Montgomery County, MD Green Party Blog

Apparently the war on terror has been won because the FBI has begun diverting resources into a new anti-obscenity squad, that is being called “one of the top priorities” of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of “the Director.”

This is not about child pornography, mind you, this is about regular old consenting adult type pornography.

The move has become a topic of much conversation among FBI employees.

“I guess this means we’ve won the war on terror,” said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. “We must not need any more resources for espionage.”

Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, “it’s a running joke for us.”

A few of the printable samples:

“Things I Don’t Want On My Résumé, Volume Four.”

“I already gave at home.”

“Honestly, most of the guys would have to recuse themselves.”

This marks the first anti-pornography initiative since Attorney General Edwin Meese III took up the issue during the Reagan administration.

Meese launched a commission to study the pornography problem and I can personally assure you that they tackled the job thoroughly and completely.

The Meese Commission records (exhibits and all) are now safely stored away at the National Archives where they are available for public viewing. (I believe they’re back there with Kennedy’s brain.)

One possible explanation for the timing of the new initiative can be found in the reaction of Christian conservatives who greeted the move. The Family Research Council proclaimed “a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general.”

Good to shore up the political base just in case–say–a Supreme Court nomination were to come his way.

400,000 Nato ration packs shipped by Britain to the U.S. have been impounded by the Food and Drug Agency. After already being shipped to Little Rock, they have now been returned to an FDA incineration plant for destruction.

Officials blamed the US Department of Agriculture, which impounded the shipment under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

One British aid worker commented;

This is the most appalling act of sickening senselessness while people starve.

The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned as unfit for human consumption, despite the fact that these are Nato approved rations of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.

Under Nato, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations, yet the starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because of FDA red tape madness.

There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock soon - of burned food, of anger and of shame that the world’s richest nation couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.

Everyone is revolted by the chaotic shambles the US is making of this crisis. Guys from Unicef are walking around spitting blood.

This is utter madness. People have worked their socks off to get food into the region.

It is perfectly good Nato approved food of the type British servicemen have. Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it has come from Britain it must be destroyed.

How incompetent art thee? Let me count the ways.

British armored vehicles knocked a hole in the wall of an Iraqi jail in Basra to free two British commandos who had been arrested for allegedly killing two Iraqi police.

The move sparked hours of gunbattles and rioting in the streets. The provincial governor, Mohammed Walli, called the British assault “barbaric, savage and irresponsible.”

The incident highlights growing tensions in the southern region–once touted for its peaceful transition to civilian rule. But lately, the Badr militia, the armed wing of the Shiite political parties that control Basra, has been growing increasingly active. Attacks on westerners, once a rarity, are now growing increasingly frequent.

Perhaps the biggest casualty is the Bush game plan which calls for handing over control of Iraq as their police and defense forces become ready, since that plan did not envision combat between our forces and the very people we are training.

It grows increasingly difficult to see any satisfactory way out of this war.

It will be at 7PM at Savory Cafe in Takoma Park, MD on Wednesday, the 21st.

Click here for more information.

Here’s yet another example of why Instant Runoff Voting should be permitted. This guy won less than 50% of the votes, and yet he’s declared the winner. (And pundits wonder why most people are apathetic to politics….)

After a week of uncertainty, Ferrer edged just past the 40 percent mark as elections workers worked through the weekend to count absentee and other uncounted votes cast in the Sept. 13 primary. The Board of Elections was to announce the results Monday afternoon, and certify Ferrer as the nominee Tuesday.

Click here for link.

Most adult Sunday school classes don’t raise eyebrows, but my church is planning to hold one that’s sure to. It’s called “Evolution for Christians,” and it will be taught this winter by David Bush, a member of the church I lead, Fairfax Presbyterian. David is an articulate government retiree who has been interested in this topic for nearly two decades, teaches a class on theories of the origins of life every five years or so, and once again has really done his homework. His view is that science and religion answer two different sets of questions about creation, with science answering the “how” questions, and religion answering the “why” ones. “With a little bit of wisdom and tolerance on each side,” he tells me, “I think they can complement rather than contradict each other.”

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But I’m not insecure about preaching Christianity and standing up to any belief system that challenges it, as long as the conversation remains grounded in religion, and not some religious-scientific hybrid. I believe that my faith, like any faith, is strongest when it answers the questions it is prepared to answer, and when it avoids the questions it cannot address. For me, and for many of my parishioners, a core religious conviction is that God is the creator of life and the one who gives it meaning and purpose. Any questions about the mechanics of life are best left to science.

Click here for link.

As though service isn’t bad enough…..

Click here for link and go to page #10.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network will once again open to the public Maryland’s only 95-percent renewable energy household on SaturdayOctober 1st, 11:00am–5:00 pm. The home, owned by the Tidwell-Varchaver family of Takoma Park, is equipped with energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs, and is powered by photovoltaic solar panels, a solar hot-water system, and a corn-burning home-heating stove.

This month, the home is being featured as part of a regional tour of solar homes and buildings. Come learn how you, too, can affordably reduce your home fossil fuel use by 50-90 percent and so help fight global warming. As a special feature, we’ll also have two hybrid cars and an electric truck for you to view and learn about their affordable, climate-protecting features. And as a new feature, we’ll show you how to landscape your yard with native plants and water them with rain barrels that catch rooftop runoff.

Plus, there will be a solar food cooker on display (free solar-bakedcookies) and we’ll be selling energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs for a big discount. We’ll also have lots of free literature on the rising threat of global warming and steps you can take to help save the planet.

Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Also, check out our new updates website at: www.chesapeakeclimate.org

WHAT: A tour of the first home in Maryland/Virginia/DC powered almost entirely by renewable energy and landscaped with native plants.

WHEN: SaturdayOct. 1st, 11:00 am – 5:00pm

WHERE: 7125 Willow Ave, Takoma Park, MD

DIRECTIONS:

By Metro: Take the red-line train to Takoma Station and walk east along Carroll Ave. toward downtown Takoma Park. After three blocks, turn left on Willow Ave. We’re the fourth house on the right. Five-minute walk from the Metro.

By bike or car from DC: Take 16th Street north to Aspen. Turn right on Aspen and follow under the Metro Bridge. Take your second left after the bridge onto Willow Street. At the first light, turn right on Carroll Ave and take an immediate left onto Willow Ave.

By bike or car from the Beltway: Exit at New Hampshire Ave heading south. Take a right on Piney Branch and a left on Carroll Ave. Follow Carroll till you’re almost in downtown Takoma Park and take a right on Tulip Ave. Take your next left onto Willow Ave and we’re the third house on the left.

PARKING:
Please park in the parking lot at the corner of Willow Ave. and Carroll Ave., just four houses down from the expo.

For more information call 301-891-6726 or 301-270-3722.

Middle East expert Juan Cole has printed a communication he has received from an observer inside Baghdad. The picture they paint is one of rapidly deteriorating security condiditons, with parts of the city now under rebel control.

The situation has deteriorated in Baghdad dramatically today. Five neighborhoods (hay) in Baghdad are controlled by insurgents, and they are Amiraya, Ghazilya, Shurta, Yarmouk and Doura. It is very bad. My guys there report that cars have come into these neighborhoods and blocked off the streets. Masked gunmen with AKs and other weapons are roaming these areas, announcing that people should stay home. One of my drivers in Amiraya reports that his neighborhood is shut down totally, and even those who need food or provisions are warned not to go out.

Those who have the means are fleeing the city;

More and more of even the most patriotic intelligentsia are departing. The situation is dire, and those with escape valves are using them. [Some organizations are]sending more of [their] staff to Arbil and Sulamaniyah and out of Baghdad. Until about March this year, [some] thought that there was a chance of returning to Baghdad. It is remarkable how incapable this government is. Its only success is that it exists at all.

Even the Green Zone is no longer safe, though business there continues as usual.

In the meantime, the embassy people act as if nothing in Baghdad is wrong (except that they cannot walk in the Green Zone without body armor and they have to take precautions against kidnapping). Recently, a group from State and the military parachuted in from Washington [with fatuous advice] . . . It is a fantasy world.

Could the administration effort in Iraq be as incompetent as their relief efforts for Katrina? This is a possibility than can’t be lightly dismissed.

Perhaps a staffer should make up a DVD for Bush to catch him up on the news in Iraq.

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