Google Makes Gmail Available Offline
By Miguel Helft
The biggest drawback of Web-based software, including e-mail programs like Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsoft’s Hotmail, is that they don’t work when users are offline — say, while on an airplane or on the road without access to a Wi-Fi connection.
On Tuesday evening, Google made Gmail available for offline use, in what the company calls an “experimental feature.”
Google is not the first of the major Web e-mail providers to provide offline access to its service. Yahoo did it last year, though its approach requires users to download a desktop e-mail software program called Zimbra, which Yahoo acquired in 2007. (Zimbra can also be used for offline access to Gmail and AOL Mail.) Microsoft’s Windows Live Mail offers limited offline access. And Zoho, a smaller provider of Web e-mail, has provided offline access since October.
Most Web e-mail services have long allowed users to download their messages to desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook via POP or IMAP technology.
But Gmail’s new offline feature will allow users to handle their e-mail within the familiar Gmail interface, with automatic synchronization of changes when an Internet connection is available.
Offline access to Gmail from Google has long been expected. In 2007, the company introduced a set of programmer tools called Google Gears, which allow developers to adapt Web programs so they can be used offline. Google has made its blog reading service, Google Reader, and its suite of office software, Google Docs, accessible offline. It has long said that offline access to Gmail was in the works.
The new service will be in the “Labs” section of Gmail, which the company uses to introduce experimental features. And Google warns that users may run into bugs. “Offline Gmail is still an early experimental feature, so don’t be surprised if you run into some kinks that haven’t been completely ironed out yet,” Andy Palay, a Gmail engineer wrote on a company blog.
But Mr. Palay said the software had worked well inside Google. “We’ve been using offline Gmail internally at Google for quite a while (I’ve read thousands of messages and answered hundreds en route to visit my son and my daughter),” he said. “And it’s saved me more than once when my home network connection ran into issues (we have squirrels at home that love to chew through outside cable wires).”
Google said offline access to Gmail would be available to users in the United States and Britain over the next couple of days.
Courtesy: Bits
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
FAST SPREADING PHISHING SCAM HITS GMAIL USERS
Fast-Spreading Phishing Scam Hits Gmail Users
By Jenna Wortham
UPDATE 6:45 p.m. : This post has been updated to include analysis from a security expert.
Google just can’t get a break today.
First, Google’s e-mail service froze for several hours, locking out millions of users. Now its chat service appears to be the conduit for a rapidly spreading phishing scam.
Gmail users who are logged into the accompanying chat service Google Talk, or GTalk, have been getting messages that appear to be from friends, urging them to click on a TinyURL Web address that redirects to a Web site called “ViddyHo.” The site asks for the person’s Gmail log-in information and then sends out chat messages to all of the user’s contacts, spreading itself further.
The online service Twitter had a steady stream of complaints and warnings about the attack. “To anyone who receives a Viddyho invite from me, please ignore it,” a Twitter user named Zaffi cautioned Tuesday. “I think I’ve been duped.”
Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the research firm Gartner, said phishing attacks luring Web surfers to click on videos have been steadily increasing over the last six months. Consumers have “wised up” to e-mail messages masquerading as notes from banks and credit card companies, Ms. Litan said. Now, she said, phishers are sending video invites that play on hot topics and news events (in this case, a video starring the comedy troupe The Lonely Island and the singer T-Pain). While the video plays, the site might be downloading so-called malware in the background to infect the victim’s computer.
“These criminals really know how to get people’s attention,” she said. “It’s the modus operandi that’s favored by the crooks, and it’s working pretty well. They laugh all the way to the bank.”
For users who fell victim to ViddyHo, Ms. Litan recommends changing passwords and running a virus scan, although she warns that might not be enough. “In the really sophisticated cases, you could run 40 antivirus programs and it might not find any malware,” she said. “You may need to make a backup, delete everything and start over. That’s the safest thing to do.”
By Jenna Wortham
UPDATE 6:45 p.m. : This post has been updated to include analysis from a security expert.
Google just can’t get a break today.
First, Google’s e-mail service froze for several hours, locking out millions of users. Now its chat service appears to be the conduit for a rapidly spreading phishing scam.
Gmail users who are logged into the accompanying chat service Google Talk, or GTalk, have been getting messages that appear to be from friends, urging them to click on a TinyURL Web address that redirects to a Web site called “ViddyHo.” The site asks for the person’s Gmail log-in information and then sends out chat messages to all of the user’s contacts, spreading itself further.
The online service Twitter had a steady stream of complaints and warnings about the attack. “To anyone who receives a Viddyho invite from me, please ignore it,” a Twitter user named Zaffi cautioned Tuesday. “I think I’ve been duped.”
Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the research firm Gartner, said phishing attacks luring Web surfers to click on videos have been steadily increasing over the last six months. Consumers have “wised up” to e-mail messages masquerading as notes from banks and credit card companies, Ms. Litan said. Now, she said, phishers are sending video invites that play on hot topics and news events (in this case, a video starring the comedy troupe The Lonely Island and the singer T-Pain). While the video plays, the site might be downloading so-called malware in the background to infect the victim’s computer.
“These criminals really know how to get people’s attention,” she said. “It’s the modus operandi that’s favored by the crooks, and it’s working pretty well. They laugh all the way to the bank.”
For users who fell victim to ViddyHo, Ms. Litan recommends changing passwords and running a virus scan, although she warns that might not be enough. “In the really sophisticated cases, you could run 40 antivirus programs and it might not find any malware,” she said. “You may need to make a backup, delete everything and start over. That’s the safest thing to do.”
ABC Ignores Personal Responsibility in Segment on Home Foreclosures
ABC Ignores Personal Responsibility in Segment on Home Foreclosures
By Scott Whitlock (Bio | Archive)
February 24, 2009 - 15:55 ET
Tuesday's "Good Morning America" ignored the liberal leanings of a Florida attorney who is instructing people on how to stall home foreclosures. In the segment, reporter Jim Avila showcased individuals who have drawn out the process by demanding that banks produce the original note to their home (which has often been sold in loan packages that are then traded on Wall Street). At no time did he ever question if the homeowners in question had any responsibility for their current situation.
Avila talked to lawyer Chris Hoyer who runs the Consumer Warning Network [CWN], a group whose stated purpose is to investigate fraud by large companies. The CWN website features an interview conducted by Hoyer in summer 2008 of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. In that video, Hoyer can be seen telling Dean that he hopes the coming White House "will be a Democratic administration in tune with consumers." Of course, at no time in Avila's piece did he identify the partisan leanings of the Florida lawyer.
By: Scott Whitlock
By Scott Whitlock (Bio | Archive)
February 24, 2009 - 15:55 ET
Tuesday's "Good Morning America" ignored the liberal leanings of a Florida attorney who is instructing people on how to stall home foreclosures. In the segment, reporter Jim Avila showcased individuals who have drawn out the process by demanding that banks produce the original note to their home (which has often been sold in loan packages that are then traded on Wall Street). At no time did he ever question if the homeowners in question had any responsibility for their current situation.
Avila talked to lawyer Chris Hoyer who runs the Consumer Warning Network [CWN], a group whose stated purpose is to investigate fraud by large companies. The CWN website features an interview conducted by Hoyer in summer 2008 of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. In that video, Hoyer can be seen telling Dean that he hopes the coming White House "will be a Democratic administration in tune with consumers." Of course, at no time in Avila's piece did he identify the partisan leanings of the Florida lawyer.
By: Scott Whitlock
Saturday, February 21, 2009
THE BASTARD IS DEAD!
The Bastard Is DEAD!!
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
-Imperial Grand Prophet Ronald Reagan (mystically foreseeing TARP")
With the passage of the massive economic stimulus plan set to be signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday in Denver the dying squeals of Republican piggies grown fat on the failed policies of Ronald Wilson Reagan are becoming more shrill, psychotic and deafening. The stimulus plan, even as diluted as it is by the inclusion of all of those great tax cuts that have resulted only in proving that trickle down economics is nothing more than Gulliver pissing on the heads of the Lilliputians (translation: the working class) and doing so with sadistic mirth. What the stimulus package represents more than anything even including the ridiculous f*cking tax cuts is that the end of an era is nigh and that the machinery of government is being slowly redirected to a previous form where it was not weaponized by overly wealthy pigs, Wall Street looter capitalists and avaricious corporations who only stand for, to borrow form the words of the late Hunter S. Thompson:
... the systematic destruction of everything this country claims to stand for except the rights of the rich to put saddles on the backs of the poor and use public funds to build jails for anybody who complained about it."
::::::::
It is the entire American fascist system that has been so painstakingly and expensively constructed over the last half-century this is now at stake, the bullshit war on the American middle class that was cloaked in anti-communism, sanctified by Senator McCarthy’s witch hunts, cemented into place by the resentment politics of Richard M. Nixon and writ into religion by the cult or Reagan is in serious jeopardy. The withering attacks of the minority Republicans along with their ugly public tantrums promoted by a plethora of pocket media kingmakers and a propaganda machine still owned by the ruling classes are nothing more than a siege on the Alamo battle to preserve the false legacy of their false prophet Saint Ronnie of Pleasantville, USA.
I: The Cult of Reagan Idolatry
He was always a fraud! There wasn’t a legitimate bone in the man’s body, he was a failed movie star who hit the political jackpot when he slithered into the Republican party and onto the ultimate stage of national politics. From the beginning Ronald Reagan was a phony, a bad B movie actor who found his place as a pitchman for the conservative movement. Reagan was a rat bastard and a fink who sold out his Hollywood peers to the anti Communist rage of the McCarthy witch hunts of the fifties and used his tenure as leader of the Screen Actors Guild as a springboard to launch his political career.
His presidency was the result of an America struggling against itself to come to terms with societal contradictions brought on as a result of the civil rights movement, the counterculture of the sixties, Vietnam and Watergate and none other than William F. Buckley himself put it best when he used the following description in a column regarding Saint Ronnie: .. “a bumpkin with oratorical gifts pandering to American self-esteem”. Reagan was a man who put forth a strong daddy image and was able to reduce complex issues to their simplest terms, the better for a populace slowly undergoing the chronic dumbing down perpetuated by the cable and satellite television explosion of the 1980s.
Nearly every one of the serious problems that America faces today and that newly crowned President Barack Obama faces had its roots during the Reagan era. The rich got richer and the rest, well let them go eat some f*cking government surplus cheese, especially the goddamned welfare queens. The Reagan administration was a breeding ground for the delusional, non-reality based crony capitalists and Ayn Rand worshipping ‘free-market’ fanatics whose worship at the altar of laissez-faire economics still has them out prospecting for fool’s gold in Galt’s Gulch. It was Reagan appointee Alan Greenspan who actually hung out with Rand along with a gaggle of ghouls and assorted other weirdos in a group known as The Collective during the period that the holy tome Atlas Shrugged was being written. The canonization of Rand and the greedy and callous selfishness called objectivism and the absorption of the absurd crock of horseshit came to become dogma in America where monopoly and the destruction of economies are the end result of this sort of sociopathic behavior. When boiling all of this misbegotten and ultimately ruinous junk science down to its very essence it is an unwritten rule that for every f*cker there are tenfold of f*ckees, that is what capitalism is when it becomes cancerous and co-opted by the rentier class and the sleazy operators who rapaciously wring every last penny of profitability out even if it means offshoring millions of jobs and creating a permanent underclass who are born into this world without any shot at the mythical American Dream.
Now as the entire big con game becomes more apparent, we can all thank Ronald Reagan and the slavish devotees to the grand myth for the era of sloth, stupidity and scumbags that produced a generation of toxic sh*t that has set America back a century and set the nation on a course towards insolvency. The ugly lie of Reaganism must be exposed, stripped naked and laid out on an autopsy table, a bit of skillful use of a scalpel utilized to peel back the rotten flesh and expose the diseased organs. In less graphic terms, the legend itself needs to be debunked. The signs of desperation in the Republican ranks are encouraging as well as the books that are beginning to be written, books like Will Bunch’s Tear Down This Myth, the first of what I hope will be an attempt to strip away the revisionist history of the past three decades or so and allow for a national rejuvenation along to a return to true American values of economic fairness, equality and compassion that have been buried under a mountain of manure.
In order to roll back the creeping tide of fascism that has become so much a part of all that is American in early 2009 it is of utmost importance that Reaganism be recognized as the product of right-wing crackpots who in a mere quarter century have gutted this country in the name of voodoo economics and promoted an authoritarian dogma that served as a springboard for the rule of the Bush-Cheney-Rove Axis of Evil and the corruption of every relevant institution that has been staffed by fascism enabling cronies, zealots, crooks, grifters, con-artists, jack booted thugs and flim flam men. Such is the system as it exists today and as we now slowly begin to sift through the wreckage it is the mutated capitalist strain virus of Reaganism that infected the body, destroyed the immune system once known as checks and balances and then metastasized further into the global financial system which is now in freefall and widespread unrest threatens to bring down entire governments.
As with alcoholics and drug addicts, the recognition of a problem is the first step to recovery and the canonization of doddering Dutch as some sort of iconic national father figure needs to be exposed as the heretical think tank folderol that it always has been since its initial rollout as a product in the aftermath of one of the darkest and most tumultuous eras in our history. The Reagan administration went for the throat right out of the gates, organized labor was attacked with vigor with the firing of striking air traffic controllers and destruction of their union, the Sherman antitrust act became irrelevant and the fairness doctrine was eliminated to allow for the right-wing to use their limitless resources to propagandize the media. The return of the wealthy elite and robber barons to power and prominence was facilitated by the ability to distract and deceive. Karl Marx was only partially right when he stated that religion was the opiate of the masses, it is but that was prior to the advent of television and when the two are combined the potency is jacked up to the highest possible level. The power brokers knew this and with his Hollywood background Ronald Wilson Reagan was the perfect front man for the myriad of their ideological schemes that would wage war on progressive society and deal a staggering blow to economic fairness and equality in the land of plenty.
The 1980’s and the coming of Reagan’s cutthroat neoliberalism gave rise to the mantra of Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” in a decade where corporate raiders became role models and unfettered Wall Street uber capitalism became the driving force of our social order. It was the great national regeneration decade and that fabulous and almighty leader was our champion, the iconic president who would make things right, who would deal harshly with those bastards in Iran unlike his milquetoast predecessor, who would restore the national glory and make us that shining city on the hill.
It was morning in America again.
A couple of ambitious young Republican gangsters Grover Norquist and Jack Abramoff who would contribute largely to the decimation of America long after the hallowed Ronnie had left the building. The story of these two scumbags who would along with a cast of thousands turn the entire government into a spoils system with a ruthless cadre of fixers to ensure compliance is told very well by author Thomas Frank (What’s the Matter With Kansas?) in his latest book called The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. I excerpt the following from Frank’s lengthy piece in a recent issue of Harpers Magazine similarly entitled The wrecking crew: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing:
The story begins in 1980, the year of the “Reagan Revolution,” when there appeared on the national scene a phenomenon that bewildered political observers: legions of politicized, energetic college students who were conservatives rather than liberals or radicals, as had been typical in the two decades previous. And not only were their politics deeply square but the idol of this unlikely youth craze was the oldest president ever. Reagan’s entire Pennsylvania campaign, for example, was run by a lad of twenty. In 1984, the aged actor won 60 percent of the college-student vote. The historical turnabout was irresistible, and Reagan Youth became one of the great journalistic clichés of the period, powering hundreds of newspaper columns and at least one beloved TV sitcom.
These sons of Reagan had a strong sense of generational self-awareness, and they loudly told the world how they had come by it. In the midst of the interminable Iran hostage crisis, a crowd of them at one college campus were supposedly so moved by a showing of Patton that they demonstrated spontaneously in favor of a nuclear attack on that country, shaking the ivory tower with chants of “First strike now!” Another well-known story of the era was how a bunch of privileged kids at Dartmouth College, a traditional fortress of privilege, decided that embracing the traditional politics of privilege and mimicking the traditional manners of the privileged were actually acts of great daring, exposing them to persecution by tyrannical liberals. Then there was Jack Abramoff, a College Republican leader in the Boston area who gained, according to the John Birch Society’s Review of the News, a “reputation as one of the most innovative of the national Conservative youth leaders” after he mounted such a massive grassroots push for Reagan in 1980 that he almost single-handedly shifted Massachusetts into the Republican column.
Abramoff, a burly fellow from Beverly Hills, came to Washington in 1981 to assume the chairmanship of the College Republican National Committee. Back in the Vietnam days it had been leftists who fought the power, he explained to reporters. But “now we’re the campus radicals.” His newly energized College Republicans (CRs) fanned out across the nation, instructing clean-cut kids on how to use the tactics of the Sixties left for their own causes. A snapshot of Abramoff using a bullhorn to rally a conservative throng was proudly reproduced in the CRs’ Annual Report for 1983, just across the page from a photo of Ralph Reed, who was then Abramoff’s right-hand man, pumping his fist at the head of a swarm of angry, sign-waving conservatives. In both instances the young men had gone into action wearing neckties.
It was Abramoff’s friend Grover Norquist, then a recent graduate of Harvard Business School, who came up with a plan for changing the very nature of the College Republicans. Norquist made a study of the CRs, developing a scheme to transform them from “a resume-padding social club,” as one account puts it, into “an ideological, grassroots organization.” Abramoff made Nor-quist the College Republicans’ executive director, and the two put Norquist’s theory into action. They purged the “old guard.” They amended the group’s constitution, establishing a structure that made the Washington office more powerful, and rewarded proselytizing on campus.
What the rising conservative sensibility of those years treasured above all else was “confrontation” with the left. It called for a quasi-military victory over liberalism; it would have no truck with civility or fair play; and it made heroes out of outrage-courting lib-fighters like Reagan’s communications director Pat Buchanan, the organizer Howard Phillips, and the young Jack Abramoff.
The first and most noticeable characteristic of this new militancy was an air of swaggering truculence. There are, of course, bullies from every walk of life and every political persuasion, but on the right bullying holds a special, exalted position. It is no accident that two of the movement’s greatest heroes—Tom DeLay and Oliver North—had the same nickname: “the Hammer.”
Jack Abramoff filled this bill perfectly. He had reportedly been something of a bully in high school and had now grown into a “hard-charging” and “dynamic” leader, in the assessment of conservative magazines, an ass-kicking weight lifter who could quiet the commies with his fists if they got out of line. The gangster fetish of his later years is by now familiar to the whole world—his constant references to The Godfather, his black trench coat and fedora, his Meyer Lansky memorabilia, the murderer argot that will no doubt serve him and his friends well during their prison years.
Abramoff himself derided the moderates he had ousted from control of the CRs as “wishy-washy country-clubbers” and insisted that he had transformed the organization into an “ideological, well-trained, aggressive, conservative” outfit. “Fighting the Left with a goal of victory” became the official, stated purpose of his College Republican cadres, according to an essay Abramoff wrote for the group’s 1983 Annual Report. The CRs were “fighting America’s last stand,” he blustered; they would “defund the enemy wherever possible,” one of his lieutenants added. According to the journalist Nina Easton, CR officers had their underlings memorize the gory opening monologue from the movie Patton, only with the word “Demo crat” standing in for the word “Nazi.” Other young rightists of the period went a step further. J. Michael Waller, the editor of the Sequent, a student paper at George Washington University, actually took breaks from red-baiting professors in order to zip down to Central America and hang out with the Nicaraguan Contras and the death-squad faction in El Salvador.
War was the order of the day, from President Reagan’s fight with the air-traffic controllers right down to the college campus, where Abramoff became famous for his declaration: “It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left. Our job is to remove them from power permanently.” War plus revolution, actually. Abramoff liked to describe his CRs as “the sword and shield of the Reagan Revolution,” and in 1984 the young firebrand used his moment at the rostrum of the G.O.P. convention in Dallas to lecture the assembled small-business types on revolutionary theory.
That notorious chickenshits like Abramoff and Norquist sought to cloak their assault on America in militarist terms while not serving themselves is basically a requirement for entry into the fascist Republican party. Hell, what could be more Republican than using whatever means possible to weasel out of actual military service and then send others to die for your smug arrogance and the freedom to sh*t on all that is American. The list is long, too long of those sort of neocons, the adult versions of the nerd pack who used to huddle in the high school library conquering the world by Avalon Hill board games and the always popular Risk. Sure there are some who actually have served such as George W. Bush who flew a desk in a reserve unit until his coke habit got out of hand and the media creation that is John McCain whose recklessness as a Make Believe Maverick ironically resulted in his being shot down in Vietnam and winning a stay in the infamous Hanoi Hilton that he would use as the launch pad for his national political career – but the list of those who have actually had the guts to serve and serve honorably is short and bereft. Of course there is General David Petraeus but that ass kissing little chickenshit is a story for another time and ties into a much deeper and more disturbing fixation with the culture of the glorification of militarism here in the Homeland.
II: Adrift in the Land of the Angry White Male
It was always absurd, this idea of a savage campaign against “elites” being led by a poofy wordsmith like Rush Limbaugh, a Harvard fatty like Grover Norquist, a dickless academic like Newt Gingrich, and a diaper-dumping oligarch like George W. Bush. They were just another band of mischievous aristocrats who played at being the voice of the common man - these new wingers sold themselves as the champions of the f*cked-over little guy, in this case the terminally frustrated boobus Americanus, who for decades had been made to sit idly by while ethnics stole his job, evil liberals mocked his religion and his simple way of life, and media “elitists” shut out his views and sent porn and married queers into his living room via the television set.
-Matt Taibbi
In their rise the brink of conquest the Republican party became masters at harnessing backlash politics or the politics of resentment as a basis for duping befuddled and angry Americans into voting against their own economic self-interests out of a need for revenge against minorities and the great liberal conspiarcy of the cultural elites. The dark master Richard Nixon was of course a criminal mastermind and practically wrote the book on the politics of divsion. Tricky Dick excelled in using red-baiting, race-baiting and whatever divisive tactic would allow him to rise to power. The best study of Nixonian tactics is in Rick Perlstein’s brilliant Nixonland where it is also noted that Ronald Reagan built his own political career on a similar strategy. It was during Reagan’s reign as Governor of California during the tumultuous period of societal unrest during the 1960s that Reagan became a right-wing hero. His denunciations of the hippies, "look like Tarzan, walk like Jane, and smell like Cheetah" and the hated University of Cal-Berkeley, "a hotbed of communism and homosexuality" made him into a rising star. When the now infamous Powell Memorandum laid the blueprint for the think tanks, the media takeover and the preservation of the status quo it was only a matter of time until the actor Reagan could be rolled out as the smooth talking frontman for the product of oligarchy and imperialism.
Of course the hippies would have to be demonized, turned into cartoon characters as would the effete snob liberals who would stand in the way of the new fascism and it's avuncular face, that of the great communicator, the strident anti-communist warrior king. The failure of the Vietnam war would be blamed on the liberals and the media and the seeds of white populist resentment would be sown as the farm crisis decimated the American heartland and a porcine loser named Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was plucked from obscurity and transformed into a modern day Father Coughlin. Evangelical Christian churches would be subverted by well financed, politically connected fanatics to wage the culture wars and to become the foot soldiers of the Reagan (and later Bush) Revolution. The hostility level had to be cranked up in order for the Republicans to succeed in remaking America in the image of the same jokers who once glorified the uber fascist Benito Mussolini by featuring him on the cover of Fortune Magazine while singing the praises of the efficiency of his business model. There was the ugly and some might say outright treasonous takedown of Bill Clinton over his sexual dalliances which provided rocket fuel for the extremist reactionary right's hate machine, and on the morning of September 11th 2001 that fuel became nuclear.
But I digress....
The conditions on the ground in early 2009, the beginning of the era of Barack Obama and the end of the lie of Reaganism are those of unmitigated fury as the right confronts the greatest threat to the supremacy of their cancerous capitalism since the days of the hated Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The battlefield is overrun by the defenders of failed dogma and by the well paid servants who stand to lose their meal tickets. Already, in the early weeks of the Obama administration the Republicans have squealed like stuck pigs, outraged at the massive jacking up of the debt to somehow staunch the bleeding and to create jobs for the jobless. Of course they never gave a rat’s a**hole when Lord Bush was robbing from their grandchildren to build the police state infrastructure, wage illegal wars of aggression where trillions of dollars were sucked down a black hole inhabited by the slime creatures that are blood barters and war profiteers.
One would figure that the Republican fascist party would have been somewhat humbled after their mangy asses were taken to the woodshed by voters back in November but that would be naïve. Hitler never stopped after his failed beer hall putsch and neither will the devil-spawn of McCarthy, Nixon Reagan and the Bush family. Despite a silly and childish attempt at crafting some sort of bi-partisanship by the Obama administration they were shanked in the back by a dirty pack of double-dealing, jack-booted, America hating vermin who damn near succeeded in derailing the stimulus. Not that it won’t fall anyway after the king of capitulation Harry Reid and his fellow Democrat assclowns in the Senate allowed the poison pill of hundreds of billion dollars in those wonderful tax cuts that have worked so well at destabilizing the country by destroying the middle class to be inserted into the goddamned thing. The most unsurprising kick in the balls to Obama came from media darling and reputed ‘maverick’ John McCain (you may remember him as Sarah Palin’s running-mate) who spat on the new president’s outstretched hand. Of course McCain is also the self-admitted former war criminal who dropped napalm on civilians and then when his plane was shot down in Nam went on to make propaganda pieces for those dirty communists. But yet in this land of the dumb it is Jane Fonda who is still vilified decades after that filthy illegal murderous war ended with America slinking off after igniting the entire region, killing millions and allowing a rogue faction of the intelligence sector to establish a massive drug trafficking network, some of the profits of which would fund Reagan’s bloody little soirees into Central America to prop up despots and their vile torturing regimes.
The Republican party has long been a haven for reactionary thugs, neo-Nazis, out and out fascists, perverts, pederasts, braggarts, loudmouths, authority worshippers and the same sort of immoral degenerates, the dregs of society that Hitler used to much success in populating the ranks of his Sturmabteilung (SA). It worked out so well that Der Führer had to ultimately undertake an intervention to prevent them from turning on him that is famously known as the Night of the Long Knives. In any sort of normally functioning political system a similar purge would have occurred in a failed reactionary party after having their clocks cleaned but America post-9/11 is anything but a normally functioning society. If nothing else the remnants of the disciples of the false god Reagan have dug in even deeper, real dead enders, like the Japanese who had to be literally burned out of their caves and tunnels even after defeat was a certainty. One gets an idea of just how demented that this particular party is when one member, Pete Sessions of Texas proudly compared his party to the Taliban when being interview about strategy during the Obama era. What the f*ck is up with that? Didn’t the Taliban become the enemy after that oh so glorious and politically serendipitous day of 9/11/01? Isn’t America at war with the Taliban for allegedly aiding and abetting the great bogeyman Osama bin Laden? Did Sessions really just come out and say that he and his party are studying the methods of terrorists? Such a thing would have been cause for an extraordinary rendition under the Bush-Cheney junta, perhaps closing Gitmo is premature because we have an admitted fifth column waging war against America from within and being far more successful than al-CIAda could have ever hoped to be in even their wildest of wet dreams.
And there is also opportunity in undermining Obama and allowing the economy to continue to deteriorate so that he can be blamed in 2010. A rising star is a guy named Eric Cantor, a bespectacled little snake whose role model is none other than Newt Gingrich is a rising power in the neo-Confederate rump that is still beholden to the preservation of the Reagan temple of greed and has emerged as a particularly virulent critic of President Obama’s attempts to save capitalism from itself. Hanoi John along with his loyal sidekick Lindsey ‘five rugs for five bucks’ Graham, (the South Carolina Senator least likely to surprise anyone were he found in the men’s room of a rest area off of I-95 with a co*k in his mouth ala Larry Craig)."If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed" hissped Graham in his Gomer Pyle singsong, a longtime component of the three headed monster of McCain-Lieberman-Graham (although the wandering Jew has been somewhat chastened after his fall betrayal and his unconscionable holding onto his prized seat as Der Chairman of Der Kommitee of Heimat Security). You have to love the way that the fascist Republican party is now crying like a pack of Sarah Palin's clubbed baby seals...wasn’t this the criminal syndicate that once boasted as a national leader a slimy little greaseball from Texas named Tom DeLay who once allegedly said on bi-partisanship “f*ck that, it’s time for all out war?”.
The losers of November’s election were out hitting the Sunday morning horseshit circuit in force decrying the lack of deference from Obama and the supine twits in Harry Reid’s Senate when it came to honoring the spirit of Reaganism, what’s next, they exhume the old bastard’s rotting corpse and haul it around like some ghoulish sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s? The house still sets the rules too, the media is still bought and paid for, this much is already evident with this beautiful little example: Obama's use of fear card may backfire. So Obama is now a fear-monger despite not one f*cking peep about the eight year reign of terror by the Bush regime during which Americans were conditioned to see swarthy Arab terrorists in every dark corner, under their beds and as a result turned into the world’s largest coward colony courtesy of apocalyptic conjecture about smoking mushroom clouds, manipulation of the infamous threat level matrix for political means and the canonization of Jack Bauer, a man who would rip the testicles off of a toddler with a pair of pliers in front of it's mother for god and country. Obama is going to have a rough time taking on the consolidated fascist media colossus and the highly paid celebrity whores who pass themselves off as journalists. Operation Mockingbird is alive and well and even more dangerous now that the entire national media is owned by a handful of corporations with interlocking directorates. Now there has been talk about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine which might not be a bad idea in leveling the playing field against the sort of fascists that former Roosevelt Vice President Henry A. Wallace once so accurately pegged:
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism.
But any reinstatement of such rules in the current era of systemic rot and deterioration would only be selectively enforced to keep out those who question the state and the system itself. You will never see the Fairness Doctrine used to offset Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and any number of other demagogic clones. While this is a popular idea with many liberals it is only going to be eventually turned on them and other alternative media voices including bloggers who dare to question the legitimacy of the oligarchic status quo. But the media is a huge problem and the onslaught of propaganda pumped out to prevent even a diluted bucket of horse piss of a stimulus package illustrates that any sort of return of the government from its current role of protector of corporate interests and the wealthy will be fought tooth, fang and claw in a destructive battle of attrition that will continue to transform families and friends into warring factions that can be exploited by the same ruthless scum who have rigged the tables so successfully, some could say too successfully.
How this is all going to end up is impossible to tell, the American eugenics project to create the perfect Idiocracy, a reverse master-race has any sort of reformer like Obama facing some seriously nasty odds, just think of the Detroit Lions hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after next year's Super Bowl and you get the general idea. Frank Rich of the damned liberal New York Times wrote a piece this weekend entitled They Sure Showed That Obama that would tend to create some optimism in those readers less cynical than I. It was this line that killed me though and only further underlines the ongoing demographic problems facing Obama and anyone else who tries to change the system. Rich refers to: The beefy, beer-drinking, deer-hunting white guys — incessantly interviewed in bars and diners — would never buy the skinny black intellectual. Herein lies the problem, despite what may have happened during the election this is a nightmare block of the population and not one to be trifled with because old prejudices die hard and as always liberals have shown a proclivity in overestimating their ability to reach those who within their thick, Neanderthal skulls have banned logic and reason. I'll put in a plug for a big favorite of mine, the moral beacon in this sick land of denial and dumbness and that would be for the brilliant writer Joe Bageant and his book Deer Hunting With Jesus, trust me, it's a must read.
Now I may not be a hunter (personally I think it’s f*cking slaughter) but I am one hell of a beefy, beer-drinking white dude, a military veteran and have 11 tattoos as well if that is any sort of an added qualification to the sh*thack D.C. conventional wisdom. Despite that I am smart enough to not be hoodwinked by a bunch of pampered, elitist, chickenhawk charlatans trying to bait folks like American Me into voting against my own economic self interests. sh*t, my grandfather was a Romanian immigrant who joined a union to go work at a meat packing house (but only after at age 15 he filled his pockets full of ball bearings in order to qualify for the job's required weight), fought in World War II in the Pacific in some of the most vicious of cleanup operations and as an FDR democrat hated the sleazy, fascist snake oil salesmen that were Republicans. Thank God that he died before that fraudulent piece of sh*t Ronald Reagan was President but my grandmother who survived him by nearly thirty years cursed the Gipper and that punk assed borderline retard George W. Bush until her dying breath. The point is that most people from that particular era (never mind the 'greatest generation' hogwash) weren't so easily duped, and their ability to own a home, raise a family, take vacations on one income are a testament to they way that things used to be in this country before the rats and chiselers hijacked the system.
So as one of the manly men who are largely supposed to buy into the anti-elite propaganda peddled by the fifty-million dollar a year degenerate child f*cking dope addict I have always taken great offense at just how f*cking stupid that the average American beer swilling, swinging dick angry white male can be. Hell, I love drinking beer (and lots of it), shooting guns (although not at unarmed animals), watching football, driving fast, hating the insipid tyranny of political correctness and ogling nekkid women but I also don’t get suckered into that anti-intellectual horseshit that makes one of those clueless, testosterone and alcohol fueled dopes who are as mad as hell but too f*cking dumb to realize that they should be really mad at the millionaire lardasses like Limbaugh who are very well paid to dupe these knuckle-draggers into consistently voting AGAINST their own economic well being. Listen dudes, there is nothing macho in being stupid and unless y’all get a clue your sex lives will continue to be comprised of drinking a twelve pack of cheap malt liquor and whacking off over the latest issue of Penthouse or whatever other f*ckrag that you pick up at your local convenience store's jack rack. Stop fantasizing about coming on Sarah Palin’s t*ts, stop reveling in the falsehood that everyman Joe the Plumber is a working class hero and pick up a book once in awhile, the mind that you save may be your own.
And maybe, just maybe the inhabitants of this land of shame, sin and sorrow can finally shrink the legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. In a time when even the maestro Greenspan openly admits that he f*cked up big time then I suppose that anything is theoretically possible.
Ed Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
-Imperial Grand Prophet Ronald Reagan (mystically foreseeing TARP")
With the passage of the massive economic stimulus plan set to be signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday in Denver the dying squeals of Republican piggies grown fat on the failed policies of Ronald Wilson Reagan are becoming more shrill, psychotic and deafening. The stimulus plan, even as diluted as it is by the inclusion of all of those great tax cuts that have resulted only in proving that trickle down economics is nothing more than Gulliver pissing on the heads of the Lilliputians (translation: the working class) and doing so with sadistic mirth. What the stimulus package represents more than anything even including the ridiculous f*cking tax cuts is that the end of an era is nigh and that the machinery of government is being slowly redirected to a previous form where it was not weaponized by overly wealthy pigs, Wall Street looter capitalists and avaricious corporations who only stand for, to borrow form the words of the late Hunter S. Thompson:
... the systematic destruction of everything this country claims to stand for except the rights of the rich to put saddles on the backs of the poor and use public funds to build jails for anybody who complained about it."
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It is the entire American fascist system that has been so painstakingly and expensively constructed over the last half-century this is now at stake, the bullshit war on the American middle class that was cloaked in anti-communism, sanctified by Senator McCarthy’s witch hunts, cemented into place by the resentment politics of Richard M. Nixon and writ into religion by the cult or Reagan is in serious jeopardy. The withering attacks of the minority Republicans along with their ugly public tantrums promoted by a plethora of pocket media kingmakers and a propaganda machine still owned by the ruling classes are nothing more than a siege on the Alamo battle to preserve the false legacy of their false prophet Saint Ronnie of Pleasantville, USA.
I: The Cult of Reagan Idolatry
He was always a fraud! There wasn’t a legitimate bone in the man’s body, he was a failed movie star who hit the political jackpot when he slithered into the Republican party and onto the ultimate stage of national politics. From the beginning Ronald Reagan was a phony, a bad B movie actor who found his place as a pitchman for the conservative movement. Reagan was a rat bastard and a fink who sold out his Hollywood peers to the anti Communist rage of the McCarthy witch hunts of the fifties and used his tenure as leader of the Screen Actors Guild as a springboard to launch his political career.
His presidency was the result of an America struggling against itself to come to terms with societal contradictions brought on as a result of the civil rights movement, the counterculture of the sixties, Vietnam and Watergate and none other than William F. Buckley himself put it best when he used the following description in a column regarding Saint Ronnie: .. “a bumpkin with oratorical gifts pandering to American self-esteem”. Reagan was a man who put forth a strong daddy image and was able to reduce complex issues to their simplest terms, the better for a populace slowly undergoing the chronic dumbing down perpetuated by the cable and satellite television explosion of the 1980s.
Nearly every one of the serious problems that America faces today and that newly crowned President Barack Obama faces had its roots during the Reagan era. The rich got richer and the rest, well let them go eat some f*cking government surplus cheese, especially the goddamned welfare queens. The Reagan administration was a breeding ground for the delusional, non-reality based crony capitalists and Ayn Rand worshipping ‘free-market’ fanatics whose worship at the altar of laissez-faire economics still has them out prospecting for fool’s gold in Galt’s Gulch. It was Reagan appointee Alan Greenspan who actually hung out with Rand along with a gaggle of ghouls and assorted other weirdos in a group known as The Collective during the period that the holy tome Atlas Shrugged was being written. The canonization of Rand and the greedy and callous selfishness called objectivism and the absorption of the absurd crock of horseshit came to become dogma in America where monopoly and the destruction of economies are the end result of this sort of sociopathic behavior. When boiling all of this misbegotten and ultimately ruinous junk science down to its very essence it is an unwritten rule that for every f*cker there are tenfold of f*ckees, that is what capitalism is when it becomes cancerous and co-opted by the rentier class and the sleazy operators who rapaciously wring every last penny of profitability out even if it means offshoring millions of jobs and creating a permanent underclass who are born into this world without any shot at the mythical American Dream.
Now as the entire big con game becomes more apparent, we can all thank Ronald Reagan and the slavish devotees to the grand myth for the era of sloth, stupidity and scumbags that produced a generation of toxic sh*t that has set America back a century and set the nation on a course towards insolvency. The ugly lie of Reaganism must be exposed, stripped naked and laid out on an autopsy table, a bit of skillful use of a scalpel utilized to peel back the rotten flesh and expose the diseased organs. In less graphic terms, the legend itself needs to be debunked. The signs of desperation in the Republican ranks are encouraging as well as the books that are beginning to be written, books like Will Bunch’s Tear Down This Myth, the first of what I hope will be an attempt to strip away the revisionist history of the past three decades or so and allow for a national rejuvenation along to a return to true American values of economic fairness, equality and compassion that have been buried under a mountain of manure.
In order to roll back the creeping tide of fascism that has become so much a part of all that is American in early 2009 it is of utmost importance that Reaganism be recognized as the product of right-wing crackpots who in a mere quarter century have gutted this country in the name of voodoo economics and promoted an authoritarian dogma that served as a springboard for the rule of the Bush-Cheney-Rove Axis of Evil and the corruption of every relevant institution that has been staffed by fascism enabling cronies, zealots, crooks, grifters, con-artists, jack booted thugs and flim flam men. Such is the system as it exists today and as we now slowly begin to sift through the wreckage it is the mutated capitalist strain virus of Reaganism that infected the body, destroyed the immune system once known as checks and balances and then metastasized further into the global financial system which is now in freefall and widespread unrest threatens to bring down entire governments.
As with alcoholics and drug addicts, the recognition of a problem is the first step to recovery and the canonization of doddering Dutch as some sort of iconic national father figure needs to be exposed as the heretical think tank folderol that it always has been since its initial rollout as a product in the aftermath of one of the darkest and most tumultuous eras in our history. The Reagan administration went for the throat right out of the gates, organized labor was attacked with vigor with the firing of striking air traffic controllers and destruction of their union, the Sherman antitrust act became irrelevant and the fairness doctrine was eliminated to allow for the right-wing to use their limitless resources to propagandize the media. The return of the wealthy elite and robber barons to power and prominence was facilitated by the ability to distract and deceive. Karl Marx was only partially right when he stated that religion was the opiate of the masses, it is but that was prior to the advent of television and when the two are combined the potency is jacked up to the highest possible level. The power brokers knew this and with his Hollywood background Ronald Wilson Reagan was the perfect front man for the myriad of their ideological schemes that would wage war on progressive society and deal a staggering blow to economic fairness and equality in the land of plenty.
The 1980’s and the coming of Reagan’s cutthroat neoliberalism gave rise to the mantra of Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” in a decade where corporate raiders became role models and unfettered Wall Street uber capitalism became the driving force of our social order. It was the great national regeneration decade and that fabulous and almighty leader was our champion, the iconic president who would make things right, who would deal harshly with those bastards in Iran unlike his milquetoast predecessor, who would restore the national glory and make us that shining city on the hill.
It was morning in America again.
A couple of ambitious young Republican gangsters Grover Norquist and Jack Abramoff who would contribute largely to the decimation of America long after the hallowed Ronnie had left the building. The story of these two scumbags who would along with a cast of thousands turn the entire government into a spoils system with a ruthless cadre of fixers to ensure compliance is told very well by author Thomas Frank (What’s the Matter With Kansas?) in his latest book called The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. I excerpt the following from Frank’s lengthy piece in a recent issue of Harpers Magazine similarly entitled The wrecking crew: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing:
The story begins in 1980, the year of the “Reagan Revolution,” when there appeared on the national scene a phenomenon that bewildered political observers: legions of politicized, energetic college students who were conservatives rather than liberals or radicals, as had been typical in the two decades previous. And not only were their politics deeply square but the idol of this unlikely youth craze was the oldest president ever. Reagan’s entire Pennsylvania campaign, for example, was run by a lad of twenty. In 1984, the aged actor won 60 percent of the college-student vote. The historical turnabout was irresistible, and Reagan Youth became one of the great journalistic clichés of the period, powering hundreds of newspaper columns and at least one beloved TV sitcom.
These sons of Reagan had a strong sense of generational self-awareness, and they loudly told the world how they had come by it. In the midst of the interminable Iran hostage crisis, a crowd of them at one college campus were supposedly so moved by a showing of Patton that they demonstrated spontaneously in favor of a nuclear attack on that country, shaking the ivory tower with chants of “First strike now!” Another well-known story of the era was how a bunch of privileged kids at Dartmouth College, a traditional fortress of privilege, decided that embracing the traditional politics of privilege and mimicking the traditional manners of the privileged were actually acts of great daring, exposing them to persecution by tyrannical liberals. Then there was Jack Abramoff, a College Republican leader in the Boston area who gained, according to the John Birch Society’s Review of the News, a “reputation as one of the most innovative of the national Conservative youth leaders” after he mounted such a massive grassroots push for Reagan in 1980 that he almost single-handedly shifted Massachusetts into the Republican column.
Abramoff, a burly fellow from Beverly Hills, came to Washington in 1981 to assume the chairmanship of the College Republican National Committee. Back in the Vietnam days it had been leftists who fought the power, he explained to reporters. But “now we’re the campus radicals.” His newly energized College Republicans (CRs) fanned out across the nation, instructing clean-cut kids on how to use the tactics of the Sixties left for their own causes. A snapshot of Abramoff using a bullhorn to rally a conservative throng was proudly reproduced in the CRs’ Annual Report for 1983, just across the page from a photo of Ralph Reed, who was then Abramoff’s right-hand man, pumping his fist at the head of a swarm of angry, sign-waving conservatives. In both instances the young men had gone into action wearing neckties.
It was Abramoff’s friend Grover Norquist, then a recent graduate of Harvard Business School, who came up with a plan for changing the very nature of the College Republicans. Norquist made a study of the CRs, developing a scheme to transform them from “a resume-padding social club,” as one account puts it, into “an ideological, grassroots organization.” Abramoff made Nor-quist the College Republicans’ executive director, and the two put Norquist’s theory into action. They purged the “old guard.” They amended the group’s constitution, establishing a structure that made the Washington office more powerful, and rewarded proselytizing on campus.
What the rising conservative sensibility of those years treasured above all else was “confrontation” with the left. It called for a quasi-military victory over liberalism; it would have no truck with civility or fair play; and it made heroes out of outrage-courting lib-fighters like Reagan’s communications director Pat Buchanan, the organizer Howard Phillips, and the young Jack Abramoff.
The first and most noticeable characteristic of this new militancy was an air of swaggering truculence. There are, of course, bullies from every walk of life and every political persuasion, but on the right bullying holds a special, exalted position. It is no accident that two of the movement’s greatest heroes—Tom DeLay and Oliver North—had the same nickname: “the Hammer.”
Jack Abramoff filled this bill perfectly. He had reportedly been something of a bully in high school and had now grown into a “hard-charging” and “dynamic” leader, in the assessment of conservative magazines, an ass-kicking weight lifter who could quiet the commies with his fists if they got out of line. The gangster fetish of his later years is by now familiar to the whole world—his constant references to The Godfather, his black trench coat and fedora, his Meyer Lansky memorabilia, the murderer argot that will no doubt serve him and his friends well during their prison years.
Abramoff himself derided the moderates he had ousted from control of the CRs as “wishy-washy country-clubbers” and insisted that he had transformed the organization into an “ideological, well-trained, aggressive, conservative” outfit. “Fighting the Left with a goal of victory” became the official, stated purpose of his College Republican cadres, according to an essay Abramoff wrote for the group’s 1983 Annual Report. The CRs were “fighting America’s last stand,” he blustered; they would “defund the enemy wherever possible,” one of his lieutenants added. According to the journalist Nina Easton, CR officers had their underlings memorize the gory opening monologue from the movie Patton, only with the word “Demo crat” standing in for the word “Nazi.” Other young rightists of the period went a step further. J. Michael Waller, the editor of the Sequent, a student paper at George Washington University, actually took breaks from red-baiting professors in order to zip down to Central America and hang out with the Nicaraguan Contras and the death-squad faction in El Salvador.
War was the order of the day, from President Reagan’s fight with the air-traffic controllers right down to the college campus, where Abramoff became famous for his declaration: “It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left. Our job is to remove them from power permanently.” War plus revolution, actually. Abramoff liked to describe his CRs as “the sword and shield of the Reagan Revolution,” and in 1984 the young firebrand used his moment at the rostrum of the G.O.P. convention in Dallas to lecture the assembled small-business types on revolutionary theory.
That notorious chickenshits like Abramoff and Norquist sought to cloak their assault on America in militarist terms while not serving themselves is basically a requirement for entry into the fascist Republican party. Hell, what could be more Republican than using whatever means possible to weasel out of actual military service and then send others to die for your smug arrogance and the freedom to sh*t on all that is American. The list is long, too long of those sort of neocons, the adult versions of the nerd pack who used to huddle in the high school library conquering the world by Avalon Hill board games and the always popular Risk. Sure there are some who actually have served such as George W. Bush who flew a desk in a reserve unit until his coke habit got out of hand and the media creation that is John McCain whose recklessness as a Make Believe Maverick ironically resulted in his being shot down in Vietnam and winning a stay in the infamous Hanoi Hilton that he would use as the launch pad for his national political career – but the list of those who have actually had the guts to serve and serve honorably is short and bereft. Of course there is General David Petraeus but that ass kissing little chickenshit is a story for another time and ties into a much deeper and more disturbing fixation with the culture of the glorification of militarism here in the Homeland.
II: Adrift in the Land of the Angry White Male
It was always absurd, this idea of a savage campaign against “elites” being led by a poofy wordsmith like Rush Limbaugh, a Harvard fatty like Grover Norquist, a dickless academic like Newt Gingrich, and a diaper-dumping oligarch like George W. Bush. They were just another band of mischievous aristocrats who played at being the voice of the common man - these new wingers sold themselves as the champions of the f*cked-over little guy, in this case the terminally frustrated boobus Americanus, who for decades had been made to sit idly by while ethnics stole his job, evil liberals mocked his religion and his simple way of life, and media “elitists” shut out his views and sent porn and married queers into his living room via the television set.
-Matt Taibbi
In their rise the brink of conquest the Republican party became masters at harnessing backlash politics or the politics of resentment as a basis for duping befuddled and angry Americans into voting against their own economic self-interests out of a need for revenge against minorities and the great liberal conspiarcy of the cultural elites. The dark master Richard Nixon was of course a criminal mastermind and practically wrote the book on the politics of divsion. Tricky Dick excelled in using red-baiting, race-baiting and whatever divisive tactic would allow him to rise to power. The best study of Nixonian tactics is in Rick Perlstein’s brilliant Nixonland where it is also noted that Ronald Reagan built his own political career on a similar strategy. It was during Reagan’s reign as Governor of California during the tumultuous period of societal unrest during the 1960s that Reagan became a right-wing hero. His denunciations of the hippies, "look like Tarzan, walk like Jane, and smell like Cheetah" and the hated University of Cal-Berkeley, "a hotbed of communism and homosexuality" made him into a rising star. When the now infamous Powell Memorandum laid the blueprint for the think tanks, the media takeover and the preservation of the status quo it was only a matter of time until the actor Reagan could be rolled out as the smooth talking frontman for the product of oligarchy and imperialism.
Of course the hippies would have to be demonized, turned into cartoon characters as would the effete snob liberals who would stand in the way of the new fascism and it's avuncular face, that of the great communicator, the strident anti-communist warrior king. The failure of the Vietnam war would be blamed on the liberals and the media and the seeds of white populist resentment would be sown as the farm crisis decimated the American heartland and a porcine loser named Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was plucked from obscurity and transformed into a modern day Father Coughlin. Evangelical Christian churches would be subverted by well financed, politically connected fanatics to wage the culture wars and to become the foot soldiers of the Reagan (and later Bush) Revolution. The hostility level had to be cranked up in order for the Republicans to succeed in remaking America in the image of the same jokers who once glorified the uber fascist Benito Mussolini by featuring him on the cover of Fortune Magazine while singing the praises of the efficiency of his business model. There was the ugly and some might say outright treasonous takedown of Bill Clinton over his sexual dalliances which provided rocket fuel for the extremist reactionary right's hate machine, and on the morning of September 11th 2001 that fuel became nuclear.
But I digress....
The conditions on the ground in early 2009, the beginning of the era of Barack Obama and the end of the lie of Reaganism are those of unmitigated fury as the right confronts the greatest threat to the supremacy of their cancerous capitalism since the days of the hated Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The battlefield is overrun by the defenders of failed dogma and by the well paid servants who stand to lose their meal tickets. Already, in the early weeks of the Obama administration the Republicans have squealed like stuck pigs, outraged at the massive jacking up of the debt to somehow staunch the bleeding and to create jobs for the jobless. Of course they never gave a rat’s a**hole when Lord Bush was robbing from their grandchildren to build the police state infrastructure, wage illegal wars of aggression where trillions of dollars were sucked down a black hole inhabited by the slime creatures that are blood barters and war profiteers.
One would figure that the Republican fascist party would have been somewhat humbled after their mangy asses were taken to the woodshed by voters back in November but that would be naïve. Hitler never stopped after his failed beer hall putsch and neither will the devil-spawn of McCarthy, Nixon Reagan and the Bush family. Despite a silly and childish attempt at crafting some sort of bi-partisanship by the Obama administration they were shanked in the back by a dirty pack of double-dealing, jack-booted, America hating vermin who damn near succeeded in derailing the stimulus. Not that it won’t fall anyway after the king of capitulation Harry Reid and his fellow Democrat assclowns in the Senate allowed the poison pill of hundreds of billion dollars in those wonderful tax cuts that have worked so well at destabilizing the country by destroying the middle class to be inserted into the goddamned thing. The most unsurprising kick in the balls to Obama came from media darling and reputed ‘maverick’ John McCain (you may remember him as Sarah Palin’s running-mate) who spat on the new president’s outstretched hand. Of course McCain is also the self-admitted former war criminal who dropped napalm on civilians and then when his plane was shot down in Nam went on to make propaganda pieces for those dirty communists. But yet in this land of the dumb it is Jane Fonda who is still vilified decades after that filthy illegal murderous war ended with America slinking off after igniting the entire region, killing millions and allowing a rogue faction of the intelligence sector to establish a massive drug trafficking network, some of the profits of which would fund Reagan’s bloody little soirees into Central America to prop up despots and their vile torturing regimes.
The Republican party has long been a haven for reactionary thugs, neo-Nazis, out and out fascists, perverts, pederasts, braggarts, loudmouths, authority worshippers and the same sort of immoral degenerates, the dregs of society that Hitler used to much success in populating the ranks of his Sturmabteilung (SA). It worked out so well that Der Führer had to ultimately undertake an intervention to prevent them from turning on him that is famously known as the Night of the Long Knives. In any sort of normally functioning political system a similar purge would have occurred in a failed reactionary party after having their clocks cleaned but America post-9/11 is anything but a normally functioning society. If nothing else the remnants of the disciples of the false god Reagan have dug in even deeper, real dead enders, like the Japanese who had to be literally burned out of their caves and tunnels even after defeat was a certainty. One gets an idea of just how demented that this particular party is when one member, Pete Sessions of Texas proudly compared his party to the Taliban when being interview about strategy during the Obama era. What the f*ck is up with that? Didn’t the Taliban become the enemy after that oh so glorious and politically serendipitous day of 9/11/01? Isn’t America at war with the Taliban for allegedly aiding and abetting the great bogeyman Osama bin Laden? Did Sessions really just come out and say that he and his party are studying the methods of terrorists? Such a thing would have been cause for an extraordinary rendition under the Bush-Cheney junta, perhaps closing Gitmo is premature because we have an admitted fifth column waging war against America from within and being far more successful than al-CIAda could have ever hoped to be in even their wildest of wet dreams.
And there is also opportunity in undermining Obama and allowing the economy to continue to deteriorate so that he can be blamed in 2010. A rising star is a guy named Eric Cantor, a bespectacled little snake whose role model is none other than Newt Gingrich is a rising power in the neo-Confederate rump that is still beholden to the preservation of the Reagan temple of greed and has emerged as a particularly virulent critic of President Obama’s attempts to save capitalism from itself. Hanoi John along with his loyal sidekick Lindsey ‘five rugs for five bucks’ Graham, (the South Carolina Senator least likely to surprise anyone were he found in the men’s room of a rest area off of I-95 with a co*k in his mouth ala Larry Craig)."If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed" hissped Graham in his Gomer Pyle singsong, a longtime component of the three headed monster of McCain-Lieberman-Graham (although the wandering Jew has been somewhat chastened after his fall betrayal and his unconscionable holding onto his prized seat as Der Chairman of Der Kommitee of Heimat Security). You have to love the way that the fascist Republican party is now crying like a pack of Sarah Palin's clubbed baby seals...wasn’t this the criminal syndicate that once boasted as a national leader a slimy little greaseball from Texas named Tom DeLay who once allegedly said on bi-partisanship “f*ck that, it’s time for all out war?”.
The losers of November’s election were out hitting the Sunday morning horseshit circuit in force decrying the lack of deference from Obama and the supine twits in Harry Reid’s Senate when it came to honoring the spirit of Reaganism, what’s next, they exhume the old bastard’s rotting corpse and haul it around like some ghoulish sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s? The house still sets the rules too, the media is still bought and paid for, this much is already evident with this beautiful little example: Obama's use of fear card may backfire. So Obama is now a fear-monger despite not one f*cking peep about the eight year reign of terror by the Bush regime during which Americans were conditioned to see swarthy Arab terrorists in every dark corner, under their beds and as a result turned into the world’s largest coward colony courtesy of apocalyptic conjecture about smoking mushroom clouds, manipulation of the infamous threat level matrix for political means and the canonization of Jack Bauer, a man who would rip the testicles off of a toddler with a pair of pliers in front of it's mother for god and country. Obama is going to have a rough time taking on the consolidated fascist media colossus and the highly paid celebrity whores who pass themselves off as journalists. Operation Mockingbird is alive and well and even more dangerous now that the entire national media is owned by a handful of corporations with interlocking directorates. Now there has been talk about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine which might not be a bad idea in leveling the playing field against the sort of fascists that former Roosevelt Vice President Henry A. Wallace once so accurately pegged:
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism.
But any reinstatement of such rules in the current era of systemic rot and deterioration would only be selectively enforced to keep out those who question the state and the system itself. You will never see the Fairness Doctrine used to offset Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and any number of other demagogic clones. While this is a popular idea with many liberals it is only going to be eventually turned on them and other alternative media voices including bloggers who dare to question the legitimacy of the oligarchic status quo. But the media is a huge problem and the onslaught of propaganda pumped out to prevent even a diluted bucket of horse piss of a stimulus package illustrates that any sort of return of the government from its current role of protector of corporate interests and the wealthy will be fought tooth, fang and claw in a destructive battle of attrition that will continue to transform families and friends into warring factions that can be exploited by the same ruthless scum who have rigged the tables so successfully, some could say too successfully.
How this is all going to end up is impossible to tell, the American eugenics project to create the perfect Idiocracy, a reverse master-race has any sort of reformer like Obama facing some seriously nasty odds, just think of the Detroit Lions hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after next year's Super Bowl and you get the general idea. Frank Rich of the damned liberal New York Times wrote a piece this weekend entitled They Sure Showed That Obama that would tend to create some optimism in those readers less cynical than I. It was this line that killed me though and only further underlines the ongoing demographic problems facing Obama and anyone else who tries to change the system. Rich refers to: The beefy, beer-drinking, deer-hunting white guys — incessantly interviewed in bars and diners — would never buy the skinny black intellectual. Herein lies the problem, despite what may have happened during the election this is a nightmare block of the population and not one to be trifled with because old prejudices die hard and as always liberals have shown a proclivity in overestimating their ability to reach those who within their thick, Neanderthal skulls have banned logic and reason. I'll put in a plug for a big favorite of mine, the moral beacon in this sick land of denial and dumbness and that would be for the brilliant writer Joe Bageant and his book Deer Hunting With Jesus, trust me, it's a must read.
Now I may not be a hunter (personally I think it’s f*cking slaughter) but I am one hell of a beefy, beer-drinking white dude, a military veteran and have 11 tattoos as well if that is any sort of an added qualification to the sh*thack D.C. conventional wisdom. Despite that I am smart enough to not be hoodwinked by a bunch of pampered, elitist, chickenhawk charlatans trying to bait folks like American Me into voting against my own economic self interests. sh*t, my grandfather was a Romanian immigrant who joined a union to go work at a meat packing house (but only after at age 15 he filled his pockets full of ball bearings in order to qualify for the job's required weight), fought in World War II in the Pacific in some of the most vicious of cleanup operations and as an FDR democrat hated the sleazy, fascist snake oil salesmen that were Republicans. Thank God that he died before that fraudulent piece of sh*t Ronald Reagan was President but my grandmother who survived him by nearly thirty years cursed the Gipper and that punk assed borderline retard George W. Bush until her dying breath. The point is that most people from that particular era (never mind the 'greatest generation' hogwash) weren't so easily duped, and their ability to own a home, raise a family, take vacations on one income are a testament to they way that things used to be in this country before the rats and chiselers hijacked the system.
So as one of the manly men who are largely supposed to buy into the anti-elite propaganda peddled by the fifty-million dollar a year degenerate child f*cking dope addict I have always taken great offense at just how f*cking stupid that the average American beer swilling, swinging dick angry white male can be. Hell, I love drinking beer (and lots of it), shooting guns (although not at unarmed animals), watching football, driving fast, hating the insipid tyranny of political correctness and ogling nekkid women but I also don’t get suckered into that anti-intellectual horseshit that makes one of those clueless, testosterone and alcohol fueled dopes who are as mad as hell but too f*cking dumb to realize that they should be really mad at the millionaire lardasses like Limbaugh who are very well paid to dupe these knuckle-draggers into consistently voting AGAINST their own economic well being. Listen dudes, there is nothing macho in being stupid and unless y’all get a clue your sex lives will continue to be comprised of drinking a twelve pack of cheap malt liquor and whacking off over the latest issue of Penthouse or whatever other f*ckrag that you pick up at your local convenience store's jack rack. Stop fantasizing about coming on Sarah Palin’s t*ts, stop reveling in the falsehood that everyman Joe the Plumber is a working class hero and pick up a book once in awhile, the mind that you save may be your own.
And maybe, just maybe the inhabitants of this land of shame, sin and sorrow can finally shrink the legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. In a time when even the maestro Greenspan openly admits that he f*cked up big time then I suppose that anything is theoretically possible.
Ed Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".
JORDYN WIEBER, 13, WINS
By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Jordyn Wieber made herself at home Saturday with two American greats in gymnastics: Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin.
Wieber, 13, of DeWitt, Mich., became the second-youngest Tyson American Cup women's champion and was immediately congratulated by past American Cup champs Liukin and Retton at the Sears Centre, located about 25 miles northwest of Chicago.
"I feel very honored to be one of these people now," Wieber, who is 4-10½, said. "I really look up to them. That was really exciting."
OLYMPICS REWIND: Relive gymnastics from the Beijing Games
Wieber scored 60.2 to beat fellow American Bridget Sloan, who scored 59.6. Kim Bui of Germany finished third with 56.0. In the men's competition, Germany's Fabian Hambuechen beat American David Sender 90.65-90.45 for the title. American Joey Hagerty finished third (89.55).
Liukin won this meet twice, in 2006 and last year at 18, a prelude to her Olympic all-around title in Beijing last August. Retton, the 1984 Olympic all-around gold medalist, won this meet three times from 1983 to 1985. Both were honored guests Saturday. Liukin has resumed training but doesn't expect to compete until later this year.
Wieber has a long road ahead to become an Olympian with the London Games three years away, but she has established herself firmly as the sport's rising star.
She is still too young to compete at the senior level in world qualification meets. The minimum age requirement for that is 16, which means Wieber will spend this year and next competing in the junior division.
Wieber, who will turn 14 in July, is the reigning junior national all-around champion and will be eligible for her first world championships in 2011.
"It's all about pacing … making sure she enjoys it," her coach, John Geddert, said. "We're in no hurry."
She is the youngest American Cup champion since Tracee Talavera of the U.S., then 13, won in 1980. Talavera was a member of the 1984 Olympic team.
"Truly amazing" is how Liukin described Wieber's skills. On vault, Wieber, only an eighth grader, executed a Yurchenko mount with 2½ twists. Only about three women's gymnasts in the world tried that vault last year, including American Shawn Johnson, the Olympic silver medalist in all-around.
Wieber took a step on the vault landing but the difficulty made her the highest scorer at 15.75. To put the difficulty in perspective, consider that Sender, 23, the men's runner-up, performed the same vault.
"I didn't start doing that vault until I was 18 or 19," Sender said. "She's obviously a very talented little girl. I'm excited to see how she'll do in the next four years."
Wieber also was the meet's highest scorer on balance beam and the uneven parallel bars. She scored second-highest on floor exercise behind Sloan.
"She's a machine," Sloan said.
Her debut with senior-level gymnasts, televised by NBC, was no doubt a hit.
"We've never had a doubt that she's a competitor," Geddert said. "We were wondering if the big stage would change any of that. … You never know once TV cameras get in your face, if that's going to change anything. I'm happy to see it doesn't
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Jordyn Wieber made herself at home Saturday with two American greats in gymnastics: Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin.
Wieber, 13, of DeWitt, Mich., became the second-youngest Tyson American Cup women's champion and was immediately congratulated by past American Cup champs Liukin and Retton at the Sears Centre, located about 25 miles northwest of Chicago.
"I feel very honored to be one of these people now," Wieber, who is 4-10½, said. "I really look up to them. That was really exciting."
OLYMPICS REWIND: Relive gymnastics from the Beijing Games
Wieber scored 60.2 to beat fellow American Bridget Sloan, who scored 59.6. Kim Bui of Germany finished third with 56.0. In the men's competition, Germany's Fabian Hambuechen beat American David Sender 90.65-90.45 for the title. American Joey Hagerty finished third (89.55).
Liukin won this meet twice, in 2006 and last year at 18, a prelude to her Olympic all-around title in Beijing last August. Retton, the 1984 Olympic all-around gold medalist, won this meet three times from 1983 to 1985. Both were honored guests Saturday. Liukin has resumed training but doesn't expect to compete until later this year.
Wieber has a long road ahead to become an Olympian with the London Games three years away, but she has established herself firmly as the sport's rising star.
She is still too young to compete at the senior level in world qualification meets. The minimum age requirement for that is 16, which means Wieber will spend this year and next competing in the junior division.
Wieber, who will turn 14 in July, is the reigning junior national all-around champion and will be eligible for her first world championships in 2011.
"It's all about pacing … making sure she enjoys it," her coach, John Geddert, said. "We're in no hurry."
She is the youngest American Cup champion since Tracee Talavera of the U.S., then 13, won in 1980. Talavera was a member of the 1984 Olympic team.
"Truly amazing" is how Liukin described Wieber's skills. On vault, Wieber, only an eighth grader, executed a Yurchenko mount with 2½ twists. Only about three women's gymnasts in the world tried that vault last year, including American Shawn Johnson, the Olympic silver medalist in all-around.
Wieber took a step on the vault landing but the difficulty made her the highest scorer at 15.75. To put the difficulty in perspective, consider that Sender, 23, the men's runner-up, performed the same vault.
"I didn't start doing that vault until I was 18 or 19," Sender said. "She's obviously a very talented little girl. I'm excited to see how she'll do in the next four years."
Wieber also was the meet's highest scorer on balance beam and the uneven parallel bars. She scored second-highest on floor exercise behind Sloan.
"She's a machine," Sloan said.
Her debut with senior-level gymnasts, televised by NBC, was no doubt a hit.
"We've never had a doubt that she's a competitor," Geddert said. "We were wondering if the big stage would change any of that. … You never know once TV cameras get in your face, if that's going to change anything. I'm happy to see it doesn't
NETFLIX IS CONSIDERING OFFERING A STREAMING-ONLY IN 2010
Netflix is considering offering a streaming-only pricing tier as soon as next year, according to comments made by CEO Reed Hastings in a report by Bloomberg.
The streaming-only membership could be popular among those with Netflix-enabled devices (such as the Roku Netflix Player, Xbox 360, and LG BD300) who want streaming access without the full cost of a Netflix membership. Netflix hasn't said how much the streaming-only tier would cost, but we'd assume it would be less than the current entry-level $9-a-month unlimited plan.
On the other hand, we're still on the lookout for Netflix to start charging a premium on customers who use the streaming service in addition to DVD rentals. The company has already introduced premium pricing by charging Blu-ray renters an extra dollar a month, and it feels like it's only a matter of time before heavy streamers pay a premium as well--or at least for premium content. In other words, keep on streaming while the streaming's free, because it may not last forever.
(Sources: Bloomberg via Engadget
The streaming-only membership could be popular among those with Netflix-enabled devices (such as the Roku Netflix Player, Xbox 360, and LG BD300) who want streaming access without the full cost of a Netflix membership. Netflix hasn't said how much the streaming-only tier would cost, but we'd assume it would be less than the current entry-level $9-a-month unlimited plan.
On the other hand, we're still on the lookout for Netflix to start charging a premium on customers who use the streaming service in addition to DVD rentals. The company has already introduced premium pricing by charging Blu-ray renters an extra dollar a month, and it feels like it's only a matter of time before heavy streamers pay a premium as well--or at least for premium content. In other words, keep on streaming while the streaming's free, because it may not last forever.
(Sources: Bloomberg via Engadget
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
YOU MAKE ME LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN
BEHIND the scenes at the first group rehearsal of the latest production of The Vagina Monologues, there's a steady hum of laughter and nervous chatter. Gail Porter, given the task of performing 17 orgasms per night, jokes that she's terrified she will make a fool of herself. Michelle McManus, the veteran of an Irish production of the show, reassures her that it's an audience favourite. "They'll love you," she insists. "You'll get a standing ovation."
Karen Dunbar quietly surveys the room, but once she loosens up proves funny and thought-provoking in equal measures. Kaye Adams slips straight into interview mode, grilling her castmates – most of whom are mates, only Porter and McManus have never met – about their reactions to the script. LR: Hang on, asking questions is my job! Let's talk about everyone's comfort levels with the material. Kaye, I read that you're really uncomfortable with it? KA: I was
KA: I was much more uncomfortable before I'd read the script. I have got a reputation for being Miss Jean Brodie, which is not unfounded. But it doesn't feel like an excuse to say naughty words for the hell of it. It did take me back to remembering the radical feminism of the 1980s and some of the ideas around at the time. You can see where it comes from.LR: Are you saying it feels dated? KA: No, but when you put it into now, you obviously interpret it differently. I have to say the famous orgasm piece was vaguely coming my way. GP: It was given to you!KA: I welshed on that. I just could not carry that off. I'm quite an inhibited person, I would be crap at it. KD: I thought Kaye would be brilliant at the orgasm monologue.KA: Yeah, but you've never liked me!KD: My feelings were very similar to Kaye's. I thought, 'Ah, please don't let this be fanny jokes.' But when I read the material I thought, 'These are brilliant.' Of course they've got to be, (the show] couldn't have been sustained for so long had it not been a really, really good piece of work. I found the material challenging. One of (my] monologues is called Cootchie Snorcher. It's about a rape. With my profile, (the worry is] how do you put that across without being funny? It's weird for me, standing up in a full theatre and thinking, 'Please don't laugh at this.' MM: I don't have an issue with the content. I hang out with a big group of single girls and this is how we talk. The issue for me is that couldn't perform it in front of my parents. My mum's really liberal, but that's a whole part of my life I do without her being there. I see her on a Sunday when I go to chapel and redeem myself and have Sunday dinner!GP: I'm getting used to it now that I've met everyone; I was quite apprehensive. And I'm (still] a little nervous because I haven't done it before, and I'm from Edinburgh, so all my mates are coming. I've got these 17 orgasms to have at the end and I'm thinking, 'My God, I hope I can pull this off'. They will slate me for evermore if I have really crap orgasms. LR: Is your boyfriend coming? GP: No. We don't talk about sex. I go, 'You want a shag?' and that's it. I read some bits to him and he gets quite uncomfortable. As far as he's concerned his mum's only had sex twice, to produce two kids. KD: You can feel the nervousness in the theatre. When I did it last summer I felt a degree of responsibility to say to the audience, 'It's all right, you're going to have a ball.'LR: What's that nervousness about? KD: There's still a generation that feels sexuality isn't to be talked about and certainly not in company. They even go to the doctor's and say, 'Problems down below.'KA: We appear to talk about sex so much more now, but it's different from sexuality and how women feel about their bodies. There's an impression that we're all so liberal and uninhibited, but that's a kind of smokescreen. GP: When I gave birth to my daughter I got piles and thought my arse was falling out. I had no idea.
LR: My mom taught me the biology, but she didn't say anything about pleasure. Gail, Kaye, what will you tell your daughters when they ask? GP: Honey is six and I've gone through quite a lot in front of her. She asks me things, including what I'm doing here. I said it's a story about noonies, because that's what she calls it. She went, 'Oh, all right. Can I watch television now?' I am trying to explain that when she gets older, she will get hair in places – she just thinks she'll grow into a massive version of me. She doesn't get the whole hair thing. LR: Will you explain that she will also get orgasms?GP: I'll probably leave that until she's seven! But yeah, I want her to be a happy chappie. My mum didn't even tell me about having periods! I thought I'd shit myself. I was really distraught and embarrassed. The shame-based idea is where the majority of us have come from and we're only just beginning to subvert that, mainly with humour. KD: The first port of call to talk about stuff is laughing it up. We need to say that sex is also phenomenal and life-giving. It's great to have a laugh, but we have a long way to go. LR: In an interview, Eve Ensler (creator of The Vagina Monologues] said that female power was rooted in female sexuality. What does everyone think about that? KA: We make too much of promiscuity. But the kind of sexuality that Ensler is talking about is a more profound awareness. I think that a woman who is truly confident and comfortable with her sexuality will be a very powerful individual. But it is a potential Achilles heel for an awful lot of women. They appear totally on top of their game, but could be absolutely felled by one comment from some dodgy wee guy walking along the street.
KD: 'I wouldn't shag you, you honker!'KA: It's interesting the way it can destabilise women who should have every reason to be utterly confident. KD: When I did the show before, it wasn't until about half-way through the run that I found myself examining my own ideas about myself and… oh, let's say it: my own vagina. Isn't that weird? I hesitated. I wouldn't hesitate to mention any other part of the body, but I hesitated there. It's almost like I'm going against all the things I believe in, but when I'm talking about myself…KA: I don't think it's a bad thing to have a sense of privacy. It is intimate.TS: It's the piece of our body we keep covered, to reveal (only] to certain people.KD: We f***ed up seriously somewhere, that we turned the most beautiful thing in the world – sex between two people that love each other – into a power struggle, into shame, into guilt, into remorse.TS: Because it's the most profound relationship you can have with somebody, it's going to always be a problem and cause debate and upset. To be wanted and enjoyed – or rejected – we all take it so personally that I think we're always going to be f***ed up about it.KD: I agree, but there must've been a time when we weren't. MM: I don't think there was ever a time when women sat around talking about their vaginas.
KD: I agree, but there must've been a time when we weren't. MM: I don't think there was ever a time when women sat around talking about their vaginas.KD: Maybe they were sitting outside the cave with their legs splayed, saying, 'Where is he with that f***ing mammoth?' KA: You don't always want to broadcast or make available to everyone something precious and valued – if that's what sex is – but that doesn't mean you are messed up about it. MM: The Vagina Monologues works so well because we do have these natural barriers (about what we discuss]. It's probably one of the only occasions when most of these women will ever hear the word 'c***' spoken or sung, and also hear about orgasms and rape camps in Bosnia. KA: Karen said that it made her reflect. I suppose that's what we hope the audience will do. Laugh it up on the night and the next day start to connect a little bit more about themselves and their feelings.• The Vagina Monologues is at the Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, until Saturday (0844 8471 660; or go to www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk). A percentage of ticket sales from the show will be donated to Scottish women's charities.The Cast:KAYE ADAMS (KA): A broadcaster and journalist, she is best known for hosting TV show Loose Women.
KAREN DUNBAR (KD): A regular on Chewin' the Fat, she had her own sketch show on BBC Scotland. She performed a sell-out solo show at last year's Edinburgh Festival and starred in Cinderella at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. MICHELLE MCMANUS (MM): She won Pop Idol in 2003 with more than 6.5 million votes and since then has made numerous television and stage appearances, most notably in a special edition of You Are What You Eat with Gillian McKeith. GAIL PORTER (GP): The television presenter's credits include Fully Booked, The Big Breakfast, Live & Kicking, Top of the Pops and Dead Famous.TIMOTHY SHEADER (TS): The show's director.LEE RANDALL (LR): Yours truly.
Courtesy: Lee Randall
THE SCOTSMAN
Karen Dunbar quietly surveys the room, but once she loosens up proves funny and thought-provoking in equal measures. Kaye Adams slips straight into interview mode, grilling her castmates – most of whom are mates, only Porter and McManus have never met – about their reactions to the script. LR: Hang on, asking questions is my job! Let's talk about everyone's comfort levels with the material. Kaye, I read that you're really uncomfortable with it? KA: I was
KA: I was much more uncomfortable before I'd read the script. I have got a reputation for being Miss Jean Brodie, which is not unfounded. But it doesn't feel like an excuse to say naughty words for the hell of it. It did take me back to remembering the radical feminism of the 1980s and some of the ideas around at the time. You can see where it comes from.LR: Are you saying it feels dated? KA: No, but when you put it into now, you obviously interpret it differently. I have to say the famous orgasm piece was vaguely coming my way. GP: It was given to you!KA: I welshed on that. I just could not carry that off. I'm quite an inhibited person, I would be crap at it. KD: I thought Kaye would be brilliant at the orgasm monologue.KA: Yeah, but you've never liked me!KD: My feelings were very similar to Kaye's. I thought, 'Ah, please don't let this be fanny jokes.' But when I read the material I thought, 'These are brilliant.' Of course they've got to be, (the show] couldn't have been sustained for so long had it not been a really, really good piece of work. I found the material challenging. One of (my] monologues is called Cootchie Snorcher. It's about a rape. With my profile, (the worry is] how do you put that across without being funny? It's weird for me, standing up in a full theatre and thinking, 'Please don't laugh at this.' MM: I don't have an issue with the content. I hang out with a big group of single girls and this is how we talk. The issue for me is that couldn't perform it in front of my parents. My mum's really liberal, but that's a whole part of my life I do without her being there. I see her on a Sunday when I go to chapel and redeem myself and have Sunday dinner!GP: I'm getting used to it now that I've met everyone; I was quite apprehensive. And I'm (still] a little nervous because I haven't done it before, and I'm from Edinburgh, so all my mates are coming. I've got these 17 orgasms to have at the end and I'm thinking, 'My God, I hope I can pull this off'. They will slate me for evermore if I have really crap orgasms. LR: Is your boyfriend coming? GP: No. We don't talk about sex. I go, 'You want a shag?' and that's it. I read some bits to him and he gets quite uncomfortable. As far as he's concerned his mum's only had sex twice, to produce two kids. KD: You can feel the nervousness in the theatre. When I did it last summer I felt a degree of responsibility to say to the audience, 'It's all right, you're going to have a ball.'LR: What's that nervousness about? KD: There's still a generation that feels sexuality isn't to be talked about and certainly not in company. They even go to the doctor's and say, 'Problems down below.'KA: We appear to talk about sex so much more now, but it's different from sexuality and how women feel about their bodies. There's an impression that we're all so liberal and uninhibited, but that's a kind of smokescreen. GP: When I gave birth to my daughter I got piles and thought my arse was falling out. I had no idea.
LR: My mom taught me the biology, but she didn't say anything about pleasure. Gail, Kaye, what will you tell your daughters when they ask? GP: Honey is six and I've gone through quite a lot in front of her. She asks me things, including what I'm doing here. I said it's a story about noonies, because that's what she calls it. She went, 'Oh, all right. Can I watch television now?' I am trying to explain that when she gets older, she will get hair in places – she just thinks she'll grow into a massive version of me. She doesn't get the whole hair thing. LR: Will you explain that she will also get orgasms?GP: I'll probably leave that until she's seven! But yeah, I want her to be a happy chappie. My mum didn't even tell me about having periods! I thought I'd shit myself. I was really distraught and embarrassed. The shame-based idea is where the majority of us have come from and we're only just beginning to subvert that, mainly with humour. KD: The first port of call to talk about stuff is laughing it up. We need to say that sex is also phenomenal and life-giving. It's great to have a laugh, but we have a long way to go. LR: In an interview, Eve Ensler (creator of The Vagina Monologues] said that female power was rooted in female sexuality. What does everyone think about that? KA: We make too much of promiscuity. But the kind of sexuality that Ensler is talking about is a more profound awareness. I think that a woman who is truly confident and comfortable with her sexuality will be a very powerful individual. But it is a potential Achilles heel for an awful lot of women. They appear totally on top of their game, but could be absolutely felled by one comment from some dodgy wee guy walking along the street.
KD: 'I wouldn't shag you, you honker!'KA: It's interesting the way it can destabilise women who should have every reason to be utterly confident. KD: When I did the show before, it wasn't until about half-way through the run that I found myself examining my own ideas about myself and… oh, let's say it: my own vagina. Isn't that weird? I hesitated. I wouldn't hesitate to mention any other part of the body, but I hesitated there. It's almost like I'm going against all the things I believe in, but when I'm talking about myself…KA: I don't think it's a bad thing to have a sense of privacy. It is intimate.TS: It's the piece of our body we keep covered, to reveal (only] to certain people.KD: We f***ed up seriously somewhere, that we turned the most beautiful thing in the world – sex between two people that love each other – into a power struggle, into shame, into guilt, into remorse.TS: Because it's the most profound relationship you can have with somebody, it's going to always be a problem and cause debate and upset. To be wanted and enjoyed – or rejected – we all take it so personally that I think we're always going to be f***ed up about it.KD: I agree, but there must've been a time when we weren't. MM: I don't think there was ever a time when women sat around talking about their vaginas.
KD: I agree, but there must've been a time when we weren't. MM: I don't think there was ever a time when women sat around talking about their vaginas.KD: Maybe they were sitting outside the cave with their legs splayed, saying, 'Where is he with that f***ing mammoth?' KA: You don't always want to broadcast or make available to everyone something precious and valued – if that's what sex is – but that doesn't mean you are messed up about it. MM: The Vagina Monologues works so well because we do have these natural barriers (about what we discuss]. It's probably one of the only occasions when most of these women will ever hear the word 'c***' spoken or sung, and also hear about orgasms and rape camps in Bosnia. KA: Karen said that it made her reflect. I suppose that's what we hope the audience will do. Laugh it up on the night and the next day start to connect a little bit more about themselves and their feelings.• The Vagina Monologues is at the Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, until Saturday (0844 8471 660; or go to www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk). A percentage of ticket sales from the show will be donated to Scottish women's charities.The Cast:KAYE ADAMS (KA): A broadcaster and journalist, she is best known for hosting TV show Loose Women.
KAREN DUNBAR (KD): A regular on Chewin' the Fat, she had her own sketch show on BBC Scotland. She performed a sell-out solo show at last year's Edinburgh Festival and starred in Cinderella at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. MICHELLE MCMANUS (MM): She won Pop Idol in 2003 with more than 6.5 million votes and since then has made numerous television and stage appearances, most notably in a special edition of You Are What You Eat with Gillian McKeith. GAIL PORTER (GP): The television presenter's credits include Fully Booked, The Big Breakfast, Live & Kicking, Top of the Pops and Dead Famous.TIMOTHY SHEADER (TS): The show's director.LEE RANDALL (LR): Yours truly.
Courtesy: Lee Randall
THE SCOTSMAN
YOU MAKE ME LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN
KAREN DUNBAR (KD): A regular on Chewin' the Fat, she had her own sketch show on BBC Scotland. She performed a sell-out solo show at last year's Edinburgh Festival and starred in Cinderella at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. MICHELLE MCMANUS (MM): She won Pop Idol in 2003 with more than 6.5 million votes and since then has made numerous television and stage appearances, most notably in a special edition of You Are What You Eat with Gillian McKeith. GAIL PORTER (GP): The television presenter's credits include Fully Booked, The Big Breakfast, Live & Kicking, Top of the Pops and Dead Famous.TIMOTHY SHEADER (TS): The show's director.LEE RANDALL (LR): Yours truly.
Courtesy: Lee Randall
THE SCOTSMAN
Courtesy: Lee Randall
THE SCOTSMAN
Fish study proves “the pill” is NOT man’s best friend.
Feb 17, 2009
Brown, KH, IR Schultz, JG Cloud, and JJ Nagler. 2008. Aneuploid sperm formation in rainbow trout exposed to the environmental estrogen 17α –ethynylestradiol. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science doi:10.1073/pnas.0808333105.
ContextWhat did they do?What did they find?What does it mean?ResourcesMore new science from EHN
Synopsis by Michael D. Laiosa and Wendy Hessler
darthservo/Flickr
Sperm from rainbow trout exposed to the synthetic estrogen in birth control pills can have the wrong number of chormosomes.
Researchers report that very minute quantities of the hormone found in the birth control pill alter sperm development in rainbow trout by changing the number of chromosomes, which can lead to lower survival and long-term health problems in the offspring. This error in cell division is called aneuploidy. In people, aneuploidy is the largest known source of spontaneous miscarriage. Importantly, it highlights the need to develop new, and use existing, green chemistry technologies to better clean effluent released from water treatment facilities.
Context
Aneuploidy is the scientific term for having an abnormal number of chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell. The disorder affects humans and other animals that reproduce sexually, including fish.
The chromosomal disorder occurs in nearly 5 percent of all human pregnancies and is the leading cause of miscarriage worldwide. Although most aneuploid pregnancies fail naturally, some babies are born and do survive. Anueploidy is the number one reason for congenital birth defects - such as Down's syndrom and Turner syndrome -- and mental retardation (Hassold 2007).
Normally, human cells contain two copies -- a pair -- of each of the 23 chromosomes found in people - for a total of 46. Each parent contributes one copy through either the egg or the sperm. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the chromosomes from the egg pair with the like chromosomes in the sperm.
Aneuploidy, though, occurs when the egg or the sperm contribute either more than one or no chromosomes. Instead of a pair, the affected chromosome ends up having three copies -- called trisomy -- or just one copy -- called monosomy. The vast majority of people born with the condition are trisomy.
Although sperm with the wrong number of chromosomes can cause aneuploidy, most disorders in people can be traced back to the mother’s eggs, which form when she is in the womb. It is well established that the risk for miscarriage and aneuploidy increases with a woman’s age.
Presently, the causes of anueploidy are poorly understood, particularly because of the difficulty in studying how eggs and sperm form in both humans and experimental animal models.
Recent studies -- specifically those led by Dr. Patricia Hunt at Washington State University -- show that environmental contaminants may contribute to aneuploidy conditions. In their research, bisphenol A (BPA) causes a 10-fold increase in aneuploidy in the eggs of female mice that were exposed to the chemical while they were developing in the womb (Hassold 2007). BPA is an estrogenic chemical widely used in the manufacture of plastics, epoxy resins and carbon papers.
Average sperm counts worldwide appear to have declined by nearly 50 percent since 1940. Infertility and reproductive problems have risen during the same time period. While there may be many reasons, -- including aneuploidy caused by environmental factors -- exposure to environmental contaminants generally, and endocrine disruptors in particular, may be a major contributing factor.
Environmental estrogens (like BPA) are widespread in US rivers, lakes and other waterways (Kolpin 2002). Sources include flushed pharmaceuticals, runoff from agricultural fields and industry effluent.
Millions of women take oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancies. The estrogen hormone 17-beta-ethinylestradiol (EE2) is an active ingredient in birth control pills. The hormone can end up in the environment after passing through wastewater treatment plants.
Animal studies and observations of wildlife provide sufficient clues to warrant concern about health effects from environmental estrogens. Male reproduction seems expecially vulnerable. Exposure is linked to intersex (born with both male and female characteristics) conditions, lower sperm counts, genital tract malformations, increased sperm and egg death and embryonic mortality.
Prior fish studies found sperm problems lead to lower survival in trout offspring that were exposed to environmental estrogens, including EE2. Sperm chromosome damage was not investigated as a possible cause until now.
What did they do?
Scientists exposed juvenile rainbow trout to 10 nanograms/liter (10 ppb) of 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) for 50 days. The synthetic hormone is the active ingredient in most formulations of the birth control pill. Importantly, 10 ppb is a relevant dose, because it is nearly identical to reported levels in contaminated rivers or streams.
The fish were exposed when they were maturing into adults and beginning to make sperm.
After 50 days, sperm was collected. Some of it was used to fertilize eggs from females that were not exposed to EE2. The remainder of the sperm was analyzed, and the number of chromosomes was scored to determine the frequency of aneuploidy.
Aneuploidy was identified through fluorescence -- a technique using colored probes that “stick” to particular chromosomes. The probes can be seen with a special microscope. In this study, chromosome #20 appeared green, and the Y chromosome appeared red. The scientists then counted the number of red and green dots in each sperm cell.
Normal sperm cells have one red and one green dot. If a cell had more than one of each color or if a cell was lacking one of the two colors, then the cell was determined to be anueploid.
Reprinted from Brown et al. 2008.
Normal sperm cell (A) and aneuploid sperm cells (B,C,D).
What did they find?
Exposure to minute quantities of EE2 caused nearly a 25-fold increase in the frequency of aneuploid sperm in fish maturing to adults.
In a normal, unexposed fish, only about 1.2 percent of the total sperm are considered aneuploid. This is the exact frequency of aneuploid sperm found in most humans.
More than half -- 58 percent -- of the embryos derived from eggs fertilized with sperm from the exposed males contained an abnormal number of chromosomes.
Among the aneuploid embryos, 42% were hypodiploid, (containing fewer than the normal number of chromosomes), and 16% were hyperdiploid (more chromosomes than normal).
What does it mean?
For the first time, scientists demonstrate that rainbow trout exposed to the active ingredient in the birth control pill have nearly a 25-fold increase in the frequency of sperm containing abnormal numbers of chromosomes. Such defective sperm can affect egg fertilization, embryo development and offspring survival.
Prior studies find that juvenile male fish exposed to EE2 during sexual maturation father embryos with lower survival rates. Up until this study, there was no explanation for these findings. Now, the reason for the reduced survival in those studies may be because EE2 causes aneuploidy in the developing sperm, the authors assert.
How EE2 causes aneuploidy is not known, but the environmental consequences are clear. First, minute quantities of environmental estrogens have adverse affects on reproduction in wildlife populations. Second, males appear to be acutely sensitive to these environmental estrogens, even at very minute quantities. Third, pharmaceuticals that humans often consider harmless, do end up on our public waterways and at levels which clearly affect wildlife.
The possible impacts on humans who use the same water -- whether for drinking, recreation, agricultural irrigation or other purpose -- remain to be determined.
Women taking oral contraceptives excrete EE2, and wastewater treatment facilities fail to effectively remove it from the effluent. Thus, increasing levels of the estrogenic contaminant is found in some public water supplies. Levels approaching 8 parts per billion (ppb), or nearly equal to the amount the fish were exposed to in the present study, have been measured in several North American waterways used for irrigation, recreation and drinking. Consequently, male fish are not the only ones exposed or possibly alarmed by the findings of this work.
Nevertheless, there are new developing green chemistry technologies that may be able to facilitate the removal of environmental estrogens from waste water treatment plants and public water supplies (Collins 2002). Scientists and policy makers need to come together to decide where and how investments should be made to mitigate this threat to wildlife and potentially to humans.
Resources
Collins, TJ. 2002. TAML oxidant activators: a new approach to the activation of hydrogen peroxide for environmentally significant problems. Accounts of Chemical Research 35(9):782-90..
Hassold, T, H Hall and P Hunt. 2007. The origin of human aneuploidy: where we have been, where we are going. Human Molecular Genetics 16 Spec (2):R203-8.
Courtesy: Environmental Health News
Feb 17, 2009
Brown, KH, IR Schultz, JG Cloud, and JJ Nagler. 2008. Aneuploid sperm formation in rainbow trout exposed to the environmental estrogen 17α –ethynylestradiol. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science doi:10.1073/pnas.0808333105.
ContextWhat did they do?What did they find?What does it mean?ResourcesMore new science from EHN
Synopsis by Michael D. Laiosa and Wendy Hessler
darthservo/Flickr
Sperm from rainbow trout exposed to the synthetic estrogen in birth control pills can have the wrong number of chormosomes.
Researchers report that very minute quantities of the hormone found in the birth control pill alter sperm development in rainbow trout by changing the number of chromosomes, which can lead to lower survival and long-term health problems in the offspring. This error in cell division is called aneuploidy. In people, aneuploidy is the largest known source of spontaneous miscarriage. Importantly, it highlights the need to develop new, and use existing, green chemistry technologies to better clean effluent released from water treatment facilities.
Context
Aneuploidy is the scientific term for having an abnormal number of chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell. The disorder affects humans and other animals that reproduce sexually, including fish.
The chromosomal disorder occurs in nearly 5 percent of all human pregnancies and is the leading cause of miscarriage worldwide. Although most aneuploid pregnancies fail naturally, some babies are born and do survive. Anueploidy is the number one reason for congenital birth defects - such as Down's syndrom and Turner syndrome -- and mental retardation (Hassold 2007).
Normally, human cells contain two copies -- a pair -- of each of the 23 chromosomes found in people - for a total of 46. Each parent contributes one copy through either the egg or the sperm. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the chromosomes from the egg pair with the like chromosomes in the sperm.
Aneuploidy, though, occurs when the egg or the sperm contribute either more than one or no chromosomes. Instead of a pair, the affected chromosome ends up having three copies -- called trisomy -- or just one copy -- called monosomy. The vast majority of people born with the condition are trisomy.
Although sperm with the wrong number of chromosomes can cause aneuploidy, most disorders in people can be traced back to the mother’s eggs, which form when she is in the womb. It is well established that the risk for miscarriage and aneuploidy increases with a woman’s age.
Presently, the causes of anueploidy are poorly understood, particularly because of the difficulty in studying how eggs and sperm form in both humans and experimental animal models.
Recent studies -- specifically those led by Dr. Patricia Hunt at Washington State University -- show that environmental contaminants may contribute to aneuploidy conditions. In their research, bisphenol A (BPA) causes a 10-fold increase in aneuploidy in the eggs of female mice that were exposed to the chemical while they were developing in the womb (Hassold 2007). BPA is an estrogenic chemical widely used in the manufacture of plastics, epoxy resins and carbon papers.
Average sperm counts worldwide appear to have declined by nearly 50 percent since 1940. Infertility and reproductive problems have risen during the same time period. While there may be many reasons, -- including aneuploidy caused by environmental factors -- exposure to environmental contaminants generally, and endocrine disruptors in particular, may be a major contributing factor.
Environmental estrogens (like BPA) are widespread in US rivers, lakes and other waterways (Kolpin 2002). Sources include flushed pharmaceuticals, runoff from agricultural fields and industry effluent.
Millions of women take oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancies. The estrogen hormone 17-beta-ethinylestradiol (EE2) is an active ingredient in birth control pills. The hormone can end up in the environment after passing through wastewater treatment plants.
Animal studies and observations of wildlife provide sufficient clues to warrant concern about health effects from environmental estrogens. Male reproduction seems expecially vulnerable. Exposure is linked to intersex (born with both male and female characteristics) conditions, lower sperm counts, genital tract malformations, increased sperm and egg death and embryonic mortality.
Prior fish studies found sperm problems lead to lower survival in trout offspring that were exposed to environmental estrogens, including EE2. Sperm chromosome damage was not investigated as a possible cause until now.
What did they do?
Scientists exposed juvenile rainbow trout to 10 nanograms/liter (10 ppb) of 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) for 50 days. The synthetic hormone is the active ingredient in most formulations of the birth control pill. Importantly, 10 ppb is a relevant dose, because it is nearly identical to reported levels in contaminated rivers or streams.
The fish were exposed when they were maturing into adults and beginning to make sperm.
After 50 days, sperm was collected. Some of it was used to fertilize eggs from females that were not exposed to EE2. The remainder of the sperm was analyzed, and the number of chromosomes was scored to determine the frequency of aneuploidy.
Aneuploidy was identified through fluorescence -- a technique using colored probes that “stick” to particular chromosomes. The probes can be seen with a special microscope. In this study, chromosome #20 appeared green, and the Y chromosome appeared red. The scientists then counted the number of red and green dots in each sperm cell.
Normal sperm cells have one red and one green dot. If a cell had more than one of each color or if a cell was lacking one of the two colors, then the cell was determined to be anueploid.
Reprinted from Brown et al. 2008.
Normal sperm cell (A) and aneuploid sperm cells (B,C,D).
What did they find?
Exposure to minute quantities of EE2 caused nearly a 25-fold increase in the frequency of aneuploid sperm in fish maturing to adults.
In a normal, unexposed fish, only about 1.2 percent of the total sperm are considered aneuploid. This is the exact frequency of aneuploid sperm found in most humans.
More than half -- 58 percent -- of the embryos derived from eggs fertilized with sperm from the exposed males contained an abnormal number of chromosomes.
Among the aneuploid embryos, 42% were hypodiploid, (containing fewer than the normal number of chromosomes), and 16% were hyperdiploid (more chromosomes than normal).
What does it mean?
For the first time, scientists demonstrate that rainbow trout exposed to the active ingredient in the birth control pill have nearly a 25-fold increase in the frequency of sperm containing abnormal numbers of chromosomes. Such defective sperm can affect egg fertilization, embryo development and offspring survival.
Prior studies find that juvenile male fish exposed to EE2 during sexual maturation father embryos with lower survival rates. Up until this study, there was no explanation for these findings. Now, the reason for the reduced survival in those studies may be because EE2 causes aneuploidy in the developing sperm, the authors assert.
How EE2 causes aneuploidy is not known, but the environmental consequences are clear. First, minute quantities of environmental estrogens have adverse affects on reproduction in wildlife populations. Second, males appear to be acutely sensitive to these environmental estrogens, even at very minute quantities. Third, pharmaceuticals that humans often consider harmless, do end up on our public waterways and at levels which clearly affect wildlife.
The possible impacts on humans who use the same water -- whether for drinking, recreation, agricultural irrigation or other purpose -- remain to be determined.
Women taking oral contraceptives excrete EE2, and wastewater treatment facilities fail to effectively remove it from the effluent. Thus, increasing levels of the estrogenic contaminant is found in some public water supplies. Levels approaching 8 parts per billion (ppb), or nearly equal to the amount the fish were exposed to in the present study, have been measured in several North American waterways used for irrigation, recreation and drinking. Consequently, male fish are not the only ones exposed or possibly alarmed by the findings of this work.
Nevertheless, there are new developing green chemistry technologies that may be able to facilitate the removal of environmental estrogens from waste water treatment plants and public water supplies (Collins 2002). Scientists and policy makers need to come together to decide where and how investments should be made to mitigate this threat to wildlife and potentially to humans.
Resources
Collins, TJ. 2002. TAML oxidant activators: a new approach to the activation of hydrogen peroxide for environmentally significant problems. Accounts of Chemical Research 35(9):782-90..
Hassold, T, H Hall and P Hunt. 2007. The origin of human aneuploidy: where we have been, where we are going. Human Molecular Genetics 16 Spec (2):R203-8.
Courtesy: Environmental Health News
AMY FISHER TAKING UP STRIPPING
The inevitable has finally happened: Amy Fisher is hitting the pole.
The Long Island Lolita - who went to prison for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the head and recently started a porn Web site featuring herself - plans to tour the country as a high-paid stripper.
"I love to dance, and I'm an exhibitionist," the 34-year-old Fisher tells avn.com. "I am going to take this road until my fans tell me, 'Dear, please put your clothes back on. You're too old.' "
Courtesy: FOXWes.com
The Long Island Lolita - who went to prison for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the head and recently started a porn Web site featuring herself - plans to tour the country as a high-paid stripper.
"I love to dance, and I'm an exhibitionist," the 34-year-old Fisher tells avn.com. "I am going to take this road until my fans tell me, 'Dear, please put your clothes back on. You're too old.' "
Courtesy: FOXWes.com
Monday, February 16, 2009
SAMANTHA WHO
Exclusive: Angie Harmon terrorizes 'Samantha Who?'
Jan 22, 2009, 11:20 AM by Michael Ausiello
Categories: Samantha Who?
Now I have another reason to lament ABC's decision to bench Samantha Who? in favor of expanded episodes of The Bachelor: The oh-so-groovy Angie Harmon is joining the cast!
Sources confirm to me exclusively that the Women's Murder Club survivor has been cast in the potentially recurring role of Gigi, the infamous (and crazy) ex-wife of Sam's current honey, Funk (Billy Zane).
What's so infamous about her? Let's just say Ms. Cuckoo Puffs plays a critical role in the show's mythology. And it's Awe. Some.
Unfortunately, now that ABC has delayed Samantha's return, I'm unable to give you even a rough air date for Harmon's debut. I can tell you she's not slated to show up until the show's season finale. The net is expected to announce a new return date for the show in the coming days, so stay tuned.
if (imageCredit) {
document.write("Photo Credit: " + imageCredit);
}
Permalink
Jan 22, 2009, 11:20 AM by Michael Ausiello
Categories: Samantha Who?
Now I have another reason to lament ABC's decision to bench Samantha Who? in favor of expanded episodes of The Bachelor: The oh-so-groovy Angie Harmon is joining the cast!
Sources confirm to me exclusively that the Women's Murder Club survivor has been cast in the potentially recurring role of Gigi, the infamous (and crazy) ex-wife of Sam's current honey, Funk (Billy Zane).
What's so infamous about her? Let's just say Ms. Cuckoo Puffs plays a critical role in the show's mythology. And it's Awe. Some.
Unfortunately, now that ABC has delayed Samantha's return, I'm unable to give you even a rough air date for Harmon's debut. I can tell you she's not slated to show up until the show's season finale. The net is expected to announce a new return date for the show in the coming days, so stay tuned.
if (imageCredit) {
document.write("Photo Credit: " + imageCredit);
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CHICHEN FRICASSEE
A favorite Lincoln food: Chicken Fricassee with Biscuits
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February 12, 11:28 AM
by Ana Kinkaid, Seattle American Food Examiner
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Many of our presidents were lovers of fine food. Jefferson, for example, spent more than his entire annual salary as president on his love of fine wines.
Lincoln did not follow in his footsteps. But to say that our 16th president did not have his favorite dishes would be unfair. Lincoln’s tastes, like many of us, were grounded in his background.
Unlike Jefferson, who dined among the landed gentry of aristocratic Virginia, Lincoln’s tastes came from his childhood home in rural Kentucky and later the heartland of the Midwest including Illinois.
When we add this factor to the knowledge that Lincoln was a self-made man with little time for the gourmet dining clubs of his era, we can begin to understand why Lincoln ate as he did.
Lincoln rarely ate breakfast, usually getting right to the tasks of his day. This was not an unusual pattern for the men of the 1800’s. The Hollywood image of huge breakfasts really only occurred on large working farms where the men performed heavy labor and needed massive amounts of calories to make it through the long day.
As for lunch, Lincoln often dined on a tray in his office so that he could continue his work as a lawyer or later as president. Often his wife, Mary Todd, would bring his lunch tray to him.
He especially enjoyed fresh fruit, crackers and country cheese. Not a drinker, a glass of cool water or cup of tea completed his noonday meal.
But at dinner, he had his favorites. Mary Todd always quizzed any new chef she was considering hiring about their ability to prepare her husband’s favorite dishes.
Here’s the first of several of Lincoln favorites. Try sharing this Lincoln chicken favorite with your family and friends as we prepare to celebrate Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 16th this year.
(Oh, where to get the best chicken?...in Seattle, try A & J Meats in the Queen Anne Neighborhood for some of the freshest poultry in the area. They've been one of Seattle's best butchers for over 50 years!)
Lincoln’s Favorite Chicken Fricassee with Biscuits 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces1 Tablespoon cooking oil4 ½ cups fresh mushrooms, sliced2 small onions, chopped2 cloves garlic, minced1 cup sour cream2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour1 teaspoon seasoned salt ½ teaspoon pepper1 cup milk½ cup chicken broth¼ teaspoon marjoram¼ teaspoon basil¼ teaspoon oregano2 Tablespoons dry sherry 1 recipe herbed biscuits (see recipe below)
Makes 6 Servings
In a skillet, cook chicken in hot oil over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes until no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to skillet. Cook, uncovered, for 4 to 5 minutes until liquid is evaporated. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, flour, seasoned salt and pepper. Add sour cream mixture, milk and broth to mushroom mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add marjoram, basil and oregano and lemon juice and cook for an additional minute. Add chicken and sherry and heat throughly. Serve over prepared warm herbed biscuits (see below)
Herbed Biscuits
1 3/4 cups packaged dry biscuit mix3 green onions, thinly sliced¼ teaspoon oregano¼ teaspoon marjoram¼ teaspoon basil½ cup milk
Stir together all ingredients just until dough clings together. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 10 to 12 strokes. Roll to a 1/2 inch thickness.Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter (or one of your choice), cut dough into 12 biscuits. Re-roll and incorporate the trimmings. Arrange biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees in oven for about 12 minutes or until golden.
For more info: A & P Meats 2401 Queen Anne Avenue North Seattle WA 98109 206-284-3885 .
Courtesy: Ana Kinkaid
Seattle American Food Examiner
Add a Comment
February 12, 11:28 AM
by Ana Kinkaid, Seattle American Food Examiner
« Previous
Next »
Many of our presidents were lovers of fine food. Jefferson, for example, spent more than his entire annual salary as president on his love of fine wines.
Lincoln did not follow in his footsteps. But to say that our 16th president did not have his favorite dishes would be unfair. Lincoln’s tastes, like many of us, were grounded in his background.
Unlike Jefferson, who dined among the landed gentry of aristocratic Virginia, Lincoln’s tastes came from his childhood home in rural Kentucky and later the heartland of the Midwest including Illinois.
When we add this factor to the knowledge that Lincoln was a self-made man with little time for the gourmet dining clubs of his era, we can begin to understand why Lincoln ate as he did.
Lincoln rarely ate breakfast, usually getting right to the tasks of his day. This was not an unusual pattern for the men of the 1800’s. The Hollywood image of huge breakfasts really only occurred on large working farms where the men performed heavy labor and needed massive amounts of calories to make it through the long day.
As for lunch, Lincoln often dined on a tray in his office so that he could continue his work as a lawyer or later as president. Often his wife, Mary Todd, would bring his lunch tray to him.
He especially enjoyed fresh fruit, crackers and country cheese. Not a drinker, a glass of cool water or cup of tea completed his noonday meal.
But at dinner, he had his favorites. Mary Todd always quizzed any new chef she was considering hiring about their ability to prepare her husband’s favorite dishes.
Here’s the first of several of Lincoln favorites. Try sharing this Lincoln chicken favorite with your family and friends as we prepare to celebrate Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 16th this year.
(Oh, where to get the best chicken?...in Seattle, try A & J Meats in the Queen Anne Neighborhood for some of the freshest poultry in the area. They've been one of Seattle's best butchers for over 50 years!)
Lincoln’s Favorite Chicken Fricassee with Biscuits 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces1 Tablespoon cooking oil4 ½ cups fresh mushrooms, sliced2 small onions, chopped2 cloves garlic, minced1 cup sour cream2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour1 teaspoon seasoned salt ½ teaspoon pepper1 cup milk½ cup chicken broth¼ teaspoon marjoram¼ teaspoon basil¼ teaspoon oregano2 Tablespoons dry sherry 1 recipe herbed biscuits (see recipe below)
Makes 6 Servings
In a skillet, cook chicken in hot oil over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes until no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to skillet. Cook, uncovered, for 4 to 5 minutes until liquid is evaporated. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, flour, seasoned salt and pepper. Add sour cream mixture, milk and broth to mushroom mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add marjoram, basil and oregano and lemon juice and cook for an additional minute. Add chicken and sherry and heat throughly. Serve over prepared warm herbed biscuits (see below)
Herbed Biscuits
1 3/4 cups packaged dry biscuit mix3 green onions, thinly sliced¼ teaspoon oregano¼ teaspoon marjoram¼ teaspoon basil½ cup milk
Stir together all ingredients just until dough clings together. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 10 to 12 strokes. Roll to a 1/2 inch thickness.Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter (or one of your choice), cut dough into 12 biscuits. Re-roll and incorporate the trimmings. Arrange biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees in oven for about 12 minutes or until golden.
For more info: A & P Meats 2401 Queen Anne Avenue North Seattle WA 98109 206-284-3885 .
Courtesy: Ana Kinkaid
Seattle American Food Examiner
Saturday, February 14, 2009
OLIVE GARDENS
Red Lobster, Olive Garden Locations Intensely Searched Val's Eve
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The locations and the menus of well known restaurant chains such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Texas Roadhouse and Applebees menu are on high search on this Valentine's Day evening as families and couples are heading out to continue the celebration of the Valentine's Day with a romantic dinner.
This is not a surprise, but a naturally expected thing. Families and couples have a good afternoon and what are they going to do in the evening, go out to eat in a nice restaurant such as Olive Garden or Red Lobster. So what they do? First they search the restaurant locations to find where is the nearby restaurant. Then they look to see if the menu may be on the website to see what they would like to order.
Currently, at about 8:10 PM EST, Olive Garden tops the list of Google's Trend search, a service where the major search engine shows the top 100 trends that the people are searching across the United States. This could tell those who are heading out for dinner that Olive Garden is going to be very busy tonight and ong lines are expected. It may be a good idea to call the local Olive Garden (the location and the telephone number can be found by making a quick online search or just going to the main website of the restaurant) to find out the expect waiting time if there is one in your town or nearby location.
Next on the list is the Longhorn Steakhouse. Apparently it's the second favorite destination of Americans this evening.
Texas Roadhouse is the third in the Trends list. People are looking for the menu and the prices of this restaurant. We attempted to visit the website of the Texas Roadhouse, but currently it's not opening. We may assume that due to the high visitor volume the website of the popular restaurant is slowing down in operation.
Applebees Menu and the Red Lobster are the fifth and sixth in the search popularity. We couldn't even access the Applebees website due to a "server error" message on the website.
Back to Olive Garden. The website is trying and opening finally. But it's slow. Longhorn Steakhouse website is very slow too.
A lesson for the popular restaurant chains? Hey guys, get better servers and fix your websites when the demand is high. Enable yourself to be able to handle high visitor volume when your site's traffic is spiking. This is a good thought for the consideration for the restaurant management.
P.S. Longhorn Steakhouse finally the website is opening.
Today's
Courtesy: admin huliq
window.google_render_ad();
The locations and the menus of well known restaurant chains such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Texas Roadhouse and Applebees menu are on high search on this Valentine's Day evening as families and couples are heading out to continue the celebration of the Valentine's Day with a romantic dinner.
This is not a surprise, but a naturally expected thing. Families and couples have a good afternoon and what are they going to do in the evening, go out to eat in a nice restaurant such as Olive Garden or Red Lobster. So what they do? First they search the restaurant locations to find where is the nearby restaurant. Then they look to see if the menu may be on the website to see what they would like to order.
Currently, at about 8:10 PM EST, Olive Garden tops the list of Google's Trend search, a service where the major search engine shows the top 100 trends that the people are searching across the United States. This could tell those who are heading out for dinner that Olive Garden is going to be very busy tonight and ong lines are expected. It may be a good idea to call the local Olive Garden (the location and the telephone number can be found by making a quick online search or just going to the main website of the restaurant) to find out the expect waiting time if there is one in your town or nearby location.
Next on the list is the Longhorn Steakhouse. Apparently it's the second favorite destination of Americans this evening.
Texas Roadhouse is the third in the Trends list. People are looking for the menu and the prices of this restaurant. We attempted to visit the website of the Texas Roadhouse, but currently it's not opening. We may assume that due to the high visitor volume the website of the popular restaurant is slowing down in operation.
Applebees Menu and the Red Lobster are the fifth and sixth in the search popularity. We couldn't even access the Applebees website due to a "server error" message on the website.
Back to Olive Garden. The website is trying and opening finally. But it's slow. Longhorn Steakhouse website is very slow too.
A lesson for the popular restaurant chains? Hey guys, get better servers and fix your websites when the demand is high. Enable yourself to be able to handle high visitor volume when your site's traffic is spiking. This is a good thought for the consideration for the restaurant management.
P.S. Longhorn Steakhouse finally the website is opening.
Today's
Courtesy: admin huliq
Friday, February 13, 2009
alison des forges
RIP Alison Des Forges By: Jeff Chu1 hour, 44 minutes ago
The Human Rights Watch activist, who died in the Buffalo plane crash, was controversial, but she cared: About Rwanda, about rights, about life.
Last fall, I called Alison Des Forges of Human Rights Watch--who died Thursday night in the crash of a Continental Airlines plane near Buffalo--to ask for her help with my forthcoming story on Rwanda. She didn't respond as most potential sources do. She didn't say, “Sure!” She didn't say, "How can I help?" She didn't pencil me in. She gave me a reading list, and she said, "Then we would have something to really talk about."In subsequent weeks, we traded emails, a correspondence that revealed to me a woman with passion--for human rights, for doing what she saw as good wherever she could, for her family. She felt all this deeply. Her ardent belief that civil rights are not being respected in today's Rwanda made her a pest to that country's government. Her commitment to not waste any time meant that I'd get emails telling me that she might be able to squeeze in a brief chat in between research for a UN Security Council briefing, a meeting with ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Security Council briefing itself. Her commitment to her grandchildren meant that I couldn't interview her the week I wanted to--all those days, she told me, would be totally blocked off for her family. Five years after the genocide, Des Forges published an 800-page, painstakingly researched account of the tragedy called Leave None to Tell the Story. Some have said her recounting was "authoritative;" it certainly was exhaustive and in many ways exhausting. Many people dispute some of her interpretations of events, past and current—I certainly didn’t agree with everything she told me. But those who know Rwanda would acknowledge that her contributions were enormous. Another friend and source who's as passionate about Rwanda as she was—but also passionate in his disagreement with much of what she has said in recent years in very strong criticism of Paul Kagame's government—told me: "She did more to document and teach the true nature of that genocide than anyone else."Certainly she helped me to ask good questions. In our brief interactions, she acted less like a source than a professor: She questioned my questions and forced me to consider underlying assumptions and conclusions that I hadn't even realized I'd made. She, of course, had made a lot of assumptions and conclusions, too--and she defended them fiercely.Des Forges was forthright about her opinions, never hesitated to share them, and felt free to take on those who differed with her. But I can't--nobody can--question that she sought justice and the truth, which, in the murkiness of geopolitics and the tragedy of events like 1994's genocide, are often awfully hard to find. I think the title of her book is especially telling. Why did Alison Des Forges do what she did with her days? So many people don’t have the freedom to watch and to record, to speak out and to call out. But she did—and she used it. She told that story, as honestly and powerfully as she knew how.
Tags: Innovation, Social Responsibility, Alison Des Forges, government, social enterprise, Human Rights, rwanda
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Special Editions?
The Human Rights Watch activist, who died in the Buffalo plane crash, was controversial, but she cared: About Rwanda, about rights, about life.
Last fall, I called Alison Des Forges of Human Rights Watch--who died Thursday night in the crash of a Continental Airlines plane near Buffalo--to ask for her help with my forthcoming story on Rwanda. She didn't respond as most potential sources do. She didn't say, “Sure!” She didn't say, "How can I help?" She didn't pencil me in. She gave me a reading list, and she said, "Then we would have something to really talk about."In subsequent weeks, we traded emails, a correspondence that revealed to me a woman with passion--for human rights, for doing what she saw as good wherever she could, for her family. She felt all this deeply. Her ardent belief that civil rights are not being respected in today's Rwanda made her a pest to that country's government. Her commitment to not waste any time meant that I'd get emails telling me that she might be able to squeeze in a brief chat in between research for a UN Security Council briefing, a meeting with ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Security Council briefing itself. Her commitment to her grandchildren meant that I couldn't interview her the week I wanted to--all those days, she told me, would be totally blocked off for her family. Five years after the genocide, Des Forges published an 800-page, painstakingly researched account of the tragedy called Leave None to Tell the Story. Some have said her recounting was "authoritative;" it certainly was exhaustive and in many ways exhausting. Many people dispute some of her interpretations of events, past and current—I certainly didn’t agree with everything she told me. But those who know Rwanda would acknowledge that her contributions were enormous. Another friend and source who's as passionate about Rwanda as she was—but also passionate in his disagreement with much of what she has said in recent years in very strong criticism of Paul Kagame's government—told me: "She did more to document and teach the true nature of that genocide than anyone else."Certainly she helped me to ask good questions. In our brief interactions, she acted less like a source than a professor: She questioned my questions and forced me to consider underlying assumptions and conclusions that I hadn't even realized I'd made. She, of course, had made a lot of assumptions and conclusions, too--and she defended them fiercely.Des Forges was forthright about her opinions, never hesitated to share them, and felt free to take on those who differed with her. But I can't--nobody can--question that she sought justice and the truth, which, in the murkiness of geopolitics and the tragedy of events like 1994's genocide, are often awfully hard to find. I think the title of her book is especially telling. Why did Alison Des Forges do what she did with her days? So many people don’t have the freedom to watch and to record, to speak out and to call out. But she did—and she used it. She told that story, as honestly and powerfully as she knew how.
Tags: Innovation, Social Responsibility, Alison Des Forges, government, social enterprise, Human Rights, rwanda
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JIM LEYRITZ
Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz jailed
1 hour ago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz was arrested and jailed Friday after a judge revoked his bond for violating his pretrial release on a DUI manslaughter charge, authorities said.
Prosecutors filed a motion earlier in the week in Fort Lauderdale seeking to have Leyritz jailed as he awaits trial.
Authorities say a system in Leyritz's car that he has to blow in before starting it, and periodically while driving, recorded that he consumed alcohol four times since the device was installed in April 2008. He is not allowed to drink alcohol under the terms of his release.
Leyritz's trial is tentatively set for May 25. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
His attorney, J. David Bogenschutz, said Friday his client's arrest stems from a misunderstanding. He filed a motion Friday afternoon seeking to have Leyritz released pending an emergency hearing.
Bogenschutz said that as part of Leyritz's pretrial release, he initially had to submit to multiple daily alcohol tests on a home device. That order was changed in April 2008, allowing Leyritz to drive but only if the breath device was installed in his vehicle.
At that point, according to Bogenschutz, officers charged with monitoring Leyritz told him they would no longer be supervising him.
"So he believed at that point, because he now had a machine in his car, it was OK to drink, but that he's just not going to be able to drink and drive because the car is going to turn off," Bogenschutz said.
Bogenschutz said Leyritz has used the vehicle breath device some 4,000 times with only four registered alcohol incidents. He said that since the latest incident in January, authorities have made it clear to Leyritz that he is still not allowed to consume any alcohol — and Leyritz hasn't.
"He really shouldn't be held responsible," Bogenschutz said. "It's a little disturbing."
Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for prosecutors, acknowledged that officers in charge of supervising Leyritz assumed his monitoring had concluded in April when the device was installed in his vehicle.
"That assumption was incorrect," Ishoy said Friday. "It is the state's position that Mr. Leyritz was to remain on pretrial release and not consume alcohol."
Authorities said Leyritz was drunk on Dec. 28, 2007, when he ran a red light in his sport utility vehicle in Fort Lauderdale and crashed into another car, killing 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch.
Authorities said toxicology reports indicated that Leyritz's blood-alcohol level three hours after the crash was 0.14 percent. The reports also indicated that Veitch, too, was drunk, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.18. Florida's legal limit is 0.08.
The 45-year-old played for six major league teams and last was in the majors in 2000, ending his 11-year career. In 1996, he homered for the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series against Atlanta. The homer made it 6-6, and the Yankees won in 10 innings. New York took the series in six games for its first title in 18 years.
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1 hour ago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz was arrested and jailed Friday after a judge revoked his bond for violating his pretrial release on a DUI manslaughter charge, authorities said.
Prosecutors filed a motion earlier in the week in Fort Lauderdale seeking to have Leyritz jailed as he awaits trial.
Authorities say a system in Leyritz's car that he has to blow in before starting it, and periodically while driving, recorded that he consumed alcohol four times since the device was installed in April 2008. He is not allowed to drink alcohol under the terms of his release.
Leyritz's trial is tentatively set for May 25. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
His attorney, J. David Bogenschutz, said Friday his client's arrest stems from a misunderstanding. He filed a motion Friday afternoon seeking to have Leyritz released pending an emergency hearing.
Bogenschutz said that as part of Leyritz's pretrial release, he initially had to submit to multiple daily alcohol tests on a home device. That order was changed in April 2008, allowing Leyritz to drive but only if the breath device was installed in his vehicle.
At that point, according to Bogenschutz, officers charged with monitoring Leyritz told him they would no longer be supervising him.
"So he believed at that point, because he now had a machine in his car, it was OK to drink, but that he's just not going to be able to drink and drive because the car is going to turn off," Bogenschutz said.
Bogenschutz said Leyritz has used the vehicle breath device some 4,000 times with only four registered alcohol incidents. He said that since the latest incident in January, authorities have made it clear to Leyritz that he is still not allowed to consume any alcohol — and Leyritz hasn't.
"He really shouldn't be held responsible," Bogenschutz said. "It's a little disturbing."
Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for prosecutors, acknowledged that officers in charge of supervising Leyritz assumed his monitoring had concluded in April when the device was installed in his vehicle.
"That assumption was incorrect," Ishoy said Friday. "It is the state's position that Mr. Leyritz was to remain on pretrial release and not consume alcohol."
Authorities said Leyritz was drunk on Dec. 28, 2007, when he ran a red light in his sport utility vehicle in Fort Lauderdale and crashed into another car, killing 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch.
Authorities said toxicology reports indicated that Leyritz's blood-alcohol level three hours after the crash was 0.14 percent. The reports also indicated that Veitch, too, was drunk, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.18. Florida's legal limit is 0.08.
The 45-year-old played for six major league teams and last was in the majors in 2000, ending his 11-year career. In 1996, he homered for the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series against Atlanta. The homer made it 6-6, and the Yankees won in 10 innings. New York took the series in six games for its first title in 18 years.
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GERRY NIEWOOD
Chuck Mangione's Bandmates Die in Fatal Crash
Posted Feb 13th 2009 1:10PM by TMZ Staff
Two members of Chuck Mangione's band were among those who died in the plane crash in Buffalo last night.A publicist for the famous jazz musician identified the band members as Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett. Through a rep, Mangione said, "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy."The band was supposed to play a show in Buffalo tonight. That show has been canceled.
Filed under: Music, R.I.P.
Tags: Buffalo plane crash, BuffaloPlaneCrash, Chuck Mangione, ChuckMangione, Coleman Mellett, ColemanMellett, Gerry Niewood, GerryNiewood
Posted Feb 13th 2009 1:10PM by TMZ Staff
Two members of Chuck Mangione's band were among those who died in the plane crash in Buffalo last night.A publicist for the famous jazz musician identified the band members as Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett. Through a rep, Mangione said, "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy."The band was supposed to play a show in Buffalo tonight. That show has been canceled.
Filed under: Music, R.I.P.
Tags: Buffalo plane crash, BuffaloPlaneCrash, Chuck Mangione, ChuckMangione, Coleman Mellett, ColemanMellett, Gerry Niewood, GerryNiewood
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
STUMP WINS WESTMINSTER'S SPORTING GROUP
ussex spaniel "Stump" wins Westminster's sporting group
7:34 PM, February 10, 2009
Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, a Sussex spaniel who goes by the nickname Stump, won Westminster's sporting group.
Stump, owned by Cecilia Ruggles, Beth Dowd and Scott Sommer, is a veteran of the Garden: he won the sporting group title there in 2004, after which he went into retirement. He's 10 years old -- much older than the majority of Westminster competitors. He's the only Sussex spaniel to ever win his group at Westminster.
Following Stump on the winners list were a golden retriever named Ch. Toasty's Treasure Island, an English setter named Ch. Chebaco Blames It On Trabeiz, and a labrador retriever named Ch. Beechcroft Study's Top Secret, in that order.
One well-known sporting dog was notably absent from tonight's group competition. Holly, the pointer who won the prestigious AKC/Eukanuba National Championship show in December and is ranked the No. 2 show dog in the country, was ineligible for competition because she's owned by a Westminster Kennel Club member.
-- Lindsay Barnett
Photo: Stump in action during sporting group competition. Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press
Posted by LATimes on February 10, 2009 in Dogs Permalink Bookmark it:
7:34 PM, February 10, 2009
Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, a Sussex spaniel who goes by the nickname Stump, won Westminster's sporting group.
Stump, owned by Cecilia Ruggles, Beth Dowd and Scott Sommer, is a veteran of the Garden: he won the sporting group title there in 2004, after which he went into retirement. He's 10 years old -- much older than the majority of Westminster competitors. He's the only Sussex spaniel to ever win his group at Westminster.
Following Stump on the winners list were a golden retriever named Ch. Toasty's Treasure Island, an English setter named Ch. Chebaco Blames It On Trabeiz, and a labrador retriever named Ch. Beechcroft Study's Top Secret, in that order.
One well-known sporting dog was notably absent from tonight's group competition. Holly, the pointer who won the prestigious AKC/Eukanuba National Championship show in December and is ranked the No. 2 show dog in the country, was ineligible for competition because she's owned by a Westminster Kennel Club member.
-- Lindsay Barnett
Photo: Stump in action during sporting group competition. Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press
Posted by LATimes on February 10, 2009 in Dogs Permalink Bookmark it:
Monday, February 9, 2009
MANHATAN MADAM
New eBooks at BooksOnBoard, Including The Manhattan Madam
WEBWIRE – Monday, February 09, 2009
Contact Information
Nathan Johnson
Director of Operations
BooksOnBoard
512.828.6444
info@booksonboard.com
This week, BooksOnBoard (www.booksonboard.com) offers a slew of highly-anticipated new eBooks and Audio Books. The Manhattan Madam: Sex, Drugs, Scandal and Greed Inside America’s Most Successful Prostitution Ring by Kristin Davis, The Manhattan Madam, has been featured on 20/20, The Huffington Post, NBC News, and more. The eBook is available here: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=viewbook&BOOK=388011 “The Manhattan Madam’s story has made a lot of Americans justifiably angry,” says BooksOnBoard Director of Operations Nathan Johnson. “She discusses how – as the economy sunk into a recession and taxpayer money was being used to bail out large firms – big Wall Street executives were using their corporate accounts to pay for prostitutes.” Several other eBooks from popular authors will be made available this week. Mistress Shakespeare, a historical fiction novel based on the life of Shakespeare’s great love, is now available as an eBook from bestselling author Karen Harper. Also available from Karen Harper is The Queene’s Cure. Revelation is the latest in the bestselling Shardlake mystery series from C. J. Sansom. The Last Night by Candice Proctor is a historical romance now available as an eBook. “As more publishers hop on the eBook bandwagon, they are publishing older titles from popular authors,” says BooksOnBoard CEO Bob LiVolsi. “This is a step forward for the eBook publishing industry.” Upcoming eBook releases include Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse and The Teeth of the Tiger, The Silent Man by Alex Berenson, Man at Work by Elaine Fox, and Matter by Iain M. Banks. BooksOnBoard (www.booksonboard.com) is an online retailer of eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Sony PRS-505 eBook Readers, Sony PRS-700 eBook Readers, and Cybook eBook Readers. Known for strong customer support, free online tutorials, and aggressive prices, BooksOnBoard has the largest eBook catalog online with over 200,000 titles. BooksOnBoard is also one of the few eCommerce websites to offer an RSS feed. For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to the RSS feed: http://www.booksonboard.com/rss/bob_rss.xml
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For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to our RSS feed.
The Manhattan Madam eBook
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ebook
audio books
audio book
The Manhattan Madam
WEBWIRE – Monday, February 09, 2009
Contact Information
Nathan Johnson
Director of Operations
BooksOnBoard
512.828.6444
info@booksonboard.com
This week, BooksOnBoard (www.booksonboard.com) offers a slew of highly-anticipated new eBooks and Audio Books. The Manhattan Madam: Sex, Drugs, Scandal and Greed Inside America’s Most Successful Prostitution Ring by Kristin Davis, The Manhattan Madam, has been featured on 20/20, The Huffington Post, NBC News, and more. The eBook is available here: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=viewbook&BOOK=388011 “The Manhattan Madam’s story has made a lot of Americans justifiably angry,” says BooksOnBoard Director of Operations Nathan Johnson. “She discusses how – as the economy sunk into a recession and taxpayer money was being used to bail out large firms – big Wall Street executives were using their corporate accounts to pay for prostitutes.” Several other eBooks from popular authors will be made available this week. Mistress Shakespeare, a historical fiction novel based on the life of Shakespeare’s great love, is now available as an eBook from bestselling author Karen Harper. Also available from Karen Harper is The Queene’s Cure. Revelation is the latest in the bestselling Shardlake mystery series from C. J. Sansom. The Last Night by Candice Proctor is a historical romance now available as an eBook. “As more publishers hop on the eBook bandwagon, they are publishing older titles from popular authors,” says BooksOnBoard CEO Bob LiVolsi. “This is a step forward for the eBook publishing industry.” Upcoming eBook releases include Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse and The Teeth of the Tiger, The Silent Man by Alex Berenson, Man at Work by Elaine Fox, and Matter by Iain M. Banks. BooksOnBoard (www.booksonboard.com) is an online retailer of eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, Sony PRS-505 eBook Readers, Sony PRS-700 eBook Readers, and Cybook eBook Readers. Known for strong customer support, free online tutorials, and aggressive prices, BooksOnBoard has the largest eBook catalog online with over 200,000 titles. BooksOnBoard is also one of the few eCommerce websites to offer an RSS feed. For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to the RSS feed: http://www.booksonboard.com/rss/bob_rss.xml
Related Links
The premier online shop for eBooks and Audio Books
For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to our RSS feed.
The Manhattan Madam eBook
ebooks
ebook
audio books
audio book
The Manhattan Madam
Friday, February 6, 2009
February 6, 2009, 2:30 pm
Senate Passes ‘Mob Museum’ Prohibition in Stimulus
Patrick Yoest reports on the stimulus debate.
The Senate passed an amendment Friday aimed at barring the use of stimulus spending on wasteful projects — and specifically, to stop the use of federal funds for a museum devoted to the history of organized crime.
The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) prohibits the use of funds from the roughly $935 billion Senate stimulus bill for a range of projects. But it was inspired by the remarks of Las Vegas, Nev., Mayor Oscar Goodman, who in a speech proposed the use of federal stimulus funds for $50 million “mob museum.”
The amendment passed by a 73-24 vote.
The planned Las Vegas museum has become a punching bag for Senate Republicans, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) who have sought to make it a symbol of wasteful spending in the stimulus plan. The current stimulus bill does not specifically allocate funds for the museum, and the Coburn amendment would keep the federal government from steering any funds toward the museum and a number of other potential projects.
Coburn’s amendment specifically prohibits the use of stimulus funds for items including a “casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.”
Goodman may get the last laugh, however. He and other museum proponents recently told the Las Vegas Sun that the recent controversy surrounded the museum have probably resulted $7 million in free publicity.
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/02/06/senate-passes-mob-museum-prohibition-n-stimulus/trackback/
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Wow, now the stimulus money can’t go to creating jobs by building/renovating zoos, aquariums, theaters, or art centers. Fantastic
Comment by bchampion - February 6, 2009 at 3:38 pm
If those projects are worthwhile (for creating temporary construction jobs or whatever), then they should be funded locally. How is transferring money from the federal government to the local governments going to stimulate the overall econ
Senate Passes ‘Mob Museum’ Prohibition in Stimulus
Patrick Yoest reports on the stimulus debate.
The Senate passed an amendment Friday aimed at barring the use of stimulus spending on wasteful projects — and specifically, to stop the use of federal funds for a museum devoted to the history of organized crime.
The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) prohibits the use of funds from the roughly $935 billion Senate stimulus bill for a range of projects. But it was inspired by the remarks of Las Vegas, Nev., Mayor Oscar Goodman, who in a speech proposed the use of federal stimulus funds for $50 million “mob museum.”
The amendment passed by a 73-24 vote.
The planned Las Vegas museum has become a punching bag for Senate Republicans, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) who have sought to make it a symbol of wasteful spending in the stimulus plan. The current stimulus bill does not specifically allocate funds for the museum, and the Coburn amendment would keep the federal government from steering any funds toward the museum and a number of other potential projects.
Coburn’s amendment specifically prohibits the use of stimulus funds for items including a “casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.”
Goodman may get the last laugh, however. He and other museum proponents recently told the Las Vegas Sun that the recent controversy surrounded the museum have probably resulted $7 million in free publicity.
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Wow, now the stimulus money can’t go to creating jobs by building/renovating zoos, aquariums, theaters, or art centers. Fantastic
Comment by bchampion - February 6, 2009 at 3:38 pm
If those projects are worthwhile (for creating temporary construction jobs or whatever), then they should be funded locally. How is transferring money from the federal government to the local governments going to stimulate the overall econ
Equity 11
Bronco, FNX, Teck, Magellan, RIM, TD Bank: Canada Equity Movers
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By John Kipphoff and Cordell Eddings
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies are having unusual moves in Canadian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and prices are as of 11:59 a.m. in Toronto.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.9 percent to 9,025.45. A close at this level would be highest in four weeks.
Miners of industrial metals advanced after copper prices jumped as much as 6.5 percent on speculation that government spending in China will boost growth and revive demand. Inmet Mining Corp. (IMN CN) rose 13 percent to C$26.57. Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK/B CN) jumped 14 percent to C$5.72. Quadra Mining Ltd. (QUA CN) climbed 12 percent to C$3.89. Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN CN) gained 9.5 percent to 92 Canadian cents. Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN CN) added 6.7 percent to C$1.90.
Bronco Energy Ltd. (BCF CN) plunged 27 percent to 66 cents, the lowest intraday since its initial public offering in November 2005. The company exploring for oil and natural gas in Alberta was downgraded to “sell†from “hold†by Genuity Capital Markets analyst Philip Skolnick in Toronto.
FNX Mining Co. (FNX CN) rose 10 percent to C$4.52 and earlier advanced to C$4.63, the highest intraday price in a month. The miner that sells nickel and copper ore to Cia. Vale do Rio Doce said it canceled a $100 million line of credit because the borrowing cost has risen too much and it has enough cash to finance operations.
Kinross Gold Corp. (K CN) added 1.9 percent to C$22.67 and earlier climbed to C$23, the highest price intraday since Jan. 26. Canada’s third-largest gold producer was raised to “buy†from “neutral†by UBS AG analyst Brian MacArthur after the brokerage raised its 2009 and 2010 price estimate for the metal this week.
Magellan Aerospace Corp. (MAL CN) slumped 25 percent to 62 cents and earlier lost 33 percent, the most intraday in 16 years. The maker of aircraft parts was downgraded to “sell†from “buy†by Dundee Securities analyst Richard Stoneman in Toronto.
Magellan said this week that it is in “serious financial difficulty†and that it received additional financing from its biggest shareholder, Canadian oil billionaire Murray Edwards. Stoneman cut his share-price target 81 percent to 50 cents, according to Bloomberg data.
North American Energy Partners Inc. (NOA CN) climbed 14 percent to C$3.48, the highest intraday price since Jan. 20. The provider of services to oilsands producers reported fiscal third-quarter profit of 59 cents a share, or 69 percent more than the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM CN) climbed 5.4 percent to C$73.74 and reached $74.50 earlier, the highest intraday price since Oct. 14. UBS AG analysts led by Jeffrey Fan said their analysis found improving sales at the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone. UBS raised its share-price estimate 36 percent to $57 (C$72.01) and kept its “neutral†rating on the stock unchanged, citing concern that the weakening economy may hurt demand for mobile phones.
RIM also had its share estimate increased to $67 by Bank of America Corp. analysts led by Vivek Arya in New York, who said new handsets will help the company gain market share from competitors. Bank of America reiterated its “buy†recommendation.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD CN) gained the most intraday since Jan. 28, rising 2.6 percent to C$40.17. Canada’s second- largest bank by assets increased its stake in TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD US) to 45 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net; Cordell Eddings in New York at ceddings@bloomberg.net.
Email Print A A A
By John Kipphoff and Cordell Eddings
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies are having unusual moves in Canadian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and prices are as of 11:59 a.m. in Toronto.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.9 percent to 9,025.45. A close at this level would be highest in four weeks.
Miners of industrial metals advanced after copper prices jumped as much as 6.5 percent on speculation that government spending in China will boost growth and revive demand. Inmet Mining Corp. (IMN CN) rose 13 percent to C$26.57. Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK/B CN) jumped 14 percent to C$5.72. Quadra Mining Ltd. (QUA CN) climbed 12 percent to C$3.89. Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN CN) gained 9.5 percent to 92 Canadian cents. Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN CN) added 6.7 percent to C$1.90.
Bronco Energy Ltd. (BCF CN) plunged 27 percent to 66 cents, the lowest intraday since its initial public offering in November 2005. The company exploring for oil and natural gas in Alberta was downgraded to “sell†from “hold†by Genuity Capital Markets analyst Philip Skolnick in Toronto.
FNX Mining Co. (FNX CN) rose 10 percent to C$4.52 and earlier advanced to C$4.63, the highest intraday price in a month. The miner that sells nickel and copper ore to Cia. Vale do Rio Doce said it canceled a $100 million line of credit because the borrowing cost has risen too much and it has enough cash to finance operations.
Kinross Gold Corp. (K CN) added 1.9 percent to C$22.67 and earlier climbed to C$23, the highest price intraday since Jan. 26. Canada’s third-largest gold producer was raised to “buy†from “neutral†by UBS AG analyst Brian MacArthur after the brokerage raised its 2009 and 2010 price estimate for the metal this week.
Magellan Aerospace Corp. (MAL CN) slumped 25 percent to 62 cents and earlier lost 33 percent, the most intraday in 16 years. The maker of aircraft parts was downgraded to “sell†from “buy†by Dundee Securities analyst Richard Stoneman in Toronto.
Magellan said this week that it is in “serious financial difficulty†and that it received additional financing from its biggest shareholder, Canadian oil billionaire Murray Edwards. Stoneman cut his share-price target 81 percent to 50 cents, according to Bloomberg data.
North American Energy Partners Inc. (NOA CN) climbed 14 percent to C$3.48, the highest intraday price since Jan. 20. The provider of services to oilsands producers reported fiscal third-quarter profit of 59 cents a share, or 69 percent more than the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM CN) climbed 5.4 percent to C$73.74 and reached $74.50 earlier, the highest intraday price since Oct. 14. UBS AG analysts led by Jeffrey Fan said their analysis found improving sales at the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone. UBS raised its share-price estimate 36 percent to $57 (C$72.01) and kept its “neutral†rating on the stock unchanged, citing concern that the weakening economy may hurt demand for mobile phones.
RIM also had its share estimate increased to $67 by Bank of America Corp. analysts led by Vivek Arya in New York, who said new handsets will help the company gain market share from competitors. Bank of America reiterated its “buy†recommendation.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD CN) gained the most intraday since Jan. 28, rising 2.6 percent to C$40.17. Canada’s second- largest bank by assets increased its stake in TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD US) to 45 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net; Cordell Eddings in New York at ceddings@bloomberg.net.
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