I have recently returned from a journey, more than a vacation, where I paid homage to personal and public shrines that I would describe as liberal. It had been many years since I’d seen them, since I set foot upon Oregon's shores. My prints were once common there, having studied, lived and loved there for nearly twenty years. I went to revisit my old trails, to see family and old friends and perhaps to seek new paths to travel with my eye on the idea of survival for the future.

There is water there.

There are liberals there. There are people who know how to grow food, to build and sustain community, to care for the land, to work with their hands. There are artists, poets and musicians there. There is public land; parks, beaches, wilderness areas, forests and preserves. I paid homage to as many of these as possible within the limited time I had.

Yet, underneath all these hopeful characteristics, behind the edges of forested corridors, in the back rooms of many Coastal businesses, the signs of decay and dilapidation are undeniable. Communities are suffering. Oregon has taken an especially hard beating during these years of Bush depravity.

More below with pics

During Panel 1, Representative Kucinich (D-Ohio) presented his three bills regarding the articles of impeachment for Shrub for the consideration of the Judiciary Committee. He asked his colleagues in Congress to honor our oath to support and defend the constitution.

These hearings are currently being shown on C-Span 1 TV

Links:C-Span 1 - follow link on home page

Other links

KPFA & Pacifica Radio will air Friday's hearing from 9:00AM - 1:00PM EDT streamed live at pacifica.org and kpfa.org and on the air at KPFA (Berkeley), KPFK (Los Angeles), KPFT (Houston), and others TBD.

Important Note: Please do NOT recommend this diary. Instead recommend the
Mothership here.

See Panel 2 speakers below the flip

I wasn’t able to make the trip to Austin this year, after having been an attendee at both the Ykos conferences, for a variety of reasons, primarily financial. I did take full advantage of the Netroots Nation streaming online, however, while working in my studio, and I watched all the major panels I would have attended had I been there. This afternoon I watched the Crashing the Party: Transforming Netroots Activism into Grassroots Action Within State and Local Parties panel with NYBrian, Chris Bowers, Wmtriallawyer, Hekebolos and Delaware Dem. I want you all to be proud of me for not resorting to the use of the latter user’s many nicknames. Take note and be thankful. They all went by their real names at the conference, but I’m too programmed after all these years on Dkos to resort to them (except for Chris and Brian, of course).

See below for how I did it

Haraka Haraka Hyena Baraka

Haste is not a blessing or hurry up and slow the fuck down

Here is the link at C-Span 3 I'll be adding more text shortly, extending from Omen's, which is found here: FISA Liveblogging I

House Committee
CIA Leak Investigation
Judiciary

Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
Conyers, John Jr. U.S. Representative, D-MI  
McClellan, Scott Press Secretary (2003-2006), White House  
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testified about reported efforts to cover up the role of the White House in the leaking of the informtion that Valerie Plame Wilson was a Central Intelligence Agency covert operative.

Rules:

1. No pics: pie, pootie or otherwise. That includes videos.

2. We ask for volunteers to do transcripts for those who can't hear all of the yummy oversightness. We'll have a thread for the transcripts.

3. Between 200-250 comments we'll get a new diary going. IOW: I'll need volunteers.

Hi Tucson and Southern Arizona Kossacks! This is a second announcement of the First Official Kossack Drinkup de Tucson (FOK’DT). The first announcement and feeble effort at a roll call on a holiday may be found here:Tucson Roll Call & Liberally Meeting Drinkup. We are crashing the already planned Liberally Drinking Meetup during which the following Special Guest will speak: Shireen Keyl, a graduate Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies who will share insights into the culture and people of Iran. It should be very informative and interesting, and timely.

Below the flip for details:

Hi Tucson Kossacks. Last night I did what Kid Oakland told us to and I joined a bunch of Obama campaign groups, including one for Kossacks and others for supporters from around AZ. This prompted me to want to finally motivate to get together with Tucson Kossacks for a meet-up. Kate McKinnon, another Tucsonan Kossack, suggested gathering at the already regularly scheduled Drinking Liberally meet ups, which I thought was an excellent plan. I don’t think Tucson has ever had an official Kossack meetup before, so let’s do it! What have we been waiting for?

Of course if you are anywhere within driving distance you are more than welcome to join in, even if not from Tucson proper.

Below the flip for details:

There have been several stories in the news lately about a chemical called Bisphenol A  (BPA). This chemical is found in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, which are everywhere in our lives, from our baby bottles, to sippy cups, to break proof dishwear, to eyeglasses, to dental coatings and even the linings in our canned foods. Industry says the stuff is safe. Canada wants it banned. Some Democratic Senators are considering trying to ban it too. It is an endocrine disruptor that mimics estrogen in our bodies. It may be related to a host of health problems including diabetes, obesity, breast and testicular cancers, developmental problems and birth defects. The more studies are conducted,  the more it looks like something we shouldn’t be ingesting, especially the wild things and our children.

This diary will provide some hard chemistry, the latest news on BPA a bunch of links for more information and product alternatives. There is plenty of politics involved here too.  Industry seems to be hiring friendlies for safety studies. Under Bush?!?!? Say it ain’t so!

According to this story in the Guardian, today, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia and former Prime Minister Tony Blair are in trouble. Apparently Bandar took a billion pounds as a bribe from the multinational defense contractor and arms producer, BAE, to pressure the British government into halting fraud investigations into BAE activities. Bandar is said to have threatened the British government that the Saudi government would allow further terrorist attacks to take place in Britain if they continued investigations.

Active Denial and Silent Guardian: Coming to a Police Department Near You?

You may have heard of the new technology for crowd control that is like a giant taser, blasting out energy to disrupt a crowd, not only an individual. Raytheon has made available for the market, the civilian market, a new version of the military "Active Denial" direct energy weapon system, which it calls "Silent Guardian." Apparently my own county’s Sheriffs Department is considering purchasing this system for crowd control... where at U of A basketball games? at Cesar Chavez Day marches? at anti-war marches?

This weapon system works by shooting a beam of electricity out that excites the water molecules in the top layer of the skin causing it to heat up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, causing intense and immobilizing pain. It is supposed to feel like being doused in boiling hot water. Hmmm, frogs in boiling water, hmmmm. Isn't there some story about that? They say there is no permanent damage. They say it is non lethal. They say it is the best fucking thing since sliced bread.

Moody Loner’s diary this morning link, asked us to think back to what we thought was the best of Bill’s Koufax award winning series, Cheers & Jeers. There are so many to choose from, but in the comments I highlighted the one he wrote the day after the 2004 elections when most if not all Kossacks were ready to jump off a cliff or get altered for significant periods of time,  because we were all so devastated. Here’s the link to my comment about that posting. In it I also said this:

See the beauty of Bill is that he not only has a silver tongue that can tear the last shriveled remnant of heart left in a wingnut, but he can also move one to tears with his great compassion, or rile you up with his righteous anger. Yep, Bill's the most versatile writer I've ever seen. Brilliant at so many levels.

This led me on a hunt for my most favorite day in Cheers & Jeers ever, which I’ve found, and will share below.

This diary will provide an overview of the four, perhaps five, American big oil related companies that are still operating in Burma, which by their continued operation are assisting the oppressive and brutal junta, The State Peace and Development Council.

Only a few days ago Reuters published an article here that said, "U.S. energy companies are shrugging off pressure to end operations in Myanmar that critics contend help prop up the military junta and its hold over the country." So far, the protesting on line and on the street is not moving them to change their policy and tactics.

Based on some discussions about Chevron and other oil companies operating in Burma I was left with several questions,including how these companies could continue to legally operate in Burma when the US had imposed economic sanctions. This diary attempts to answer these questions.

It resolves asking you the readers to come to some conclusions and share them. So keep that in mind as you scroll through this. 

I read the news today that Dr. Paul MacCready (September 25, 1925 – August 28, 2007) had passed away recently. You may not have heard of him, but you may have heard of some of his inventions. He was an extremely brilliant man: a scientist, an aeronautical engineer, an inventor, an environmentalist, a kick in the pants humorist, and the father of one of my best friends from when I was in high school. He was in my mind, and will always remain, the Leonardo Da Vinci of our times.

He is best known for having invented the first human powered airplane, the Gossamer Condor, back in 1977. He invented far more since then and I will share some of those below, as well as my favorite recollections spending time with him.

Not long after the invasion of  Iraq a local floral shop owner began to use his store marquees to protest the war. The owner was also a dedicated Deaniac. The blue and yellow signs were prominently displayed in his windows. After I saw his marquees I only bought flowers from his shop. All the relatives got flowers for their birthdays even though I'd never been a big flower purchaser before. My favorite slogan that I saw said, "Send Bush to Mars with Roses."  The store owner also gave huge discounts for sending flowers to vets who had been to Afghanistan and Iraq. Those special sale announcements were also on his marquees.

More below

Yesterday in Kagro X’s front page post It's not $50 billion. It's $200 billion there was a comment by Positronicus suggesting that we Kossacks should get better at tracking the money flowing in and out of Capitol Hill.

This diary will provide a research plan for doing just that, specifically tracking the blood money that the major US corporations in the Military Industrial Complex, otherwise known as the top Defense Contractors, are contributing to the 38 Blue Dog Democrats through their PACs.

More below

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more below

At YearlyKos this year a group of Kossacks known as the Creative Outreach Alliance debuted Art in a Liberal Frame, a chapbook of visual, poetic, and prose art forms from the Daily Kos community. Last week Decembersue posted the first of what I hope will be on ongoing series here.

Tonight I’m presenting the short story I wrote for the anthology. It deals with the human costs of American economic policy that are not often factored into financial equations by the politicians, economists, Wall Street financiers, or the media. Given the many recent stories about the external costs of doing free trade business with China I think this story is particularly pertinent. Though the story is set on the US-Mexico border, it could be taking place anywhere around the world where corporations and the EOs neglect their responsibilities of fairness in labor, of human safety, of decency.

I made it home from Chicago a couple of hours ago and logged on to my computer for the first time in several days. I see that I've missed some important news while in YearlyKos land and have much to catching up to do. I also have over 100 business emails and 25 phone messages to deal with, but before I slip back into my real life of business and laundry and try to catch up on some seriously needed sleep, I wanted to share some of the photos and experiences I had.

And my feet really do hurt and I really do want Kos to fucking massage them!! Damn, we all had a lot of trekking to do over the last few days.

Lots of pics below