mousemusings...multimedia, music, progressive politics, video, web design and general rants
Human beings will be happier - not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia.
~Kurt Vonnegut
Friday, August 29, 2003

Bush Wants to Limit Federal Pay Raise

Giving civilian federal workers a pay raise of more than 2 percent next year would jeopardize the war on terrorism, President Bush said Wednesday.

"Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or federal employment to stay within budget," Bush wrote.

Bush announced he was using his authority to change workers' pay structure in times of "national emergency or serious economic conditions."

Let's just have some more tax cuts for the rich then! Oh..and why not start another costly 'pre-empty' war. I suppose that he can indicate 'serious economic conditions' when it serves his rhetoric, yet continue to insist that because of his tax cuts the economy is improving. He can do all this and lie too, because he's the pRes! Impeach him.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Vote Machine Owner Vows to Help Bush "Win"

The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.

... The letter went out the day before Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, also a Republican, was set to qualify Diebold as one of three firms eligible to sell upgraded electronic voting machines to Ohio counties in time for the 2004 election.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Thursday, August 28, 2003

Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought

 
The size and scope of the government contracts awarded to Halliburton in connection with the war in Iraq are significantly greater than was previously disclosed...as much as one-third of the monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going to independent contractors.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Dennis Kucinich: the real soul of the Democratic Party?

The best-kept secret on the Democratic presidential campaign trail ignited St. Paul’s Central High School auditorium August 16, bringing the almost 1000-strong crowd repeatedly to its feet, cheering. Supporters of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) defy definition, spanning independents, Greens, veterans, students, peace activists, consumers and environmentalists. Doubts about his “electability” are greatly exaggerated—Kucinich won by 70 percent in 2001 in a traditionally Republican district. Willie Nelson is recording campaign ads for him and doing concert fundraisers with Ani DiFranco in Des Moines, Iowa, in early September. Grassroots campaign organizations are spreading like smoldering prairie fire across the country.


“When the Founders of our country spoke of ‘forming a more perfect union,’ it wasn’t just about politics. It was also about being able to be more than we are—about consciously evolving,” Kucinich evoked the recurring anthem of his St. Paul speech—”It’s not too late to seek a new world!”

Kucinich knows about transformation firsthand. Growing up poor, he had 21 addresses before age 17—including a car. His ex-Marine father was a truck driver who Kucinich said “died with his first retirement check uncashed in his pocket.” The oldest of seven, Kucinich was the first in his family to go to college. Degrees in communications took him from newsroom copy boy to radio, TV cameraman and lecturer, in between elected offices.

“First, you have to understand what Bush’s presidency is about: accelerating wealth upward. Its about putting the nation’s wealth into fewer and fewer hands,” Kucinich said in a KFAI interview in July, pointing to post-9/11 bailouts that gave airlines billions while their employees got massive layoffs. “The Bush economy is driven by the interests of a few at the expense of the many. That’s what the war and the tax cuts are about.” [ continue reading this excellent article ]

posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Remember Who We Are

This evening I had the opportunity to see Dennis Kucinich. He's consistent, sincere and has more integrity in his big toe than any other candidate. The room was full of people, maybe 120, which on the notice of less than a day was a good turnout. He spoke of our interconnectedness and said we have a conscious choice to make.
His most important message was; "remember who we are"

I think as a whole, we lose ourselves amid fear and false patriotism. Hopefully the slap of continued deception will shock us into remembering.
I especially liked his comparison of the defense budget and the education budget; paraphrased;
When our children fail competency tests the schools lose funding. When our missles fail tests, we increase funding.

Tomorrow NDP Leader Howard Hampton and U.S. Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich meet in Detroit to promote the value of a publicly owned hydro system.

8:30 a.m. - Hampton, Kucinich Meeting - Detroit

9:30 a.m. - MEDIA CONFERENCE -- DETROIT (Riverwalk, at the intersection of Civic Centre Dr. and Atwater St.; Rain Location: Cobo Hall - the end of Jefferson Ave. West at Washington Blvd.)


posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Monday, August 25, 2003

Walter J. Ong, 90, Jesuit, Teacher and Scholar of Language, Dies

The Rev. Walter Jackson Ong, a Jesuit scholar of language and its evolution as a means of communication, died on Aug. 12 in St. Louis. He was 90.

Father Ong, who taught and wrote at St. Louis University, a Jesuit institution, was the author most notably of "Orality and Literacy." First published in 1982, it was most recently reissued as "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word 2000" (Routledge, second edition).

A psychologist and onetime student of Marshall McLuhan, he focused, as McLuhan did, on the history of the word. But where McLuhan studied the historical changes from the written to the printed word and from there to the present-day electronic "global village," Father Ong took what has been described as a more primitivist approach.

He studied the appearance of speech in the development of mankind, or orality as a means of communication. And he analyzed the emergence of a secondary orality in the form of computer languages, which, he wrote, "do not grow out of the unconscious but directly out of consciousness.
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Sunday, August 24, 2003

The Zen of Global Transformation

by Nasrudin O'Shah
The masters make the rules, for the wise men and the fools.
~Bob Dylan
Our modern societies are organized around two basic principles: hierarchy and win-lose competition .

Private and public institutions are organized as hierarchies and the major institutional decisions are the realm of central headquarters. It is difficult to imagine anything very different. A corporation or government needs to solve its problems with the big picture in mind, and all the big pictures can be dealt with if they are collected together at headquarters. There seems almost to be a law of nature about centralized hierarchy since everything seems to work that way.

Competition in our societies is all-pervasive. Society is set up as an adversarial machine. We seek knowledge by competing with other students. We advance in our careers by outdoing our coworkers. Success in business is defined in terms of competitiveness. We seek truth and justice by setting up a competition between two professional adversaries (lawyers) whose job is to out-perform the other in swaying a jury. We choose those leaders who compete best at telling us what we want to hear. Our nation's laws are decided in a competitive forum where one wins by being good at the game of trading favors and fooling the public.

One of the problems that we the people would need to deal with eventually is the current hierarchical regime itself. As long as that elite-controlled regime holds on to power, our society as community cannot do much to solve our other problems.

Let us review how people have tried to displace powerful regimes in the past.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


The Yucca Mountain Project

Yucca Mountain is located within the Western Shoshone Nation; the mountain and the surrounding area were never deeded to the U.S. government. In fact, most of the area now used by the U.S. military for nuclear weapons testing and waste storage was explicitly recognized as Shoshone land.

Court postpones start of Nevada case against Yucca Mountain


Nuclear Waste Road Maps
Will radioactive waste be traveling through your community?


Scientists look at Yucca Mountain routes

Feds seek change in nuclear waste definition
"It's appalling the extent DOE will go to to mislead the American public," said Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Once again it is trying to change the rules to win the game."

Official wants sludge defined
"Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has asked Congress to clarify the definition of high-level nuclear defense waste stored in three states in order to skirt a court ruling that requires his agency to dispose of it in the planned Yucca Mountain repository."

Officials say Yucca use of underground water could damage Nevada
Allowing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain to use underground water would result in environmental damage to the state, according to an official with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.

“We have ample evidence in the record to show the socio-economic interests of the state will be jeopardized if this project is allowed to go ahead,” said Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams

Hearings open on nuke waste water

If the nuclear waste issue isn't enough how does this tickle your bellybutton?

Nuclear test set for 2004
The so-called subcritical experiment, dubbed Unicorn, will be detonated in 2004 in a hole in the east-central part of the Nevada Test Site, about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas, according to a statement from the administration's Nevada Site Office in North Las Vegas.

Bush administration officials said last year that they would like the test site to be ready to resume full-scale tests, if needed, in 18 months, or about half the time expected during the Clinton administration.

Keep Informed
Developments in the News Here


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Friday, August 22, 2003

Can we now please admit that the Bush administration's policies in Iraq are a terrible failure?

The terrorist truck bomb that blew up the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad this week also blew up the pretensions of an arrogant strategy that assumed the United States could do nation-building on the cheap. It was an approach that assumed we needed little support from traditional allies, only a limited number of troops and relatively modest expenditures to rebuild a shattered country.

Perhaps even more disturbing than the administration's indifference to the truth or falsity of the various claims it made before the war is the fact that it seemed to believe its own propaganda. [ more ]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Media Blitz for Dennis Kucinich

 

Power to the People
My Story
by Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich: the real soul of the Democratic Party?

Scrappy Dennis Kucinich Appeals To Angry Voters

Home from the heartland

Candidate Kucinich Makes Campaign Stop in Clinton

Kucinich campaign visits Osky; Ohio rep says he's only true Democrat in race

Kucinich visits Bluffs, comments on outages

Kucinich seeks wide range of reforms
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Utah Phillips Interview (The Progressive)

Joseph Campbell, late in his life, said, "All we really want is to be completely human and in each other's company." Everything in this country is unilaterally against that--our best and most natural selves.

The world I created for myself, and it was deliberate, was a world made out of speakers and listeners. Many times, going to the missions, going to the flop hotels, I'd get a line from some old Wobbly, some old communist, some old socialist, some old person living on short money, a lot of time alcoholic. I'd start asking questions. The first thing I'd ever get was suspicions. Because these old workers, the only question they'd ever been asked was how come you are late or how soon can you get out. I found thoughts and feelings and ideas and experiences that had been locked inside their heads for years. [ more ]
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Thursday, August 21, 2003

Slaughtering Cows and Popping Cherries

How the Realist popped America’s cherry
By Paul Krassner
His new biweekly column, "Zen Bastard," debuts in next week’s New York Press
How it All Began
Late one extremely hot night in the spring of 1958, alone and naked, I was sitting at my desk in Lyle Stuart’s office, preparing final copy for the first issue of the Realist. I had served my journalistic apprenticeship at Stuart’s anticensorship paper, the Independent, and now I was launching my own satirical magazine. The 60s counterculture was in its embryonic stage, almost ready to burst out of the blandness, repression and piety of the Eisenhower-Nixon administration, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale’s positive thinking and Snooky Lanson singing "It’s a Marshmallow World" on Lucky Strike Hit Parade.

I was supposed to have everything ready for the printer the next morning. I was exhausted, but there were two final pieces to write. My bare buttocks stuck to the leather chair as I created an imaginary dialogue about clean and dirty bombs. Then I borrowed a form from Mad and composed "A Child’s Primer on Telethons." Our office was on the same floor as Mad, in what became known as the Mad building—225 Lafayette St. I had sold a few freelance articles to them, but other submissions were turned down because they were "too adult." [ read on! ]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


FCC chief bends a little

I don't think they just quite get it!
With the Senate set next month to consider reversing many of the new media ownership rules, Powell has been under pressure to address what is threatening to become a major political embarrassment for the Bush administration.

"We heard the voice of public concern about the media loud and clear," Powell said. "Localism is at the core of these concerns, and we are going to tackle it head on."

Also see:
US FCC Powell's chief of staff to resign
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Wednesday, August 20, 2003



The Road to the 2004 Presidential Election

Calendar of Major Political Events:
JANUARY 13, 2004: D.C. - Presidential Preference Primary
JANUARY 19, 2004: Iowa - Presidential Caucuses
JANUARY 27, 2004: New Hampshire - Presidential Primary
FEBRUARY 3, 2004: Arizona - Presidential Primary, Delaware - Presidential Primary,
Missouri - Presidential Primary, New Mexico - Presidential Caucuses, Oklahoma - Presidential Primary
South Carolina - Presidential Primary, Virginia - GOP Presidential Caucuses
FEBRUARY 7, 2004: Michigan - Presidential Caucuses, Washington State - Democratic Presidential Caucuses
FEBRUARY 8, 2004: Maine - Presidential Caucuses
FEBRUARY 10, 2004: District of Columbia - Democratic Presidential Caucuses,
Tennessee - Presidential Primary, Virginia - Democratic Presidential Primary
FEBRUARY 17, 2004: Wisconsin - Presidential Primary:
FEBRUARY 24, 2004: Idaho - Presidential Caucuses, Michigan - GOP Presidential Primary
FEBRUARY 27, 2004: Utah - Presidential Primary
FEBRUARY, 2004: (Location: TBA) Constitution Party - Presidential Nominating Convention
MARCH 2, 2004: California - Presidential & State Primary, Connecticut - Presidential Primary,
Georgia - Presidential Primary, Hawaii - Presidential Caucuses, Maryland - Presidential & State Primary,
Massachusetts - Presidential Primary, Minnesota - Presidential Caucuses, New York - Presidential Primary
Ohio - Presidential Primary, Rhode Island - Presidential Primary, Vermont - Presidential Primary
Washington State - Presidential Primary.
MARCH 9, 2004: Florida - Presidential Primary, Louisiana - Presidential Primary,
Mississippi - Presidential Primary, Texas - Presidential & State Primaries
MARCH 16, 2004: Illinois - Presidential & State Primaries
APRIL 27, 2004: Pennsylvania - Presidential & State Primaries
MAY 4, 2004: Indiana - Presidential & State Primary, North Carolina - Presidential & State Primaries
MAY 11, 2004: West Virginia - Presidential & State Primary
MAY 18, 2004: Arkansas - Presidential & State Primary, Kentucky - Presidential & State Primaries,
Oregon - Presidential & State Primary
MAY 25, 2004: Idaho - Presidential & State Primary
JUNE 1, 2004: Alabama - Presidential & State Primaries, Mississippi - Presidential & State Primary,
New Mexico - Presidential & State Primary, South Dakota - Presidential & State Primary
JUNE 8, 2004: Montana - Presidential & State Primaries, New Jersey - Presidential & State Primaries
Week of JULY 26, 2004: Democratic National Convention (Boston, MA)
JULY 2004: Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention (Philadelphia, PA)
AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 2, 2004: Republican National Convention (New York City, NY)

NOVEMBER 2, 2004 - GENERAL ELECTION DAY
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION & NATIONAL ELECTIONS - ALL 50 STATES
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Al Qaida claims responsibility for blackout

also here:
Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Power Blackout In U.S.!

I have no idea how reliable either one of these publications may or may not be, just passing info along.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2003



... excerpted from 8/17/2003 entry of abuddhas memes, following his personal insights on blogging, he presents us with an ongoing restoration project of proportion:
Over more than four years of following my search engine dharma and colleague-directed attentive imperatives I find myself at a crossroads. I can say with no rodomontade whatsoever that there is more wisdom contained within the linked articles of abuddhas archives and my occasional additions than would have been available to all humanity a mere century ago. This is at once incredibly humbling and amazing.

The intersection of Main and 1st, science and soul, me and thee, and communicating its location, implication and explication, is the domain of GSB. Writing under the pseudonym of James Keys, a treatise of immense importance has been virtually lost - a lack I intend to remedy.

Without further adieux or ado here is the Prescript, and the preface:


"Very few people would write such a book,

and fewer still could.

This is a rare document,

of high quality,

and those who cherish such things,

will appreciate it."

R.D.Laing
London England
15 day of May 1972
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Why Humans and Their Fur Parted Ways (NYTimes)

"No fleas, lice or ticks on me!"
The compilers of Genesis write that as soon as Adam and Eve realized they were naked, they sewed themselves aprons made of leaves from the fig tree, and that the Creator himself made them more durable skin coats before evicting them. But if Dr. Rogers and Dr. Stoneking are correct, humans were naked for a million years before they noticed their state of undress and called for the tailor.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Neoconservatism Made Kristol Clear

Why do I say Irving Kristol had better keep a close eye on his allies on the "official" right? Simply this: He recently wrote a piece for The Weekly Standard in which he spelled out exactly what neoconservatism is. What’s worse is that ol' Irv’s description of neoconservatism proves that it is everything its critics have said it is -- and worse.

Now that "the 'godfather’ of all those neocons," as Kristol describes himself, has spoken on the subject (and written a book entitled Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea), the NR/WSJ crowd can no longer plausibly deny the existence of such a movement, as some have tried to do. In addition, they can no longer plausibly claim that neoconservatism is merely another form of traditional conservatism. Nor can they plausibly insist that neoconservatism has anything at all to do with the American founding and tradition of limited government and avoidance of entangling alliances. Kristol has blown all these arguments out of the water.

...Finally, in case any doubt remains as to whether the Bush administration qualifies as neoconservative -- and there are still some out there who believe it remains fully within the American conservative tradition -- Kristol puts all doubt to rest. Bush and his administration, he says, 'turn out to be quite at home in this new political environment, although it is clear they did not anticipate this role any more than their party as a whole did." Face it, says Kristol: We've won, and you traditional conservatives in the Republican Party never saw it coming and still don't know what hit you. Unfortunately, he's right. [ more ]
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Sunday, August 17, 2003

"I Am Not Fair and Balanced and I Am Not A Sissy For Having A George W. Bush Doll So Stop Saying That!!"

 
New Mexico sky
finally developed my pics from New Mexico


Local Soldier E-mails From Iraq, Asking For Help
"There is no real reason for us to be out here!!!!, We're protecting the oil is all, and as far as the supposed war ending, it hasn't. Not when everyday soldiers are still getting mines placed in front of convoys. Rocket propelled grenades thrown at us."

Getting off the Grid

Positive Power

Off-the-Grid Urban Living

Using rammed earth in passive solar design
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Friday, August 15, 2003



Power is back on in my area. A relatively painless darkness compared to a few outages I've faced due to hurricanes Gloria, Hugo and Alicia, and one Michigan ice storm. I was pretty resigned to the possibility that it would be 3 days before I would have power back. Surprises make life interesting. I've learned a few things each time.

Alicia taught me that no matter how hot it was in Houston the waterbed gets too cold to sleep in after day two.

Gloria taught me not to live in a house on a flood plain, oak trees in Connecticut are huge and neighbors with Coleman Stoves are cool.

Hugo greeted me a week after I first moved to South Carolina. I'm still undecided whether Hugo's greeting was preferable to the requisite greeting from native SC women who invariably asked "What does your husband do?" and" What church do you go to?" At least Hugo wasn't boring and predictible, and didn't place my identity on something completely external and unimportant, he was just terribly messy.

Michigan ice storms taught me that imposing myself armed with sleeping bag onto friends with heat is worth any guilt of feeling like an intruder.

This outage reminded me to check the expiration dates on batteries so I can listen to annoying AM talk radio and hear Dim Bulb GW Bush BS.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Just wondering

Y2K came a bit later than expected. I was pretty sure I could count on a smooth transition to emergency mode at my workplace, due, in no small part, to the preparations made for Y2K. I'm writing this from my workplace where all seems to be functioning well on emergency power.

I'm without power or phone at home and have no real estimate of its return. I'll get it when I get it. I was able to scrounge a few batteries for flashlights and radio which should get me through the next few days. Food could become problematic. The water supply is not safe and we are told to boil it. Right. Luckily I have some bottled on hand.

Traffic is chaotic with no functional traffic lights and I wonder if gasoline can be pumped without electricity. I have enough to last a while. This is a little different than any other power outages I've endured. Most of the others were sporadic. This is total. I wonder if the grocery stores will open. I wonder what happened. I wonder if we'll ever really know.
"Detroit Edison cannot confirm exactly when all power will be fully restored, but they're hopeful that most customers will be back on line before the end of the weekend," she said.

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Thursday, August 14, 2003

But why now?

Why be involved at this stage at all, unless there is someone who really speaks to your soul and your instincts?
...I think that if a progressive candidate can't win on a progressive agenda--that is, by saying without equivocation that we have to change direction in this country--and do it, by the way, with the money and the media against him (or her)--then we really are up a creek....and there is no hope for any reasonable attempt to tackle the great plagues of war, poverty, health, education, etc.
...The truth is that Bush has screwed this country so badly that only a 180 can effectively repudiate the terrorist, anti-humanist policies that have caused so much damage. [more]
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Wednesday, August 13, 2003



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Monday, August 11, 2003

Kucinich on Lessig Blog This Week

Monday 8/11 until Friday 8/15
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |




My attention is obviously elsewhere at the moment. I'm drained mentally and physically and my helpfulness is questionable. I'll be back once I regroup. Until then I'll direct your attention to the following two great links, which should keep you delightfully distracted for hours, perhaps days.

The Summer edition of New World Disorder Magazine!

AND

An interview with Joseph Matheny, recorded 08-07-03 from Radio Alchymy- KPFK - Los Angeles.
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Wednesday, August 06, 2003

The Progressives Theory of Everything

Allen Brill of the right christians has been working out a prescriptive strategy that progressives should seriously be looking at. The foundation is George Lakoff's Conceptual System. Framing morality in a manner that is not offensive to conservatives and grabs their attention in a language they understand is important if we want arguments toward the progressive view heard.

Check out the TOE (Theory of Everything) and add input as you see fit. This truly needs to be a concerted effort, much like Conceptual Guerilla has coined cheap-labor-conservative.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Kucinich stands out at AFL-CIO event

The leaders of organized labor played host Tuesday night to a nine-candidate free-for-all among the Democratic presidential contenders. Long-shot contender Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio stood out from the crowd, delivering a rousing performance, challenging former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on why he wasn’t willing to cut the defense budget and demanding that Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri tell the audience whether he’d revoke the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and pull the United States out of the World Trade Organization. [ more ]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase Inhibition May Curb GERD-Related Esophageal Cancer

Medscape (registration required)
Leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H) is overexpressed in the early stages of rat and human esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC), and its inhibition reduces the incidence of EAC in a rat model, according to a report in the July 16th Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

EAC, often preceded by gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), is "increasing at the most rapid rate of any cancer in the United States," the authors note.

"LTA4H overexpression appears to be an early event in esophageal adenocarcinogenesis and is a potential target for the chemoprevention of EAC," Dr. Yang and colleagues conclude.

"Recent studies of the crystal structure and molecular biology of LTA4H suggested that LTA4H epoxide hydrolase activity could be targeted efficiently and specifically by some potent LTA4H epoxide hydrolase inhibitors," they add. "We urge that future studies test the chemopreventive effects of these inhibitors on EAC."
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Tuesday, August 05, 2003

Little Big Nukes

Why does it appear that nothing of value applies to the US anymore?
The under-reported disbanding of a major nuclear oversight committee, along with a government push for increased funding of nuclear weapons research has some critics saying that the Bush administration's aim to free the world of nuclear weapons doesn't apply to the United States.

...Small coincidence that the House and Senate simultaneously called for accelerated resumption of underground nuclear testing on U.S. soil. The message is clear: Research nuclear weapons today, test and deploy them tomorrow."
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |




clear mountain water dream
giggling bubbles dancing
on a floor of rocks
smoothed by experience
tickling playful toes
moving freely
never asking where it goes
it merely flows
and simply knows

frozen tears melt into
raging thunderous wash
deepening the gorge of time
cyclical dry beds of drought
extreme, extended
bake and purify foundations
immersed in the perfection
that simply is
distinctly so
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |




"This is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign and economic but also in social and environmental policy. This is not normal government policy. Now is the time for people to engage in civil disobedience."
- - George A. Akerlof (2001 Nobel Prize Laureate)

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Monday, August 04, 2003

At home on the edge

via Ann Arbor News (register)Tiny Ypsilanti theater-gallery concentrates on pushing creative boundaries
Live in Ypsilanti, it's Saturday night at Dreamland Theater, (scroll down on page for info) a 45-foot-long, 18-foot-wide storefront edifice on Cross Street in Depot Town. Next door at Schramm's Deli, folks would likely never guess that just a wall apart a trio of nearly naked performers are roiling and writhing to music that might be labeled hyper-primal scream.

The show is "A Shadow's Dream," conceived, composed, directed, and co-performed by self-dubbed "audio noise slave" performance artist Jeff Ensign. For the better part of an hour one recent night, Ensign and two female co-performers contorted themselves into every less-than-human shape and design imaginable - a kind of perpetual motion sculpture wrapped (barely) in strands of cheesecloth, eventually diminished to nothingness in an onslaught of sweaty flesh.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft would doubtless denounce "A Shadow's Dream" as pornographic. So would quite a few folks on the street, while others of a less moralistic bent might snickeringly dismiss it as artistic nonsense. [ more]

Shameless Promotion:
Two evenings of film at Dreamland Theater. Six short films (each very different) by Craig Baker, culminating in the premiere of his celebratory documentary on the music of Sun Ra (Cosmos Songs) starring Ann Arbor's own Arwulf Arwulf.
Friday, August 29th and Saturday, August 30th
And Friday, September 5th and Saturday, September 6th
7:30 pm.
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Sunday, August 03, 2003

FBI and CIA probing Saudi links to 9/11

''They are revisiting everybody. The bureau did not do a very good job of unraveling the conspiracy behind the hijackers,'' said one government terrorism consultant who asked not to be named. ''It may be too late.''
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Happy One Year Anniversary sTaRe !!

 
There's a much longer history to sTaRe that some old timers may actually recognize..you know..back in the day before blogs, when there were gophers (?)
Cool history!
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


The Truth may be Far Darker

I've held these questions since day one. I know I'm not the only one. It's taken a while for the mainstream media to question, but our trust has been seriously violated and we need to question just how sinister that violation is. How much damage has been done?
But perhaps the Bushies had a reason for ignoring the warnings. Something brushed over in the Congressional 9/11 report suggests the possibility of one of the worst conspiracies of American history.

PNAC, Project for the New American Century, was organized in 1997 by Zionist neo-cons Robert Kagen and William Kristol. It is funded by three foundations closely tied to Persian Gulf oil and the weapons and defense industries.

Members of PNAC included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush and Paul Wolfowitz, a director of the organization.

All signed a statement of principles, one of which was to promote "American global leadership" with special emphasis on Arab countries. Another was to "transform" the U.S. military with huge increases in defense spending.

Here's the chilling kicker: To convince the American people to spend extra billions for defense instead of on Social Security, Medicare, etc., PNAC suggested it would take a "catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor." (PNAC's exact words.) [more]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Kucinich gets Green support

Found via Muslims for Kucinich whose URL has changed from typepad. Please update your links! Typepad may not keep the beta content for long.
Thursday in San Francisco, three of California's most prominent Green Party members voiced support for Kucinich, though stopping short of formal endorsements because of the party divide.

"If Kucinich is the Democratic nominee, I am sure the Democrats and the Greens will work collaboratively to oust George Bush in next year's election," said Matt Gonzalez, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who introduced the candidate at a breakfast for his supporters.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and Code Pink Women for Peace and U.S. Senate candidate for the Greens in 2000, told The Examiner that Kucinich is "as green as you can get."

"He's so genuine, you wonder how this guy ever got to Congress," Benjamin said.

Peter Camejo, California's Green Party candidate for governor, said if Kucinich were to win the Democratic nod, he "would favor calling an emergency national convention of the Green Party" to discuss how to support the progressive candidate.

Also see Politics in the Zeros: A Kucinich-Green Alliance?
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Saturday, August 02, 2003

The Politics of Drug Wars

Burke reminds us that the drug wars have been accompanied by growing consumption and lower prices for targeted drugs, exactly contrary to the expectation of the drug warriors. And that war now consumes over 35 billion in government spending per year and gives the United States the highest per capita prison population in the world.

If it is hard to imagine a more clear- cut example of big government failure, why aren’t conservatives up in arms? Unfortunately, the drug war is not about public health, though health arguments are invoked in that war. Since the nineteenth century, substance wars have focused on the particular drugs and lifestyles of those who were dissenters against mainstream politics or presented alternatives to conventional mores. Burke also points out that drug wars are often the harshest when those mainstream institutions are in greatest turmoil or are failing to deliver the goods even in their own terms.

...Groups associated with challenges to mainstream values can also be portrayed as more threatening to the extent they are connected with the consumption of drugs pictured as dangerous. And the danger of the drugs in turn is in part conveyed by reference to who uses the drugs. Thus in the nineteenth century, the American Psychiatric Association described marijuana as a primary stimulant to homosexual behavior, thus tarring with one brush both the drug and the sexual behavior. [more]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Friday, August 01, 2003

Our Democracy Our Airwaves

Action Alert: Ask Your Senators to Co-Sponsor the McCain/Feingold/Durbin Broadcast Bill which would require television and radio stations to provide voters with more and better information about candidates and issues at election time.
  • requires that television and radio stations, as part of the public interest obligation they incur when they receive a free broadcast license, air at least two hours a week of candidate-centered or issue-centered programming during the period before elections;

  • enables qualifying federal candidates and national parties to receive up to $750 million worth of broadcast vouchers that can be used to place political advertisements on television and radio stations in each two year election cycle. The voucher system will be financed by a spectrum use fee of not more than one percent of the gross annual revenues of broadcast license holders; and

  • closes loopholes in the “lowest unit cost” provision in order to ensure that candidates receive the same advertising rates that stations give to their high-volume, year-round advertisers.

posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


If Elected I Will Resign

 
Creativity comes in all shapes! I absolutely love that this idea is taking off!
Brian Flemming for Governor

See the momentum: Indie Filmmaker Takes on Arnold in the Race for Governor
Nothing so Strange filmmaker Brian Flemming has announced his intention to run as a candidate for governor in California's October 7, 2003, recall election.

"I have one plank in my platform," said Flemming. "If elected, I will immediately resign. This action will make Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante the Governor of California."

Because most prominent Democrats, including Bustamante, have refused to run, out of solidarity with Gov. Gray Davis, there will likely be few choices for Democrats on the recall ballot. Flemming intends to be the focus of liberal voters, while several announced Republican candidates may split the conservative vote.

Word of Flemming's unique candidacy leaked out through his personal weblog earlier this week, and words of encouragement are pouring in from the "blogging" community, especially those in the Golden State.

Go Brian! and for those of you interested in some of Brian's other creative endeavours, Bat Boy: the Musical is playing in the Detroit area this weekend! Here is a Metro-Times Review

posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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