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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

--- Thomas Jefferson

the big story

21st Houston Art Car Parade on Allen Parkway, Saturday!

The annual event that is quintessentially Houston. Saturday, May 10, 1-3 p.m. More than 250 of the most amazing motorized creations you've ever seen! Starts at Taft and Allen Parkway (INBOUND) towards downtown, left on Brazos and back down Allen Parkway (OUTBOUND) - ends at Waugh. WE USUALLY FIND SHADE UNDER THE FREEWAY JUST EAST OF THE SABINE STREET BRIDGE. BRING WATER AND A CHAIR, A HAT...

Click an Art Car to see more detail.

THE PARTY CONTINUES @ DISCOVERY GREEN, 1500 McKinney Street (@ Crawford), 3-6:30 p.m."Party on the Green" - the Art Car Awards Ceremony and Celebration! Art Cars will invade Discovery Green, Houston's amazing new downtown park, for a party for artists and the public alike, featuring LIVE MUSIC and more. The 2008 Parade Winners will be announced from the main stage at 6:00 p.m.

Five Years Later: What's Accomplished???

President Bush Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

May 1, 2008 - Congressman John P. Murtha (D-Pennsylvania), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said: "Five years ago today, President Bush addressed our nation and the world from the USS Abraham Lincoln, only forty-two days after he ordered the invasion of Iraq. He declared 'Mission Accomplished.' 1,827 days later, the U.S. occupation of Iraq continues, and our 'mission' remains undefined and open-ended."

Bush is saluted by the flight deck crew of the USS Lincoln, May 1, 2003

The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin lists some of the changes "since President Bush flew aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in 'Top Gun' style, stood under a banner proclaiming 'Mission Accomplished' and proudly declared: 'Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.'"
"Five years ago, 139 American troops had died in Iraq. Now that number is 4,064. Five years ago, 542 American troops had been wounded in Iraq. Now that number is 29,395.
Five years ago, the national debt was $6.5 trillion. Now it's $9.3 trillion.
Five years ago, your average gallon of gas cost $1.44. Now it costs $3.57.
Five years ago, Bush's job-approval rating was at 70 percent. Now it's at 28.
Five years ago, Bush's appearance on the carrier was widely hailed as a brilliant PR move, imbuing the president with the aura of a conquering hero. Now, it's possibly the single most potent image of Bush's hubris.
Five years ago, there were about 150,000 American troops in Iraq. Now there are slightly more." (No change on this one).

Life Expectancy Drops for 12% of U.S. Women
Mostly in Rural and Low Income Areas

This is inexcusable in America. And don't tell me it's about personal responsibilty and choice. It's about a lack of access to affordable healthy alternatives, nutrition education, and health care. Here's the full journal article.

Thrilling Boston Marathon Finish!

Click the image to view the nail-biting play-by-play from WBZ-TV Boston.

"One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08"

Pro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge tower.

28% of Americans Know Number of
U.S. Soldier Deaths in Iraq

The PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE & THE PRESS found that, when faced with multiple choice questions about current events, Americans' performance was (not surprinsingly) mediocre.

One in 100 Americans in Jail or Prison

The latest Pew Center for the States Corrections and Public Safety research study reports that the U.S. has 400,000 more people incarcerated than the combined prison population of 26 European nations, including Russia. The total number of people living in those countries was 802 million, versus 299 million Amercans. The report finds that "prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the nation’s population at large. Instead, more people are behind bars principally because of a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through popular 'three-strikes' measures and other sentencing laws, imposing longer prison stays on inmates."

Some startling numbers from the report:

One in 53 adults in their 20s is behind bars.

Men are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated than women, but the female population is expanding at a faster pace.

One in 9 black males between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars.

One in 100 black women in their mid- to late-30s are incarcerated.

In 2007, "states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from $11 billion 20 years before. However, the national recidivism rate remains virtually unchanged, with about half of released inmates returning to jail or prison within three years." The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending.

Read the full report: "One in 100: Behind Bars in America in 2008 details how, for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety."

Roger Clemens' Diet

Los Angeles Times Endorses Obama

Unlike the Houston Chronicle's typically unreadable and unconvincing endorsement of Obama in the Texas primary, the LA Times properly summarizes the significance of this moment in history, "An Obama presidency would present, as a distinctly American face, a man of African descent, born in the nation's youngest state, with a childhood spent partly in Asia, among Muslims. No public relations campaign could do more than Obama's mere presence in the White House to defuse anti-American passion around the world, nor could any political experience surpass Obama's life story in preparing a president to understand the American character. His candidacy offers Democrats the best hope of leading America into the future, and gives Californians the opportunity to cast their most exciting and consequential ballot in a generation."

Art in City Hall Exhibit Extended Until 2009

The City of Houston hast picked up the option to keep my painting Tres pájaros, (2007), on display through March 2009. The Art in City Hall Exhibit, City Hall Annex, 900 Bagby (just West of Houston City Hall). Take the elevators to the 4th floor (the City Attorney's floor) and turn right. You'll see the painting by the doors into the suite of offices.

First Orange, 2/8/08!

Here's the first ever orange from a Satsuma Orange tree I planted in my backyard 4 years ago.

Deceiving the U.S. on Iran

Keith Olbermann

November 2007's Picture of the Month

NYTimes, 11/05/07: "Pakistan Police Attack Lawyers at Protest"

Keith Olbermann

Special Comment: On waterboarding and torture

Top Secret Endorsement Of Torture By U.S. Interrogators

It you ever doubted how far Bush is willing to go, here's a another bombshell in the NY Times (10/4/07). Bush's actions dishonor the principles America is supposed to represent and what U.S. soldiers are defending and dying for on the battlefield.

As Promised, Bush Vetoes Children's Health Insurance Progam

President Bush proves again that even when his on party disagrees with him, his rigidity can lead to a heartless act like vetoing the bill to expand SCHIP. "'Today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children,'" said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Well Texas Governor Perry would just find a way NOT to spend the money anyway.

Blackwater USA Security Guard Shot Indiscriminately at Iraqi Civilians

The NY Times reports (9/28/07) that at least one security guard with Blackwater USA, which provides security for the U.S Embassy in Baghdad, "continued firing on civilians while colleagues urgently called for a cease-fire. At least one guard apparently also drew a weapon on a fellow guard who did not stop shooting."

"These new details of the episode on Sept. 16, in which at least eight Iraqis were killed, including a woman and an infant, were provided by an American official who was briefed on the American investigation by someone who helped conduct it, and by Americans who had spoken directly with two guards involved in the episode. Their accounts were broadly consistent."

"The accounts provided the first glimpse into the official American investigation of the shooting, which has angered Iraqi officials and prompted calls by the Iraqi government to ban Blackwater from working in Iraq, and brought new scrutiny of the widespread use of private security contractors here."

Soldiers Speaking Out

I guess I missed this August 19 op-ed by U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division criticizing "recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable" because I was likely on one of my sojourns to the "mirror universe" at the time. And here's the sad epilogue for two of the soldiers who signed that letter to the New York Times.

George Speaks for Me

This is the first and probably the last time I link to George F. Will without comment.

New Video of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"

We're Number 1! We're Number 1!

The Chronicle reports: "A newly released study on the well-being of children says Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the nation in 2004, a ranking that the Lone Star State may not want to brag about."

"'Texas has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more improvement,' said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count and a senior research associate for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. Culture plays a role, statistics show, because black teens in Texas are more than twice as likely as their white peers to have a baby. And Hispanics are more than 31⁄2 times as likely as Anglos to give birth in their teen years. However, Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk, said that doesn't explain everything, because other states with high minority populations have lower teen pregnancy rates. He said he's concerned that Texas' sex education curriculum focuses too much on abstinence and provides too little information on other ways to prevent pregnancies. A 1995 law requires school districts to emphasize abstinence in sex education classes. 'It's a touchy subject,' Sanborn said. 'We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas.'"

The "Bush-Libby Defense"

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White rejected attorney Troy Ellerman's "argument that he should get a lighter sentence because President Bush commuted former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2 1/2 -year prison sentence for perjury to probation. White said to do so would open the door to doling out unduly lenient sentences for other white collar criminals. 'If Mr. Ellerman is dissatisfied with his sentence, he should seek a commutation from the president,' White said." Ellerman, "admitted leaking the confidential grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes to a reporter." He was sentenced Thursday (July 12) to two and a half years in prison.

There's gonna be one of these stories every time a lawyer gets sentenced to prison time for perjury. Heh, heh...

Kermit Ruffins Plays the White House

Our good friends Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers performed for President and Mrs. Bush and Congress on the south lawn of the White House a couple of days ago. Here's the transcript and here's the QuickTime® video.

Treasury Dept. Has More Investigators On Cuba Travel than Terrorism

"Last March, six months after [Michael Moore's] initial request for travel documents [from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)], the award-winning documentary filmmaker visited Cuba. There, he filmed a segment of SiCKO, his movie focusing on the failing U.S. health-care industry. For the segment, Moore had taken along ten 9/11 first-responders who have been suffering respiratory problems ever since."

"The OFAC "has opened an investigation on whether the filmmaker violated the U.S. embargo of Cuba, sending him an official Requirement to Furnish Information within 20 days. Failure to answer or comply could result in fines of tens of thousands of dollars."

"OFAC, whose primary mission is counter terrorism, designates 15% of its staff to enforcing Cuba travel restrictions — more employees than those tracking Iraqi terrorists or those assigned to locate the missing assets of Saddam Hussein.

Green Zone Summer Fashion Accessories: Flak Jackets and Helmets

On May 3, the U.S. Embassy issued "a strict new order" to employees to wear "personal protective equipment." inside the Green Zone, "the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital."

Former CIA Director Paints a Familiar Picture of Bush Presidency

"'Alternately withholding and aggrieved, earnest and disingenuous, 'At the Center of the Storm' is interesting less for any stunning new revelations than for fleshing out a portrait of the Bush White House already sketched by reporters and former administration members," writes the New York Times.

Shoddy Construction Paid for by U.S. Taxpayers

"In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle."

The Way to Bring People Together is to Build a Wall Between Them

The U.S. Army is building a three-mile long, 12 ft tall wall around a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad. The "community did not approve the project before construction began."

"'This will make the whole district a prison. This is collective punishment on the residents of Adhamiya. We are in our fourth year of occupation and we are seeing the number of blast walls increasing day after day, suffocating the people more and more,' said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a 41-year-old engineer who lives in the area."

Monica Speaks (But Reveals Little)

Andrew Cohen writes in the Washington Post, "I swear, if Monica Goodling cries today when she testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about her role in the U.S. Attorney scandal I will be on the phone to Jon Stewart before Goodling's first tear hits the floor of the hearing room. She didn't cry for the good men and women within the Justice Department whom she helped get fired because they weren't 'loyal Bushies' like her. She didn't cry for the subversion of justice that the firings (and her hiring decisions) represented. She didn't cry when her former boss, the Attorney General, stonewalled. But she is going to cry when Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) asks her a question? Please."

Goodling "...should be required to explain why she refused to hire for nonpartisan positions attorneys she considered too 'liberal' while embracing other candidates who were and are considered 'conservative.'"

"Goodling should be required to explain the oddly instrumental role that her Pat Robertson-founded alma mater, Regent University, plays in the life of the Justice Department. As Richard Schmitt of the Los Angeles Times put it: 'How a 33-year-old graduate of a little-known law school that teaches courses on the philosophy of punishing and controlling 'sin' became such a powerful figure in the Justice Department is a key question for congressional investigators looking into charges that the department has been turned into a political tool of the Republican Party.' Remember, Goodling had six months of undistinguished experience when she was hired."

"Goodling should be required to explain her vision of the Justice Department and tell us why she believes that justice is served by replacing professional, non-partisan lawyers within the Department with partisan loyalists like her." [and] "...why she believes that a partisan Justice Department is better for America than a more neutral one. Now that might be tear-worthy."

John McCain vs. Jon Stewart

This is your brain.
This is your brain in a mall with 85 stores.
Any questions?

"Admitted shopoholic" Diana Lazzell of the University of Texas Health Science at Houston writes in "Shopping and Your Brain" about a new Stanford University study that examines brain areas involved in financial decisions.

If the Escalation Fails

The LA Times reports on 3/12/07 that "American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes a gradual withdrawal of forces and a renewed emphasis on training Iraqi fighters in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress." The Times quotes a senior Pentagon official as saying: "This part of the world has an allergy against foreign presence." An allergy?

These are the kind of bright bulbs running the war. Name a country that likes a foreign presence on their soil. Not one wants it. And those that host foreign bases (usually including thousands of U.S. soldiers) are tolerated by their governments on the basis of "national security" and the billions of dollars paid to them, and against the will of the majority of their citizens, or even to assist those governments in oppressing their own citizens such as in Colombia today or throughtout the history of U.S. military intervention in the Third World.

Is Dissociative Amnesia a 19th Century Invention?

Authors of a new Harvard Medical School study discussed in the 2/26/07 edition of the Washington Post argue: "If repressed memories are one way the brain deals with painful memories, why would there be no literary examples of the phenomenon that are more than 200 years old?"

Five Flaws in Bush's 'New' Plan

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser to President Carter, thoughtfully analyzes Wednesday's Bush speech. He closes with this:

"The speech reflects a profound misunderstanding of our era. America is acting like a colonial power in Iraq. But the age of colonialism is over. Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. That is the fatal flaw of Bush's policy."

In Official DOD Dictionary "Surge" Is Not A Word, "Escalation" Is

The mainstream media (MSM) continues to aid and abet the Bush administration with its latest propaganda term. Search for "surge" first. Then look for "escalation", which is what this should be called.

The Future is Here

Gates Didn't Spend Christmas With The Troops

"It is a tradition for the Secretary (of Defense) to serve the troops turkey at Thanksgiving and visit the front lines at Christmas."

"Gates sat down with a half-dozen soldiers as a photo-op, rushing back to Washington to leave them alone with their glum Christmas away from their loved ones."

Beauty and Evolution

The Washington Post has an article that summarizes scientitific theories and research studies on the concept of beauty. "It isn't invented by Hollywood or fashion magazines so much as it is programmed into our DNA. For example, a number of studies have shown that faces judged to be beautiful, regardless of culture, are highly symmetrical. Nature seems to have a bias in favor of balanced pairs -- two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, two wings.

Beat That Dead Horse, For God's Sake!

"'It's part of God's plan for the future of mankind,' explained Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.)."

"Rep. Bob Beauprez (R- Colo.) also found 'the very hand of God' at work. 'We best not be messing with His plan.'"

"Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) agreed that 'it wasn't our idea, it was God's.'"

"'I think God has spoken very clearly on this issue,' said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a mustachioed gynecologist who served as one of the floor leaders yesterday. When somebody quarreled with this notion, Gingrey replied: 'I refer the gentleman to the Holy Scriptures.'"

"'The world did not start with Adam and Steve,' Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) told reporters."

"'Marriage is not about love,' volunteered Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who noted his 31 years of matrimony. 'It's about a love that can bear children.'"

What are they all talking about? Gay marriage, of course. In June, the Senate rejected a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to ban same-sex marriage. But that didn't stop the U.S. House of Representatives from debating it again on July 18, even though it has zero chance of passing this year.

"'We have a conflagration in the Middle East, we have raised the debt ceiling four times to $9 trillion, and this is how the Republican congressional leadership chooses to spend its time?' demanded an agitated Rep. James Moran (D-Va.)."

Gingrey, the gynecologist, said the debate was "about values and how this great country represents them to the world." Then he elaborated: "This is probably the best message we can give to the Middle East in regards to the trouble we are having over there right now."

Bush Told Cheney To Go After Ambassador Wilson

Murray Waas of the National Journal reports that, "President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to people familiar with the president's interview."

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the disclosure of the identity of then-covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, Ambassador Wilson's wife.

U.S. Supreme Court Declares Illegal
The War Crimes Trials Of Terror Suspects Before Military Commisions

On June 29, 2006, in a complete rejection of President Bush's authority to try suspected terrorists under unfair (now judged illegal) rules, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan v. Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary Of Defense, ruled "that the military commission convened to try Hamdan [admitted al Qaeda member] lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ [Uniform Code of Military Justice] and the Geneva Conventions." Read the whole decision here.

S.F. Mayor Proposes Health Coverage For All Uninsured
Paid By Taxes, Business Contributions, and Individual Premiums

San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom announced an ambitious proposal "that would make San Francisco the first city in the country to provide taxpayer-subsidized health care to all uninsured residents, covering services like doctor visits, surgeries and prescription drugs. San Francisco is home to an estimated 82,000 uninsured residents, who typically go to public clinics and hospitals for treatment. The plan, dubbed San Francisco Health Access Program, would offer people the primary and preventive health care they lack and allow them to access hundreds of doctors in public and private hospitals and clinics."

"'This is not a pipe dream,' Newsom said. 'This city is going to be the first city in America to achieve universal health care access.'"

"Those who sign up would have access to care only in San Francisco and, despite paying monthly premiums, would not be covered by the plan if they sought treatment outside the city limits.The estimated $200 million-a-year price tag, or $2,400 per person, would be paid through a combination of sources, including tax dollars, local business contributions and individual premiums. In April, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to require individuals to carry health insurance or face financial penalties. San Francisco's plan would not be mandatory and assumes people without other coverage will volunteer to chip in for the coverage."

"'To treat chronic health issues, to treat ear infections and strep throat so they don't get really bad and end up in the emergency room ... ultimately that's what most people want,' said Nathan Nayman, executive director of the business lobby group Committee on Jobs and a member of a task force created by Newsom to study and devise the health care plan."

"Individuals who earn $50,000 a year, or 500 percent of the national poverty level, would pay $201.25 a month in premiums under the proposed San Francisco Health Access Plan, Newsom said. Those who make between $19,600 and $40,000 a year would pay $35 a month. The figures are comparable to what individuals pay for insurance under private providers, industry experts said."

Houston Mayor Bill White could also gain national prominence if he did that here. Many argue that it is the cost of treating the uninsured that drives overall health care costs up as those expenses are passed to (redistributed) to individuals with insurance.

ER Care Is In Crisis, Concludes A Two-Year Study By The
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

The Washington Post reports on 6/15/06, "Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse, with the nation's declining number of emergency rooms dangerously overcrowded and often unable to provide the expertise needed to treat seriously ill people in a safe and efficient manner."

"As a system, U.S. emergency care lacks stability and the capacity to respond to large disasters or epidemics, according to the 25 experts who conducted the study. It provides care of variable and often unknown quality and depends on the willingness of doctors and hospitals to lose large amounts of money."

"The reports -- on hospital ERs, on pediatric emergency care and on pre-hospital care given by ambulance services -- were embraced by the 24,000-member American College of Emergency Physicians, and its president said that the endorsement was telling.

"'What other industry says, 'Hey, look at us, our whole system is broken'?" said the group's president, Frederick C. Blum.

"Two key steps for improving emergency care are regional planning and creating a standard way to measure outcomes, so that low-quality ERs and ambulance services can be identified and fixed, the committee wrote."

"Emergency medical care is a legal right for all Americans. Under a law enacted in 1986, emergency rooms must evaluate and stabilize anyone who shows up. That requirement -- bolstered by physicians' ethical duty to treat the ill -- has made hospital emergency departments subject to unique pressures."

"From 1993 to 2003, the U.S. population grew by 12 percent but emergency room visits grew by 27 percent, from 90 million to 114 million. In that same period, however, 425 emergency departments closed, along with about 700 hospitals and nearly 200,000 beds."

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends that Congress form a new federal agency within the next two years to provide leadership and billions of dollars to fix the problems.

Released on 6/14/06, you can read the three reports by the Institute of Medicine online for free here:

Emergency Care for Children: Growing Pains
Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point
Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads

U.S. Secretary of Education Loves Foreign Travel

The Associated Press reports 6/16/06, that in less than 18 months on the job, Margaret Spellings, has traveled to Afghanistan, England, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan and Russia. Greece and Spain are next in June. Past education secretaries have managed to find enough problems to deal with in the U.S.

"Spellings says she needs to travel to shape policies at home that reflect an understanding of the nations the United States competes against or financially aids."

"Since taking office in January 2005, Spellings has taken seven trips overseas. That's one more than her predecessor, [Coach] Rod Paige, took during his entire four years in the Cabinet."

"'We will never, ever lose sight of our prime directive,' Spellings said. That remains getting all children up to par in reading and math by 2014, the goal of Bush's education law."

2014? What? My two young nephews will be in college in 2014! How is it that the administration has recently suggested we will have a stable Iraq by 2008 (Considering that the 'Z-Man' is dead and all. The U.S. Army coroner performed an autopsy and we saw the photographs to prove that "...(he's) not only merely dead. (He's) really most sincerely dead.") So 'most' soldiers will come home then. But we have to wait until 2014 to get our children "up to par," whatever that means? Oh! Oh ! I know one possible reason: The federal goverment is funding the war with several billion dollars per month, while it refuses to adequately fund the No Child Left Behind law.

"'We are looked to and admired around the world as people who know how to do education for the masses," Spellings said in an interview with The Associated Press on June 15, 2006.

We "know how to do education for the masses"? What? I'm so proud to have Secretary Spellings representin' for American education!

U.S. Government Labs in Race to Build New Nuclear Bomb

So with all this U.S. goverment talk about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and keeping Iran out of the exclusive nuclear club, doesn't this seem ironic?

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are locked in an intense competition with rivals at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the (San Francisco) Bay Area to design the nation's first new nuclear bomb in two decades."

"The new weapon, under development for about a year, is designed to ensure long-term reliability of the nation's inventory of bombs. Program backers say that with greater confidence in the quality of its weapons, the nation could draw down its stockpile, estimated at about 6,000 warheads. Scientists also intend for the new weapons to be less vulnerable to accidental detonation and to be so secure that any stolen or lost weapon would be unusable."

"But some veterans of nuclear arms development are strongly opposed, contending that building new weapons could trigger another arms race with Russia and China, as well as undermine arguments to stop nuclear developments in Iran, North Korea and elsewhere."

"Inside the labs, however, emotions and enthusiasm for the new designs are running high. 'I have had people working nights and weekends," said Joseph Martz, head of the Los Alamos design team. "I have to tell them to go home. I can't keep them out of the office...'"

Where would we be if not for the "great American work ethic"? BTW: Did you see the hit Mexico put on Iran in World Cup play?

"Republicans Prevented More Than 350,000 Voters In Ohio From
Casting Ballots Or Having Their Votes Counted"

This is what many of us suspected on election night 2004. This thoroughly researched, 11,000-word-article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is going to rock national politics for years to come.

White House Spokesman Doesn't Want to "Hug The Tar Baby"

On Tuesday, May 16, In his first televised press briefing, new White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, while not really answering a question about the NSA's domestic surveillance program, said:

"Again, I would take you back to the USA Today story, simply to give you a little context. Look at the poll that appeared the following day. While there was -- part of it said 51 percent of the American people opposed, if you look at when people said, if there is a roster of phone numbers, do you feel comfortable that -- I'm paraphrasing and I apologize -- but something like 64 percent of the polling was not troubled by it. Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby [these are my italics] of trying to comment on the program -- the alleged program -- the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny."

Later during the briefing, when asked by a reporter, "And would you put into English the phrase, 'hug the tar baby,'" Snow said, "Well, when we hug the tar baby -- we could trace that back to American lore." Then changed the subject.

Many people of color find the phrase offensive. In "American lore" it has racist connotations. He should apologize for his obvious ignorance.

The U.S. Commissioned the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ in Spanish

In 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Education commissioned a Spanish-language version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” reported Think Progress, as have news organizations as well. You can see an original copy of "La bandera de las estrellas" at the LIbrary of Congress. Currently, the U.S. Department of State has four different Spanish versions on it's web site.

Reacting to a new Spanish-language version released by a music producer who said he wanted to honor America's immigrants, President Bush said at the White House on April 28: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has introduced a resolution requiring the Star-Spangled banner to be sung only in English: "That flag and that song are a part of our history and our national identity.… That’s why in 1931 Congress declared the Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem. That’s why we should always sing it in our common language, English."

3rd Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" Speech

CNN released a public opinion poll on May 1, 2006 that "found that only 9 percent thought the U.S. mission in Iraq had been accomplished, while another 40 percent believed it would be complete someday. Another 44 percent said the United States would never accomplish its goals in Iraq..."

"Bush's May 1, 2003, victory speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was a carefully managed piece of political theater, from his flight suit-clad arrival aboard an S-3 Viking antisubmarine jet to the 'Mission Accomplished' banner that hung from the carrier's bridge."

"'My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed, and now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country,' Bush said."

"Bush had argued the invasion was necessary because Iraq had been concealing chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and a nuclear weapons program from U.N. inspectors and could have provided those weapons to terrorists."

"'The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of al Qaeda and cut off a source of terrorist funding,' Bush said. 'And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.'"

"U.S. inspectors later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs while under U.N. sanctions that followed the 1991 Persian Gulf War..."

"Five months after his speech, with U.S. casualties in Iraq growing and the insurgency against American forces building strength, Bush said the 'Mission Accomplished' sign had been put up by the ship's crew -- but the White House later conceded that it produced and paid for the banner as part of the president's visit."

"When Bush delivered the speech aboard the Lincoln, 139 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq. On its third anniversary, the U.S. death toll is nearly 2,400."