LET US ALL GRIEVE FOR OUR COUNTRY TOGETHER: DIVIDE AND CONQUER WAS JUST PROVEN TO WORK, AGAIN

While I really would just like to go to bed and pull the covers over my head until after November, it just is not possible.  Instead, this blog will be brief and all should watch some research out of Lincoln, Nebraska on how people vote. 
From an article in BBC News:  "Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are studying liberals' and conservatives' reactions to happy or pleasant photographs and scary or sad ones in an effort to learn more about the cognitive underpinnings of political preference.

From the researchers:  click here.  

The findings? Conservatives tend to concentrate more on images considered to be negative, while liberals' eyes tend to linger on positive images, says political science professor John Hibbing. 

Instead of political opponents thinking the opposite party are being wilfully bull-headed, you can say 'well ok, they see the world differently than I do'

John Hibbing

I will go back into mourning for our country and the loss of my respect for the Roberts Supreme Court.

VOTERS: BE CAREFUL FOR WHOM YOU WISH

The Republican presidential candidates are looking and acting as un-presidentially as anyone could imagine.  BBC News had a headline: Republican rivals' race gets ugly.
This is somewhat amusing as it has been ugly all along. 

The debate circus will continue with the next one this evening. The comedians, who can say what most people think but don't feel comfortable speaking and are delightfully verbal. Many are picked up by MSNBC evening political shows

Al Jazeera writes that US politicians are getting richer despite the recession.  Cliff Schecter writes the question as to whether the XX factor (gender issue) is what forced Michele Bachmann's backers to drop.   It is, perhaps an interesting question as we are seeing so much misogyny in our country today from politicians, but we need also to make the candidate, herself, responsible for presenting as incompetent presidential  material by her many gaffes and her positions that would put us back several years.  She would undo everything Obama has achieved and says she would waterboard detainees (found to be torture and unacceptable by the Geneva convention..

Without question, all candidates make promises that are impossible for them to achieve but are bought by the naive as appealing. The candidates are acting like the children in  Lord of the Flies.  None of them seem to understand the Constitution nor what the majority of American people want and need. 

PRESCRIPTION PILLS: PHARMAGEDDON IN kENTUCKY

Prescription pills are being blamed for addiction and deaths more in Kentucky than in other states, though the problem seems to be in all st.  It will always puzzle me how people who are not suffering chronic pain allow themselves to become addicted rather than working with their physicians to find better solutions to whatever ails them, depression or physical or emotional pain.states, sooner than later, if the drug pushers have their way (cash only business).

Do people not Google the meds they are on as soon as they get them?  If not, why not?  If the powers that be, whatever they are, gave us Google, why doesn't every one yearn to understand more about themselves and the world around them?  Xanax. Klonopin. Oxycodone. Hydrocodone were among those drugs mentioned.  Is there a doctor alive who would prescribe these medications repeatedly without becoming suspicious of addiction?  Kentucky jails are overflowing due to the illegal trafficking of prescription drugs.  People looking for happiness in a pill, or grinding a pill to inject for a faster and greater high.

Today, BBC ran a story by Paul Adams. It features the pain felt by two mothers who lost daughters, 19 and 22, to prescription drugs.  So much energy is being wasted by politicians and others intent on controlling our bodies so that women who get pregnant, regardless of the circumstances, must carry their children to full term.  Why do they worry more about a few fertilized cells than young, beautiful women, who are being killed by prescription drugs.  Is life only precious before birth?

Do these people not realize that as they continue taking their highs they are changing their bodies and creating new receptor sites which will be impossible to get rid of and will be craving these highs for the rest of their lives?

WE'VE BEEN HACKED!: WAR MUST BE DECLARED!

Just as new viruses keep showing up, hackers develop new ways to steal into sites.Anyone who has a virus  prevention program knows how often the data is updated sometimes several times a day.  This means, every time a new way of intruding or dropping stuff on someone else's computer is thought up, someone else has to find a way to prevent it.

It used to be that hackers hacked as simply as mountain climbers climbed, 'because it is there.  However, to day it is not the same as kids shooting out street lights.  Today real crimes are being committed with extraordinary financial costs and losses.. And, today, , because of the massive costs it has required of some businesses, it can no longer be viewed as a prank.  The US Pentagon has decided to treat cyber hacks as acts of war.

To see the mouse and the elephant comparison in this crime, the article linked above stated:  "The worst cyber-attack against the US military occurred in 2008, when malicious software on a flash drive commandeered computers at US Central Command."

While our constitution was a very good basic plan in its time,  modern advances in technology of today require new rules. This is in conflict with the current House of Representatives and Republican State legislatures who are not only trying to stop all abortions but are also trying to do away with contraception by defining a human back to any fertilization of an egg.  Thus we have the American Christian-Taliban right here in our beloved USA.  Where will they stop or be stopped?

Adam Brookes wrote for the BBC:  "American strategists are wrestling with the big, new questions of cyber war. What constitutes cyber attack? What laws, definitions and principles should governments use to formulate their response?'  Do you think we Americans  could possibly elect a group of people willing  to make their goals reasonably attend to the goals and wishes of the majority of their constituents?

TED KENNEDY WAS MOURNED BUT THE WORLD CONTINUED TO LIVE...WE JUST WEREN'T TOLD ABOUT IT IN THE US

Al Jazeera writes today: "Drug violence in Mexico has killed more than 11,000 people nationwide since December 2006 as it talked about the recent shootings."

BBC News writes: "Nigeria's fraud police say they have recovered $170m (£105m) from wealthy debtors who owe money to five banks.

It is only one-thirtieth of the billions they want to track down.

Earlier this month, Nigeria's central bank was forced to bail out financial institutions that were close to collapse because of bad debts.

Nigeria's banking scandal is not linked to the global financial crisis, instead it is the result of corruption in the banking world here."

The United Press of Pakistan writes: LONDON, Aug 27 (APP): President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday while appreciating the role of Britain in the rehabilitation efforts in Swat and Malakand said the United Kingdom should expand its support to help Pakistan create more job opportunities and counter illiteracy. Talking to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on telephone the President also noted the support of Britain to help Pakistan face the challenges of extremism and terrorism.

He said Pakistan needs the world support to tackle all the ills that nurture the seeds of extremism in the society."

In fact, newspapers around the world were continuing to publish news events while the Boston Globe noted only that Ted Kennedy had died. You really have to look around to keep up with the news.

BBC AND REUTERS FRANKNESS ON BUSH

It has been clear for a long time that many other countries do not hold President Bush in high opinion but this is the first time I have seen the BBC ridicule him so openly. Read the whole article to catch the entire context from which this quote was obtained:

Asked by the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot whether he saw a chance to sign a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, he replied: "Yes, I do, before I leave - I'm an optimistic guy."

Presumably he meant before he leaves office.

I think we could assume that would be legacy enough.

If people think the next President will bring automatic change in atmosphere, the article further states:

It is loosely called his "freedom agenda". As Stephen Hadley put it, "we need to promote democracy and freedom as a counterpoint... to the ideology of the terrorists".

It is a good idea, but having lived in both the Middle East and the United States in the past four years, I can assure you that what looks good on paper in Washington looks less convincing on the streets of the Arab world.

There people will tell you that the "ideology of the terrorists", or "resistance" as many put it, stems from big injustices that first need to be addressed.

And many add that until Mr Bush, and that unknown successor of his, grasp that, there will never be any progress towards a lasting peace.

Normally, reading like opinion from others on Bush makes me chuckle. However, the view the world has of us and what he has brought down on our heads is not funny at all to me.

Reuter's writes: Doubts remain over Bush's readiness to use his final months in office to push Israel, a key ally, to make compromises.

Gaza (Reuters): GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Saturday dismissed President George W. Bush's upcoming visit to the Middle East as a "photo opportunity" and said he was not welcome in the region. They further quote: "The visit is nothing but a farewell visit to get some photo opportunities as Bush prepares to leave the White House."

Why does the saying: 'An hour late and a dollar short' suddenly spring to my mind?

Meanwhile, our Boston Herald, commenting on Bush's trip doesn't mention Palestine and Israel but concentrates on what he will do about Iran. Yahoo News runs an article on two demonstrators while Senator Clinton was speaking (struggling to hold on to their manhood, no doubt) wave placards and shout "Iron my shirts", proving that America doesn't really get exposed to reality where it counts in our current media. Ah, I long for the return of the Amazons of mythology! I'd like to see someone iron their shirts while these two men are wearing them!