Thursday, December 27, 2007

Texas, A State Without Pity

Texas is still the execution capital of the U.S., leading the other 49 states by 62%. There have been other articles about this shame, but this morning's editorial in the NY Times sums it up beautifully. DNA testing has proven so many sentencing errors in this country that New Jersey recently banned all executions. Other states are considering this. We need to take a second look at the death penalty. It's a 'number one' record that should not make Texans proud.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas to One and All

I would like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday (Sorry, Bill O'Reilly!). It's Christmas Morning and I'm sitting here being grateful that this time next year, Bush will be packin' up his belongings and gettin' the hell out of Dodge! Somewhere out there the Baby Jesus is smiling at the thought!

Monday, December 24, 2007

This Week on the Daily Show

NEW EPISODES OF THE DAILY SHOW WITH JOHN STEWART WILL BEGIN JANUARY 7, 2008
There will be no Daily Show episodes airing the weeks of December 24 and 31.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Christmas acapella choir lead me to this, it's awesome

Christmas music acapella

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Help Hand out phone cards at Audie Murphy VA

All the photos from the AlamObama open house

AlamObamas Open House in San Antonio

A diverse group, working for Barack Obama. A very fun party as we opened the HQ for Obama in San Antonio.






This Week on the Colbert Report

REPEAT EPISODES

TUESDAY 12/18 -- Charlie LeDuff

WEDNESDAY 12/19 -- Howard Dean

THURSDAY 12/20 -- Tom DeLay

Monday, December 17, 2007

This Week on the Daily Show

THE BEST OF 2007

MONDAY 12/17 -- Guest: Bill Clinton

TUESDAY 12/18 -- Investigation of the "N" word, Guest: Bill Richardson

WEDNESDAY 12/19 -- Guest: Al Gore

THURSDAY 12/20 -- Jason Jones explores Gay in a double Diagnosis Mystery, Guest: Stephen Prothero

Sunday, December 16, 2007

To the US: If You're Not Willing to Lead, Get Out of the Way

Who the hell has the audacity to say that to the US? Papua, New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is lecturing the US on leadership? Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
It was at the Climate Change Conference in Bali and the US had declared their intention not to go along with negotiations on carbon dioxide emissions. Then, the representative said

"We ask for your leadership. We seek...your leadership. But...if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please...get out of the way."

Suddenly,
a stunning turnaround from the US. Was it a staged turnaround? A rogue US representative? Or was she shamed into making an executive decision she'll be accountable for once she returns from Bali? Whatever the case, a very interesting development.


Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Volunteers needed on Dec. 21 at Audie Murphy VA Hospital

I am passing out phone cards to veterans on Dec. 21st at Audie Murphy VA. Time will be 2 pm. We will meet at the volunteer center, which is the small building to the right of the main entrance. Contact me if you wish to join in! I did this last year and it was a wonderful experience.

The bad and the ugly... is there any good news out there? Nah

Some random things I found today. The information from Alternet is not complete, I seem to be having great difficulty accessing Alternet at home. Wonder if GVTC is blocking access or if there is another reason? It's the only site I have trouble getting to load.
Any way, these items are just a sampling of the things that are bugging me. It's just tougher and tougher to get our salaries to stretch through the month, and we have even decreased expenses. We don't go out, we don't rent or buy movies, and rarely buy more than groceries. What the hell will retirement be like? I shudder to think.

The American Dream is Alive and Well ... in Finland!
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet.

But new research suggests the United States' much-ballyhooed upward mobility is a myth, and one that's slipping further from reality with each new generation. On average, younger Americans are not doing better than their parents did, it's harder to move up the economic ladder in the United States than it is in a number of other wealthy countries, and a person in today's work force is as likely to experience downward mobility as he or she is to move up.

Moreover, the single greatest predictor of how much an American will earn is how much their parents make. In short, the United States, contrary to popular belief, is not a true meritocracy, and the American worker is getting a bum deal, the worst of both worlds. Not only is a significant portion of the middle class hanging on by the narrowest of threads, not only do fewer working people have secure retirements to look forward to, not only are nearly one in seven Americans uninsured, but working people also enjoy less opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps than those in a number of other advanced economies....
Americans enjoy significantly less upward mobility than citizens of a number of other industrialized nations (some of the studies can be accessed here, here and here). German workers have 1.5 times the mobility of Americans, Canada is nearly 2.5 times more mobile and Denmark is 3 times more mobile. Norway, Finland, Sweden and France (France!) are all more mobile societies than the United States. Of the countries included in the studies, the United States ranked near the bottom; only the United Kingdom came in lower....
Roughly speaking, the decrease in relative mobility from generation to generation correlates with the rise of "backlash" conservatism, the advent of Reaganomics and the series of massive changes in industrial relations and other policies that people loosely refer to as the "era of globalization."...
Sawhill looked at the relationship between education and mobility (PDF) and concluded that "at virtually every level, education in America tends to perpetuate rather than compensate for existing inequalities." She pointed to three reasons for that.

First, we have a relatively weak K-12 system. "American students perform poorly on international assessments," she wrote. "Colleges are forced to provide remedial work to a large share of entering freshmen, and employers complain about workers' basic skills." A society with a weak education system will, by definition, be one in which the advantages of class and family background loom large.

Second, the U.S. education system is largely funded through state and local property taxes, which means that the quality of a kid's education depends on the wealth of the community in which he or she grows up. This, too, helps replicate parents' economic status in their kids.

Finally, Sawhill notes, in the United States, unlike other advanced economies, "access both to a quality preschool experience and to higher education continues to depend quite directly on family resources."...The decline in organized labor and solid, good-paying manufacturing jobs is another factor. Those jobs once represented a ladder;...

SNIP---

The article below is true and sums up my feelings that we are being had by ALL the politicians.

Why the Democrats Could Lose

But the smug Democratic hierarchy may be inviting defeat, again, by ignoring the fact that many Americans want leadership that appeals to them on the higher plane of principle. Instead, Democrats often treat Americans more like consumers than citizens, selling them new social programs rather than articulating an uplifting national cause.

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York summed up this consumer-over-citizen approach when she announced her health care plan on Sept. 17:

"We can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can't take a sick child to the doctor?" [Boston Globe, Sept. 18, 2007]

Perhaps a different question might be: why would a presidential candidate see the founding principles of the United States as somehow at odds with the desire of parents to want health care for their children?

With her dubious dichotomy, Sen. Clinton suggests that it’s an either-or situation – and that the founding principles must take a backseat to health-care policy.

One outgrowth of this pragmatism-not-principle approach is that national Democrats have shied away from rallying the American people around the ideals of the Republic, even when they have been under assault by Bush and his administration.

These Democratic leaders don’t seem to think that ephemeral notions – like checks and balances, the rule of law, and inalienable rights – matter that much to the average Joe. In this view, health insurance and other social benefits should trump all.



SNIP----
And then this....and I am old enough to remember recession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sank on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates rather than slashing them, letting down investors who fear the economy might slip into recession unless the central bank becomes more aggressive.

It's Waaay Too Soon for Speculation, But............

Everything I read tells me that Hillary can't win the presidency, but my favorite betting site says she will. Another good seat for the play is Slate's Campaign Junkie 2008. I just wish I understood online betting; Intrade assures me that Democrats will take all in 2008, but can this really be true? Maybe if I were more of a gambler I would have more faith in the bettors, but I've read too many times that gambling doesn't pay.
I guess I should ask my Republican friend whose predictions are always 100% correct (and are based on betting sites) to give me another lesson. It's fun to read that the Democrats will win, even though it IS waaaaay to early!

Monday, December 10, 2007

This Week on the Daily Show

REPEAT EPISODES "HOLLYWOOD WEEK"


MONDAY 12/10 -- Jamie Foxx

TUESDAY 12/11 -- Christopher Walken

WEDNESDAY 12/12 -- Matt Damon

THURSDAY 12/13 -- Meryl Streep

This Week on the Çolbert Report

REPEAT EPISODES


MONDAY 12/10 -- Lance Armstrong

TUESDAY 12/11 -- Ed Begley Jr & Viggo Mortensen

WEDNESDAY 12/12 -- Larry King

THURSDAY 12/13 -- Toby Keith

Saturday, December 08, 2007

The hell with the NIE, more negativity on Iran

This is the validation that will be used over and over to make Bush's case to invade Iran in 2009. Mark my words.
The quote is from Secy Gates:



He said "since that government now acknowledges the quality of American intelligence assessments, I assume that it also will embrace as valid American intelligence assessments" that Iran is funding and training of militia groups in Iraq; deploying lethal weapons and technology to both Iraq and Afghanistan; supporting terrorist organizations -- like Hezbollah and Hamas -- that have murdered thousands of innocent civilians; and continued research and development of medium-range ballistic missiles that can carry weapons of mass destruction.

Monday, December 03, 2007

A funny to share

Funny, from Frameshop:

AlamObamas at the Boerne Christmas parade

BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.

This Week on the Daily Show

REPEAT EPISODES "COMEDIANS WEEK"

MONDAY 12/3 -- Jerry Seinfeld

TUESDAY 12/4 -- Denis Leary

WEDNESDAY 12/5 -- Steve Carell

THURSDAY 12/6 -- Dennis Miller

This Week on the Colbert Report

REPEAT EPISODES

MONDAY 11/26 -- Michael Beschloss

TUESDAY 11/27 -- Jim Cramer & Tina Brown

WEDNESDAY 11/28 -- Michael Jacobson

THURSDAY 11/29 -- Thomas Ricks & Joe Klein

Sunday, December 02, 2007

The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran that the White House Doesn't want You To Know

For those of us who are TCU grads, we can be happy that Mr. Leverett, actually remembered one value hopefully reinforced at TCU....ethics. At least he finally saw the light.

Below, the introduction to the article, please use the link read the remainder of the article.

In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm -- not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn't realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn't wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say.


Link to article