FRANKNOTE

How the "ground zero mosque" fear mongering began

2010-08-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

A group of progressive Muslim-Americans plans to build an Islamic community center two and a half blocks from ground zero in lower Manhattan. They have had a mosque in the same neighborhood for many years. There's another mosque two blocks away from the site. City officials support the project. Muslims have been praying at the Pentagon, the other building hit on Sept. 11, for many years.

In short, there is no good reason that the Cordoba House project should have been a major national news story, let alone controversy. And yet it has become just that, dominating the political conversation for weeks and prompting such a backlash that, according to a new poll, nearly 7 in 10 Americans now say they oppose the project. How did the Cordoba House become so toxic, so fast?

In a story last week, the New York Times, which framed the project in a largely positive, noncontroversial light last December, argued that it was cursed from the start by "public relations missteps." But this isn't accurate. To a remarkable extent, a Salon review of the origins of the story found, the controversy was kicked up and driven by Pamela Geller, a right-wing, viciously anti-Muslim, conspiracy-mongering blogger, whose sinister portrayal of the project was embraced by Rupert Murdoch's New York Post.

Pat Tillman's mother on Stanley McChrystal: I told you so

2010-08-09T06:43:00.001-07:00

Full story at - latimes.com

McChrystal's actions should have been grounds for firing him back then. That is why it was so disturbing to us when President Obama instead promoted McChrystal to the position of top commander in Afghanistan last year. At the time, I sent the president an e-mail and a letter reminding him of McChrystal's involvement in Pat's coverup. In the letter, I suggested McChrystal be "scrutinized very carefully" by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Pat's father and I both gave statements to the media reiterating that McChrystal should be properly vetted. We had real knowledge of McChrystal's questionable behavior, of actions that should perhaps have disqualified him from this position, and we felt it would be negligent not to do something. Our entreaties fell on deaf ears.

After McChrystal was forced to step down in June, I was contacted by several reporters and asked to give my thoughts about McChrystal, but I declined to comment. I hadn't read the piece in its entirety, so it seemed inappropriate to respond. Now, though, I have read and thought about the article. Obama clearly had no choice but to relieve McChrystal of his command. But how sad that the president and Congress didn't properly scrutinize the general a year ago.

For Those Facebook Left Behind

2010-07-08T11:34:00.001-07:00

Link to David Pogue's article at NYTimes.com

"As a public service, therefore, I’m offering a handy clip-’n’-save guide to the social networking services you’re most likely to hear about at this summer’s barbecues. (Warning: This is an extremely basic overview. If you’re already someone who, you know, tweets, this will all seem like old news. But it’s not intended for you.)

These services all have a few things in common. They’re all free. They’re all confusing at first. They all require time to understand and exploit. You can interact with them from your cellphone, which is part of why they’re so popular."

Why You Should Write Down Your Passwords

2010-07-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Link to original article at Kaspersky's threatpost.com

Common wisdom over the last couple of decades has been to never write down the passwords you use for accessing networked services. But is now the time to begin writing them down? Threats are constantly evolving and perhaps it’s time to revisit one of the longest standing idioms of security – “never write a password down”.

Despite Spending $50 Million, California Rejects PG&E

2010-06-09T07:08:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News

PG&E is desperate to stop community choice aggregation – where local governments can purchase energy to offer their constituents a “public option” to the company’s monopoly. Proposition 16 would have required a two-thirds vote of the electorate before cities can do community choice aggregation, and cynically dubbed it the Taxpayer’s Right to Vote.

Never mind that taxpayers already have the right to vote out their elected officials – if they don’t support community choice aggregation. Never mind that ratepayers were not given the chance on voting for PG&E as their energy provider. Public power is not even one of my top “issues,” but I was outraged that PG&E would try something like Prop 16.

PG&E shattered campaign spending records with $50 million to pass Prop 16 – ratepayer money that we give them every month when we pay our energy bills. The only organized opposition was TURN (the Utility Reform Network), who only raised $90,000. Bloggers got creative by making “No on 16” videos, and a hilarious Twitter feed. But the campaign often seemed like a rag-tag army tilting at the windmills.

Why Ubuntu excites me more than Windows or Macintosh

2010-05-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Link to original article at - Times Online

You know that thing that happens on your computer, when you are using Windows? When you ask it to do something, and it thinks about it, and then it keeps thinking, and then you go off and make a cup of tea, and it’s still thinking, and you want to headbutt the wall, again and again, until gets all smeared and red and bloody and bits of your brain are raining down on to your shoes? Yes? Well, there’s a way to stop that happening. Stop using Windows. Use Ubuntu instead...

...Personally, I dual boot with Vista, although I’ve barely used Vista
three times in six months. The sole reason I do this is because Ubuntu
won’t run iTunes properly...
...Obviously, it’d be nice if Apple would do something about that.
Although I doubt they ever will. Because if they did, why would anybody
ever buy a Mac?
AMEN! -Frank

New, Deadly Cryptococcus Gattii Fungus Found in U.S.

2010-04-24T07:47:00.001-07:00

Link to full National Geographic article

Infections from a new strain are unpreventable - and the strain is spreading.

A new strain of hypervirulent, deadly Cryptococcus gattii fungus has been discovered in the United States, a new study says.

The outbreak has already killed six people in Oregon, and it will likely creep into northern California and possibly farther, experts say.

The new strain is of the species Cryptococcus gattii, an airborne fungus native to tropical and subtropical regions, including Papua New Guinea, Australia, and parts of South America. An older strain of the fungus was frst detected in North America in British Columbia, Canada, in 1999.

No one knows how the species got to North America or how the fungus can thrive in a temperate region, experts say.

"The alarming thing is that it's occurring in this region, it's affecting healthy people, and geographically it's been expanding," said study co-author Edmond Byrnes, a graduate student at the Joseph Heitman Lab at Duke University.

How to Delete Facebook Applications (and Why You Should)

2010-04-23T09:42:00.001-07:00

Link to article at ReadWriteWeb.com

The process of doing so is incredibly simple.

After signing into Facebook, do the following:

1. Click on "Account" at the top-right of the screen.
2. Click "Application Settings"
3. Change the "Show" drop-down box to "Authorized." This will show all the applications you've ever given permission to.
4. In the resulting list, click the "X" button on the far right next to each app you want to remove to delete it.
5. On the pop-up box that appears, click "Remove" then click "Okay" on the next box confirming the app was deleted.

Repeat this process to remove all the apps you no longer use on a regular basis.

Doing this won't eliminate risk entirely - nothing can do that - but it's a good first step in reducing risk. However, as long as you have a Facebook account, your data won't be private. If true privacy is really a concern for you, it may be time to find that account delete button instead. (Hint: it's under "Account Settings.")

Dangers of the make-up counter: E.coli found in EVERY 'tester' on beauty counters

2010-04-23T09:28:00.001-07:00

Link to article at: Mail Online

E.coli has been found in 100 per cent of beauty product testers at make-up counters.

Products sampled for a two-year study were also found to contain bacteria, including staph and strep strains, which can cause herpes and conjunctivitis.

The highest levels of contamination were found on Saturdays – the busiest shopping day of the week.

Kenyan Embassy Mocks Tea Party Movement, Promotes Kenyan Tea With Capitol Tea Party

2010-04-21T00:32:00.001-07:00

Link to post at Huffington Post

The Kenyan Embassy is set to promote one of its biggest exports and mock the tea party movement at the same time.

According to Talking Points Memo, the embassy has sent out invitations to a tea party next week, inviting attendees to "Find out what a real tea party is like."

Duncan Blasts "Useless" Air Marshal Service (June 19, 2009)

2010-04-18T00:02:00.001-07:00

Link to article at website of Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr.: Serving Tennessee's 2nd District

(June 19, 2009) Washington, DC -- Mr. DUNCAN: Madam Speaker, probably the most needless, useless agency in the entire Federal Government is the Air Marshal Service.

In the Homeland Security Appropriations bill we will take up next week, we will appropriate $860 million for this needless, useless agency. This money is a total waste: $860 million for people to sit on airplanes and simply fly back and forth, back and forth. What a cushy, easy job.

And listen to this paragraph from a front-page story in the USA Today last November: “Since 9/11, more than three dozen Federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct. Cases range from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan.''

Actually, there have been many more arrests of Federal air marshals than that story reported, quite a few for felony offenses. In fact, more air marshals have been arrested than the number of people arrested by air marshals.

We now have approximately 4,000 in the Federal Air Marshals Service, yet they have made an average of just 4.2 arrests a year since 2001. This comes out to an average of about one arrest a year per 1,000 employees.

Cabot Oil & Gas’s Marcellus Drilling to Slow After PA Environment Officials Order Wells Closed

2010-04-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at: ProPublica

More than 15 months after natural gas drilling contaminated drinking water in Dimock, Pa., state officials are ordering the company responsible -- Houston-based Cabot Oil and Gas -- to permanently shut down some of its wells, pay nearly a quarter million dollars in fines, and permanently provide drinking water to 14 affected families.

The order is among the most punitive in Pennsylvania's history and reflects officials' frustrations over a string of drilling-related accidents. The record of spills, leaks and water contamination in Pennsylvania -- several of which are tied to Cabot -- has spotlighted the environmental risks of drilling for natural gas across the country, jeopardized development of the massive Marcellus Shale resource deposit, and contributed significantly to actions by both Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bolster federal oversight of drilling.

"The events at Dimock have been the black eye for the industry and have also been a black eye for Pennsylvania," the state's chief environment official, John Hanger, told ProPublica. "It's been an enormous headache. If Cabot doesn't get this message, the company has got an amazing hearing problem."

President Bush Addresses Nation on Economic Crisis

2010-04-15T10:46:00.001-07:00

Link to posting (and Video) at: Dvorak Uncensored

President Bush Addresses Nation on Economic Crisis
September 24th, 2008
(Posted by Marc Perkel in Politics, economy)

In response to the Tea Party protests and in honor of the taxpayer,
let us remember where this all started.

Ah-h-h! So these were the good old days! :-(
- Frank

How Senator Vitter Battled the EPA Over Formaldehyde’s Link to Cancer

2010-04-15T10:26:00.001-07:00

Link to original article at: ProPublica

When Sen. David Vitter persuaded the EPA to agree to yet another review of its long-delayed assessment of the health risks of formaldehyde, he was praised by companies that use or manufacture a chemical found in everything from plywood to carpet.

As long as the studies continue, the EPA will still list formaldehyde as a "probable" rather than a "known" carcinogen, even though three major scientific reviews now link it to leukemia and have strengthened its ties to other forms of cancer. The chemical industry is fighting to avoid that designation, because it could lead to tighter regulations and require costly pollution controls.

"Delay means money. The longer they can delay labeling something a known carcinogen, the more money they can make," said James Huff, associate director for chemical carcinogenesis at the National Institute for Environmental Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tax Day Fact Check: Most Americans Got A Tax Cut This Year

2010-04-15T07:20:00.001-07:00

Link to posting at Huffington Post

Citizens for Tax Justice, a self-described non-partisan organization, released a report on Tuesday that read: "The 2009 economic stimulus bill actually reduced federal income taxes for tax year 2009 for 98 percent of all working families and individuals." This total includes the 95 percent of working families that will or have received tax credits in the range of $400 to $800.

The health care bill passed by the administration, meanwhile, includes a tax credit that could cover up to 35 percent of the premiums a small business pays to insure its workers. The Recovery Act, meanwhile, included such tax breaks as a $1,500 credit for home energy improvements, and an $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers.

It has been a buffet of tax breaks and credits offered by this administration (occasionally to the chagrin of progressive economists, who want more focus on stimulative federal spending).

Yet polling numbers indicate that Americans are barely aware of these developments. ...

George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent' - Times Online

2010-04-12T00:59:00.000-07:00

Link to original article at: Times Online

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document obtained by The Times.

The accusations were made by Lawrence Wilkerson, a top aide to Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by a Guantánamo detainee. It is the first time that such allegations have been made by a senior member of the Bush Administration.

How Americans are propagandized about Afghanistan

2010-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Link to full article at Salon.com

On February 12 of this year, U.S. forces entered a village in the Paktia Province in Afghanistan and, after surrounding a home where a celebration of a new birth was taking place, shot dead two male civilians (government officials) who exited the house in order to inquire why they had been surrounded, and then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager). The Pentagon then issued a statement claiming that (a) the dead males were "insurgents" or terrorists, (b) the bodies of the three women had been found by U.S. forces bound and gagged inside the home, and (c) suggested that the women had already been killed by the time the U.S. had arrived, likely the victim of "honor killings" by the Taliban militants killed in the attack.

Although numerous witnesses on the scene as well as local investigators vehemently disputed the Pentagon's version, and insisted that all of the dead (including the women) were civilians and were killed by U.S. forces, the American media largely adopted the Pentagon's version, often without any questions. But enough evidence has now emerged disproving those claims such that the Pentagon was forced yesterday to admit that their original version was totally false and that it was U.S. troops who killed the women:

After initially denying involvement or any cover-up in the deaths of three Afghan women during a badly bungled American Special Operations assault in February, the American-led military command in Kabul admitted late on Sunday that its forces had, in fact, killed the women during the nighttime raid.

One NATO official said that there had likely been an effort to cover-up what happened by U.S. troops via evidence tampering on the scene (though other NATO officials deny this claim). The Times of London actually reported yesterday that, at least according to Afghan investigators, "US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened."

What is clear -- yet again -- is how completely misinformed and propagandized Americans continue to be by the American media, which constantly "reports" on crucial events in Afghanistan by doing nothing more than mindlessly and unquestioningly passing along U.S. government claims as though they are fact.

Winter Was Fifth Warmest on Record - CBS News

2010-03-27T09:22:00.001-07:00

Winter Was Fifth Warmest on Record - CBS News

While Much of U.S. Was Colder than Usual, Global Temperatures Crept Upwards

(AP) It will probably come as a surprise to most Americans, but the winter just finished was the fifth warmest on record, worldwide.

Oh, sure, nearly two-thirds of the country can dispute that from personal experience of a colder-than-normal season.

But while much of the United States was colder than usual, December-February - climatological winter - continued the long string of unusual warmth on a global basis.

And parts of the United States did join in, with warmer-than-normal readings for the season in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Indeed, Maine had its third warmest winter on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports.

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports that worldwide the average temperature for winter was 54.9 degrees Fahrenheit (12.7 Celsius).

That's 1.08 degrees F (0.60 C) above average for the three-month period.

Contributing to the warmth was an El Nino (el NEEN-yo), a periodic warming of water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can influence weather over large areas.

However, worldwide temperatures have also been climbing in recent years, a warming attributed by most atmospheric scientists to chemicals added to the air by human activities since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

In February NOAA reported that the 2000-2009 decade was the warmest on record, easily surpassing the previous hottest decade, the 1990s.

The report for December-February also said:

Warmer-than-average temperatures engulfed much of the planet's surface, with the exception of unusually cool conditions across Europe, parts of Russia and most of the contiguous United States.

The Southern Hemisphere combined land and ocean temperature during the three-month season was the second warmest December-February on record, behind 1998.

Most of Canada had warmer-than-average conditions during winter, resulting in the warmest December-February period since national records began in 1948.

Much of Australia experienced warmer-than-average conditions during the Northern Hemisphere winter (Southern Hemisphere summer), with the exception of cooler-than-average conditions across the northern parts of the country.

Obama's health insurance rule -- it was a GOP idea - USATODAY.com

2010-03-27T00:59:00.001-07:00

Obama's health insurance rule -- it was a GOP idea - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — Republicans were for President Barack Obama's requirement that Americans get health insurance before they were against it. The obligation in the new health care law is a Republican idea that's been around at least two decades. It was once trumpeted as an alternative to Bill and Hillary Clinton's failed health care overhaul in the 1990s. These days, Republicans call it government overreach.

Fox News gets okay to misinform public, court ruling

2009-06-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

Link to article at CeaseSPIN.org

The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, successfully argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves. We are pushing for a consumer protection solution that labels news content according to its adherence to ethical journalism standards that have been codified by the Society of Professional Journalists (Ethics: spj.org).

Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke Iraq invasion

2009-06-22T15:43:00.001-07:00

Link to article at guardian.co.uk

A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein.

The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colours over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of UN resolutions.

Can GM benefit from AT&T's expertise in customer abuse and government collusion?

2009-06-10T12:57:00.001-07:00

Whitacre Vows to ‘Learn About Cars’ as Chairman of New GM Board - Bloomberg.com

“I don’t know anything about cars,” Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.”

Why Isn't Tiller's Murderer a "Domestic Terrorist?"

2009-06-10T01:01:00.001-07:00

How seriously do we take domestic terrorism? - Rob St. Amant - Open Salon

Scott Roeder murdered Dr. George Tiller at church in Wichita, KS, last Sunday. To restate the obvious, this was an act dangerous to human life, a violation of the criminal laws of the United States, and appeared to be intended to intimidate a civilian population (providers or possibly recipients of abortion services) and to influence the policy of a government by intimidation (that policy being related to current laws concerning abortion). The murder happened in the United States. Thus, domestic terrorism. I'm glad we've cleared that up.

Cheney says Bush left GM bankruptcy for the next guy

2009-06-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

Link to article

This, according to former vice-president Dick Cheney, who reportedly admitted in a recent interview on Fox News that the Bush administration floated the $17.4 billion auto industry bailout package in order to give the outgoing administration enough time to exit and for the next administration to settle in before the house of cards in Detroit came tumbling down. According to Cheney, President Bush "decided that he did not want to be the one who pulled the plug just before he left office."

Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer

2008-09-30T10:17:00.001-07:00

Link to article at - CNN.com

The fact that government bears such a huge responsibility for the current mess means any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place, not attempt to fix bad government with more government.

The obvious alternative to a bailout is letting troubled financial institutions declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy means that shareholders typically get wiped out and the creditors own the company.

Bankruptcy does not mean the company disappears; it is just owned by someone new (as has occurred with several airlines). Bankruptcy punishes those who took excessive risks while preserving those aspects of a businesses that remain profitable.

In contrast, a bailout transfers enormous wealth from taxpayers to those who knowingly engaged in risky subprime lending. Thus, the bailout encourages companies to take large, imprudent risks and count on getting bailed out by government. This "moral hazard" generates enormous distortions in an economy's allocation of its financial resources.

Thoughtful advocates of the bailout might concede this perspective, but they argue that a bailout is necessary to prevent economic collapse. According to this view, lenders are not making loans, even for worthy projects, because they cannot get capital. This view has a grain of truth; if the bailout does not occur, more bankruptcies are possible and credit conditions may worsen for a time.

Talk of Armageddon, however, is ridiculous scare-mongering. If financial institutions cannot make productive loans, a profit opportunity exists for someone else. This might not happen instantly, but it will happen.

The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death

2008-09-12T04:38:00.001-07:00

Link to artice at WSJ.com

It tells us something about Sarah Palin's homage to small-town America, delivered to an enthusiastic GOP convention last week, that she chose to fire it up with an unsourced quotation from the all-time champion of fake populism, the belligerent right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler.

US Is "More Communist than China": Jim Rogers

2008-09-09T19:09:00.001-07:00

Link to full story - CNBC.com

"America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich… it's just bailing out financial institutions," Rogers said...

..."This is madness, this is insanity, they have more than doubled the American national debt in one weekend for a bunch of crooks and incompetents. I'm not quite sure why I or anybody else should be paying for this," Rogers told "Squawk Box Europe."

AT&T calling attention to itself at convention

2008-08-27T15:39:00.001-07:00

Link to article at - msnbc.com

On Monday, AT&T threw an exclusive party for the Blue Dogs, the House's moderate and conservative Democrats, at the historic Mile High Station in downtown Denver. Among the guests was House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who in June led Blue Dogs in crafting a compromise bill that shielded telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping.

Sadly, "Revestiture" is pretty much completed!
- Frank

Networks continue to ignore NY Times ' military analyst story, but all find time for Hannah Montana

2008-04-30T13:00:00.001-07:00

Link to article

Since The New York Times reported on the hidden ties between media military analysts and the Pentagon on April 20, the three major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- have still not mentioned the report at all, according to a Media Matters for America search* of the Nexis news database. Times reporter David Barstow wrote that "the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform" these military analysts, many of whom have clients with an interest in obtaining Pentagon contracts, "into a kind of media Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." As Media Matters noted, the three networks also reportedly declined to participate in a segment on the April 24 edition of PBS' NewsHour regarding the Times story; Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC also refused to appear in the PBS segment.

Post a Million!
- Frank

Have You Left No Sense Of Decency?

2008-04-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

Link to Bob Cesca's full post

If the corporate media had been as diligent about watchdogging President Bush as they have been about watchdogging Reverend Wright, it's very likely we wouldn't have invaded Iraq.

If the corporate media had spent as much time exposing the obvious flaws and grotesque inequalities of Reaganomics throughout the last 30 years as they've spent on Wright, we wouldn't necessarily be staring into the maw of another depression.
...
..
We expect to see this sort of race-baiting behavior from Fox News Channel, but CNN and MSNBC have, once again, similarly crossed the tabloid threshold into the very same nefarious Roger Ailes realm by beating this nothing story to death.

This article reminded me that Wright is by no means the wackiest of the wacko's out there.
- Frank

Bush calls out Congress on economy

2008-04-29T14:07:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at CNN.com

Speaking at a White House Rose Garden news conference, Bush said Congress has not passed legislation that he proposed to help ease the effects of the economic slump.

"I've repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems, yet time after time Congress chose to block them," said Bush.

Bush said Congress failed to pass bills that expand safe oil exploration and build new refineries that would help to reduce energy prices. The president said his proposal... [...more of the usual, nonsensical bush babbling]

And STILL we wonder why this imbecilic criminal and his cronies have not been impeached, indicted, sentenced and dealt with by our legal system. Now, rather than acknowledging the disastrous errors of his ways, he tries blaming others and denying the reality that is his legacy.
- Frank

Republicans push for phone company immunity

2008-04-23T23:42:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Republican politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives failed last month to persuade Democratic leaders to back a spy law rewrite that would immunize telecommunications companies that cooperated with allegedly illegal government spying. Now they're trying to force the issue.

On Wednesday, a number of Republican leaders, including Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.), began circulating what's known as a "discharge" petition, which they characterized as a "rare step." If they obtain 218 signatures from their colleagues, they say the Democratic leadership will be forced to schedule a vote on a version of the bill passed by the U.S. Senate in February that would likely wipe out pending lawsuits against AT&T and other phone companies accused of illegal cooperation with the National Security Agency.

Honor Amongst Thieves?
It is rather depressing to watch these highbinders going through gyrations trying to cover up and protect their coconspirators.
- Frank

Bush fuel-economy rules called an 'assault' on states' standards

2008-04-22T23:24:00.001-07:00

Link to article at SFGate.com

When the Bush administration announced proposed regulations today to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they read the fine print.

Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a "covert assault" on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings that sided with the states.

Whether mis-managing a baseball team in Texas or our whole country from Washington, everything this sleaze bag and his cronies are involved with has an air of corruption, immorality, or outright criminality.
- Frank

Dangerous Cattle Virus On U.S. Mainland?, Bush Administration Likely To Build New Foot And Mouth Research Facility Near Farms

2008-04-16T21:25:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at CBS News

The Bush administration is likely to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory off Long Island to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak.

Skeptical Democrats in Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision. An epidemic of the disease, foot and mouth, which only affects animals, could devastate the livestock industry.

Once again we are boldly reminded that the real terrorists are in the White House.
- Frank

Begley's world's grown greener

2008-03-30T07:57:00.001-07:00

Link to full article at SFGate.com

Years before Leonardo DiCaprio and Larry David were proudly driving Toyota Priuses to red-carpet events, Begley risked derision by taking public transportation to splashy movie premieres. If he had to drive, he took his electric car: In 1991 when his then-girlfriend Annette Bening won an Oscar nomination for "The Grifters," Begley drove her to the Shrine Auditorium in his electric car and then had to find an outlet to recharge it.

"She was a great sport about it," Begley, 58, remembers. "Maybe somewhere deep down she thought I was wacky."

Begley, known for his recurring roles on the TV series "St. Elsewhere," "Six Feet Under" and "Arrested Development," was in town recently to attend a local recycling promotion and talk about "Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life" ( Buy it Here ), a new book that offers dozens of cool, money-saving suggestions on greening your house and sparing the earth.

An amusing article with pointers to some important products and ideas.
- Frank

6 Ways to Dine Out for Less

2008-03-30T07:21:00.001-07:00

Link to article at SmartMoney.com

Wholesale restaurant food prices rose 7.4% in 2007, the largest increase in three decades, according to the National Restaurant Association, an industry group. That's even bigger than the jump consumers are seeing at the supermarket, where grocery prices have gone up 5.3%, per the Consumer Price Index.

There are side effects to financial medicine

2008-03-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

Link to original article at SFGate.com

...Rosen predicts that when all is said and done, there could be as much as $1 trillion worth of losses in the financial system. He predicts that investors will bear 60 percent of the losses and the government could shoulder the rest.

What's in store

To pay for these losses, the government will have to raise taxes, sell more debt or both.

Near term, Rosen predicts that the Fed will have to keep cutting interest rates to prevent further weakness in housing and the economy. That will put further downward pressure on the dollar. A falling dollar will fuel inflation because imports, oil and other commodities will cost more.

Long term, the government will have to raise interest rates to entice foreigners to buy our debt. "The effect of all this is a recession and a lower living standard than we would have had without having had this mess," Rosen says. "This generation and the next generation will pay for this."

Leamer says he also worries about "the regulatory changes that will make it harder for Americans to get homes. The market was inappropriately lax. We're likely to flip in the other direction. There will be all sorts of restrictions" on who can buy a home.

But the biggest side effect, Leamer says "is the moral hazard" the government could be creating. When the government bails out stupid or risky behavior, it encourages the same kind of behavior.

Proving again the importance of at least literacy and intelligence testing before allowing crooks and liars to occupy the White House.
- Frank

How to abandon your God / Is it OK to switch religions, change denominations, even split from God entirely? Jesus says: Sure!

2008-03-05T13:34:00.001-08:00

Tentative answer: Maybe you don't. Maybe it's not about abandoning God at all, and instead merely broadening your definition of the divine so as to encapsulate and swallow it all, every God, every dogma, every attempt to corner the market on belief and parse it and put it into cute little boxes and break us all up into angry tribes who stomp our feet and wave our little gilded books and launch screaming bloody wars over promised lands and chosen peoples and crucifixes and crusades and witches and pagans and gays.

In other words, maybe you abandon God by realizing it's all God, it's all divine, all hot, thrumming, vibrating connection in all places in all things at all times. And hence, to try and parse it and restrict it and beat it into submission and claim it for one people, one history, one country or church or authoritarian body, is actually the highest form of divine insult.

Or, you know, grand cosmic joke. Same thing, really.

Link to original article at SFGate.com

Amen!
- Frank

Washington Politicians Are Gutting America Like A Fish

2008-03-05T13:00:00.001-08:00

George W. Bush has created the path for American fascism, he’s all but made the American Presidency and our Democratic system of governance a sham. He’s not alone, however. In addition to the neo-conservative movement, we’ve seen the rise of cowardice in Congress. Democrats and moderate Conservatives have failed to stand up for justice and the Constitution. In the view of Americans who actually give a damn, the two-party system has failed and Democrats and Republicans may as well be working together as they’ve allowed Bush to get away with murder, so-to-speak.
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Since Bush was inaugurated, all of the problems with his administration have been under the microscope. The majority of the issues started as early as 2001 — illegal surveillance, international relations problems, above-the-law action. Other issues have arisen since then, including FEMA’s response to Katrina, politicization of the Justice Department, disenfranchising voters, and providing fat contracts to his friends in corporate America.

Despite the fact that many details of wrongdoing are coming to light, Democrats have been unable to do anything about the issues. Now it appears that they are going to cave on protecting American rights to defend themselves against invasive government and illegal corporate acts. Is there any good news to be had? Is the promise of hope and restoring faith in American government in our near future or is it all talk and no action as Hillary Clinton has said?

Link to full article

A depressing, but seemingly accurate summation of the current situation.
- Frank

US plotted to overthrow Hamas after election victory

2008-03-04T09:13:00.001-08:00

Link to original article at The Guardian

The Bush administration, caught out by the rise of Hamas, embarked on a secret project for the armed overthrow of the Islamist government in Gaza, it emerged yesterday.

Vanity Fair reports in its April edition that President George Bush and the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, signed off on a plan for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to remove the Hamas authorities in Gaza. The plan called for Washington's allies in the region to funnel arms and salaries to Fatah fighters who would lead a rising against Hamas.

Impeachment? Arrest? Nope, Just business as usual at Sleaze Central in Washington, D.C.!
- Frank

Your little keystrokes, safe again

2008-02-18T16:51:00.001-08:00

Link to article at SFGate.com

You may think you have nothing to hide. You may think that the government will bug only the bad people. As residents of many, many police states can tell you, the government's definition of what constitutes a bad person shifts constantly and always expands. You can be wiretapped just because you were in the wrong place in the wrong time. Hell, you could be arrested for it. It's happened within this decade, right here in the USA.

Now, the wiretaps are something of a joke. They produce far more pages of transcript than anyone can read. If the people on the phone happen to be talking in a foreign language, then it's even worse, because the government is reluctant to hire people who speak foreign languages. Gay Arabic speakers - sorry, goodbye, we only want heterosexuals to stop the terrorists. The greatest protector of our freedoms has always been governmental incompetence.

Obama, not McCain or Clinton, votes for electronic privacy

2008-02-12T14:39:00.001-08:00

Link to full article at: CNET News.com

A U.S. Senate vote that took place two hours ago reveals how much three of our leading presidential candidates are committed to electronic privacy and the rule of law.

Barack Obama passes the test. John McCain failed. Hillary Clinton gets an incomplete.

The vote was on an amendment to deny AT&T and other telecommunications companies legal immunity if they are proven in court to have violated federal privacy law by opening their networks to the National Security Agency.

Obama voted for the amendment. That's a vote for electronic privacy and for the rule of law. It means that AT&T and any other companies that may have violated the law would be held accountable for any illegal actions they committed. Conversely, if AT&T, et al, violated no laws, its lawyers have nothing to worry about.

McCain opposed the amendment. This is a flip-flop from his earlier statement to us that we published as part of our News.com voter's guide earlier this year.

Looks like a Birds of a Feather situation, as criminal senators protect criminal companies. Another victory for the corrupt bush Administration.
- Frank

CDC Suppressed Toxic Trailer Warnings

2008-01-29T09:10:00.001-08:00

Link to full article at cbs13.com

As CBS News first reported last spring, FEMA has been under heavy fire for failing to acknowledge then adequately address health problems like respiratory illness associated with the toxic chemical formaldehyde found in travel trailers that became home for hundreds of thousands of survivors of Hurricane Katrina. More than 143,000 families have lived in the toxic trailers, and more than 40,000 still do.

Twenty-year-old Civics got 57 miles per gallon

2007-12-20T07:59:00.001-08:00

Link to article at CNN.com

The CRX HF got an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated 57 mpg gallon in highway driving. Today, the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid Civic you can buy gets an EPA-estimated 34 mpg on the highway. Even today's Honda Civic Hybrid can't match it, achieving EPA-estimated highway mileage of just 45 mpg. The Toyota Prius, today's fuel mileage champ, gets 46 mpg on the highway.

The problem with speed limits is that they are too low

2007-12-04T12:31:00.001-08:00

Link to full article at Montreal Gazette

Following the 1973 oil crisis and the U.S. government's imposition of a national 55 mph (88 km/h) limit, statistical analyses indicate highway safety worsened. And when Congress finally repealed federal speed limits in November 1995, to much caterwauling from the "speed-kills" crowd, with dire predictions of 6,400 increased deaths and a million additional injuries, the actual effect was diametrically opposite. Traffic deaths dropped to a record low by 1997, including in the 33 states that had immediately raised their speed limits. Meanwhile, Americans saved about 200 million person-hours in terms of less time spent on the road, with a reported net economic benefit of higher speed limits of $2 billion to $3 billion a year. A U.S. National Research Council panel pegged the cost of the 55-mph limit at about one billion person-hours per year.

Likewise, a study by the U.S. National Motorists Association found the safest period on Montana's Interstate highways was when there were no daytime speed limits or enforceable speed laws at all. When Montana implemented a new "safety program," imposing speed limits and enforcement, the state's fatal accident rate didn't just increase, it doubled, according to NMA statistics.

Other interesting findings of the Montana study were that vehicles traveling faster than average had the lowest accident rates, and there was no positive correlation between speed enforcement and accident rates on rural highways. If anything, the highways became less safe with enforcement.

You might want to read that last paragraph again, before clicking over to the full story. Interesting and more believable statistics as far as I'm concerned.
- Frank

People of the Web - Rolling in cash

2007-11-26T18:22:00.001-08:00

Link to full story at People of the Web

... It was 1994 and she wanted to teach herself how to design a website. Since she lived on the prairie in southwest Kansas, where rolling tumbleweeds are sometimes the only dynamic feature of an endless flat horizon, she invented a farm that sold tumbleweeds ...

You can never tell what the next great business idea will be.
- Frank

Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by 'paranormal' eccentric

2007-11-23T13:39:00.001-08:00

Link to article at the Daily Mail

But the 'Temples of Damanhur' are not the great legacy of some long-lost civilisation, they are the work of a 57-year-old former insurance broker from northern Italy who, inspired by a childhood vision, began digging into the rock.

Have you started your home improvement projects yet? Amazing!
- Frank

US military meets recruiting goals

2007-11-13T13:02:00.001-08:00

Link to article at Yahoo! News

The US military met its monthly recruiting goals for October, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, calling it "good news" for a force that has been strained by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sadly, this is after again lowering standards for health, criminal record, education, and intelligence.
If this trend continues, a typical inductee will be almost as bad as members of the Bbush administration.
- Frank

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush

2007-11-12T12:24:00.001-08:00

Link to article at vanityfair.com

When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page.

The Neoconservative Agenda for a War against Iran

2007-11-09T15:24:00.001-08:00

Link to full article at America's Hero Journey

On August 30, 2007, a B-52 bomber loaded with six Advanced Cruise missiles with adjustable nuclear warheads from five to 150 kilotons flew across the U.S. in a covert mission to the Middle East. The B-52 was scheduled to be used against Iran in an operation that would have coincided with Israel's secret attack on Syria on September 6. This covert operation was secretly ordered by Vice President Dick Cheney who attempted an end-run around objections by the Joint Chiefs of Staff who first in April 2006 and again in 2007 had conclusively rejected the use of nuclear weapons in any war to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Air Force personnel involved in the leaking of news of the nuclear armed B-52 bomber and stood down orders to complete the mission were scapegoated in an official Air Force investigation released on October 19. Two days earlier on October 17, President Bush delivered a Press Conference claiming that World World III was worth starting in order to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. On October 21, Vice President Cheney began warning of "serious consequences" if Iran doesn't comply with U.S. demands. This was the same language that preceeded the military intervention in Iraq in March 2003.

7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)

2007-11-07T14:20:00.001-08:00

Link to full article at Currency Trading.net

It’s no secret that the dollar is on a downward spiral. Its value is dropping, and the Fed isn’t doing a whole lot to change that. As a result, a number of countries are considering a shift away from the dollar to preserve their assets. These are seven of the countries currently considering a move from the dollar, and how they’ll have an effect on its value and the US economy.

The Bush administration's Terrorist attack on the United States continues!
- Frank

Tennessee town has run out of water

2007-11-02T10:41:00.001-07:00

Link to article at Yahoo! News

The severe drought tightening like a vise across the Southeast has threatened the water supply of cities large and small, sending politicians scrambling for solutions. But Orme, about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out.

Immunity deal hampers Blackwater inquiry

2007-10-30T00:35:00.001-07:00

Link to article at Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.

Does cyberspace provide enough companionship?

2007-10-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

Does cyberspace provide enough companionship? Some say yes

No person is an island, or so it's been said. But a recent survey suggests that, in this networked age, nearly 1 in 4 Americans wouldn't mind being left all by their lonesomes, as long as they were able to access the Internet.

Witnesses in Army trial killed in crash

2007-08-27T10:30:00.001-07:00

Link to article at United Press International

Several U.S. Army soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week were to be witnesses in the homicide trial of their former superior.

Wouldn't it be nice to NOT find this suspicious?
- Frank

Cheney in 1994 on Iraq - "would create a quagmire"

2007-08-15T13:09:00.001-07:00

Words of wisdom from before the current reign of madness began.
- Frank

Up the road to ARC

2007-08-03T11:47:00.001-07:00

FRANKNOTE

How the "ground zero mosque" fear mongering began

Pat Tillman's mother on Stanley McChrystal: I told you so

For Those Facebook Left Behind

Why You Should Write Down Your Passwords

Despite Spending $50 Million, California Rejects PG&E

Why Ubuntu excites me more than Windows or Macintosh

New, Deadly Cryptococcus Gattii Fungus Found in U.S.

How to Delete Facebook Applications (and Why You Should)

Dangers of the make-up counter: E.coli found in EVERY 'tester' on beauty counters

Kenyan Embassy Mocks Tea Party Movement, Promotes Kenyan Tea With Capitol Tea Party

Duncan Blasts "Useless" Air Marshal Service (June 19, 2009)

Cabot Oil & Gas’s Marcellus Drilling to Slow After PA Environment Officials Order Wells Closed

President Bush Addresses Nation on Economic Crisis

How Senator Vitter Battled the EPA Over Formaldehyde’s Link to Cancer

Tax Day Fact Check: Most Americans Got A Tax Cut This Year

George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent' - Times Online

How Americans are propagandized about Afghanistan

Winter Was Fifth Warmest on Record - CBS News

Obama's health insurance rule -- it was a GOP idea - USATODAY.com

Fox News gets okay to misinform public, court ruling

Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke Iraq invasion

Can GM benefit from AT&T's expertise in customer abuse and government collusion?

Why Isn't Tiller's Murderer a "Domestic Terrorist?"

Cheney says Bush left GM bankruptcy for the next guy

Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer

The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death

US Is "More Communist than China": Jim Rogers

AT&T calling attention to itself at convention

Networks continue to ignore NY Times ' military analyst story, but all find time for Hannah Montana

Have You Left No Sense Of Decency?

Bush calls out Congress on economy

Republicans push for phone company immunity

Bush fuel-economy rules called an 'assault' on states' standards

Dangerous Cattle Virus On U.S. Mainland?, Bush Administration Likely To Build New Foot And Mouth Research Facility Near Farms

Begley's world's grown greener

6 Ways to Dine Out for Less

There are side effects to financial medicine

How to abandon your God / Is it OK to switch religions, change denominations, even split from God entirely? Jesus says: Sure!

Washington Politicians Are Gutting America Like A Fish

US plotted to overthrow Hamas after election victory

Your little keystrokes, safe again

Obama, not McCain or Clinton, votes for electronic privacy

Top Censored Media Stories of 2007

CDC Suppressed Toxic Trailer Warnings

Twenty-year-old Civics got 57 miles per gallon

The problem with speed limits is that they are too low

People of the Web - Rolling in cash

Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by 'paranormal' eccentric

US military meets recruiting goals

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush

The Neoconservative Agenda for a War against Iran

7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)

Tennessee town has run out of water

Immunity deal hampers Blackwater inquiry

Does cyberspace provide enough companionship?

Witnesses in Army trial killed in crash

Cheney in 1994 on Iraq - "would create a quagmire"

Up the road to ARC