Ok…One Good Thing.

My university, the University of Idaho, just received word that our Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival has been awarded the National Medal of Arts for 2007, by George W. Bush. This is the first time a public university has won this honor. The University President, Timothy P. White, will accept the award in an East Room ceremony in the White House on Thursday.

The National Medal of Arts, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government. The NEA’s website states, “The National Medal of Arts is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who, in his judgment, ‘…are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.’”

I think that’s pretty cool. We’re pretty proud of our Lionel Hampton School of Music, and now our annual Jazz Festival gets a prize. Thanks, President Bush. (ow)

Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections

H/T: The Brad Blog

a film by David Earnhardt

UNCOUNTED is an explosive new documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 – and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial feature length film by Emmy award-winning director David Earnhardt examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S. Noted computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced election officials provide the irrefutable proof.

UNCOUNTED shares well documented stories about the spine-chilling disregard for the right to vote in America. In Florida, computer programmer Clint Curtis is directed by his boss to create software that will “flip” votes from one candidate to another. In Utah, County Clerk Bruce Funk is locked out of his office for raising questions about security flaws in electronic voting machines. Californian Steve Heller gets convicted of a felony after he leaks secret documents detailing illegal activities committed by a major voting machine company. And Tennessee entrepreneur, Athan Gibbs, finds verifiable voting a hard sell in America and dies before his dream of honest elections can be realized.

UNCOUNTED is a wakeup call to all Americans. Beyond increasing the public’s awareness, the film inspires greater citizen involvement in fixing a broken electoral system. As we approach the decisive election of 2008, UNCOUNTED will change how you feel about the way votes are counted in America.

All in the family..

via: Raw Story and ABC News

Brother of State Dept. Official Linked to Blackwater

State Dept. IG Recuses Himself From Blackwater Case After Family Link Revealed

In a dramatic turn of events on Capitol Hill today, the State Department inspector general recused himself from all Blackwater-related issues after admitting to Congress that his brother served on the private security contractor’s advisory board.

After initially rejecting allegations that his brother, Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, was a Blackwater board member, Howard Krongard later told lawmakers that his brother was in fact on the board.

Continue reading..

Hey Dick, This Doesn’t Feel Like Torture At All!

All cartoons are posted with the artists’ express permission to TPZoo.
Paul Jamiol, Jamiol’s World

Something Missing…?

Strange…

Photo by Zooey / Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon

Good Afternoon from Europe – 432 Days to Go

 Swing at the “Tenuta Le Piane”

Who wants to rule France? “Le Petit Nicholas” will have to try and overcome the French’s resilience, when it comes to giving up their cherished vested rights. Sarkozy will find out presently, whether his plans to cut pensioner’ rights, social security and many other long-fought-for privileges, will stand a chance against the rebelliousness of his people.

If all else fails, the French still have their wine and even find an upside to global warming.

A German saying goes: “Ein Affe, ohne zweiten, kann nicht streiten!”  (One monkey, without another one, can’t get into a fight). Apt, when one considers the USA-Iran conflict. Whenever the Bush Administration is toning down the language even one tiny bit or remains silent for a change, rest assured, Ahmadinejad will step up the warmongering rethoric. Now, to keep the tempers up, there is infighting in Tehran, seasoned with a slight against Britain.

The well informed neo-con elite knows, that Iran is not a nuclear power, but claims it’s plenty dangerous. Pakistan, however, has nukes. And Pakistan is in political turmoil. Worrying, isn’t it?

Well, no, not really says the Pentagon:

 ”At this point, we have no concerns,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. “We believe that they are under the appropriate control.”

Ohokay…

And finally a ray of hope.

 Michael Mukasey, who was sworn in Tuesday, has reopened a dormant inquiry into the US government’s warrantless wiretapping programme which was effectively blocked by the president 18 months ago.

 ”Europeanview” will go to sleep now and hopefully wake up to a better world tomorrow morning. You all stay safe and take care!

Alarming Suicide Rate Among Veterans

CBS News, via ThinkProgress:

CBS News conducted a months long investigation into the suicide rate of veterans, and found truly staggering numbers.

CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.

Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.

But those numbers weren’t nearly accurate…

So CBS News did an investigation – asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.

And what it revealed was stunning.

In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

Got that? In 2005 alone, in 45 states, 6,256 suicides of veterans — 120 per week. The highest suicide rate is among veterans between the ages of 20 and 24.

Dr Ira Katz, Department of Veteran’s Affairs, prior to this investigation had said that suicide was a major problem among veterans, but there was no epidemic. After the investigation Katz said, “Suicide in America is an epidemic, and that includes veterans.”

Thanks for acknowledging it, Dr. Katz.

Read the read of the story here.

Kucinich launches KucinichTV!

via: Raw Story

Largely ignored by the mainstream media, a dark-horse Democratic presidential candidate has decided to create his own coverage with a new online TV station set to launch Wednesday.

While the media seems more focused on Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s alien encounters than his universal healthcare proposal or warnings about the march to war with Iran, the feisty Ohio Democrat is using the Internet to side-step the normal gatekeepers of presidential campaign coverage. KucinichTV will feature a live town hall meeting at 9 p.m. Wednesday as part of a series of broadcasts planned for the next 10 weeks, the campaign says.

The first broadcast will be tonight – Wednesday November 14th at 9:00 PM EST. “The New Constitutional Convention
with Congressman Dennis Kucinich!“

I can’t decide.. Don’t rush me..

All cartoons are posted with the artists’ express permission to TPZoo.
Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Dick Cheney’s Sadistic Passion for Shooting Tame Animals

via: AlterNet

Dick Cheney just spent a day shooting up pen-raised birds. Some hunters liken the sport — killing tame animals that offer no resistance — to having sex with a blow-up doll.

While most people are lamenting the violence in Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan and Iraq, apparently it’s not enough bloodshed for Vice President Dick Cheney. Continue reading…

Photo from Firedoglake

Poll: 55 percent of Voters Say Bush Has Committed Impeachable Offenses

Salon photo composite, photos by AP/WideWorld

via: TheBradBlog

This post is based on a recent poll from the American Research Group.

Bush:

A total of 64 percent of American voters say that George W. Bush has abused his powers as president. Of the 64 percent, 14 percent (9 percent of all voters) say the abuses are not serious enough to warrant impeachment, 33 percent (21 percent of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses, but he should not be impeached, and 53 percent (34 percent of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Mr. Bush should be impeached and removed from office.

Of all voters, 34 pecent believe Bush should be impeached and removed from office, while another 21 percent believe Bush is guilty of impeachment-worthy offenses but nonetheless prefer to give him a pass.

Cheney:

A total of 70 percent of American voters say that Dick Cheney has abused his powers as vice president. Of the 70 percent, 26 percent (18 percent of all voters) say the abuses are not serious enough to warrant impeachment, 13 percent (9 percent of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses, but he should not be impeached, and 61 percent (43 percent of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Mr. Cheney should be impeached and removed from office.

Among all voters, 52 percent believe Cheney has committed impeachable offenses, and 43 percent believe he should be impeached and removed from office while only 9 percent believe he’s guilty but should be allowed to complete his term.

So, who’s listening, and what’s it going to take?

Mindless Parenting

Jurassicpork has a story on his blog, that was deeply upsetting for me as a parent. It touches all my secret fears of the cyberspace and of grown-ups, that are seemingly incapable, or much worse, unwilling to defuse a critical situation among adolescents. What’s more, in this case grown-ups even acerbated it. There is a whole world out there for our children to grow into, that, at times, brings nastiness even to their very homes. And sometimes things that seem quite harmless initially go badly wrong.

Breaking: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf tells The Associated Press he will step down as army chief by the end of this month.

From AP:

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday he expects to step down as army chief by the end of November and begin a new presidential term as a civilian, warning that Pakistan risked chaos if he gave into opposition demands to resign.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he accused former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, currently under house arrest, of fueling political turmoil and rejected Western pressure to quickly lift emergency rule, which he indicated was likely to continue through the January elections.

“All those who are blunt enough to tell me to my face what the reality is, all of them think, yes, it will lead the country to chaos if I do not handle the political environment now with me remaining as the president,” he said at his army office.

Yup, Dictator in Chief.

Donald Kerr now wants to redefine “privacy”

This from cnn.com:

As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States change their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people’s private communications and financial information.

This administration has redefined free speech.
It has redefined torture.
And now it’s redefining privacy.

Anyone else see a pattern here?