Il regista Giampiero Solari incontrerà a Pesaro gli studenti di Scienze della comunicazione dell’università di Urbino per un seminario sul tema “Comunicare l’evento”: le strategie comunicative nascoste dietro l’organizzazione di grandi eventi culturali. L’incontro si terrà lunedì 30 novembre alle ore 11, nell’Aula 1 di viale Trieste 296.

Sarà presente anche Lella Mazzoli, direttore dell’Istituto di comunicazione e spettacolo della facoltà di Sociologia dell’università di Urbino.

Attraverso le sue esperienze personali come autore televisivo e teatrale, Solari spiegherà agli studenti le scelte artistiche e linguistiche alla base di programmi di successo da lui ideati, come “Stasera pago io” condotto da Fiorello.

“Solari – spiega Mazzoli – ci racconterà la differenza tra informare e comunicare un evento. Per esempio – continua – lo spot che il regista ha girato con Dustin Hoffman non si limita ad informarci che esiste la Regione Marche ma comunica anche una dimensione emotiva e relazionale che non potrebbe essere trasmessa dalla sola sfera informativa”.

Nato a Lima, in Perù, 52 anni fa, Giampiero Solari lavora da molti anni per il teatro e la televisione. E’ stato direttore artistico del Teatro Stabile delle Marche e assessore regionale alla Cultura nel 2005. Per il piccolo schermo ha ideato programmi come “Francamente me ne infischio” con Adriano Celentano, “Torno Sabato” con Giorgio Panariello, “Uno di noi” e “C’era un ragazzo” con Gianni Morandi.
(em. pon.)

Guest Opinions are presented as a public service, and do not necessarily represent the editorial opinions of the Haines News.

I urge the Borough Assembly to formally reject (Judge Collins’) finding as beyond her authority to make the choice of which ballots to count. — Kyle Ponsford

By Kyle Ponsford, Haines

To: Haines Assembly members and The People of Haines,

November 20, 2009

As a resident and concerned citizen of the Haines Borough, I write this bi-party [sic] letter concerning the events regarding our most recent vote. These events hold the power to literally rule our lives, no longer free to choose our own paths to our pursuit of happiness. Being stripped of two of the three fine points protected by our United States Constitution, I am greatly alarmed!

As free men and women, we the people of the Borough of Haines, have established a form of government in which we vote into office an assembly of six elected citizens, to manage the general workings of our Borough and make decisions on questionable issues when the legal intent of the ordinance is vague. When the assembly cannot come to a decision, the borough code defaults to the state law. These elected citizens, with the council of the borough attorney, made a decision regarding this vote.

It is reasonable and lawful that citizens, who were concerned that the Assembly may have done something illegal, took up a suit which brought this decision before Juneau Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins. It is in the scope of authority as a judge, to determine if the Assembly had done something illegal.

From review of the events and the ruling of the judge, it appears that there were no findings showing that the assembly had broken state law or borough code. The assembly used precedent to ensure the voting process remained consistent in the borough and they made a decision.

Yet, stepping beyond her authority as a judge, Patricia Collins chose to single-handedly alter the course of our Borough by (forcing) her opinion over that of our six elected citizens voted into the office they were exercising.  Further, she cited precedent which simply does not apply to these circumstances, as the two questionable ballots neither came from a foreign embassy nor were sent through diplomatic channels. She may not have liked the decision the assembly made, she may even have preferred that they submit [sic] their decision to state law, but none of that is within her scope once it was found that they did not actually break the law.

Did they break the law by not choosing to default to state law over precedent? No. The judge did not reprimand the assembly for illegal activity, and legally her role in this matter ends there. If the citizens of this borough do not like the assembly’s legal decision, they can fix that at the voting booth.

Allowing a judge to tell them how they will run the Borough is unacceptable in a free society. Yet the choice to accept her “recommendation” remains in the hands of the Assembly. We know this decision was but a recommendation because the court had to gain permission from the Assembly to open the questionable votes to be counted. The ruling may have been masked as “Law”, but is not, as the Assembly was not charged with illegal activity.

Therefore I urge the Borough Assembly to formally reject her finding as beyond her authority to make the choice of which ballots to count. IF the Assembly chooses to follow her direction, that is in their power, but not a lawful requirement, nor a wise thing to do, as Patricia Collins was not elected to single-handedly run our Borough.

Citizens of the Haines Borough, whether you like the results of this vote or not, do not allow our right to run our own lives be usurped by a single individual whom we did not elect to run our Borough. Encourage the Assembly to stand on their decision.

Sincerely,

Kyle Ponsford, HC 60 Box 3394, Haines, Alaska 99827

Editor’s Note:  Kyle’s letter was edited for spelling and grammar, but not for content.

A recent poll came out showing the majority of republicans think ACORN stole the election for then candidate Barack Obama.  They must be forgetting that we were fighting two wars, the economy was in the tank, gas prices were $3+ and George Bush’s ratings were in the gutter.  Lets not forget that McCain was a poor candidate, and sure he was doing well at one point, but that ended with the introduction of Sarah Palin.  She scared a lot of people and sort of proved that America doesn’t accept this form of extreme conservatism.  Now I’m no fan of ACORN but, considering the margin by which Obama won and the fact that republicans can’t provide any evidence ACORN was able to steal the election for Obama, my only conclusion is that the republican party is delusional.

Instead of scapegoating ACORN for all of their failures, how about improving the party.  Clearly the party is failing on many levels.  With the fracture in the party, (moderate) republicans verses conservatives (or moderate versus extremists), it’s clear the party of No hasn’t done much to improve itself.  To this day you even have conservative like Hoffman (NY-23 candidate) blaming ACORN for winning the election for Owens.  Just like Sarah Palin, NY-23 rejected his extremist conservatism.  That’s the problem, extreme conservatism.  Just look at the failures of the republican party this year,

• Republicans alternative economic plan contained few numbers or estimates
• Republican alternative health care plan savings weren’t estimated because they don’t know how to calculate that under CBO rules
• Public doesn’t have any idea what their health care plan is…probably because they were too busy yelling
• Teabaggers invade street corners with racist and offensive signs and then screaming racist insults.
• Michael Steele constantly fails the republican party with his constant gaffes about race and couldn’t even stand up to Limbaugh
• Obviously over-exaggerated outrage over Obama’s education speech, health care commercials and the president bowing in respect to foreign leaders
• GOP sides with insurance companies which have made a fool of themselves throughout the summer and only made their customers mad.

This is only a short list of the crap that happened over the summer and feel free to add to this list of failures.  My suggestion is that the republicans look at themselves and realize ACORN didn’t and doesn’t need to steal the election for democrats.  Republicans are did a good job at keeping democrats in office.

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"When it's cooking it's cooking......they have the nuclear suit case bomb..."

When the President of the United States is caught with his pants down and charged with sexual misconduct, it’s up to his spin doctors to change public perception. Sound familiar? “Wag the Dog,” loosely structured from Larry Beinhart’s novel “American Hero,” is a darkly comic film that had the good fortune of being released when real life events in the Oval Office seemed to mirror events on the screen.

When “Wag The Dog” came out America was in the grip of the President Clinton Impeachment. Do you all remember it? What you may not remember is that why America was glued to C-SPAN, what was really going on was NAFTA.

The North American Free Trade Agreement. Ross Perot was the champion who shouted from every hill in America via Television….not to sign it. It lead to NAFTA and now you have the Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America. Basically merging Canada, America and Mexico.

So what better way to keep the American people pre-occupied was simple. What was it? Keep real footage of the over 1 Million plus Iraq’s who were murdered for no reason because there were no weapons of mass destruction.

"Please support me by going to the mall shopping!"

Not only did Americans not see what was really happening in the middle east on television the way Americans did in the vietnam war, 2003 was the same year that the banker’s sub prime lending scam started allowing any American with a home to get a refinance and to be able to pull thousand of dollars of equity out. Of our all of these loans had a variable interest rate. So yeah, your payment might start out at like 1,250.00 dollars a month but within three years you would be paying something like 3,700 dollars. I was one of the unlucky ones who took out one of these loans. There is only one thing that saved our family. What was it? We sold our home in April of 2006. In fact, it was the last home to sell in our neighborhood. Thank God for intuition.

The truth of war 2009, wake up!!

On January 20, a changing of the guard occurred in the United States White House with two-term president George W. Bush being replaced by former freshman senator Barack Obama.

Bush had continued the policies of his predecessor Bill Clinton in relation to the Balkans, Iraq and Latin America – with troops and a massive military base in Kosovo, regular bombings of Iraq and a monumental expansion of military aid to Colombia – and in addition launched two wars of his own, those against Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq two years later.

Reports from the first twelve days of November indicate the global scope of the first attempt in history by one nation to achieve uncontested worldwide military power.

A survey of that period will trace recent trends across the globe with the alphabet as a compass.

Afghanistan

Any day now Washington may announce plans to add 40,000 or more troops to the 68,000 already there. [2] Plans are underway to accommodate that influx.

The American military compound at and fanning out from the Bagram Air Field has been expanded from 3,993 to 5,198 acres since 2001 and is in the process of further enlargement. It already hosts some 25,000 U.S. troops and contractors and “a new parking ramp supporting the world’s largest aircraft is to be completed this spring….[I]t is continuing to grow to keep up with the requirements of an escalating war and troop increases.” [3]

Regarding non-military personnel at Bagram and elsewhere in the nation, “Contractors in Afghanistan outnumber U.S. troops there” [4] as they do in Iraq.

The Army Times recently reported on the main purpose of the airbase at Bagram. Last month the number of U.S. and NATO air strikes in Afghanistan was the highest since July of 2008, with 647 bombs dropped in October compared to 752 a year ago July. “The airstrike numbers don’t include strafing runs, attacks by special operations AC-130 gunships, launches of small missiles or helicopter attacks.” [5]

Africa

A U.S. Defense Department news source reported on November 5 that Air Forces Africa commanders visited Mali and Senegal in West Africa. Vice commander Michael Callan “visited Mali’s 33d Parachute Regiment, a unit that carries out operations using tactical vehicles and communication equipment provided by the U.S. Defense and State Departments.” The Malian military is involved in a counterinsurgency war in the nation’s north aided by Washington.

A commander of Mali’s armed forces said, “Ninety-five percent of our soldiers were trained by the U.S, and we’ve engaged with you in exercises like Flintlock, Joint Planning and Assessment Teams and special bilateral training.” [6] Flintlock military exercises have been held in different locations on the African continent for years, this year’s being conducted by the new Africa Command (AFRICOM) for the first time. The U.S. also recently led multinational military exercises in Gabon and Uganda on both ends of the continent. [7]

The USS San Juan, “a fast-attack submarine,” arrived in South Africa on November 4, “setting the stage for a series of first-ever, at-sea engagements with the South African Navy submarine force.” [8]

Armenia

Robert Simmons [9], NATO’s special representative to the South Caucasus and Central Asia – former Senior Adviser to the United States Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs on NATO – was in this South Caucasus nation earlier this month and announced that he had recruited an initial contingent of Armenian troops for the war in Afghanistan. This marks the first deployment to that nation of soldiers from the Russian-led seven-nation Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a potential counterbalance to NATO in post-Soviet space.

“Simmons expressed NATO’s ‘appreciation to Armenia for its strong contributions’ to alliance missions, which he said began in Kosovo and will now be repeated in Afghanistan.” [10]

In reference to his mission of pulling yet another Russian ally into the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization orbit, Simmons said, “We are continuing cooperation with the Armenian Defense Ministry. NATO assists the implementation of reforms and the development of strategically important documents.” [11]

Baltic Sea

After participating in NATO war games off the coast of Scotland, the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole paid visits to the capitals of Finland and Estonia in the Baltic Sea. “Cole hosted a reception in Helsinki, which was joined by Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, U.S. Naval Forces Africa and Allied Joint Forces Command Naples.

“Immediately following the departure from Helsinki, Cole arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, a few hours later.” [12]

The beginning of this month the guided-missile frigate USS John L. Hall with sailors of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 48 “completed a theater security cooperation (TSC) port visit to Klaipeda, Lithuania.”

A U.S. Navy official stated: “We are here as part of the United States Navy’s continuing presence in the Baltic Sea….We are also here to work with the Lithuanian Navy, who has been a valuable partner and our visit here is part of the ongoing relationship between our two countries and our two navies.” [13] [14]

On November 3 Estonian Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo was at the Pentagon to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Associated Press reported on the occasion that he was “discussing with the United States why NATO needs plans in case his region is attacked.” [15]

Bangladesh

In early November three high-ranking American military officials arrived in the country. The three – U.S. Army Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon, Commanding General of U.S. Army, Pacific, Vice-Admiral John M. Bird, Commander of U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, and U.S. Marine Corps Major General Randolph D. Alles, Director for Strategic Planning and Policy at the U.S. Pacific Command – engaged in discussions focusing “on interoperability, readiness in the region, security-force assistance, and bilateral approaches to maintaining regional stability.” [16]

On November 12 the U.S.-led Tiger Shark military exercises to train Bangladeshi naval commandos ended. A press release on the operation stated: “The training demonstrates the United States government’s commitment to Bangladesh and to regional security by promoting military-to-military relationships throughout Asia and the Pacific.” [17]

Black Sea

The Pentagon’s European Command (EUCOM) reported on November 2 that its Joint Task Force-East had completed an almost three-month series of trainings in Bulgaria and Romania which began on August 7 and included Stryker and Airborne units destined for the war in Afghanistan. [18] “Nearly 600 members of the Romanian Land Forces, 500 Bulgarian Land Forces, and more than 1,500 U.S. service members participated in this year’s combined training.” [19]

After U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to the country on October 22, a news source in Romania wrote of Washington’s new interceptor missile plans: “A strong and modern surveillance system located in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey could monitor three hot areas at once: the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian and relevant zones in the Middle East.” [20]

Colombia

The Obama administration signed a ten-year military treaty with the Alvaro Uribe government on September 30 which “gives American military forces access to seven Colombian army, navy and air force bases, but also to major international civilian airports in the country. In addition, U.S. personnel and defense contractors will enjoy diplomatic immunity under the agreement.” [21]

A copy of the pact surfaced on November 4 and detailed that it “allows Washington access to civilian airports as well as military bases” and as a result “the US will have access to all international airports across the Andean nation including airports in the cities of Barranquilla, San Andres, Cartagena, Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Bucaramanga.” [22]

In the initial phase an estimated 1,400 U.S. personnel will be assigned to the seven bases with the likelihood that the number will be increased as Washington sees fit. [23]

Eva Golinger observed that one of the newly acquired bases, that at Palanquero, was identified by a American Air Force document as providing the Pentagon “an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America….” [24]

Two South American nations bordering or near Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia, were not slow to respond.

Earlier this month Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stated in his weekly radio and television address that “We cannot waste one day to fulfill our mission: to prepare for war and help the people to get ready for war,” [25] warning that an armed conflict with the U.S. client regime in Bogota “could extend throughout the whole continent.” [26]

Days earlier two Venezuelan National Guard troops were killed at a checkpoint near Colombia and Caracas deployed 15,000 troops to the border.

In his November 13 address Chavez added. “Don’t make a mistake, Mr. Obama, by ordering an attack against Venezuela by way of Colombia.” [27]

On the same day his Bolivian counterpart, President Evo Morales, warned “I am convinced that where there are military bases, the social peace, the democracy and the development of the nations as well as their integration are not guaranteed. These facilities are an open provocation against the peace.”

Morales also said that he failed to comprehend how the American head of state could have been awarded the Peace Nobel Price “when his country does everything to promote wars and conflicts.

“Obama must justify that award by withdrawing all the troops of his country from around the world….” [28]

Czech Republic

Following up on his visit to Prague in late October, on November 5 U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden hosted Czech President Vaclav Klaus at the White House and “they mostly discussed the U.S. plan for a new missile defence architecture.”

The two “also talked about the situation in Afghanistan and Iran” and “Klaus said the United States knows that it is necessary to continue with the anti-missile project in Europe.” [29]

The next day U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow met with Czech defense officials in their nation to discuss new American missile plans for Eastern Europe, ones intended to be “stronger, smarter, and swifter” than the previous Bush administration version and to incorporate all of Europe under a NATO umbrella.

Vershbow characterized the content of the talks as having presented “some concrete ideas to begin that process of developing the Czech role in the new approach” and said that the Czech contribution could include “potential facilities here on the territory of the Czech Republic.” [30]

On November 4 the local press announced that “A few U.S. delegations will visit the Czech Republic in November, following up on the recent visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, including an expert military team that arrives in Prague this Friday.”

One of those delegations will include Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Ellen Tauscher, who “recently said the command for the managing and control of elements of the new version of anti-missile defence could be stationed in the Czech Republic.”

“The USA wants to build the system in cooperation with NATO.” [31]

Georgia

Earlier this week U.S. Marines completed the two-week Immediate Response 2009 military training exercises in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia. The preceding maneuvers of the same name, those of 2008 in which over 1,000 American troops participated, ended one day before Georgia started shelling neighboring South Ossetia and killed several people including a Russian peacekeeper. [32]

Days after that the U.S. client regime launched an all-out invasion of South Ossetia, triggering a five-day war with Russia.

The official purpose of this year’s exercises was to train Georgian troops to serve under NATO command in Afghanistan, but a Russian news source saw matters differently:

“Immediate Response was clearly designed not to fight against the Taliban or al-Qaeda…..Commander of US Army in Europe General Carter Ham visited Georgia to inspect the exercises but no one came from Afghanistan.

“Perhaps, the exercises were aimed at issuing a warning to Russia.” [33]

As the drills were ending Alexander Shliakhturov, chief of Russia’s military intelligence, said “that he did not rule out that Georgia might again use force against breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.” [34]

A lengthier account of Shliakhturov’s concerns appeared in the Georgian media and included these quotes:

“According to our information, Georgia is still getting military aid from Ukraine, Israel and NATO. NATO countries, especially Eastern European countries, provide Georgia with arms and equipment, Israel provides Georgia with air equipment, the USA trains Georgian troops and Ukraine provides Georgia with heavy equipment, namely, tanks.”

“The Russian Intelligence Service is addressing other dangers too, namely, the efforts being made by the USA and NATO to bring Georgia and Ukraine into the alliance and the new US plan to locate anti-missile systems in Europe.” [35]

Four days later other Russian sources revealed “that the United States plans to supply weapons, including a Patriot-3 air defense system and shoulder-launched Stinger missiles, worth a total of $100 million, to Georgia.” [36]

The next day Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “recalled the situation in the summer of 2008 when many countries ignored Russian warnings that modern arms in Saakashvili’s hands might prompt this man to unleash military aggression.” [37]

The chief of the Russian General Staff, General Nikolai Makarov, said “Georgia is getting large amounts of weapons supplied from abroad” and “Georgian military potential is currently higher than last August [2008].” [38]

India

Shortly after the Pentagon wrapped up the largest joint U.S.-Indian military exercises ever, Yudh Abhyas [Preparation for War] – which featured the first deployment of new American Stryker armored combat vehicles outside of Iraq and Afghanistan – at the end of October [39], it was announced that “India is negotiating with the United States to acquire state of the art Javelin anti-tank missiles worth several million dollars for large-scale induction.” [40]

Days earlier former president George W. Bush was in India and called on his host nation to join in the war in Afghanistan, urging the U.S. and India to “work together to win the war in Afghanistan.” [41]

Iraq

In early November Arabic language news sources revealed that “The US military has finished erecting an advanced radar system in Iraq to monitor the border with Iran, Syria and Turkey” and that “the radar is a preparatory measure aimed at providing the United States and its allies advanced control capabilities in event of a US military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.” [42]

Korean Peninsula

The South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported on November 1 that “The US and South Korea have completed joint action plans for responding to a regime collapse and other internal emergency situations in North Korea….” [46]

Citing an unidentified South Korean official, the report contains these details:

“South Korea and the US had long worked on Concept Plan 5029, to prepare for a regime collapse and other internal emergencies in North Korea.

“Since its inauguration last year, the [South Korean President] Lee Myung-bak government has pushed to convert the concept plan into an operational plan and it was recently completed.

“If the South Korea-US combined forces intervene in North Korea’s internal instabilities, the South Korean military will assume the leading role in consideration of neighboring countries, while the US military will be responsible for the removal of the North’s nuclear facilities and weapons.” [47]

On the final day of last month Washington expressed its satisfaction at South Korea redeploying troops to Afghanistan shortly after Pentagon chief Robert Gates’ visit to Seoul and the South Korean defense ministry on October 22.

“Washington supports and welcomes South Korea’s plans to deploy troops to Afghanistan…the U.S. Department of State said.” [48]

Kosovo

This month began with former U.S. president Bill Clinton arriving in the capital of Kosovo for the unveiling of a gaudy 11-foot gold-sprayed bronze statue of himself on November 1. [49]

He was being hailed by the breakaway entity’s nominal prime minister, former Kosovo Liberation Army chieftain Hashim Thaci, for his role in launching the 78-day NATO air war against Yugoslavia in March of 1999. That sustained bombing campaign, Operation Allied Force, inaugurated the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as an active war-making machine and issued in the ten-year war cycle that continues to this day with no indication of it ever abating.

A Russian commentary of the following day put the ceremony in perspective:

“Over the course of the 10-week conflict, NATO aircraft flew over 38,000 combat missions; even the German Luftwaffe had its first taste of combat over the skies of Yugoslavia since having its wings clipped in World War II.

“The ensuing 78-day aerial bombardment campaign, which grew continuously more aggressive and reckless, spared little infrastructure: factories, bridges, roads and power stations were all bombed with deadly accuracy. As a result, thousands of innocent civilians suffered great deprivation on both sides of the battle.

“In perhaps the worst public relations disaster for NATO during the conflict, five US ’smart’ bombs severely damaged the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists. NATO officials, in an effort to cool Chinese outrage, blamed the error on outdated maps. Chinese officials rejected both the apologies and explanations.” [50]

Pakistan

Over the past year the nine-year-long U.S. and NATO war in Afghanistan has been extended into Pakistan, the so-called AfPak theater of operations.

On November 4 the U.S. launched its latest drone missile attack into North Waziristan, killing two Pakistanis.

“According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, around 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the death of 687 Pakistani civilians.” [51]

The Nation, a Pakistani daily newspaper, reported on November 12 that the massive increase in NATO convoys crossing the country en route to Afghanistan are overwhelming the country’s highways and that “Pakistani authorities are simply helpless in checking truckloads of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces badly damaging the Indus Highway, the repair of which would cost billions of rupees to the national exchequer….NATO trucks and trailers have not been [held accountable] even once for the repair and maintenance work, while cracks are developing on the Indus Highway after every three to four months due to overloading….” [52]

Persian Gulf

A local news sources wrote on November 9 that “The US has deployed a new expeditionary force in the Persian Gulf – the first time a permanent self-sustaining US naval force has been set up in the region.

“The newly established Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 5 will serve in the area of responsibility of the US Navy 5th Fleet Combined Task Force (CTF) 51 in Manama, Bahrain,” where the entire U.S. Fifth Fleet is based. [53]

The Philippines

Two American servicemen were killed in a mine attack in Mindanao in late September, the first official deaths in the U.S.-assisted counterinsurgency war against not only the Abu Sayyaf Group but also the Moro National Liberation Front and the New People’s Army.

Filipino senators “called for the abrogation of the [Visiting Forces Agreement], saying the US Seabees killed in the explosion weren’t supposed to be there, as…the presence of the alleged land mine constitutes the area as a war zone.” [54]

Pentagon chief Robert Gates insisted earlier in the month “that some 600 US counter-terrorism troops will remain in the southern Philippines….” [55]

An opponent of the active American military involvement in the country said that “the US military has established its permanent presence in the Philippines through the auspices of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Many of the US soldiers are currently deployed in Mindanao under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines headquartered in Zamboanga City.” [56]

On November 12 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Manila after the Philippine Senate recently passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to renegotiate the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, “which enables U.S. forces to train and assist Philippine troops” and “vowed…to continue American military support.” [57]

Poland

Before departing for the Philippines Clinton hosted Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington “to discuss the new anti-missile shield plan.” [58]

On the same day, November 2, U.S. Air Force personnel transferred five C-130 Hercules military cargo planes from the Ramstein Air Base in Germany to the Powidz Air Base in Poland.

A U.S. Air Force website offered these details: “Prepping Polish aircrews and maintainers for the transition to the larger Lockheed-Martin built Hercules has been accomplished with a blend of English language and specialty knowledge training at bases in Texas and Arkansas and through a type of work mentorship exchange between U.S. and Polish air force personnel….”

A Polish air force officer revealed the purpose of the U.S. transfer in stating “The main task for the C-130s is to support our contingency operations in Afghanistan, Chad, Africa and everywhere Polish troops and supplies are needed.” [59]

After NATO defense chiefs, including the U.S.’s Gates, met in Slovakia late last month and U.S. Vice President Biden visited Poland at about the same time, Warsaw announced that it was deploying 600 more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the nation’s total toward the 3,000 mark.

Sweden

Sweden’s Chief of Defense Staff General Sverker Goranson was in Washington, D.C. in early November and was interviewed by Defense News.

His nation, which has for decades presented itself as neutral, has 500 troops serving under NATO command in Afghanistan – Sweden and Finland are in charge of four northern provinces for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force – and five Swedish soldiers were injured in a roadside bomb explosion on November 11, two them seriously.

Goranson’s comments demonstrate how far from anything resembling neutrality Sweden has recently strayed:

“The transformation we are conducting is a huge turnaround, and as I told Adm. [Michael] Mullen [U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman], we know where we are going….The major shift is globalization and the fact that most of the things we are dealing with aren’t necessarily about national boundaries.

“What turned Sweden around is not focusing on national defense, but being a part of this globalized world and solving issues together, because wherever conflicts are, whether in the Balkans or Afghanistan….”

When asked about the potential for a showdown in the Arctic Circle with Russia, he spoke about starting “discussions between the United States, Norway, Denmark and Canada [all NATO members] about what are the borders….As part of the Nordic Battle Group, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark are already sharing the operational picture in the air and on the sea, and that can be extended to the High North.”

Lastly, the Swedish visitor, whose meetings included one with the U.S.’s top military commander, acknowledged: “We had a defense resolution in 1996 that said the Swedish armed forces should be completely NATO-interoperable, which is the standard we have worked to accordingly, to make sure that wherever we go, as we did to Afghanistan.” [60]

Yemen

The government of Yemen is waging military operations against Shiite rebels in the north of the country and neighboring Saudi Arabia started launching air strikes against them earlier this month.

On November 10 Yemen’s official news agency, Saba, announced that the U.S. has signed a military cooperation agreement with the nation.

The news agency also quoted Brigadier General Jeffrey Smith, the commander of the U.S. 5th Signal Command, “as renewing Washington’s support for Yemen’s unity, security and stability.” [61]

One account of the agreement was provided under the headline “Yemen, US sign military deal to fight rebels.” [62]

As the rebels are Shiite Muslims, Washington is exploiting the conflict to recruit Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations against Iran.

Yemen, on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, lies directly across from Djibouti where the Pentagon maintains its only permanent base in Africa, Camp Lemonier, and from Somalia, which U.S. warships periodically shell from the Indian Ocean.

Link: http://bit.ly/war_war_3

By: James Poindexter

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has invented a new word today; “unconcede.” After he conceded to Democrat Bill Owens on November 6 (when he was down 3,026 votes), he has decided to withdraw his concession until all of the absentee ballots have been counted. He is now down 2,940 votes and has won more votes than Owens since his concession. But will it be enough to win the election? Only 5,570 absentee ballots remain to be counted and Hoffman believes that he has a shot at a majority of them.

It is obviously unclear as to who controls these votes, but what we do know is that when those absentee ballots were cast, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava was still in the race.This has the potential to skew these uncounted ballots toward Owens with the conservative vote being split between the two right-wing candidates Hoffman and Scozzafava. Hopefully we will have our answer by the end of the week, but until then, Owens has vowed to not let this distraction prevent him from serving the best interests of the people of NY-23.

‘Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has “unconceded” in New York’s special House election after reports that the vote margin narrowed between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D).’

I’m amazed that in the U.S., where we are supposed to have open and honest elections (call me naive), we continuously have issues with getting accurate and honest counts in elections.

Are we at a point where we need bipartisan (and Independent) observers at every precinct to avoid this type of incompetency (or shenanigans)?

I would pay money to see Hoffman pull this out.  Not for Hoffman, but to see Pelosi step in front of the prompter and try and explain it all after Hoffman tells her, “Elections have consequences…”

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has “unconceded” in New York's special House election after reports that the vote margin between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D) has narrowed.

Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing.

via Hoffman ‘unconcedes’ in N.Y.-23 House race – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

by BerlinLeatherParisLace

Well, Hallow’een came and went, and the plants around are dead and dying. So The Captain dragged me out of my cave to blog. About spiders and black glitter and Morticia Adams and stuff.

But first– review of The Chron-o-log-i-cal Fla-neur’s Neu Fave Movie…

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead!

Good things require long waits, and the wait was well worth a movie as witty, fun, and entertaining as this one. No doubt it will be hailed at least as a cult classic.

The ever-cool Sean Lennon teamed up with writer/director Jordan Galland (and a really A1 costumer) to bring us the story of Julian (Jake Hoffman; reminded me a little of J.D. from Scrubs) and his best friend (Kris Lemche) and former flame (Devon Aoki; *wolf-whistle*) and her mayhaps-mafioso lover (Ralph Macchio of Karate Kid fame). They all get caught in the theatrical plots of Theo Horace, played by John Ventimiglia (who brings the sex appeal in full force to this event, as the Sire Vampire should). That dish was flanked by a couple of beautiful bloodthirsty babes. As technically inaccurate the whole “beautiful vampire” thing is I can’t help but adore it when done well. And can’t leave out a shout out to Waris Ahluwalia as yet another character that I want to hug. The whole affair ends with my personal favorite character in the movie, the real Hamlet played by Joey Kern like a 70s gameshow host. Not to pidgenhole this fantastic bunch (I would cringe if they were lost to the dead-end-ville that is the Land of Sequels), but King Lear would be my next vote for  their deft and darkly comedic treatment.

THE BOTTOM LINE….?

Funny and dark romance, new treatment to an old idea, plenty of eye candy, you’ll be quoting it as you leave the theatre. Five Stars from theFlâneurs.

Okay, now about Morticia Adams. And why parents should foist her as a role model on their kids.

The Lovely Lady of the Darkness has been pretty ignored lately. Come on people. Let’s get this chick back in the spotlight, huh? She represents all that is good for the lovers of Dark. And speaking of goths….

The subculture of goth has more or less fallen out of trend (good or bad? well, try shopping goth) and has been morphed into the festering stink that is Emo. And “ScrEmo” doesn’t exist. Whoever thought that a marriage between skaters and goths was doing too much E in the 90s. Being goth isn’t wearing black and listening to Voltaire (as much as I love that sick, sick, man), but also being disgusted with the hypocrisy of mainstream First-World culture. But we should be able to laugh at ourselves! We should laugh, people! Goths with a sense of humor, because hey, we’re all burning in the end anyway, right? That’s what’s missing today. No one grabs an old black dress and a fishnet opera glove and go has a dance in a graveyard these days. Hence my bid to re-crown Morticia Adams as a role model for goths everywhere. You just can’t beat a perfectly poised, deliciously dark woman (who obviously can get down if you look close at those comments dropped by Gomez and Fester). Seriously, guys.

O, and lets bash Kids Today a little more. There’s a strong stink of whimpification coming from ‘em. Goth is not the next stage of Whimpo–I mean Emo. Let me make this clear. There is a HUGE difference between pink-and-black checkerboard “ooo look I’ve got a skull-and-bows tattoo tee hee tee hee” little teeny bopper in the corner and the girl who collects dead birds and dresses like Emily Strange’s drab cousin. I don’t even think I need to go into it. But enough of that, I’m gonna tell you why Morticia Addams, bless her, is the perfect role model, parents of the Interwebs.

PROs: Modesty

One thing many parents with daughters worry about is their little baby princess’ promiscuity. Well, look at the women–if you can call them that–of Hollywood today! Morticia, on the other hand, is demure, ladylike, and has her sh*t together in general. Yeah, she gets down with her husband, but no one else, that’s for sure. She’s not an Ice B*ch, she’s got standards, and she’s got self-respect. But she doesn’t shove it down your throat. She just naturally radiates class. I don’t think any jock tried any funny business with her in the hallways, s’all I’m sayin’…

PROs: Intelligence

What is the one thing most kids agree parents are freaking out over? Grades. Being intelligent and mentally well-rounded is a huge boon to anyone, and concerned parents everywhere are rallying tutors and programs and all sorts of fancy cr*p to get their precious lil dumplings a leg up. Well, a kid’s not gonna learn if they’re bored or don’t see how it’ll help them in the real world. Most kids I know, even now in college, they just chug along at the minimum, getting a business degree ’cause they’re not into academics and think they’ll figure it out later, or getting a general degree ’cause they can’t decide and they’re not interested in deciding anyway. But enough; how would Morticia inspire otherwise, you ask? Have you seen this woman? Well spoken, an excellent conversationalist, and rather often seen with a book in her hand. This woman is obviously well-educated and is the kind of mom to value it in her kids (even though she doesn’t play up the mom-figure bit nearly as much as her TV-Land counterpart Lily Munster).

PROs: Glamour

As I’ve said before in varying ways, Morticia Addams was one classy broad. It’s hard not to respect a woman of her ilk, and it all comes part and parcel with the glam, baby. Presentation is key, and this is something that Kids Today are sorely lacking. If anyone had presentation, the ability to get attention (of some sort) and get respect just by walking into a room, it was Morticia. It all goes back to all the things I’ve been talking about for the whole post. She had poise, she had wit, she got respect. Parents with bad kids, or afraid they’ll become bad kids? Have them watch a bit of Addams Family, and Morticia will surely teach them the ways of the well-dressed and well-mannered. Why am I so confident of this? Because kids will always imitate what they see, especially when they’re young and impressionable. Also, they love to get a reaction out of the adults. And if they go around imitating Morticia and Wednesday, they’re guaranteed a reaction from most adults, which will only reinforce the behavior. Obviously, I’m not talking about the goons aged 12+. They’re a lost cause due to bad parenting in most cases. Not even Morticia can help them now. So parents, again, the younger you start, the better the results.

Alright, people, that’s three reasons, and this post is already getting long. So let me finish off and sign off. Later.

Herbert Hoffmann - by Pega

Fino ad un paio di giorni fa non sapevo chi fosse questo simpatico signore, ma dopo averlo incontrato al 2009 Florence Tatoo Convention,  mi sono incuriosito ed ho cominciato a cercare delle informazioni.

Non conosco molto del mondo dei tatuaggi ma in rete non è stato difficile trovare notizie perchè si tratta di Herbert Hoffman, il più anziano maestro tatuatore in attivià del mondo.

Le sue opere ed il suo approccio sono stati il punto di riferimento di moltissimi artisti ed anche adesso, che il mondo della body art si è così trasformato, è notevolmente amato e rispettato.

Ad oltre novanta anni ha maturato una visione semplice e genuina del mondo dei tatuaggi e che ho trovato sintetizzata in modo saggio e sincero in alcune sue parole :

Chi è estraneo al tatuaggio spesso vede solo corpi deturpati o raramente abbelliti da tatuaggi incancellabili che evocano sofferenze fisiche e rischi di infezioni…ma per chi si tatua non è così. Nessuno si tatua per diventare più brutto,nè per masochismo!Chiunque si tatua, lo fa per dare a se stesso qualcosa di più:per essere più bello, per sentirsi e apparire più forte,più sexy,per dare sfogo a un dolore, un lutto,una gioia,un amore,per scongiurare una paura,un pericolo o per gioco…Ci si tatua per esprimere i sentimenti più seri e profondi e per quelli più superficiali e frivolie…perchè no?,per rivendicare il proprio diritto al gioco. Non ho mai incontrato qualcuno che si tatuasse per farsi del male!Spesso i tatuaggi che vediamo per strada non sono proprio bellissimi,questo però dipende dalla disinformazione a dal cattivo gusto dilagante,non da un intento autolesionista.Oggi sono brutti i vestiti,la moda,le automobili,le case,la pittura..e sono brutti molti tatuaggi…solo un’informazione corretta e libera da pregiudizi e luoghi comuni può insegnare a distinguere quelli belli da quelli brutti e aiutare a capire che un bel tatuaggio è un tatuaggio che ti rende più bello.

Parole dove l’arte, la passione e l’esperienza di una vita si fondono.

Cosa c’entra con la fotografia ? Chissà, forse niente. O forse… molto…

Massive Election Fraud threw vote count against Hoffman
WIDESPREAD FALSE REPORTS GIVEN TO PRESS, ALL TO DEFLATE HOFFMAN VOTE COUNT

Article: The Post & Email

It looks increasingly that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her zeal to get the Health Care Federalization Bill passed, may have sworn in an unelected candidate for the NY-23 Congressional District, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and New York State laws.

As a matter of fact, not only has the Secretary of State of New York not certified the election, in which Doug Hoffman and Bill Owens vied in a special election, nearly head to head — after Scozzafava retired in humiliation, having lost the support of conservatives in her district — but that vote count is in doubt this morning.

The Post-Standard of Syracuse published this morning a detailed report which lists all the irregularities; errors of vote counting which were all against Doug Hoffman.

Ryan said an important factor in the decision to concede was the unexpected — and erroneous — close vote in Oswego County, where polls had Hoffman with a double digit percentage point lead heading into Election Day.

“That’s the thing that threw us off,” Ryan said.

Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on “chaos” in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up and inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. Of 245 races in the county — not including the congressional and court races — 84 had incorrect totals reported election night.

In the congressional race, more votes were cast in Oswego County than any other in the 11-county district.

The district’s second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where Hoffman also has benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining about 700 votes. Owens led Hoffman by 300 votes on the final election night tally. But after recanvassing, Hoffman now leads by 424 votes, 10,884 to 10,460.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where Hoffman’s vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

“Hoffman definitely gained votes where he didn’t have them,” Eaton said.

Since 10,200 absentee ballots were distributed, and more than 1,300 returned from pro-military Jefferson Country alone have not even been counted (a more than 70% return rate on ballots distributed), there is a good chance that Dough Hoffman has won the election.

The consistent errors in the election process against Hoffman’s vote count, can only indicate one thing: a conspiracy to commit election fraud on a massive scale.

It turns out that Pelosi’s swearing-in of Owens had the political effect of garnering the addition Republican vote, of Cao, in the vote for the Health Care Bill, which passed narrowly, 220-215. The election fraud, in the NY-23 district, therefore, puts in doubt the legitimacy of that vote also.

The question of the day, therefore, is: “Was this election fraud organized and directed from the White House, which had everything to gain or lose, based upon a favorable or unfavorable vote tally?”

Hm. Sounds unsurprisingly familiar. Al Franken much?

Saw NUNCA debería haberse convertido en una saga… al menos así lo demuestra su cuarta, quinta y sexta entrega, a cada cuál más falta de originalidad…y de guión.

Aterrador: salchichas en una portada de Saw. Me lo parece, o Saw VI tiene las peores portadas de la saga?

Pero vayamos por pasos… ¿qué es lo que hizo de Saw una buena película? La originalidad. El suspense. Unas actuaciones correctas. Por el mismo motivo que, por ejemplo, Cube fue una muy buena película, mientras que sus secuelas dejaban mucho que desear (bueno, Cube Zero aún se dejaba ver) es porque la idea que se presentaba era interesante y nueva para el público, y dejaba muchas dudas abiertas que realmente era mejor no explicar…y es que, al fin y al cabo, uno de los problemas del cine actual es que parece que nos tienen que explicar todo, hasta el más mínimo detalle, cómo si fuesemos tontos. Con ideas cómo la de Saw y Cube, creo que es mucho mejor dejar cosas en el aire y que el espectador pueda sacar sus propias conclusiones (o no) que explicarlo todo al detalle.

Pues bien, el caso de Saw es que han querido estirar un argumento que no daba para mucho más a lo largo de no dos, ni tres, ni cuatro películas, sino seis. Y la séptima, en 3D, caerá el año que viene.

Y es que, a pesar de que la trama de Saw pueda parecer complicada, con miles de flashbacks buscando el desconcierto del espectador, no deja de ser un juego de luces y sombras mal logrado. Mientras veía Saw VI, me preguntaba (algo que ya me había pasado con sus anteriores entregas)… ¿a dónde nos quiere llevar el argumento? ¿Qué demonios nos quiere decir? ¿Acaso tiene algo nuevo e interesante que aportar? ¿A mí que coño me importa que (ejemplo ficticio) la chica de la tercera entrega estuviese compinchada con el policía de la quinta, que a la vez se cargó a una chica de la cuarta, que a la vez recibió un paquete que envió la de la segunda entrega, que era para que en la sexta tuviese que saber que debía tender una trampa al de la…séptima entrega? Con tanto flashback lo único que hacen es que uno pierda la paciencia y piense… ¿realmente esto tiene algún sentido? ¿Realmente queda algo interesante por contar, aquí?

Pero en fín, vamos a hablar de Saw VI (aunque realmente, me temo que hablar de Saw VI es cómo hablar de Saw III, IV y V, ya que son prácticamente un copia y pega); en esta ocasión, el juego de Jigsaw toma a un agente de una compañía de seguros cómo protagonista. Aquí es dónde viene una (otra) de las incoherencias del guión: hagamos memoria. Jigsaw cambia totalmente su personalidad a causa de un cáncer que lo está matando, y decide iniciar sus macabros juegos para que las personas elegidas empiecen a valorar realmente su vida (y lo que están haciendo con ella). Sin embargo, más adelante nos explicarán que realmente fue por perder a su hijo (en una de las escenas más cutres y lamentables que he visto en toda la historia del cine).

Sin embargo, según esta entrega, Jigsaw fue a su seguro a pedir un tratamiento para su enfermedad, ya que un doctor estaba experimentando una cura para su tipo de cáncer y, según éste, él era el sujeto perfecto para esta prueba. Sin embargo, el seguro le deniega injustamente el tratamiento, a lo que Jigsaw salta con que “el problema no es el dinero”, pero que lo van a dejar morir. Pero qué demonios… si el problema no es el dinero…¿entonces qué problema tiene Jigsaw? SPOILER: NINGUNO.

Y de eso va la sexta entrega. Jigsaw ha preparado un juego para hacer ver el tipo de decisiones arriesgadas que toma su agente de seguros denegando ayuda a sus clientes. Ok, la moraleja es aceptable, pero no tiene absolutamente ningún sentido dentro de la trama de Saw.

En cuanto las actuaciones, digamos que la mediocridad viene a ser la marca de la casa. Con la única excepción de Tobin Bell, que me parece sin duda el mejor actor de toda la saga -y con diferencia-, el reparto me parece uno de los peores jamás vistos en una película. Y, si a eso le sumas que este reparto suele aparecer en más de una película de la saga, la cosa ya se pone terriblemente fea.

Parecidos razonables

Voy a hacer una mención especial al que, sin duda, el peor actor de toda la saga. Y, personalmente, uno de los peores actores que he visto en toda mi vida y que espero no encontrarme en ninguna otra película, porque estoy seguro que la saga de Saw no me parecería tan mala de no ser por este hombre… Costas Mandylor. El personaje ya de por sí es totalmente plano y está muy poco trabajado sobre el papel , pero si a eso le sumas que el Mandylor procura poner cara de ladrillo durante toda la película, y que ni se esfuerza por poner una voz convincente en ninguna de las entregas en las que aparece… Siendo Hoffman un personaje con tan poca miga, sin embargo puedo imaginarme a Christian Bale en American Psycho interpretando a Patrick Bateman, un personaje de carácter frío pero que realmente te hace pensar “menudo hijo de puta sanguinario”. Sin embargo, cada vez que aparece Mandylor en pantalla, lo único que me pasa por la cabeza es “menuda mierda de actor” y “ni leyendo el guión lo harías peor”.

De la puesta en escena no se puede decir nada mejor. 100% videoclip.

Y lo más importante a estas alturas en la saga Saw: el gore. Pues, a pesar de la polémica con su censura en España (que bien seguro hará ganar muuuucho dinero a Disney cuando por fin levanten el veto, cosa que estoy seguro de que pasará), Saw VI no es ni más gore que sus predecesoras, y ni tan siquiera tan ingeniosa cómo las anteriores. Y es que es eso, cuando el guión y las interpretaciones fallan, lo mínimo que te esperas en una película de género es gore ingenioso…y nada, me temo que de eso Saw VI no tiene nada.

En conclusión: otra película de la saga que no aporta absolutamente nada. Hay que admitir que es bastante superior a la quinta entrega, pero la verdad es que no le veo mucho mérito superar a la peor entrega de la saga xD

A modo de último apunte, a pesar de que la película me haya parecido tan floja, debo decir que en absoluto estoy de acuerdo con la moción de censura realizada a la película. Además de absurda, ya que he podido ver en salas comerciales de cine películas mucho más bestias, me parece ridículo que a estas alturas se produzcan situaciones cómo la presente. Sinceramente, espero que no vuelva a repetirse ningún caso así con películas que realmente no tiene sentido que sean censuradas.

So the weird 2009 election in Upstate New York’s 23rd District gets weirder. Meanwhile, I’m playing catch-up for three negligent days. So, here’s sketches for Days 9, 10 & 11. Pretty obvious I drew them in one sitting and got more involved/attentive as I drew from right to left. Hoffman, in the middle, was the most fun to draw and is the most Tea Party-tastic of the bunch. Here’s a link to the AP photo from the Washington Post I used as a reference.

Owens, Hoffman and Scozzafava

I also jammed out to this song on repeat while sketching tonight:

Recanvassing shows NY-23 race tightens even as Rep. Bill Owens is sworn into House seat

By Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard

November 12, 2009, 6:02AM – ap

Democrat Bill Owens delivers his victory speech at his headquarters in Plattsburgh last week. Owens declared victory after Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman conceded the 23rd Congressional District race election night. Now recanvassing shows the special election has narrowed to a 3,000-vote difference, and will be decided by a count of absentee ballots.

Washington — Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County.

As it turns out, neither was true.

But Hoffman’s concession — based on snafus in Oswego County and elsewhere that left his vote undercounted — set off a chain of events that echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and helped secure passage of a historic health care reform bill.

Democratic Rep. Bill Owens was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives. His support sealed his party’s narrow victory on the health care legislation.

Now a recanvassing in the 11-county district shows that Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

In Oswego County, where Hoffman was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes — 12,748 to 11,000.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed, said John Conklin, communications director for the state Board of Elections.

via Recanvassing shows NY-23 race tightens even as Rep. Bill Owens is sworn into House seat | News from The Post-Standard -.

In a stunning move the House Democrats swore in the apparently newly elected Congressman Bill Owens on Friday, only three days after the election so he could be there to vote on the house health care bill. The seat that seemingly was Owens at the conclusion of the voting on Tuesday widely underestimated the impact that many absentee ballots being sent in would have on the race. As a result, house democrats could end up being embarrassed by seating a representative prematurely and end up having him removed.

Hoffman was quick to concede the race when the vote numbers in some of the counties he had a stronghold in the polls throughout campaign season ended up being closer races than he expected. Since then though, the numbers have rebounded a bit from new absentee votes that had come in and he may find himself in that seat even after his initial concession.

 Since the election results were not challenged by Hoffman, Pelosi was within her rights to seat Owens, but it is apparent that it’s not over yet for the NY-23 Congressional District.

The latest unofficial vote tally has Owens leading Hoffman by an ever so thin 3,000 vote margin: 66,698 to 63,672. This puts a tremendous amount of weight on the still over 10,000 absentee votes that have yet to be counted. Many of the absentee votes come from people in the military, which tend to favor Conservative candidates. Although it would take a substantial majority of these to fall Hoffman’s way as the votes pour in, it remains to be seen. No one at this point in time expected this race to still be left up to a remaining vote tally.

If the race did turn around, the results would signify a significant accomplishment on Hoffman’s part. He ran as a conservative candidate and out did the competing republican candidate. Hoffman was set back a bit when the Republican dropped out to endorse the democrat. There are a lot of factors that go into the results of this recent congressional election, but the apparent news now to not is that it is not over yet. Any seat that can be gained on the Democrats will help in the coming months as the conservatives try to whether the storm that gave democrats a convincing majority in both houses in 2008. There is a lot at stake and even one vote at times is the difference between being able to stop the progress of something or being steamrolled. It is essential that the numbers in the house change dramatically in the next election limit the economic damage.

Tie me Kangarupe down, sport!

Bryan Zepp Jamieson, November 11, 2009

It really hasn’t been a good fortnight for Rupert Murdoch (hereinafter
referred to as “Kangarupe”) and his minions (hereinafter referred to as
“minions”).

First, there was the matter of the 23rd District in New York. This was
the one where the far right was supposed to really flex its muscles, and
solidify the role of Faux News as the true opposition party to the Obama
administration. A Conservative Party candidate named Hoffman ran, with
heavy backing from Faux, Sarah Palin, Pawlenty Stupid, and various other
big-name far right wingers, including, eventually, everyone’s favorite
politician-for-hire, Newt Gingrich. They knocked off the Republican
candidate, a moderate, and did it so viciously that she wound up giving
her support to the Democrat. Two days later the Democrat won, and Faux,
which had been promoting the 23rd as THE race that would show, once and
for all, that the GOP would have to align with them in order to win
seats in 2010, suddenly discovered two fairly uneventful governor’s
races, neither of which featured any upsets, but in which the
Republicans won.

Faux and minions couldn’t even bring themselves to mention Hoffman by
name, something that got widespread notice – and derision – among the
punditocracy. It was widely noted that the 23rd hadn’t gone for a
Democrat since 1871 (yes, that was eighteen seventy one). Faux tried
showing that the 23rd had changed shape from one decennial apportion to
the next, and that PARTS of what is now the 23rd had been represented by
Republicans at one point or another. They probably should have shut up
whilst they were behind, as various historians were quick to note that
the central town and population hub of the District, Watertown, hadn’t
had a Democratic Congressman since 1871.

That same day, Faux got into a fight with Oscar the Grouch.
That would be the muppet that lives in a garbage can on “Sesame Street”.
Long time readers with severe OCD and no life whatsoever will
doubtlessly recall that I mentioned Oscar in an essay about 10 years
ago. “Sesame Street” was being shot for a Russian audience, and it turns
out that Russians are unamused by grouchiness, and consider it an
extremely negative character trait, but consider sadness to be
hilarious. So Oscar the Grouch became Oscar the Lugubrious. But the
American Oscar, grouchy as ever, had his own media empire, featuring
luminaries such as Dan Rather-Not, and Walter Cranky. They referred to
guess who as “The Pox News Channel”, not such a bad name, given Faux’s
obsession with H1N1. Breitbart, acting on Kangarupe’s behalf, moaned
publicly that Pox didn’t get a cute, affectionate name like Walter
Cranky, and saw evidence of a liberal media conspiracy on PBS as a result.
Getting into fights with muppets rarely works out well, even if you are
a world-wide media conglomerate. This didn’t work out well for Pox, er,
I mean Faux. Kangarupe suffers from overenthusiastic minions.

Liberals around the world were delighted when Kangarupe announced that
he was going to put all his on-line material on a “pay to view” basis.
So Kangarupe started a fight with Google, implying that he would sue
Google if they linked to his pay-only articles. He considered use of the
opening paragraph or even the headline to be a violation of his
copyright. Google, puzzled, noted that there was a simple line of code
any programmer could put into a page that would put the page off limits
to Google. Given that Murdoch owns dozens of websites with millions of
pages, you would think he might know that.

Later that day, another heroine of the right imploded. Carrie Prejean,
widely seen as a victim of liberals because she is bigoted against gays
and who got fired because she didn’t bother to carry out any of her
contractual obligations, became a Faux front-liner. Until that day, when
an extremely explicit sex tape of her emerged. Along with anatomical
details they like to pretend beauty pageant winners don’t possess.

The shootings at Fort Hood, horrific as they were, should have been a
bonanza for Faux. Not only would it give them a chance to Moslem-bash,
but they could also claim that it showed the utter incompetence of the
Obama administration.

The problem, as it turned out, was they did exactly that and were
greeted with a stony silence from the vast majority of Americans. They
were just a bit too anxious to exploit the situation, and the false
claims that Hasan was in contact with al Qaida, and the ludicrous
attempts to show that Obama didn’t care because he was greeting the
crowd before he spoke of the shootings at an event didn’t go over with
the public.

In the meantime, Faux darlin’ Sarah Palin showed Kangarupe and minions
why McCain had so many blinding headaches during the campaign. It was
bad enough when it came to light that she wanted the Iowa Republicans to
pony up $100,000 if they wanted her to come and campaign (they decided
they could live without her), and then she announced that no recording
devices of any kind would be allowed at a speech she was giving. (You
can pretty much guess how that worked out, and if you can’t, have no
fear, because I shall tell you in a bit). That just added to her
now-monumental reputation as a politically tone-deaf flake. She had
already alienated many mainstream Republicans when she involved herself
in the 23rd and threw her support to the independent—the same one who
had the bad grace to lose the election of the century.

She gave the speech, and of COURSE someone sneaked a recording device
in. You aren’t really going to tell me you didn’t see that coming, are
you? The device caught her making a strange screed about the dollar
coins, which had “In God We Trust” on the rims. Palin saw the sinister
forces of liberalism behind this, an obvious effort to “secularize the
money.” Too bad Jesus isn’t at hand; I would love to see the expression
on his face when he learned that secularizing money just ain’t
Christian. The only trouble is that the decision to put the phrase on
the rim was made sometime in 2005, when Republicans controlled all three
branches of government. Darn those secular liberal Republicans! That was
so blatantly goofy, even Faux News had to admit they couldn’t blame
Obama for that.

Faux, caught off guard by the health care vote in Congress, immediately
started howling that Pelosi had broken her vow to post the bill 72 hours
before the final vote. It made for good howling until it emerged that
Pelosi had posted the working floor version of the bill – the one that
existed – 72 hours before the vote. Ooops.

That’s when it really started to go downhill for Kangarupe and his minions.
First there was the Republican anti-government rally fiasco. Bad enough
that featured speaker Michelle Bachman missed a vital quorum call,
costing her party a vote on some major legislation. There was the Faux
coverage, particularly that of minion Sean Hannity. They claimed 20 to
45 thousand showed (other estimates ran between 5 and 10 thousand) and
showed throngs of crowds after images of the Republicans on the
grandstand vowing to smash the evil American government. Jon Stewart and
his crew were watching, of course, and Faux handed them their own asses
on a silver platter. As Stewart gleefully noted, the demonstration took
place on a clear blue fall day, with the leaves on all the trees
changing color. But the images of the vast crowd listening were on a
partly cloudy day, and, mirabile dictu! The trees had all turned back to
green! Maybe right wingers emit large quantities of chlorophyll or
something.

Stewart then showed camera coverage of the rally, and camera coverage of
the big 9-12 rally two months ago. It was the same coverage. It didn’t
help that the voiceover from Faux was gushing about what an
extraordinary turnout it was for a cool fall Thursday, which, as Stewart
acidly noted, was actually a summer Saturday. Thanks to Faux, Stewart
hasn’t had to write a joke in years.

Kangarupe then went on a Sky network show to be interviewed by a minion,
and during the interview, affirmed that Obama was a racist for
saying…well, something or other. Kangarupe wasn’t sure what it was,
but it sure was racist. He knew this because Glen(n) Beck told him so.
Beck caught hell for that, and a Faux minion had to issue a formal
retraction and apology. And so Kangarupe blew that up. The next day,
they sent another minion out to explain that Kangarupe didn’t really
think that, and just said it because he said it, or something.
I wouldn’t want to be a Faux minion. Unless you happen to be a
sociopath, the job would give you ulcers.

Then Glen(n) Beck had his Army / McCarthy moment. McCarthy’s poisonous
reign of demagoguery ended when a lawyer named Welch turned to him and
said, “At long last sir, have you no shame?” Beck’s reign of demagoguery
ended yesterday.
He sued the owner and operator of a website, Isaac Eiland-Hall, the
satirist behind
glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. Now, normally, if someone
puts up a website accusing you by name of raping and murdering a young
girl, regardless of the year, you would have grounds for a lawsuit.
Except the site never does actually claim he did such a thing. It just
notes that there was a rape at a specified address (in fact, the
location where the infamous “Duke LaCrosse Team” case occurred) and that
the name “Glen Beck” appeared in the documents. The site then says that
people are talking about this, and asks why Beck doesn’t come forward to
settle the matter once and for all.

In other words, it was a parody of the sleazy style Beck uses on his
show, night after night, to call Obama a racist, or imply that a member
of his adminstration facilitated underage gay sex, or that another
member was a Maoist.

Beck’s lawyers doubtlessly told him he couldn’t hope to win such a suit,
since the site is very clearly satirical and starts out saying they
don’t believe Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young woman in 1990.
So he filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property
Organization instead, the outfit that tries to safeguard intellectual
property world wide.

He got a humiliating defeat Friday, when WIPO ruled that the site was
obviously satirical in nature and thus had strong first amendment
protection.

Eiland-Hall, gracious in victory, promptly emailed the account name and
password of the site to Glenn Beck to dispose of, and included a letter,
portions of which appeared in Raw Story and are reprinted below. It was
a complete humiliation of Beck. He lived by the smear, and he’ll die by
the smear.

Kangarupe and minions also got hit by a huge lawsuit from one Sandra
Guzman who is charging discrimination against Murdoch’s media empire,
News Corporation, the New York Post and its editor-in-chief Col Allan
for the treatment she received at Kangarupe’s flagship American paper.
Accusing Kangarupe and his eldest son of “”hostile work environment
where female employees and employees of colour have been subjected to
pervasive and systematic discrimination and/or unlawful harassment based
on their gender”, Guzman charged that she had been subject to such
treatment after trying to avoid yet another embarrassment to the
Kangarupe empire when she argued against the Post publishing a cartoon
which showed Obama as a dead chimpanzee.

Finally, remember the shrill brays about how the supposed “war” between
Faux News and the administration had sent ratings through the roof?
Turned out the numbers were fabricated, as so much of Faux “news” is.
The two week ratings, before and after, showed less than two points
difference in viewership, well within the normal range for such period.
So no ratings boost.
But now it might go up, as gleeful liberals watch to see what sorts of
fuckups Kangarupe and Minions pull next!

Excerpts of Eiland-Hall’s letter, printed by Raw Story:

In a letter to Beck that concluded with the username and password to
access the domain, Eiland-Hall said:

It bears observing that by bringing the WIPO complaint, you took what
was merely one small critique meme, in a sea of internet memes, and
turned it into a super-meme. Then, in pressing forward (by not
withdrawing the complaint and instead filing additional briefs), you
turned the super-meme into an object lesson in First Amendment principles.

Shame on you Mr. Beck.

I get them in the mail. You probably do to. Those request for donations from the RNC. Sometimes they come with an innocuous survey with no brainer questions like “Do you support a massive government run health care system? Check one Yes No

I usually just throw them out. Oh I intended to write a letter and give them a piece of my mind but somehow with the busy life I am leading it just didn’t get done. However I still wanted to and felt I NEEDED to send a strong message to the GOP. I know you feel the same and I know, like myself, that despite our best intent, there wasn’t the follow through.

So I decided how can I easily get my message to the GOP? How can you?

Well one picture is worth a thousand words…this graphic (below) is down-loadable and printable right off the site!

So next time you get one of those letters from the RNC asking for donations, all you have to do is print out, and return in the conveniently post-paid envelope supplied to you by the RNC!

Share with your friends, lets get thousands upon thousands of these to the RNC! Send the message..WAKE UP GOP!

Question for all my restauranteurs– can you please help a friend find a spot in a NY kitchen this winter?

My language partner Albert, who rules, will be in NYC end of Dec-April to get the opportunity to work at the mecca for foodies, New York, while improving his English skillz. He’s a student at the super fancy Hoffman culinary school here in Barcelona (he is currently #1). Their restaurant has a Michelin star! I couldn’t meet with him last week because he was prepping for a catering event for 50 people, where he went on to serve a seven-course meal. The guy is insane.  So…if you know of anyplace that may take him, please let me know!

Speaking of food, I finally visited, nay, made the pilgrimage, to Boqueria market.  Yes, with Albert. The colors and smells of fresh fruits, breads, fish, and meat are overwhelming. The hoards of tourists are evened out by equal quantities of locals picking and pointing out the ingredients of their next meal. If my memory serves me well, while Barcelona developed and grew throughout the centuries, one of the few buildings that refused to be moved or torn down was the market, because it was and continues to be the epicenter of town. The Barcelonese are absolutely mad about food and quality, the origin of produce and meat, seasonality, and freshness. I love cooking here!

Albert Surveys the Fruit @ Mercat de la Boqueria

Ruski Table at the International Food Fest at Spanish School. The 'sirniki' I made are on the left in the front, behind the sour cream. And that bottle of vodka and its 2 friends were gone in <1 hr. Did I mention this thing started at 10AM?

Those of you with lives might not have realized that there were several elections held yesterday two days ago throughout the nation. The big three were gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia and a special election for Congress in New York’s 23 District. An amendment to ban gay marriage was also up for a vote in Maine after the legislature had approved it a few months earlier. How did they go?

Republicans won in Virginia and New Jersey and same sex marriage (SSM) was defeated in Maine. In a complicated race, a Democrat won the NY election by beating out a Conservative Party candidate.  (Elsewhere in New York, Mayor Bloomberg was narrowly reelected despite spending $100 million or what would amount to $166 per vote) The reaction has been mixed. Some say this is a sign of a Republican revival while others say the races were determined by local issues and were not a referendum on President Obama.  So what to think?Maine

The verdict is simple. When given the chance to actually vote on it, Americans reject SSM. This now marks the 31st time it has been defeated at the ballot box (including liberal states like California). People can and do make excuses about why (money, religious groups, voter turnout) but the fact is that most of the indicators in Maine should have favored SSM yet couldn’t carry it to passage. If there’s been a clearer political message than this over the past few years I haven’t seen it.

Virginia and New Jersey

Republicans won both governor’s offices which is impressive considering NJ has been a Democratic Stronghold while Virginia was seen as the feather in the Democrat’s cap and a model for future expansion. The Virginia results weren’t unexpected since all the polls showed the McDonnell (R) winning  easily. He actually won in a landslide (59%) and carried important swing counties including some of the DC suburbs. What is most impressive is that the GOP also won the Lieutenant Governorship and the Attorney General race, both in convincing fashion. It was a dominating night for Republicans in the Old Dominion

New Jersey was a much closer race but also much less of a swing state. The interesting thing to note here is that the incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine lost despite spending a lot and the personal help of Obama. The message the Republicans should take from this is that incumbents can be defeated if they run challengers who have concrete alternatives. If this worked in New Jersey, there is no reason it can’t be duplicated in the Rust Belt.

New York

The story behind this one is hard to explain. Basically, the GOP nominated an extremely liberal candidate (Dede Scozzafava) over a relatively conservative one (Hoffman). Hoffman then ran for the Conservative Party and began to poll very well. So well that Scozzafava dropped out a few days ago and endorsed the Democrat (Owens). Owens won last night by around 5,000 votes. This was a district the GOP should have been able to hold on to if it hadn’t undergone the “civil war” between Hoffman and Scozzafava. It will be interesting to see if they pick more conservative or liberal candidates in upcoming swing districts.

Overall

The main story line has to be the role of independent voters in the governor elections. CNN reported that independents in NJ broke for the GOP with 60% with even higher numbers in Virginia. If that trend holds true in later elections, Republicans will sweep swing states. Less worrisome for Democrats is the fact that the first time voters who propelled Obama (blacks, and young voters) didn’t turn out for these elections. This is bad for them, but shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge, especially in the 2012 elections.

The interesting question is what has happened to the Democratic 50 state strategy. These results seem to suggest that it is having a hard time surviving while the Dems focus on liberal policy. If the Democrats want to avoid losing a lot of recently-taken seats, they must find a way to reconcile liberal legislation and moderate members. That will be a challenge.

So Republicans were able to were able to take advantage of favorable conditions and win several important races. I would even have called the VA gov. race a “must win” to get on a role for mid-terms next year. But I don’t see this as an endorsement of the GOP so much as a willingness to trust them and being sick of incumbents. Look for increased fund raising success for Republicans and maybe a few moderate Democrats getting cold feet on far left projects like health care reform and cap-and-trade.

The Elephants aren’t back yet, but this was a big step towards getting there.