With reports that the Gov. is estimating a $200,000,000 cost for these trials could they not be used as an economic stimulus for some city that could use a boost?
say Detroit.
Think about it, reporters from around the world filling up hotels and dining establlshments, posturing politicians, lawyers, infrastructure improvement as part of scurity expense- it would be just like the Olympics for economic stimulus and infrastructure improvements.
As for fear of terrorism yeah right what are they going to do? Bomb shut down auto plants? Try to intimidate the citizens of Detroit? ( good luck on that they are probably better armed then the average terrorist)
Reverse the view of thes trials from being a burden to a tool for economic stimulus.
Detroit from the auto Capital to the Shining Temple of Justice in one fell swoop.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703405704575015362653644260.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

The above article is only one of many referring to new electronic readers from a number of manufactors along the line of the Kindle but with greater capabilities.
If the cost of these devices in bulk buys could be brought down to the $200 or $300 or less until they became ubiquitious  would not not be an basic budgetary decision that the purchase of these devices in place of physical textbooks could provide a way for smaller states to avoid the ignorance and bigotry being promoted by the Texas textbook standards while still saving money?
The marginal costs of being able to simply download the relevent chapters etc. could allow for greater proliferation of textbook standards where they could be written and distrubited with out the need of economics of scale needed to justify the print runs of the different texts.
Right now text books are expensive in a large part because of the need to produce a durable product that can be used for a number of years. 
This is also why school districts often end up with out of date texts in a time of rapid  change. An example would be during the fall of the Soviet empire and rapid prolieration of independent states while geography texts still showed the USSR, Czechoslovia, Yugoslavia etc.
This method would also allow easier updates and modifications in all fields such as Science, Biology, Geography, etc.

If Obama wants to make an modest gesture to prove he is not a wingnut manchurian candidate( which alas his Justice department and war policies indicate that he is) he could repeal the Presidential order that the previous junta had put into place to cover up the crimes of the Reagan Bush 1 era.
Remember  The Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA)  would have required that the papers of addled ronnie raygun and poppa be released.So one of the first things that scion of america's premier criminal family did was to issue an executive order hiding the evidence of the crimes of his father.
By now all  the papers of poppa bush should be released including his dealing with Iraq just prior to the first gulf war should be in the public domain.
So why hasn't Obama issued another executive order canceling the illegal one of his predecessor and sending the US Marshals out to the raygun mausoleum and the bush family compound to seize that government property and release it into the public domain?
Is it because his (cough cough) Justice department is to busy releasing republican criminals while fighting to keep the victims of the past injustice department in jail ( i.e. Seigelman) 
Nothing like a continueing cover up to prove Obama's "post partisanship".

With the "success" of the nutcase wing of the wingnut party in NY 23 by chasing out Scozzafava the zealots are tasting blood in the water and other wingnut candidates have got to be worried.
Starting with Crist in Florida. Rubio has been gaining and I am sure this will give him a new breath of fresh air, and new funding, in his attempt to knock off the "establishment' candidate in the primary.
Blunt in Missouri is also facing a locally grown nutcase in his primary. Since his state is a relatively "inexpensive" media state a shoot of funds from the true believers to fund the Blunts opposition will go a long way.
This will probably put the end to any hope that Kirk would have in illinois as well.
Over all this "victory" by the extreme will make any rethuglican candidate run so far to the right to appease the crazy's that it will be difficult for them to scramble back into the realm of the sane in the general election.
This poses a risk for the D's as well. 
Since now the rethuglicans with a minimal level of sanity will be looking for a new home it is important for the D's not to let them in.
If they are allowed in they will simply pull the D's to the right and start them on that slippery slope to insanity that they did to the R's when they gave the nutcases any consideration.
This will pull the entire debate further to the right alienating the Democratic base and effectively disenfranchising even more voters who will not have a political party that represents the interests of the working, the teachers, the poor, the non delusional and those that truly care about humanity, the world and their country instead of ideologues so enamored with theories and myths that they would sacrifice all on the alter of their fantasies.
Let the so called Rethuglican moderates fight for their party and bring it back into the realm of the sane. If they do not have the courage to face down the monster they have created they are worthless to any other political interest.

I have read in several publications where the new investment bubble is investors buying derivatives of bundled life insurance policies of elderly and sick people's that have been  "securitized" by the same people who did this with mortgages. These policies are bought from the elderly and sick ( henceforth referred to as base investment units) price for less than face value, 60¢ on the dollar has been noted as an example, and realizing the profit upon the insureds death.
Basically a variation of dead peasant insurance where org.'s such as Walmart secretly bought life insurance for its low level workers making the company the beneficiary and then working them to death.

I am sure that insurance for the investors to protect against extended life spans etc are available. 
A.I.G. will probably offer a one stop shop for the investment units to buy the life insurance then sell it to the back to A.I.G. for bundling, securitizing and marketing while offering risk insurance for the investors if the base investment units exceed the actuarial models. All with the knowledge that it is tax payers money guaranteeing every step of the process for the investors with the only people at risk of a failure would be the original customers for the life insurance

If this is true it goes a long way towards explaining the nutcase rights ( or as commonly referred to the Rethuglican Party) opposition to Health Care Reform.
Don't people see that if people live longer it is threat to the health of the investor class  that Wall Street counts on to profit off of "Capitalism" which means that it is a threat to Amerika.
If people live longer those who have already invested would have to wait longer for their profits which would trigger increased claims upon the Risk insurers which in turn would cause another collapse of the worlds financial system.
So Americans for the sake of the investors class, capitalism and the world financial system must keep dying at a rate far above those of their contemporary's in the worlds other advanced nations.
Early death is our patriotic duty for the economy.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/09/ifascism.php#more?ref=fpblg
I could not let this false "fact"of Bill Gates supposed generosity pass with out comment.
The form that  of the donations by MS and Gates has historically been product promotion.
An example was a number of years ago MS through the Gates Foundation "Donated" generous amounts of software to Children's Museums. The kicker was that it was Windows only software exclusively produced by MS. Even if there was a Mac version of the software produced by MS they would not give that away or exchange it or even offer a discount. The upshot was with thousands of dollars of software sitting on the shelf the local Children's Museum switched from Mac's to Windows.
A very clever tax deductible product promotion by MS. If one reads the fine print on many of Gate's and MS "donations" you will find they come in the form of Windows products/hardware exclusively. That is not philanthropy but rather marketing with the US taxpayer subsidizing it because of the tax deductions that MS claims for its generosity.
I am reminded of growing up in Chicago when the press would launch an investigation into mob activities all of a sudden many local churches etc. would get donations from people of interest and they would be publicly exalted as Civic heros rather then the thugs they were. 

It is the same syndrome as Al Neuharth exhibited, After being the head of Gannet and using every method he could to monopolize and dumb down the news (Richard McCord's The Chain Gang: One Newspaper versus the Gannett Empire - Columbia: Uni of Missouri Press 1996) he takes his ill gotten gains and starts a Journalism foundation ( The Freedom Forum) to decry the evils he promoted in journalism, without ever admitting any guilt. 
So it is with robber barons, Mafioso's and retired dictators who when, in old age, they find the cold breath of natural mortality they donate to the church a portion of their ill gotten gains in hope of redeeming their reputation and purchasing forgiveness.
So it is with Gates and MS after 20 years of promoting an inferior product through the use of FUD ( Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) while stealing other peoples code ( i.e. Stacker, false error message with Windows using other then MS-Dos etc.etc) are now trying to buy respectability. Just like old John D. Rockefeller trying to appear beneficent with his very public campaign of handing out dimes to poor waifs after crushing so many to build Standard oil.
Interesting to note that only after the anti trust trail  is when MS and Gates decided, like the oil and tobacco companies, that a little money to grease the PR and political machine might erase the ugly truth. Remember this was the trail where where every, I repeat every, MS witness was discredited on the stand, including Mr. Gates during his deposition.


Lets not forget the money that MS poured into GW's campaign in 2000 in a successful effort to buy a lenient DoJ who promoted a minor slap on the wrist to MS. Do not forget the campaign scandal it was involved in by hiring future Bush apparachec, such as Ralph Reed, to keep them on tap for the Bush campaign without it being listed as a contribution or cost to the bush campaign. So lets make sure we add MS and Gates contribution to giving us 8 years of GW to the balance of their marketing "generosity".

So when citing MS and Gates generosity lets put it in perspective rather then simply buying the PR hype. 

http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/23/us/politics/AP-US-Census-Worker-Hanged.html

I Hope Michele Bachmann is proud of herself. remember her spreading lies and fear about the Census. (Bachmann Warns Of Link Between Census, Japanese Internment | TPMDC)

Don't leave Glenn Beck and his anti government rants out of the picture.

Or the GOP leadership who have spent 30 years promoting fear of the government based upon lies ( i.e. addled ronnie rayguns "gov. is the problem") 

Now this cynical destructive political; strategy is leading to more and more deaths.

If Rush Limbaugh can claim that Obama led to a fight on a school bus incited by shoving the "victim" shoving the other students books onto the floor then we can safely lay this resurgence of "Strange Fruit" (Strange Fruit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) in the so called Bible Belt best known for murder ( 355 Lynchings between 1865 and 1940), bigotry, ignorance (Home of the Creation "Museum"), and home to at least 11 hate groups ( SPLC) plus several self styled "militias"  on the hate mongers that are the G.O.P. , Faux news and right wing bloviators.

In this rancid stew of ignorance and hate it should be of no surprise that the anti government paranoia has been ratcheted up to level of murdering Government workers in response to the delusions promoted by the G.O.P., Faux news and associated nutcases. (i.e. Beck, Limbaugh, OLielly)

One has to wonder if lynching of Government workers is one of the principles promoted in private discussions at the recent "Value Voters Summit" with subjects such as "THUGOCRACY - FIGHTING THE VAST LEFT WING CONSPIRACY" or maybe this was just  an expression of the "New Masculinity" promoted at that recent hatefest.

Either way the paranoia based upon lies feeding ignorance and appealing to bigotry is coming home to roost with the ambush of Police by people worried about the loss of weapons they were obviously to stupid to own, the murder of Doctors by nutcases with Operation Rescue phone numbers on their dashboard, and now Census workers.

Thank You Michele Bachmann. I'm sure you'll send flowers.

http://susiemadrak.com/2009/09/23/11/28/a-scathingly-brilliant-idea-on-how-to-lobby-for-healthcare-reform/

This idea is great. From http://susiemadrak.com/
"I want every uninsured man and woman who comes down with swine flu to go sit in the waiting rooms of their elected representatives.

That's it. Just sit there - coughing. Throwing your used Kleenex in their trash receptacles. If they want us to suffer, they should have to look at at the logical consequences of their inaction. Tell them you're going to keep coming back until they manage to pass something that's actually going to help people instead of lining the pockets of the insurance companies.

If the weather gets cold, set up a tent in the parking lot, put a sign on it that says "Waiting Room: Waiting for Affordable Health Care" and call your local media."

The only thing I would add to it is to add the offices of Health Care Insurance Companies and Lobbyist to the places to visit.

Just walk in and state that you are interested in Health insurance and drag the conversation on as long as possible. That should be easy just imagine that you are a rethuglican in the Senate Finance committee and channel the obstructionalist in yourself.
For the Lobbyist just start asking questions.

NYT's "While some are prepared to write the obituary on our values and our movement, I believe we are on the brink of a great American awakening," RepresentativeMike Pence, Republican of Indiana, said at the summit, raising cheers from the crowd in the room. "I believe we are on the brink of a great American awakening. I can see it. I can feel it wherever I go."
Awakening's have been referred to by the christianist right of those periods in our history when the delusional gained political and social ascendency and sent our country and culture in reverse.
The first during the Colonial period ( 1720) fostered the belief in witchcraft and rejection of sanity ( Rationality) .
The 2nd awakening  (1790-1840) paralleled the rise of Nativism thats truest expression was found in the "Know Nothing" party. ( the obvious unaware truth of that party's name is to obvious  for fiction) A political movement founded on certain narrow delusional ( fundie religions ) , american exceptionalism and paranoia of nefarious plots by the "others" ( Papists, Jews, Freethinkers etc).
The Third Awakening, though less obvious and longer duration, gave us such things as Prohibition in the 20's and paralleled the rise of the hate theologies, culminating with Father Coughlin, the rise of the Christian KKK and american imperialism. ( South,and Central  America, Philippines, Hawaii, etc) 
Now having slammed on the brakes( versus simply being a drag in the normal course of events) to progress  of the US at least 3 times they are calling for another "Great Awakening" the goal of which is probably to race the theocracy of Iran to who can return to the 14th century first.
Beware the Elmer Gantry's are rising up, loading their tents and ready to sweep away science, literature, reason and humanity all in the name of the delusion. 
Creationism instead of Biology, Bigotry instead of ethics, Theocracy instead of Democracy and Exclusionism instead of inclusionism these are the "Values" these voters wish to bring to the rest of the world with their new "Awakening".
This is what the dog whistle is summoning.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/18/us/AP-US-Microsoft-Cougar.html
Can't help myself.
On the advent of MS releasing a service pack for Vista a big Cat ala Macintosh naming scheme is seen prowling the MS Campus.
Oh The Irony the irony.

An article cited that if the baucaus bill is passed that the insurance Companies could be looking at an increase of their profits by $900 Billion over the 10 years ( I can't find the article but would love to cite it. It starts with the modest assumption of a $250 premium to reach that number) 
Combine this with the Supreme Courts apparent rush to over turn any limitations on corporate financing of campaigns in the Citizens United case ( the Hillary Movie). A case where the bush wingnut appointees created the issue of the Constitutionality of corporate campaign limitations out of this air and required a rehearing of the case to overturn 90 years of precedents.
Combine the 2 issues where the insurance companies will have an endless supply of new cash and no limits on how they can spend it in the political arena and we are looking at the United States of Aetna.
With an entrenched, relatively, young 5 vote majority of ideologues on the Supreme Court coupled with a Democratic president who appears to be too scared of the right wing to appoint any person that George Bush would not approve of in any legal/ judicial post (Examples; Sotomayor is a right of Center Jurist who was on Gw's list. Most of the AUSA's are holdovers from the Bush Justice department. Holder is tripping over himself to pass out Get Out of Jail cards to any rethuglican who broke the law.) and we might as well hand over the what little is left to the insurance companies.
How long will restrictions applying to state and local races stand when the SC opens the floodgates of corporate funds on the national level? This is a case, like Gore v. Bush, where the "Tenthers' will argue against states rights in favor of federal rules.
Any mandate must be stopped. It is not just our money that we would be handing over to the insurance companies it would be whatever thin shreds of political power that remains in the citizenry's hand that we would be surrendering as well. 
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/6176989/German-ships-sailing-through-North-East-Passage.html

Withe the opening of the Northeast Passage ( Europe to the Pacific over Russia ) and Canada's continuing battle to protect the waters of the Northwest Passage, by declaring them to be domestic waterways, it is time for the US to decide whether Exxon profits or the world's environment is more important.
Because either route ends up using the Bering Straits as the gateway to the Pacific, and all the associated markets, it is crucial that the US and Russia decide on a navigational/ safety protocols to protect the fragile Arctic eco systems.
The Bering straits are approx. 59 miles wide with islands and rock in the middle. It is turbulent waters and ugly weather. A number of sensitive and rich fisheries exist in the Bering Sea with new ones being explored north of the straits. Oil exploration is being conducted on the Northern continental shelf which is by drilling standards relatively shallow thus, except for weather and ice, easy. 
Essentially a perfect area for marine disasters.
Under the Law of the Sea it is an international waterway. But like the Darnelles and the Kattegat (which drains the Baltic into the North Sea/ Atlantic) the surrounding countries have the right to insist on extra safety precautions for ships in passage.
Things like requiring double hulls and Tugboat escorts. The previous administrations of addled ronnie raygun and the past bush junta has pushed to require that  single hulled vessels, including oil tankers, be allowed passage and resisted tugboat escorts as cutting into the shipping Co's ( read Oil) profits.
The opening of these passages will dramatically shorten the shipping routes between China, Japan, Korea, Western Canada and the US to Europe. It probably will cause a drop in shipping using the Suez and Panama canals , with associated drop in revenue. It will dramatically reduce the shipping around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn.
The areas that will most directly affected are the homes of the native populations. The Inuits, Eskimo's and other mostly poor and, relatively, politically powerless indigenous peoples. They live largely on subsistence economy based on fishing and hunting. Global warming is already challenging their ability to survive a few oil spills and added pollution is not going to help.
The question becomes whether any of the saving will be properly invested in the protection of the fragile northern climes or will it simply disappear into the pockets of the wealthy. 
Whether the Obama abministration will use the crucial geographic placement of the US to help protect the north or will it decide it is unworthy of any political capital? 

http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/11/us/politics/AP-US-Justice-Civil-Rights.html

Gee its good to know that the Bush justice system is still up and running on the solid partisan principles that george and fredo built it with.
Now that a perjurer is left with his freedom, and license for the malpractice of law; After letting the Alaska R's out of jail and  dropping the election tampering case (Feds Drop New Hampshire Phone-Jamming Case | TPMMuckraker) while the Siegelman star chamber prosecution is allowed to stand  it is obvious that Holder, like Fredo before him, believes that no R is ever guilty and no D is ever innocent.
I wonder when we will see him reopen the Scooter libby case and push for a complete  pardon based upon the idea that the truth was unfair in that case.
Again while the Siegelman case festers and Holder condones the firing of those that would speak the truth of this miscarriage of justice. ( Siegelman Whistle-Blower Says Firing Was Retaliatory - Main Justice )
Gee isn't wonderful that the R's didn't have to give up the Defense Department or the  DOJ after the election. Wonder what else they kept?
Maybe that is what post partisanship is a D figurehead on a R administration.

With all the hoopla surrounding today's rethuglican boor de jour, Rep. Joe Wilson, and fundraising for his opponent Rob Miller what do we know about Mr. miller.
As we have discovered in the past when the grass roots were ginned up to support candidates such as  Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.)  and Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), just to name few examples, only to be punked by their active sabotage of the Democratic Party Agenda.
Is this the case for Mr. Miller. Is he like other Blue Dogs, just inherently to dishonest to declare their true colors and run as the R's they are, or is he deserving of our support?
Lets hear a few of his positions before we pour our money into his campaign.
Does He support a true Public Option? Or like Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.)  will he brag about how he helped stop a key part of the Democratic agenda.
Does he support criminal investigations and prosecutions for war criminals in the past administration? Or will he be an apologist for torture.
Does he support Card Check? Or does he believe corporate welfare is more important.
Will he support Barney Franks "Cramdown" on home loans? Or will he decide that Wall street is more important then Main street.
Will he be just another Blue Dog following an agenda of seeking to obstruct, delay and prevent progress in the country to reward his narrow provincial and retrogressive failed ideology?
If he is just another Blue Dog I would rather that the R's keep their fool rather then adding a new one to the D's side of the aisle.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125172834506272601.html


Hatoyama Intends to Tame Bureaucracy - WSJ.com