Pretty Good Summary of Bush Record

You may be able to argue about some of these things, but for the most part I think they are pretty much right on. What is really sad is about 30% of Americans really seem to support these 'policies'.

1. Tax cuts leading to massive, unprecedented deficits
2. Preemptive wars against non-aggressive nations
3. Sanctioning of torture
4. De-regulation of environment protections
5. Weakening of the separation of church and state
6. Exempting the gun industry from lawsuits
7. Weakening of individual privacy protections
8. Rejection of international organizations - U.N., World Court, etc.
9. Increased hatred of the U.S.A. in Islamic countries
10. Increase in terrorist attacks since 9/11
11. Neglect of poverty in the U.S.A. and abroad
12. Shifting the tax burden from wealthy corporations and individuals to wage earners
13. Reducing (hoping to abolish) estate taxes thus creating "a permanent aristocracy" in America
14. Furthering anti-intellectualism - a president who admittedly does not read and is embarrassingly inarticulate
15. Increased military spending; hostility to spending for social services
16. Increased number of Americans without health care
17. Rejection of minimum wage increases - five consecutive years
18. Applying the principle of awarding lucrative contracts to crony companies without competitive bidding
19. Attempts to privatize Social Security
20. Four consecutive years of increases in the percentage of Americans living in poverty

I really think GW Bush will go down as one of the worst world leaders ever.

Shovel Snow Much? Then Get a Wovel

(picture from wovel website, I'll add one of me soon)
I got my new wovel two days ago and have used it twice so far. This is one of the best investments in tools that I have ever made and using it is actually fun. It is built such that I can't imagine it not lasting at least the rest of my life. Sort of like that 'computer learning guy' on tv says, "if you are interested in easier shoveling.....buy a wovel".

Upstate NY Blogs

I've added links below to a bunch of them including Adirondack Almanack, Musings of a (fairly) Young Contrarian, NYCO's Blog, York Staters, The 10,000 Things and 20TrueBlue (an anti-Sweeney site, good for you folks). Also, a link to Kirsten Gillibrand For Congress site.

Now, will someone please tell me how to get all that info back on top of my blog! PLEASE!

Kirsten Gillibrand For Congress

Thank god someone is running against Sweeney to represent the 20th Congressional District of NY. I don't know much about Ms. Gillibrand but I'd vote for almost anyone, even another republican over Sweeney. Sweeney votes with Tom Delay 92% of the time. That is definitely not representative of my congressional district. That means Sweeney doesn't give a damn about alot of us. He can't even give back have Abramhoff money to a local charity. I'm planning on learning more about Gillibrand and eventually will probably have to put some money where my mouth is.

More on Sago Mine

JACK SPADARO, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL MINE ACADEMY: We know from the record that the mine, in particular in the past year, has been cited over 180 times for violations of federal mine health and safety law and regulations. And about 90 of those violations were called serious and substantial violations of the law. So we know that it was a very unsafe mine and that there were serious problems with mine ventilation and roof control.

COLMES: Are you saying that these men should not have been allowed to go down there?

SPADARO: Yes, sir.

COLMES: You're saying this mine should not have been open?

SPADARO: This mine should have been closed. And there were too many serious violations. And the record is very clear.

COLMES: Why was it open then? If you, as a safety expert, feels it should not have been, why was it open?

SPADARO: I think it's because of the current Bush administration's policies toward mine operators and their reluctance to take the strong enforcement action that's sometimes necessary. And that often involves closing a mine.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Jack, let's not politicize this! I mean, already, what do you want, to blame George Bush with this? Is that where you're headed with this political question? I don't think this is the time to go into that.

There certainly are issues. This mine was cited for over 200 violations, 46 during an 11-week period late in the year. They've been fined thousands of dollars. But I can't see an instance where it was recommended that they close it.

SPADARO: Well, actually, there were three orders to close portions of the mine that were issued in the October to the December period. And there has been a significant change since the Bush administration took over, the enforcement of mine safety and health.

And I can speak to that, because I worked in the agency, and I talk with people every day who tell me that, in recent years, and particularly in recent months, there's been a reluctance on the part of the top management at the Mine Safety and Health Administration...

HANNITY: All right, you've got a political...

SPADARO: ... to enforce the law.

HANNITY: We don't have time tonight to get into this, nor do I think it's appropriate. But you clearly have a political agenda that, if I had enough time, I'm sure I...

SPADARO: No. You called me and asked me to make a comment.

HANNITY: I know, but I'm sure...

SPADARO: And I'm telling you what's...

HANNITY: You want to turn this into a political thing...

SPADARO: No, I'm telling you what the truth is.

HANNITY: ... and we have families that are suffering tonight, sir.

SPADARO: And that's the truth is that there were 180 violations...

HANNITY: You want to blame George Bush...

SPADARO: ... that were serious.

HANNITY: ... like a lot of extreme left-wingers. All right. Go ahead. You got your point out.

As Scott Shields says: "I believe that, as President, Bush should be held accountable for every tragedy that is related to his policies." I so agree.

Sago Mine Deaths and Bush Cronyism

12 people dead in a West Virginia mining accident because mining safety regulations are not being enforced. So who is in charge at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. If your first guess is a Bush crony, you would be correct.

Holding the top job at the MSHA is an executive that previously worked for Utah's Energy West Mining Company. David Lauriski and his top two deputies were recruited from mining companies. Their boss, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, is the wife of Kentucky's Republican senator Mitch McConnell, a long time political ally of coal companies. It appears that the federal mine safety inspectors on the ground are doing their job, but there is no enforcement of safety regulations.

In 2004, the Sago mine had an accident and injury rate of 15.9 per 200,000 man hours worked. That rate has since increased to 17.04. The national average rate is 5.66. A mine of similar size, in WV, (Kingston Mining #1) had an accident rate of 1.21. The MSHA has been issuing citations but little enforcement seems to be taking place. Federal inspectors fined the Sago mine more than $24,000 for roughly 202 violations in 2005, according to federal records. Wow, $120 per violation! That would make me sit up and take notice of safety violations.

The Sago mine also happens to employ non-unionized labor, so there isn't much the mine workers can do to influence enforcement of mine safety regulations.

Bush Has Made Us Safer - Let's Count the Ways

1. Osama is still free and Bush never even mentions him anymore

2. Our military is bogged down in a war that had nothing to do with Osama or Al Qaeda

3. Iraq is now the biggest terrorist training camp in the world

4. 9/11 Commission recommendations to make us safer have not been completely implemented

5. The Homeland Security budget is being spent as if it's frivolous pork

6. The 9/11 Commission gives Bush a grade of "D" under the category: "Maximum effort to prevent terrorists from acquiring WMD"

7. Most of the World now either hates or is scared of the USA

8. GWB is constantly chipping away at the Bill of Rights

New Years Eve 2005

Yesterday we went bobsledding. Maureen and Julia made a 50 MPH run.



Then a hungry deer visits the bird feeder.



Pretty fuzzy, huh?

Civil War in Iraq

It appears that the Kurds have been busy inserting thousands of militia members into Iraqi army forces, especially in Northern Iraq. They are laying the groundwork to take back the city of Kirkuk along with its oil fields. Kirkuk was a Kudish city before Saddam drove the Kurds from the city and paid arabs to settle in the city. The Peshmerga militia are an awesome military force that has been fighting since Gulf War I. If the Kurds pull off making an independent Kurdistan, does this mean war with Turkey? Then whose side would we be on?

We Are Under Surveillance

Rom-fay ow-nay on his-thay log-bay ill-way e-bay osted-pay in ig-pay atin-lay.

Security vs Liberty

Bush has always thought that being a dictator was easier than being a President. Evidently, he has been using the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to act as a dictator. Habeas Corpus, out the window. Secret prisons and torture, no problem. Arrest anyone I say might be guilty, we'll sort it out in 5-10 years, let's do it. Now some kind of super secret spying program has surfaced. He has been desperate to keep this program secret because he knows it's illegal. This program was probably leaked by some of the very people that are responsible for running it because they also think it is illegal and unconstitutional.

What's weird about this whole spying thing is that Bush has legal authority to authorize wiretaps on almost anyone, but for some reason he chose not to use the legal route. It's likely he chose the illegal route because whatever it is they are doing is probably so egregious that even the rubber stamp FISA secret court probably wouldn't have approved it. Bush claims he has congressional oversight but this claim is extremely exagerated. He briefed 4-6 congressmen in classified briefings such that they could not legally disclose or discuss what they were told.

So what is going on? One idea 'out there' is that ALL communications are being collected and analyzed for content by super computers. There is no way you could get a court order to do something like that. So 'watch what you say' in your phone calls and computer communications, because 'Big Brother' is probably watching.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen. -- Samuel Adams

Did Bush Violate the 4th Amendment?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, an no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized

President Bush, brushing aside bipartisan criticism in Congress, said Monday he approved spying on suspected terrorists without court orders because it was "a necessary part of my job to protect" Americans from attack

Let's have a poll. Yes or No?

Ski Jump and Bobsled/Luge Run

The ski jumps are obvious. Upper left is bobsled/luge run.

Twas The Week Before Christmas by Congressman John Dingell

I found this very amusing and also very telling.

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House
No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;

Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,
While visions of school and home danced in their heads;
In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,
Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;
Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…
Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;
A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly

We can pretend that Christmas is under attack
Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger
Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas every where we go,
From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,
When this is the season to unite us with joy

At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,
We don’t need a made-up reason to fight
So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;
You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!

‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch
With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?
So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,
A merry Christmas to all,
and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.

Is There 'Marketing' in Science?

"Elucidating a nonapoptotic role for caspase activity in T cell function: a link to NF-kappaB activation"

That's the title of the seminar today. Ok, I have a pretty good superficial knowledge of what the seminar is going to be about. I also know that understanding cell signaling is extremely important, especially in the development of new drugs. But damn! Isn't there a happy medium between letting your audience know what you are going to talk about and 'marketing' your science? Give me a good ole talk about the in vivo effects of such and such a pathogen and I am definitely happy.

Wind Farms or Not?

The construction of giant wind farms in Northern NY has been an issue of interest to me. It seems that harvest of energy from wind is a win-win situation for everyone from capitalist to environmentalist. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. It has been an extremely volatile issue among some in the Malone, NY area. Here the concern is mainly one of effects of giant wind turbines on health. Sound and 'flicker' being the main issues.

This morning there is a NYT editorial on the issue written by Robert Kennedy Jr., who happens to be an environmental lawyer. He is opposed to the construction of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound and offers many reasons why. I agree that the waters under the wind farm should not be privatized and there should not be huge government subsidies to make the farm economically feasible. But I'm getting pretty sick of people worrying about the effects of the wind turbines on 'views'. Ok, I don't want them located in national parks or on the tops of mountains in the Adirondack Park. But give me a break, environmentalist have to give a little. I'm also very very skeptical concerning the issue of wind turbine effects on health. There is very little experimental evidence for this.

Misinformation or a Lie?

President Bush constantly claims that congress saw the same intelligence information that he saw in the runup to the Iraq War. Turns out not to be true, which anyone with half a brain already knew. Now the lie is verified by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service here.

Goods From Kenya

Julia is finally home! She brought lots of stuff. See?





That's maybe half of it.

Current Conservative Philosophy

I got this from a blogger on Political Animal. He posts under the name 'bellumregio'. I think it's an awesome summary of how the conservative currently in power think and act.

1. Republican Party doctrine = American values

2. There are no universal human values beyond the values recognized and sanctioned by the Party. If there were than there could a moral human position AGAINST the Party and that is illogical since the Party embodies morality.

3. related to this is the belief that the group represented by the Party- the true Americans- are beyond good and evil. Whatever is done in the name of the True Americans and for the Nation is justified. Atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein are evil but atrocities committed by the United States cannot be evil. This is logical because the Party represents the moral order. Americans do not torture. Amnesty International, international courts, the Red Cross, the United Nations- these are all irrelevant and obstructionist because they are predicated on the belief that there are universal values outside of the Party and beyond the Nation.

4. Patriots are selfless men and women who are not interested in their own prestige but the prestige of the Party and the True American nation. Europeans and Canadians are failures. They are irrelevant. The Power of the Party and the true American Nation do not need to value their opinions. Only the powerful matter.

5. The Party is always winning. The leaders are always correct. Loss is the failure of those outside the Party- usually the traitors within the borders of the state or within the Party. The ideology of the Party is always aware of the undying power of the enemy although the enemy, by definition, is always too weak. This contradiction cannot be resolved.

6. All of history is the relation of power units. All life is a struggle. Detente and pacifism are trafficking with the enemy.

7. All truth is in accordance with the Party. Facts are irrelevant. Whatever the progress of the war in Iraq, whatever the course of history, whatever the motivations of the actors- all flows into the narrative of the Party and the success of the True Nation.

8. “From the viewpoint of an organization which functions according to the principle that whoever is not included is excluded, whoever is not with me is against me, the world at large loses all the nuances, differentiations, and pluralistic aspects which had in any event become confusing and unbearable to the masses which had lost their place and their orientation in it.”

Actually was written by Hannah Arendt Origins of Totalitarianism 1958

War on Science

Alan I. Leshner, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, says that at no point in his adult lifetime has he seen attacks on science, and on the universities that perform science, that are as serious as those today. While modern American history has had plenty of “blips” in the relationship between science and religion, there is a “substantial tension” today that is dangerous, Leshner says.

I sure believe this to be the case today. The fundies and conservatives are using higher education as a whipping boy even more than usual. It's a good way to divert attention from all their unsuccessful policies. Conservatives hate free thinking people because they are dangerous to their cause. You must see the emperor as clothed, not naked.

Neat little tune I found on the internet by Don Wise

sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")

My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would cer-tain-ly resign.
Incompetent Design!
Evo-Evo-Evo-lution! Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution. Science SHALL prevail!