Bye, Rock Creek Free Press--I'll miss you!

Rock Creek Free Press (RCFP), a local newspaper distributed via paid subscription and free from vending boxes in the DC metro area, has printed its final issue this September. If you open the preceding link to its online edition, you can download a more legible .pdf copy of RCFP's "Tenth Anniversary 9/11 Special Edition."

Matt Sullivan, RCFP's editor and publisher, is a former computer industry worker. Sullivan finally got tired of working with machines and opened his own skylight installation business to support his family and the RCFP. For the past five years Sullivan, who lives in Bethesda, MD, has spent roughly three weeks out of every month on the skylight business and the remaining 4th week on the newspaper. Sullivan and volunteers distributed RCFP's first issue of 5000 copies free at D.C.'s huge antiwar rally on January 27, 2007. Sullivan jumped right into the fray in the first paragraph of an article top right under the banner:

In a world where the “paper of record”
can print one article after another touting
imagined WMDs while it beats the drum
for war; where the primary news outlet
of the nations capitol acts as the stenographer
of administration propaganda; the
launch of a newspaper not afraid to print
the truth is big news.

Virtually every month since then, the RCFP has gone after the multitude of illusions and falsehoods spewing from the Big Important Newspapers and served up thoughtful articles on

9/11 truth
Loss of constitutional rights
Vaccine dangers
Government corruption

The big Wall Street-approved rags continue to tout the case for #1 Wall Street, #2 the War, and #3 Ike's "military-industrial complex" in general. Good luck to us if that's all we can read or hear about. Where else will we be able to "Read the Stories Others Fear to Print"?? Dang! I'm going to miss the Rock Creek Free Press!

Here we go again!!

It's TAX TIME in the home of XE, and she is once again AGHAST at how much Uncle Sam wants HER to pay (15%!!!) out of her miserable pittance of an income. And how STRICT and STERN the adminitions are if she doesn't cough up properly and ON TIME! Her beloved tax accountant warns: "Penalties and INTEREST," etc.

Interest. That's a hot topic. XE added up all the interest her various savings accounts earned over the past year, and the sum was in the LOW TWO FIGURES!!! XE is definitely not in the category of, say, General Electric, taxwise.

XE was raised in North Dakota, which was one of TWO states (out of 50, let me remind you) that wound up this year IN THE BLACK!!! And do you know why? I don't know about the other state, but ND has a STATE BANK, which is dedicated to helping North Dakotans grow their businesses and educate their children and harvest their crops and all of those other SOCIALIST ideas wherein the people get rich but the bank executives don't--any more than the people, that is.

The State Bank of ND was a hot topic about three weeks ago, but since then, ZIP! Any time any news reporter suggests that a banker might be happy not to be stinking rich, the MS media shut down. So there has not been much in the news these recent days about the SUCCESS of the STATE BANK of North Dakota.

I noticed today, also, when riding the BUS, as befits my position as a humble member of the penniless proletariat, that while there is a very PROMINENT street in DC named after South Dakota (South Dakota Avenue, which I pass TWICE A DAY and which goes on for BLOCKS AND BLOCKS), there is only a simple three-block thoroughfare in our nation's capitol named after NORTH DAKOTA.

Please join me in eating our hearts out......

President Announces Pay Freeze for "Most" Federal Workers?

And a Happy Thanksgiving/Merry Christmas/Happy New Year/Happy Valentine's Day/Happy Mothers and Fathers Day/Happy Independence Day/Happy Columbus Day/Happy Birthday to you, too, Mr. President! You saved us from the distasteful task of electing McCain and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named--but we got a new manifestation of Scrooge all the same. You promptly announced there will be no COLA for Social Security recipients (code: old and disabled) for two years, and now you're telling us there will be no pay raise this year for federal workers (code: anyone left with a job). The disastrous Republican tax rates and tax cuts will remain the same, however--unless one of your pet financial geniuses (code: holdovers from W) can find a way to shovel even more $$ to the very rich.

Also, please don't send me emails thanking me for my hard work and financial sacrifices in getting you elected. It's too tempting for me to say you're not welcome.

You pour your heart and our treasure (I'm thinking more of our young men and women, but also our dollars) into keeping the diabolical wars going. I see you even made phone calls to soldiers, wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving. Nice. Beats W's theatrical turkey dinner visit to Iraq. It seems to me to be about the same thing, though.

Why not bring our military home alive and call off our wars? And please try not to fan the flames in Korea, North and South. Cancel the war games and pretend missile practice at sea. Why not get us OUT of Afghanistan, OUT of Iraq, and OUT of the business of stealing from the poor and giving to the rich that has taken over this country.

That would be a change, don't you think?

Get out your crayons.....

This caught my eye on Hullabaloo this morning:

It appears that the NY Times made a major error which, so far, it's refusing to correct. I understand that the ombudsman may take it up if enough people draw it to his attention. This one's important. If you have a chance to read the article I linked and send a quick, polite note to the Ombudsman at public@nytimes.com it could make a difference. It's bad enough that people are relying on projections 75 years into the future to destroy the New Deal, but the least they could do is correct numbers that are clearly incorrect today. Social Security is not going broke in 2015.

You don't have to be paranoid to know they ARE out to get us....

White House Caves on Bush Tax Cuts

Here's a comment by "Roger G" from the Huffington Post article on this today (emphasis definitely MINE):

I voted for Reagan in 1980 because I was concerned about interest on the national debt--
He said he would eliminate the debt- HE LIED-
He tripled the debt and after he lowered the top tax rate to 54% in 1980
-he again lowered it to 28% in 1984--
Since then ,we have paid $8,000,000,000,000 in interest on the debt.

Had he left the rate at 54%-we would NOT have a national debt today.
The wealthy and the Republicans have ruined this country.

To those who think the wealthy deserve these tax breaks because you think it ts not coming out of your pocket-THINK AGAIN- Who do you think gets the 8 Trillion in interest,it is the wealthy who own the debt.

Who do you think profits when health care insurance has doubled in the last 10 years, who profits when you buy medicine,who profits from prisons,who profits when you go to a hospital,who profits when you buy car
insurance,who profits when you pay high interest on your credit cards--

It is the wealthy who own the majority of stocks and bonds in the aforementioned entities.
Yes,the wealthy even make money when you WIPE YOUR BUTT-They own the paper companies- Think about it

Thanks, you totally stupid Republican Tea Partiers! Thanks you stay-at-home-and-don't-vote Democrats! Are you happy now?

Time to pay the taxes, boys.....

Ponder this (posted by IDEA1013 on Huffington Post article on Rep. Patrick Kennedy being denied communion by RC bishop):

"To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates."

Guess who is the voice of reason??

Here's a neat clip from Jon Stewart via this evening's Daily Kos.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Law & Order: KSM
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Chicken ala Carte

Thanks to Darlene for sending this today....TGIF!

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Same old same old

Nobody wants to pay for a transit system in DC, especially the pols who love to meddle in our business--like the gun nuts making sure DC can't ban handguns. Meanwhile, nine people, including the young mother driving the train who fought valiantly to stop it with its worthless brakes, are dead because the Metro put off not just replacing the cars but fixing the brakes.

And the bullets are flying where I live, but that doesn't bother them. They don't live here, and neither do their constituents (who nevertheless flock to DC with their chidren whenever school is out--and ride our metro).

Robert McCartney, reporting in the WashPost, has a great column this morning. Salient sentences (love the sound of that....ha):

There's no good alternative to renovating Metro, given the need to reduce traffic and greenhouse gases, and to move around the 2 million new residents that the region is expected to attract by 2030.

...

Last year, Congress authorized $150 million a year for Metro after the District, Virginia and Maryland promised to match it: $50 million from each jurisdiction each year.

Maddeningly, however, the Obama administration's budget for the fiscal year starting in October did not include the money. One factor was federal unhappiness with squabbling among the three jurisdictions over an issue regarding the Metro board. Getting that money this year should be a top priority for the region's congressional delegation.

Hey, Mr. President....You live here, too. We can't all send our kids to school in cars driven by the Secret Service. The rich bankers got theirs, and the Pentagon gets billions to kill people, other countries' and our own. What about the rest of us? Please get with it on public transportattion.

Deadly Metro collision at Ft Totten on DC's Red Line--UPDATE

[UPDATE: Three more bodies were found inside the trains last night. Death total now stands at 9. Blogger Red Nose's husband, Joe, was on one of the trains yesterday. Most likely causes now are seen as failure of automatic warning and braking system or operator error or both.]


About 5 pm, two Metro trains on the Red Line collided at Ft. Totten. Many have been injured, and so far, 6 people are confirmed to have died.




I rode the Red Line from Dupont Circle to Ft. Totten this morning. After I transfer to the Green Line at Ft. Totten, my stop is the first one down.

This is only the third major accident in Metro's history and by far the worst. I love the Metro. For all its minor faults, it's a splendid system. Our hearts go out to all concerned.

Hmph....

Rats! New England beat Indianapolis 24-20. Not that I care a whole lot, but I wanted Indianapolis (I still can't get used to that. Indianapolis?) to win because their quarterback, Peyton Manning, is 6'5", and that's the same size as our friend Jim in Mt. Vernon. He used to fill the kitchen doorway completely. What's-his-name of the Patriots is a mere 6'4". And, of course, the Patriots had to gloat all over the place even though they almost lost. "We haven't had game like this all year...it's nice knowing we still know how to win it." Shaddap....

Meanwhile, the Redskins won 23-20 in overtime. They haven't had a real game like that in a long time, either.

Is this what they mean by "boots on the ground"?....

This arrived via e-mail last night from Chicago:

This morning I attended the opening of Eyes Wide Open, the display of combat boots representing American soldiers who have lost their lives since 2003. Because it's gotten so big, this was the last city where it will be shown in its entirety.

I didn't plan to stay past the introduction..., but the main speakers were parents of some of the troops and I just couldn't leave. They all had pictures of their sons - some childhood photos - and it was so sad. One dad talked about how for each pair of boots there was a person who was part of a family. People who should be here now but are not.



In one way or another, all of them said the reasons we were given for the war were false. One mom said this war was a choice, not a necessity, and that our government can't seem to choose to end the war. Many said that war can't create democracy. They talked about the staggering number of Iraqis including children who have been killed. One mom said that when they buried their son they made a promise to speak truth for him. She urged everyone who was listening to "speak relentlessly" to end this war, so this message is for her....

If anyone wants to see it in person, it's at Jackson and Columbus and goes through Memorial Day.

It's Monday.....

And the news is guaranteed to get your blood pressure going as we begin the work week!

Liars Lying....In today's Salon.com, Greg Greenwald begins his column, "The administration's FISA falsehoods continue unabated,"
with these words:

Mike McConnell, the Bush administration's Director of National Intelligence, has a remarkably dishonest Op-Ed in The Washington Post this morning, in which he argues for completely unspecified "updates" and "changes" to FISA in order to expand -- yet again -- the Government's powers of eavesdropping on Americans. McConnell's entire argument for expansion of surveillance powers rests on a patent falsehood.

For the entire column, read it yourself here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

The Assault on Reason
Al Gore talked about this same point in his new book, An Assault on Reason, on ABC News's "This Week" with George Stephanopolis. "President Bush has repeatedly violated the law for six years," Gore says, referring to FISA.

Here's the link to this story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3195676&page=1

Great Interview by Cate Woodruff in Truthout.org

Woodruff, an editor at Truthout.org, interviews Margaret Lazarus, whose documentary film, "Rape Is," "looks at rape from a global and historical perspective, but focuses mainly on the domestic cultural conditions that make this human rights violation the most underreported crime in America."

Woodruff asks, as Lazarus says, "hard questions," including, "Would you like to see more responsibility for social justice and change taken by filmmakers and the media in general?

Lazarus replies, "We all contribute to the cultural climate of our society, and we need to take responsibility for what we say and do. Media makers need to be held accountable for work that contributes to inequity, injustice, maintaining a destructive status quo."

And at this point, the interview gets really interesting....

Here's the link to the whole interview: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051807P.shtml