You should if you snore loudly.

The bane of many a relationship, (including the one between Mr. and Mrs. Boilerman), is often snoring, and it is not always the husband that is the culprit.

Did you know that in that snoring there is often something that is lethal if you let it go unchecked?  Come along and I will show you what it is.

Pakistan appears on the verge of civil breakdown.  Slightly more progressive forces may have won the day in the elections that ended the Presidency of Musharraf but are failing badly.

In the US, unless you go to sites like Antiwar dot com or Information Clearing House you don't hear all that much about Pakistan.  

Let's jump.

Daily Kos has many walks of life represented.  From high school students, to retired people.  We have nurses, plumbers, computer code writers, doctors, lawyers, and I think an indian chief, maybe two, I am not joking about that.  Some Kossacks are railroaders, and railroad fans.  So, lets take a look at developements on the railroad front as relate to politics and public transportation issues, and the economic impact that railroads exert in our country.

So, let's go below the fold and look at developements on the rail front.      

Good morning, just a short diary to address a noxious piece of mail I recieved.

This "letter" was sent to explain Barack Obama to me in terms of him being a radical Muslim.  The well-printed letter, carefully worded and presented amounted to something more akin to an attack piece from a campaign that is losing.

Folks, when you get these sort of garbage flyers from wingnut sources, holy-roly extremists, and the like please be ready to be both insulted and astonished by the sheer audacity of the lies and fabrication that went into creating these letters.  Let's jump...

Maureen Dowd is apprently getting bitter in her old age, and her opinions sound more like the snarlings of a spinster bluestocking living with agoraphobia, and in reclusion in The Dakota than a smart woman-about-town and this descent into silly bile has, on its face, accelerated over the last few years.

Roger Ailes has a good takedown of the latest MoDodo-ism (Please scroll down to second entry, though you will enjoy Roger's snark about "Vino Vito and Brian.")

Let's jump.

For those of us old enough to remember 76A license plates, (I had one) it did my heart good to see that though you went for Senator Clinton 57% to 43%, you made many of us proud by outpolling Republicans by nearly 2 to 1!

This is incredible for some of us to fathom, especially for those of us who remember the county was so conservative that left turns against traffic were damn near illegal.

Granted, it isn't the general election, and voting for Obama may be hard for some of you due to issues that have nothing to do with his politics, but can Angola, Fremont, Hamilton, and even Mongo afford a third Bush term?  Do the children and grandchildren of my friends still living there have to die in wars started over lies and ideology before you wake up?  America's got to change, just as you have changed through the years, can you-will you help?  If they can put stop lights in Angola, and the "Mound" didn't fall over, don't you think Obama can be President?

Be that as it may, there was a great Democratic turnout.  Way to go Steuben County!

Iraq War Casualty Counter tells me that 4050 of our sons/daughters/moms/fathers/relatives/friends have "bought it" in the Iraq Calamity.

Arab times via Juan Cole knows about it.

Iraq Today knows about it.  Let's jump.....

 

By now everyone this side of Oswego county NY knows about the "Fizzle in Philly."  The last debate of the primary season between Barack and Hillary.

So, after looking around at the various reviews and rewatching this boring exercise in flabby, yet vacuous, nothingness called the ABC Debate on the TiVo, I'd like to add my two cents.

I looked at the clip sites and the response was negative...I mean like General McAuliff at "The Bulge" negative...strictly negative.  So, I looked at winger world, and found only Jonah Goldberg, of all people, had said anything about this inane, issue-free, hoot in Philadelphia as pertains to the lack of any real substance.  Let's jump and continue this below...

As I watch the election cycle unwind and see how damn damaging this primary circus is becoming and how Obama, who should be trouncing McSame is just tied with that slug, I get pissed off.

I am royally pissed that Bush and his crime gang Pulled a stunt like this and am even more appalled that America's answer to Joachim Von Ribbentrop aka retired General Colin Powell was part of this enormity and did not resign considering how ignoble and wretched his participation in this affair is, on top of lying to the world at the UN.

Let's jump.

In a slick move, Shiite cleric M. al Sadr ordered his forces off the streets in the Southern provinces of Iraq.  Though the Jaysh e Madhi is splintered, and there may be factions that do not obey the powerful cleric, al Jazeera is reporting that he has nonetheless ordered his troops to stand down.

Now this might seem a victory for al maliki, but I think you will agree that Maliki has been undercut here.  Who did the people listen to?  Maliki?  Hell no, they listened to Sadr.  Who has the people?  Sadr.  

We have been "faced," and this clever move by Sadr leaves us more isolated and alien than ever.  Let's jump.

Work lasted into the late evening last night.  After a nap I got up and watched the second part of Frontline's Bush's War series on streaming video from the WGBH website.  [What a nice site that is.]

It was informative, seemed well supported, and is well made too.

So with that in mind, and with the official totals over 4,000 dead now and some 30,000 wounded just on the US side, I'd like to take a look at what I saw as shortcomings in the documentary.  Let's jump.

You are in a park...a man approaches, you just know this is a dope sale pitch, but you arn't sure if it's a sting, so you engage this guy and he opens his pocket to show you pack after pack after pack of sniff and rock and he says, "I got crack, I got blow, I'll take you anywhere you want to go."  

Sounds like the 1980's when the snowstorm of cocaine unleashed upon the nation funded the Contra armies and death squads in Central America.  Oh yeah, just like Noriega in Panama, our point man in the coke trade who was so useful...until he wasn't.

Well guess what, the Chimpy Junta is up to mischief!  Hey, everything old is new again I guess, because the dirty bastards are doing it again.  This time the target is Venezuela.  Let's jump.    

al Jazeera and AP are reporting that the government of Vojislav Kostunica collapsed when a united stand against E.U. membership could not be reached.  HuffPo also posted up the AP story.

Greg Palast has uncovered that Chimpy may have lied again; this time about Hugo Chavez sending 300 million dollars to FARC, the rebel group in Colombia.  You have to read this to appreciate how desperate Colombian President Uribe, and George Bush must be.  As Greg says, it's a "phantasmagoria."  It's got dirty bombs, WMDs and all the goodies.  Why it even has Israeli advisors.  Oh my.

Let's jump....

I would like ask a simple question this morning.

Speaker Pelosi, members of the Democratic Caucus, is there any law that President Bush can break, any outrage that his administration can perpetrate, any act that will compel you and the caucus to investigate this President and this administration?  Please Madam Speaker, tell us why this President must be given not only the broadest possible leeway, but complete freedom to act as a brigand at his leisure?  You have many staffers and aides who can give your reply to us and you will be surprised at how quickly your reply will be transliterated from political-ese into understandable terms for the readership.

This was asked by another front pager earlier today.  This question deserves to be asked over and over.  Due to the lack of an open thread, I feel compelled to use a diary to ask this question.    

Ahhh, change.  We hear so much about change.  It is a sort of mantra blatted into our ears like Tibetian temple pipes roaring.  A "Prajna shovel" we are beaten over the head with, and a veritable "Vajra bucket" we are "round-house shillelaghed" with.

But, I got to looking around at all this change, before I start to "smile and grin at the change all around,"  I have to ask some questions.

Ummm, where is this change?  Let's jump and I'll show you what I mean.  

Dear Senator Obama,

I am not what you would call a "backer" of yours, if by "backer" it means the characters that festoon this site with postings demanding we support you in some sort of high school-like "Be There or Be Square" manner.  

But I realize that you just might win this primary battle.  I will work for your election if you do.  However, be advised, my choice was Mr. Edwards, and I stayed with him to the end.

Let's make the jump and come to the point.

 

 

 

   

       

Dear Friends and fellow Kossacks.  I wish to call attention to Meteor Blades front paged posting about the PNAC, and the fine job he did.  Also I would like to answer Kossack JLFinch for his reply about the PNAC neos and fellow travelers being "traitors," and "insidious" ones at that.

But, any discussion of the neo-conservatives and PNAC or any updated version of the same goes nowhere without a basic understanding of one, Leo Strauss.

Strauss was a philosopher and is clearly very deep down in the second string of 20th century philosophical names.  But his impact has been profound, especially in the United States.  Let's make the jump.

al Jazeera is reporting a story that appears to have been archived in the Europe section of Agence France-Presse [Please note that al Jazeera has some original reporting on this story] about the recent no confidence vote in Italy that has thrown the government of Romano Prodi into turmoil following his resignation.

Prodi's party is the center-left coalition.  Naturally, the center-rightist group headed by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is hollering for snap elections, as the right wing in Italy appears to have a lead in the polls.

Let's go below the fold.