Well, you really have to go past the jump...

All honor and respect to his Most Holy & Venerable Bill (not currently) in Portland, Maine.  Greetings and humble happy Monday to all who enter today, but with special flip-flops to C & J regular pool-goers (most of whom are by now at the office, with the kids, in the garden or Netting Roots and will never see this)!  

I’m a semi-frequent, wader into C & J, and today was just one of those days I had the time and inclination to dip my toes, but alas, that big, beautiful pool is "closed for maintenance" until tomorrow...  so, somewhat selfishly, I am posting this for today only as a self-supplicating facsimile!  If even 5 people splash a bit here with me I will be amazed, but pleased :-)

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UPDATED, I was... There is now a sub-pool I had not seen, that is officious in nature! h/t Cali Scribe ;-)
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A memorial, that yet isn't - three years later!  It's almost like an IGTNT diary, but isn't.

The first time I ever looked at a blog or got curious about them was the weekend that Katrina hit because I needed a place to scream.  As the same for many, it made me incredulous, angry, confused and sad about all that happened, was happening, what did not happen, be it the effects of the storm and shameful response to all that occurred in its aftermath. Eventually, I found dKos - one good thing that came out of it, for me at least and not a person affected by the storm itself.

More after the jump and a link to the news article...

Today from AP - though not 'news' to us here at dKos!

Apr 23, 5:38 PM (ET)

By ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus denounced House Democratic leaders Wednesday as "spineless" and little better than Republicans for failing to take on comprehensive immigration reform.

Leaders of the all-Democratic caucus, which numbers two dozen, criticized their party leadership at a news conference for instead scheduling hearings on enforcement legislation and specific visa issues.
Maybe more pressure from new faces inside the party can force change...

As with the majority of my diaries... A lighthearted, snarky look at a slice of life.

Our Dear Leader is sooo desperate for some sort of shred of positive clothing for his legacy, that he is chasing down the pope at the airport (AAFB), throwing a party (that was not appropriate for the supplicant to offer) and doing his darnedest to maximize his contact (and watch for huge plasterings of photo ops) with the pontiff, in order that some glimmer of light will rub off onto himself!

Poor dear, bless his heart.  Who is on his knees kissing what now, hmmm?

(more below)

Okay, so no surprise there.

So the Chinese have been eating our lunch in many sectors, and since 2003 or so, they have been drinking ‘our’ oil, too.  Thanks, Bushie!  You know I say ‘our’ only alliteratively, though sadly, we have always acted like it is ‘ours’ literally.  Yeah, yeah, call me one of those ‘hate America, firsters,’ Pat Buchanan.  How ‘bout ‘hate American stupidity, hypocrisy firster’?  That would be more accurate.

My stumbling upon an article today in an Egyptian paper was an interesting contrast to the Charlie Rose interview I watched last night with buffoon, President of Shell Oil, USA, John Hofmeister , I hope you’re reading the following, Mr. Hofmeister.

More on (moron?) Shell Oil, etc. below the fold.

Get Rich Quick! Be a Pentagon Supplier!

So have you heard the one about the teen-aged arms dealer who is President and sole employee of his company?  He is getting rich selling sub-standard, 40-year old arms to Afghan troops and other materials of sketchy quality to our own troops! AEY out of Miami Beach, under the leadership of a 19 year old former masseur, has racked-up more than a third of a billion dollars since 2004!  Ok, dad helped a little, like making the little prince a 1% stake owner of the company, but not much more.

Yeah, since Bushie was in such a hurry for war and with experts like Darth Cheney and the Don Rubblesfeld in charge, why bother with details of competence or history in reliable arms procurement? Why bother with how you were going to supply and support troops adequately?

I know there have been a few diaries today A B C regarding Tom Lantos, including the FP story by McJoan, but they seemed to have scrolled-off all too soon, and I thought Mr. Lantos was significant enough, that I wanted to post another diary - not for me, for him, for us...

More...

Notes regarding what I hear you may touch upon tonight...

Sickly - that's the state under leadership from your diseased hand over the last seven years. Hint: try not to screw-up anything else in your remaining months!

That is, assuming you don't choose this alternate program, instead!

Announced today, the city has agreed to settle the case with Nebraska machine maker ES&S for $3.5 million, for the AutoMARK systems sold to the city in 2006 but not approved by the state elections commission.

The city filed legal action against ES&S last Nov. 7, the day after a city election where the final results were delayed for weeks because of the state's concerns about the reliability and accuracy of the company's aging voting machines.

At the time, Herrera called the election problems "an absolute travesty" and blamed all the delays on ES&S failure to meet the terms of its contract with the city.

Note: Just as a disclaimer, I have no affiliation to Meraki or any of the involved parties, but I love the idea and would like to see it succeed. Also, I am not yet on the network or able to receive one of their repeaters.

From MIT to SF, Two miles to 49

Access is political ;-) showing interest and support for ideas like this are critical to keeping the opportunities and innovation coming!  Not to mention, poking the 'rape and pilage' corporate monster a bit.

From AP - Excite

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A Silicon Valley startup is promising to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet service, reviving a crusade that crumbled last year after two much larger companies, EarthLink Inc. (ELNK) (ELNK) and Google Inc. (GOOG) (GOOG), scrapped their plans to build a high-speed network for Web surfing.

Meraki Networks Inc., whose financial backers include Google, hopes to complete the ambitious project within the next year by persuading thousands of San Francisco residents to set up free radio repeaters on their rooftops and in their homes. The 21-month-old company is to announce its plans Friday.

More...

A – ranting I will go.... Hi-ho the Iowa/Iraqi war, a – ranting I will go....

I realize in the grand and grave environment in which we live, matters pertaining to cell-phone use and restriction thereof, do not rate particularly high in priority, but I wanted to ‘let it out’ and I think the underlying principle does have more weight to it.

To wit, my new personalized bumper sticker:

Keep your ineptitudes off of my laws!

So, I was either under a rock, under piles of paper or a cloud....

But my local ABC news had a report tonight by Carolyn Tyler, covering the law change approved back in October, 2007.  The California legislature passed a bill (AB 682), which the governor signed, dropping the requirement for health care providers to get written consent prior to an HIV test.

I missed the report or any significance, maybe, back in October.  I don't mean to look for bogey men behind every tree, but the way this was reported, caught my attention.

More below

December 8, 2007, Washington, DC and state

President Bush declared a federal disaster for all 48 contiguous United States of North America on Saturday, clearing the way, as in every prior disaster during his tenure, for federal aid to be looted by opportunists, contractors and other personal friends of Bush.

True to form, the president was hoping to bury the story in the weekend news consumption void with additional historical cloaking behind "the day that will live in infamy."

Canada was seen biting its nails.

That headline is meant to be read as two separate statements, not a dependent clause.

God forgive me for quoting Tweety (Chris Matthews), but his 'engine room' analogy was pretty good.  Watching his Thursday show, including an excellent spanking for the little boy by Christia Freeland*, it emerged in my mind like a neon sign, "it has to be Hillary." Heretofore, I was undecided and despite many saying we have several good Democratic candidates to choose from, none were really ringing my bell.

The simple reason, after the fold...

Good morning and kind greetings to those that normally find themselves frolicking in Bill in Portland Maine's pool!!

Seeing as how the pool has been drained temporarily - and no, not for cleaning - but because somebody had to grow-up and be an adult now!  Sheesh!

While I have no where near BiPM's talents, nor the inclination to commit daily to an early a.m. post, I thought at least today (and perhaps occasionally) I would throw open the gates at the ranch!!!

UPDATE II - After posting this diary I discovered the the great new "Goooood Morning Daily Kos."  GREAT JOB GUYS!
It will be hosted every Monday thru Friday
DUE TO TECH DIFFICULTIES, FRIDAY GMDK IS BEING HOSTED BY CONDOLEASER:
Mondays- Emma Snacker
Tuesdays- Blue Jersey Mom
Wednesdays- Moody Loner
Thursdays- Spedwybabs
Fridays- Jetskreemr

So now without further ado.....

Duped Press [DP] - September 25, 2007
Hollywood, CA

It was "revealed" today that the new congress and its Democratic majority voted into office last November was actually an elaborate Hollywood production and Hoax designed and perpetrated by an elite cadre of producers, directors, media and entertainment moguls.  It was billed as the most successful of its kind ever.

Jane Harmon (D-CA), is just one of many 'actors' who pretended to be representing the interests of the American people, the Democratic party and defender of the U.S. Constitution.  She revealed her true status to Theyrereal after a briefing regarding the FISA extension vote of last August.

Why was this done?  More below the fold....

Brad deserves much credit, I think for being the 'Lou Dobbs' of this issue - (yeah, he'll really like that, but I couldn't resist!) and that's where I got the scoop thanks to his tele-blogging from the CA SOS press conference held at 11:45 pm PDT Friday.

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