HEADING TO OHIO FOR ELECTION DAY POLL WATCHING

My wife and I have downloaded the “Ohio Voter Protection Laws in a Nutshell” and Sections of Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code and we're headed to Ohio to combine a visit with our kid in college with some "get out the vote" work and "voter protection" poll watching. Based on the training sessions, the on line trainings, the emails from organizers and the word from our network of friends is that there is an army of volunteer lawyers headed to polling places in battleground states to stop republicans from suppressing votes and/or stealing another election. The bottom line is that we are up against people who don’t really believe in universal suffrage and playing by the rules.

Hard to forget the documentary film about Florida 2000 that showed screaming, wall pounding young republican congressional staffers trying to prevent the Board of Election vote recounting (remember the hanging dimpled chads) while the Supreme Court was waiting in the wings to put the final fix in like old time bought and sold street corner pols.

Hard to forget the election day police road blocks to intimidate Afro American voters or in Ohio 2004 when Republicans, led by the then Republican secretary of state, litigated until early morning on election day to allow partisan vote challengers (one from each side) to be inside polling places challenging voter credentials.

Hard not to be terrified about the transparent republican goal of purging voters from registered voter lists because they moved, or because a data entry clerk at social security or the dept of motor vehicles put in a wrong digit.

The republican voter suppression campaign uses the myth of voter fraud as a cover. In the last debate McCain hinted that we can probably expect a post election day fraud spin. A key component of the fraud myth is ignoring the obvious distinction between registration fraud and voting fraud. Lets assume someone is able to register Mickey Mouse [ala the Acorn fake registrations]. The fake person still has to show up at the polls, get past poll workers and into a polling booth. The bogus fear is that a poll worker will say - “Right this way Mr Mouse. Oh and by the way sir - I’ve always loved your work.”

[The other important fact is that although fake registration forms (obviously a bad thing that should never have been allowed to happen) will not generate any fraudulent votes, a machine that flips your vote from who you chose to someone else could, without anyone being able to figure it out, change thousands of votes... ]

They also know that in poor Afro American districts forcing people to come up with photo id is a good way of stopping people from voting. As recently as April the 6–3 decision in April written by John Paul Stevens, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board ,upheld a 2005 Indiana law requiring voters in that state to produce a government document with a photograph at the polls.

The following is from Obama: The Price of Being Black By Andrew Hacker The New York Review of Books Volume 55, Number 14 September 25, 2008

Requiring a driver's license to vote has a disparate racial impact, a finding that once commanded judicial notice. To apply for the state ID card that Indiana offers as an alternative, moreover, nondrivers must travel to a motor vehicles office, which for many would be a lengthy trip. While licenses do not record race, Justice David Souter cited relevant studies of the race of license-holders in his dissent, which was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In one survey, made by the Department of Justice in 1994, black residents of Louisiana were found to be four to five times more likely not to have the official photograph needed for an identifying document. (Not to mention access to a car; recall how many couldn't leave as Katrina approached.) A Wisconsin survey published in 2005 was more precise. No fewer than 53 percent of black adults in Milwaukee County were not licensed to drive, compared with 15 percent of white adults in the remainder of the state. According to its author,
similar disparities will be found across the nation.

In contrast Ohio allows voter identification at the polls to include proof of who you are based on knowing the last four digits of your social security number, or producing a current utility bill or pay check or other government document with your name and address.

It would be very interesting to compare the Republican and Democratic budgets for voter registration campaigns.

To be continued tomorrow from Ohio . . . .

McCain/Palin mobs are going gaga about this no last name thing - isnt that what they did in the middle ages, before last names were invented?

Its a new low in the history of dumbing down. The entire Republican campaign platform has been reduced to three words - "Joe the plumber"

McCain and Palin are now jazzing up their dwindling crowds of mean spirited diehards with this weird no last name fetish. McCain cracks himself up with how clever it was to come up with a campaign theme inspired by the middle ages - when all a guy needed on his ox cart license was Nigil the weaver's boy or Cecil the Sundial setter.

Is McCain running for President or Sheriff of Nottingham? I guess its just more nose crinkling small town harkening back to a simpler time when goverment wasn't squandering our hard earned tax money on those gosh darn wasteful earmarks - like sewers and running water.

THERE IS ONE QUESTION IN THIS ELECTION -ARE AMERICANS AS STUPID AS REPUBLICANS ARE HOPING WE ARE?

Sarah Palin told supporters at a rally in Nevada, " we're going to Washington D.C. to shake things up", she said to approving screams from the crowd" NY Times Sun 9/14/08

So crowds are cheering madly as McCain and Pailin promise to shake things up by rescuing Washington from the Republicans. Hello - is anyone home?

I feel like we are living in that scene in Blazing Saddles when the Sheriff (Cleavon Little), about to be attacked by a threatening mob, takes himself hostage and threatens to shoot himself if they come any closer. The idiot towns folk are frozen in their tracks - someone says "I think he means it" - and they all start slowly backing away".




A friend e-mailed with this observation -

this is really the most amazing political phenomenon of our age: I can't quite get the right analogy for this successful leading of working people to believe that the GOP are on their side, while enacting policies which badly screw them: the distraction faked by the pickpocket just before they hit you; the magician's distraction of the eye before he pulls the card from his sleeve; people buying again and again from the same snake-oil salesman who came by last yr even though they got sick from the stuff. Lincoln never addressed this formulation directly, but maybe you can fool most of the people most of the time

BARKING BACK

A FRIEND'S RESPONSE TO -

“THE MCCAIN EXPERIENCE MYTH- WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27, 2008”
AND TO
"MEMO TO HILLARY HOLDOUTS WHEN RUDY AGREES WITH YOU ITS TIME TO GET OVER IT" -MONDAY AUGUST 25, 2008

MY FRIEND WRITES

Thanks for the heads-up. Good job. I was curious and glanced at McCain's Senate website. I imagine he might say that simply being in the senate for as long as he's been, he picks up foreign policy experience. You can see lots of trips abroad he's made, speeches he's given that might suggest he has studied up on foreign affairs. But I think ultimately you're right in that his main claim to foreign policy expertise is that he fought in a war, was imprisoned and tortured. Good credentials in anyone's book. Re: Your Hillary/Rudy entry. I have to admit I had a little consciousness raising by my sister in law, who absolutely will vote for Obama with no hesitation, was one of those Hillary supporters who loved the idea of a major-party candidate who was a woman, that their time had come, that whether or not Obama did anything wrong, the fact remains that this upstart with no experience and just a lot of charisma, pushed her out of the way without paying any dues whatsoever, and anyway, it was their turn. Not to mention an absolutely unshakeable belief that Hillary got a raw deal from the media while Barak had a free ride. She was furious that anyone would question the appropriateness, for example, of Hillary supporters insisting on a roll call vote to demonstrate the wide support she had garnered. I say all of this just to say it brought home the depth of feeling that Clinton supporters brought to the convention and to this moment. Which only leads me to say that (a) my personal reaction to the H.C. supporters was the same as yours ("get over it!"), but (b) I have come to believe that the moment requires more sensitivity to their feelings. So if you send any more messages to your wide and ever-growing audience, I might suggest gentler tools of persuasion. It drives me crazy that somewhere close to 20% of H.C. supporters say they'll either vote for McCain or at least not vote for Obama (I forget which). To tell the truth, I think Hillary herself really came through at the convention, and said best what we all want to say to her supporters: Did you vote for me, or do you care about that woman without health insurance, that returned Iraq veteran needing services? O.k., that's my two cents. D

MY RESPONSE

Constructive criticism appreciated and duly noted - but I think I disagree. Although I accept the criticism that I might be too aggressive and strident and should probably calm down.
My feeling is that this election is a war to get the country back from violent fundamentalists who lost the election and responded by seizing power in a bloodless coup and have set the US on a disastrous downward spiral.

Hillary had one thing she needed to do - make sure that there is unity and no voting block of pissed off supporters for the Republicans to go after and she just did not do that. It was an obviously great speech but she talked mostly about her own achievements and was not as enthusiastic about Obama as Bill was. For Hillary to go into the convention talking about people voting their conscience instead of urging her supporters to unite around Obama to get these bastards out was unacceptable.
Instead her self centered speech convinced me more than ever that there is too much day light between the trajectory of her own career and doing the right thing - i.e. her cynical vote for the war. I even have my doubts about the strength of her support for Roe if her career plans conflicted. After her speech it was very clear that letting the Clintons near the White House would make them media magnets and a side show of implied second guessing. It would have been a disaster. Would I feel this way if the Obama and Hillary roles had been reversed - probably not.

Did you happen to catch Geraldine Ferarro on NPR today praising McCain's VP choice and refusing to say who she is voting for. Ferraro, who was forced out of the Hillary campaign leadership when she refused to back down from her comment that Obama is where he is because he is black has now morphed into a living metaphor for the politics of self centered snits. In her case it's a purely racist, self centered snit.

The fact that people who supported Hillary could now vote for McCain reveals that they were not in it because of values shared with the rest of the Democratic party.

Sorry to be so unrepentant
Love Bob

D RESPONDS

This could go on forever, but just a few responses. STOP - I started writing a whole long response and then stopped. You think she was self-centered and didn't do what she needed to do. I think we could not have hoped for much better, and I listened carefully to that speech expecting the worst and really being surprised at the effectiveness of the unity message. You're turning me into a Hillary defender - you say there's no position she wouldn't change if it would help her career, but told me I was off base when I complained that Obama was modifying virtually every decent view he had earlier espoused (in order to help his career). Last point, I actually think that her career interest was best served by making the strongest possible plea for unity. To the extent she failed to do that, and could be perceived of as a divisive force within the party, I think it would not help her career at all.
Vive la difference. D

Unlike McCain - Obama never bought the Bush WMD/Iraq - Al Queda war hoax

John McCain not only bought it without question but quickly became one of the leading neo con men pushing the big lie with no weighing of the human, geopolitical or economic consequences

"The Right War for the Right Reasons"

by John McCain, New York Times, Op-Ed, 3/12/03 [excerpts]
. . .
. . .

After 12 years of economic sanctions, two different arms-inspection forces, several Security Council resolutions and, now, with more than 200,000 American and British troops at his doorstep, Saddam Hussein still refuses to give up his weapons of mass destruction.
. . .
The critics also have it wrong when they say that the strategy of the United States for the opening hours of the conflict -- likely to involve more than 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles in the first two days -- is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi people. It is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi military and to dissuade Iraqi leaders from using weapons of mass destruction against our forces or against neighboring countries, and from committing further atrocities against the Iraqi people.
. . .
The force our military uses will be less than proportional to the threat of injury we can expect to face should Saddam Hussein continue to build an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons

----------------------------------------

AMERICA NEEDS A LEADER NOT A WARRIOR WHO DOESN'T ASK QUESTIONS

THE MCCAIN "EXPERIENCE" MYTH

Item - The McCain campaign issued a press release on 8/23/08 that the Biden VP selection demonstrates Obama's lack of foreign policy experience



WHERE'S JOHN'S FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE?

CAN YOU FIND IT?

COME ON - LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND ANY IN JOHN'S WIKIPEDIA BIO



John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 presidential election.
McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. Later that year while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured as a prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese. He was held from 1967 to 1973, experiencing episodes of torture and refusing an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer; his war wounds would leave him with lifelong physical limitations.

Amazing story of a 33 year old fighter pilot's suffering and bravery in 1969 - but is that a reason - 4 decades later- to give this 72 year old man the codes to start a nuclear war?

Let’s keep looking - maybe the relevant foreign policy experience is coming up . . .

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and, moving to Arizona, entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain has gained a media reputation as a "maverick" for disagreeing with his party on several key issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the "Keating Five", he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.

whoa - just a minute - "a member of the Keating Five" - that wasn't an 80's rock band- wasn't that one of the largest political corruption frauds in American history and didn't he just miss being indicted?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s,

so this more recent Vietnam experience was just a tad under 2 decades ago - that can't be all there is - can it ?

and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion in the 2000s.

he bought Bush's Iraq/Al Queda hoax hook line and sinker and he was one of the earliest and most prominent uncritical cheerleaders for the most disastrous dishonest use of American military power in modern history - now, without a shred of ciritical insight into the invasion of Iraq, teh best he can come up with is escalation without an exit strategy -

he may not have much foreign policy experience but it does tell us something about his "judgment" and that he doesn't need a proven securitythreat before sending our armed forces in harm's way

lets keep going - were almost at the end -

wow- its not that long a resume for such an old man - is it?

McCain has chaired the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, and has been a leader in seeking to rein in both pork barrel spending as well as Senate filibusters of judicial nominations.

no - its not there

McCain lost his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. He ran again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, and gained enough delegates to become the party's presumptive nominee in March 2008.

Jeepers creepers - is that it ?

That's the foreign policy resume he's bragging about?

Republicans wouldn't be trying to fool people - would they ?

MEMO TO HILLARY HOLDOUTS - WHEN RUDY AGREES WITH YOU ITS TIME TO GET OVER IT

Rudy Guliani was on the talk show circuit this weekend offering his unbiased opinion that choosing Hillary for VP was a “no brainer”. They know that fanning this flame is the key to Republican victory.

Hillary lost because she wasnt likeable enough. When a comedian is not getting laughs its because she’s not funny - its not because the audience is sexist.

a maybe - just maybe - all those white working class folks were motivated to vote for her not because of who she is but because of who she was running against - does Hillary Clinton really want to embrace "white backlashers" as a voting block?

She also lost because she voted for the war she knew to be a hoax because she cared more about her own career than whats best for the country.

Get over yourselves. This is not about chosing a class president This is not just about John McCain vs Barack Obama. This is about taking our flag and our country back from violent, lying, fundamentalists who stole the White House and have no respect for human life - unless you're an embryo or in a coma.

We need to get our country back from Republicans who have one defining theory of government which is - everything will be ok if rich people can just get more money.

For the sake of our children - keep your eyes on the prize.

A CAVEMAN TRIES TO UNDERSTAND A SCIENTIST ABOUT THE CELL PHONE CANCER THING

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When the latest new health scare/alert sends me into a tizzy I usually turn to my brother in law Myron the psychiatrist/scientist for help. Here is my caveman response ("cm" in bold) to Myrons email.
------------------------------------
Dear Bob
It is true that radio frequency radiation passes into the head from a cell phone,

caveman (cm) - radio frequency radiation into head - me no like

and it is probably true that substituting a Bluetooth earpiece for holding the phone against one's ear exposes the head to even more radiation.

cm- fuggetabout bluetooth

A metal shield is kind of dumb as a protective
strategy,

cm-fuggetabout dumb protective shields

but using a plastic tube to conduct sound to the ear from a little speaker located on one's lap would definitely reduce radiation to the head.

cm: lets get little speakers for our laps

However, one's lap would then be exposed to more radiation. Which region is more important will vary, of course, between people and changes as one ages.

cm: fuggetabout little speakers for our laps

Radio waves do not have enough energy to strip electrons away from
atoms and hence cannot influence ordinary chemical reactions.

cm: me feel better about radio waves

Even visible light cannot do this despite having far higher energy per photon. It is only when one gets into ultraviolet, Xray and gamma ray frequencies that you have ionizing radiation (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation ).
The radiation from a microwave oven cannot ionize... it only heats.

cm: finally - me happy - I can walk around with a microwave held up to my head or in my pocket without getting cancer


The amount of heat produced by a cell phone is so tiny that I don't think you could
measure the rise in temperature in the ear or anywhere.

cm: me like it when scary things cant be measured

However, for years, doctors have used "diathermy" machines to treat
orthopedic injuries. These emit high-frequency radio waves, like a
microwave oven (in fact, those waves are microwaves) and penetrate
deeper into muscles more rapidly than would a heat lamp or hot wet
towels. The warmth, combined with massage, is supposed to relax the
muscles and reduce pain and inflammation. The intensity of the
diathermy radiation is thousands of times greater than what is emitted
from a cell phone. There has been no evidence of diathermy causing
cancer.

cm: me getting sleepy

Radiation induces cancer by disrupting DNA. It knocks electrons off
the DNA or nearby molecules, making them available for unusual
chemical reactions. Only ionizing radiation can do this. Again,
visible sunlight, which is thousands of times more energetic per
photon than radio, can only heat up one's skin. It is only the
ultraviolet, again far more energetic per photon than, say, green
light, that can ionize anything and cause a sunburn or even induce
tanning.

cm: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What this boils down to is that rumors, anecdotes, conspiracy theories
and pseudo-scientific polemic constitute the only basis for the
fantasy that cell phones next to the ear are more dangerous than a
cell phone in one's pocket.
As for radio waves, we are flooded with them, such as from radio and
TV broadcasts. A wire can pick up lots of energy from radio waves in
the air, a really lot. A so-called crystal radio set gets all its
energy from the antenna. You string a wire up to capture the radiation
that hits the wire, then pass the electricity through a coil and
capacitor that blocks out over 98% of the power and allows only a
little fraction to pass through... the fraction that is at the
frequency of a particular AM broadcast station. There remains enough
power in this fraction to produce sound in an earphone, with no
amplification, no batteries, no external source of power. There is a
lot of radio energy passing though us all the time, but, like I say,
it is non-ionizing and there is no serious body of evidence showing
any cancer risk.
As for using a little tube to conduct sound into the ear as little
puffs of air, this was how certain headphones in airplanes used to
operate. Nowadays, people plug electronic headphones into jacks on the
armrests, but one used to plug tubes into armrest holes. I think that
the fidelity of sound degrades when it has to pass through a littletube like that, so that it may be more difficult to decipher
conversations using the WaveShield RF1000 compared with a good
Bluetooth headset; and the latter usually includes a noise-cancellingmicrophone that supports hands-free operation when driving, walking or
eating. The little plastic tubes are better in an MRI machine...
that's how the technician talks to you and how they play music to help
you relax and enjoy.
Love, Myron

CM - me waking up in sweat. . . physics exam tomorrow . . . forgot to go to class

So Myron - Is it possible to answer the following true/false question?
Q Do cell-phones, in fact, emit enough radiation to cause cancer?
Yes or No
Thanks
Love Bob

stay tuned . . .

THE NYC RUSH HOUR SUBWAY CAR -THE KEY TO WORLD PEACE

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It may not seem like it when you’re struggling to stay vertical in a packed NYC rush hour subway car - praying that the smelly guy is not you - but that human mush is a model for world peace.

Like the earth - the subway in rush hour is not big enough. There’s not enough fresh air, light, and clean space. People shuffle onto those packed iron beasts from every walk of life lugging with them all the available racial and ethnic hostilities and isms but for the most part - they get along.

Of course you’ve got your jerks, your door blockers, your leg spreaders and the occasional early morning condemnation to eternal hell but mostly its regular folks who just want to get where they going - everyday people who give up seats, keep comments and judgments to themselves; pull out a napkin to wipe water from the seat next to them so a stranger can sit down, hand a mom the rubber toy fallen from the stroller or help the lost tourist, the disabled, the sick, the elderly while perfecting the New York art of not getting caught staring -every day folks quietly making it work

In the worlds hot spots - the Middle East, Africa or the Balkans - extremists set the agenda. Things are not going to get better until the agenda is set by regular people with no ax to grind - like New Yorkers in the subway - who just want to get where they are going - quietly making it work

Photo by Markus Hartel (markushartel.com)

I AM AN UPPERWEST SIDE LIBERAL- I LIKE IT WHEN OBAMA MAKES ME UNHAPPY-IT CURES MY MCGOVERN ANXIETY

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Obama supporters are worried about his swerves into right wing territory this summer - telling evangelicals that he will expand faith based initiatives -expressing a pro death penalty sentiment in agreement with Thomas and Scalia and recently an opinion in favor of FISA's warrantless wiretapping.

Im more worried about not getting our country and our flag back from the violent fundamentalist nuts with no respect for human life who stole the White House along with our wallet and car keys and for 8 years have been plowing the nation's car into buildings and pedestrians all over the globe.

One thing is clear - I don't have a clue.
I will never understand how Americans were persuaded twice to vote for this idiot frat boy prince. So Im not sweating Obama's recent swerves to the center and right because if he makes guys like me unhappy thats good.

He won't win this election if he cares too much about what people like me think of him. In fact when I like him too much I start having 1972 Nixon 49 McGovern 1+DC - "don’t blame me Im from Massachusetts - anxiety attacks

So you keep swerving Mr. Obama. What matters now is getting our wallet and car keys back - then we will figure out how to dig our way out from under W’s legacy of lies, bloodshed, squandered billions and anti US hatred.

BARKING BACK - Friends weigh in with responses to the "barking" about Obama's swerve

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"Well stated. I wish I could get comparable pleasure out of Barak's becoming a moderate Republican. I agree that if a candidate was remotely as progressive as we'd like, he'd have no chance at winning. And nothing that he does will so disenchant me that I wouldn't vote. Not a chance. But I have to admit my stomach turned when in the course of two weeks he sounded or tried to sound like he agreed with the pro-death penalty dissent on the court and agreed with the pro-gun owner majority on the court, then he opted out of federal financing on his campaign, hedged on withdrawal from Iraq, and more. All this a week or so after he waffled on his willingness to talk with even foreign leaders we don't like. Without a doubt I'll still vote for him, but at some point I may have forgotten why. Will his campaign reform efforts, Supreme Court appointments, and Iraq strategy and foreign policy decisions be based on these latest statements? Or can I, as some friends argue I should do, rely on the belief that he really is progressive but will only let that fact emerge once he's been elected? "


---------------------------------------------
"I'm with you--although i just hope he doesn't pass the center and join the right!"

---------------------------------------------
"On the other hand

The ideals that a politician actually holds inside himself, let alone those he openly espouses, and let alone those that remain by the time he enters office, rapidly degrade through enlightenment to reality, repeated compromise, pervasive peer pressure, and the corruption that inevitably accompanies power. Whatever he once may have been, 0bama is now very much a politician, very much subject to external manipulation, and not just until the election. That is, he can be steered so that harsh pressure from progressives may be well worth exerting. If he takes the support of progressives for granted, he will act like a "centrist" and could turn out worse for the country in the long run. If many progressives turn away in disappointment and he loses, that may even be best.There is something to be said for letting McCain be elected. It could be that the country's current problems will worsen no matter what, and whoever is president will be blamed. A full economic depression, a war of annihilation between Iran and Israel, a widening of the chaos in Africa, severe disruptions caused by global warming, including all sorts of of diseases, agricultural disasters, rioting and mass migrations all occurring during Obama's presidency would cause the country to quickly turn to a frankly dictatorial "man on a white horse" eager to declare emergency and substitute authoritarian rule for the already flagging American experiment in freedom..On the other hand, if the country gets the president it seems to deserve there would be an opportunity for another Roosevelt-like administration to follow. Obama would have a clear mandate and would be pushed by an outraged public to prosecute the people illegally profiting from the war, to break up the de facto monopolies, to balance the Supreme Court, disband the CIA and perhaps to form an uneasy alliance with China against Russia and our other enemies so that when we finally go down we would go down more gently."


-------------------------------------------------------------
and someone else sent me this link with more on the subject
http://www.laweekly.com/news/dissonance/dissonance-obamas-middle-ground/19203/

THE NYC CRANE DISASTERS

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Mr. Bloomberg responded angrily during a news conference to the suggestion that the Department of Buildings had failed to ensure public safety.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the D.O.B. — D.O.B. didn’t crash; it was the crane that collapsed,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. “Keep in mind that construction is a dangerous business and you will always have fatalities.”

TWO DISASTERS IN TWO AND 1/2 MONTHS - MR MAYOR ISN'T IT TIME TO ADMIT THAT DOB DID CRASH - BEFORE THE THIRD?


May 30, 2008 / 91st Street



March 15, 2008/ 51st Street

(an unpublished letter to the NY Times)

The deaths and injuries caused by two recent crane collapses were both tragic and miraculously limited. For decades New York City's development philosophy has been that what’s good for the real estate industry is good for the rest of us. The Department of Buildings, our “cop on the beat” was left underfunded and understaffed. The Guliani administration changed the rules to allow architects hired by builders to “self certify” zoning and housing code compliance. The real estate industry has now forfeited the right to this degree of trust.
Its time to remove the fox from the henhouse door before there is a third crane disaster. High rise crane projects need to be halted pending a safety procedures review that is similar to what NASA did following the Challenger disaster. New Yorkers have a right to be assured by competent independent experts that they can live and work near high rise construction sites without fear.

IF THE FIRST GEORGE W HADNT "CUT AND RUN" IN 1776 WE'D BE DRIVING ON THE LEFT AND SAYING "SHEDULE"

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In 1776 George Washington saved the American Revolution by knowing when to retreat from the British in the Battle of Brooklyn.
Senator McCain would you have attacked him for "cutting and running" or should the President of the US have the capacity to understand when, where and how to fight a war?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 2003 Bush and his shameless gang of violent fundamentalist neoconmen took the nation to war based on a big fat lie- like the sleaziest trial lawyers that ever bamboozled a jury.

A few months later they dressed Bush up as a pilot and stuck him in the back seat of a fighter jet so he could whoop it up with sailors on an aircraft carrier in the San Diego harbor under a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

There are locked up convicted murderers who are guilty of crimes that are less morally despicable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_conflict_in_Iraq_since_2003

Five years after that victory party we have a pretty clear picture of what Bush's mission actually "accomplished";


-Bin Laden was allowed to escape to plan another attack from his hideout in Afghanistan;

- the historic opportunity to lead a united world, militarily and politically, against these stone age mass murderers was lost;

- whatever credibility and good will the US used to have as a world power has been destroyed;

-the troop strength and morale of our armed forces has been devastated and

- the bravery of our troops who trusted their commander in chief has been rewarded with almost 4,000 dead, 10s of thousands wounded

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

- the population of military families is suffering deeply;

-Iraq has been destroyed and the remaining Iraqis (those who haven't fled or been killed) long for the good old days of Sadaam when they had water and electricity and could go out to buy bread without being blown up;

-the Iranian mullahs are thrilled to pieces that Bush removed the country that was holding them in geo-political check and

-Al Quaida which was not in Iraq before we invaded has been given another base of operations from which they can kill Americans more easily-

-Al Quaida's recruitment efforts are going a lot better than the US Armed forces thanks to Bin Laden's fund-raiser/recruiter in chief - George W.

On the home front Bush's insane war has blown a hole in the US budget that has left us hemorrhaging at a flow of $720 million a day. In each day of his war Bush is flushing down the toilet the cost of 1,153,846 school lunches or 12,000 elementary school teachers - for example.

A heck of job Bushie!

John McCain thinks the war was a good idea and should be escalated without an exit strategy. Kind of makes you wonder if his driveway goes all the way to the garage!

When Republicans send troops into harm's way they control the debate and Democrats are checkmated into silence.(We should be afraid - very afraid about an October surprise)

The next time McCain tells a crowd of conservative white whoopers that we can't end the war because that would be cutting and running would some journalist please ask -

excuse me Senator - we understand that you find it acceptable for the President of the United States to launch a war based on a deliberate lie about WMDs and a fabricated connection between Sadaam and Al Quaida -

but now that your war has lasted longer than World War II - if you become Commander in Chief -

-how many years of this horrendous nightmare in Iraq is too many for you?

-how many billions to accomplish nothing in Iraq is too much money for you?

-is there any number of dead and wounded that is too many for you?

-could you even begin to describe what "winning" the war in Iraq would look like?

and finally

-when does your claim to believe in the sanctity of human life kick in - or for you does that just apply to embryos and people in comas?

OUR FAMILY TRIP TO ASIA - CONFESSIONS OF A GERMOPHOBIC NUT JOB

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A few days before my wife and I and our 20 year old twin daughters left for a two week family trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos over the Christmas break the girls sat me down for a pre trip talk about getting a grip on my health anxieties. They know that if you could buy a haz mat space suit as casual travel wear Id own one faster than you can say medivac.

When it comes to traveling my wife and I have a division of labor - she deals with the small stuff like where we are going, how we are getting there, where we are staying and what we will be doing when we get there. I address the “big picture” - terrorism, war and pestilence.



The “dad we need to talk” sit down came after they caught me heading for the bathroom wearing a long rain coat, leather winter gloves a ski hat and one of my avian flu surgical masks to spray all of our trip clothing with industrial strength insect repellent on advise of our travel medicine doc - but the talk ended abruptly because in trying to describe what they saw both kids were laughing too hard to finish a sentence.

Its not entirely correct to dismiss me as a germophobic nut case. After I read the South East Asia vaccination and health alerts on the CDC, WHO and State Dept web pages it would be more accurate to dismiss me as a malaria, dengue fever, japanese encepalitis, diptheria, hepatitis (A and E) food borne viruses, waterborne parasites, rabies - phobe nut case.

A little background factoid -the family is still getting good laughs about the jumbo jar of gefilte fish I bought at Costco in the fall of 1999 to prepare for Y2k - a plan that depended heavily on adequate Red Cross stockpiles of horseradish.

So what's a germophobe to eat and drink in a part of the world where slabs of unrefrigerated raw meat, along with eggs and fish sit out all day on tables in local markets and there doesnt seem to be any government effort to provide sewage and solid waste disposal systems (not to mention schools or hospitals). We had alot of soups and stir fried dishes and scrutinized quite a few spring rolls looking for lettuce. So how was the food? I have no idea - I was too busy playing restaurant roulette with the menu to notice - as long as whatever was on the plate was overcooked I was happy.




We had a pretrip consult with Dr. John Cahill, an emergency medicine physician and the director of the tropical and travel medicine clinic at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. Dr. Cahill, is a confidence inspiring, incredibly nice and patient guy, with an impressive CV, who has lived and travelled extensively in Asia and Africa. His advice about the food safety issue was that the main rule is to make sure the meat, fish or chicken is well cooked. He also put salads and fruit that you can't peel on the list of no nos.






For us peeled fruit and especially little grilled banannas were our walking around snack food.






The visit to Dr. Cahil was not only for vacinations and malarone, to prevent malaria but he was also a good source of assorted third world travel does and donts -such as the useful fact that the antibiotic cipro hasnt been working in SE Asia -when he heard we might be rafting in northern Laos - he cautioned to make sure you don’t have any open wounds because of waterborne parasites - based on this advice my wife added water proof bandaids to our first aid kit. This revealed a significant difference between my wife's travel attitude and mine - If I have an open wound in Northern Laos the list of things on my mind will not include whether or not to take a dip in the Mekong River.

Our itinerary included Luang Prabang, in Northern Laos, a Unesco world heritage town followed by a six hour drive south to Vang Vieng, and then on to Ventiane, the capital, a flight to Siem Reap Cambodia, home of Angkor Wat and a flight to Pnomh Pemh. Arrange through Exotissimo, an agency with offices all over SE Asia.

Taking comfort in Dr. Cahill's advise and another talking to from my kids about the importance of experiencing local life when you travel we cancelled a dinner reservation in Luang Prabang and went to the food stall market and picked up a delicous fish on skewers held in place by strips of bamboo, stuffed with lemon grass and an assorted plate of cooked vegetables. The fish cost 25000 kip (under $3) and a plate of cooked vegetables from a vendor opposite the fish lady topped off by an ice cold Lao beer. The markets of Luang Prabang are memorable for the good humored easy going ladies selling crafts and dinner


While in Luang Prabang we got up at 5 am and sat on mats on the main street to give morning alms to a procession of about a hundred safron robed monks. This means people lined up on main street, after buying pots of sticky rice from a vendor and then putting little handfuls of therice with bare hands into the monks ceremonial bowls. Apparently this is not just chow time it's a time honored solemn buddhist ritual that has something to do with the monks as a link to departed loved ones. It was a safe bet that I was the only one thinking about all of our unwashed food serving hands. One guy I was pretty sure was not fretting the hand-schmutz issue was the chubby Italian tourist on the next mat who started eating his rice long before the monks got there.



Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia, is the largest lake in South East Asia. Until we actually saw Lake Tonle Sap we didn't give a second thought to ordering Tonle Sap fish which is on menus throughout Laos and Cambodia. Our “what was I thinking” moment came during our boat ride in the sludge brown water of Lake Tonle Sap past the garbage strewn shoreline and the glimpses into crowded - floating sewage generating homes of impoverished families of Vietnamese refugees in this lake an hour outside of Siem Reap. Let me just say that I kept my lips tightly sealed on that trip while thinking- "boy - if there was ever a boat I did not want to sink - this was it!".



The busses and van loads of visitors, that clog the narrow road to Ton Le sap are required to stop and pay some kind of entrance fee. There is certainly no visible evidence that this, significant revenue stream is being spent on development for the desperate folks living in this area.





On an afternoon ride outside of Siem Reap to see ruins we had to pay another toll that did not look very official. Our guide said the toll is run by the company that is supposed to be building the road - huh? The contractor gets to set up a private toll booth?



For the health anxiety nut, the fabulous thing about being in a place that has both dengue fever and malaria, is that you can feel anxious day and night. Dengue is something you get from daytime mosquito bites and there is no medication that prevents it- you just slather on the insect repellent with scary sounding chemicals. Malaria you get from female mosquitos that bite during dawn and dusk.

A tourist handbook put out by the Laotian government offerred the helpful advise -

“Mosquito bites. Beware of the females. . . . Dengue fever is waiting to pounce. and I also appreciated the following helpful tip - Tiger bites? Very bad, especially in the rainy season. You will be comforted to know that your family will read about you in their daily papers".

You gotta love totalitarian humor



To protect against Malaria you take Malarone before and 7 days after you are in malaria country and sleep with mosquito netting treated with permethrin - unless its a place with air conditioning and closed windows. As advised by Dr. Cahill you should also spray your clothes with insect repellent with permethrin. One of the confusing things about the whole malaria/dengue danger was why so many luxury hotel dining rooms and lobbies are designed without walls like there is no problem?

My kids can't believe my gift in finding chicken little - doom and gloom -newspaper articles. The day before we flew from Ventiane Laos to Siem Reap, Cambodia (home of Angkor Wat) I take a break in a hotel bar and just happen to pick up an International Herald Tribune and of course there is a report of a spike in the number of dengue fever cases in Cambodia. It was like the paper had been created and left there for me by Ed Harris in a kind of Truman Show moment.

Another "best of" anxiety moment was the morning when I was up at 4 am reading in the bathroom of our hotel in Luang Prabang and I saw a mosquito in front of my nose. There I was on the toilet wondering if 4am was technically dusk and trying to see if mosquitos have genitalia.

My family really enjoyed the moment of our Mekong River boat ride when I had a hypchrondriacal meltdown because I was convinced that I had forgotten to take my malarone that morning The pill count when we got home proved me wrong.


At some point it finally dawned on me that all the malaria protection was merely a swiss cheese zone defense. When I got this for some reason I started to worry less - kind of an anxiety circuit overload. My spirit of travel adventure refocussed on the a more practical question - will Malaria and Dengue fever kill us. The comforting answer is probably not.
So here is the slightly cheesy finish - to my fellow germophobes - I offer the advise of my kids -just suck it up and deal -you'll be fine- hopefully.




Gotcha!