Say What?

Federal court blocks beef exporter from testing for Mad Cow disease

The USDA tests 1% of cattle of Mad Cow disease.

Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef Exporters wants to test 100% of its cattle for Mad Cow disease.

But the Bush administration took Creekstone to court, and a US federal appeals court ruled that the USDA has the authority to stop meatpackers from testing more than 1% of its cattle.

The dispute pits the Agriculture Department, which tests about 1 percent of cows for the potentially deadly disease, against a Kansas meat packer that wants to test all its animals.

Larger meat packers opposed such testing. If Creekstone Farms Premium Beef began advertising that its cows have all been tested, other companies fear they too will have to conduct the expensive tests.

The AP reports that "The Bush administration says the low level of testing reflects the rareness of the disease."

The Bush administration should apply the same logic to the TSA.
Terrorists are extremely rare, so only 1% of passengers ought to be checked by airport security.

(In lieu of the 30% or more that are detained every day at airports around the country.)

Read the rest here

Okay, so we know the flaw here ... shrub administration - logic ... two mutually exclusive things trying to be conjoined.

It begs the question ...
Why in the hell not?
The beef exporter wants to test ALL of the beef it handles - at it's own expense, I might add - and the feds say no way to testing more than they require?!

Want to bet if they wanted to test less than the 1% required to be tested the feds would be singing a different tune?

Russian police kill Web site owner

Looks like the police in Minneapolis aren't the only ones using strong-arm tactics contrary to the law not to mention humanity ...

The owner of an independent Web site critical of authorities was shot and killed Sunday by police in a volatile province in southern Russia.

Police arrested Ingushetiya.ru owner Magomed Yevloyev on Sunday, taking him off a plane that had just landed in Ingushetia province near Chechnya.
Police whisked Yevloyev away in a car and later dumped him on the road with a gunshot wound in the head.
Yevloyev died in a hospital shortly afterward.

In Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said in a statement that Yevloyev was detained by police and died in an "incident" while being taken to police headquarters for an interrogation.
Markin did not elaborate, saying that a check to clarify the circumstances of Yevloyev's death had begun.
The committee is under the Prosecutor General's office.

Yevloyev has angered regional authorities with bold criticism of police treatment of civilians in the region.
A court in June ordered him to shut his site on charges of spreading "extremist" statements, but it reappeared under a different name.

Yevloyev arrived in Ingushetia from Moscow on Sunday on the same plane with regional President Murat Zyazikov.
Police blocked the jet on the runway after it landed in Ingushetia's provincial capital, Magas, entered the plane and took Yevloyev out.

Yevloyev's death is likely to further stir up passions in Ingushetia, which has been plagued by frequent raids and ambushes against federal forces and local authorities.
Government critics attribute the attacks to anger fueled by abductions, beatings, unlawful arrests and killings of suspects by government forces and local allied paramilitaries.

Many in Ingushetia are intensely unhappy with Zyazikov, a former KGB officer and a close ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Immediately after Yevloyev's detention, his Web site urged Ingushetia's residents to gather outside the headquarters of a leading opposition group.

*****

Remember folks this is the type of country the repugicans want - where they and their flunkies can do as they please to anyone they please.

Their paranoia is showing ... part duex

Found this over at Boing Boing and it goes along with my "Their Paranoia Is Showing" post earlier.

Report: Massive, warrantless raids on peace protesters in Minneapolis, ahead of RNC.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com reports that protesters in Minneapolis, where the Republican National Convention will soon begin, have been subjected to massive, pre-emptive police raids. Those arrested include members of Food not Bombs, and a group calling itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee," and a group that uses video to protect civil liberties by documenting police activity at first amendment events. Snip:

[They have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning -- one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.

In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.

Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis. Glenn's post includes videos. One of them is embedded here, below, "from the house that had just been raided."

Glenn's Salon item also points to blog posts from the targeted protest groups, including this one from I-Witness. This group previously "videotaped police behavior at the 2004 GOP Convention in New York and helped get charges dismissed against hundreds of protesters who were arrested." The post excerpted below was published while the police raid was happening today:

The house where I-Witness Video is staying in St. Paul has been surrounded by police. We have locked all the doors. We have been told that if we leave we will be detained. One of our people who was caught outside is being detained in handcuffs in front of the house. The police say that they are waiting to get a search warrant. More than a dozen police are wielding firearms, including one St. Paul officer with a long gun, which someone told me is an M-16. We are suffering a preemptive video arrest. For those that don't know, I-Witness Video was remarkably successful in exposing police misconduct and outright perjury by police during the 2004 RNC. Out of 1800 arrests, at least 400 were overturned based solely on video evidence which contradicted sworn statements which were fabricated by police officers. It seems that the house arrest we are now under and the possible threat of the seizure of our computers and video cameras is a result of the 2004 success.

Miscellanies

Ten Miscellanies

The World's Oldest Guitar has been attributed to Belchior Diaz, a Portugese builder who probably made the instrument around 1590.

Wife Swapping Swinger's Orgy Porgy Party (Audio Stag, AS1004, 1971) Oh, music from those heady days of 1971.

Patent number 1,867,377, issued to Otto Frederick Rohwedder on July 12, 1932.

Renaming products to match their qualities - Honest Products at Worth 1000.

Sexy people, a celebration of The Perfect Portrait. Use Caution When Viewing!

A large collection of long forgotten pictures of Japan by Rob Oechsle, a photographer from Okinawa.

Ashrita Furman currently holds more than 75 Guinness records, including the official record for holding the most records. Since setting his first record of 27,000 jumping jacks in 1979, Ashrita has broken more than 180 records overall. His records include "Pushing a 4150 lb. Van, the fastest mile" (21 min 8 sec.) and 'Rolling the Largest Hula Hoop", 16 feet 5 inches in diameter.

The design of the Olympic medals through the years.

Recommended storage times for refrigerators and freezers.

How Robert P. McCulloch bought a London Bridge in 1969 and transported it to the Arizona desert.

And I Quote

Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.

~ Thomas Edison

repugican reaction to palin

"It's important that America has a vice president who has eaten a mooseburger."

-- some GOP dude on CNN searching for the good news and how to spin the disaster of McCain picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP

Really? Sarah Plain and Tall from Alaska?

McCain has indicated he's waaaaay too old for two terms,
so his VP will naturally assume front-runner status for 2012
...and the GOP is going to be led
...by a vagina'd American?

(That's the GOP's reaction to a woman in power, not mine.)

For What It's Worth

What with the current election being about change I thought this reminder of the change we started and the neo-cons derailed was needed - so we can finish the job we began all those years ago.

Yeah I was there or at least they tell me I was

Memory's a bit hazy from August of '69 but I do remember this band from that concert in upstate New York I was at.

The Band performing "The Weight" at Woodstock

Copperhead Road Twenty Years On

Damn, it's been twenty years since Steve Earle told us a familiar tale for the Vietnam Generation.

Olde Schoole

Tommy James and the Shondells doing it old school.

(For all you young whippersnappers out there that thing in the video is an single vinyl 45rpm record)

Who will cut taxes again?

For all you 'tax cut' fanatics of the wing-nut variety as well as all the rest of us ordinary folks check out this calculator to see which presidential candidate's tax plan will actually cut your taxes.

In my case:

Your Obama Tax Cut is: $4,156.62

Don't get a damned thing from McPain!

Gustav just short of becoming a top-scale Category 5 hurricane

Gustav slammed into Cuba's tobacco-growing western tip as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane Saturday while both Cubans and Americans scrambled to flee the storm as it roared toward the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans.

Forecasters said Gustav was just short of becoming a top-scale Category 5 hurricane as it hit Cuba's mainland after passing over its Isla de la Juventud province, where shrieking 150 mph (240 kph) winds toppled telephone poles, mango and almond trees and peeled back the tin roofs of homes.

Meanwhile on the Gulf Coast authorities began ordering mandatory evacuations along Louisiana and Mississippi's Gulf Coast on Saturday as Hurricane Gustav roared past Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico.

"They made it very clear that this storm could be as bad as it gets," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Saturday afternoon of the Category 4 storm, with sustained winds that reached 150 mph. "We could see flooding even worse than we saw in Hurricane Katrina."

Thousands of people had begun fleeing the coast by the time a hurricane watch was issued Saturday afternoon for southeastern Texas to the Alabama-Florida border as Gustav pursued a projected path toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The watch, which means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours, was announced the day after many in the region marked the third anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

Following in Katrina's footsteps

Gustav swelled to a fearsome Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph (195 kph) as it shrieked toward the heartland of Cuba's cigar industry Saturday on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, three years after Hurricane Katrina.

The storm already has killed 78 people in the Caribbean and the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it had become the second major hurricane of the Atlantic season, following Bertha in July.

Hopefully this time those on the Gulf Coast will heed the signs and leave the area.
And that the response to any need be swift and proper.

Nude Vacationers

The number of people who are taking and want to take a vacation and leave their clothes behind is increasing.

Check out this article on the increase in nude vacationers.

Their paranoia is showing ...

Police raided a rental hall used by a group organizing protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday.

The RNC Welcoming Committee, which describes itself as "anarchist/anti-authoritarian," accused St. Paul police of trying to disrupt their protest planned for Monday, the day the GOP convention is set to begin.

While no one was arrested, the group said police temporarily detained and photographed at least 50 people who were inside the building.

St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said they were executing a search warrant.

"The cause for the search warrant is not public at this time," Walsh said.

As many as 30 police officers entered with guns drawn, according to witnesses in the building.

"The convergence center is simply a gathering place and is not used for illegal actions -- it is a place for workshops and trainings," a statement from the protest group said. "Tonight, we were watching films and sharing food."

"We are now accused of a simple fire code violation," the statement said.

*****

Now what I want to know are where are the reports of raids on those protesting at the DNC in Denver last week ... oh, wait there are none.

A few 'good ol'boys' planning to kill the Democratic nominee and had the arsenal to do it are treated like 'boys will be boys' and a room full of liars were left alone by the police in Denver at the discretion of a repugican U.S. attorney.
But lord, in Minneapolis there are people watching a movie - send in S.W.A.T!
Want to bet there is a repugican U,S. attorney in Minneapolis as well?!

Nice Quote

Remember only the good; the bad will never forget you.

~ Doug Horton.

Women respond to Palin

The Mrs., says "Who is this no name thing that McPain chose, he has lost his fucking 72 year old mind?"

This has been the typical response from every woman I have met today ... some had even more colorful terms to express their displeasure at the choice.

Looks like the 'strategy' has backfired.

Buchanan loved it.

Of all the hoopla and bruhaha and so forth that has surrounded this election so far and will continue to surround it the fact that one of the right-wing's staunchest and outspoken members Pat Buchanan had to be cut off due to time while he gushed and lauded Obama's speech last night should be telling.

If it doesn't send a loud and clear signal through the thick skulls of the wing-nuts and assorted whackos on the far right ... something is very off in the universe.

See Pat Buchanan's reaction to Obama's speech here.

The Times they are A'Changin' ... To quote Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan.

Just in case you missed it ...

In a clear cut attempt to sway women voters McPain picks Palin for vice president.

Sarah Palin, the first term governor of Alaska is the first woman to be named to the repugican ticket.

A move that will lose McPain the evangelical whackos and not sway enough women to vote for him to cover the losses ... thereby conceding the election before it starts.

Palin, in typical and what appears to be standard repugican procedure won her seat by clamoring on about corruption, ethics and criminal acts of those in office and how she was above such ... well, guess, who is under investigation for just such.

Of course McPain would pick someone under investigation - he had too, there is not a repugican not under investigation for some type of turpitude that I can think of.

History repeat?

With a new storm threatening to cause chaos in New Orleans all over again, a horse-drawn carriage brought the last seven unclaimed bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims for entombment at a memorial site on Friday during ceremonies marking the disaster's third anniversary.

The ceremonies were tinged with a recognition of how much the city has rebuilt since Katrina's floods, as well as fear that another disaster could be looming.

"We look ahead to a better day, as we also prepare ourselves for another threat," Mayor Ray Nagin said as he helped guide a gleaming coffin into a mausoleum.

Tropical Storm Gustav was swirling near Jamaica, Friday after being blamed for 67 deaths in Hispaniola.

Forecasters said it could hit the Louisiana coast early next week as a major hurricane and city and state officials were preparing for possible weekend evacuations - the first in the state since Katrina hit in 2005.

You know the shrub has a fishing trip planned for next week, don't you.