The Capitalist getting a leg up

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms."

Hey Folks -

This is what profit and "the Market" and capitalism is all about. Situations like this are regularly defended by vampire Market apologists as "helping" the exploited people by providing work.

- Uke Man

Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman


Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?


According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.


At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.


Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.


"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.


Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.


But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.


"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."


Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.

George Carlin - a True American!!

Hey Folks -

Geoge Carlin says it like it is (and was). Here is his commentary on the Gulf War:





- Uke Man

Rush Limbaugh and Mike DeWine Revealed!!

Hey Folks -

ANAGRAMS are informative:

Rush Limbaugh !!!! is sh!! humbug LiaR !!

Watch the video to learn about Ohio's recently-kicked-out-of-office Republican senator
Mike DeWine - R.

- Uke Man

Uncle Bigbucks

Bill Moyers interview with William Greider

Hey Folks -

Here's what the Uke Man has been screaming about for years!! Want to know why Rich Americans are getting richer and the rest of us are getting fucked??

Everything is designed for and focused on the big boys!! But don't take it from me. Check out this interview with an Expert!!

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07182008/watch2.html

- Uke Man

"Racism? racism? Boy!! There ain't no racism anymore!!"

White Denial Carries On !!

Hey Folks -

On July 20, 2008 Joe Hallett of the Columbus Dispatch reported on a poll of blacks and whites regarding race:

“A New York Times poll last week showed that, heading into the Nov. 4 election, Americans are sharply divided by race and that skin color dictates different views of the world. Nearly 60 percent of black respondents said race relations were bad, compared with 34 percent of whites. Four in 10 blacks said there has been no recent progress in eliminating racial discrimination; fewer than 2 in 10 whites said the same thing. One-fourth of white respondents said too much had been made of racial barriers facing black people; half of the black respondents said not enough had been made of them.”


On July 24, 2008 the paper ran the column below.

White folks have a LONG way to go!!

- Uke Man




Book opens little-known chapter of U.S. slavery
Thursday, July 24, 2008
By Leonard Pitts Jr.

This is how John Davis became a slave:

He was walking one evening from the train depot in Goodwater, Ala., when a white man appeared in the road. "Nigger," he demanded, "have you got any money?"

The white man, Robert Franklin, was a constable. He claimed Davis owed him. This was news to Davis.

"I don't owe you anything," he said.

But what Davis said did not matter. He was arrested that night and summarily convicted. A wealthy landowner, John Pace, paid the alleged $40 debt and a $35 fine in exchange for Davis' mark -- Davis was illiterate -- on a contract binding him to work 10 months at any task Pace demanded. For all intents and purposes, the one man now owned the other. For all intents and purposes, Davis was Pace's slave.

This was September 1901, 36 years after the end of the Civil War.

It would be appalling if it happened once. Douglas Blackmon says it happened hundreds of thousands of times in Alabama alone. Blackmon, Atlanta bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, is the author of a compelling new book, Slavery by Another Name. Yours truly flatters himself that he is well-versed in black history, but this book introduced me to a chapter of that history I did not know.

I didn't know, for example, about the "convict leasing system" of the South, wherein poor black men routinely were snatched up and tried on false, petty or nonexistent charges by compliant courts, assessed some fine they could not afford, and then "sold" for the cost of that fine to some mine, turpentine farm or plantation, the money going back to the judges and sheriffs.

I did not know that when men served their time, they were sometimes subject to prompt re-arrest on even flimsier charges -- such as that of "stealing" the jail clothes they walked out in.

I did not know the system was so elaborate that businesses could put in orders with local sheriffs to arrest the number of men they needed.

I did not know about black men chained up in swamps and workhouses, held under armed guard, fed gruel, worked beyond human endurance, beaten beyond human decency, subjected to cruelties that made antebellum slavery seem merciful by comparison. After all, in the antebellum years a slave represented an investment of up to $2,0001, but in this new economy, slave labor was cheap, which made slave life cheaper still.

Blackmon says white men were openly buying and selling black men under this system until after World War II.

And is it too fanciful to draw a straight line from that perversion of the justice system to six black kids charged with attempted murder in Jena, La., for jumping on a white boy, or to dozens of black men and women lied into jail by a fake cop in Tulia, Texas, or to Marcus Dixon sentenced to 15 years for having sex with a white girl near Atlanta, or to studies documenting beyond refutation or debate the systemic racism of the nation's cops and courts?

Small wonder, says Blackmon, "there is a fundamental culture of skepticism, cynicism, fear of the judicial system among African-Americans."

As Blackmon sees it, the revelations reset the clock on the old argument over how much progress blacks have or have not made since slavery "ended" in 1865. "It changes all the math of racial progress and racial achievement. Huge numbers of people who are alive today were born into a world where de facto slavery was still a part of American life."

Which is an astonishing notion but then, Slavery by Another Name, is an astonishing book. It will challenge and change your understanding of what we were as Americans -- and of what we are.

I cannot recommend it to you highly enough.

Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for The Miami Herald.
lpitts@miamiherald.com

Ty & the Uke Man Video - - - - - - - - - - "Diddy Wa Diddy"

Hey Folks -



I've been neglecting the blog a bit, working with my video camera.

Well, it finally dawned on me: put the videos on the blog!!



So, periodically I'll be sharing my musical/video efforts.



- Uke Man

Goodnight Moon" / "Goodnight Bush"

Hey Folks -

If you know the children's book, "Goodnight Moon," you must check this out. Below is a short text intro followed by the NPR story on "Goodnight Bush."

- Uke Man

All Things Considered, July 8, 2008 · Open Goodnight Bush: An Unauthorized Parody, and you might recognize the cozy green room with striped curtains, a fire glowing in the fireplace, a full moon outside in the starry sky.
But look closer and you'll see that the painting over the fireplace shows an oil derrick with stealth bombers flying around it. In the fireplace, there's a ballot box burning that says, "Florida 2000." And snaking around the side of the fireplace is a tiny microphone.
Goodnight Bush riffs off Margaret Wise Brown's classic children's book Goodnight Moon to satirize the Bush administration, co-authors Erich Origen and Gan Golan tell Melissa Block.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92325702&sc=nl&cc=es-20080720

Mysterious Mysteries

Kid Stuff (???)

Hey Folks -

Here's a fun story. It tells of the kind of place my aunt always drove BY. She'd never stop anywhere except her destination. It took me fifty-two years to finally find out first-hand exactly what a Stuckey's "Pecan Log" was; and that was an accident when I stumbled upon perhaps the one remaining northern Stuckey's hunkered down in the forsaken plains of Indiana.

I've still to see the alligator or viper farms, Echo Hill, The Crooked House, etc.

The story linked below tells of just one such magical tourist trap, a place where children are amazed. I've been to its home, Santa Cruz, but was unaware of its existence at the time. It's just as well; I'm not a kid any more. It probably would have been a disappointment, just as were the half-dozen "Pecan Logs" I bought at my Twilight Zone Stuckey's.

Actually I was surprised to learn that such a place still existed, and I was more surprised by how the story was laid out, with adults attesting to the reality of its "magical" qualities. At first I thought it must be tongue in cheek, but after that evening's televised fantasy regarding the election campaign, I wasn't so sure.

You can decide for yourself.

- Uke Man

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=92584362&m=92584348

Fix the Health Care System !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----My Son, in whom I am well pleased------

Legal Bigotry

Hey Folks -

Mark Twain called us "The Damned Human Race." Looks like he was right.

- Uke Man

Thomas Suddes: English-only bill speaks ill of Ohio
Sunday, June 1, 2008
By THOMAS SUDDES

Only because a handful of Democrats helped, House Republicans got to take a swipe at Ohio's Spanish-speaking residents, though everyone will deny that -- except on the campaign trail.

The measure, pending in the state Senate, would add yet another seamy page to Ohio's history of "legal" bigotry. That might be one reason the House's black members, who know a thing or two about discrimination, opposed the measure. But six of their fellow Democrats voted yes.

Due to roll-call math, each of the Democrats, like suspects in Murder on the Orient Express, has some deniability as the decider. No matter. The shame should be shared.
The bill, sponsored by a suburban Cincinnati Republican, Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, would require every public body in Ohio to use the English language in its actions, proceedings and records.

As a practical matter, all state business is conducted now in English. So, goes the argument, what's the bill's harm? Plenty, starting with the message it sends about Ohio's mentality. That's why Gov. Ted Strickland has vowed to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

Otherwise, if Mecklenborg's bill became law, the wording on those border signs might still seem to read "Welcome to Ohio" to potential overseas investors, international visitors and the world-class scientists Ohio's colleges and universities want to woo. But the Mecklenborg bill would effectively tell new arrivals, "Welcome to Dogpatch."

But, hey, it's an election year, with control of the Ohio House, 53-46 Republican, in play. And "nativism" -- politicking against black people and immigrants and Jews and Catholics -- has had success in Ohio politics. That's how the Ku Klux Klan ran Ohio's House for a time in the 1920s; how Ohio in 1960 voted not for John F. Kennedy but Richard M. Nixon; and why in 1968 no never-a-slavery state bigger than Ohio gave more of its presidential vote to George C. Wallace.

That's also how a GOP-run General Assembly in 1919, with "liberal" Democratic Gov. James M. Cox's OK, passed a law forbidding any school -- public, private or parochial -- to teach German to pupils below the eighth grade. Reason: Anti-German hysteria fueled by World War I, and, oh yes, Cox's planned 1920 run for president. (The U.S. Supreme Court junked the law in 1922.)

Mecklenborg needed at least 50 House votes to pass his bill last month, just before Memorial Day. Of 53 House Republicans, three were absent; two others -- Reps. Jon M. Peterson of Delaware, and Clyde Evans of Rio Grande -- had the gumption to vote no. That meant Mecklenborg had only 48 GOP votes and needed to land at least two House Democrats.

Six obliged: Reps. John Otterman of Akron, Thomas Heydinger of Norwalk, Dan Dodd of Hebron, Jay Goyal of Mansfield, Matt Lundy of Elyria and John Domenick of Smithfield in Jefferson County. Heydinger, Dodd and Lundy sit in House seats Republicans long held -- and will target this fall. Goyal's district leans Republican. Translation: The price of a competitive Ohio House seat is to make Ohio look stupid.

Three House Republicans with districts including big state university campuses also have some explaining to do: Reps. Randy Gardner of Bowling Green, Jimmy Stewart of Athens and Shawn Webster of Millville (Miami University), voted yes on Mecklenborg's bill.

What's next? Illegalizing colleges' Latin mottoes (Ohio State's is Disciplina in civitatem) to keep Roman centurions from invading Ohio to claim it for Caesar? You laugh, but then think of the General Assembly and you cringe.

Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University.
tsuddes@gmail.com

"F-f-airrr a-a-and bal-l-l-anced, Ma-a-aster"

You May Be Brainwashed by Corporate Media if You...

You May be Brainwashed by Corporate Media if You:

... believe the 5 corporations who own almost all of the media in the U.S. are liberal.

... believe $300 billion of U.S. tax money, allocated for the war and reconstruction in Iraq is actually going to Iraq .

... are unaware Iraq had 650 million barrels of oil in reserve just before the war in Iraq .


... are unaware at least $8.8 billion is known to be missing in Iraqi oil revenue from the period the U.S. was in control of Iraq .



... are unaware 198 million in Iraqi dollars is missing from the Iraq treasury from the period the U.S. was in control of Iraq .

... are unaware that war is exceptionally profitable for a small number of investors.

... believe Halliburton's no-bid contracts have nothing to do with former CEO, now Vice President Dick Cheney.

... are unaware that the Iraq war is the biggest case of war profiteering in human history.

... believe Saddam Hussein or Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.

... are unaware the U.S. has killed more than 10,000 innocent women and children in Iraq with cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions.

... believe depleted uranium weapons are not radioactive or deadly weapons of mass destruction (they are 12% less radioactive than nuclear weapons grade uranium and very deadly).

... believe wealthy, warmongers can also be true Christians.

... are unaware stem cell research threatens the pharmaceutical industry by curing and preventing diseases which drug companies profit from by treating with drugs.

... are unaware the pharmaceutical industry is based entirely on treatment and is threatened by cures and prevention.

... are unaware the Food and Drug Administration does NO testing of food or drugs. They only set guidelines and review the testing corporations do of their own products.

... are unaware the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act has been 're- estimated' to cost U.S. taxpayers $1.3 Trillion (not the original $243 billion or the 'adjusted' $400 billion), and only pharmaceutical corporations and HMOs benefit from the increase.

... are unaware the Boston Tea party was a protest against corporate corruption (East India Company).

... are unaware our founding fathers intentionally made sure that corporations had no power over people or our government.

... are unaware corporations have fought aggressively and systematically over the past 200 years to increase their power and influence over our government.

... are unaware U.S. corporations are now protected under the 14th amendment as a legal 'person.'

... are unaware the definition of fascism is: 'The marriage of corporation and state' -- Benito Mussolini.

... are unaware well known U.S. corporate interests attempted a military coup against Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

... are unaware most corrupt and wasteful government projects are run primarily by corporate contractors.

... are unaware 'less government' means paying corporate contractors three times what we pay government workers to do the same work.
... are unaware American corporations behave very differently in other countries.

... are unaware Enron and others were NOT investigated until they collapsed under the weight of their own greed.

... are unaware Bush's massive tax cuts were invested overseas to build sweat shops, factories and other facilities, where our jobs have been outsourced.

... are unaware outsourcing American jobs weakens labor unions and keeps wages low and corporate profits high .

... are unaware weak enforcement of immigration laws lowers wages in the U.S. and increases corporate profits.

... are unaware 'Free Trade' means 'Slave Wages' to poor people in Honduras, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, El Salvador, Guatemala, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and others.

... believe America is hated all over the world because of our freedom.

... believe the massive U.S. national debt (now $7,786,000,000,000) created by Republican presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush does not seriously threaten the future of our children and grandchildren.

... are unaware massive national debt ensures the expansion of poverty, which keeps wages low, which increases corporate profits.

... are unaware widespread poverty keeps wages low and corporate profits high.

... are unaware weak gun control laws perpetuate violence in poor neighborhoods which expands poverty, reduces wages and increases corporate profits.

... are unaware abortions go down only when we reduce poverty, expand healthcare and improve education.

... are unaware that making abortion illegal expands poverty which reduces wages and increases corporate profits.

... believe the Michael Jackson trial deserved more news coverage than the genocide of 400,000 people in Darfur , Sudan.

... believe Social Security is the biggest priority in America .

... are unaware privatizing Social Security would be a massive give away to experienced Wall Street investors that would also destabilize Social Security.

... are unaware that NOT funding 'No Child Left Behind' is dismantling funding for schools in poor neighborhoods, which expands poverty, lowers wages and increases corporate profits.

... are unaware the Healthy Forests Initiative has led to massive clear cutting of prime lumber and almost none of the forest fire prevention that it was sold on.

... are unaware the Clear Skies Initiative has increased pollution.

... are unaware Tort Reform will absolve corporations of massive negligent liabilities for things like asbestos exposure, pollution, mercury poisoning, hazardous waste, mad cow disease and all sorts of dangerous products and practices.

... are unaware mercury pollution (mostly from coal fired power plants and medical vaccines) has caused an epidemic of Autism, ADD and ADHD in the U.S.

... are unaware the Bush administration is dismantling three decades of US environmental protection.

... believe global warming is a rumor or conspiracy.

... are unaware 'Global Warming' is causing colder weather because the melting ice caps are cooling the gulf stream.

... believe the science of evolution is less valid than literal fundamentalist interpretation of creationism.

... believe the UN scandals could have taken place without the largest, most influential member and host nation being involved.

... believe making a war monger ambassador to the UN will help prevent more wars.

... are unaware that expanding equal rights to any segment of the population (including gay people) also expands economic opportunity and puts pressure on wages, which would reduce corporate profits.

If you believe Fox News is fair and balanced, you have been brainwashed by corporate owned media.

independent-media.tv/item.cfm [independent-media.tv/item.cfm]=

"Animal Farm" by the Uke Man

American Animal Farm

Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood addresses the happy Pigs and Men gathered over their mugs and cards in the animals' farmhouse:

"Today he and his friends had visited Animal Farm and inspected every inch of it with their own eyes, and what did they find? Not only the most up-to-date methods, but a discipline and an orderliness which would be an example to all farmers everywhere. He believed that he was right in saying that the lower animals on Animal Farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the county."

Chapter 10 - Animal Farm by George Orwell


Vacation Shortage in Land of Plenty

by Froma Harrop

As we watch the economy slip into second-rateness, another depressing thought rises. All the toil and stress we've put into making America great never translated into the Dolce Vita (sweet life) for ordinary folks.

This may be the land of plenty — plenty of stuff and the debt to show for it — but it's also home of subsistence-level vacations. And rather than grow with prosperity, opportunities to restore our nerve endings have become ever scarcer.

"With all this wealth, when are we going to find the time to enjoy ourselves?" John De Graaf, producer of the 1997 PBS documentary "Affluenza," asks rhetorically. Then he chuckles, "It's positively un-American."

De Graaf heads a Seattle-based group called Take Back Your Time, which addresses issues of overwork and time poverty in America. The organization is pushing Congress to mandate at least three weeks of paid vacation for workers.

In the unlikely event that such legislation passes, an important question remains: If the president signs, will workers do the time? A study by Expedia.com found that a third of employed Americans don't even take all the vacation days they've been granted.

A Conference Board survey last April asked workers whether they planned to take a vacation in the next six months (which includes this summer). Only 36 percent(!) said they did, the lowest figure since 1978.

What's going on? One simple explanation is economic anxiety. Observing the layoffs and other signs of downsizing, people fear that a co-worker will be moved into their cubicle while they're away. (And in this country, a loss of employment may also mean no health coverage.) Some workers hold two or more jobs to keep up with depressed wages or loan payments. A vacation from the day job may not include time off from the gig at night.

European workers average more than a month's worth of vacation, and they get it by law.

Americans have no such rights. Two weeks off is the pitiful standard, and many companies don't match even that.

About 23 percent of all private sector workers get no paid vacation at all, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For women, that number is 31 percent.

Business groups argue that mandated vacation would hurt American competitiveness: We're fighting for advantage in a global economy. He who rests ends up dog chow.

De Graaf begs to disagree. "Americans are investing more money in the Netherlands than in China," he said, "and then we complain that we can't compete in the marketplace if we have different vacation time." The Dutch average 25 days of vacation annually.

For you who put price tags on everything, note that vacations can help prevent expensive health problems. The Framingham Heart Study (started in 1948) found that women who took a vacation only once every six years or less were nearly eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than those who took at least two vacations a year. And yes, the research was controlled for obesity, diabetes, smoking and income.

Another study reported that men at high risk for heart disease who didn't take annual vacations were 21 percent more likely to die from all causes. Their risk of dying from a heart attack was 32 percent higher.

When Americans tell pollsters that their children won't live as well as they did, they are referring to a material standard of living. Quality of life is another matter, and a high one must include the luxury of non-work.

"Scandal" is the word that best describes the time famine that afflicts the richest people on earth. If rest and relaxation are not basic human rights, they should be.

The Columbian "Rescue" Hmmmm . . . . . . do I smell a ColumBushian Rat?

Hey Folks -

When it comes to what really happened involving the recent exercise in Columbia, pay no attention to them fureners behind the Alps (below) nor them fromage-snappers in gay Pair-ee who reported on 'em either !! They're the foreign press!! Trust the White House!!

What do we actually know?

1. The "hostages" (prisoners of war) were freed without a shot being fired
(because the FARC was a. Tricked -a la Mission Impossible- ?? b. paid a ransom ??)

2. Our government admits playing a supporting role.
(so we know the US knew about this ahead of time)

3. Grandpa Munster McCain (Republican candidate for the next Bush Administration) was in Columbia on the very day the Mission Impossible Team worked its magic.
( This was a. a happy coincidence ?? b. a $20,000,000 photo op arranged by Republican President Bush??)

4. The right-wing President of France was deeply invested politically in freeing the Columbian-French aristocrat, Betancourt, from the FARC.
(the fact that Pres. Sarkozy is chummy with Bush a. had nothing to do with this - just a coincidence?? b. had a lot to do with this??)

5. Betancourt had an answer to the Swiss report: she claimed the jubilation couldn't be faked - and there just happened to be a video available to show said jubilation.
(this is a. a lucky coincidence?? b. part of the con?? )

There may be more that comes out downstream, but as of now I smell a rat, another stinky, right-wing, neo-con, Rovian, imperialist, lying rat!!

- Uke Man

Thomson Financial News
FARC leaders were paid millions to free hostages: Swiss radio 07-04-08

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Leaders of the Colombian FARC rebel movement were paid millions of dollars to free Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, Swiss radio said on Friday, quoting 'a reliable source'.

The 15 hostages released on Wednesday by the Colombian army 'were in reality ransomed for a high price, and the whole operation afterwards was a set-up,' the radio's French-language channel said.

Saying the United States, which had three of its citizens among those freed, was behind the deal, it put the price of the ransom at some $20 million.

The radio said its source was 'close to the events, reliable and tested many times in recent years.'

The report added said the wife of one of the hostages' guards was the go-between, having been arrested by the Colombian army. She was released to return to the guerrillas, where she persuaded her husband to change sides.

Switzerland, along with France and Spain, has been mediating with the FARC on behalf of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

According to the official version of Wednesday's operation, a Colombian army intelligence agent infiltrated the FARC and tricked the rebels into believing their top leader had sent a helicopter to pick up the hostages.

Colombian soldiers posing as FARC guerrillas flew the hostages from a jungle hideout where they had been assembled before revealing their identity.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the rescue 'was conceived by the Colombians and executed by the Colombians with our full support,' while implying that Washington had provided intelligence and even operational help.

U.S. ambassador to Bogota William Brownfield also told CNN that Washington had provided 'technical support,' while Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos insisted it was a '100 percent Colombian' effort.

The top U.S. military officer for Latin America, Admiral Jim Stavridis, head of United States Southern Command, said the rescue of Americans Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell had been 'a priority of this command'.

The three were seized by the rebels as they conducted an anti-drug mission for the Pentagon in February 2003.

The operation enhanced Uribe's prestige as he seeks a third term in office, and enabled him to stick to his line of no talks with the rebels without the hostages being freed, the radio noted.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/07/04/afx5184293.html

The Pig is Dead (but his odor lingers on)

Something to celebrate on the Anniversary of the Revolution ??

Jesse "Racist Pig" Helms is dead!!!

Jesse claimed to be a Christian. If so,
Satan is already grilling his fat ass on a 4th of July
barbeque in hell.

The usual chauvanistic double standard

Hey Folks -

A lot is being made of the freeing of the "hostages" in Columbia, particularly in regard to Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. They were held for six years or so in the jungle under "humiliating" conditions that one called "a waste of time."

Well, they are alive, and I haven't heard that they were tortured. All of the "hostages" were involved in the war against the FARC, their captors, which makes them prisoners of war rather than hostages.

Columbia is one of our Empire's client states, our foothold/watchdog in South America - we pay off its leaders with dollars "for the war on drugs"; they provide a staging area for our covert South American actions and keep their people down to better serve our financial interests. So, it is to be expected that great celebration would be made here following this incident. Ahh, the lefties are on the run; and Grandpa Munster-McCain was even there to see it go down!! On to Venezuela!

Well, I'm glad the aristocratic Ms. Betancourt and the mercenary Americans are alive and in decent health, but I'm not moved by their whining complaints. Their captors lived in the same jungle under the same difficult conditions BECAUSE of the efforts of their captives and their fellow-travelers. None were beaten, tortured, or executed. The food was not gormet quality or always "balanced," but it looks as though they ate the same thing their captors had to eat, and what medicines were available were provided the prisoners.

Looking at how our own hostages/enemy-combatants/prisoners-of-war have fared over the last six years, it looks like Betancourt & Co. got off easy.

- Uke Man

not a ukulele, but it DOES have four strings

Stradivarius explained???

Hey Folks -

This isn't definitive, but it's the kind of stuff I LOVE!! I just HAD to share!!!

Hope you like it!!

- Uke Man


Wood density holds key to Stradivarius sweet sound
By Ben Hirschler Tue Jul 1, 2008
LONDON (Reuters)

Researchers using a medical scanner have worked out why a Stradivarius violin sounds so good -- it is because of the remarkably even density of the wood.

For the past 300 years, musicians and scientists have puzzled over the unparalleled quality of classical Cremonese violins made by Italian masters like Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu.

Now a Dutch doctor and a violin maker from Arkansas think they have cracked the mystery after comparing five classical and eight modern violins in a computed tomography (CT) scanner normally used to examine patients.

Using an adaptation of a computer program developed to calculate lung densities in people with emphysema, they were able to analyze the physical properties of violins without risking damage to instruments worth millions of dollars.

They found no significant differences between the median densities of the modern and the antique violins but did discover far less variation between wood grains of early and late growth in the old ones.

Since differentials in wood density affect vibration and therefore sound quality, the discovery may well explain the superiority of the Cremonese violins, they reported in the online journal PLoS ONE on Wednesday.

So why is the maple and spruce wood in a Stradivarius so different?

Part of the reason may be that trees grow slightly differently today than in the past.

"Climate difference could explain part of it but treatment of the wood could be another explanation. A third answer could simply be the ageing of the wood over the past 300 years," Dr Berend Stoel of the Leiden University Medical Center told Reuters.

"There is no way of knowing from this data; we've just shown there are density differences."

Still, Stoel and U.S. violin maker Terry Borman think the research may help modern instrument makers seeking to replicate the work of the Italian masters.

Their paper is available at http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002554

Who would President Dtaft Poop on??

Be afraid; listen to the rich guy; forget about the People

Hey Folks -

In the Uke Man's humble opinion, the editorial below is a good example of how the "democracy" we supposedly enjoy is a sham!! The wealthy family who owns the Dispatch has its agenda, and it isn't the People's agenda. Part of their agenda is to manipulate us into voting against our own interests and in favor of theirs.

I have added comments in red throughout the editorial. The scam that is put forward in the piece is that: ballot initiatives are bad (even though the People support them) - be afraid; the thing to do is to elect legislators who care about the People and let them fix it, but that is impossible because the wealthy businesses are the ones who keep "our representatives" in office. "Pay no attention to the harebrained ballot issue; it hurts business, and that hurts you."

- Uke Man


The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio has issues Ballot initiatives are misused to drive voter turnout in key races
June 29,

Ohioans are seeing more state issues on even-year ballots, and the reason is no mystery. Statewide initiatives, particularly on hot-button issues, drive voter turnout. (Could it be that the reason the issues are “hot-button” is that the legislature refuses to deal with them?) Operatives in both parties want a surge of like-minded voters when Ohio is electing the president or governor. (If your assumption about the motivation for issues is accurate, isn’t it sad that issues important to voters aren’t dealt with by elected officials and, then, get on the ballot only to serve political interests?)

While issues such as a gay-marriage ban, a minimum-wage increase and a mandatory paid sick leave draw crowds on Election Day, they don't bring better government to Ohio. (Isn’t this the same as saying: “Getting out a larger crowd on Election Day to vote on something very important to them is bad government”?)


The misuse of ballot initiatives to help candidates and political parties often results in bad law. (If such a law is “bad,” it isn’t “bad” because it came from the ballot box; “bad” laws often come from the Statehouse, too; neither has a hammerlock on the infinite.)


The gay-marriage ban of 2004 and minimum-wage raise of 2006 were stuffed into the Ohio Constitution, which shouldn't be burdened with policy matters that the legislature should decide and implement by statute. (Hmmm . . . such language! “stuffed” into the Constitution? It’s a document, isn’t it? Not a sausage. “Burdened”? Is it groaning under the weight? Granted, changing the constitution is more difficult than changing a law – but often no more difficult than getting the legislature to address “hot-button” issues – hence relying on the ballot.)


Statutes can be updated relatively easily by the legislature. But updating a constitutional amendment requires a statewide vote. This is an unwieldy way to set policy.


President Bush's re-election campaign benefited from the gay-marriage ban, which put into the constitution a definition of marriage that was already in statutory law. The minimum-wage issue attracted low-income Ohioans who tend to favor Democrats, helping them recapture all but one of the statewide elected offices.


Yes, Ohio's minimum wage at the time was low, but Congress was raising the minimum wage nationally, and the state legislature has the power to do the same whenever voters elect lawmakers amenable to the idea. (Yes, the state legislature has the power to address “hot-button” issues, but they don’t address them. It’s not political; they don’t serve the people; they serve the interests that can get them elected – those who will keep the people from electing different lawmakers amenable to the people’s desires. – Your argument is disingenuous. Basically it really says: We own the legislature; ballot issues get around that; if you want to change things, the way to do that is elect legislators who’ll listen to you (something you most likely can’t do).


The mandatory sick-leave requirement for Ohio employers, if it appears on the Nov. 4 ballot, is intended to draw low- to middle-income Ohioans to the polls. The measure requires that all employers with 25 or more workers provide seven paid sick days per year. Part-time workers would have their paid sick leave prorated. (Well, middle-to-low income groups are a majority of Ohioans, or at least half of us. If we live in a democracy, what’s wrong with appealing to such a large group?)


The proposal sounds great to workers with little or no paid sick leave. But by imposing additional costs on businesses, it could make the state less attractive for businesses seeking to locate or expand here.


No wonder Gov. Ted Strickland has such ambivalence about the sick-leave proposal, called the Healthy Families Act.


On one hand, it would help fellow Democrats, such as presidential candidate Barack Obama; on the other hand, business leaders are telling the governor it would kill jobs.


Strickland wanted a compromise to keep the issue off the November ballot, but that was never in the cards.


Nearly half of Ohio's private-sector employees don't have that much paid sick leave, and polls show the measure would win easily if the vote were held today. (There it is again: “nearly half”; looks like there may be a real problem in Ohio for at least half of its people. I wouldn’t call that “hot-button,” at least not in the same way gay marriage can be described as “hot-button.” And -horrors!! - it “would win easily”!! – a little too much democracy, perhaps.)


The risk for Ohio's labor force is that the cost of meeting the requirement could result in offsetting reductions in other parts of an employer's benefits package or cut the number of people a business employs.


Government mandates on the private sector are rarely, if ever, cost-free, as the proponents of this one claim. (Does government serve business or the people? Is the only way business can function is by mistreating employees? If businesses can’t treat employees humanely, maybe they should go out of business.)


Ohioans should remember that these ballot issues are intended to push hot buttons in the hope that voters will cast a ballot without thinking through the consequences. (The consequences for whom? The majority of Ohioans? or the group of businessmen who already have sick leave?)