American Foreign Policy: The Dr Frankenstein of The World

Here is the ultimate hypocrisy in the name of you rednecks.

Do you realize that Israel, with our backing, was instrumental in establishing Hamas? They had a purpose. It was to stop the PLO; to give the PLO a radical opposition to take them down.

Then, because that didn’t turn out very well (kind of like the way the villagers in the Frankenstein movie became murderous), we (America and Israel) insisted that elections be held (thinking that there would be no way that Hamas could win). But win they did and Hamas became the government (through free and fair elections).

Now why would someone elect “terrorists” as their leaders? (We could ask the same thing of ourselves).

My reaction is that one person’s terrorist, may be the other’s hero.

History (not that many Americans read, understand or even “care” about history) shows that we invent and make these “monsters”, then don’t like the outcome. Pawns to move weapons, fight our battles and suck up our money.

It is true with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Most rednecks don’t understand that America trained, radicalized and funded Osama against the Soviet Union. We (AMERICA) created our enemy. Now we don’t like it. The Taliban is in Afghanistan because of AMERICA!

We created and funded the means for Saddam Hussein to become leader of Iraq. We funded his (our) war with Iran (trying to bring Iran down in the same manner we brought down the Soviet Union).

It appears that the fools who do the ‘thinking’ in America’s leadership do not do a very good job of it.

So, we have “blowback” and it is deserved. If the shoe were on the other foot, I know of few rednecks that would not “BLOW BACK”.

But don’t listen to this old redneck. Listen to this one (h/t BrassCheckTV):

So I’m An Anti-Semite? And Immoral?

Strange? I thought Gazan’s were Semite?

Have you noticed that the religious nutcases immediately defend their indefensible killing by lashing out at anyone who questions their rationale? Zionist or Hamas terrorist. I see no difference.

The basis is the same. Where I do draw the line is not falling for the meme that insists that Israel is blameless. I am 47 years old and all I remember about this area is nothing but land grabbing and power mongering.

I watched Bill Moyers last night (see below) and then read at Glenn Greenwald’s place this morning and I am taken even further aback by how accusatory the culprits get. My Dad used to say (after someone farted in the car and a person complained), “Guilty dogs bark first!” It always got a laugh. But this issue isn’t funny and like the neocon apologists did after people began to bitch about Iraq, they accused us of all sorts of shit… most hurtful being that we are unpatriotic or immoral for not going along. Meanwhile the hypocrisy always easily eludes them that bombing people cannot be moral. This is a logical fallacy that these people have been able to brainwash themselves into believing.

From Glenn’s site (please go read the entire article):

UPDATE II:  According to the Report issued on Thursday (.pdf) by the U.N.’s Humanitarian Affairs Office, more than 1/3 of overall Palestinian deaths are children (34% of the almost 800 total deaths), and a similar percentage of the more than 3,000 wounded are also children (34.8%).

To put that in perspective, note that the Russian invasion of Georgia — which was vehemently and universally condemned in the U.S. as an excessive and brutal response to Georgia’s assault on South Ossetia — resulted, according to the Georgian government, in total deaths on the Georgia side of 405 (220 of whom were civilians) and total number of civilians wounded between 200-250 (see page 10 of this Amnesty International Report — .pdf).  The Russians agreed to a cease-fire accord after 5 days; the Israelis explicitly reject the U.N.’s call for a cease fire and continue to “escalate” after 14 full days (and counting) of full-scale air and land attacks on Gaza.

His point is that this indiscriminate bombing, for how else could they begin to “escalate” these atrocities as they are about to do, is killing as many innocents as it is anyone else. What we have done by allowing the Bush Doctrine to flourish without consequence is to say it is ok to other countries to invade and bomb with impunity (as long as it is in the guise of “terrorism”).

When the Military Industrial Complex was looking for a long-term enemy, they sure found one in the war on terror.

Rednecks: the very basis for each and every issue that plagues the world today can be be brought directly and laid at the feet of the MIC and the American people for allowing it to happen. It is us, the once defenders of liberty and peace, that have uncorked the Genie Bottle of rampant murder and carnage.

Now call your preacher and get him to tell you how immoral I am for being against murder.

Baaa

Hyper-Libido’s should be scared lol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/260459.stm

Vibration White Finger

Vibration White Finger can cause numbness and disabling pain

British miners have been awarded compensation after they developed Vibration White Finger, a condition caused by working with vibrating machinery such as chain saws and drills. The condition is one form of Raynaud’s Disease which affects one in 10 women, usually with mild symptoms. Women are nine times more likely to suffer from the disease as men. What is Raynaud’s Disease?

Raynaud’s is caused by a restriction in the blood supply to the extremities, usually the fingers and toes.

It can also affect the ears and nose. The parts initially turn white and dead-looking and then become inflamed. An attack may be accompanied by significant pain, numbness or a tingling sensation.

With Vibration White Finger (VWF), the fingers may go into spasm.

This is due to an intermittent lack of blood supply to the fingers.

The condition is usually not severe and attacks only cause minor discomfort. But it can lead to skin ulcers and even gangrene.

And it can be progressive over a period of several years.

VWF is triggered by continuous use of vibrating hand machinery, but some forms of primary Raynaud’s have no trigger.

The disease can also be genetically inherited.

However, in these cases, the attacks are usually mild.

Secondary Raynaud’s is less common and more severe. It is linked to underlying diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

What triggers attacks?

Prolonged exposure to the cold is a major trigger for the disease.

Smoking and stress are also thought to be factors and the disease can be caused by a reaction to beta blocker drugs.

People who work with vibrating machinery are more likely to develop VWF, which can become irreversible.

Vibration White finger (VWF) causes the fingers to become numb and begin turning white.

Symptoms include:

Tingling and numbness in the fingers which often continues after the machinery has been switched off;

One fingertip temporarily turns white and may start to ache;

The finger turns white with increasing frequency;

Other fingers begin turning white, but the thumb is not usually affected. After several fingers turn white, the disease is probably irreversible;

The person suffers increasingly frequent painful attacks at any time.

Eventually, the person may lose their fingers. This only happens in extreme cases, for example, when people are working with vibrating machinery in very cold conditions, but it is more common in the forestry industry among people working with chainsaws.

Treatment–

Discontinuing the use of vibrating equipment and keeping hands warm and dry.

Let Me Tell You About The Torture

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7821569.stm

 

 

Former guard on Guantanamo ‘torture’

A former guard at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay has spoken in his first television interview about the brutality he witnessed to inmates.

Chris Arendt told the BBC what he saw amounted to ”torture” and that some of his fellow guards were so violent as to be ”psychotic.”

 

The Brave Boys In Blue In Chattanooga, TN

I normally don’t dog cops, except when they do stupid shit. Most cops I know are decent folks. (The local police chief is really a good, hard-working guy by all accounts). But, there is a certain portion of police forces who truly believe they are above the law and can do shit like this and get away with it, simply because of that blue (the uniform and the weapon).

This old fella was doing his job and asking the cop to stop to check his receipt at Wal-Mart. Apparently, cops don’t like being held to the same accountability as normal customers in Chattanooga, but even worse is the coverup of the police force. Merry Christmas?

This sure ain’t the police chief I grew up with in Iuka, MS. I saw Jack Rye (now dead police chief from my home town) actually slap an officer once for calling an older woman a bitch. Oh: and you can bet your ass I would have been put in jail after I knocked his dick in the dirt, then sued these sorry-assed f*ckers for everything I could get.

I suppose the Chattanooga officer leadership has a totally different idea about respect and protection than I have. From Jonathon Turley:

Freeman: Chattanooga Police Department Declines to Charge Officer Who Allegedly Threw a 71-Year-Old Man to Floor and a Good Samaritan Through a Glass Door

The Chattanooga Police Department has decided that an officer who assaults two people, including pushing one through a plate glass window, will not be criminally charge. Det. Kenneth Freeman is truly a free man after, on Christmas Eve, shoving 71-year-old Wal-Mart greeter Bill Walker to the ground. Why? Because he was asking for a receipt check. Freeman then reportedly shoved Gholom Ghassedi through a glass door when he tried to assist Walker. The police routinely charge people with battery and resisting arrest if they touch the sleeve of an officer. Even hugging an officer or passing gas near an officer has led to a charge of assault. Yet, the Chattanooga Police Department can’t imagine what it would charge Freeman with after assaulting an elderly man and shoving good samaritan through a glass door.

Collegedale Judge Kevin Wilson has reviewed the complaint filed by Walker and decided that there was no room for an assault charge.

Walker said an alarm went off when Det. Freeman and another city police officer, Edwin McPherson, were leaving the store. He tried to stop Freeman and pushed against a soft drink machine and to the floor. He said the officer then stood over him in a threatening manner as he lay on the floor.

A customer, Gholom Ghassedi, then told Freeman, “You can’t push down an old man” and began struggling with him only to be shoved through a glass door. He was bleeding from his neck when officers arrived.

Cpl. Larry Robbins Jr. of the Collegedale Police said he decided not to bring assault charges against Det. Freeman because the incident was a misdemeanor not committed in the presence of an officer — not counting the officer doing the beating of course. He further insisted that, since Gholom Ghassedi, did not seek medical attention, it did not meet that criteria. Finally, he explained “there were no other crimes committed along with the possible simple assault.”

If that seems a bit ridiculous, it is. There is a host of possible charges here in the abuse of an elderly person and assault on not one but two individuals. The police department had to struggle to find a way not to charge Freeman, insisting that they were “unable to determine at the scene that there was any intent to commit an assault.” Well, whatever his intent, he succeeded in knocking an elderly man to the ground and throwing another through a door. Was that all involuntary muscular reflex?

By the way, Freeman was involved in a scuffle with attorney Lloyd Levitt at the Courts Building in May 2007. What is clear is that the problem is not just Det. Freeman, but the Chattanooga Police Department itself.

For the full story, click here.

Real Love Waits For Marriage…

… But The Itch For Lovin’ Don’t

Again, my home state is rewarded for its backward ass ways. We can now brag about having more teen pregnancies than any other state in the nation (once held by Texas). We can also brag about the fact that we will NOT teach kids about condoms or safe sex… JUST abstinance only.

Why, you ask?

Because we, in general, are a bunch of religious nutcases and we are so desperate for government money that we teach what gets the most hand outs from Uncle Sam… Bush’s favorite sex education (and one of the reasons Texas was Number Uno until recently), abstinence-only. Religious nutcases are causing their own children to suffer the same cycle that many of them went through. A 16 or 17 year old with a baby. That baby, when it turns 15 or 16, has her baby. And the cycle continues. And the Clap, Itch, The Drip… when a “wrap” would do. Click here to see the stats of VD in MS (or any state) and compare. We are #1 or #2 in STD’s (“VD” isn’t used anymore).

Yes, praise God and pop the condoms… another desperately poor and hungry, syphilis rattled baby.

Abortion? In Mississippi? One clinic.

ThinkProgress carries the story:

Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America

The Centers for Disease Control released a new report today that found that Mississippi “now has the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title.” The report found that in 2006, the Mississippi teen pregnancy rate was over 60 percent higher than the national average and increased 13 percent since the year before.

While the new report does not explain why the state’s teen pregnancy rate is increasing, one reason may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. As the Sexuality Information and Education Center explains, Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives:

Mississippi schools are not required to teach sexuality education or sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV education. If schools choose to teach either or both forms of education, they must stress abstinence-until-marriage, including “the likely negative psychological and physical effects of not abstaining.” […]

If the school board authorizes the teaching of contraception, state law dictates that the failure rates and risks of each contraceptive method must be included and “in no case shall the instruction or program include any demonstration of how condoms or other contraceptives are applied.”

A reporter for ABC News’s Jackson, MS affiliate explained, “The Mississippi Department of Human Services says abstinence is the only birth control that is 100 percent effective. And that’s the only message teens need to hear.” Unfortunately, numerous studies show that abstinence-only education is not effective. As one study found:

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

Further, a review by the House Oversight Committee found that “80% of the abstinence-only curricula…contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.”

Pregnant teens in Mississippi face few options. Access to facilities that provide abortions in that state is extremely limited. Indeed, because of an unusually effective anti-choice campaign in the legislature, only a single abortion clinic remains open in the state.

Richard Noggin’ Saturday: Alabama’s Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett

Alabama Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett

I normally don’t add the pics from Jonathon’s site, but in this case, I felt I needed to make an exception by showing the face of evil dressed up as a servant to the people. I read this from Jonathon Turley and thought to myself, “how many of these people are in jail being starved for smoking weed?”

This sounds precisely like something a backwoods redneck sheriff would do. Take in over $200,000 (probably buying his own personal coke) and starve those who are under your care.

My hometown sheriff’s department have a long history of this kind of shit (Tishomingo county, Mississippi).

We had one sheriff who went to prison and got out to become a preacher. Praise Gawd!

Another, Sheriff Bob “Cocaine” Payne, got his nickname for a reason. Can you guess why?

But, as bad as the inmates had it (for about three years I went to the jail every Sunday just to talk to folks who were locked up :under the guise of religion, but I never said religious shit to them) I can never remember it this bad. They just needed someone to talk to from outside, especially when family had given up or they had none. But they had some food, even though other “contraband”  issues were pretty stupid. I can’t tell you how many kids (18 or so) that I spoke with that simply had a dime bag of weed on them and couldn’t even afford the bail or a bail bondsman. Yet, they would languish months and up to a year for such a trivial thing.

I also know Morgan County pretty well (lived there many years ago and have many customers in the town of Decatur). This is a more robust and populated town than most Podunk towns I live around. Right on the river and probably has around 40,000 citizens (my hometown has about 3,000 as a comparison).

So, you would think that they could find a more understanding redneck to run their county. I also wonder if this sorry sob was put into the general population? Can you imagine those he was starving getting their hands on him. What a total piece of shit.

Federal Judge Jails Alabama Sheriff Who Profited After Inmates Went Hungry

U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon in Alabama took the extraordinary step this week of ordering Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett to be locked up in his own jail after testimony showed that he had deprived inmates of adequate food while profiting from the meager diet. Bartlett personally kept $212,000 in “surplus money” from the meal program.

Judge Clemon held the hearing to determine whether the sheriff was in violation of that agreement with some surprising testimony.
Bartlett is to remain the Morgan County jail until he comes up with an adequate plan for feeding the 300 inmates as required under the 2001 court order.

Clemon correctly questioned the legality of allowing sheriffs to keep the surplus money from such programs, noting “He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for inmates.”

Yet, 55 of Alabama’s 67 counties are allowed to keep make money operating their jail kitchens. The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate. Alabama should be ashamed of creating such a system that is ripe with abuse and conflicts of interest. I have done prison work for roughly three decades and I have never heard of such a system.

Inmates testified that they had to struggled to buy enough food to survive. They described how they would often received half an egg, a spoonful of oatmeal and one piece of toast most days at their 3 a.m. daily breakfast.

Bartlett insisted that he took steps to vary the meal such as spending $1,000 cost for an 18-wheeler full of corn dogs, which he split with another sheriff. He then forced the prisoners to eat corn dogs twice a day until they were all used. The judge was not impressed with the corn dog diet as a point of pride. “So until they were used up, they became the staple diet for inmates in the Morgan County Jail?” Clemon asked.

Alabama should be subject to a federal investigation for this program and the violation of the constitutional rights of the inmates in their care. Congress should also hold hearings on the matter since these sheriffs received federal funding directly linked to inmate care.

For the full story, click here

Should The Next Surgeon General Have A Weird Animal Penis Fetish?

B’Man: I can think of several reasons why I don’t think Dr. Sanjay Gupta should be our next Attorney General. One revolves around the fact that he is a TV personality (and one of People magazine’s “sexiest men alive”, even) and is beholden to the same liars and corporate interests that have been using and screwing us for decades now. Even Keith Olbermann had this to say, “Isn’t this like making Judge Judy the Attorney General?”

The man is owned by Big Money. Obama is owned by Big Money. Virtually every person in appointment is owned by Big Money. The entire establishment is owned by Big Money (with so few exceptions that it is meaningless).

Change?

Yes. We. Can. Right?

But another reason I think that Dr Sanjay is a terrible pick is that I have heard him make some of the most ignorant comments a “Resident Neurosurgeon” ought to say (especially in the area of marijuana medical use).

Russ Belville, of NORML wrote an article about him showing that he puts politics before medicine much too often and bases much of what he says of erroneous and outdated information. Russ says:

But is Gupta ready to deliver the Obama administration’s promised end to the politicization of science and medicine? More specifically, will Gupta toe the federal line that cannabis is lacking in any medical value, or will he recognize what 13 states and the past 12 years of research prove — that cannabis is a beneficial medicine for some people and an intoxicant far less harmful than alcohol for others?

In 2002, Gupta was more than willing to echo the outrageous claims that smoking pot would lead to psychosis, depression and schizophrenia:

But the three studies you are talking about talk specifically about schizophrenia and depression, and the fact that marijuana use earlier in life actually may lead to an increased — 30 percent increase — in schizophrenia later in life.

Depression, also a very big diagnosis — roughly 18.8 million in this country have it. Again, they looked this time at 1,600 high school students and followed them over about seven years. This is in Australia, not in the United States. But they actually found that all of these boys and girls, particularly girls, were more vulnerable to the symptoms of depression later on in life, again if they were frequent or even daily marijuana users.

I hope that the next surgeon general has been following the research on cannabis and mental health since 2002. This year, Dr. Mikkel Arendt of Aarhus University in Risskov, Denmark, said that people treated for a so-called cannabis-induced psychosis “…would have developed schizophrenia whether or not they used cannabis.”

I hope that Gupta has kept up with the journal Schizophrenia Research and the research published there last year by the London’s Institute of Psychiatry, which found no statistically significant “differences in symptomatology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users,” found no “evidence that cannabis users with schizophrenia were more likely to have a family member with the disorder” and that these findings “argue against a distinct schizophrenic-like psychosis caused by cannabis,” authors concluded.

B’Man: According to Melissa McEwanof Shakesville, the “Villagers“ want Dr Gupta as this appointment. They like him because he says what they want him to say… not what is necessarily the truth. It is a way for their propaganda to be spread to keep various societal improvements from happening (single payer healthcare, medical marijuana, etc). He is a “known” face to many Amereican sheople. Trusted.

Puke.

She quotes a couple of well known voices about their trepidation over this selection:

Krugman:

I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

What bothered me about the incident was that it was what Digby would call Village behavior: Moore is an outsider, he’s uncouth, so he gets smeared as unreliable even though he actually got it right. It’s sort of a minor-league version of the way people who pointed out in real time that Bush was misleading us into war are to this day considered less “serious” than people who waited until it was fashionable to reach that conclusion. And appointing Gupta now, although it’s a small thing, is just another example of the lack of accountability that always seems to be the rule when you get things wrong in a socially acceptable way.

Avedon:

Anyone who can utter that many conservative lies and talking points about single-payer/”socialized” medicine is, to put it generously, the wrong choice – and looks an awful lot like a signal from Obama that he doesn’t give a damn about one of the most vital issues facing us. It’s not bad enough that he said before that he doesn’t support single-payer, but he clearly hasn’t learned anything of value in his long period of running for president. Another “Up yours!” to the people who voted for him thinking he had to be better than this.

…I don’t consider Gupta an honest voice in the healthcare discussion, and I don’t think anyone should. As a medical journalist, he’s not really that good – he’s on TV because he says things The Villagers like, which means conservative bull.

B’Man: The NORML article I quoted above (Sanjay Gupta: What the Next Surgeon General Doesn’t Know About Pot) is found at Alternet. It is worth a read because it also explains several instances of recent  medical  studies done that continue to dismantle the lies and propaganda message Gupta spouts.

But more than any other reason, do we really want a dude with a weird animal penis fetish?

Really?

more about “Dr. Gupta’s Penis Pyramid | January 7…“, posted with vodpod

Freaky Sex Friday: Love At First Sight

He just met her…

Sex Shop Sicko

A PERVERT has twice broken into a Cairns adult shop and had sex with blow-up dolls before abandoning the vinyl vixens in a nearby lane.

However, police are on his tail, because the thief left his DNA on a doll and possible fingerprints on its face along with three other inflatable dolls and lubricants.

Business owners believe the same culprit is responsible for break-ins and till thefts at the Sapphire Bar on Lake St and three break-ins at the Laneway Adult Shop off Spence St in the past several days.

His method of entry is to smash through walls and squeeze through tight holes.

The owner of the adult shop, who wished to be named only as Vogue, said that in a first unreported break-in at his recently opened shop, the doll-snatcher had stolen five dolls and had sex with one of them.

“He has been taking the dolls out the back and blowing them up and using the dolls and leaving them in the alley,” he said.

What a nasty bastard (and I bet he didn’t even tell her “goodbye”, either)

And that’s my Offbeat Opinion on this Topix.

Who can really afford this!

Besides the unmeasureable damage that hit residents locally and headon to ruin their lives– the radius is being hit with water problems, air pollution and air-traveled-and-breathed toxins. And then– we all get to pay for it while we also endure our personal economys sinking fast. This [among so much stuff everytwhere ] sucks so bad.

 

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090108/GREEN02/901080355/1001/RSS01 

TVA’s ratepayers will be saddled with the cost to clean up a massive coal ash slide at an East Tennessee power plant, the agency’s chairman said.

The tab, likely to be tens of millions of dollars or more, will include the cost of extra workers, overtime pay, heavy machinery, and housing and supplies for families chased from their homes, along with the lawsuits that have begun to pile up.

“This is going to get into rates sooner or later,” Tennessee Valley Authority Chairman Bill Sansom told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We haven’t even thought about going to Washington for it.”

Washington is where Sansom will be today, as Tom Kilgore, the agency’s chief executive, testifies about the spill at a Senate hearing that brings TVA’s operations into their first high-profile scrutiny by Congress in more than a decade.

Also testifying will be Stephen Smith, a longtime TVA watchdog who heads the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and William Rose, director of emergency management services for Roane County.

The equivalent of more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge cascaded Dec. 22 in a dark avalanche from an aboveground, ash-walled storage structure at the Kingston coal-burning power plant.

When a wall ruptured, the waste barreled out, damaging homes, knocking over trees and power lines and filling two inlets of the nearby Emory River.

The slide has turned into a rallying point for activists, many of whom want national regulation of coal ash ponds and question industry talk of developing “clean” coal for the nation’s energy future.

Several residents who live not far from TVA’s coal-burning plant also have traveled to Washington to lobby their lawmakers with Smith.

“I want to be part of the solution, to get this mess cleaned up,” said Melinda Hillman. “We lived in a little bit of paradise and now it is unbelievable what has been done.”

Much of the gray ash covering almost 300 acres is being sprayed with liquid fertilizer and seeds to try to stop what could be lung-damaging ash particles from drying and going airborne as the cleanup continues.

Lab work on water and ash samples has shown elevated levels of arsenic, lead, thallium and other substances.

State and federal environmental officials say testing shows that drinking water supplies are safe and that treatment plants would remove these materials if they entered the water intakes.

Hillman, who has lived in the area for eight years, said an independent investigation is needed to determine why the pond wall failed.

Forty area families have joined a pending lawsuit along with several environmental groups, demanding that federal courts levy fines and assure the community is made whole.

A TVA official had said earlier that insurance covers such accidents, but just how much had not been determined.

“We are primarily self- insured, but we also have some insurance policy carriers,” agency spokesman John Moulton said Wednesday. “It’s too early to tell what the impact on rates might be.”

Ash pond spills and leaks elsewhere in the country — some smaller than the one at Kingston — have resulted in cleanups of more than $35 million and lawsuits with settlements of $25 million and more.

Tough hearings likely

Pointed questions are expected at today’s hearing, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CST.

The Environment and Public Works Committee is led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has pushed an aggressive environmental agenda since she took over as chairwoman in 2007. She supported efforts late last year to keep tighter environmental regulations in place for coal-fired power plants.

Kilgore, the CEO and president of TVA, was not available for an interview. But agency spokesman Moulten said Kilgore and Sansom were scheduled to meet before the hearing with the TVA Caucus — members of Congress who represent areas to which TVA provides electricity. That’s virtually all of Tennessee and parts of six other Southern states.

Moulten said Kilgore’s Senate testimony would emphasize cleanup efforts.

“Our focus is entirely on recovery,” Moulten said.

The last major confrontation between TVA leaders and Congress came in the 1990s, when the agency gave up the annual appropriations that had covered the costs of management of the Tennessee River system and economic development projects.

Today, TVA, a federal corporation, finances all its flood control, power generation and recreation operations from the sale of electricity.

Groups call for change

Local and international environmental groups homed in on the spill when it occurred.

The Environmental Integrity Project, along with Earthjustice, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the United Mountain Defense, held a teleconference Wednesday, releasing federal data about nearly 100 largely unregulated wet landfills nationwide that hold arsenic and other potentially toxic substances, like TVA’s Kingston facility.

Heavy metals found in coal can concentrate in the ash when it’s burned, and even more ash is created as pollution controls are tightened on power plants.

The groups object to mixing the dry ash with water to move it into ponds. They want dry landfills, recycling of the materials and regulations requiring liners to protect groundwater.

“This issue has been a sleeper,” said Jeff Stant, with the Environmental Integrity Project. “It’s not a glamorous issue. It’s been dumped where people are poor or aren’t members of environmental groups.”

High stakes and glamour, however, are part of it now — along with the potential for huge claims for class-action damages.

Erin Brockovich, who was made a celebrity by the Julia Roberts movie about a community’s fight against contaminated water, and a New York law firm are coming to meet victims this week.Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or

apaine@tennessean.com.
Contact Bill Theobald of The Tennessean’s Washington bureau at wtheobal@gns.gannett.com.
Duncan Mansfield of The Associated Press contributed.

Barack Obama: “Slave” to Israel and AIPAC

Jewish Sanity

The Reason Americans Are So Brainwashed About Israel

Where do you get your news?

TV?

If you are reading here, more than likely you get it on line, but if you are a silent, truth-seeking reader who casually goes online or just got their first computer and happened upon this site, you may still fall for the propaganda that our TV and other media blasts us with. Basically lies and obfuscation at every level.

I have debates, conversations and harsh arguments over this issue, because all one has to do is look at virtually any other media except American, Canadian or Israeli and you see the whole story. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why people are so foolishly ignorant about what we are doing to others in the world when getting the information is so easy. It just proves how gullible our population has become. Or perhaps how badly some want some religious belief to occur.

It is all mind manipulation, rednecks. We must DeProgram ourselves.

Snap the fark out of it!

Video: Media bias about the Israeli – Palestine conflict EXPOSED!

Why is the American (and Canadian) media so biased in the coverage of the Israeli – Palestine conflict?

December Will Prove To Be The Biggest Employment Drop Since The 1975 Recession

I wonder how many of you remember 1975? I was young, but I remember the recession and how it affected my family and how we almost lost everything (and my dad owned a drugstore and was a Pharmacist. I remember the 21% interest rate. I remember the hard times, even though I was too young to hold a job (even though I worked at our drugstore for $.50/hour). All the kids old enough (13 or 14) worked at that store for peanuts. We had to, to get by. I even remember my dad bartering as much or more with medicines in our poor community for eggs, beef, sausage and auto repair (which barely scratches the list).

Folks, if you still deny how serious things are, then you simply are ignorant and there is nothing that can be done for you. However, if you are aware and are concerned or down-right frightened, you should be and at least you are thinking about it.

The fact is that they (the TV, Politicians, punditry, etc) will not say these things because they are so gloomy and we are not to be panicked. But we must face reality and if anyone in their right mind thinks that getting $500 in “incentives” will help you, then there is no real help for you, the insane. How many of you are planning on donning the orange vest and hold a flag as we rebuild the roads in America (I think it pays about $8/hr)?

Mark my words… this isn’t even bad yet.

h/t to The Campaign For America’s Future, original article at Financial Times:

U.S. Shed 693,000 Jobs in December

The US private sector shed 693,000 jobs in December, according to a closely watched survey of business employment published on Wednesday.

The monthly ADP Employer Services survey, which tracks private non-farm payroll employment, was much worse than economists expected and a surprising increase from the 476,000 jobs lost in November.

The decline was the worst in the history of the survey, which began reporting in 2001. If the results are matched by the official government labour report, due on Friday, it would be the biggest employment drop since the 1975 recession.

“It’s just a bad sign and shows that things are definitely going to get worse before they get better,” said Ben Herzog, senior economist at Macroeconomic Advisors.

The services sector was hit the hardest, shedding 473,000 jobs in December, followed by the goods-producing sector which lost 220,000 jobs and manufacturing which lost 120,000.

B’Man: Please note that December is one of the months not normally ‘grow’ the service sector, because more stores normally hire sales help. And as the article explains, this is across the board. Small, medium and large companies are struggling and laying off, downsizing or closing altogether.

“The drop in ADP employment in December is staggering and suggests that our original projection of a 500,000 decline in payrolls in December is too small,” wrote John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros, economists at RDQ Economics in a research note.

The official employment numbers on Friday could show that as many as 700,000 jobs were lost in December, according to Ian Sheperdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics. That would be the biggest drop in 59 years.

“This is shockingly awful,” Mr Sheperdson said. “We await Friday with trepidation.”

B’Man: Please read the entire article if you want to get your head out of the sand.

America’s Destruction Is Coming From Within

Why We Fight

How the military-industrial complex is destroying America

h/t BrassCheckTV

Jen’s Update: No Imminent Danger

Entry by TRH from Ohio

Greetings Jen Nation and continued Happy New Year!

I’m back in Ohio briefly before heading back to TN this weekend. It’s nice to catch up on mail and have access to my full wardrobe

Sis had a pretty rough weekend as I understand it. She’s getting more convalescent (sleeping most of the time) and often can’t anticipate bathroom trips soon enough. It puts extra strain on Matthew and my Mom but they’re making due.

We feared her outlook may suffer accordingly, but the nurse rendered a surprisingly good report yesterday — vital signs good and she may have more than a month. May not sound like much, but for the last couple weeks I’ve widely reported January seems critical.

We just thank God for all He has done and pray if there are any miracles left, to send them directly. Otherwise we’ll focus on being kind and gracious to each other, keeping ourselves fresh so we can give Sis the love and support she needs.

My Mom & Dad recognized CaringBridge in a special way through their year-end charity. I think it’s just a wonderful service, and knowing about it may help you and your loved ones down the road. I know it has been therapeutic for me to be your chief scribe through this journey — AND IT AIN’T OVER YET! My sister and all the angels that have preceded us have to root the Titans to the Super Bowl!

Mere words don’t seem sufficient, but THANK YOU ALL so much for your prayers and support. We’re still drawing on them heavily and keep you in our thoughts too. — Love, TRH