November 28, 2005
Krispy Kreme in Sacto....History
KCRA.com - News - Local Doughnut Shop Outlasts Krispy Kreme
National Chain Shuts Down Sacramento Store
POSTED: 8:44 am PST November 23, 2005
I am so happy about this. I mean joyous, punch-a-hole-in-the-wall, smash-a- guitar happy. Ever since the Bee "intervened" in the Elk Grove Krisy Kreme project, I have been on an anti-Krispy Kreme jihad. I hate them. Yes, I said it. With this news in mind, I plan to goto their competitors, Donut City, and buy a sinful dozen donuts and a large, regular coffee, and sit in victory on the steps of the Krispy Kancor and relish the moment, snapping a few photos.
If I were to allow myself a "flight of fancy", I would gingerly deposit a well crafted Poo Donut on their store front. That is how much I detest Krispy Kreme. One down, two to go. I will dress up as a giant donut and dance if the Elk Grove hole factory closes down. Yippee!
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November 22, 2005
Name that town!
The article below got me to thinking; What would you name your town if you were to base the naming criteria on political contributions and or influence?
The first name that hit me like a UPS truck was Aerojet. Then AKT City and Blanasville/SCSD came to mind.
What would you name your city?
Opinion - Editorial: What's in a name? - sacbee.com
A tiny town takes the money and tunes in
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, November 21, 2005
Story appeared in Editorials section, Page B4
One of our favorite news stories of the last few days concerned the fate of Clark, Texas, or at least the fate of its name. In exchange for a decade's worth of free satellite TV service for Clark's 125 residents, the town changed its name to Dish.
Posted by cystdog at 12:17 AM
October 20, 2005
Man, is it everywhere?
When I read this article on Monster, it brought back memories of dozens of people I'd worked with over the years, some who JFKd me, and many I'd watched pull a Dealey Plaza on my friends or my superior; a manager, a supervisor. Duplicitous hydras who you have sometimes, for a wee second, hope are genetically predisposed to developing colon cancer. Usually, these people end up burning so many bridges, that they find themselves isolated, or finally file the disability or stress claim, and move onto another tour de force in yet another unsuspecting workplace.
This has to be treated as mental illness, pure and simple, and if you get caught plotting with the fates to snooker someone, and have to get meds for it, along with counseling, it should be noted in your personnel file.
"Likes to conspire against fellow workers. Note: Takes nutty pills".
Handle a Sabotaging Coworker - Clerical & Administrative Career Advice from Monster.com
by Beverly West
Monster Contributing Writer
We all like to think of our coworkers as friends, but what happens when you become the target of a coworker's dirty politics? Here are some strategies that can help you keep the peace without losing your edge, shared by fellow soldiers on the office wars' front lines.
Posted by cystdog at 10:51 PM
October 01, 2005
Just In: Sun MAY affect Earth's temperature
My personal belief is that in 50-80 years, the scientific community and historians will view our contemporary understanding and arguments about global warming as reflective of a self obsessed, myopic, arrogant society who, with little or no historical statistics of the Earth's climate, and even less data about the Sun's solar flare and sunspot activity (see wtf? about tree rings and Beryllium 10) , pronounced judgement and certainty about global warming, after only studying it for a quarter century, and less than a decade with the assistance of modern weather satellites and ocean temperature sensor arrays placed worldwide.
I think our historical perspective on past judgements of scientific facts, such as the notoriously controversial "Is the Earth flat, or is the Earth is round" argument, or the debate about the "Ptolemaic Universe", really lend evidence that, at best, it can be said that we have our head up our asses on this global warming question.
Study: Sun's Changes to Blame for Part of Global Warming
Study: Sun's Changes to Blame for Part of Global Warming
By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
posted: 30 September 2005
Increased output from the Sun might be to blame for 10 to 30 percent of global warming that has been measured in the past 20 years, according to a new report.Increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases still play a role, the scientists say.
But climate models of global warming should be corrected to better account for changes in solar activity, according to Nicola Scafetta and Bruce West of Duke University.
The findings were published online this week by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Scientists agree the planet is warming. Effects are evident in melting glaciers and reductions in the amount of frozen ground around the planet.
The new study is based in part on Columbia University research from 2003 in which scientists found errors in how data on solar brightness is interpreted. A gap in data, owing to satellites not being deployed after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, were filled by less accurate data from other satellites, Scafetta says.
The Duke analyses examined solar changes over 22 years versus 11 years used in previous studies. The cooling effect of volcanoes and cyclical shifts in ocean currents can have a greater negative impact on the accuracy of shorter data periods.
"The Sun may have minimally contributed about 10 to 30 percent of the 1980-2002 global surface warming," the researchers said in a statement today.
Many questions remain, however. For example, scientists do not have a good grasp of how much Earth absorbs or reflects sunlight.
"We don't know what the Sun will do in the future," Scafetta says. "For now, if our analysis is correct, I think it is important to correct the climate models so that they include reliable sensitivity to solar activity. Once that is done, then it will be possible to better understand what has happened during the past hundred years."
Posted by cystdog at 11:43 AM
A nougat of Kitty's Litter?
Paragary group sued by EEOC - 2005-09-30
Paragary group sued by EEOC
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit in federal court Thursday against Paragary's Restaurant Group, alleging sexual harassment, gender bias and discrimination on the basis of national origin against workers.Co-owner and president Randy Paragary said in published reports that he hadn't seen the lawsuit, but the some of the allegations described in it were "ridiculous" and that complainants were "making it up."
The San Francisco office of the EEOC filed the lawsuit in Sacramento against the restaurant group, Paramoor Inc. and PK Partnership, which the agency said own and operate nine restaurants and a bar in Sacramento County, and operated the now-closed Paragary's Bar and Oven in Rancho Cordova.
Posted by cystdog at 10:50 AM
September 25, 2005
Dvorak: A 21st Century take on transubstantiation?
Mexican officials are apparently concerned about a Catholic Bishop's take on accepting contributions from drug dealers. Dvorak invoked the term "transubstantiation", and for me, visions of tons of gack being consumed as "the body of christ". As blasphemous as that sounds, stranger, and more infamous "transubstatiations" have occurrred, both approved and unapproved by the Vatican.
Dvorak Uncensored � Mexico warns church on drug-tainted money
On Monday, the bishop said money can start out being dirty but “can be transformed” when it enters the church, Mexican news media reported.
Posted by cystdog at 01:48 PM
September 11, 2005
By the way..
It's my birthday. "Happpy 9-11" What a deal.
Spending it fishing and in general laziness.
Posted by cystdog at 09:22 AM | TrackBack
August 29, 2005
And you thought the $300 toilet seat was bad, get a load of this..
Xtreme Defense
Lightning guns, heat rays, weapons that can make you hear the voice of God. This is what happens when the war on terror meets the entrepreneurial spirit
By Sharon Weinberger
Sunday, August 28, 2005; Page W18
"This is very clandestine," Pete Bitar whispered, as his red Dodge Caravan idled in the parking lot of a Burger King near Fort Belvoir. "They called last week, and they wanted delivery this week."It did feel a little clandestine, if a bit unlikely. Yet there, in the Burger King parking lot, a small transaction in America's war on terror was about to take place. In the minivan were Bitar, the president and founder of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), Edward Fry, the company's research coordinator, and George Gibbs, of Marine Corps Systems Command, who two years ago plucked Bitar's obscure company out of its paper existence and provided it with more than half a million dollars in Pentagon funding.
XADS President Pete Bitar with his
XADS President Pete Bitar with his "dazzler" laser. The Pentagon has bought 13 of the nonlethal weapons, which temporarily blind an enemy, for use by troops in Iraq. (Chris Hartlove)They were waiting for Superman.
Bitar had battled start-up disappointments and even ridicule -- not to mention January cold and Beltway rush-hour traffic -- to seal his first Pentagon deal. The procurement order had gone through so quickly that the Indiana-based Bitar, who was in town for a conference, agreed to make his final delivery at the Burger King to avoid the hassle of getting onto the Virginia Army base.
Bitar flipped open a case containing his first sale: the "dazzler," one in a line of about a half-dozen "nonlethal" weapons that XADS is marketing to the military. It looked like an executive pen: slick, green and flecked with gold. But the pen was really a green laser designed to disorient and temporarily blind an enemy. Sale price: $1,100 apiece.
It looked, to use one of Bitar's favorite phrases, really cool.
Bitar glanced up. "There's Superman."
Sure enough, a broad-shouldered man materialized in front of the Caravan. He was wearing a leather jacket embroidered with the familiar "S" emblem and a matching tie.
Superman stuck out his hand and introduced himself: Shane Gilmore. Pentagon folks seem especially fond of quirky nicknames and are not above cultivating that mystique. Asked about the Kryptonian symbols, he'd say only, "I'm Superman." But today he wasn't saving the world, just trying to protect it as part of an Army task force buying equipment for troops in Iraq. They had placed an order for 13 of Bitar's dazzlers. Supercharged versions of commercial laser pointers, dazzlers are the lowest-tech of Bitar's weapons, and they're not what initially caught the Pentagon's eye. Rather, it was his concept for a gun that could shoot bolts of artificial lightning to paralyze, but not kill, an enemy, like a "Star Trek" phaser set on stun.
After handing over the goods, Bitar explained his unusual entry into the high-tech weapons market as he headed into Arlington for dinner. The lightning gun began, literally, as a daydream when Bitar was running a Styrofoam recycling business in the early 1990s. Watching the machinery that cut up the used material, he noticed sparks shooting into the air. He began to wonder, at first idly and then more intensely, if there was a way to extend the sparks' range.
But he had no engineering or technical expertise, and his speculation went nowhere.
Complete article (you have to endure this, I promise you won't regret it)
Xtreme Defense
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August 11, 2005
Save the Hollywood Studios-Do your part
The media have been running stories about how this year's film earnings are in a slump; that Americans are turning away from the movies and instead seeking their jollies on the internet, buying dvds, and God knows what else. It's total crap. It's just an ad campaign to boost box office numbers, the latest "screenplay" out of Hollywood :"Save the Holywood Studios".
My annoyance of this was confirmed by some facts pointed out on What's in Rebecca's Pocket. We are coming off a historic boom in box office numbers. The market is correcting itself, returning to pre-jihad sales.
This isn't the first time I noticed this fact being reported on or mentioned, but it got me today, as I KEEP hearing about how much they are hurting. it's as though they have written a screenplay for the ad campaign called "Save the Hollywood Studios" like the studios, their management and the "stars" are wounded Manatee lining the Florida coast after being run over by big, mean motor boats driven by bootleg downloaders, or visions of seal pups enveloped in petroleum after the Valdez spil being strangled to death by the viscous, evil internet. The poor movie moguls, what are you going to do to save them?
Posted by cystdog at 01:04 PM | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
Nov. 9: Henry Rollins @ the Crest!
Yeah! Yeah...(unintelligible mumbling)
Just got my weekly Henry Rollins email and he sent out his tour dates for the rest of the year. He's coming to Sacramento November 9th, appearing at the Crest Theatre.
I caught him a couple of weeks ago on IFC in a documentary about 70s-80s Punk subculture called Punk: Attitude. Jello Biafra was in it as well, it was a hoot listening to Biafra talk trash. Great footage of bay area venues from the 80s, and footage of the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag.
Posted by cystdog at 05:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
I'm sorry, this product is just ...dumb
I spotted a new IPod accessory called an "IGuy" on Jake Ludington's MediaBlab blog. Now, a lot of foul remarks came to mind when I saw this thing, but the most civil and PG thing I can say is that it's dumb.
Take a look below. I'm just not sure it's healthy to "animate" or bring to life an IPod as a sentient being or worse, make the thing your buddy. It reminds me of the YaYa man from Karen Black (the beautiful Karen Black) movie "Trilogy of Terror". See the likeness in size and shape, as well as the gesture by the IGuy that appears to be for holding a weapon.
Posted by cystdog at 06:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 12, 2005
Gornzilla has returned.........
to Sacramento...............
Will a Peepoff ensue?
Drunken Monkey Motorcycle:
Geek round the world
The Peeps await their orders..........
Posted by cystdog at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Who grieves for Griego?
News - Rick Rodriguez: Griego Erwin resigns amid internal inquiry into her columns - sacbee.com
Diana Griego Erwin, whose column has appeared in this space three days a week, resigned Wednesday amid an internal inquiry into whether some people mentioned in several recent columns actually existed.Wow! I almost danced a jig about this. Unbelievable. Guess some of those anti-war letters might have been conjured up on "the Griegz" laptop at home.During our inquiry we found we could not authenticate the existence of several people even though they were identified by name, age and sometimes by the neighborhoods in which they were reported to have lived. We used extensive online database searches as well as old-fashioned shoe-leather work in our investigation over the past 2 1/2 weeks.
I love these quotes from a Poytner interview/verbal tonguebath:
"My columns are like variety shows."
"I’m just as comfortable going to some hoity toity community as I am hanging out in a barrio apartment without a working toilet."
And even better....The Bee, not infallable......
Makes you wonder, with Ombudsman Tony Marcano's departure in November last year, what other surprises await us with this new news product, the Sacramento Bee soap opera. Perhaps the long anticipated outing of R.E Graswich? Or maybe the big kahuna......Hanoi Heaply herself resigning? I love it when fake libs crash and burn. Fuhrer Farve, we need you!
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May 06, 2005
Movie Reviewers suck
So I'm looking up reviews about this new swords and sand movie, Kingdom of Heaven, fearing it's a jihadi's wet dream, and I come across a movie review in the Washington Times that drones on about this and that, and kisses Sir Ridley Scott's bum ad nauseum, and then I read this scrumptious little tidbit of moronic dribble:
Fair enough, but the movie's imbalance extends beyond the schoolyard-scuffle question of who started it. (I say this as a fan of Mr. Scott, who conveyed obvious admiration for American Marines in "Black Hawk Down" and, during our talk, expressed sympathy for the Bush administration's quandary about how best to respond to September 11.)Huh? Marines? In Black Hawk Down, the film? In reality? Why not just say "Those big mean guys with guns". There were no Marines in the "Battle of Mogadishu". There were US Army Rangers and Delta Force. Task Force Ranger was ARMY, Mr. Scott Galupo. Even if you know nothing about what went on in Somalia, if you saw the movie, you'd know they were Army. And as a movie reviewer, you'd think the guy would have at least remembered the difference between Army and Marines in a movie he's reviewed.
If Mr. Galupo is interested, he should learn more about what really happended:
FRONTLINE'S "Ambush in Mogadishu"
Somalia/Operation GOTHIC SERPENT - nightstalkers.com
Blackhawk Down Series - Philadelphia Inquirer
Operation Restore Hope - GlobalSecurity.org
US Army 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (Airborne)
DELTA - GlobalSecurity.org
US Army 75th Ranger Regiment - GlobalSecurity.org
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) - GlobalSecurity.org
10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)- GlobalSecurity.org
Posted by cystdog at 07:00 AM | TrackBack
March 17, 2005
Happy St. Patty's Day!
Posted by cystdog at 12:10 PM | TrackBack
March 10, 2005
USS Iowa (BB-61) @ Benicia/Suisan Bay
USS Iowa (BB-61) @ Benicia/Suisan Bay
Originally uploaded by scupper.
Spotted BB-61 from above 680 @ the Lake Herman Road Vista Point Park and Ride lot. Some better aerial photos taken by Abdul Hadi Pasha @ http://www.bobhenneman.info
Posted by cystdog at 01:37 PM | TrackBack
Nuts! Surfing @ Mavericks-Half Moon Bay
Man, these guys are nuts, and the photos of the competition are awesome.
Check out these photo sets from Don Montgomery and Frank Quirarte.
Posted by cystdog at 12:28 PM | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
A hillarious sig...
spotted this on /., it cracked me up:
"My ISP, "Linksys", is said to have nationwide presence, and best of all, their service is free! - AC"
Posted by cystdog at 06:12 AM | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
ALLDATA DIY is God (ok, a holy field office)
ALLDATADIY.COM - Do It Yourself Automotive Diagnostic & Repair Information
I got a subscription to AllData for my truck back in 1999, and it always comes through for me when the Hayes manual is vague and leaves a procedure out, or the pictures/diagrams are inaccurate. They also provide accurate Motorcraft parts numbers, which is truly a godsend/supreme being blessing when you have to battle parts people about what you're looking for, and what they want to pawn off on you.
I had a Napa guy try to sell me a drum brake hardware kit with a torn, grease parts package, missing springs and spring washers. Man, this is Napa? When I'd gone to Autozone, now the partner on the alldata-diy site, for the same rear drum brake hardware kit, I had to help the kid behind the counter identify the part I needed, reaching over the counter and jumping on the CRT he was using to find it. I didn't get angry with the kid, but when I told him what I needed, he tried to sell me calipers. Calipers? On a rear brake drum assembly?
I feel for the folks who don't second guess the parts houses. Even the Motorcraft dealers make mistakes some times, but I guess they're still not as bad as Cordova Auto Supply was. Man, how I miss Nu-Jet............
Posted by cystdog at 05:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
The hand of..Sam Walton?
Posted by cystdog at 06:58 PM | TrackBack
February 09, 2005
Will Sacbee Editorials on Walmart @Downtown be a Krispy Kreme replay?
You know, after reading the articles about the Krispy Kreme "crisis" as labeled by the Bee, it made me think about the future coverage of another big Borg corporate giant seeking a new home in the capitol city, Walmart.
I'm going to follow this closely. It's one thing to use your paper to go to bat for a donut shop near your home and the homes of your friends on the EGPD, but an entirely different game when you bring the WallyWorld Borg ship over Sacramento in geosynchronous orbit. I've worked for Sam's, and I know how they assimilate people and communities. The shell of a Sam's building I help set up in 1989 in Rancho stands as a warning to Sacramento of how WallBorg stands by communties and "misleads" their officials about it's future plans.
In my mind, the Bee supporting a Walmart in downtown is tantamount to a declaration of editorial war against the residents and small business owners of downtown and midtown. I just don't know if people there will make time to come up from between each others' legs, their bongs and lattes to do something about it.
Posted by cystdog at 07:08 AM | TrackBack
Prologue: Krispy Kreme begins descent into oblivion
Krispy Kreme announces layoffs - 2005-02-08 - Sacramento Business Journal
Somehow, after seeing the drive through lines at the Concord Krispy Kreme while driving down 680 on Sundays nights back in 2003, and seeing the Arden Way lines, I knew this bubble had to burst. Heady coverage by the Bee of area store openings, a vitriolic claim by the Bee for it's Elk Grove readers god-given right to a Krispy Kreme...I just knew this ship was headed for trouble.
What will the Bee(EGPD/SCSD sockpuppets) have to say when in 2 years, the Krispy Kreme they so vigorously supported in disregard of the City's Planning Commission, closes shop. Will the Bee own up to being wrong headed about usurping a commission comprised of Elk Grove Citizens? Absolutely not. It's clear the bias they had, and the ability of Bee staff living in Elk Grove, and those having "relations" with EGPD/SCSD officers desiring a Krispy Kreme in their patrol area to drive Bee Coverage is obvious.
I mean come on, it's donuts. And they can't beat Howard's Donuts on Coloma @ Sunrise, in the Sacbee's "Rancho Cambodia".
Krispy Kreme announces layoffs
Sacramento Business Journal
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. is slashing its payroll by 25 percent. The number of jobs to be cut was not released by the company, but layoffs will affect employees in its corporate, mix plant, equipment manufacturing and distribution facilities.
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February 03, 2005
At least he's honest
U.S. General Says It Is 'Fun to Shoot Some People'
Feb 3, 3:09 PM (ET)
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Marine Corps general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully but will not be disciplined, military officials said on Thursday.Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, made the comments at a conference Tuesday in San Diego.
"Actually it's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," said Mattis.
"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said during a panel discussion. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
In a statement, Gen. Michael Hagee, commander of the Marine Corps, praised Mattis as "one of this country's bravest and most experienced military leaders."
"While I understand that some people may take issue with the comments made by him, I also know he intended to reflect the unfortunate and harsh realities of war," Hagee said.
"I have counseled him concerning his remarks and he agrees he should have chosen his words more carefully," Hagee added.
Maj. Jason Johnston, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, said Hagee did not plan any disciplinary action against Mattis. Johnston declined to provide details of how Hagee had counseled Mattis, calling it a private matter.
At a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he could not comment on the remarks, but Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised the general as having set a stellar example for troops in his service abroad.
Mattis is commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, Virginia, south of Washington.
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~NYTimes/The "Kruge":"no economist left behind"
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Many Unhappy Returns
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Many Unhappy Returns
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 1, 2005
New York Times
Reqs' Registration:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/opinion/01krugman.html
alternate:
http://truthout.org/docs_2005/020105E.shtml
The fight over Social Security is, above all, about what kind of society we want to have. But it's also about numbers. And the numbers the privatizers use just don't add up.Let me inflict some of those numbers on you. Sorry, but this is important.
Schemes for Social Security privatization, like the one described in the 2004 Economic Report of the President, invariably assume that investing in stocks will yield a high annual rate of return, 6.5 or 7 percent after inflation, for at least the next 75 years. Without that assumption, these schemes can't deliver on their promises. Yet a rate of return that high is mathematically impossible unless the economy grows much faster than anyone is now expecting.
Posted by cystdog at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2005
Iraqi Election: Who's running for office?
The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq
I was wondering who was running for offcie last night, and Googled up their election commission web site. The page below lists all the races and parties in pdf docs. If this is a hoax as so many in the US and world claim, it's sure an elaborate hoax.
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq
Information about Candidates and Political Entities:
Final List of Constestants and Ballot ID NumbersPolitical Entities and Coalitions Certified by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq to Constest the 30 January 2004 Elections
Candidate lists
List of Candidates for The National AssemblyList of Candidates for Kurdistan National Assembly
List of Candidates for Arbil Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Anbar Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Babil Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Basra Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Baghdad Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Ta'mim Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Dahok Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Diyala Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Dhi Qar Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Suleimaniya Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Salah Al Din Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Quadisiya Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Karbabla Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Muthana Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Misan Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Najaf Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Ninawa Governorate Council
List of Candidates for Wasit Governorate Council
Posted by cystdog at 06:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
~BBC: Middle East editorials about Iraqi elections
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Mid-East papers scorn Iraq poll
I spotted this on the BBC coverage of Iraqi Elections. It's a compilation of newspaper editorials from around the Middle East. Take a look. The Iranian editorial BBC ran is actually a reasonable editorial. A Saudi newspaper had the most "fire and brimstone" editorial of all:
Quoted from BBC excerpt of Al-Jazirah (not Al Jazeera the TV network):
Iraq is a blazing path of fire, which the Americans entered by force... not knowing the issue was far more complicated than they thought.Jordan's Al-Dustur warns:
One wonders if Iraqi officials, who are backing these elections, realise the danger of what could happen to their country before the hatchet falls on their heads. Those officials should work towards ending this farce called "elections", unite their stance through dialogue and reconciliation, and safeguard Iraq and its people!BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Mid-East papers scorn Iraq poll
BBC News-UK Edition/BBC Monitoring
Last Updated: Saturday, 29 January, 2005, 12:40 GMT
Reports and editorials in Middle East newspapers show widespread gloom peppered with stark warnings on the eve of Iraq's landmark election.
Some papers depict a "path of fire" or speak of booby-traps and political minefields ready to explode in voters' faces.
But there's a flicker of hope amid the uncertainty, especially in Iraqi Kurdish and Iranian pro-Shia newspapers.
President Bush said the Iraqi elections will be a historic event and praised the brave Iraqis, who will go to the ballot boxes tomorrow. Bush's words do not reflect Iraq's reality, but rather his obstinacy and attempt to conceal the failure of his plan in Iraq. Iraqis want democracy by all means. However, to talk about democracy in the light of bloody chaos is a complete fraud.
Pan-Arab Al-Quds Al-Arabi editorial
Iraq is a blazing path of fire, which the Americans entered by force... not knowing the issue was far more complicated than they thought.
Saudi Al-Jazirah editorial
Today Iraq is a big field of land mines and no one knows where, when, or how they will explode. The land mines will not be removed by a magic election touch, as long as Iraq's major problems remain. We wish Iraq could be free, independent and free from foreign troops.
UAE's Al-Bayan editorial
One wonders if Iraqi officials, who are backing these elections, realise the danger of what could happen to their country before the hatchet falls on their heads. Those officials should work towards ending this farce called "elections", unite their stance through dialogue and reconciliation, and safeguard Iraq and its people!
Jordan's Al-Dustur commentary
Tomorrow the whole world will be focusing on Iraq, where general elections on which Iraq's future will be based through the coming years will be held.
Egypt's Al-Ahram editorial
The polling stations, several tens of which have been destroyed by the guerrilla movement in recent days, could turn into tombs for a number of voters... Yielding to pressure from the Bush administration, Baghdad's provisional government is exposing its citizens' lives to a real danger by appealing to them to turn out to vote... Faced with the complicit silence of the international community, and with the help of Iyad Allawi's government, Iraqis are going to serve as cannon fodder. All of the guerrilla movement's factions, among them Zarqawi's group, Ansar al-Sunnah and the Iraqi Islamic Army, are determined to sow death tomorrow. But what is the life of one Iraqi worth in the eyes of the Baghdad government and the international community?
Algeria's Liberte
I am not happy with the Kurdish administration but I will vote for it. I know that it is not what I have been dreaming about for many long years but I will still cast my vote. I have full belief that the independence I dream about is far greater that what these parties can least of all about, but I will cast my vote. I know that the Kurdish authority is riddled with administrative corruption and that job allocations are based on political allegiances and nepotism, but I will cast my vote... I have no doubt that after 30 January there won't be a sudden change of face or mentality of politicians particularly among the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, but I will cast my vote... With many misgivings, I will cast my vote in Iraq for the Kurdistani list.
Asos Hardi, writing in Iraqi Kurdish independent weekly Hawlati
Although most of the Shia in Iraq, who make 65% of the Iraqi population, feel optimism ahead of the election, and many Sunni groups are boycotting the election as they are in minority, many political experts believe this election is unrealistic and neutral, since it is administered by the influential presence of the occupiers.
Iran's Jomhuri-ye Eslami editorial
The terrorists surely would not be able to carry out acts of violence against the Shia unless they were receiving domestic and regional support... If this dissension continues and a significant number of Sunni clerics remain silent about the disrespect shown towards Shia religious sanctities, Iraq will begin to head towards civil war... Thus, holding a free and fair election based on the votes of the majority, but also allowing the minority to attain their rights through casting their ballots, is the only way to end the current crisis in Iraq.
Iran's Tehran Times editorial
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies
and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad.
Posted by cystdog at 05:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2005
~EWG Press release:Second Thoughts on Perchlorate Study?
National Academy Scientists Say Many Reporters Missed the Real Story
OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 18 – Last week, a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel released a long-awaited report on health effects of the toxic rocket fuel chemical perchlorate. Much of the U.S. news media reported the NAS found the chemical is dramatically safer than previously thought, so Americans shouldn’t be too worried about its widespread occurrence in drinking water supplies.
But that’s not what the report said. Since its release, NAS panel members have made it clear their findings do not set safe drinking water levels of perchlorate, which can disrupt production of thyroid hormones needed for growth and development. They say other safety factors – the heightened risk to infants and the added presence of perchlorate in milk and food – must be considered that would result in a drinking water standard nearly as low as any proposed or adopted by federal or state regulators.
Evidence that many reporters got the perchlorate story wrong comes from several sources, all available at www.ewg.org:
-- An e-mail, obtained by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), from the NAS panel chairman to California health scientists, saying “[O]ur recommendation dealt with a dose from all sources . . . and this should be corrected for the weight of the individual.” He said he tried to set the record straight “when we saw how often the press got it wrong,” but by then most stories had been published or broadcast.
-- A memo from the American Water Works Association advising its 4,700 member utilities that a drinking water standard based on the NAS findings could be as low as 1.7 parts per billon (ppb) – almost identical to the standard proposed by Massachusetts, the most stringent perchlorate standard proposed anywhere.
-- A public radio interview in which a scientist from the NAS panel, asked if the findings must be adjusted to reflect infants’ lower body weight and additional perchlorate exposures besides drinking water, replied: “[A]bsolutely correct.”
EWG has also analyzed dozens of news reports about the study to determine where mistakes were made and why. Our analysis suggests that at least some of the blame falls to the Academy’s press release, which said NAS recommended a reference dose (RfD) that was 23 times weaker than the reference dose in EPA’s 2002 perchlorate risk assessment.
Based on that recommendation, many reporters calculated on their own that a drinking water standard would also be 20 or more times higher than the EPA had recommended. But there were problems with that approach:
-- EPA never recommended a drinking water standard. The 1 ppb widely reported as the EPA “standard” was actually a hypothetical extrapolation from the Agency’s RfD – without the consideration of added factors.
-- Many reporters didn’t seem to understand, and the NAS release did not explain, the differences between a drinking water standard and a reference dose. An RfD is the safe level per unit of body weight, and the level considered safe to consume from all sources. By law, drinking water standards must consider the lower body weight of infants, and when exposure comes from additional sources, a drinking water standard is set lower to keep overall levels down.
EWG has written to the NAS, requesting that they issue a statement clarifying their findings for federal and state regulators who will set drinking water standards.
“Perchlorate polluters have already begun a PR and lobbying campaign to persuade the public, elected officials and regulators that the Academy decided that higher levels of perchlorate in drinking water are safe for even infants and nursing mothers,” EWG President Ken Cook wrote. “If the record isn’t set straight, we could end up with standards that leave millions of people at risk.”
--
[note new phone extension]
Bill Walker, Vice President/West Coast
Environmental Working Group & EWG Action Fund
1904 Franklin St. #703 Oakland CA 94612
t: (510) 444-0973, ext. 301 | f: (510) 444-0982
bwalker@ewg.org | www.ewg.org
Sign up for EWG’s monthly newsletter:
http://www.ewg.org/about/addemail.php
Posted by cystdog at 03:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 14, 2005
Future member of the Scupper crew?
This might be a future member of the Scupper crew. She's slated to "walk the plank" so it adds a special meaning to adopt her. Stay tuned!
Posted by cystdog at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 11, 2005
MLK walk info and Celebration site launched
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee
From the NAACP Sacramento Chapter Mailing List:
Martin Luther King Jr. March
Monday, January 17, 2005
Walk with us, rain or Shine
Begin with us at the Oak Park Community Center or Join us along the way!
8:30 a.m.
Depart Oak Park Community Center
(3425 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd)lots of free parking!
We will walk South on MLK, Jr. Blvd to 12th Avenue, then North on Freeport Blvd. To Sacramento City College.
9:30 a.m.
Depart Sacramento City College (3835 Freeport Blvd)
North on Freeport Blvd./ 21st Street to P Street
West on P Street to 10th Street
North on 10th Street to J Street,East on J Street to the Convention Center (arrive approximately 11 a.m.)
Plenty of free transportation returning to City College and the Oak Park Community Center (Courtesy of Sacramento Regional Transit)
A full day of celebration!
Job and Health 2005 Fair at the Sacramento Convention Center
1400 J Street
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For Further Information Contact: info@mlksacramento.org
Posted by cystdog at 06:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
Gumby Liberty sells tax prep in Rancho
I saw these guys at lunch time at the intersection of Mills Park Drive @ Folsom Blvd. pitching Income Tax preparation services dressed as a "Lady Liberty" and Uncle Sam. They were on all four corners and out in the medians, as well as 50-75 yds down the street on each side, westbound and eastbound.
It was insanity, harassing motorists while they sat in left turn lanes and at signals, as well as contending with light rail zooming by. I went to get a cop and he went back with me and another car to see the antics unfolding. Cops in both cars were cracking up and they hit the lights and read the idiots the riot act over loud speaker.
They cleared the median and left, but the idiot gumbys and uncle sams continued on with their display of desparation. How much must they have been paid to risk their life in traffic, dressed as a liberty Gumby?
Posted by cystdog at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
