Der Parson's rant

Left of Centrist » Meme(ories) lie the corners of my mind
I guess I suppose to tell 7 lies about myself.

I was born at a young age at the family farm,


Life was hard on the farm,


So I moved to the big city of Fort Wayne,


For some higher education,


Once I got to Fort Wayne I was bored so I invented the home computer,


Then with my old Amish pal Al, we invented the Internet


We put the Internet to use for the most useful thing we could think of,

(ha ha, I bet someone though I would have a naked chick pictured here or something porn related)

Then rumors of a dark lord started to circulate,


Me and another old pal decided we must fight this evil,


We decided it was best for me to change my identity (actually I think Keith was threatened by my looks, so I think he bribed the doctor to make me ugly and shave my head)


We called my old pal Al again and put our heads together,


We deciede the best thing to do would be to invent something we decided to call the "weblog" or "Blog"


It took us a while but we uncovered a conspiracy. For some reason things just didn't add up.


There was a real threat behind this shell of a president,


Once again we needed help to over come this foe, only one thing could stop this evil,



With all our hard work, the dream finally came true,


Well that is probably more then 7 lies, but it's all in good fun. I don't really have anyone to tag, everyone I know has been tagged I think.

I found this amusing.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

I found this video interesting.



Nothing like hot chicks singing a catchy tune about my favorite moron President.

I'm sure most everyone has seen the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, here is a Move On petition to get congress to investigate and hold people accountable.

Subject: Help hold contractors accountable

Hi, Jamie Leigh Jones was working in Iraq for a subsidiary of Halliburton when she was drugged and brutally gang-raped by several coworkers.

For the last two years, she's been asking the US government to hold the perpetrators accountable, but the men who raped her may never be brought to justice because Halliburton and other contractors in Iraq aren't subject to US or Iraqi laws.

I just signed a petition urging Congress to investigate the rape of Jamie Leigh Jones, hold those involved accountable, and bring US contractors under the jurisdiction of US law. Can you join me at the link below?

Hold Contractors Accountable!

Thanks

Jamie has started a foundation to help other people.

Support Jamie Leigh Jones' Foundation

Jamie started an organization to help US citizens who are victims of sexual abuse, rape and harassment while working abroad for federal contractors, corporations or the government. Her organization wants to ensure that overseas contractors and corporations act responsibly, and those who commit crimes are held accountable.

Jamie Leigh Foundation

9 Dems Say No To Christmas Resolution In Congress - Politics on The Huffington Post:

"Rep. Jim McDermott says he is no Grinch, even though he voted against Christmas. The Democrat from Washington state says he was protesting an expected veto of a children's health insurance bill when he voted against a resolution recognizing the importance of Christmas. 'While the Republicans are passing a resolution celebrating Christmas, the president was vetoing health care for children. There's a little bit of irony going on around here,' McDermott said Thursday."

Wow you really showed that evil George Bush. What's next cooking up the Easter Bunny for a nice rabbit stew? I bet ol' George will think twice before asking for more Iraq money, you guys have him shaking in his cowboy boots now. Oh brother. These Demos can't show any backbone when it comes to war funding because they worry about how it will look. So they take a stand against Christmas. The Republicans play these guys like a fiddle, they know damn well if they but a resolution up about celebrating Christmas there will be some Dems that vote against it because they respect other religions. Wait 'till the next time one of those Dem's seats are up for election. The Republican's will dig up this Christmas vote and slap that all over the MSM. I would rather these guys vote against the war then vote against Santa.

I am borrowing this from Left In Aboite


This has given me a whole new outlook on life. Becoming a God over my own world has a certain appeal. I don't think it will convince me to vote for Mittens though.

Found this posted on Doonesbury.com today:

SAY WHAT?
"Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
-- Mike Huckabee, to the New York Times Magazine. Huckabee later apologized to Romney.

I guess he didn't really need to apologize.

Vic Demize from The Pragmatist's Corner told me about this.

I did a search on Google it does give a lot of different sites with stories.

Women send panties to Myanmar in protest

BANGKOK, Thailand - Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

"When I see a woman walking around with a burqa, I see a Nazi. That's what I see. How do you like that? A hateful Nazi who would like to cut your throat and kill your children. She's doing it to spit in your face. She's saying, 'You white moron, you, I'm going to kill you if I can.'"
-- Michael Savage, on his syndicated radio show

I've always thought these conservative radio personalities were ignorant, but this guy just won the top prize. I'm surprised this guy doesn't have a show on Fox News by now.
That statement is just messed up on so many levels. I thought someone wearing a burqa was saying, "I'm practicing my religion". I don't understand the spitting in your face part. It's not like anyone tells them they can't wear a burqa so they put it on anyway. Most of those countries they are required to wear them or they will get stoned or worse.

If your going to compare Nazis to anyone compare them to conservatives. I think you will find a lot more similarities.

Since today is December 7, here is something I seen in a newspaper. I don't remember which paper it was to link the story.

Welcome - Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund

Engineers estimate as few as 2 years of useful life remaining before the world's most complete Pearl Harbor museum must be abandoned

Apparently the Pearl Harbor Memorial is sinking into the ocean. A lot of things that have been donated can not be displayed due to the limited room they have and the danger of the memorial sinking and loosing everything.

The USS Arizona Memorial's museum is the world's leading repository of the history, artifacts, documents and research related to the attack on Pearl Harbor and early WWII in the Pacific. It must be preserved.

There are links on the website to make donations to help preserve this national memorial. Things like Pearl Harbor, WTC, and Illegal invasions by neocons must be remembered so they don't happen again.

It seems most everyone has forgotten about poor Myanmar, but things haven't gotten any better for them.
2 Months After Protests, Myanmar Junta in Control - New York Times

BANGKOK, Dec. 7 — The streets are quiet in Myanmar. The “destructive elements” are in jail. The international outcry has faded. The junta’s grip on power seems firm.
Two months after they cracked down on huge anti-government demonstrations led by Buddhist monks, the generals who rule Myanmar have reason to feel relief.
It seems they have ridden out their most difficult challenge in two decades and are set to maintain control through force and fear, offering only small concessions to the demands of their critics abroad.
If change is coming in Myanmar, experts say, it is likely to be a long process and to emerge from within the power structure.
Diplomats and human rights groups say that an unknown number of protesters and monks remain in prison today, that many monasteries in the main city, Yangon, have emptied out and that new arrests are reported almost every day.

If there is anyplace that needs new leadership it's Burma. The UN needs to do more then just send some envoy that is just going to get turned away. They turned a blind eye when the United States invaded another country and overthrew their legal leader. You would think they would be willing to do something about a illegal leadership.

Romney Seeks to Defuse Concerns Over Mormon Faith - New York Times: "“Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot,” Mr. Romney said. “And so together they prayed, and, together, they fought, and together, by the grace of God, they founded this great nation.”"

Sorry, Flip-Flopping Romney, your no Sam Adams.

“I believe in my Mormon faith and endeavor to live by it,” he said.

And showing the fine line he was treading, he promised not to be beholden to church authorities, and devoted the majority of his address to calling for a robust role for religion in public life, declaring there was a common moral heritage across religious lines in the country that he would champion.

He's not a very good Mormon if he isn't going to be "beholden" to church authorities. Isn't that what Mormon's are all about?

I'm sure Mormons aren't like ones on that HBO "Big Love" show. Mormons still keep everything secret and seem to most people to be a cult. I don't understand how someone who is such a good Mormon can flip-flop so much? Isn't the whole Christian faith supposed to be based on the teaching of Christ? I don't remember Christ flip-flopping on issues.

Remember September 11, 1857? When Brigham Young sent his chosen people out to slaughter innocent men and women? oh wait, I guess that would make Flip -Flopper the perfect republican candidate.

I now have something to look forward too next year.
(well other then seeing Gorge Bush being removed from the oval office)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian trailers and video clips on Yahoo! Movies

I can see from the trailer they added a lot of padding. Like they did with The Lion The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but was was added was pretty good. If you read the books you will know they need to make the movies a bit more exciting. The books are good, but they are only about 200 pages. There was no flying around or falling from castle walls or big siege engines like the the trailer is showing, still I think it looks like a good movie.

This is pretty funny.



If you haven't experienced Chad Vader, go on YouTube and check out the videos. They are pretty funny. Probably funnyer if your a Star Wars fan, but even if your not the videos are good for a laugh or two.

Court orders Tweety, Mickey to take stand - Criminal weirdness- msnbc.com: "ROME - Your honor, I thought I saw a pussycat! In what lawyers believe was a clerical error worthy of a Looney Tunes cartoon, a court in Naples included the cartoon characters Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend, Daisy, in a summons, officials said. In fact, it's a criminal trial of a Chinese man accused of counterfeiting products of Disney and Warner Bros."

And we thought the courts in this country were crazy?

Losing Ground In Iowa, Clinton Assails Obama - washingtonpost.com

Clinton, campaigning across Iowa on Sunday, appeared to be spoiling for a fight with her chief Democratic rival in national polls -- even at one point describing the battle as "fun."

"I have said for months that I would much rather be attacking Republicans, and attacking the problems of our country, because ultimately that's what I want to do as president. But I have been, for months, on the receiving end of rather consistent attacks. Well, now the fun part starts. We're into the last month, and we're going to start drawing the contrasts," she said.

That drew a swift rebuke from Obama. "This presidential campaign isn't about attacking people for fun, it's about solving people's problems, like ending this war and creating a universal health care system," he said in a statement. "Washington insiders might think throwing mud is fun, but the American people are looking for leadership that can unite this country around a common purpose."

Hopefully Obama and Clinton will keep this in-fighting going and turn voters off and help John Edwards get more support. That's what I hope for anyway.

We have a new blogger around these parts. Vic DeMize (a great name too) has started a blog called Pragmatists Corner.

If your like me and don't know what pragmatists means, here is a definition from The Free Dictionary

prag·ma·tism (prgm-tzm)
n.
1. Philosophy A movement consisting of varying but associated theories, originally developed by Charles S. Peirce and William James and distinguished by the doctrine that the meaning of an idea or a proposition lies in its observable practical consequences.
2. A practical, matter-of-fact way of approaching or assessing situations or of solving problems.

Go check him out he's got some good stuff going. Check him out before Bush has us all shutdown.

Vic has been around since the old BBS days. You know dial up modems. Back in my day we had 2400 baud modems and WE LIKED IT! We dowloaded up hill both ways. You kids with the fancy broadband don't know how good you have it.

Welcome aboard Vic, (your going to burn in hell for using that internet!)

Hostage standoff at Clinton campaign office - International Herald Tribune: " Hostage standoff at Clinton campaign office,Reuters Published: November 30, 2007

ROCHESTER, New Hampshire: A man claiming to have a bomb strapped to his chest seized several hostages at Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office on Friday before releasing two in a tense standoff with police. It was unclear whether there were any hostages remaining in the campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire and police were still surrounding the building."

I don't really want Hillary to be president either, but I think the Republicans are even more worried.

I wonder if Bill Clinton will get one of these for Christmas?


Hillary Nutcracker : Stupid.com: "You may hate her. You may love her. But friends, you've never seen her like this. THE HILLARY NUTCRACKER"

I thought about buying one, but they cost $22.00. It's too bad they ran out.

If you were wondering what to get the President that thinks he knows everything. Here is the perfect stocking stuffer.

Center for Constitutional Rights: "Send Bush an early holiday gift, courtesy of CCR.
The President needs to be reminded that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States-his administration has been systematically destroying the Constitution since he took office."

I can't believe I forgot about this a few weeks ago.
The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald November 10, 1975

November 10, 1975 the bulk freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all hands.

Here are some links to site with lots of information, I'll let you check them out for yourself instead of cutting and pasting the stuff here.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald

The fateful voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald

And of course the Gordon Lightfoot song

Putin Says U.S. Is Meddling in Russian Election - New York Times

MOSCOW, Nov. 26 — President Vladimir V. Putin today accused the United States of trying to taint the legitimacy of upcoming Russian parliamentary elections by pressing a group of prominent independent election observers to abandon their attempts to monitor the campaign.

Putin has to have gone insane. How does the world have so many nuts running all these countries? Between Imanutjob in Iran, Putin in Russia, Bush in USA, Chavez in Venezuela, and Kim Jong-il in North Korea. Just to name a few of the biggest nuts.

It looks like Putin is taking Russia back to the old USSR ways, and doing everything he can to make the United States the enemy once again.

Mr. Putin has turned the parliamentary elections into a referendum on his leadership, and in recent days he has stepped up his campaigning for his party, United Russia. At the same time the Kremlin has used its control over the election laws, government agencies and the news media to ensure that the opposition has little if any chance of gaining a foothold in the next Parliament.

Make me wonder is George Bush taking notes on how to stay in power? Maybe George and Putin making plans over the red phone so they both can consolidate their power. What a great excuse George will have for declaring marshal law and suspending the constitution, or if nothing else helping ensure we end up with rotten Rudy as the next president.

I really hope we can do something to get this country back on track, and keep the Russian's from going back to their insane cold-war days.

Check out what famous classic Movie I am(on the left side at the top, I don't know how to resize the picture though). I did the famous leader test, but I didn't like what I got. (I was Adolf Hitler, maybe I was too honest?) This Personality Test site has tons of test, at the bottom are links to the classic movie and famous leader test.
The reason I'm excited about this is, I love the movie Apocalypse Now. The Redux version is also just as good, just very long. I think I would have to say Apocalypse Now is my favorite movie, even above Cool Hand Luke, The Godfather, or Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I have always wanted to read the book Heart of Darkness (wow, it's only $1.50, guess I should order it) or read it online. I think having the book would be much better though.

Former Bushie sheds more light on the Bush administration.

Comcast.net News - Former Aide Blames Bush for Leak Deceit

By MATT APUZZO, AP
41 minutes ago
WASHINGTON —
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

It's amazing how Bush and Co. can stay in power. I guess it's these types of tatics that make it possible though. Do the Bush guys have any morals or ever have trouble sleeping at night? I'm not sure what this says about Scott McClellan either, "he unknowingly passed along false information." It makes him sound like a dupe, maybe that is why Bush hired him though.

Here is a link to the book publisher PublicAffairs Books: What Happened

I thought this was a joke, but I guess it's not. I am sorry I don't think you can not blame this one on the conservatives.

Virginia Heffernan - The Medium - Sesame Street - Television - Internet Video - Media - YouTube - New York Times

Sunny days! The earliest episodes of “Sesame Street” are available on digital video! Break out some Keebler products, fire up the DVD player and prepare for the exquisite pleasure-pain of top-shelf nostalgia.
Just don’t bring the children. According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”
Say what? At a recent all-ages home screening, a hush fell over the room. “What did they do to us?” asked one Gen-X mother of two, finally. The show rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

Nothing in the children’s entertainment of today, candy-colored animation hopped up on computer tricks, can prepare young or old for this frightening glimpse of simpler times. Back then — as on the very first episode, which aired on PBS Nov. 10, 1969 — a pretty, lonely girl like Sally might find herself befriended by an older male stranger who held her hand and took her home. Granted, Gordon just wanted Sally to meet his wife and have some milk and cookies, but . . . well, he could have wanted anything. As it was, he fed her milk and cookies. The milk looks dangerously whole.

No more plastic bags in San Francisco grovery stores

Starting Tuesday, plastic bags illegal at big S.F. grocery stores: "Attention San Francisco shoppers: Plastic grocery store bags are going, going, gone. Starting Tuesday, large grocery stores in the city can no longer use the traditional plastic bags that are a staple of the supermarket checkout line, as a city ordinance passed earlier this year to ban the bags takes effect."

This is a pretty good idea. Other cities are following and hopefully more American cities will follow.

Oakland passed a similar ban that goes into effect early next year and London and Paris both have followed San Francisco's lead

GOP seeks recount in Fort Wayne’s 2nd District | The Journal Gazette

GOP seeks recount in Fort Wayne’s 2nd District
By Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette

The Allen County Republican Party will ask for a recount in Fort Wayne’s 2nd District City Council race, which was separated by 13 votes.

I was kind of surprised this didn't happen sooner. You can't blame them for asking for a recount, with only a 13 vote difference. Hopefully Karen will still have enough votes to be our council person for this area.

H/T The Scoop

I read through this slide show on Slate.com earlyer, It made me a bit sad, but a bit happy. I always loved "Peanuts", even the strips from the 50's and 60's there is still something about it I can relate too...

The genius behind Peanuts. - By Brian Doherty - Slate Magazine: "Happiness Is a Warm Puppy, The dour genius behind Peanuts. By Brian Doherty"

Oh that Georgie, he's at it again,

Bushism of the Day - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine: "'In other words, he was given an option: Are you with us or are you not with us? And he made a clear decision to be with us, and he's acted on that advice.'—on President Pervez Musharraf, Crawford, Texas, Nov. 10, 2007"

It makes my brain hurt, how does asking someone a question turn to them acting on advice? There must be some conservative Bush worshiping nutjob out there that can explain this too me.

Have we got this lazy? Now you don't even have to get off the couch and walk to the computer, just pick up a cell phone and send Papa John's a text message.

Papa John's Short Message Service (SMS)/Text Messaging Information Center: "We've made ordering hot & fresh Papa John's pizza easier than ever with our convenient text messaging options. Find Papa John's locations, receive special offers and more--all through the convenience of text messaging! And now we have a NEW text ordering feature that's made ordering Papa John's pizza as simple as sending us a short text message. Check out all our text messaging features and try them today! "

I might give it a try this weekend though...

Update, actually after some checking, no I'm not going to be using text messaging to order my pizza, it looks like you send them a message, they send one back then you send another one, then you have to conferm it with another, I don't have unlimited text messaging, that could get expensive, and it looks like a pain in the butt. I will stick to the internet or the good ol' phone call.

Oh that wacky George is at again. Butchering the innocent English language. Maybe they should hire a actor to play the president? oh wait we already went through that in the '80s

Bushism of the Day - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine: "Bushism of the Day By Jacob Weisberg Posted Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, at 2:39 PM ET
'I don't particularly like it when people put words in my mouth, either, by the way, unless I say it.'—Crawford, Texas, Nov. 10, 2007"

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 27:17.

Bush vetoes health-labor bill - Yahoo! News

Bush vetoes health-labor bill - Yahoo! News: "Bush vetoes health-labor bill By Caren Bohan 35 minutes ago NEW ALBANY, Indiana (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday vetoed a measure to fund education, job training and health programs, marking the sixth veto of his presidency and the latest salvo in a fight with congressional Democrats over domestic spending."

Once again Bush demonstrates his willingness to keep the Iraq war going and going and going. When it comes to spending money on things we really need like education, job training and health, he whips out that veto pen. Then of course all the republicans and libertarian types hail him as some kind of hero.

"I understand some of them in Congress didn't agree with my decision, that's fine," he said. "But whatever their position on the war is we should be able to agree that our troops deserve the full support of those of us in Washington D.C."

What about the rest of America you jackass? Don't we deserve some support? I am getting tired of these right wingnuts that cry about how the troops are fighting for our freedom. They are fighting in Iraq. Iraq didn't invade us or have us under control. Iraq was never a threat to our freedom. Iraq was just used as threat for Emperor Bush and Darth Chaney, and their domestic spying and bypassing the constitution every chance they can.

I don't know if anyone seen this story run in the NY times about Hillary's waitress tipping ordeal.

I could care less about the tipping, I've forgotten to tip once or twice in my life. (I never forgot to tip a stripper, but that's another story).
Here is part of what the waitress had to say, (from the NY times story).

Ms. Esterday said she did not understand what all the commotion was about.
“You people are really nuts,” she told a reporter during a phone interview. “There’s kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now — there’s better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn’t get a tip.”

I thought this was interesting though,

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign on Thursday introduced a Web site dedicated exclusively to the instantaneous rebuttal of charges or news reports it deems offensive or wrong.

The web site is "The Fact Hub". Don't go there looking for a unbiased view of Hillary. If the top banner doesn't give it away "The Fact Hub : The Straight Scoop On Election '08 From The Hillary Clinton Campaign", at the bottom of the page it says "Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President". A few entries I read through didn't really seem to shed any light on things. It looked like more spin to me.
Here is there rebuttal for the tipping story, the NY times story seems to have a little different version.

I think I have to give someone credit though, this is a great idea. If your running a campaign in these days for blogs and Youtube video, you need to have a place to answer your critics or get the spin out after your caught tapping your foot in a airport restroom. I think some local Fort Wayne politician's could have used such a site. Especially with some of the blowhards (on the left and right) around our local scene, sometimes the guy defending you does more damage then the attack would have. At least this way you or "your people" have control of the spin. On the The Fact Hub they have a rebuttal to something Obama said about Hillary not having a plan for Social Security. The rebuttal the quotes and such they have try to spin it as her having a answer, but the way I read it, Obama was right, she does the ol' tap dance around the issue, but never gives a direct answer. I guess at least they are seeing the threat and trying to get a spin out there, hopefully people can make up their own mind. I would say if you going to "The Fact Hub : the straight scoop on election '08 from The Hillary Clinton campaign", your already sailing on the HMS Hillary in the kool-aid seas. On "The Fact Hub" they have a link to another site called "HillaryHub.com", it's just a list of links to news stories blogs about Hillary, another pretty good idea. Both sites have RSS feeds, so if your running a "I love Hillary" blog you can get the kool-aid hooked right up to your veins.

If you really want to do some fact checking, I found these websites, FactCheck.org (added their RSS feed to the right side under the WP Issue tracker). They are nonpartisan and nonprofit, and seem to be credible source to check up what the candidates are saying, they also run FactCheckED.org it is aimed at high school students, sort of a answer to Wikipedia and the possibilities incorrect or just plain false information.
This site, PolitiFact seems ok, but looks likes it's part of a newspaper's website so may not be completly "fair and balanced". Same as the Washington Post Issue Tracker on the right side, it might lean a little.

Comcast.net Entertainment - Winona Ryder Goes Trekking

STAR TREK GEEK WARNING!

I'm sorry, but this movie is going to SUCK and suck hard. They are just beating a dead horse, if they had any respect for Gene Rodneberry they would just let Star Trek go, let the fans imaginations run wild with how things started and end. Star Trek "jumped the shark" a long time ago, sometime during Deep Space 9. Then Voyager just made things worse, Enterprise wasn't as bad as Voyager, but it wasn't that great either. At least they could do is put money into the actual story and writing for a movie, not put all the money into special effects. Give us a actual story, hire some good writers. I hear there a bunch out of work and might need some money. This is just crap, making Spock's mother a Vulcan! Anyone that ever watched any Star Trek would know Spock's mother was human. She was even in a episode of the original TV show. I could care less about Winona Ryder, I'm sure she would be good in the role playing a human or Vulcan. (If you want to see a twisted movie watch A Scanner Darkly with Winona. It really messes with your mind)

Just like the whole Star Wars episodes I,II, III. The only half decent movie was episode III, and only because it paralleled our own screwed up government. We were better off left to our imaginations on how Anikin became evil and all that.

ALL I WANT FROM HOLLYWOOD IS TO STOP SCREWING WITH MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Gina Serpe, eonline
Fri Nov 9, 9:24 AM EST
For Winona Ryder, it's a fine line between pixie-like and Vulcanesque.

The actress has become the latest boldface name attached to J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated reboot of the Star Trek franchise, signing on to star as mother to a young Spock.

It will be Ryder's biggest studio film since 2002, when the two-time Oscar nominee costarred in Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler and S1m0ne with Al Pacino. Ryder laid low for several years following her shoplifting arrest and has only appeared in a handful of mostly independent films, most notably in Richard Linklater's 2006 rotoscope-animated feature, A Scanner Darkly.??

Variety reports the erstwhile Heathers star will play the Vulcan mother of the Starfleet logician,?? sending Trekkers into a tizzy. Abrams is messing with a key element of the Star Trek canon: In all previous installments of the franchise, Spock's mother was human, not Vulcan (the pointy ears come courtesy of his father's side of the family).

As conceived by Trek mastermind Gene Rodenberry, Spock's mother was Amanda Grayson, a teacher who met and married Sarek, the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth. The two later decamped?? to planet Vulcan. Spock's maternal unit was first introduced in a 1967 episode of the original series and portrayed by actress Jane Wyatt. Wyatt reprised the role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

The 36-year-old Ryder will mother Heroes' Zachary Quinto, an actor just six years her junior. It's unclear whether movie makeup magic will make up the age difference or whether Ryder's character will only appear in flashback. Original Spock Leonard Nimoy is also slated to appear in a cameo role, though it's unclear in what capacity.

No official details have been released about the film's plot, other than it will revolve around the Starship Enterprise crew's first mission together.

Ryder's addition signals the end of casting. In recent weeks, Abrams beamed up Chris Pine (Kirk), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), Simon Pegg (Scotty), John Cho (Sulu), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Anton Yelchin (Chekov) and Eric Bana (the nefarious Nero) to the film.

Shooting is scheduled to begin on the film this month and is expected to last through March 2008. The film is slated for a Christmas 2008 release.

?? 2007 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved., http://www.eonline.com/about/copyright/index.jsp

Senate overrides Bush water projects veto - Politics - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects.

Wow, it's almost shocking that Congress and Senate finally stood up to the tyrant and chief.

The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration, that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also includes money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.

"his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects", Bush is pretty much clueless to what goes on outside of the oval office.

The Senate vote was 79-14 to pass the bill. The House voted 361-54 to override the veto Tuesday. Both votes easily exceeded the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to negate a presidential veto.

Do you think he will get the hint that he was horribly wrong? I would bet not. With so many Republicans turning against him he will probably be sending Darth Chaney and the waterboard crew to visit. I can almost hear Chaney saying "you have failed me for the last time, Senator"

The bill among other things would authorize the construction of navigation improvements for the Upper Mississippi River, at an estimated federal cost of $1.9 billion, and an ecosystem restoration project for the Upper Mississippi costing $1.7 billion.

The Indian River Lagoon project in the Florida Everglades would be funded at about $700 million.

The bill calls for an independent peer review process of all Army Corps projects costing $45 million or more, a bid to cut down on wasteful spending.

To me that all looks like good things. The type of thing any president should support. He has his head so far up his ass and just wants to spend all our money in wars or spying on his own citizens. With global warming this water bill is needed more then ever. We see what happens when a flood happens (FEMA sits on their ass), so we need to spend more on prevention. Hasn't Bush ever heard the saying a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

Ron Paul Raises More Than $4 Million in One Day - New York Times:

"Ron Paul Raises More Than $4 Million in One Day
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: November 6, 2007 Historians and British schoolchildren remember Guy Fawkes as the Roman Catholic, anti-Protestant rebel who on Nov. 5, 1605, tried to assassinate King James I by blowing up the Parliament. Supporters of the Republican primary campaign of the libertarian Representative Ron Paul may remember Fawkes as a wildly successful fund-raising gimmick."

I found this pretty interesting, good ol' Ron Paul. Wouldn't it be great if someone like this could actually become President. I think it will be really hard for Ron to get the actual Republican nomination. I have a feeling the GOP good ol' boys are going to be backing that idiot rotten Rudy. I have noticed a Ron Paul yard sign in front of a house on my way to work, I have ment to get a picture of it, but there is usually someone behind me or such, so I don't want to be stopping traffic just so I can play with my cell phone.

I got up nice and early about 6am. and drove down the street to the polling place. They opened at 6 so there really wasn't anyone there. I was able to walk right in show my ID and sign some book. Go to a electronic voting machine and push the buttons for Henry and Goldner, I even voted for a libertarian for At Large. This was the first time I ever voted. I don't know why but it felt pretty good. I never really paid much attention to politics as I have this year especially locally. I can't wait till next year when (if Georgie W. allows it) there will be presidential elections. I need to get my self in the habit of sleeping more at night so I can get more involved with volunteering the next time around.

I noticed something kind of funny outside the polls there were lots of political signs, but none for Republican golden boy Matt Kelty. The kool-aid must not have been made early enough for them to get some people out to put up signs.

I went downtown to the Court house green for the Henry for Mayor rally. Senator Evan Bayh came in from Washington to support Mr. Henry.
These videos aren't very good (done with the cell phone camera)
Here is Tom Henry rallying the troops

Here is Senator Bayh talking about Tom's character


Robert from Left of Centrist has a better quality video, it shows pretty much the whole rally.

Here are some still photos.
Senator Bayh speaking

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Henry

Here is Tom Henry talking to local blogger John Good of Left in Aboite kids

Here is one of Bayh and Tom Henry, some how another local blogger Rober Rouse from Left of Centrist got in there.

Here is another picture of Senator Bayh with Mike Montagano who is running for Congress.


I thought it was a good rally, I think there was a pretty good turn out. We had great weather and the speakers really got everyone charged up. We have to get out and vote Nov. 6, don't sit home just thinking your guy will win, you have to vote to make sure that will happen.

That's right boys and girls, it's my favorite time of the year. The time when all us good Hoosier boys and girls have to set the clocks BACK one hour. It's called Daylight savings time! I don't think even local super hero Matt Kelty can save you from be drug kicking and screaming into Daylight savings time. Welcome to the 20th century Indiana, hope you enjoy the stay. So don't forget to turn those clocks back when you go to bed Saturday night.



Wait! does this mean I'm going to loose a hour at the bar Saturday / Sunday morning?

Bill Maher hits the nail on the head again. Here is post from Hffington Post about how even "No Child Left Behind" makes money for Bush's corprate buddies.

Bill Maher: No Crony Left Behind - Politics on The Huffington Post

New Rule: In the next fifteen months, President Bush has to perform at least one act that doesn't make money for someone he knows.

Take "No Child Left Behind." At first it just looked like gentle empty bullshit, a way to neutralize the Democrats edge with voters on education issues. What did it even mean? And how could you be against it? Education. It was a perfect cause that would honor the legacy of any president...'s wife. Which made it even more perfect for pre-9/11 Bush. And who could it hurt? No one. It made Lady Bird Johnson's wild-flowers-by-the-highways project look like the fucking Marshall Plan.

Except, like all Bush ideas, there was more to it. To meet the requirements of "No Child Left Behind" America's public schools have ordered more than eleven million standardized tests in the last two years. (New York State alone ordered 1.7 million.) The cost of the tests -- and the testing industry, including test prep -- now exceeds two billion dollars a year. And 90% of the industry is controlled by five corporations. And the largest of them is McGraw-Hill. And the McGraw family just happens to go back 80 years with the Bushes.

Another beneficiary of No Child Left Behind? Neil Bush's educational software company. The one funded by the United Arab Emirates. The one Barbara Bush said the Katrina victims had to spend her donation on.

Which is, of course, all blood under the bridge. But when Bush does anything, there's always some profit motive behind it. Nothing is free but the hookers. So it wasn't surprising that he announced his post war plans were to replenish the coffers with speeches. But before that, he has to do one purely altruistic thing. Just one.

Here is a video found on Youtube about our local boy running for mayor. Some pretty funny slogans!

I got this in e-mail the other day from Evan Bayh about the Burma letter I wrote a month or so ago. It's a pretty good letter I guess, someone did take a little time to write this and give some more information on sanctions against the Myanmar junta. I appreciate them taking a few minutes to respond.

Dear Mr. Parson :

Thank you for contacting me regarding the situation in Burma . I appreciate your thoughts and concerns on this important issue.

As you may know, protests against the Burmese military government, or junta, began anew in late August 2007. By September, the protests grew to an estimated 100,000 persons led by monks. Responding with military force, the junta conducted mass arrests, surrounded Buddhist monasteries, and killed an unknown number of protestors before successfully suppressing the protests late in the month. In response, President Bush tightened sanctions against Burma to target leading Burmese officials, and imposed financial and travel sanctions on 14 senior Burmese government officials.

I support the additional sanctions placed on the junta in Rangoon . Regrettably, too few Asian nations are prepared to isolate the military rulers of Burma . Burma is blessed with natural resources and Burma 's neighbors are putting access to these resources ahead of human rights.

The Burmese people deserve a government that reflects their aspirations and needs. To that end, it is imperative that the international community, including China , join together in opposition to the junta's behavior and abuse of human rights. Individuals, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs should have the freedom to speak their mind and live their lives as they see fit. As a democratic country forged in a revolution against tyranny we have an understandable inclination to support such rights in foreign lands, such as Burma . We must encourage these nations to increase the freedoms granted to their citizens and support more open and democratic societies.

As a proud member of the Senate Armed Services and Senate Intelligence Committees, rest assured that I remain focused on Burma 's conduct and will keep your thoughts in mind when the Senate considers legislation affecting this important issue.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope the information I have provided is helpful. My website, http://bayh.senate.gov , can provide additional details about legislation and state projects, and you can also sign up to receive my monthly e - newsletter, The Bayh Bulletin , by clicking on the link at the top of my homepage. I value your input and hope you will continue to keep me informed of the issues that are important to you.

Office of Senator Evan Bayh
(202) 224-5623
Russell 463
Washington, D.C. 20510

Comcast.net News - Immunity Deal Hampers Blackwater Inquiry

Top News
Immunity Deal Hampers Blackwater Inquiry
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, AP
13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immuntiy from prosecution in its invtestigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians.

I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I really hope the Iraqi government get's wind of this and raises some form of protest.

Here is a look into the future of Fort Wayne, IF Matt Kelty get's elected mayor.

WATCH AND WEEP!!!!



I hope everyone is ready to party like it's 1699! We will all be living in a Amish paradise if Kelty gets elected. Everything plain and status quo.

"Terrorist Buster" Logo — Central Intelligence Agency

Please!!! someone tell me the CIA website was hacked and they put this up as a joke. That or the CIA has a sense of humor we didn't know about. Maybe they hope the terrorist will die laughing. I am actually surprised they didn't put a turban on the little terrorist guy and end up getting sued.

H/T: Divine Democrat

In Myanmar, Fear Is a Constant Companion - New York Times

Here is bit of a update from how things are in Burma, it's heartbreaking to read this, It's hard to put into word the frustration and helplessness. This is just one clip from the article, there is so many other horrible things going on there.

By perpetrating what most Burmese felt was unthinkable — the beating and killing of monks — the ruling generals proved that they would stop at nothing to keep their grip on power. People were again cowed into subjugation. Now dissidents worry that the world, after its initial uproar, will again leave the Burmese people to cope with the junta on their own.

“We want to explode our feelings, but if we do, who will help us?” said a 58-year-old businessman who, like many, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “The U.N.? The U.S.? China? They all said they would help us. But all they did was blah, blah, blah.”

Sorry there haven't been much in the way of new post. I've been keeping up on the news but haven't had time to post stuff. They have us working extra our at the ol' salt mine. We just took over some new projects from another place that went bankrupt. Lots of overtime working Saturday and Sunday. (yay double time pay). I haven't had much time to get to other blogs as much.

Do make sure you check out the new and improved Blog World Report from Left of Centrist. It's a bit like Slate's "Today's Blog" feature but better. Maybe we can petition Robert to do a RSS feed so the feed could be added to the blogs.

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture."
-- Henry Kolm, 90, part of a U.S. intelligence team that interrogated Nazis POWs during WWII

What? you can catch more bees with honey then you can with vinegar? I can't believe it. Does Georgy W. know about this? (Probably not he doesn't know much about anything else)

If you remember a while back I posted about writing a letter to congress and senate.

I got a letter back today from Senator Lugar. It's kind of long to re-type. It's actually a real letter. Not just one sentence about my original letter then some canned political response. It talks about sanctions and such. It talks about getting India, Russia, Japan, and China involved. There is also information were you can go on the senate web site for information.

Here is one paragraph from the letter

"I continue to be particularly concerned with the on-going imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi. I am co-sponsor of a resolution recognizing her achievments in the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma. On March 29, 2006, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which I was then chairman, held a hearing on U.S.-Burma relations. You may wish to read more about this hearing at http://foreign.senate.gov/"

(If you click the U.S.-Burma Relations link at the top you can watch a video of the hearings, it doesn't actually start until like 15min. into the video.)

The letter makes me feel he really does care (maybe I'm easily fooled?). I wouldn't say this letter would guarantee me to vote for him again, but he gets brownie points for trying.

I got this from a local bar last night. We don't want this guy to stay on city council. No telling what he will want to ban next to "proctect us".

Mom charged with buying guns for son - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

MSNBC and NBC News
Updated: 10:58 a.m. ET Oct 12, 2007

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The mother of a 14-year-old who authorities say had a cache of guns, knives and explosive devices in his bedroom for a possible school attack was charged Friday with buying her son three weapons.

Michele Cossey bought her home-schooled son, Dillon, a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, authorities said. The teenager felt bullied and tried to recruit another boy for the possible attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in suburban Philadelphia, authorities said.

It seems the competition for Mother of the year is going to be tight for 2007. Between this nut buying sweet little Dillon several guns, Britney Spears and her on going train wreak of a life and Fort Wayne's own Mrs. Wooten.

Turkey recalls ambassador to U.S. over Armenians - Yahoo! News

"The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved on Wednesday a resolution branding the killings during World War One as genocide."

The non-binding resolution now goes to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote by mid-November.

Why is this a issue for The House of Representatives to vote on? Don't they have better things they should be doing, like children's health car or ending a current war? I wonder what is next, a resolution against the Greeks for sacking Troy? The Romans for taking over most of Europe? Tax dollars at work I suppose.

The issue of the Armenian massacres is deeply sensitive in Turkey, where it is a crime to portray them as "genocide."

Apparently they think they can force other countries to follow this ridiculous law.

The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war effort in Iraq. Any Turkish offensive into northern Iraq would seriously strain ties with Washington and possibly hurt Turkey's bid for European Union membership.

Ankara will lobby Congress to prevent the bill from being approved and Erdogan is due to travel to Washington in early November for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

I guess on the other hand maybe this is a trick by the Democrats to end the war by pissing off one of Bush's allies in the "war on terror", making it really hard for them to keep the war supplies flowing. It might help cut off a attack on Iran.

Gunman dead, 5 injured at Ohio school - Yahoo! News

CLEVELAND - A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in a downtown high school Wednesday before killing himself, and five people were taken to hospitals, authorities said.

Well here we go again, another school shooting. Hopefully there will be more info. later on were the kid got the gun and such. I'm blaming Bush on this one though, who else teaches our young people, the way to solve problems is by the use of force. If you don't like the leader of another country bomb 'em into submission. You don't like being suspended from school, go back with a gun. That will teach 'em.

Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers - New York Times

All Bush needs to do now is teach the Democrats to roll over and play dead, he seem to already have them housebroken.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

Which really means "we are worried about try to get a little bit of the conservative vote when it's time to be re-elected, so we can't look like we are too liberal." George is probably sending these Democrats some special kool-aid to help them sleep at night. Hillary will probably be the first one to vote yes on this bill.

Parents of Wisc. official express shame - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Pretty sad situation in Wisc. 20 year old cop goes on shooting rampage. Lots of people are wondering how he passed background checks and such. How much background does a 20 year old have? There should be some kind of mental health checks being done on guys entering the police force though.

Make sure your registered to vote, and know were your polling place is located.
Voter Registration Info.

Registration for November's election closes Tuesday, Oct. 9. Here is a link to the registration form.
Voter Registration Application

H/T to Be Part of the Solution A new addition to the Fort Wayne blogging community.

Please get out there and vote on Nov. 6th. It's important for the future of Fort Wayne.

Tenn. Man Kills Self at Council Meeting - NEWS - US NATIONAL - Comcast.net

People in Fort Wayne, think our City Council meetings are bad?

For those of you that don't live in Fort Wayne, this is the reason that story caught my attention. Fort Wayne Left, Jeff's last few post have been about a local BBQ business owner who's health really went down hill, probably due to the stress of having to deal with the health inspectors and them forcing him to only run his business a few days a week.

We are having a election for mayor coming up, I wonder how the candidates feel about this?

H/T: Just for the Record

Note, names have been changed to point out the guilty.

One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up -- fireman, mechanic, businessman, salesman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth.

However, little Mike was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied, "My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret named "DaVinci's Decadent Dance Den" and takes off all his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he will go home with some guy and stay with him all night for money."

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some exercises and then took little Mike aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?"


No," the boy said, "He works for the Fort Wayne Republican party, helping to get Matt
Kelty to be our next Mayor, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.

I got a response from my e-mail to Congressman Mike Pence about the situation.

Dear Mr. XXXXXX:
Thank you for contacting me regarding Burma. It was a pleasure to hear from you.

As we begin a new century, America will face unfathomable challenges, but also plentiful opportunities. As your representative in Washington , my mandate is to renew the American dream for Hoosiers and all Americans.

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions. Your participation is vital to my work in the United States Congress. Rest assured, should relevant legislation come to the House floor for a vote, I will certainly keep your views in mind.

Again, thank you for contacting me. It is an honor to serve in the United States House of Representatives and have the benefit of your advice . If you would like more information on this or any other issue, please visit my website at http://mikepence.house.gov.

Warmest regards,

Mike Pence

This kind of seems like a generic response, but at least I got some acknowledgement back I suppose.

Myanmar Junta Unplugs Internet - New York Times

Comcast.net News - Bush Vetoes Child Health Insurance Plan:

"The president argued that the Democratic bill was too costly, took the program too far beyond its original intent of helping the poor, and would entice people now covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage. He has proposed only a $5 billion increase in funding. After Bush's speech, White House counselor Ed Gillespie said the president's offer of more money meant more than the $5 billion extra, but he wasn't specific about how much more."

I know us bloggers are suppose to say something like "Bush hates the children" when we see this story. I don't really see it that way. I think it's the Democrats that aren't thinking of the children. At least not thinking things all the way through. They want to push through a child health care bill so they can pat each other on the back and get Hillary a few more votes come election day, and there is the added benefit of making the Republicans look bad. The Republicans don't need help too look bad.

My concern with the health care plan is this part "and would entice people now covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage." If Bush signed that bill, I can almost guarantee when you went to work Monday morning, you would be having a special benefit meeting. In this meeting they will tell you the company health care will no longer cover your children. Why? because you can get the government to cover them now. Why should your employer foot the bill? Were I work we pay a percentage of the insurance and the company pays the rest so dropping you children would save them money.

Do you really want a government lead by George Bush to be running your child's health care? As if HMOs aren't bad enough. Look at all the welfare scams that go on already with low income people having more kids just to get more welfare money, this plan may open the system up to more abuse. The Democrats need to come up with a bill to clean up the system and get it back on track, the Republicans love that kind of thing and would be more likely to sign on to it.

U.N. envoy ends mission to Myanmar - Yahoo! News

YANGON, Myanmar - A U.N. envoy completed his mission to Myanmar on Tuesday with no word of progress on the military junta's refusal to address the people's insistent demands for democracy.

While the military government has said only 10 people were killed, dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were slain and 6,000 detained in the crackdown.

Oh come the F*ck on! George Bush can lie better then this and he's a f*cking moron. Only 10 people killed, who are they trying kid?

In Myanmar's main city of Yangon, residents launched a new form of dissent, switching off their lights and TV sets for 15 minutes during the nightly government newscast starting at 8 p.m.

The "silent protest" began Monday and continued Tuesday, even when state television showed pictures of the Gambari-Than Shwe meeting, which included Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye, the No. 2 leader, and two other top generals.

This really is not a bad idea, the American people need to do this type of thing, turn off the TV from 6pm to 8pm, get the MSM's ratings to drop and maybe they will start reporting real news. Instead of what Britney or Paris had for dinner last night.

Comcast.net News - World - Groups Struggle to Tally Myanmar's Dead

BANGKOK, Thailand —

One hundred shot dead outside a Myanmar school. Activists burned alive at government crematoriums. A Buddhist monk floating face down in a river.

After last week's brutal crackdown by the military, horror stories are filling Myanmar blogs and dissident sites. But the tight security of the repressive regime makes it impossible to verify just how many people are dead, detained or missing.

"We do believe the death toll is higher than acknowledged by the government," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, told The Associated Press Monday. "We are doing our best to get more precise, more detailed information, not only in terms of deaths but also arrests."

The U.S. Campaign For Burma, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, says more than 100 people were killed in downtown Yangon after truckloads of government troops fired automatic weapons last Thursday at thousands of demonstrators. It also claims that 100 students and parents were killed the same day at a high school in Tamwe, in northeastern Yangon, after troops shot at them as school let out.

The Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based dissident news organization, has received reports of soldiers burning protesters alive at the Yae Way cemetery crematorium on the outskirts of Yangon. The group also shot video Sunday of a dead monk, badly beaten and floating face down in a Yangon river.

Things are still pretty bad in Burma. The one thing I think about when I read this, is what about the soldiers? I know it's a soldiers duty to follow orders, but isn't there a point when enough is enough? Doesn't killing unarmed people that aren't even a threat to you have some kind of weight on your conscience, especially when it comes to burning someone alive? I guess that is why I could never be a soldier type, even if someone is giving you orders there is still right and wrong. Is "I was just following orders" going to be a viable defense when you stand before your god?

Here is something like I was sort of trying to say in my last post about how to help and get more information about the Burma people. A lot of them live here in Fort Wayne. There is information from the local paper.

burma3

I used the information on that website to send a letter to my representatives in the government.

Here is a copy of my letter, any comments or critisim would be helpful. I never wrote to anyone in government before so I hope I did ok.

I am writing in concern to the situation in Burma, I'm sure you are aware of the things that are going on in that country. I think it's important that the United States government take a strong stance to get this situation under control. After all we charged into Iraq to save them from a tyrant. I'm not saying out military should be involved, but we need to put some pressure on the junta to actually engage in talks. They wouldn't even speak UN envoy that went to Burma (at least at the time of writting this). The United States Senate and Congress needs to do anything in their power to try and get either more US or United Nations involvement in that country.

Thank you in advance for your attention and anything you can do to help these people in Burma.

Here is something about the UN envoy that is in Burmna, apparently the junta leader won't even speak to the man.


UN envoy snubbed by junta leader in Burma - Telegraph

The United Nations special envoy to Burma has met the opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon, but was snubbed by the leader of the junta that crushed democracy protests last week.

However, some Western diplomats consider Mr Gambari a weak negotiator. One commentator also pointed out that the junta holds deeply racist attitudes and is probably prejudiced against dealing with a black man.

This is were the real shame is, here is a government so affraid of the truth they shut down the internet and phone lines. You know things are in bad shape when the world is looking too China to put some pressure on these junta thugs.

Cut off from the outside world after the regime switched off foreign phone lines and the internet, their sole source of information, apart from government propaganda, is now the grim whispers on the streets, which speak of hundreds being arrested, killed and tortured.

The most sinister report circulating in the streetside tea shops spoke of how up to 200 people had been killed in custody since Friday, with their bodies allegedly incinerated at a secret location.

"We heard that one of the victims turned out to be still alive when they started burning them, and began screaming, but the soldiers just continued regardless, because they had their orders," said Mr Kyaw, who has no way of verifying the claims.

However, given Burma’s past record in dealing with pro-democracy uprisings — an estimated 3,000 people were killed during the last one, in 1988 — he was not the only one to take them seriously.

Obviously living the high life here in America I can't have any real idea of what these people are going through. We talk about how bad protesters and such have been treated by police in this country. I say we have it pretty good. Yes people have been killed potesting in this country (Kent State Shootings), but nothing like what is happening in Myanmar. For me to sit here in my ivory tower and say "my heart goes out to these people" just is not enough. There are no words that can express the helplessness I and probably a lot of other blogger types feel. I sit here and think, "what can I do?", does writting a blog post really help anyone in Myanmar?, probably not, maybe it does help me in a way. Getting the feelings out there so maybe someone else will read this and understand were I'm coming from. Sometimes this blogging thing is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it out into the ocean.
I just turned on CNN just to see if the MSM is even covering this. They were just showing the same video I already have linked.

Myanmar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Myanmar is bordered by China on the north, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, and India on the northwest, with the Andaman Sea to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest. One-third of Myanmar’s total perimeter, 1,930 kilometres (1,199 mi), forms an uninterrupted coastline.

Here is some general information about Myanmar. I wasn't even sure were it was on a map, until I started doing some reading. I'm going to link other things I found on Wiki to save anyone wanting to read up some time.

Burmese anti-government protests

WARNING, GRAPHIC violence!



Watch carefully at about :30. Were are all you neocons and war mongers now? Here is a country killing journalist at point blank range, cutting off internet access and cellphone servics so nobody can get news out of these types of outrages that are going on. Why isn't good ol' Georgy boy charging in to help these people? They must not have enough oil to make it worth is trouble.