How One Lives In Baghdad

The video shows what looks like a more upscale neighborhood of the city and how to protect what you've got. However, no matter where you live in Baghdad, no area is left unaffected by the general demise of the city. Check out the 'gated community' down below.

From Hometown Baghdad:

NYC Steps It Up

Thankfully the massive storm we are enduring at the moment didn't happen yesterday. In case you missed it, tons of people came out across the city and at 1,400 locations all over the United States to bring awareness for climate change. There was a fair at Grand Central Station where people could meet environmentally friendly companis and organizations. There were various issue groups uptown, downtown and in the village. The biggest event was in the financial district, where an assortment of folks formed a human chain to represent where the coastline is going to be in Lower Manhattan when the sea begins to rise.

From The New York Times:

Hundreds of people formed a human shoreline at the rim of Lower Manhattan yesterday, warning of the dangers of rising sea levels from global warming as part of a national day of environmental demonstrations.

The roughly U-shaped line, a few blocks inland, was a sometimes-comical, sometimes-serious attempt to show what the tip of the island might look like if the sea level rose several feet from the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets.

Throughout the line, packed in some stretches and spread thin in others, were men, women and children dressed more for a maritime adventure than a windy spring day in New York City. They wore wet suits, scuba-diving flippers and blue sheets with hand-painted waves. Some tossed around beach balls. One man tried to make his way through the narrow streets with a long canoe hitched to his bicycle.

Environmentally conscious people tend to have good amounts of creativity and it was not in short supply yesterday. Of course it is all for a good cause, the survival of our planet should be described that way, even though there are a few greedy bastards left who try to deny it. It always amazes me that those who profit from the destruction of Earth really don't give a shit about what will happen to future generations. Okay, enough venting for this post. Congrats to all those that got out there and showed their Earth-friendly spirit here in the city and across the country.

Grandma Blogger Goes To Baghdad

Iraq has a brand spanking new American journalist in its sordid midst and she isn't what you would expect to see hanging around the Green Zone. The 64 year old Jane Stillwater has been blogging for more than three years now and has left her home on the west coast to report the news as an 'average person' describing events to people like herself (i.e. the rest of us).

From IslamOnline:

Tired of getting news from TV reporters who fly first-class and produce more of photo-ops, Stillwater survived on peanut-butter sandwiches for a whole year to afford a trip for Iraq.

The Internet-savvy hippy grandmother came with the simple hope of getting the very facts of war for "real people."

In addition to flying to the war zone at her own expense she had to find a sponsoring media outlet to be eligible for embedment with the US troops.

Although Jane won't be able to explore outside the Green Zone, she has come a long way to write in a way that most journalists in Iraq never will. Her reports can be found on her own blog and also by the paper that gave her press credentials, the Lone Star Iconoclast in Texas. She made it there by saving her money, then once getting credentials took a military flight to Kuwait and finally made it into Baghdad. She isn't going to be there for long, so make sure you check out what she was to say while she is there. Godspeed Ms. Stillwater!

Want To Be A War Czar?

Bush still can't get anyone to fill the new post of "War Czar" to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently Bush can't handle being commander-in-chief anymore and has decided to create this job so that someone else can take the blame for his mistakes. Yet no one wants the job so far.

Keith Olbermann has more:

Rep. John Hall Buys American

The link from the Empire Zone had me worried about freshman Congressman John Hall who represents part of upstate New York. It said that he bought an S.U.V. and if anyone knows John Hall, he is very much in favor of protecting the environment. When I read the article at Capitol Confidential I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the S.U.V. was a small hybrid offered by Mercury.

The Mercury Mariner is a fuel efficient Sport Utility that is big enough to haul around campaign supplies and benefit the environment as opposed to a Chevy Tahoe or Suburban that are popular among many working for their constituents down in Washington.

The additional bonus for John is that as a politician, it is always better to have an American car instead of something foreign made. Plenty of elected officials have been criticized in the past for not buying their wheels outside the United States and now he doesn't have to worry about that either. Rep. Hall is a good example for other politicians to do their part for the environment unlike some that only pretend to go green for P.R. purposes.

Now That Imus Is Gone...

Congratulations is in order to the corporate bigwigs who caved to the pressure of many groups demanding Don Imus be off the air. Yet there is still a widespread problem of hate being spewed on the radio and on television. The list of names is long indeed, including Bill O'Reilly, Neil Boortz, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and many others. So as long as we are clearing the air and making progress towards more civilized debate in talk radio, why not make efforts to getting rid of these goons?

Catherine Crier discussed this on CourtTV last night (via Crooks and Liars):

Court TV's Catherine Crier doesn't think this scandal should end with the firing of Don Imus. During last night's "Crier Wire," she quickly ran through a small handful of the hateful things uttered by the likes of FOX News, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, and makes the obvious point that they should also be held accountable.

Download (22) | Play (24) Download (6) | Play (22)

"Let's tell hate spewing radio and TV hosts, and misogynist rappers that this divisiveness is unacceptable."

I am certainly no fan of censorship but the names on the list above can spew their hate-mongering in safer places, such as their living rooms. Reasoned debate is one thing, shouting and screaming ideology and bigotry is another. If I remember correctly, the FCC granted the networks space on the public airwaves for loftier purposes than the insanity that exists today.

Nancy Grace Is An Idiot

Jon Stewart highlights the sheer lunacy and lack of journalistic ethics that Nancy Grace displayed during the Duke rape case. Now that the three lacrosse players have been exonerated, how will she apologize?

Learning From Governor Corzine

The Governor of New Jersey is lucky to be alive right now. He had multiple broken bones including two particularly bad femur fractures that necessitated surgery. His lungs were affected as well and he needed a breathing tube. This is not fun to go through at all. His rehab will last months and this will probably affect him for the rest of his life. Almost all of it could have been reversed had he worn his seatbelt.

In New Jersey the ticket for not wearing one is a total of $46. In California I believe it is over $250. The state trooper sitting next to him in the front seat was probably wearing his and remained relatively unscathed. Seatbelts are serious business and for some reason many of us just shrug them off. I certainly did when I was younger.

Then one day a family friend of ours was driving his car and got into an accident. Due to the fact he wasn't wearing the belt, he was ejected out of his sunroof when the car lost control and suffered severe injuries. Like Jon Corzine he is lucky to be alive, but his life has been completely altered. This vibrant family man was rushed into many surgeries, nearly dying several times. Now years later he is still in rehab and only allowed out for special occassions if he is feeling up to it. Thankfully his family has stayed strong for him and so have his friends.

After learning about what happened to him I never forgot my seatbelt again. I hope for those of you out there that drive you buckle up, and not have to go through an ordeal or see a loved one go through something like Jon Corzine or my friend.

Michelle Malkin: Political Prostitute

I certainly have no love lost for Michelle Malkin. She is a disgusting excuse for a human being and offers herself up for fame and fortune by sacrificing anything that resembles dignity or empathy that is commonly found in people. While covering for Bill O. on the Falafel Factor, she got into a heated exchange with Malik Shabazz, who is no angel in his own right. Fox News can't even carry on a civilized debate anymore and this exchange clearly shows it.

From the Brad Blog:

It really doesn't get any worse than this Michelle Malkin (filling in for Bill O'Reilly) interview of Malik Shabazz Thursday night on Fox "News". There is so much wrong with the exchange that no analysis can do it justice. The clip picks up about halfway through a discussion on the Duke lacrosse case. Here is a taste:

Shabazz: Will you apologize for being a political prostitute for Bill O'Reilly, a white-male-chauvinist-racist, as a woman of color?

Malkin: You want to call me a whore on national TV?

Shabazz: Yes.

Malkin: There is only one whore on this split-screen and it's you Mr. Shabazz.

Shabazz: As a woman of color, you should be ashamed of yourself...

Really, they should both be ashamed of themselves. They are both shills in different spheres. Michelle panders to the right and Shabazz, well, I'll leave it to the ADL to describe him. The point is, neither of them should be on television. The only result of putting those gigantic egos on the same screen is a shouting match, and that was exactly what happenend.

The War On Logic

There are a lot of wars going on these days. The drug war, the war on terrorism, the war on civil liberties, the war on the constitution and it goes on and on. Keith Olbermann points out Bush's new war, that which is on logic. He points out how Bush is blaming Democrats for not funding the war in Iraq, even though the majority in Congress passed the emergency funding bill and Bush is threatening to veto it. Did you say huh? Well you aren't alone, the President isn't making any sense.

Joe Bruno Should Really Shut His Mouth

You would think a politician who is currently being investigated by the FBI for corruption might want to lay low and ride out the situation as best he could. That of course would not be anything like Joe Bruno. Instead he had to make an ass out of himself and criticize Eliot Spitzer's birthday fundraiser coming up on June 7th. Of course that doesn't mean he would cancel his own money-raising bash next month for the New York state Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

From The Daily News:

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, whose ally, state GOP Chairman Joe Mondello, called yesterday for Gov. Eliot Spitzer to cancel his June 7 birthday fundraiser, claiming it "makes a mockery of the governor's self-imposed campaign finance limitations," will be holding his own big-ticket fundraiser at the New York Sheraton Hotel on May 3.

The 33rd annual spring event, which costs $5,000-a-head for a private reception and $1,000 for general admission, will benefit the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee. The current contribution limit for a state Senate race is $15,500 - $6,000 primary, $9,500 general. (Please note, I've fixed that).

I am seriously tired of using the term "the pot calling the kettle black" but the Republicans here in New York (and across the country for that matter) are forcing me to type it almost on a daily basis. The difference between them and us is that the Democratic party actually wants to change things (for the most part) and the Republicans want the status quo (through and through).

Pelosi To Bush: You Are Not A King

Way to go Nancy! The Speaker of the House appeared on the Today Show this morning and reminded the interviewer Campbell Brown that we do in fact live in a democracy. Many people are still criticizing Pelosi about her trip to Syria despite leaving out some inconvenient facts. Apparently Congressional leaders do go on fact-finding trips (and have done so for over 200 years) and when she went to Syria she was accompanied by Republicans as well as Democrats, something left out by her critics.

From the interview:

NP: The president is not king, the president is the president of the United States. America is a democracy. We have to make decisions based on our judgment. Thus far, the president's judgment hasn't been good, in terms of say for example the war on Iraq. So with all due respect to the president and the role he has, we want respect for the role we have. And members of Congress have gone on fact finding trips since our country began. We're not going to stop because the president wants to avoid the facts and doesn't want to engage in dialogue. We had a bipartisan trip, interesting that the administration chose to ignore the trips of the Republicans who had been there in the week that we were there.

CB: But the Republicans don't have your megaphone. They're not speaker of the House. You speak, the world listens.

NP: That's right, and that's because I have power, and that's why I have — in other words — the president wants to have it both ways. She shouldn't go because what difference does it make? She shouldn't go because she makes a big difference. They have to make a decision. But the fact is that we will never stop finding the facts to honor our responsibility to provide for the common defense to fight terrorism and to deliver the president's message.

The President may want to be dictator but we do still have a constitution that affords powers to the Congress to do their due diligence for the American people. Since George Bush shuns any type of oversight on his misguided 'leadership' we are going to have to keep him in check any way that we see fit. Having a dialogue with other countries is a good thing, even if they aren't so nice. Syria is definitely not a model nation by any means but that doesn't mean we are going to ignore them.