Tornadoes in OK – Please Help!

Some members and friends of SP are being affected by this weather system and could use help via contributions to Red Cross. Here is the original plea. Please follow this link and do what you can:

PLEASE HELP

Only a few more days…

until we trim the yard and get rid of the prickly, waspy .

I didn’t expect him to do anything other than defend his actions and attempt to revise history, but I was still a bit disappointed that he didn’t apologize to the American people for:

1. Stealing the election

2. Sitting and staring into space on 9/11

3. Lying about WMD in Iraq

4. Claiming that he has kept this country safe when in fact he has made it more dangerous by…

5. …thumbing his nose and other parts at international criticism of the war and of war crimes he and Cheney committed

6. Endangering our own service men and women by allowing rendition and the torture of suspects

7. Ignoring those who wouldn’t go along with his ideology and hiring those who did, regardless of their incompetency

8. Making a mockery of our Justice Department and our constitution

8. Claiming ignorance to Katrina, even though warnings were issued to the public well ahead of time and dared to have a photo op in New Orleans, making false promises to those who lost their homes and family

9. Destroying and then denying the state of the economy until it could no longer be hidden, and not because thousands lost their jobs and homes, but because the banks were going under

10. Singing in a mocking fashion about how Republicans have gotten away with unethical behavior

11. If not drunk for 8 years, behaving that way

Same to you, George Bush and good riddance!

Original post at: Sheer Progress

Republicans Looking to Change?

That’s about all their words are worth.

I don’t believe they are “getting it”. Republicans have been meeting behind closed doors to discuss the changes that need to take place in their party. Yet, this comes from former Tennessee party Chairman Chip Saltsman of “Barack the Magic Negro” fame:

“The party is in a position to rebuild and to get back to the basics,” said Saltsman, “and that means lower taxes, less government and being the party of life and traditional marriage.”

The last part of that quote indicates to me that those in leadership positions still don’t understand that this past election was about changing ideology and rejecting Republican “values”. Even those who don’t wish to recognize committed gay relationships as legal marriages understand that imperialistic policies and torture, a failing economy and lack of human services are what have destroyed this country. It was those things that drove Americans to vote in a man that Republicans worked vigorously to describe as “other” and “radical” (right down to the “terrorist fist-bump”).

Changing the Republican party doesn’t mean recruiting young people, women and minorities and becoming internet-saavy. All that means is that Republicans are looking for new ways to win, which historically has entailed deception and manipulation through the media. Change means recognizing what’s best for the health and welfare of your constituents, not using religious conservatism as a justification for using decidedly unethical methods to stay in power.

Original posting at: Sheer Progress

Bush’s $1 Trillion War on Terror: Even Costlier Than Expected

That’s the headline at Time today. Never mind the completely unethical nature of this war, where could $1 trillion have gone? There are approximately 302 million people in the United States, around 6 billion, 603 million in the whole world. That means we could have eradicated homelessness and world hunger, mortality due to poverty, enabled every single human being on the planet to have the time to spend with their families. Now I’m not suggesting there should be no strife whatsoever because strife can bring about growth and creative fulfillment and I don’t believe every person on the planet would appreciate the gift of abundance. I also believe that some people need the motivation of money to manufacture and service. But wouldn’t using financial resources to enhance the lives of the entire world population be vastly preferable to the needless death of thousands of innocent men, women and children?

And what kind of evil looks back on this and says they would have repeated this egregious act, knowing what they know now? This will go down in history as one of our darkest times.

Originally at: Sheer Progress

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Calls for Independent Counsel to Investigate Cheney and Rumsfeld for Violating Torture Laws

Part of me wishes this has been done long ago, but it appears obvious to me that this is being done immediately on the heels of Bush’s Presidential pardons. And if this is a successful investigation that ends in prosecutions, maybe Bush and Gonzalez will also come down like dominoes. The original story and accompanying audio can be heard at Democracy Now!

www.sheerprogress.com

Playing for Change

As a musician, and one who dabbles in world music, I fully appreciate the universal language of music. A dear friend of mine brought a fabulous documentary to my attention: Playing for Change. In order to get the full impact of this amazing journey into humanity, the world and the power of music, click on the many links on the Playing for Change website. Their Mission Statement, as stated on their site is as follows:

The Playing for Change Foundation (PFCF) is dedicated to connecting the world through music by providing resources (including but not limited to facilities, supplies, and educational programs) to musicians and their communities around the world. PFCF supports projects inspired by the communities featured in the Playing for Change documentary film series. For more info on events supporting the PFC Foundation, including our upcoming Benefit Concert, please visit the NEWS section.

Bill Moyers, on PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal, recently interviewed Mark Johnson, co-director of Playing for Change.

And just in case you didn’t believe the part about me being a musician, enjoy this little ditty:

Thracelift

original story at: Sheer Progress

Michael S. Malone Doesn’t Get It

In todays opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, Michael S. Malone writes about Washington killing Silicon Valley. Mr. Malone writes, “the new laws and regulations have neither prevented frauds nor instituted fairness. But they have managed to kill the creation of new public companies in the U.S., cripple the venture capital business, and damage entrepreneurship. According to the National Venture Capital Association, in all of 2008 there have been just six companies that have gone public. Compare that with 269 IPOs in 1999, 272 in 1996, and 365 in 1986.”

Let’s start with the obvious. Mr. Malone fails to provide any evidence to prove that regulations have not curtailed fraud nor instituted fairness. A strawman argument at best, blatant lie at worst. There is no way to truly measure if regulations have prevented any new fraud. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that shows that deregulation has caused many new problems. Twenty years of deregulation has now produced our current financial crisis.

Mr. Malone goes on to misrepresent – alright, let’s be honest, he outright lied – the amount of IPOs offered this year. To be fair, this has been a very disappointing year, but the number of IPOs this year is far from the six that Mr. Malone claims. According to Renaissance Capital, 43 companies have gone public this year. No doubt this has been a disappointing year for initial offerings, but this has been a disappointing year all the way around when it comes to anything related to economics.

Creating made up numbers is something that the Bush administration does in a time of war, but I would of expected more from an opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Malone believes he has all the answers, but the truth is – he doesn’t even know the question.

Original story at: Sheer Progress

Female Mutilation – where is the MSM?

Although illegal in some countries, female circumcisions are still performed throughout Africa and Asia, often on very young girls. This horribly cruel practice is considered a “rite of passage”, but how can the dangerous maiming of anyone be considered a cultural celebration in any society?

The primitive blades used to mutilate these girls are re-used without proper cleaning, leaving these children open to multiple infections, including HIV and sepsis. The procedure is done without any anesthesia or numbing.

First ladies from seven West African countries met this past October to discuss ways to stop this barbaric practice. Half of women in Burkina Faso have been circumcised. James Butty from Voice of America interviewed Bahisimine Youl, the coordinator with the Pan-African Film Festival regarding this conference. That interview can be heard here. I found out about this conference through my own research on this subject; I never heard the MSM mention this conference, not even fleetingly, yet they have been running the same stories over and over all day long, when they could be informing the public of these atrocities.

There are multiple videos on the subject. Here is one from UNICEF:

A good source for more information on the topic is from the World Health Organization:
Factsheet

Sheer Progress

Please Make it Stop!

Please Make it Stop!
Dec 13th, 2008 | By Sheer Progress | Category: Featured Stories, Obama | Edit

I like the blogosphere. I studied website development, got my degree in New Visual Media. I created an entire website in notepad. It was good because I learned about stylesheets and html, but coding and standards keep changing enough to constantly keep me on my toes. WordPress and other blog formats are cool, because everything is pretty much laid out for you, widgets that are pre-coded, headers, footers, etc. And if you have a little bit of coding knowledge, you can really spruce up your site.

But let me get to the reason I’m ready to pull out my hair. I am inspired by other people’s blogs and I also get the opportunity to express myself in concise ways…afterall, I don’t want to bogart someone else’s post. I am learning how to be a better blogger and am enjoying networking. Because of my particular orientation, I prefer to read liberal or progressive blogs. I try to read some articles written by those with opposing views, but it seems to me that the population of “true conservatives” is shrinking, from what I’ve observed. At least those people are not quite as vocal.

As I’ve been searching the blogs at WordPress, using terms like “liberal”, “Democrat”, “Obama”, for every positive about Obama, there are 10 that are . They are still questioning Obama’s birth certificate, still trying to associate him with Chicago corruption for talking to Blagojevich even though they both governed in the same state, still trying to tie Obama into Rezko, and now blaming him for lying about his promises for “change” because he has placed some familiar faces in his cabinet. I feel my blood pressure rising when I read these things, but I try to keep into perspective that “vocal” doesn’t mean “majority”.
read the rest of the story is here.

Blackwater Employees Charged With Manslaughter

Today the New York Times reported that five Blackwater USA employees have been indicted on voluntary manslaughter charges in relation to the shootings that took place in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. The story also says that a sixth employee, Jeremy Ridgeway, plead guilty to manslaughter charges last week. All this despite the fact that the State Department offered Blackwater employees immunity immediately after the shootings in exchange for their cooperation.

The sudden flip-flop in position by the Bush administration can leave someone scratching their head and asking; how did this happen?

Read the rest of the story here