Ron Paul on Daily Show!! and Colbert!!

YES! Finally! This is going to make for some serious campaign traction, two major media appearances sandwiched around the upcoming GOP debate. Long live freedom!

June 4th: Ron Paul is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show, with John Stewart

June 5th : CNN GOP Presidential Debate @ 7 p.m. ET

June 13th: Ron Paul to appear on the Colbert Report.

Marx Cafe tonight!

Come one, come all! I'm going to attempt to make up for not actually playing last week by doing exactly that tonight; getting jiggy w/ it! All joking aside it should be a fun outing, probably have a Yankee’s game on the screens along w/ "dancing with the stars" which I watch only in the vain hope that a wardrobe malfunction occurs.

3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

can you hax0r hillary's webspace??

Has anyone else noticed this? This link here is to the MS small business server backend at hillaryclinton.com. I stayed up very late last nite trying to guess her password, I tried billhitsme, socialist4eva, diemonica, biggovrules, Abzugfan, taxdarich, turninyourguns, roboteyes, roselawfirm, obamasmells, minwageaok, loveAlinsky, statehealthcare, NWFchair, yalerox, flowersishot, uglykenstar, communitarianism, and finally thunderthighs. Wow, i freakin' give up, it must be real hard to guess, she made it something tricky for sure. So somebody out there must have the skills to hack into her campaign website and take it down, you know; score one for the gipper! get too it.

Israel annexes Palestinian natural resources

Nothing like kicking people while they are down!

May 23, 2007
BG Group at centre of $4bn deal to supply Gaza gas to Israel

Steve Hawkes and Sonia Verma in Jerusalem


BG Group is poised to agree the terms of an historic $4 billion (£2 billion) deal to supply Palestinian gas to Israel from a discovery off the Gaza coastline, The Times has learnt.

Representatives from the British energy company are scheduled next week to meet a team of negotiators chosen by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a 15-year contract. Despite the violence in Gaza, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has insisted that it wants to conclude a deal “as soon as possible”.

It would enable BG Group, the former owner of British Gas, to begin to develop an offshore field that is the Palestine Authority’s only natural resource. The move would mark an unprecedented milestone in Middle East relations. There would be enough gas to provide 10 per cent of Israel’s annual energy requirement, and the Palestinians would receive total royalties of $1 billion. Sources in the Middle East note that the sensitive talks could be derailed at any time by the acute political tension that surrounds the deal.

However, Nigel Shaw, the BG Group vice-president in the region, said: “We are making progress. There are commercial issues to be completed and we also require bilateral agreement between the two governments to get this project across the line. But this is a chance for greater economic prosperity in Palestine and that is only good for peace.”

The signing of heads of terms would mark an amazing turnaround, given the political and legal disputes that have dogged the project since BG Group discovered the Gaza Marine field in 2000. It holds one trillion cubic feet of gas, the equivalent of 150 million barrels of oil, equivalent to a large North Sea field.

Six years ago Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister at the time, vowed that Israel would never buy gas from its neighbour. The project also was held up by a legal challenge in the Israeli Supreme Court to establish whether the Palestinians had any right to the discovery. Last year BG Group was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt before Tony Blair intervened and asked the company to give Israel a second chance. Three weeks ago the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority. The Cabinet recognised the need for new energy sources to feed Israel’s rapidly growing economy.

Under BG Group’s plans, gas from the field would be transported by an undersea pipeline to the seaport of Ashkelon. Although Israeli insiders are confident of a deal,significant questions remain, not least how payments to the Palestinian Authority will be made. Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government.

Starving Congressmen

This should have been a reality show. Call up that guy from "30 Days" and make it happen!

FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE
Pangs of Hunger -- and Bit of Guilt

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 22, 2007; Page A13

A pork chop and a bag of peanuts proved too tempting for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of four members of Congress who has struggled for the past week to subsist on $21 worth of food -- the equivalent of benefits received by the average food stamp recipient.

Last Friday night, in New Hampshire to deliver a commencement speech, Ryan succumbed to a pork chop in the hotel restaurant because he feared he would otherwise be too weak to give the address.

Afterward, as he rushed to catch a flight back to Washington, airport security officials confiscated jars of peanut butter and jelly from his carry-on luggage, leaving him with nothing but a small bag of cornmeal to eat in the final days of the "Food Stamp Challenge," which ends today.

Continue to read...

...another story from the Boston Globe. nice to know a congressional staffer has a sense of humor when it comes to the homeless, that's an important thing to maintain in this day and age.

Walking home from his office at 9:30, he ran into several colleagues sitting out at sidewalk cafes. Would he join them, several asked. He wanted to, but declined. One friend jokingly inquired whether he would be sleeping on a grate that night.

Marx Cafe tonight!

Join me at the Marx Cafe for philosophical, political and sarcastic discourse followed by smooth UKG, 2step and some killer lamb chops. Seeya there!

3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

The Ron Paul effect

Great article! There very well may be a consensus forming, an oddly formed coalition of the fed up, right and left aligned as never before in opposition to a lost cause.

THE RON PAUL EFFECT
ANTIWAR REPUBLICAN MAKES WAVES

By: Justin Raimondo

The times, they are a changin' – and the signs are all around us. The American people are sick unto death of the Iraq war, and this growing dissatisfaction with American foreign policy spans the political spectrum: it isn't just the Left that is singing "we ain't marchin' anymore," it's moderates and even conservatives. The recantation of Walter "Freedom Fries" Jones was the harbinger of a mounting trend, and as disaster piles on fresh disaster in the killing fields of Mesopotamia, the conservative case for the war gets harder to make – and more prominent figures on the Right are dissenting from the Bush-neocon orthodoxy.

Conservative dissent on the war question has been present from the very beginning: Pat Buchanan has been a vocal critic of the War Party since Gulf War I. The American Conservative magazine, which Buchanan co-founded with Taki Theodoracopulos and Scott McConnell, was launched to give voice to those on the Right who reject the neoconservative "liberationism" of the Bush administration as a "Jacobin" invention, as Claes Ryn, a prominent conservative professor, so trenchantly put it. Others have since joined Buchanan, Ryn, and the other conservatives and libertarians who were denounced as "unpatriotic" by David "Axis of Evil" Frum, the neocon enforcer of political correctness, in the pages of National Review – when he announced that he and all good little movement (neo)conservatives would henceforth "turn our backs" on those perfectly awful "unpatriotic conservatives."

That this now means Frum must turn his back on the founder of National Review is an irony worth contemplating. William F. Buckley Jr. has recently argued that the war is a "failure," along with the policy that spawned it, and that it is time for conservatives to reconsider their blind support. Without quite saying it, Buckley's chief concern seems to be that the GOP ship will go down with the neocons who have hijacked it, and this political consideration is precisely what motivated a group of Republican congressmen to troop to the White House the other day and bluntly declare they'd had just about enough. As even some of the neocons, such as Francis Fukuyama – who famously proclaimed the "end of history" – abjure their errors and the rats jump ship, "movement" conservatives are following suit.

Back before the war started, Cliff Kincaid, a conservative activist and writer associated with Accuracy in Media (AIM), a longtime mainstay of "movement" conservatism, penned a piece entitled "Antiwar Conservatives?" that questioned the existence of such an exotic species. Like the unicorn and the sphinx, this creature, he averred, was only talked about yet never seen, and he specifically took me to task for allying with the "far Left" in a united front against the war. Right after the invasion was launched, I appeared with him on MSNBC to debate the war: the country, I said, was against the invasion, and an increasing number of fairly conservative Republicans – such as Ron Paul – were speaking out against it. For his part, Kincaid wondered aloud how in touch with the national zeitgeist it was possible to be out in San Francisco.

Now that most of the rest of the nation is aligned with my fellow San Franciscans, however, Kincaid has done a turnaround: he not only acknowledges the existence of antiwar conservatives, but has also become one of their most eloquent defenders against the know-nothings of the neoconized GOP. The neocons are in a tizzy about the heresy of Ron Paul at the South Carolina Republican presidential debates, when he dared state the obvious: that al-Qaeda is "over here" because we are "over there." Rudy Giuliani's Mussolini-esque eruption and Paul's defiant-yet-reasonable refusal to recant has become the fulcrum of the right wing's agony over an issue that could sink the GOP, marginalize conservatives, and give us President Hillary Clinton.

Kincaid wisely recognizes that the neocon response to Paul's speaking truth to power is intellectually dishonest. What's even more heartening, however, is Kincaid's anger over the attempted smearing of Rep. Paul:

"In a desperate attempt to make Rudy Giuliani out to be the hero of Tuesday night's debate, Fox News is continuing to attack Texas Congressman Ron Paul for something he did not say. In the latest installment of this campaign, John Gibson of Fox News says that Paul 'suggested that the U.S. actually had a hand in the [9/11] terrorist attacks.' No, what he said was that U.S. foreign policy was a reason why Osama bin Laden attacked America. This is a fact.

"Gibson's comment shows how Fox News has been eager to slant the news in favor of Giuliani, who claimed in his famous response to Paul that the congressman had said that the U.S. 'invited' the 9/11 attacks. That was false, too."

The outright lie that Paul is part of the "9/11 Truth" movement, which holds that the U.S. government itself pulled off the biggest terrorist attack in American history, is the latest edition of the smear-Ron-Paul campaign that has taken off since the showdown with America's Mafioso Mayor. The canard that Paul justifies terrorism is eagerly spread by the smarmy Gibson and the ridiculous Michelle Malkin, a cocoa Coulterite who, like the original white-bread version, makes an art out of self-caricature. Even after the complete falsehood of her charge against Paul was pointed out, and acknowledged by her, Malkin still did her best to wriggle out of it by trying to weave a very tenuous connection between Paul and the Truthers. The woman has zero integrity and even less credibility, but the smear campaign rolls on. As Kincaid put it:

"Ron Paul is being viciously attacked over this issue because some people don't want to consider the implications, which Paul is honest enough from his perspective to spell out. These implications are that the U.S. should withdraw from the region, supposedly to spare the U.S. from any further attacks. That is the Ron Paul approach, and he claims it is what President Reagan would do. It may be naïve to some, but he cites Reagan's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Lebanon after 241 of them were murdered in a suicide bombing. He thinks no good can come from U.S. involvement in such an irrational part of the world."

Kincaid probably doesn't agree with Paul's analysis in its entirety, but he is honest enough to call a foul when he sees it. Chances are he is fairly typical of conservative activists in the GOP, not the bought-and-sold "leadership" but the rank-and-file, and therein lies a golden opportunity for Paul – and the antiwar movement.

Rudy, for his part, continues to display his utter ignorance and determination to demagogue his way to the White House by touting his confrontation with Paul. Speaking in New York with Sen. John McCain, he claimed that the six Albanians recently busted for plotting to attack Fort Dix and kill American soldiers proves that he, not Paul, is right about Why They Hate Us: "Why [did they want to kill our soldiers]?" he asked his audience, according to Stephen Spruiell of National Review. "Because we had some attacks on Iraq in the 1990s? I don't think so."

Think again, Rudy: according to news accounts of the case, one of the defendants, Eljvir Duka, was recorded as saying, "In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad." This sounds very much like the same litany of complaints that OBL and his gang have used to recruit an ever-growing army of terrorists to their banner: America's war on Iraq, they say, is part of its general war on Islam itself.

Furthermore, there is every indication that most if not all of the Fort Dix terrorists were trained by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which was aided by the U.S. in its fight against the Serbs – and for whose sake we initiated a bombing campaign that ended in the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the fall of Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. Here the parallels with al-Qaeda – nurtured in the bosom of the U.S.-funded-and-supported Afghan insurgency against the Soviets in the 1980s – are even clearer. Once again, "blowback" has blown back in our faces. We armed these guys, we trained them, we funded and encouraged them in waging yet another war of "liberation" – and today we are fending them off as they try to blow up military installations in the U.S. Now there's gratitude for you!

Although Spruiell doesn't agree with Paul's conclusions, he is clearly appalled by the blatant disregard for logic and plain old common sense displayed by Paul's enemies in the GOP:

"Excuse this interruption of presidential politics for a quick moment with a reality check: What's the big deal with admitting that our pre-invasion policies toward Iraq — the sanctions, the no-fly zones, the bases to protect Saudi Arabia from Saddam's lunatic aggression — were used to justify mass slaughter in Osama bin Laden's various fatwas against America? That doesn't make him right. It just identifies one dynamic at work in the evil worldview of a madman."

A reality check is precisely what the neocons who control the Republican political machine fear the most. That's because they don't acknowledge any version of reality other than their own, and they can't afford to, either – or else the whole fabric of their elaborate fantasy of the U.S. as the noble "liberator" of Iraq will start to come apart at the seams. As journalist Ron Suskind recounted a discussion with a top White House official:

"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

Up until now, the GOP has been living in a bubble, along with the president, denying that we were losing, and that we got ourselves into an awful mess: the "good news," they claimed, wasn't being reported, on account of the media's alleged "antiwar bias." That, at least, is what Kincaid seemed to sincerely believe when we debated on MSNBC two years ago. Today, however, he seems ready to acknowledge that there is a problem and that the fault isn't to be found with the media, or with someone like Ron Paul who dares to say that the emperor has no clothes, but with his fellow conservatives.

This is progress, and Paul's candidacy is the catalyst. Of course, Ron has a lot of obstacles to overcome, not the least of which is the liberal bias of "mainstream" media – yes, Cliff, I agree with you on that one! Anyone who votes against government programs as a matter of high principle and who insists on taking the letter of the Constitution seriously, as Rep. Paul consistently does, is going to have to endure much from skeptical journalists – such as CNN's John King Sunday, who, during an interview with Paul, scoffed at his low poll numbers. Of course, the polls don't mean much six months before the first primary. It is foolish to write off Paul's potential appeal at this stage – especially to New Hampshire voters, who will set the tone for the race.

Remember, Pat Buchanan took New Hampshire in 1991, and Rep. Paul has a lot in common with the Buchanan Brigades, who may turn out in full pitchfork mode for the conservative-libertarian congressman from Texas. The smug assurances from both establishment liberals and the folks over at Fox News that Paul is a meaningless blip in the online polls – supposedly "manipulated" by Paul's online Machiavellis – could be very short-lived. No, online polls aren't an accurate measure of a candidate's popular support – but they do measure something, and that is the degree of support among his or her followers. And this can translate into a measure of future support, given the candidate's ability to attract attention and build on this enthusiastic base.

Rudy's rudeness has backfired. In response to the effort to paint Paul as a Republican John Walker Lindh who must be waterboarded until he confesses all, Ron has attracted some prominent defenders: Bill Maher, Andrew Sullivan, and others who might not agree with all of Paul's message but who are nevertheless outraged at this brazen attempt to intimidate him and drive him out of the GOP. Six months from now, as the war gets even worse and the "surge" hasn't amounted to a hill of beans, what Paul is saying will be the emerging conventional wisdom, so much so that even the Republican leadership will have to acknowledge it. Provided he continues to do well in fundraising, Paul's poll numbers could spiral rapidly upward as the Iraqi occupation and the sock-puppet "government" of Iraq plunges downward into oblivion. Which brings to mind a famous saying of Gandhi's:

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."

They don't dare ignore him, and ridicule isn't working: now they're engaging him, but it is already too late for that. In raising the issue of our failed foreign policy in the very arena that the War Party has always counted as its exclusive domain, Ron Paul has already won. The neocons may be able to retain control of the GOP until next November, but Iraq really is their Waterloo. The blame for the coming defeat of the GOP will fall squarely on their shoulders – and then it won't be Ron Paul who will be driven out of the party.

Asian govmt brawls, not for real?

Wow, this explains a lot.

Politician punch-ups in Taiwan are 'staged to make MPs look tough'
By RICHARD SHEARS, in Sydney - More by this author » Last updated at 19:25pm on 17th May 2007

Comments Comments (4)
For years TV networks around the world have broadcast furious brawls from inside the Taiwan parliament, with fists and chairs being thrown and MPs crashing to the ground.

It is almost as good as TV wrestling bouts, but of course, we all know that those sporting events are well rehearsed beforehand. The Taiwanese punch-ups are for real - or so we've all been led to believe.

But it was revealed yesterday that the fights are as fake as those brutal wrestling matches.

Reports from the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, yesterday quoted legislators and political observers as admitting that the televised fights are staged acts, planned in advance to generate media attention and garner favour with voters who like to see their MPs fighting for all their worth on tough issues.

The brawls are so well planned, it is claimed, that MPs have even called up one another to ensure they wear sports shoes ahead of their choreographed clashes. And when it's all over, after the pulled punches have been delivered and the broken chairs removed, they all get together for a merry drink.

Admitting that the fights were a fraud, Nationalist Party legislator Miss Joanna Lei said: 'It's staged for media coverage. They have a strategy sessions, like a war plan.' During the latest televised brawl earlier this month no less than 40 MPs blocked the speaker from his podium to prevent a vote on changing the central Election Commission.

Earlier this year 50 MPs who wanted to stop the speaker from accessing his podium staged a brawl that lasted for an incredible four hours.

A microphone was ripped out and thrown across the chambers and shoes were thrown at the speaker. The speaker never made it to his chair. But sometimes even the most well-rehearsed fight scenes can have their mishaps. In 2005 an MP needed stitches after he was accidentally struck by a mobile phone.

'All they are trying to do is steal the spotlight,' said People First Party MP Lee Hung-chun.

'This shouldn't be happening, of course. Parliament should be a sacred and noble place.'

Rudy in Drag

NOBODY BETTER VOTE FOR THIS GUY!!!!

Bonuses for VA officials to be reviewed

Wow, talk about a fox / henhouse paridim in effect. Why are we so keenly interested in keeping these "hardworking senior officials" if these dunces managed to craft a budget with a $1.3 bilion dollar shortfall? Sounds like they need to be shown the door, and quick; and leave the bonuses on the table please, kthanx.

Wed May 16, 7:40 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs Department said Wednesday it has asked an oversight agency to review the way the VA handed out $3.8 million in bonuses to senior officials last year.
ADVERTISEMENT

Michael Kussman, the acting undersecretary for health, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson made the request to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management after government watchdogs questioned the propriety of the awards, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards — the bodies charged with overseeing bonuses — received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.

"The secretary has asked OPM to come and look at the process," Kussman said at a Senate hearing. He would not say whether the VA should put outsiders on the boards to ensure impartiality and boost public confidence in the system.

In its last known report on the issue — one involving
NASA — the
Government Accountability Office in 1980 urged that performance boards add credibility and objectivity to their decisions by including "one or more impartial members from outside the agency," although agencies are not required to do so.

With the exception of a panel tasked with reviewing the VA inspector general's office, all the VA's performance board members come from within the agency.

A House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight is scheduled to hold hearings soon to investigate more than $3.8 million in bonuses awarded last year.

Groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the
Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America have called on Nicholson to explain why officials involved in budget foul-ups would be rewarded. The VA says the bonuses are need to retain hardworking senior officials.

photosynthesis research could lead way to better solar panels

Neat stuff!

New view of photosynthesis could help develop better solar cells
(Nanowerk News) During the remarkable cascade of events in photosynthesis, plants approach the pinnacle of stinginess by scavenging nearly every photon of available light energy to produce food.Yet after many years of careful research into the exact mechanisms, some key questions remain about this fundamental biological process that supports almost all life on Earth.
Now a research team led by Neal Woodbury, a scientist at the Arizona State University (ASU) Biodesign Institute, has come up with a new insight into the mechanism of photosynthesis.
Biologists have discovered that a split-second, highly orchestrated process drives photosynthesis
Biologists have discovered that a split-second, highly orchestrated process drives photosynthesis. (Image: ASU)
The discovery involves the orchestrated movement of proteins on the timescale of a millionth of a millionth of a second.
"This pioneering research gives us new insights into the basic mechanism of photosynthesis," said Kamal Shukla, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. "Understanding such basic biological processes can lead to important societal benefits."
For example, the answer may be good news for the development of organic solar cells, said Shukla, which have been of commercial interest because of their relatively low cost compared to traditional silicon solar cells.
Traditional solar cells use semi-conductor devices (silicon chemistry) to convert solar energy into electricity, whereas organic solar cells are based on biological systems that use the same chemistry as living organisms to harvest the energy of sunlight to drive photosynthesis.
So, inspiration for the design of organic solar cells would be based upon the principle of photosynthesis.
Woodbury's research is focused on understanding the basic principles of photosynthesis and it could be valuable in the design of organic solar cells. The efficiency of energy conversion by photosynthesis is much higher than traditional solar devices.
To get a closer look at what happens during photosynthesis, the research team used a well-studied purple photosynthetic bacterium named Rhodobacter sphaeroides. This organism is likely one of the earliest photosynthetic bacteria to evolve.
The researchers focused their efforts on studying the center stage of photosynthesis, the reaction center, where light energy is funneled into specialized chlorophyll-binding proteins.
Woodbury and his colleagues tried to uncover more of the physical mechanism driving photosynthesis by creating mutants that would tweak the electron transfer relationships between molecules in the reaction center.
The researchers started to inch closer to an answer when Haiyu Wang, a postdoctoral research associate in Woodbury's lab, noticed something in common with all of the different mutants: a similarity in how fast electrons moved in the reaction center. He decided that there must be some sort of underlying physical principle involved.
Few research groups are equipped to measure the early events in photosynthesis because of the extremely short timescale--similar to the amount of time it takes a supercomputer to carry out a single flop.
Wang used ASU's ultrafast laser facility, funded by NSF, which acts like a high-speed motion picture camera that can capture data from these lightning-fast reactions.
The movement of the reaction center proteins during photosynthesis allows a plant or bacteria to harness light energy efficiently, even if conditions aren't optimal.
The findings are described in the journal Science, and were funded by NSF.
The research team includes lead author Haiyu Wang, ASU Biodesign Institute; Su Lin, ASU Biodesign Institute; James Allen, ASU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; JoAnn Williams, ASU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Sean Blankert and Christa Laser, ASU Biodesign Institute.
Source: National Science Foundation

Marx Cafe tonight!

I told you I would be back. Were gonna try and get the debate up on the flat screens. It's gonna be sweet gettin' to watch my main man Ron Paul serve it to those bought and paid for fat cats while spinning some sweet 2step and UKG! Music (and the gop debate) begins 9pm or so. Booya!

3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

Man causes nude disturbance, nothing happens

If this guy had been shouting "IMPEACH BUSH" or handing out alternate energy pamphlets you bet your knickers he'd been arrested and charged with something.

Posted at 3:21 PM ET, 05/14/2007
Police Respond to Report of Naked Man in Senate Office Building

Just another buttoned-down day on Capitol Hill? Hardly!

U.S. Capitol Police officers today chased away a man who appeared to be running naked through the Hart Senate Office Building.

A Senate aide called police after spotting what looked to be a fully nude man sauntering on the 7th and 8th floors of Hart.

Police sources told The Sleuth that the man was "not arrested" -- because when officers arrived on the scene they found that the alleged nudist wasn't actually naked. He just looked that way in his formfitting, spandex body suit.

As Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer, who oversees Capitol Police, joked, "All that is flesh-colored isn't naked."

It didn't appear that the qausi-streaker had a cause célèbre or a specific issue of protest. He wasn't arrested or detained, one Senate law-enforcement official said, because "no crime was committed."

Police told Senate aides that "this has happened before with this guy," according to one fully clothed source who works in Hart. The source said police can't figure out how he passed through security wearing only a flesh-colored bodysuit.

UPDATE:
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said "the initial report was that he was naked" but that it turned out "he was wearing spandex." She said police who responded to the incident also said the man was wearing a t-shirt.

Police questioned and released Spandex Man in very short order after finding him to be a law-abiding citizen, Schneider said. "He didn't come back with any warrants, he wasn't wanted for anything, he didn't break any rules, he didn't assault anybody," she said.

Oil union strike delayed until monday

Looks like some sort of breakthrough may have happened, I wonder what concessions were agreed to?

Breaking News: The Union has postponed the strike until Monday May 14th in order to engage in further negotiations with the authorities and employers. The Union is taking the neogitiation offers in good faith.
More news to follow.

More info at http://www.handsoffiraqioil.org/

Iraq's Oil workers go on strike today

Iraq's oil wealth shouldn't be privatized!

Iraqi Oil Workers to Strike Over Privatisation Law

Iraq’s largest oil workers’ trade union will strike this Thursday, in protest at the controversial oil law currently being considered by the Iraqi parliament. The move threatens to stop all exports from the oil-rich country.

The oil law proposes giving multinational companies the primary role in developing Iraq’s huge untapped oilfields, under contracts lasting up to 30 years. Oil production in Iraq, like in most of the Middle East, has been in the public sector since the 1970s.

The Union, representing 26,000 oil workers, has held three previous strikes since 2003, each time stopping exports, for up to two days at a time. The announcement of the strike has spurred negotiations with the Ministry of Oil, which are ongoing.

Imad Abdul-Hussain, Federation Deputy Chair of the IFOU said:

"The central government must be in total ownership and complete control of production and the export of oil". He warned against the controversial Production Sharing Agreements favoured by foreign companies, saying other forms of co-operation with foreign companies would be acceptable but not at the level of control and profiteering indicated in the current Oil Law.

Federation President Hassan Jumaa Awad al Assadi said:

"The oil law does not represent the aspirations of the Iraqi people. It will let the foreign oil companies into the oil sector and enact privatisation under so called production sharing agreements. The federation calls for not passing the oil law, because it does not serve the interests of the Iraqi people."

The Union is not alone in its’ condemnation of the current oil law. Opponents of the law also include all of Iraq’s other trade unions, a number of political parties, and a group of over 60 senior Iraqi oil experts.

Hassan Jumaa went on to say:

"The federation calls on all unions in the world to support our demands and to put pressure on governments and the oil companies not to enter the Iraqi oil fields."

Union members are also demanding an improved salary structure and a distribution of land for building homes.

Ewa Jasiewicz of Naftana – the UK Support Committee for the IFOU said:

‘The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, like any union, has the right to engage in collective bargaining over issues important to their members. In this case, the issue of who controls Iraq’s oil and the economic future of the country is an issue which is important to all Iraqis. The Union has repeatedly called for civil society inclusion in the drafting of the oil law and has been ignored. They are now asserting their right to have a voice in the decision making process affecting their industry and Iraq’s economic future – their courage and commitment to democracy should be supported’.

Instead of the union’s participation being welcomed, leaders have been accused of jeopardizing security and threatened with legal action.

Farouq Al-Asadi, the Federation's Secretary said:

‘The Oil Minister chooses to forget that the right to strike is guaranteed by the constitution - we have chosen the legal path’.

Union leaders have already received a number of death threats which they are taking seriously.

"As soon as the federation called for the strike, many of our members and officials were physically threatened by parties active in the political process, with the aim of thwarting the strike and undermining the message of the strike organisers."



Notes

The IFOU is an independent trade union representing workers across 4 southern provinces in Iraq: Misan, Dhi Qar, Basra and Mauthanna in nine oil and gas related companies.

The Union has been organizing since April 2003 and has stopped oil exports and production over wages and workers rights in the past. It has also held protests against oil smuggling, former regime bosses and what the union sees as the deliberate neglect and degradation of the industry in order to justify private investment.

Union members have carried out reconstruction work on drilling rigs, port equipment, pipelines and refineries since the invasion with minimal, mostly local resources.

The Union is not linked to any political party in Iraq but has members which belong to various parties.

The Union enjoys the support of trade unions and civil society organizations around the world including the International Confederation of Energy, Mining and General Workers Union (ICEM), the AFL-CIO in the US, and the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) in the UK including the NUJ and TGWU. The union is partnered with UK development charity War on Want, the 3 milllion strong US Labor Against War in the USA, and Italian NGO Un Ponte Per.

Her majesty calls it like she sees it!

Oh, man this lady is always spot on ; "ill-bred, impetuous, and a social boor." Man, she's got his number!

May 8, 2007 -- Our White House sources report that the Queen's visit to the White House yesterday was a protocol disaster. Not only had George W. Bush commenced his drinking routine early in the morning, just in time for the first mid-day visit by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, but his drunkenness continued well into the evening during the lavish state dinner.

Bush dreaded the Queen's visit and prepared for it by getting drunk. The Queen has never hidden her dislike for Bush who she considers ill-bred, impetuous, and a social boor. The Queen's dislike for Bush goes back to 1991 when he insulted her during another state visit by inquiring which of her children was the "black sheep" of her family. The Queen told him to mind his own business. The Queen was also unhappy that then-First Lady Barbara Bush failed to control her son during that visit to the White House. In November 2003, the Queen was incensed about Bush's Marine One helicopter tearing up her flower garden at Buckingham Palace and traumatizing her flock of flamingoes. Bush's communications staff also damaged expensive fabrics inside the royal residence. Bush never compensated the Queen for the damage and she had to file an insurance claim.

With that background, Bush groused about having to wear a white tie tuxedo for last night's state dinner. It took the direct intervention of Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice to convince Bush to wear the appropriate attire. During yesterday's welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, Bush insinuated that the Queen was over 230 years old when he stated she had helped celebrate America's Bicentennial in 1776. The Queen was heard to have uttered the words, "Oh dear." Bush then winked at the Queen who was not amused by the president's antics. Bush also stated that the Queen gave him a look "that only a mother could give a child." It was not the first time the Queen had looked at Bush with an icy stare. Bush also nearly put his arm on the Queen's shoulder as he escorted her down the stairs from the red carpeted dais.

White House protocol officials remained nervous about Bush during the entire Royal visit. The Queen and Prince Phillip are sure to have much to talk about on their trip back home this evening. While the Queen was keen on visiting Virginia and the Kentucky Derby, her past dealings with the Bush family had her fearing the White House visit. Bush's boorish demeanor was in keeping with his past indiscretions around the Queen.

RUN RON RUN!!!

More good news from the Ron Paul campaign. I point to the YouTube ranking, that's massive, 8th overall watched video!

Ron Paul Builds Momentum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 8, 2007

ARLINGTON, VA – Congressman Ron Paul's support has soared since the first Republican presidential debate. Conservative commentator John McLaughlin, host of “The McLaughlin Group," cited Ron Paul as having given "the best performance of the debate." In fact, the Paul campaign's apparent strength has many other pundits scrambling to explain it. Paul campaign officials offer the following examples of the candidate's rising success.

Since the debate on May 3, Ron Paul:

1. Handily won two post-debate polls posted by event sponsor MSNBC.

2. Placed a close third (18%) in a post-debate poll on the conservative Drudge Report.

3. Won an ABCNews.com online debate poll with 84%.

4. Won a C-SPAN online GOP candidate poll with 69%.

5. Became the third most-mentioned person in the blogosphere, beating out Paris Hilton, according to the reputable Technorati.com.

6. Produced a YouTube.com video that was ranked the 8th most popular overall video, and the most-viewed political video.

7. Was featured, by popular demand, on the front of Digg.com.

8. Generated so many bulletin posts on MySpace.com that the site owner News Corp. blocked all additional posts about Dr. Paul.

9. Became a "most searched" term on Google and Yahoo!.

10. Saw a quadrupling of daily visitors to RonPaul2008.com.

"These figures speak for themselves," said campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Ron Paul has quickly become a strong contender for the GOP nomination because of his powerful message of freedom and limited government."

-30-

http://www.ronpaul2008.com

No marx cafe tonight.

I'm staying in tonight, I'm sick and have to get up early tommorow morning. I'll be back next week.

Airplanes won’t fix themselves!

More bad news, our Military is slowly being worn to the breaking point.

General: Air fleet wearing down
Warplanes have cracked wings

By Tom Vanden Brook
USA TODAY

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — The Air Force's fleet of warplanes is older than ever and wearing out faster because of heavy use in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the service's top combat commander.

Gen. Ronald Keys, who leads the Air Combat Command, points to cracked wings on A-10 attack planes and frayed electrical cables on U-2 spy planes.

Compared to 1996, the Air Force now spends 87% more on maintenance for a warplane fleet that is less ready to fly, Air Force records show.

They also show that as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, Air Force and other military aircraft are flying more missions in harsh environments.

Keys said he's concerned that policymakers will only pay attention when a plane either crashes on takeoff or over a city "because a wing falls off."

"I don't want to write a letter, or have my successor write a letter, 'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your son or daughter are dead because the wing fell off on takeoff. We knew it was going to fall off, we just didn't know when.' That's kind of what we're getting down to," Keys said.

Arcing wires near fuel tanks recently forced the Air Force to ground its fleet of 33 U-2 spy planes in March for at least a day, Keys said.

The average Air Force warplane is 23.5 years old compared with 8.5 years in 1967. In 2001, the average plane was 22 years old.

The Air Force says it wants to buy new planes to lower the average age of its fleet to 15 years over the next two decades. That will cost an estimated $400 billion.

There are 356 A-10s in service. The plane is often used to support ground forces in close combat. The A-10 carries missiles and bombs, but its cannon is particularly effective in strafing.

The Air Force recently bought replacement wings for 132 of its workhorse A-10s at $7 million per plane. The Air Force wants another $34 million for more replacement wings this year.

In the past week, A-10s have attacked enemy forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The planes shot at and bombed Taliban rebels in Afghanistan; in Iraq, A-10s performed a variety of reconnaissance missions to find and stop insurgents from burying roadside bombs.

Aircraft age is misleading, said Christopher Bolkcom, a national security analyst at the Congressional Research Service. Some aircraft may have been lightly used for years and have safe flying hours left. Maintaining old planes may be expensive but often cheaper than buying a new aircraft, he said.

"Chronological age is only one measure of aircraft health," Bolkcom said. "Age is not a safety issue."

While refurbished planes often fly as well as new ones, they may also require more crew members to fly and maintain them, said James Jay Carafano, a military analyst at the Heritage Foundation. "These life-cycle costs really matter," he said.
Page 1A

Ron Paul, clear winner in last night's debate

Check out the poll numbers from last night's MSNBC debate. Ron is ahead in 4 out of 6 categories, and beat Romney in the all important Leadership Qualities ranking. This is beyond my wildest dreams that he would distinguish himself so formidably as a legit candidate for the executive office coming out of this debate. It's clear his message resonates soundly with the American people. Another way in which Ron set himself apart from the other canidates was in how he answered the questions, he rarely needed more than the alloted 30 seconds and never attempted to over talk the moderator, a real class act. His campaign is going to continue to build momentum coming into the debate in SC on the 15th. As soon as I get paid next week I’m going to send the man’s campaign a $100 donation, I urge every concerned citizen patriot who holds the constitution close to their heart to do the same by following this link and making a financial commitment to further the cause of freedom. RUN RON RUN!!!

Iranian RFP highlights American opportunity

Can't our central intelligence agency set up a front company and win this contract? It seems to me this is the type of subterfuge our nation used to excel at, a well planned effort to blunt the Iranians in such an underhanded clever fashion that they wouldn't ever see it coming. I'm afraid that our ability to engineer this type of operation has been seriously eroded over the last 30 years. Sigh... Our CIA is a pitiful shadow of its former self.

May. 3, 2007 20:58 | Updated May. 4, 2007 2:53
'Herald Tribune' defends Iran nuke ad
By MICHAEL LANDO - NEW YORK


The International Herald Tribune newspaper has defended its acceptance of an advertisement seeking bids for two large scale nuclear reactors in Iran. The ad appeared on April 20, including in the edition of the IHT distributed with the English version of the Haaretz daily.

Inviting bidders to help in the construction of two pressurized light water reactors in the Bushehr province, the ad also ran in the Financial Times on April 25.

This despite growing concern over Iran's nuclear proliferation program, particularly in the light of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated threats of destruction against Israel.

"The Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran (NPPD), an affiliate of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, invites sealed bids for contractors/companies for the Design, Supply of Equipment, Construction and Commissioning of two large-scale units (1000-16000 MWe each) with third generation nuclear power, pressurized Light Water Reactor in the Bushehr Province of Iran," the ad says.

Iran announced on April 15 that it is seeking bids for two additional reactors to be located near Bushehr for producing electricity. The announcement came as Iran and Russia remained at loggerheads over funding for the first plant in the same region.

David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said in response that bidding on light water reactors "violates the spirit" of Security Council Resolution 1737, which prohibits all states from the supply, sale or transfer of goods and technologies which could contribute to Iran's enrichment related processing or heavy water related activities of nuclear weapons delivery systems.

"It's a bad idea, and I don't think Iran should be sold reactors now," he said. "The spirit of the Security Council is to grandfather certain existing reactors, but not to allow new ones."

An IHT spokesman, asked whether accepting such an ad was appropriate, wrote: "We believe that advertising should be as free and open as the dictates of honesty and decency allow. In our view, advertising is an essential ingredient in the broad concept of a free press."

Asked about the ad running in a newspaper published in Israel, which has been threatened by Ahmadinejad, a Haaretz advertising manager was quoting as saying that the newspaper does not see the International Herald Tribune material most of the time until after it is printed, and that Haaretz would likely not refuse to publish material from the i>International Herald Tribune.

Ron Paul locked out, call to action!

edit: I'm going to leave this info up here for the time being, but all signs point to Ron being on the stage in SC on the 15th. Unless Fox does in fact bar him, but as it looks now he will be there.



Fox-TV is denying Ron Paul to be
in the South Carolina Presidential
Debate----says he is not a recognized, major candidate !!!!!

EVERYONE !!!! call SC GOP Office 803 - 988 - 8440

ask to speak to ROB GODFREY and ALSO ask to speak with

HOGAN GRIDLEY ---SC GOP Chief Executive Officer.

The Republican GOP can put a stop to this !!!!

WE NEED TO HAVE RON PAUL IN THE SC MAY 15th DEBATE !!!!

Ron Paul has paid his the $25,000 registration fee to be on SC Ballot
--- He deserves to be in the May 15th debate --- He's a Republican
Candidate for President !!!! --- he deserves to be heard !!!! ----

The American people deserve to have the right to hear him in the debate
!!!

Are they --- The Republican Party in SC going to allow "Fox-TV" to
choose who the American public will hear on May 15th debates?

<--- THEN ---> email Fox news and ask them to include Ron Paul, the
only candidate that is FAIR AND BALLANCED.

Flood their computers with messages... all of them.. there is power in
the people and we have to let them know we want our candidate to have
as much coverage as the rest of them get.

Come on gang this needs to be done.. cross post this list to all your
groups and let’s make one big bunch of messages....

WE WERE SUCCESSFUL BEFORE IN GETTING RON PAUL ON FOX WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!

Just copy, paste and send this message to all below:

"As a loyal Fox viewer I ask that you include Ron Paul in the South Carolina Debate. I feel Dr. Ron Paul embodies the true ideals our nation stands for, and his views and plans need to be heard. Please remain the Fair and Balanced network by including Dr. Ron Paul, otherwise I will find my news elsewhere."

Thank you,
[INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]

TO CALL FOX NEWS CHANNEL:
1-888-369-4762

TO E-MAIL COMMENTS:
Comments@foxnews.com, AmericasNewsroom@foxnews.com, Beltway@foxnews.com, Myword@foxnews.com, Bigstory-weekend@foxnews.com, Bigstory-weekend@foxnews.com, Bullsandbears@foxnews.com, Cash@foxnews.com, Cavuto@foxnews.com, Fncimag@foxnews.com, Forbes@foxnews.com, Friends@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, Feedback@foxnews.com, Jamie@foxnews.com, Feedback@foxnews.com, Fncspecials@foxnews.com, FNS@foxnews.com, Newswatch@foxnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, Atlarge@foxnews.com, Hannityandcolmes@foxnews.com, Heartland@foxnews.com, JER@foxnews.com, Lineup@foxnews.com, Martha@foxnews.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, Oreilly@foxnews.com, Redeye@foxnews.com, Special@foxnews.com, Studiob@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, Cavuto@foxnews.com, Hemmer@foxnews.com, colonelscorner@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, Fatherjonathan@foxnews.com, Drmanny@foxnews.com, Lisonlaw@foxnews.com, Housecall@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com

Marx Cafe Tonight!!

Another night of good beats and fine eats! Music starts at 9:30. Seeya there!


3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW