beaten to death two homeless men. One of the group of three was a veteran of Iraq. One of the dead men was also. The first indication I had that this was going to be a humdinger of a show was when the sister of the dead veteran told how he had been wounded and had PTSD afterwards. He had been discharged with a "personality disorder" so he would not get benefits. She was rather bitter that the government would do that to him after he had served his country, "just to save a few bucks". He ended up living on the street, and was a victim of the beating deaths. The one who did the killings was also a vet. Also with PTSD, and had seizures followed by violent aggression. McCoy went to the VA hospital to talk to some of the people who had known him there when he was not allowed to see the medical records.

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I saw this story in the WaPo and just had to do a diary on it. If only all invasions were accidental..sigh

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Nancy Pelosi came out and said in public, on Larry King, that Bush's thinking on Iraq is impaired. This is something we have known for quite some time, but it's nice to have the Speaker say so too.

This story on CNN recounts her comments on Larry King Live.

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According to the banner on CNN website

The White House will ask for another $100 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, plus $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official told CNN Friday.

I could not find a link to the story, but I wanted to let you all know asap. There is also a story that the "surge" will cost an additional $27 billion. So that's a total of $272 BILLION that we don't have for a war we don't want to be in.  

Sorry this is so short, I hope the other Kossacks will add to it in their comments. I would have had more if there had been more to find. Oh, and when I went back to look again for a link, the banner was gone. Weird. Like they don't want us to find out about it yet. BTW, the blockquote is copy/pasted from the banner headline.

The Kurdish government has protested the invasion of the Iranian Consulate in their provincial capital. The US troops arrested six people and confiscated computers and documents. This is an outrage. No country in the world would sit still for this. I just hope Iran goes through diplomatic channels to protest instead of opening fire. I think they will, after all, Bush is the nut job in this whole scenario.

The US government spokesman claims it wasn't a real Consulate. Right.

The White House, aka OUR HOUSE, has made an agreement with the Secret Service that the White House visitor logs kept by the Secret Service will not be open to the public. WHAT?? The White House made a secret agreement with the Secret Service to keep records of who comes to the People's House a secret?? How did they manage this, you ask?? Hold on to your hats..tinfoil ones especially..this is a good one..really...

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