Boxin' Felix

... And a Brown Eyed Susan

My Lily...

A Beluga Whale

A beluga whale exhales bubble rings as part of a recent performance at the Aquas aquarium in Hamada, Japan. Beluga whales have attracted thousands of visitors to the aquarium this summer.

Back in the USA

... Well, I was planning on keeping a short diary of my week in Paris, but that was not to be. What you gonna do... So I am back, just as I was getting used to the time change.

Oh well, perhaps next time I will be more disciplined in blogging while on a trip.

Working for the TSA Just Got Exciting!

What the airport scanners see

A computer monitor viewed by a Transportation Security Administration officer reveals bodily details. (Getty Images photo by David McNew / April 17, 2008)

Day One

Air Canada is GOD!

Yes. Air Canada is GOD.

On my way to Paris-- This time by myself -- that is without the ol' ball and chain otherwise known as Ms. Erin, I found myself on Air Canada and behold the humanitarian face of the airlines. Yes. We had space. Usually, you sit in the airplane and the person in front of you is almost sitting on your lap and the ones on your side are breathing down your neck.

Not in Air Canada.

There was enough space between me and the seat in front that I could cross my legs... and that without feeling my bones being all contorted or crushed.

Each seat has its own individual little TV thingy where you can watch various movies, hear news, play games, watch TV shows or simply listen to XM Radio.

But wait... there is more.

Each seat has a plug where you can plug in your computer and juice it up! No more battery problems during long flights... and by the same token, MUSIC galore-- since running iTunes while hooked up to power is no problemo.

Yes. I am a convert Canadian.

Problem is that it's cold here and it rains and 10 months out of 12 it snows...

Let's see what adventures awaits this Cat when he get to Paris... ALL BY HIMSELF!

PS: The Canadian Security at the airport gave me the most thorough, comprehensive, short of a cavity search search I have ever experienced. I pass the x-rays and the the guy comes up to me and tells me: "you have been selected for a random search." To which I replied: "Sure I was." The guy was nice about it though- so I didn't mind that much. I took it all in good humor.

:)

Iconic

The Truth Spoken by Nader

Did you know Barak Obama voted in support of the FISA bill giving the Telecoms retroactive immunity for the activities the White House and the Telecoms insisted was not against the law...? Clinton voted against it...

Nader as always speaks the truth... I think I will, once again, vote for him.

Election 2008: Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader

New York: Many people I've spoken to have seen your presidential campaigns as nudging elections toward the republican candidate and not nearly achieving the votes needed to get third-party status. Can you explain why they're wrong, or why this time will be different?

Ralph Nader: As long as liberal voters continue to vote for the Democratic party no matter how badly the party behaves, so long as the Republicans are worse, the Democratic nominee will take these liberal votes for granted and move toward right-wing positions and also move toward the corporate interests that are tugging at the candidate.

The only way this can change is if liberal or progressive voters signal to the Democratic nominee that they have somewhere else to go. That somewhere else can be the progressive Nader/Gonzalez campaign otherwise the liberal/progressive voters will be in a trap and will be taken for granted. This is already happening with the liberal progressive voters' relationship with Barack Obama. So it is up to these voters to generate leverage instead of surrender.

--- ~~~ ---

Takoma Park, Md.: What's the difference between your health care reform plan and Obama's and McCain's?

Ralph Nader: The Nader/Gonzalez healthcare plan is what is often called a "single-payer" plan, that is, full government health insurance or full medicare for all. With free choice of hospitals and doctors, greatly reduced administrative expenses, elimination of the huge computerized billing fraud and abuse, and a more facilitative database to determine outcomes which encourage prevention of diseases and injury.

Obama's plan basically pumps more public money on top of a rotten, wasteful, corrupt and redundant healthcare system dominated by giant HMOs, health insurance companies and drug companies at the expense of the professional judgements of physicians and nurses.

McCain's plan is even worse and does nothing to control the spiraling costs of healthcare. It's the dream of the giant corporations that dominate our healthcare system. For more detail, go to the Physicians for National Health program or ask your member of congress for HR676, the single-payer legislation.

--- ~~~ ---

Amherst, Ohio: It is fashionable to attribute much of our difficulties to "corporations" and "big business." Are corporations evil? Is it wrong to want to make a living and pursue the American Dream? Haven't lawsuits by so-called consumer advocates also become a big and profitable business (for example, in the areas of asbestos, tobacco and medical malpractice)?

Ralph Nader: When corporations are not required to adhere to decent boundaries enforced by law they can become reckless and take hundreds of thousands of lives and cause injuries annually from hazardous workplaces, defective consumer products, toxic chemicals in the environment and medical-hospital negligence. When regulators fall down on the job, the courts are the last recourse for compensatory justice on behalf of the wrongfully injured victims. Remember, every major in the world has warned its inherents not to give too much power to the merchant class. The subordination of commercial values to civic values advance a just society. The reverse is what has been happening in our country. Including the corporate crime wave from Enron to Wall St. and the hijacking of our government by global corporations.

Imaginary Bumps on the Road...!

Imaginary police officers will be next.



City Tries Make-Believe

This speed hump in Philadelphia is nothing more than flat pieces of plastic burned into the street. Municipal officials say the month-old program will soon be expanded.

Tell Fox to Fuck Off

Sign the Petition here.

Fox and its Sky...Craper?

Good Riddance...

They say, only the good die young.

Jesse Helms, Isolationist Who Targeted Tehran, Dies at 86

The former US Senator Jesse Helms, a legendary isolationist and defender of "Southern values" who spent much of his life goading liberals, died yesterday.

Bush versus The United States of America

And this motherfucker dares to talk about patriotism.

Judge Rejects Bush's View on Wiretaps

A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the "exclusive" means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government's claim that the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law. The judge, Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, made his findings in a ruling on a lawsuit brought by an Oregon charity. The group says it has evidence of an illegal wiretap used against it by the National Security Agency under the secret surveillance program established by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

No Health Care Even With Insurance

Americans are finding it harder to access health care

Access to medical care has deteriorated sharply among people living in the United States, a survey has found. The proportion of people who report delaying medical care or not getting it at all rose from 14% in 2003 to more than 20% in 2007. Perhaps surprisingly, the decline in access was greater among people with health insurance than among those without it.

The findings are part of the 2007 health tracking household survey, a representative, cross section survey of 18 000 persons interviewed by phone. It was conducted by the Center for Health System Change and released at a news conference in Washington, DC, on 26 June.

Extrapolating from the data suggests that the number of Americans who experienced problems with access to care over the previous 12 months rose from 36 million in 2003 to 59 million in 2007.

by Bob Roehr

Hmmm... Where Else Have I Heard That?

Obama Might "refine" Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

Senator Barack Obama said that he was not shifting strategy, but that he would have to pay attention to conditions on the ground.

To Guard Against the Impostures of Pretended Patriotism

Happy Oil Dependence Day

s we head into the Fourth of July weekend of patriotic bluster and beer swilling—but before we are too besotted with ourselves—might we also for once consider our imperfections? Why not take a moment to heed the cautions of our founding father, George Washington, whose true legacy will most likely be ignored during the flag-waving weekend?

Washington’s “Farewell Address” to the new nation was a warning about the threat of American imperial ambitions and a declaration of his high expectations for a republic of free men: “In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ...”

We are drowning in the “impostures of pretended patriotism,” used to cover the lies that got us into Iraq, the defense of torture and the violation of our basic liberties. In the name of patriotism, we presume a God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking, masking the vice of unfettered greed as an obligation of national security.

Any doubts as to this later governing impulse of our imperial ambitions were shattered with the recent news that U.S. advisers to our puppet government in the Green Zone of occupied Iraq have worked out agreements for American oil companies to gain control of Iraqi oil fields. But, then again, what did we expect when we elected a Texas oil hustler, and a failed one at that, to be our president?

Cat Fight

This is very funny with an even funnier surprise at the end:

American Politics Defined

The five characteristics of the majority of the American Public when it comes to politics and that which affects their lives. This perfectly explains why morons like Dubbya can get elected and re-elected!!!

Ignorant America: Just How Stupid Are We?

Five defining characteristics of stupidity, it seems to me, are readily apparent. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country's long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears.

The Real Terrorist Jab