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Archive for July, 2010

SACBEE Says No Leaks!

Posted in 51 Percent, Disaster, Environment, Health and Food, Health Care, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, tagged , , on July 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SacBee is reporting HERE, that the BP gulf oil cap has stopped the oil gusher in the Gulf. No news yet on the permanency of the cap, but so far so good.

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Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010

Posted in Environment, Politics, tagged , , , , on July 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Update -Politico is reporting that the bill has passed, 60-39. As soon as I get the roll call vote I’ll provide a link.

Politico is reporting that the bill is set for a final vote this afternoon.

Reg reform bill hits homestretch

By: Carrie Budoff Brown

July 15, 2010 11:38 AM EDT

President Barack Obama moved closer Thursday to securing his second major legislative victory, as financial reform legislation cleared another significant hurdle in the Senate on its way to final passage.

By a tighter margin than either party predicted months ago, the Senate voted 60 to 38 to end debate on the bill, setting up a final vote scheduled for 2 p.m.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39788.html

The final bill up for Senate vote is entitled “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010”, and it’s identification is H.R. 4173, a House of Representatives designation. Text from the Senate bill S.3217 was inserted into H.R 4173 prior to this final vote. The record of Congressional Actions indicating how we got to this point is HERE.

The bill is available in PDF. Go HERE to download it. It is number 5 on the list and is 1616 pages. It was 2.4 MB and took a few minutes on dial up.

I’m only just starting to read it. (See what OpenCongress says HERE.)Starting from the last pages, I see that we are introducing a protocol for monitoring and deterring the introduction of rare minerals from the Congo and nearby regions. Although the stated primary reason is to reduce the money supply to rebels and terrorists, it is likely to also help to protect habitat for gorillas. It’s amazing what they will stick in at the end.

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So I Paid

Posted in Communications, Finance, Justice, Media, Politics, tagged , , , , on July 14, 2010| 1 Comment »

WE ARE ANTI CORPORATE ADS!!

WordPress provides a good format for my scribblings. $29.95 isn’t a lot of money for what is essentially a vanity blog, that is to say, a self-published vehicle for one’s own thoughts.

I suppose that if WP gets enough people like me to spring for it, $29.95 could add up to a tidy sum for them. That’s fine.

I want to say however, that when WP says they discreetly place ads and the regular readers will not see them, I object to this form of advertising. I further object to the ad placement being labeled as “discreet”. I prefer the word hidden.  A blogger should be able to see on their own site, what the reader sees, whether they are a “regular reader”, or not. At the least this practice is misguided, and could easily be viewed as deceptive.

In fact, there appears to be some question as to what a regular reader is. There is indication that a regular reader is counted by methods unknown to me. My husband is a regular reader, yet he was able to see the ads on my site. This suggests that readers are counted by links, or are themselves, WP members. Because I personally email my blogs to several people, including my husband, rather than through the WP subscription link, I suspect these folks are not being counted.

You will note  the Powell’s button in the right hand column. Powell’s is a corporation. Their button has been on this website from almost it’s inception. Powell’s is an independent US bookstore specializing in used books. As such, behind libraries, I view their efforts in the light of the very best in American recycling, knowledge management, and learning.  Therefore, their button will stay.  With that exception, we are now hopefully AN AD FREE BLOG SITE!!

If you see any ads on this site please report them to the site administrator.

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Is Your WP Blog Overrun by Google?

Posted in Communications, Election, election reform, Feminism, I Own My Vote, Justice, Politics, tagged , , , , on July 11, 2010| 6 Comments »

Update – Hubby was kind enough to print up a few examples of what is going on. See one below. When he put them to pdf, the second column normally on the right of my screen slid down to a separate page, so it looks a little different. However these were taken today July 12th, and so are still on my website. When the viewing with the right hand column in place, the text of my blog is a little smaller and ads are even larger. Google  appears to be placing ads on the basis of  some kind of text tagging.  Thus baby formula was inserted on a blog about kittens, that was intended to be a counterpoint to death in the Gulf.  A shoe ad was attached to the recent Oakland disturbance after the conviction where shoes were stolen. Imagine if I blog about a few politicians what might happen!!

Update – Perhaps many of you already know about these ads, but I have been on WP since 2008 and never saw one of these ads before. Find a comment HERE from Matt, clear back in 2006, discussing the ads and how we won’t see them. It’s anyone’s guess what our sites have supported. At the very least, should we decide to forgo the ad blocks, we ought to be able to see what they are. Matt says in his blog that they got very little feedback when they began the ads. How can we provide feedback to WP if we can’t see the ads?

Update – Bobbie informs me that the cost to keep the ads off my blog is $29.95 a year, not a month.

Update -I just logged out and still did not see the ads on MY computer, so I am pretty peeved right now.

Today I happened to be look at my blog site in my husband’s computer. I was stunned to see Google ads at the bottom my page. I had no idea my puny blog was worthy of that kind of consideration.

I immediately went in search of answers and found this one (Let me know if this link drops. I have a pdf.) from Bobbie Newman.

Bobbie thought that being signed out of  WP makes the Google ad visible. Since Hubby doesn’t have a WordPress account, he isn’t signed in, so this might be true. However, I have been signed out before and failed to notice the ads, so I don’t know for sure if this is the case. I wonder though, how many of us WP bloggers have them and don’t even see each others, because we have a WP account.

I OBJECT to these ads, because:

1) To turn them off requires that we pay WP $29.95 a month.

2) I have no control over the ads that display on my page.

3) I am unable to see them from my computer.

4) The formating is terrible and is bigger than almost anything else on my page.

Honestly, I would have considered the $30 bucks a month, but I don’t like the way this has been handled, so now instead, I will have to consider whether I will continue a blog here. The political ads are coming. I have already seen a Google ad denigrating Barbara Boxer on a web site I would not expect. I hated the way Sodahead and Newsmax banner ads were utilized during the election. It appears Google (And WordPress.) will do the same.

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Nader Org. Summer Reading

Posted in Communications, Environment, Feminism, Finance, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, War, tagged , on July 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Ralph Nader’s blog site has put up a a summer reading list. In best Nader fashion, they appear to be books that will inform you and add to to your personal defense arsenal of knowledge and citizenship. I’m putting them on my list;

The 2010 Summer Reading List

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Save Sakineh!

Posted in 51 Percent, Feminism, Feminist Majority, Humanism, Justice, Politics, PUMA PAC, Women's Rights, tagged , , , on July 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Sign the Petition HERE.

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Mehserle Mistral

Posted in Disaster, Environment, Feminist Majority, Finance, Human Rights, Justice, Nature, Politics, War, tagged , , on July 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

I suppose it could be argued that breaking into the Footlocker last night and making off with tennis shoes and clothes was some sort of symbolic tribal equivalent to throwing your enemies’ shoes over the telephone lines. For my money, it was not an anarchist statement, as has been inferred in the Sfgate today. Nihilist maybe. Or, maybe as one demonstrator on TV last night said, it was “ignorant”.

Whatever it was that caused the degeneration of a lawful street protest over the conviction of Johannes Mehserle for the shooting of Oscar Grant; it failed. It failed to support, advocate or advance the cause of those who felt they had legitimate grievance in the outcome of the trial.

So, if not legal justice, what did those shoes represent? Tennis shoes aren’t jobs, food or a chance to get ahead. Nor will they solve the inequities of race. Rather, they represent a failure of consumerism.  They are symbols of the oligarchs’ greed, to which so many of us, of all races and gender have fallen. We don’t need them, we only thought we wanted them. Were any of those shoes made in the USA? Did they help to build our country? Did they make us strong?

Grab yourself together and take the shoes, clothes and other items back, apologize and do penance for your actions. Render unto the taxman the coin of the realm, and free yourself from the oligarchs’ bonds. Summer is not yet half over, it’s already hot. There is death in the Gulf air and death in Afghanistan. Our country is in the grasp of the greedy. There is pain and rage everywhere to be found. Hold yourself together, find your strength and, Keep your eye on the prize.

We are all going to need clear eyed vision this summer.

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Recent Blog Thoughts on HIV/AIDs

Posted in Feminism, Health Care, Human Rights, LGBT, Politics, tagged , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Carl has a recent good blog reminding us to keep up funding for HIVAIDS in the US. A snippet in an interview with Duane Wilkerson, Executive Director of the Pierce County AIDS Foundation, in Washington State, sums up the concern:

[In the U.S. we can keep the issue of HIV infection in the forefront of public health concerns. In a country which has no attention span to speak of, too many people assume it is no longer a problem. This despite the fact that 56,000 new infections are still occurring in this country each year.]

Read his blog HERE.

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Holder says BP et al, Investigation Still on

Posted in Disaster, Environment, Justice, Politics, tagged , , , on July 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Apparently the WH decided it was time for another reassuring pat on the head.

POLITICO Breaking News:
—————————————————–

[Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the Justice Department may be conducting a sweeping criminal investigation into the Gulf Coast oil spill, saying that its suspected targets may cover more than just BP. “There are a variety of entities and a variety of people who are the subjects of that investigation,” Holder told CBS’s Bob Schieffer at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. “For people to conclude that BP is the focus of this investigation might not be correct.” Saying the investigation was “ongoing,” Holder added that there has been a “certain commonality of the way oil companies had been operating” in the Gulf.]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39515.html

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So Far, So Good

Posted in Environment, Pets, Politics, tagged on July 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

Little sparkles……………..

Kimi

Loni

Dieter

Three kittens, from a feral mom, unable to care for them, at 10 days old.
The first two days were the hardest, as Dieter was having explosive diarrhea. A little organic unflavored Brown Cow yoghurt, mixed in with some Pedialyte and the kitten milk for two feedings took care of that.

Kimi is half the size of Dieter and was less developed. It took a full ten days for her eyes to open. Like many newborn human babies, their uncoordinated neck movements were a challenge, as they could smell the milk and would frantically struggle with closed mouths, and roll in your hand  while trying to find the nipple.

Once Dieter was past the digestion problems he never stopped eating. Loni and Kimi never had digestion problems, but would quickly tire from the effort to eat. They usually need a body rub and burp, before they are ready for a second helping. Although I got an eye dropper from the Vet, it was hard and I ultimately stayed with the rubber bottle and nipple. It was very large for their mouths, but they enjoyed chewing it. (Ouch!) I think the exercise was good for them. All of them get body rubs and chest rubs to stimulate their circulation.

Even though I wipe their bottoms at every feeding, they do get wet. I’ve taken to giving them a partial dip in tepid water every day at their 3:00 feeding. It’s easier to gently clean their behinds, and some of the residual milk. A wash cloth just isn’t the same as a mother’s tongue. And just like human babies, they seem to enjoy it and are quite ready to settle down to a last nip and late afternoon nap.

They were so tiny. In the picts, the bottle below the nipple is approximately 2″ in diameter. That might give you an idea. I found that a dental brush, normally used for maneuvering around braces, worked well to fluff their fur after their dip.

Since they have opened their eyes and are starting to focus, the feeding is becoming easier. I had to take them with me during the day, and I though I had other intentions for it, my brand new Petersboro picnic basket has worked great, since it has handles and a plastic liner with a wood hinged top. When it’s warmish I hold the lid askew with a paper clip. Otherwise they seem to get enough air and stay a somewhat constant temp on a dry towel.

I did have one scare, when I took them to Sacto last week. It was a 100 degree day and the truck air conditioning decided not to work. They went into distress. I could tell by the very rapid open mouth breathing. Loni’s gums were gray. We stopped, got some cold bottled water, fed them and wiped them down. We put the chilled bottle in the basket and they, still sightless, managed to find and lollygag over it for a while. Then, all cooled down, they curled up in a corner and went back to sleep.

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