jebbypal

*face palm* Seriously, news like these do not help w/ my indecision over further schooling.

via liz_marcs, DHHS is reclassifying contraception as abortion.

I really, really hope all these idjits get reincarnated as women under the control of a man JUST like them.

Also, methinks I'll be taking a break from the political news for the forseeable future. Just gah.

But having access to blogs again has inspired some thinky thoughts about people and how they perceive things.

On the one hand, my dad, someone that I will readily admit has racist tendencies - albeit, many fewer than his parents, said that he'll be voting for Obama in the general election if he's running against McCain because McCain is dangerous and pretty much Bush 2.0, but possibly with more trigger reactions. He also hopes that Obama picks Edwards as his running mate because he respects him etc. (which, my dad respecting a politician, I'm not sure if that's ever really happened before).

On the other, my friend and her husband that I visited. Yes, pro-Obama as can well be expected for two liberal leaning grad students. However, they vociferously loathe Edwards. "He's a trial lawyer, and you can't be a successful trial lawyer without having a large amount of slime." Or something to that effect. I calmly kept my mouth shut.

I readily admit that there are still race problems in our country. Hell, I grew up around them and tried on a daily basis to change the opinions of my family while being told that I'd "understand" when I got older. I'm still horrified at myself when I speak without thinking and some of the environment that I was raised in leaks out.

However, having been raised in a very blue collar family and exited into much more white collar domains, I can't help but notice the classism that has typified our politics and national discourse for the past ten years or so. One presidential nominee labeled as "out of touch with the comman man" and too "elitist" by his competitor. A competitor that is just as much of a blue blood and took advantage of every single short cut offered by said upbringing his entire life. But you know, he owns a ranch and gets his hands dirty clearing brush so he's obviously more "common" than the elitist candidate. That and he failed all his ivy league classes and thinks its funny.

And then there's the candidate that is labeled "elitist and phony" because he portrays himself as the working class candidate even as he gets a mega-expensive haircut on the runway of an airport. Oh, and you know, made his fortune as a trial lawyer winning cases against corporations and the like. So you know, not only has he had the temerity to aspire and succeed, but really, he's a turncoat and laughing at the common man.

That's the national discourse for better or worse. Yet it's odd to see who buys into what. Many middle class and such bought into the first, but anyone who was blue collar (that I've met anyways) didn't buy into the second. A large part of that goes to the orator abilities between the first and second candidates. One thing you can say about Edwards, he can charm just about anyone, but while he charms you, he never fails to communicate his points in a way that most people can understand. So on the one hand, the people who want most to believe in the American dream admire the story of the person who did pull themselves up by their bootstraps (theoretically at least - I don't want to get into a debate over what class Edwards actually fit into. He's much less of a through and through blue blood than Bush or Kerry though because he's not born into "old" money). However, the solidly upper middle class people, even those with education and liberal leanings, judge Edwards based on how he achieved both his money and his career.

The media (or at least most of it) can no longer openly fan the flames of racism in the news. However, there's absolutely nothing stopping them from fanning the flames of class discrimination. And the political machinery of the nation knows it.

The onus is on Obama, as well as Dean and the DNC, to figure out how to neutralize this because Obama is being attacked with the class discrimination brush at the same time as he's striving to break down the racial mindsets that still silently pervade our culture. Obama has tried to bring attention in the past, but poor word choice (as well as racial opinions in the area he was speaking) made it backfire. Or at least, allowed the media to portray it as backfiring. I'm not saying that he needs to pick Edwards as a running mate - indeed, I'm not sure that Edwards can bring quite enough votes, or serve well in the "attack dog" position of a campaining VP nominee, to justify choosing him as a running mate. But he should definitely hire Edward's speech writer and be careful to NOT deviate from the speech script when speaking on issues of class.

And he needs Howard Dean, and everyone else who can see through the MSM's narrative, to point out how the political machinery in the country does take advantage of any and every possible division - be it race, religion, class or sexual orientation - to maintain both their hold on power as well as their world view.

Proving Republicans only care about national security if terrorists are invovled.

So here's the sitch: there's an animal infectious disease lab located on Plum Island - isolated from the mainland and any other livestock by water on all sides, accessible only by ferry or helicopter. For some insane, unknown reason, the Bush administration thinks it would be helpful to move this laboratory to the mainland. So much so, there's already a list of finalist states -- Kansas, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas (San Antonio to be specific). Hmmmm, all those states have a lot of Republican representation. And most of the representatives are trying to say that this plan is perfectly safe. (ETA - Hmm, wonder what effect a hurricane or tornado would have on research in those locals as well.)

Except, wait, wait for it ---- THERE HAVE BEEN ACCIDENTS ON PLUM ISLAND. The only thing that prevented catastrophe of a nationwide foot and mouth disease was the isolation of the island. Many of the diseases studied there can be carried by wildlife.

But you know, putting the lab in the middle of some of the country's most productive ranches won't cause any problems at all. Nope, not one whit.

Now might be a good time for me to figure out how to go vegetarian even with my allergy issues. This isn't a done deal, but the farm bill with the provision is being voted on -- try to talk some sense into your representatives, k?

However, aid providers are unlikely to pursue unilateral deliveries like airdrops [to rural Myanmar regions] because of the diplomatic firestorm that it could set off. (credit: MSNBC)

Officials have said only one out of 10 people who are homeless, injured or threatened by disease and hunger have received some kind of aid since the cyclone hit May 3.

The government's abilities are limited. It has only a few dozen helicopters, most of which are small and old. It also has about 15 transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of supplies.

"Not only don't they have the capacity to deliver assistance, they don't have experience," said Farmaner, the British aid worker. "It's already too late for many people. Every day of delays is costing thousands of lives."

WTF?? Look, I'm sorry, but I think this is one of those times that diplomatic feelings should be told to piss off. Is the Myanmar regime actually a military threat to anyone (other than it's own populace)? Or is this about not pissing them off so they won't cut off access to their natural resources for the foreign governments that prop them up?

100,000.

Not doing aid drops is tantamount to actively participating in ethnic cleansing. There are a large portion of the people not being given aid (with the propaganda that this foreign aid is a "gift" of the ruling regime) even as the country goes ahead and participates in a national referendum to continue the military junta's power. Ie, those they don't want to vote aren't, and oh by the way, they'll probably be dead by month's end.

Look, foricibly involving your country in another's affairs (*cough*Iraq*cough*) is bad. Ignoring what's happening for the sake of diplomacy or the idea that interfering in a civil war is not only criminal, it's immoral. (see Rwanda, Uganda, Darfur, Bosnia, etc). We've seen that sometimes, interference actually improves the situation (Liberia, anyone? Of course, I'm refering to the latest interference that helped allow peaceful elections and not all the crap that came before). Yes, it's a fine damn line. However, when there's 100,000 lives at stake that are just being ignored, it's not that hard.

The events and aftermath of Katrina were horrible. One wonders if the Myanmar junta took lessons from Brownie's FEMA or if this is the way things would have gone anyways.

One thing is for certain, Myanmar learned well from the popular protests earlier this year about how to control the media. The few journalists in the area must avoid the army and the lack of electricity hampers much real reporting. In a few years, Myanmar may join N. Korea in being a black hole for news.

MotherJones has an account of the price gouging and other scenes of desperation

An op-ed in response to Bush's State of the Union address from Richard Clarke, Bush's former head of counterterrorism at the NSA.

Man, I'm still in mourning for Edwards leaving the presidential campaign and I have to wake up and remember when there was a chance Clarke might have been in it.

And for everything else, I have to say I now support Obama because he's the only candidate left, Republican or Democrat, who doesn't resort to fearmongering when the debate turns to matters of foreign policy.

FISA is back before congress and of course, Cheney insists it must be passed. Fortunately, Dodd has declared he and Feingold will filibuster and Edwards is asking folks to support them.

Palestinians are flooding into Egypt. This follows after Israel instigated a fuel blockade of Gaza after a section of the wall separating Israel from the Palestinian sections was bombed. More here.

So, Bushco has been having a big push for nuclear power of late. One itty bitty problem with that: for nuclear power plants, you need one thing (other than uranium and a way to bury your waste that won't leak into the groundwater etc): WATER. The southern drought in the US may cause many of the nuclear plants to have to shut down there. As a result, people in these states may be soon paying astronomical prices for power as the state seeks to buy energy off the grid from other plants --- which I predict will spike all of our prices as well (anyone remember the fun of California deregulation in 2000?) One thing I don't see the article mentioning is if the plants will run on a minimum level or not ( Read more... ) Not quite the panacea for coal, at least, not if making sure that affordable electricity is available to everyone. Oh, wait, I forgot, Bushco.

Not that it's news if you've been following, but just for the record, biofuels hurt the environment too. 1) It drives food prices up. 2) In places where land is scarce, say oh - IndoAsia, they promote deforestation. 3) If you live somewhere that there are water shortages, again - India and China, crops require a TON of water to make into fuels. That is one of the small pluses of oil actually, it's the distallation to remove water and separate the components that gives you gas etc. (assuming I remember enough of my organic chemistry...)

Speaking of India,there have been mysterious crocodile deaths. No clue yet if it's parasites, pollution, or a combo.

By the way, the Supreme Court has refused to hear the Enron case...

US Army Foces Command has recommended reducing the current tours from 15 months to 12 months to relieve stress on the forces. Of course, this would be contingent on changing needs in Afghanistan and Iraq and Petraeus's recommendation to Congress in the summer.

In Indiana, if you don't have photo ID, you don't vote., unless of course, you use a mail in ballot. The GOP in Kansas is trying to pass a similar law. The US Supreme court is scrutinizing if this violates the 14th amendment - especially in light of how hard it is nowadays for folks who don't have a copy of their birth certificate to get any form of photo ID.

Congress and the White House are movign ahead with a stimulus plan. Please tell me we at least learned enough from the 70s and 80s to not be printing more money??? Deja vu sucks. Don't forgot, this recession is the Iraq recession!

Donor marrow + donor organ may allow transplant patients to avoid long courses of anti-rejection drugs. As someone who has read many of the articles from the clinical trials of this procedure, I like how the possibility of graft vs host disease isn't mentioned at all. However, they don't get into specifics and if they make sure that the marrow transplanted has no mature immune cells (ie, stem cells and progenitor cells only), the risk of that is lowered greatly.

A gene has been identified that may explain why some don't respond to antidepressants.

Last native speaker of Alaskan Eyeak language has died. Fortunately, she helped researchers make a Eyeak dictionary.

The US attorney-gate probe deepens:

But recent behind-the-scenes activity in several investigations suggests that the issue that roiled Congress in 2007 could re-emerge in the heat of the election year. Two inquiries by the House and Senate ethics committees are examining whether several congressional Republicans, including one running for the Senate this year, improperly interfered with investigations.

Over 900 lies were told by the White House in the lead up to the Iraq war. The sad thing -- it will someday be a subdiscipline in political history to try to quantify the entire number of lies during the Bush administration. Let alone, attributing them to a specific liar.

Like everyone else, I was shocked by Ledger's death - and very glad that the news came over the radio as I parked my car instead of earlier. However, not everyone is in the same condolence phase. For starters, Gibson mocked Ledger's death and carerr on the air. And the Baptist-Westboro church that is famous for protesting funerals of military veterans has declared that it will protest Ledger's funeral because he lived in defiance of God. Their reason? Apparently playing a gay character in the movies is equivalent of calling God a liar. Can someone mail them a bible with the relevant passages about glass houses and all that highlighted?

On his cable channel, Al Gore declared he's for marriage equality. Oh my lord, excuse me as I go mourn once again what might have been for this country in the past 7 years.

In case it happened too quietly (and assuming you even knew he was in the race), Fred Thompson officially dropped out of the presidential race.

New manifesto suggests preemptive Nuclear strikes - written for the pentagon by retired NATO officers and strategists. Oh boy...again with the deja vu!

Female genital mutilation is not unique to Africa - it also occurs among Muslim populations in Indonesia.

In case you'd forgotten, Senator Kit Bond is deluded. (if not just plain crazy). Equating waterboarding to the backstroke? WTFpolarbear? Fortunately, 222 House of Reps disagree with Sen Bond and passed legislation to bar the CIA from doing it.

In case you missed it, there's been a bit of coverup going on with the torture stuff too. Not that it's going to matter..

Let's see they backed down on FISA, on war funding, and couldn't get enough republicans to get spine for CHIP. Now, Dems are losing it over consumer product safety. If you don't try just because you know it's going to be vetoed, you know what you become? A republican in all but name. Shit like THIS is why we need a viable third party.

Proving that gender sensitivity occurs in all countries, even those notoriously polite, a Canadian judge called a rape survivor "stupid and naive".

Also, more on the KBR rape. Not sure if I posted it before or not, but a female employee of KBR was raped by several coworkers and when she reported it, someone within the company ordered that she be held under armed guard without food or water. She got out only after one of the guards gave her a cell phone allowing her to contact her father who contacted her congressional representative.

Fish farms may cause the extinction of wild salmon.

Is saturated fat really that bad for your cholesterol? It boils down to, "it's the carbs, stupid". And by carbs, I mean high processed white bread and fast food.

Bush really hates you. He's vetoed another health and education bill. Cause really, until your feet are big enough to push the pedals in the fancy new war machines he's okayed the financing for, you don't matter. Unless of course, you are as big as the dot at the end of this sentence.

Do you remember back during when the Xfiles (and I swear, this isn't a fandom post) ran, the plot to take over the government always involved some convoluted FEMA scheme?

Well, as twistedchick points out in her list of the top 10 underreported stories of the year, it's no longer that difficult.

You know, just reading mainstream news, it's easy to see the world in general going downhill fast. But now, geez, excuse me while I go over here and gibber in fear at the prospect of a nuclear war. Or worse, a martial dictatorship by BushCo.

*gibber*

Not much of an update, but something to watch for..

First, Dems continue to not to get it, with reports saying they are approving a permanent version of FISA.

Second, the US continues to say that the Surge was to allow for reconciliation between politicians in a "violence free zone". Too bad Iraqi politicians say there's no chance for reconciliation and everything is a "struggle for power". Is it just me, or do those last three words fit the definition of a "civil war"? Just curious.

Finally, we come to a test of how much the US will pay attention to Iraq soverienty. Iraq has told the US to end its association with Blackwater in Iraq within six months.