h/t foghaze

President Bush got the Fourth of July he deserves. Disgusted American citizens shouted, "War criminal" and "He has brought fascism to our shores!" while Bush delivered his Independence Day message at Monticello. Bush acknowledged "Freedom of Speech," while Secret Service agents ushered out the people who were yelling.

AP story

Standard story

Why does John McCain think he can tell lies and get away it?

Arrogance Problem?

He thinks people are too stupid to pay attention?

Integrity Problem?

He says whatever he thinks will make a good sound bite?

Cognitive Problem?

This clip is funny. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) tells a story of McCain roughing up a man while on a diplomatic mission.  McCain denies it because it happened 21 years ago.

Botswana troops amass along the border with Zimbabwe a few days ago. Source: Sunday Standard

Information leaked to the local press in Botswana indicate that the military in that country is ready to take on Zimbabwe unilaterally if leaders of Southern Africa fail to act soon.

There is a general consensus that it is time for Robert Mugabe to step down whether he likes it or not. The question is, if he has to be brought down are African leaders ready to do it in a swift and decisive manner?

Bishop Desmond Tutu has said that force is justified to bring peace and enable negotiation in Zimbabwe and Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga has asked the AU to deploy peace-keeping forces in that troubled, once-prosperous country.

Meanwhile, the UN security council is reported to be "considering" sanctions against Zimbabwe including freezing assets belonging to Mugabe and his henchmen. China blocked US attempts for sanctions immediately after violence broke out in the runoff elections June 27th ,so if a real solution is expected, the UN security council is the last place Africans should look to for guidance. China has entrenched interests in Mugabe or his henchmen staying in power and will use it's vote, possibly with Russia to stall this effort at all costs.

The UN has become a brothel where some powerful countries rape and hug the weak countries of the world at the same time while onlookers choose to look away helpless (or not) or convince themselves there is a romance going on. Case in point - Wikileaks has evidence that the Chinese government is shipping weapons to Zimbabwe, so it is ridiculous to have delegations at the UN waste precious time and money as the people of Zimbabwe suffer and at the end of the day, no resolution will be passed that will be of immediate benefit to them. It is even more painful to watch as the Chinese vice minister for foreign affairs, Yang Jiechi, gets up on stage and says that China opposes sanctions because the most pressing issue was to "stabilise the situation in Zimbabwe". What hypocrisy !!

China has become quite adept at these diplomatic waltzes and will use it's experience and security council vote, which almost always goes in tandem with the Russian vote, to ensure that this situation drags on until another major world event pops up on the radar and it will be back to business as usual.

The real solution here is going to come from initiatives such as Botswana's and will need support of all the other African countries. This becomes complicated because China has slowly built economic alliances with governments all over Africa so one is left wondering what is next for yet another African country caught in a political crisis and especially the plight of the long-suffering Zimbabweans caught in the middle.

h/t The Associated Press

Esmin Green died on the floor of an emergency room waiting area in New York. Surveillance video shows her slumping then falling from a chair onto the tiles. No one offers to help until it's too late, not the other patients, not the guards. A doctor walks in to look, but didn't touch, and then about two minutes later a nurse shows up and starts to act, but of course by then Green is dead.

Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn released a statement saying they "are shocked and distressed by the situation." Some of the staff were suspended or fired.

49-year-old Green had been waiting nearly 24 hours to be seen.

This happened June 20, 2008.

A 49-year old woman died last month while sitting in an emergency room waiting area for over 24 hours. The video is actually quite disturbing, so I'm not going to post it, however I can tell you this...people watched it happen and did nothing. 6 people have been fired because of the event. And the hospital (Kings County Hospital in New York) has been sued by a state agency siting the hospital as "a chamber of filth, decay, indifference and danger".

2 questions here...and I'm curious because I have no knowledge of anything that has to do with hospitals or psychiatric wards, so work with me here...

First off...why would anyone watch someone collapse on the floor, in a hospital, whether you are on staff or just waiting around also, and not do something?

And secondly...when does a hospital get to the point that it has to be sued for "filth, decay, indifference and danger"? Are the people working there not professional caregivers? Or are they just homeless folks looking for someplace to hang out for a while? Aren't there qualified doctors on staff who have some kind of personal pride in where they work? I'm really curious about this because it seems to me that someplace like a hospital is a sacred place. A lot like a church in that people can go there for help. A hospital should be staffed with nurses and doctors who have extensive experience and knowledge. People who have worked to get to a place where they can make a difference. It seems somewhat incredible to me that a place like Kings Co. Hospital exists today! This hospital sounds almost like the old horror film psychiatric wards of long ago...with electric chargers and torture devices!

I don't get it. We have definately lost our way. This video and the video of the man in Hartford, CT getting hit by a car as traffic continues to roll along are proof that we are at an all-time low in our culture. America is sick and there is no where to go to get well again. Especially not at the emergency room of the Kings County Hospital! We've all seen what happens when you check in there!

I'll pass...thanks.

A woman was willing to trade sex for a $100 gas card!?! She was accused of prostitution and...get this...doing business without an occupational license. HA! An occupational license??? For hookers? Can you buy one of those at Wal-Mart? Or do you have to go to the DMV to get one of those suckers? LOL

Anyway...I digress...

So now we've come to this point. Sex for gas. This is the 2nd story of this kind of transaction in a week. What a sad state of affairs we are in when the hookers of the world can't get to their tricks because they don't have any gas. What is the world coming too?

So I guess if you are out after a late night and you see a woman approaching you in high heels, lingerie and a gas can...you'll know what SHE wants from ya. And it ain't money! She wants your gas card! So just be aware and on high alert!

McCain doesn't like being told to "calm down." McCain's camp is calling non-attacks attacks. Merely talking about his military record constitutes an attack.

Sure beats talking about the evil gas prices and the crappy economy.

Beats defending torture.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'm wondering why all the fuss over a one-hit wonder who is the biggest crackhead since Courtney Love? At least Courtney is from America. This chick has one song to her name and the whole world is a-flutter with her drugginess.

Last weekend she performed at Nelson Mandella's 90th birthday celebration with a gazillion other celebrities. For some reason this was a big deal. Probably because no one knew whether or not she would be able to perform sober! And then she went somewhere else to perform and managed to punch a fan for grabbing at her. I don't get it. I know the critics love her. She's weird and talented and has a knack for running around in the streets of London wearing only her underwear. But let's face it...she's a drug addict!

I'm putting this one up there with Britney Spears in the "America's Infatuation With Losers" category because this chick is a waste of time and space. I'm tired of hearing about her already! Let's move on people...nothing to see here!

Senator Chris Dodd is rallying the forces of good (that means you!) to fight telecom immunity. He and Senator Feingold have introduced an amendment to strip immunity for telecoms from the current FISA bill. Senators Reid and Obama are on board.

You can be a citizen co-sponsor of the amendment.

If your senators and representatives still worship at altar of Bush and will do nothing to defend the further erosion of the Constitution, this is a way to be heard.

U.S. Court of Appeals judges likened the Department of Justice case against a Guantanamo Bay prisoner to a Lewis Carroll poem, "The Hunting of the Snark:"

The government suggests that several of the assertions in the intelligence documents are reliable because they are made in at least three different documents," writes Judge Merrick Garland, "We are not persuaded. Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact the government has 'said it thrice' does not make the allegation true. In fact we have no basis for concluding that there are independent sources for the documents' thrice-made assertions."

The court also ruled the Pentagon improperly labeled Chinese Muslim, Hazaifa Parhat, as an "enemy combatant."

This is the first time a Guantanamo Bay detainee has been given an opportunity in a civilian court to seek his release. The Judges told prosecutors to release, transfer the prisoner, or expeditiously hold a new tribunal. Parhat has been in custody for more than six years.

Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”

From Ethics Daily:

One reason that men abuse their wives is because women rebel against their husband's God-given authority, a Southern Baptist scholar said Sunday in a Texas church.

"And husbands on their parts, because they're sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged--or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches," Ware said from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas.

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said women desire to have their own way instead of submitting to their husbands because of sin."

The article obviously plays fast and loose with the word "scholar." Ware did discuss domestic violence as a horror, but the rationalizing here is sickening. In an abusive situation, the abused has no control over the abuser's actions, period. Suggesting otherwise is part of the sickness. Ware validates the sickness.

Singer Amy Winehouse had absolutely no patience with a fan who tried to ring her beehive with a hat. She threw a punch but ended up hitting the wrong guy. On the other hand, 25 year old, James Gostelow was the right guy because taking a poorly-aimed blow from the singer made the concert that much more memorable.

Winehouse's bad girl antics in the headlines was my introduction to her work. Her voice is amazing. I'm from New Orleans, and she sounds like she was plucked from the House of Bourbon in the French Quarter.

Now, she's only 24 or 25 and appears to be living hard. Musically that's paying off, but I've got to wonder if in 10 years she end up with all the glamour of Keith Richards.

Prosecutors at the tribunal are frustrated and are looking to the UN security council to take action against Kenya.

Guardian

Reading my morning paper this morning, as I am apt to do, and I came upon a story that brought a tear to my eye. On page A2 (that's the page on the flip side of the Front Page), right next to a story about 2 medical helicopters colliding in Flagstaff and New York City dropping trans fats, The Cincinnati Enquirer chose to print a story related to gas prices. Big surprise, right? Except THIS story was how the rising gas prices are affecting brothels in Nevada.

Yes...you read that correctly. Brothels. As in cathouses. Or whorehouses. Or places to go to pay for sex. Apparently with the rising gas prices, long-haul truckers aren't stopping in as regularly as they used too. Seems they are having to fill their tanks with gas to get where they are going. This, of course, costs a lot of moolah! So...now they can't stop in, fill 'er up and roll like they used too (get it? Fill 'er up? I crack myself up...).

So the brothels are coming up with new ideas to keep business hopping! Several promotions are happening at several different locations (Nevada has 28 LEGAL brothels??? Seriously?). At one site called the Shady Lady Ranch, if you spend $500, you get a gas card worth $100! Wow! That's a great deal! Or if you go to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, if you are one of the first 100 customers to spend your government stimulus check (which I have YET to receive!), you get DOUBLE the service! Incredible!

Well...I for one can't think of anything BETTER to do with my check than to mosey on down to the local henhouse and pick me up a hot chick and get DOUBLE the fun! I'm not exactly sure what that means...but I'm sure it would take a pair of plyers and a rachet wrench to get the smile off my face once the "transaction" is all done!

Anyway...I just thought I should get the word out that the world's oldest profession is suffering because of today's gas prices. Seems kinda sad to let the hookers of the world go without a little company just because George Bush and the cronies in Washington can't seem to get the economy straightened out. Bet the girls at the Bunny Ranch could have this all taken care of in no time! And maybe W could get a little something-something on the side...just as a goodbye for all the hard work he's done screwing up our country! A screw for a screwing! I like it! LOL

Switzerland isn't just known for schwingen and coo-coo clocks anymore folks! It is now the country that could destroy us all! Buried 330 feet below the wooden shoes of the citizens of Meyrin, scientists have built a giant atom-smasher! For over a generation, many great minds have been building this giant ring of supercooled magnets that, when switched on, could either enlighten us on the "Higgs boson" or it could just open up a black hole and we'll all be sucked into a different dimension. Or...even better...it could just fire up enough molecular particles that it would char the earth like a giant chicken on a spit!

Obviously I'm not sure which I would prefer. I'm thinking discovering a particle thought to give matter its mass might be kinda cool (NOT). Being fried beyond recognition doesn't excite me either. But being zapped into another dimension might just save us gazillions of dollars! I mean, we've been wanting to go to other solar systems for years! Why not just do it all at once and shoot the entire PLANET into some other system where there might be some other planets that we could inhabit and destroy.

Of course the odds of this happening is only a one in 50 million so it's "possible" that nothing would happen and all would remain the same here on earth. But it's also "possible" that the great minds of our planet who have been working on this baby and put over $5.8 billion dollars into this thing might just flip the switch and all hell will break loose!

So what do we want to do people? It's due to happen in August. Do we butter up some corn, sit outside our homes and wait to see if we get zapped to some galaxy far, far away? Or do we close the hatch on this little project and continue to live our lives without knowing what "dark matter" or this "Higgs boson" thingee looks like?

Hmmmm...boy...this IS a tough one...

Wanna read more about this headline? Go here. Or here. or even here!

VOA

Foreign Policy(subscription required)

A crowd of 46,664 sings "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela at a party for the former South African prisoner and president...and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He'll turn 90-years-old in three weeks.

In 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in his efforts to free his nation from apartheid. He spent the first 27 years incarcerated.

South African President F.W. de Klerk released Mandela in 1990. Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress by 1991, and in 1994 the nation that had imprisoned him elected him president.

This is horrible.  Most millionaires let their enslaved workers go home at night.  Getting a prison for them is just unacceptable.

"McCain Stumbles Over Awkward Wife-Beating Joke"

As opposed to the wife beating jokes that aren't awkward?

"Rove, critics try to pin 'arrogant' label on Obama."

Apparently he wouldn't stand still long enough.  Next time, Rove will simply try to tape the label on him.

The UK foreign office has issued a revised travel advisory because the remaining white farms and whites might be targeted next as options run out.

Wavinya and 16 other co-defendants, majority of whom are Kenyans, have been in jail since July 2007after they were indicted on these same charges. No word on when sentencing will take place.

FOX Kansas City

The Star

Phillippe Sands, author of the Torture Team, testifies before Congress on the problem of torture. Apparently, Congress was born yesterday because Sands simply informed them what is already widely known on torture. It doesn't work. False confessions to make the pain stop are the outcome. Sands pointedly relayed McCain's confession as a torture victim in Vietnam:

I listened just yesterday...to Senator McCain, a man who has first hand experience of this situation and a brave man, describing in a 1997 interview with Dan Rather how he broke and owned up and signed a confession to having personally targeted men and women, children in North Vietnam because he was facing such conditions that he could no longer cope."

Standard story

Copy of the letter

National Nine News (Australia)