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Jane Stillwater

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Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has recently published a book entitled, "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips For Touring Today's Middle East". According to Ms. Stillwater, "It's a fabulous and entertaining book. I loved writing it. And I hope that you will love reading it too." It's available at http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719 or you can special order it at any independent bookstore.

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SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 8, 2007
200 Concubines: In India, it's hard not to think about sex! For the last 20 years, I've lived the life of a nun and liked it that way. But Mother India keeps trying to shake my life up. With all those erotic carvings at Khajuraho and the Taj Mahal by moonlight plus 500 elibible men on every street corner, one's imagination sometimes rebels....
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 18, 2008
My trip to North Korea: Pictures worth a thousand words? You didn't actually think that you would get away without seeing all my photos of North Korea did you? They are amazing.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 1, 2008
Exponential happiness: McCain, Obama, Chekhov & my 93-year-old aunt My aunt would never vote for Obama. In fact, she won't vote at all. "Why should I? I'm 93 years old. What do I care about what happens next? Our generation lived through the hell of the Great Depression and World War II -- and we survived. The next generation will figure out some way to deal with it. We did." Plus I found a new way to reduce fear of flying and also how, like Jesus, to organize locally. Anton Chekhov did too.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 12, 2009
Our dual-citizenship Congress: Lotsa pork for Israelis, no pork for California? California is about to go bankrupt but billions of US taxpayers' dollars are still pouring into Israel. How can California get some of that money? What do we need to do to get our Congress's attention? Fire Qassam rockets at Washington?
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 16, 2007
Lucas Mangope: One of South Africa's living legends Last week I discovered that I lived only a half-mile away from one of the most important men in recent South African history this side of Nelson Mandela! Here's the whole story -- both the good and the bad. How will history judge Lucas Mangope? I bet it will be a lot kinder toward him than it will be toward G.W. Bush!
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Google Earth: Gaza has now gone dark too.... By an executive order of the neo-con junta that currently runs Israel, the electricity in Gaza has just been turned off -- linking it to other countries that Google Earth shows with no lights; countries like Somalia, Burma, the DRC, Zimbabwe and Darfur, countries where governments prey on their own people.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 14, 2007
HUD "Section 8" housing: The revenge of the Trailer Trash? Did you know that without HUD's "Section 8" housing subsidies to million of families in America, this place would look like a re-enactment of the hobo jungles and homeless camps of the Great Depression? It's true. Here is an ode to Section 8!
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 4, 2009
Suing the DoD: How my small claim just became a Federal Case.... I sued the DoD in small claims court -- and now the US Attorney General's office is trying to move the trial to Federal court, already running up at least 25 billable hours in the process. By the time my case is over, $100,000 in attorneys fees will probably be charged to the taxpayer. One is not allowed to sue the Feds in small claims court. Why? To make it harder for We the people to make the government accountable.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 5, 2007
The world's youngest profession: The sociology of a child prostitute village in India For my next writing assignment I was supposed to write about prostitution in India. The results were heartbreaking -- a fleeting look into the heart of a child prostitute village. When are men ever going to learn to stop hurting children?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 5, 2009
Taliban for Dummies: Learning from American & Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan I wasn't sure what was going on in Afghanistan so I asked my friend Pietro Calogero to spell it all out. So here it is: "The Taliban for Dummies". Bottom line? Most of this mess was caused by the US in the first place but the USSR helped. What can we learn from both countries' mistakes? That the Taliban is not now in a position to take over Afghanistan but if things get worse for the average Afghan, they may have a shot.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 5, 2008
You be the judge: I will be taking the DoD to small claims court this Friday.... The Department of Defense has embedded me in Iraq four-and-a-half times so far and I SHOULD be grateful. So why am I suing them? Because they rescinded one of my embeds, cost me $1,780 and left me stuck at the Kuwait airport Starbucks for days. But, worse, the Army told me I didn't have enough readership. That's the worst insult a reporter can get! Please come to my trial this Friday in Berkeley and see justice done. Maybe.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Drunks on horseback in Puerto Vallarta: One last fling before economic reality sets in? Hard to describe a drunken horseback ride in PV if you are neither drunk or on a horse -- but I try. And is the recession hurting the PV hotels? I spent the night in one to find out. And is John McCain REALLY complaining about too much Obama pork? Where was McCain when the Bush Dittoheads in Congress were handing out pork by the barrel to contractors in Iraq?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 21, 2008
Operation Hydra: Air Force disaster relief training, flying all over California, GWB & me.... I recently went on a tour of the USAF's Contingency Response Wing's readiness training exercise, in case of a major disaster. This article is rather long but you should slog through it anyway. Why? So you would know what our military is capable of in case of another Katrina or 9-11. Also Bush showed up for a Republican fund-raiser at our airbase that day. And us taxpayers paid for his transportation. That sucks eggs.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 19, 2008
Zoroastrians, carpets & reading Ann Tyler in Yazd: My report from Iran # 3.5 Over here in Iran, they are selling georgous carpets, teaching me how to handle traffic accidents the old-fashioned way, feeling that Ahmadinejad let them down and denying me access to Smirking Chimp, the Huffington Post and TruthOut. But I can still get OpEd News!
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 22, 2009
$28.5 billion reasons to legalize drugs in America.... I'm trying to justify going off to Puerto Vallarta. I know! I'll go write about drug cartels. There are none in PV but it sounds nice. Did you know that $28.5 billion per year go from Americans to Mexican drug dealers? If we legalized marijuana, that money could stay home -- plus growing it here might help to green up the place. But in the meantime me & my daughter Ashley are off to PV to do, er, research...
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Glen Park neighborhood: Small-town San Francisco at its best When we drove over to San Francisco, we discovered the Glen Park area -- a small town within a big city. So I wrote a story about our day in Glen Park. I feel guilty about writing about a sweet sunny day in SF when the rest of the world is falling apart, but look at this article as one journalist's R-and-R.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 9, 2006
Second Opinion: Having skin cancer on Medicaid sucks eggs It took me SIX MONTHS to get an initial appointment with a dermatologist who takes Medicaid! But now that the Dems are in charge of Congress, can we PLEASE have a decent single-payer health care plan? It would cost less than the nightmare system we have now, would help doctors, patients and employers instead of insurance companies and bureaucrats -- and it might even save my face!
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 26, 2009
60 Minutes: Is Israel's free ride almost over? Whoa! "60 Minutes" just showed a settler lady out in the middle of nowhere with a pickax? Yeah right. She's obviously from central casting. Most settlers live in luxury condos paid for by US taxpayers! And what about showing footage of IDF soldiers shooting children point-blank in Gaza or having their dogs feast on corpses? Where is that segment of the show? But at least 60 Minutes tried.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The special "Ugly Betty" issue of my housing co-op's newsletter Willamena Slater isn't the only one getting a government bailout. The board members on my housing project appear to be getting one too. What would Ugly Betty do? And our long-overdue re-hab just got put off for the eighth year. We may be reduced to growing cash crops in order to survive. Hmmm. What IS the largest cash crop in California right now?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 12, 2008
Thomas Friedman's "Hot, Flat & Crowded": Replacing the "War on Terror" with a "War on Global Warming"? Friedman is giving very persuasive arguments as to why America needs to become the world leader in the new Green Revolution. Becoming "Hot, Falt and Crowded" is a much bigger and scarier danger to us than Iraq ever was. But we also need to make sure that neo-cons and corporatists don't take this over and change it into yet another way to scare Americans into giving them free access to the national pocketbook once again.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 6, 2009
Doors of Perception: My tour of a hallucinogenic plant nursery in Mexico Because I'm an idealist and am always trying to save the world, I thought that taking some hallucinogenic plants here in Puerto Vallarta might help me get a jump on more ideas of how to do it -- and so I toured Rick's nursery showcase of datura, iboga, ayahuasca, etc. Rick said that it wasn't the right season to harvest the plants -- but I'm still trying to save the world! (It's always the right time for that.)
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Lost in Shenyang: A palace, Guitar Hero and a two-hour massage Well, my tour leader finally showed up and we went on a tour of an old Manchu palace -- but I haven't gotten my visa to North Korea yet. The DPRK's bureaucracy, however, isn't quite as bad as the US military bureaucracy involved if you wanna embed in Iraq!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 30, 2008
Ouch, that hurts: A rise in pediatric kidney stones is NOT connected with an increase in infant vaccines...or is it? I shouldn't be writing this story because I wouldn't want to be hurting Big Pharma's feelings--and I certainly wouldn't want to embarrass my wonderful six-year-old neighbor who now has to undergo kidney stone surgery. She'd like to be secretly famous like Hannah Montana is--but NOT for having kidney stones. And I have no proof that giving babies as many as five vaccine shots in one day might possibly mess up their kidneys....
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 22, 2007
Just the traditional stuff -- pot and tequila: Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 8 I just gave a talk on Iraq to some PV ex-pats -- an interesting group. "What should the US do to solve that problem?" someone asked. That's easy. Start by throwing Bush and Cheney in jail and go from there. And I also did some more research on PV's drug and alcohol supply.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 6, 2008
"Another child is diagnosed with autism every 20 minutes." And nobody protests this? It is totally sad that so many people have died unncessarily in "Bush's War" and it is right to protest this injustice. But how come millions are not also out protesting the huge number of babies that develop autism unneccessarily as well? Especially since a court just ruled that autism is caused by giving babies too many shots.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Pulling out of Iraq: The Camp Ramadi hand-over The press releases I receive from American forces in Iraq have been talking a lot about hand-overs and pull-outs lately. I've been noticing a definite trend. Could this be the behind-the-scenes beginning of an orderly pull-out from Iraq? Might President Obama actually be keeping his campaign promises? And what about the fine print in the latest press release, indicating America's "tenant" status in Camp Ramadi until 2011?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 7, 2007
Make War not Love: Sex & the City (of Baghdad) Sometimes the repressed sexual tension in the air around here is so palpable you could almost cut it with a knife. Let's do something about that!
(26 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 22, 2009
Israel's dilemma: How to calculate the risks of getting un-Chosen How far can the "Chosen" government of Israel go before it starts pushing God's buttons? Home demolitions, white phosphorus bombs, genocide, land-grabs, a 1000% rise in hate crimes against Israeli Arabs? I -- and probably God too -- expect more of Israel than one would expect of, say, Somalia or Rwanda because Israel is a civilized country and Israelis should know better.
(24 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 29, 2008
Gaza's 9-11: When fighting back isn't an option After the WTC was destroyed, New York got sympathy and protection. Spain, Britain, even Kosevo and Darfur got sympathy when they were attacked. But the Palestinians? After 60 years of attack after attack after attack? They are told to not even fight back.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 31, 2008
Irony: Europeans trusted Bush and he spit in their soup On the Iraq issue, on the Palestine issue, on economic issues, etc., Europe has been continually loyal to GWB. Not only Europe, but Russia, China, the American people -- and even Iceland -- could have gotten together and reigned in Cowboy George at any point between 2000 and now. But they didn't. And what have they gotten for their loyalty? Bush has spit in their soup.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 15, 2008
The future of books: Amazon's president talks about electronic books you can snuggle up with... Jeff Bezos, the president of Amazon.com, just gave a speech about his new "Kindle" product, an electronic book. Apparently they are selling like hotcakes and at $359 a pop, that's impressive. But what effect will Kindle have on bookstores and libraries? And if books have a future, will I have one too? I hate it that we can't see what is coming up next! And how do I go about getting MY book published on Kindle too?
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 1, 2006
Bicycle built for two: Solving gas shortages & obesity problems at the same time! Gasoline prices, pollution -- we all know about that type of oil. But there is another oil that is destroying America just as quickly: Partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil! This is a two-front oil war, America. And I have just the weapon to win both wars -- the bicycle!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 22, 2008
Expanding the "war" in order to end it: What Cambodia & Iran have in common Nixon ran for election on a platform of ending the war on Vietnam -- and he justified bombing Cambodia because it was a way to end the Vietnam quagmire. So what happened? The "war" ended alright -- but only because the bombing of Cambodia pissed everyone in Southeast Asia off so much that they all fought like hell to get rid of the Americans! And now Bush is going to try the same thing by bombing Iran? Good grief.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 25, 2008
"Jello Shots": From healthy Woman Warrior to old lady crip in just one day.... Since I had gel injections in my knees, got a side-effects reaction, now live in pain and haven't been able to walk, I've developed a whole new respect for old people. Those people are BRAVE -- way braver than me, even when I went off to Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus people treat me differently now, like I no longer exist. My father endured a whole world of pain without complaining before he died. Now he is truly my hero.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 4, 2008
Joe Lieberman wears makeup & other things I learned at the Biden-Palin debate You watched the debate yourself of course but here are some of the off-camera highlights too -- such as being held up at the St Louis airport while Bush uses Air Force One to fund-raise on the taxpayers' dime, Palin's base's rally & their feelings of being sold out on abortion & gay issues and Palin's faux (?) Manolo Blahnik high-heels. Who did she remind me of? Bree on Desperate Housewives? No, a Miss America contestant....
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 8, 2008
A road trip through the Caspian & Iran's English countryside: My Report on Iran # 6 Traveling to northern Iran is like going from Arizona to San Francisco. And I saw people who have lived in caves since Mongol times plus the ongoing British influence, a Swiss-Alps type region & the RAGING Caspian Sea -- more like NOLA during a hurricane than the home of the infamous pipeline that probably started the war on Afghanistan. "Iran never disappoints" -- except for the dry, stringy chicken kabobs. What's with that?
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 28, 2008
Plan B: Just how defensible IS the American Green Zone in Iraq? Downtown Baghdad is in turmoil right now. the Green Zone sits right in the heart of Baghdad & it would take billions of dollars to keep it safe from siege. The supply lines are stretched too thin, C-130s can't land in case of evacuation, troops are all out by the airport -- that's like having a fire station located miles away while your house is burning. But can taxpayers afford to bring the GZ up to meet fire codes? No.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 18, 2009
Israel & Palestine: Their 61-year-long war comes home to America Israel and Palestine need to go back to where they were in 1967 -- behind the Green Line. Why? So I can get my friends back again! I'm tired of fighting with them about who is right in this matter. Can't Americans just go back to fighting about abortion, gay rights and Britney Spears? Think Green Line -- please. Before I have no friends left!
(27 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Nobody gets it: We don't NEED the economy to grow! We're always being told that the health of America's economy depends on the rate of its growth. That's crazy. Like the hair and fingernails of a dead person, we still expect America's economy to keep on growing -- even in its coffin. And the same is true of our mega-banks, growing outside of FDIC rules governing the little banks. What we need is not a side-show-freak economy and banking system -- but s system that works.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 15, 2008
Dangerous weapons: Why airport security is a joke In the past 8 years, Bush, Cheney & them have dreamed up so many ways to ruin America that it is a solid tribute to my country that we still have any dignity, economy or infrastructure left at all. But Americans have wised up -- yet am I the only one who sees through the big airport security scam? Even Senate Homeland Security chief Joe Lieberman has been too busy riding around on the Straight Talk Express to notice this one.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 17, 2008
The scariest thing that I've seen in Iraq so far? CNN! (Report from Iraq, Pt. 10) After going without sleep for days, I started to get very pessimistic -- but not about Iraq. Iraq is going well. "But what good," I asked myself, "is all this hopefulness here going to do us if CNN, Bush/McCain and even Obama all keep promoting endless war?" And if America falls off the cliff again into more Iraqs, Vietnams, Mogadishus, failed states, Cold Wars?
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 28, 2009
"No on 8" goes south of the border: Gays in Puerto Vallarta I'm down here in Puerto Vallarta in time for the "Miss Gay Puerto Vallarta" coronation. I would like to link this with California's "No of 8" campaign (gay unions are legal in some Mexican states) but CA is probably looking more for a June Cleaver marries June Cleaver image. And today I'm going to a Quinceañera too -- and eating lots of pie from Yelapa and buying lots of tacos from street vendors too. And it's WARM down here!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 28, 2008
Who won the Mississippi debate? Obama -- but for different reasons than you think Obama strode presidentially into the venue while reporters cheered, but McCain snuck in under cover. Obama talked to the swing voters but McCain stuck to pumping up his base. Obama spoke directly to those of us worried about the economy while McCain spoke to his Goldwater Girls. Then the Secret Service threatened me with jailtime -- but that's a different story.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Fast food and Coca-Cola: Two main staples of Iranian cuisine People need to get over their concepts of Tehran as being just short of the caves of Tora Bora. It is an entirely westernized city that, just like America, runs on fast food!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 15, 2009
"Burma Days": My grand adventure in Myanmar It took me FOREVER to type up this report on my trip to Burma -- but here it is. I want to encourage tourism to Burma by telling you what it is like there and hopefully making you want to get on the next jet plane out to Rangoon.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Isolate & brainwash: It works on women and Americans BUT NOT ON JANELLE! Back from spending his teen years at behavior modification camps where they used "isolate and brainwash" techniques on him, Jordan then tries to "isolate and brainwash" his girlfriend -- and it works! And it works for the neo-cons too. But I'd love to see them try to pull that crap on Janelle! (I'm a Big Brother All Stars fan by the way).
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 4, 2007
Slim the Cat is on his last legs -- help help help! A 15-year-old feral cat living in my back yard now looks pretty much like Skeletor and is rotting away. How do I catch him? And how do I "put him to sleep"? And how do I got the courage to do it? This cat DOES NOT WANT TO DIE. And I do not want to kill him. But sometimes enough pain is enough.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 22, 2006
The Plame season finale: Suspense builds as Rove & Cheney turn on each other. Who will win? Karl Rove, when cornered by Fitzgerald, will probably try to weasel out of his involvement in the Plame scandal by swift-boating Cheney. But will he be able to get away with it? Stay tuned to the final episode of Plame CSI and find out!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 30, 2009
How to win a Supreme Court appeal & other helpful advice on how to become wise... When that PBS special suggested that mature adults also get a brain growth-spurt, I went to the Berkeley-Albany Bar Association lunch to try to stimulate my "wisdom bump" too. Myron Moskovitz gave a lecture on how to win supreme court appeals. First you put yourself in the shoes of the judge -- not the opposing attorney's shoes. And then you.... We also ate salmon. Is that gonna help me get wise too?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 1: Flying down to the Vallarta Wal-Mart The Wal-Mart here is HUGE. Has NAFTA been stocking its shelves? And China may not need the US as a customer any more since it appears that Wal-Mart can hand China all the rest of the world as an outlet for its goods. So China may switch to euros and...when the Great Depression of 2008 arrives, remember that houses in Puerto Vallarta are cheap! Plus they've got a Wal-Mart....
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 17, 2008
Dust bowl: Like Okies in the 1930s, Iraqi farmers must move on or dig in While stranded in a dust storm in Anbar province I started wishing I could interview an Iraqi farmer about the current famine and resulting dust bowl here. But over tea and Froot Loops for breakfast in the airbase dining facility, I got to interview one of the world's leading experts on Iraqi dirt instead. Pulitzer Prize, here I come!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Up the Bucs: Visiting South Africa's Soweto -- the southwest townships, then & now Come on a tour of Soweto with me -- and perhaps you can learn as much about the days of Apartheid as I did. Sorry I forgot to bring my camera.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 14, 2008
Ready & Forward: Going on patrol with 10 Cav and getting lost again (My report from Iraq, Pt 9) "The main test of our soldiers' idealism, character & honor will be whether or not our military once again blindly follows the corporatists' orders without doing their research. If Bush, Cheney or McCain orders our military to attack Iran...or Venezuela...or Russia...or San Francisco, where will these honorable men and women draw the line?" I asked myself while out on patrol of the streets of Baghdad. With photos to prove it.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Deal or No Deal: If Bush attacks Iran, America stands to lose it all George Bush is hinting broadly that he is about to "open the suitcase" and drop Shock and Awe on Iran. Deal or no deal? A war on Iran would greatly up the odds in favor of a severe depression occurring as America's economy continues to spiral hopelessly into debt because our money is no longer backed up with equity. And Bush has already mortgaged the farm. Deal or no deal?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 22, 2008
More photos from Burma (Rangoon) Here are some photos of Rangoon
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 5, 2009
Judge Judy alert!: There are NO federal small claims courts in America I just found out the hard way that there is no such thing as a federal small claims court. But there should be. At my February 25 hearing against the DoD, I'm gonna ask my judge to set precedence & either remand me back to state small claims court where I belong or else move to start a federal small claims court himself. And if that doesn't work, I'm going to try to get Judge Judy (or the US Supreme Court) to take my case!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 4, 2007
Ramadan for dummies: How to survive without food until sunset Sometimes one needs a little encouragement during Ramadan. Here it is: Fasting for Ramadan will make you a better person. Still having trouble? Do it with a buddy. And it also helps if you live in Manhattan and the sun rises over the Empire State Building a little bit later than elsewhere.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Alcoholism in Africa: You know it's a problem here when even I start looking good! Village life in Africa surprised me in a whole lot of ways. For example, I didn't mind the absence of running water, everyone here watches "Generations" on TV every night and there is a major drinking problem among the unemployed men. I wonder if they would they consider starting up a branch of AA?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 20, 2008
From Afghanistan to Ethiopia, Xerxes over-extended his empire: My report from Iran # 4 I went to Shiraz, in Iran, and everyone there is into picnicing. They would love my son Joe's band "123 Picnic". Then I went to Persepolis and to Xerxes' necropolis, which logically led me to thoughts of George W. Bush, who over-extended his empire too. I'd love to see GWB end up in a cave as well -- but preferably alive, so that all us tourists can come and gape at him too.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 13, 2009
"Birth control kills babies!": My recent trip to Planned Parenthood.... I had sore breasts so I went off to PP for a checkup & ran into a spooky old dude picketing against abortions. "What about the number of people dead in the Middle East since Eisenhower first began the inept Republican policy of killing people there to make America 'safe'?" sez me. But then the SOD got sidetracked into the birth control issue. Apparently that involves killing babies too. Ladies, never give up The Pill!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 11, 2008
Report from Iran: Gaining a dress-size in Tehran & other stories... I've been in Tehran for a day and have seen lots of museums so far and ate a whole bunch of food, but haven't yet met any terrorists or war mongers. So far everyone has been really really nice. And I have the photos to prove it!
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 15, 2006
Ungrateful whelps: Getting along with grown-up children is hard work! The main reason for having children is so that they will come visit you in the old folks' home. Well, it looks like I'm gonn be eating the Jello and shuffling around in the walker all by myself...but at least the four of them aren't sleeping on my front-room couch.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 10, 2008
Does prayer really work? "No." At the rate I've been wearing my knees out, if prayer really worked, we'd have PEACE in the world right now. But maybe peace will come through the back door -- because America simply can't afford "war" any more. And maybe my appeal to the Pentagon to reinstate my embed will come through. And maybe Desperate Housewives will get back on the air and...maybe in 2008 we won't just elect "More of the Same". Not a prayer.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 10, 2008
North Korea or Bust: Me, my Shenyang hotel and www.technorati.com In order to get media credentials for the political conventions this fall, you gotta have "authority" at Technorati. And I actually do. But even though I have authority there, I have ZERO authourity with the North Korean embassy in Shenyang and I'm not really sure if I have any authority at my hotel here either. But if my visa doesn't come through soon, I'm gonna end up like Eloise, the little girl who lived in a hotel.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 9, 2007
Africa: The world's largest refugee camp -- with a little help from the G-20... The G-8 has been raping Africa for a long, long time. But now they are sharing the wealth with their younger siblings, the G-20, which meets in South Africa in November. From Darfur to Zimbabwe, Africa has become just one big refugee camp -- and you know that conditions are bad when people are actually leaving there for the better conditions in Iraq!
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Innocents Abroad: Richard Engel's new book and going off to Najaf in Iraq.... I heard Ariana Huffington, Richard Engel and that Kos guy at a panel discussion recently. Here's a report -- and also a report on Engel's new book on Iraq, a real page-turner. Plus he describes upcoming tours of the holy city of Najaf. I want to go! And maybe I could bring back some REAL facts about Iraq, not just the ones Bush made up.
Jane Stillwater, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Grilled: My experience at the Israeli border if they had actually let me go on to Bethlehem, I would have been totally won over by them and maybe even re-thought my currently-low opinion of Israeli war-mongering, human-rights violating, bullying, neo-colonialism and general tyrannical behavior. If I had actually wanted to spend time with haters, I coulda just stayed back home in America.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 29, 2008
Secret Service guy: "Hospital or jail?" Me: "Jail!" When the guy at the checkpoint at the Mississippi McCain-Obama debate saw my official media credential badge photo with me wearing a Muslim headscarf, the spit hit the fan! And then a Secret Service agent stole my badge and threatened me with jail. However, in the tradition of James Meridith, I too stood up for justice -- but ended up in the hospital instead.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 26, 2008
America's citizen-soldiers: My interview with a Marine colonel in Iraq When I got an interview with the commanding officer of the "Fighting Fifth" regiment in Anbar, my brain froze. But later it occurred to me that this officer was one in a long tradition of citizen-soldiers who can be trusted to reconstruct Iraq. But still the Iraqis fight against the Americans -- instead of letting our soldiers help them with a new Marshall Plan. Why? Because the Iraqis can't trust Cheney and Bush. Would you?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 21, 2006
India, Pakistan, Afghanistan & Iran: Sibling rivalry rears its ugly head Like how my mean big sister always tried to boss me around, the larger nations in this region try to run Afghanistan's life. But the real reason for sibling rivalry here is the region's neglectful "parents" -- the Bush bureaucracy. PS: If you want more bang for your buck in Afghanistan, stop investing in weapons and start investing in the WOMEN of Afghanistan instead.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Madam Jane predicts the future: "No Country for Old Cows..." Madam Jane takes a look at the future of the lowly quart of milk. Yikes! Tornadoes, heat attacks, dying bees, sky-rocketing gas prices. "But MJ, is there any hope?" What can we do? Should I stock up on powdered milk or what? And why did nobody bring up MILK at the recent Cleveland presidential primary debate?
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 10, 2009
The special "Everybody Hates Jane" issue of my housing co-op newsletter The board of directors at my housing co-op have screwed up again, firing their 14th management company. HUD is disgusted with us, the residents do nothing, things go from worse to worse. But who do you think is gonna get blamed for all these disasters? ME! "Everybody Hates Jane".
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Death on the freeway: Eulogy for a former KBR-Iraq contractor What happens to Americans who come back from Iraq and their health is gone? Here's one man's story. Did he commit suicide or not? And does it even matter? In either case, his health was ruined and would have never come back. Rest in peace, Dave Crow.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 23, 2006
Dear Glen Beck: Yes, America DOES need a strong defense -- against GWB! "The most important thing in America right now," says Glen Beck, "is defense." Defense against who? Who the freak does the world's largest super-power need to defend itself against? Lebanon? WMDs in Iraq? China's unholy alliance with Wal-Mart? Or does Grenada have us in their cross-hairs again? Not! But Glen is right. America DOES need to defend itself from terrible danger....
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 24, 2008
The new Spartans: Dealing with the results of a militarized America Let's do the math. Our military is now stretched very thin -- covering Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Latin America, Georgia -- plus those missile thingies in Poland. And that's just for starters. But can we afford this? No. At this rate, McCain will soon be forced to go back in the Navy and Obama will have to go off to Boot Camp! And look what happened to Sparta in the same situation -- they had no Plan B!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 30, 2008
Horny old man: Could Sarah Palin actually be THAT desperate? My friend Joe thinks that McCain is only after Palin for her body, and is luring her with promises of being VP. Hey, Joe! I thought making nasty innuendos was Rove's job! Plus can you imagine lusting after John McCain? Only if you're about 80 years old and living in a Florida rest home with no other prospects. Even Cindy isn't THAT desperate I bet!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 8, 2008
Springtime in Berkeley: WOW micro-minerals, Annie's Annuals and my purple thumb When my friend Melinda called and asked me to become the local distributer of a plant food called WOW, I was totally dubious -- but I gave it a try. "Uh, er, wanna buy some plant food?" I asked someone at Annie's Annuals nursery, feeling like Willie Loman in "Death of a Salesman". But I did get to see acres of flowers in bloom & a "Lord Nelson" heirloom sweet pea plant out of my trip to Annie's. My sweet pea is SO nice. Wow!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bunkbeds: How Generation X-Box prepares for the coming Depression I just KNEW that Bush would sink the business of America like he did all his other business failures, so I spent 8 years trying to prepare for the coming Bush Great Depression. It hasn't hit me personally yet, but it is currently taking "Generation X-Box" down hard. How does our youngest generation cope with poverty and unemployment? In a word? "Bunkbeds!"
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 7, 2007
Better than tequila? Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 2 If you're going to Mexico, you gotta experiment with psychotropic drugs, right? Well, sort of. Here's the story of my half-hearted attempt to gain wisdom from an old Axtec dream guide. "Here is how to help Iraq vets get over their nightmares," he whispered in my ear. "Tell them to start fighting the real war -- the War on Greed. Their real battle is here at home."
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 11, 2008
Wetback: Can I sneak across the North Korean border without getting caught? Am I gonna have to swim across the river between China and North Korea in order live my dream of checking to see if Bush's so-called "Axis of Evil" is all that it's cranked up to be? Or will my visa come through in time? And what are my friends in the Delegation for Friendship Among Women doing in Pyongyang without me right now? Eating! I can't believe that I'm missing all that food....
(21 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2009-style: Another little girl in a red coat.... Being sick at heart over the slaughter in Gaza, I went to the United States Holocaust Museum's website to see if there was any similarities between the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943 and what is happening in Gaza right now. What I found was sickening. Never again? Yeah right. What Gaza needs right now is a new Schindler's list.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 20, 2006
Wanna bring peace to the Middle East? Get the Burning Man crew on the job! Let's dump Bush's failed Middle East policy and have the Burning Man crew be in charge instead. Every year in September, these guys turn the Nevada desert into paradise. They can turn the deserts of the Middle East into paradise too. What's their secret? They CREATE instead of DESTROY. Is this such a difficult concept to grasp that it is totally beyond the Bush bureaucracy's mentality to even imagine? Duh, yeah.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Holiday greetings from Burma.... Well, after much trepedation about going there it turns out that Burma is the ultimate tourist paradise -- think Thailand forty years ago. and the Junta seem to have settled out in the jungle.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 6, 2008
Peace Pilgrim II: Driving across America in a wheelchair? I always wanted to walk across America like Peace Pilgrim did back in the 1950s but I got screwed up by SynVisc injections into my knees. Time for Plan B -- crossing America for peace by wheelchair? And the "Jello Shot" injections I got cost $1819.99 per series. 40 series per patient? That's $72,2799.60, mostly profit. No wonder SynVisc is pushed so hard. But I leave for Burma tomorrow if I have to crawl to the airport!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 10, 2007
Down and out in Yelapa, Mexico: Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 4 Now I'm at a small beach town in Mexico, at war with a rooster and writing about Napoleon's secret hemorrhoid cure and how the "war" in Iraq is more like a barroom brawl and meeting a Huichol Indian named Alejandro and...eating pie!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 3, 2007
Ugly Betty: What would happen if GWB ran Mode magazine? What if GWB ran Mode magazine the way he is running the war on Iraq? "Ugly Betty" fans would understand this question in an instant! Like the evil Alexa, Bush would lie, slander and manipulate until Mode was in bankruptcy and destroyed. Unless of course Ugly Betty -- or the American people -- came to the rescue!
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 30, 2009
Bazookas, flintlocks & concealibility: The handgun's role in the coming hard times Were our Founding Fathers considering the concealability factor when they wrote the Second Amendment? Did they even have anything to conceal back then? How could Mae West have concealed a flintlock for instance? And what was Justice Scalia THINKING when he called a flintlock a concealed weapon? And are people buying guns because the dollar is tanking? And what about Oakland? And other gun-control questions...
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 23, 2009
Revolt of the sheep: What if NOBODY signs up for digital TV? I can't believe that media corporations are getting away with this scam to have US buy our own digital black bloxes instead of them buying the boxes for us. They are getting big bucks for more commercials, thousands of new uncontrolled free channels -- and now they're ordering us to pay for this like we were sheep instead of free American patriots. But they need us more than we need them. Kill your TV. Go read a book.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 23, 2008
The special "Ghost Whisperer" issue of my housing co-op's newsletter HUD has finally come down hard on my co-op's wayward board of directors --and perhaps Jennifer Love Hewitt can also whisper to some of Savo's ghosts and put them to rest too, including some Ilone Indians, a murdered resident, a veteran of Port Chicago, our re-hab plans for this year and Jimi Hendrix too!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 8, 2007
Don't drink the water! Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 3 Hey, the water in Puerto Vallarta is fine. The beaches are fine. EVERYTHING in Puerto Vallarta is fine! But nothing in Gaza is anywhere NEAR being fine -- especially the water. There's hardly any fuel and they just experienced a sewage tsunami. Let's set the Isreal neo-cons straight and help turn the beaches of Gaza into the new Palistine Riviera!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Industrial self-sufficiency & Gucci: My report from Iran # 2 Iran has learned the hard way to prefer Gucci instead of war. America should have learned that lesson in Vietnam -- but we didn't. Also if AMERICA ever gets sanctioned too, we also had better be industrially self-suffiecint if we want to survive. And boy you should see some of the Tehran malls! Very Rodeo Drive.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 27, 2007
Blackwater mercenaries, West Point graduates & other contractors' tales I thought I might have radioactive teeth from brushing them in Euphrates River water -- but then I met a KBR contractor who was in much worse shape. And my friend Stewart almost got blown up in a market bombing. Are we living in the world of "Lord of the Rings" evil or what?
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 24, 2006
Sidetracked: How I never heard Malcolm X speak WHY did I throw out the program for Malcolm X's funeral? WHAT must I have been thinking? But I still have the memory of the tribute that was paid to that great man on that cold winter day. I only wich that I had heard him speak too.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 20, 2008
The SC debate, episode 2: Cruising for prostitutes in an evangelical town Talk about your strange adventures! Last night while I was out walking around Myrtle Beach in the rain and looking for a place to eat, I got mistaken for a prostitute. But it turned out okay because my "John" then took me on a tour of the city -- and told me what the going rates for my services were should I ever decide to take up the world's oldest profession. Plus we passed a lot of churches as we drove around.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 7, 2008
Report from Shenyang: The "California Beef Noodle King" is my only hope! When you go to a foreign country, you gotta learn how to communicate or you just might end up with no food! That's what almost happened to me in China. And if you truly want to get what you need when you are abroad, you have to learn how to Use Your Words. You can't just waltz into a foreign country and grab what you want. (And you definitely can't just go into a foreign country and bomb people and steal their oil.)
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 30, 2007
The Dalai Lama & Costco: When Ultimate Truth met Relative Truth... This week, the Dalai Lama talked about Ultimate Truth. It was wonderful. Then I compared how four major religions had each reacted to their own Holocaust experiences -- and Tibetan Buddhism won that competition hands down. Then we went shopping at Costco....
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Madame Jane Predicts: How to survive the coming economic meltdown.... My crystal ball predicts that it's too late to PREVENT Bush's economic meltdown -- but not too late to attempt damage control. How? Madame Jane predicts that the answer to this question lies in the old folks homes of America. Ask those Great Depression survivers, "What would you have done differently in 1928?" Aside from impeaching Herbert Hoover....
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 3, 2007
Day 3, 2007 Book Expo: Partying with librarians & Liberians & Plame.... I'm scheduled to meet Rob Kall here today. But in the meantime, I got the lowdown on Valerie Plame's speech here and partied with a bunch of librarians and heard about the 64-year-old grandmother who is trying to reform the corruption in Liberia. And then she could go reform the corruption in Iraq....
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 25, 2009
My day in court against the DoD: Everyone was wearing black suits but me.... I finally got my day in court against the DoD. Speaking before the judge, I was a nervous wreck. But what were the results of the hearing? An order to mediate with the DoD. But at least the judge didn't throw my case out -- and I did refrain from running around the courtroom screaming "Attica! Attica!" That's a definite plus.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ah the life of a Reporter: McCain tried to kill me & Obama doesn't want me backstage! It's hard being a reporter. You always have to come up with hot stories. Maybe the Republican convention has some? About McCain's face-lift? Or the 150+ private jets that flew into Aspen to greet him last week? Or maybe I could write about all those bank runs -- or the coming up wars? But maybe America doesn't need any more hot stories. Maybe all we need these days is honest government.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Great American Dream still exists -- in Iraq! The wonderful economic miracle of 1950s America still exists -- in Iraq. However, it's built on the blood of a million dead people. Bobby Kennedy has something to say about that! Me too.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 17, 2007
An eye-witness report from a Marine Lt. Colonel in Iraq: America needs to know this kind of stuff Here's a letter from Marine Lt.Col JJ Dill in Iraq. Why am I sending this to OpEd News? Because America needs to know about what is happening there, both the good and the bad. Sure, the Marines flattened Fallugah. But they are also doing good stuff as well. And even if everything that Lt. Col Dill writes here are absolute lies - which they are NOT - we still need to know how our military is thinking. This stuff is important.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Movie review: Children of Men -- they stole my plot! What if babies got fed up from being born into a war-torn world where they constantly faced abuse and starvation? What if said babies went on strike and refused to get born? That's what happened in this new movie -- and on my blog two years ago. But let's pray that it never happens in real life!
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 28, 2009
9-11, Iraq & Gaza: How many "conspiracy theories" are enough? Remember when we were under pressure to shut up about 9-11, to shut up about stolen elections, to shut up about Bush's lies regarding Iraq, to shut up about the coming economic disasters? And now we are also being pressured to deny that Gaza was a massacre. "It didn't happen". But then dead children tell no tales.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 10, 2007
Flowers in the Attic: GWB's blatant abuse of America's military & why it continues... Like an abused child, the American military clings to its abuser despite all the terrible treatment it continually receives from Bush and Cheney. Any normal American would stop child abuse but no one is speaking out to save our troops from being stretched beyond endurance. But wait! Now someone IS speaking up for our troops! Who could it be? Paris Hilton! You just go, girl!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 1, 2009
Madam Jane predicts: Social Security pensioners will be the new upper class With the economy sinking, Rush Limbaugh trying to be the voice of America & the IDF shooting Hamas-infiltrated zoo animals in Gaza, the future certainly looks dim. What does Madame Jane have to say about it? "You'll be okay. Everyone else will be so poor that S.S. recipients will be the new upper class." That bad, huh? "And Bush succeeded where Hitler & Stalin failed -- bringing America to its knees." Got any GOOD news, MJ?
The entrance to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Cannonball, N.D., From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Thanksgiving at Standing Rock Thank goodness for the Standing Rock Sioux. Like it or not, they are protecting us. They are standing in place instead of us. They are bravely standing in front of a hurricane of climate-death and are doing it in our name. And all we do to thank them is to pay for the militarized police's tear gas, dogs and bullets that attack them.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Time & money well spent: A Huichol healing ceremony & the beach at Yelapa If you want to spend your money on something truly meaningful, I recommend use it to buy you time on the beach in Yelapa or to have a Huichol shaman do a spiritual cleansing ceremony on you. This is a MUCH better use of $$$ than spending 44 trillion dollars on stupid and useless weapons of war.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 1, 2007
My "Dear Jane" letter: There's not even ONE embed available in all of Baghdad! I've been trying to re-embed in Iraq. Now CentCom Baghdad is telling me that there are NO embeds available in all of Baghdad. None? Is Bush's war going that badly? That CNN and ABC aren't being allowed in either? Or is it just me? PS: I'm writing this from the Press Room of the NYC 2007 Book Expo, a book-lover's dream!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 24, 2007
American Gangsta: Selling gold to our mothers & heroin to our kids I bought a bootleg copy of "American Gangsta" and then decided to do some research into the heroin trade here in America. What did I find out? That children are buying a lot of it on the street because it's so cheap. "No child left behind". Then I researched the price of gold. $100 buys only 1/8 of an ounce. Ouch!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Mecca & the Hajj: Lessons From the Islamic School of Hard Knocks, Episode One Because the Hajj season is upon us, I promised the publisher of Straitwell Travel Books that I would send you an episode on what Mecca during the Hajj is REALLY like. Here it is. Enjoy.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Business not as usual in Thailand: Hotels are only 10% occupied I made it as far as Thailand, bad knees and all. Now I'm off to Burma.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 10, 2008
Dear Abby: I'm over here in Iraq.... (Part 7 of my Iraq embed report) I have lots of questions about Iraq. Will Dear Abby answer them? What really happened with the Camp Falcon explosion? Do I really have to drink all that water? Are MRAPS really safe? If soldiers yell at their sweethearts over the phone, will they stop being unfaithful? Are Cheney and them trying to start another Cold War? Dear Abby....
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 6, 2008
The special "Law and Order" issue of my housing co-op's newsletter Now my housing co-op is in deep dog dookie. We just failed the national HUD REAC inspection. What would Sam Waterston do in my position? Stop whining, gather evidence and develop a theory of the case. Here's my theory: "I don't want to lose my home!!!!"
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 14, 2006
Gaza, Iraq & sibling rivalry: The psychology of civil war & some probate advice I hated my evil sister Ann -- until a psychologist pointed out to me that my real conflict was with my father. The same is true in Iraq & Gaza where the real conflict is with the neo-cons and the zionists -- not with the locals. But I still hate my sister. When Pop died, she dragged me through probate court. That's worse than Shock & Awe!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 5, 2008
The New China, post-Bush Beijing, gelato & breast implants I made it to Shenyang, China, last night and as far as I can tell I'm the only Caucasian in this entire city. And jet-lagged, at 3 am, I started riffing on the advantages of bovine growth hormones over getting breast implants and how gelato can increase the size of your, er, bosoms. And things are really going well in post-GWB China. Except, of course, for the rock-hard beds.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 22, 2008
Leaving with honor: My 12th and final report from Iraq Now might be a good time for our troops in Iraq to "Leave with honor", before those [leaders] in Washington cause the dollar to collapse even further and we can no longer afford to stay there whether we want to or not. And what about me? Will I be able to "Leave with honor" too? Without getting any more bug bites or getting lost?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 19, 2007
Hazard pay: Comparing a stateside CEO's job description with a Marine's in Iraq If you look at the working conditions and pay of a Marine in Iraq and imagine him doing this same job stateside, the results would give you a different perspective on how our brave Marines are being exploited. To do that same job here, they'd be paid over $200,000 a year! Instead, cruel and avaricious bosses are putting them in more danger for less pay than even coal miners or meat-packers. That's just plain WRONG
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 21, 2008
Thanksgiving: Non-combat-related deaths in Iraq, MRAPs & turkeys I don't want to cook for Thanksgiving this year but if I do, here's a recipe for stuffing, a description of just how dumb Broad-Breasted White turkeys can be and a few questions about all the "non-combat-related" deaths in Iraq I've been getting press releases on lately. Could it be because of the MRAPs that these soldiers' families will be spending a very sad Thanksgiving day?
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 19, 2007
Jane's armchair tour: Learning about Afghanistan & Kabul the easy way... While waiting for my June 16 embed in Iraq to get approved, I decided to type up my notes on Afghanistan. Here are some of them. I hope you enjoy them. I'll type up the rest when my fingers stop bleeding!
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 24, 2007
Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage? Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 9 During my last days in PV, I wanted to do something meaningful so I went off to the city dump with "Children of the Dump"and toured their outstanding food and education programs there. Then I watched the sunset from the beach, got word that Baby New Year was arriving early and raced the stork back home to Berkeley.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Crossing the Yalu River: The Red Army, the North Koreans and me Can you believe it? I got busted in China AGAIN. What is it about me that makes authority figures from China to the US to Iraq want to question me? Is it my sensible shoes? My unruly hair? What? But I finally set actual foot on North Korean soil, er, concrete -- and didn't find any Evil. Sorry GWB. I really tried! Then I went to the Korean war museum and bought a DVD and flew a kite. And tomorrow I'm going back to the USA.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Girl Scout cookies: The true story of how our troop sold 60,000 boxes! How did our Girl Scout troop manage to sell 60,000 boxes of cookies? It is an epic saga. And what did we do with the profits? We went on a Caribbean cruise. Great story. Inspiring. TWO TONS of cookies? Yeah!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 15, 2007
How I survived my 65th birthday: Dinner at Chez Panisse! To soften the blow of me turning 65, my family and I went to Chez Panisse for a special gourmet meal -- and the salad came with a surprise guest. But when the ambulance arrived at the end of the meal, we just shrugged. "Food to die for!"
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 26, 2008
What would Jesus do? Tear down the wall between Jerusalem & Bethlehem! WWJD? He'd treat all citizens of Israel/Palistine equally. Justice for all. But I have other things to worry about right now. For instance, what will President McCain do when he is elected? Work his fingers to the bone for the weapons industry, of course. Isn't that why we elected him? Aren't a million more Humvees just what we need right now? McCain's militarization Roadmap will take US down the same path that Gaza is now on!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 5, 2008
Jock-Shock: Has Rush Limbaugh just become the RNC's new speech-writer? Judging from last week's speeches at the Republican convention, all I can assume is that Rush Limbaugh wrote most of the material. The speeches were filled with such folksy half-truths, slurs & inuendoes that it appears Rush is becoming the RNC's new speech-writer. Wait a minute. Did I just say HALF-lies?
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Four ethnic "Survivors": An interview with four Oakland teen prostitutes William Manchester wrote about the barbaric lives of medieval Europeans and I was shocked -- but not as shocked as I was when four giggling teenage girls that I met at a mall recently turned out to be teenage prostitutes. "How did you all meet?"I asked them. "We all have the same pimp."
(16 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Running for President in Iraq: Which candidate will win the grunts' vote? Our troops in Iraq should be VERY interested in who is running for Prez -- and who is going to have control over their fate. Here's a report on my straw vote taken in Kuwait while waiting to fly out to Baghdad on a troop transport and while waiting in line at a dining facility once we arrived.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 19, 2008
The Mississippi presidential debates: Does Jackson have a public transportation system? I'm off to cover the presidential debates in Mississippi. "I'm going to Jackson...." just like June Carter Cash -- and I'm doing it on a shoestring budget. So. Does anyone know of any homeless shelters there? Social safety nets? Also, we're ALL going to need social safety nets if McCain the Shadow Maverick gets elected so best to start preparing now!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 20, 2007
Iraq's Anbar Province: The World's Next Top Model? Things are going really well here in Anbar. But will it become the model for how things are done worldwide? Nah. Too much money spent on jobs, infrastructure, education and healthcare and not enough money spent on weapons and roads.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 30, 2008
Our troops: Still slogging through the "Long War" in Iraq.... Every single day I get at least five to ten press releases from MNFI ( Multi-National Forces-Iraq) regarding the hard work that our troops are doing in Iraq. Every single day for years now, I have received these releases. I am including the text of some of them. Our troops have been working their hearts out to do their jobs well over there. So. Job well done! Now isn't it time that we brought them all home?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 26, 2008
Report from Mississippi: Oxford in a tizzy, Obama on his way The good folks of Oxford appear to be really pissed off at McCain -- and now he is waffling, trying to think up a good excuse to back down. And I'm sleeping on a park bench here and waiting for Obama.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 3, 2007
Mothers Day: The good, the bad and the ugly! Mothers Day is coming up and my son Joe made me a video and put it on YouTube as my Mothers Day present -- reenacting all the joy and pain of motherhood (with a few anti-war statements thrown in)
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 22, 2008
Hoovervilles & camping out at the Memphis airport: My trip to Mississippi so far.... I'm off to MS for the Obama/McCain debate -- and flying back with a lay-over in Vegas where I plan to win a million dollars & buy gold from a company that will store it in Canada for me. And Bush is obviously still scheming how to get the last DROP of money out of the treasury before he goes. "I got an idea! Get me Henry Paulson on the line!" he cries. But let's give money to homeowners instead of Bush -- & call it Section 8!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 11, 2008
No proof of service: Taking the DoD to small claims court, continued.... I was finally going to get my day in court & get my money back from the DoD after they rescinded my embed -- except that the court was supposed to serve the DoD and didn't, but they forgot to tell me. "Continued to January 9, 2009." So now I've got to get all dressed up & go to court AGAIN. But first I gotta serve the DoD. Where? In Iraq? No in Monterrey, next to Carmel, Big Sur, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.... "Road trip!"
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 25, 2007
Millennium Challenge coincidence: The war on Iraq began with war games too What was the opening move in Bush's war on Iraq? The Millennium Challenge war games. Are Bush's new war games in the Strait of Hormuz his opening move in a war on Iran? You bet.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 25, 2007
My latest housing co-op newsletter: The special "Pirates of Savo Island" issue For those of you who have been following the soap opera that revolves around my housing co-op, here's another installment -- wherein I get to talk like a pirate!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 11, 2007
How I spent September 11: Getting tested for Alzheimers.... Would you like to know how it feels to be tested for Alzheimers? Follow my journey, step by step. And guess what? I can now PROVE beyond a doubt that I am completely and totally sane. Now the rest of America needs to stop acting crazy and throw Bush and Cheney in the looney bin!
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 10, 2009
Gaza Iraq Afghanistan Congo Oakland: Is the killing EVER going to stop? All this killing and killing and killing -- I really can't stand it any more. Why is it still happening? This is the 21st century, damn it, and we are still acting like cavemen. Why would ANYONE want to kill another living human being? How can the human race even think about continuing to kill and kill and kill each other? What drives a man to take the life of another man? And will ANY of it ever have been worth it? No.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 28, 2008
News flash: Obama's top priority is NOT to get consumers to go shopping! GWB told us to go shopping after his 9-11 mess & that didn't work -- even when he himself went shopping for a new war. So what SHOULD Obama's top priority be? To go back to Ohio & demand a recount of the 2004 election -- & in FL in 2000 too! Then he wouldn't have to worry about all the moles and Executive Orders GWB is now busy placing -- plus Bush would be wiped out of US history books forever as the 43rd pres! Works for me.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 7, 2009
Ambushed by Taliban in Afghanistan & by unemployment in America David Pratt, a journalist for the Scotland Sunday Herald, recently wrote about getting ambushed by the Taliban -- which got me to thinking. Where do the Taliban get all their weapons? The five biggest weapons exporters are America, Russia, Germany, France and The Netherlands. No wonder the EU is so supportive of US wars! But does this mean that in order to keep unemployment down here, we gotta go out & declare more wars? No!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 8, 2006
Market rate rents, the elephant in our Section 8 housing project's boardroom For the last 15 years, I have been battling self-interest groups who have taken control of my HUD-subsidized housing project co-op but my efforts have been to no avail. Now I'm taking my fight to the streets! I'm tired of not being able to do anything about elephant dookie in the Board Room, but at least I can vent!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 30, 2008
The $2,685 sweater: When did it become cool in America to pay $2,685 for a SWEATER? I have bad knees and spent a year fighting my health insurance company to get them treated -- but finally won. And in my physical therapist's waiting room, I was shocked by the high prices of mere clothing listed in "Town & Country" magazine. For the price of a single sweater, for instance, I could make a down payment on a whole new set of knees.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 4, 2009
European Union wannabe: We need a Middle East Union too Instead of allowing themselves to be picked off one by one, Middle Eastern countries should seriously consider doing what Europe has done. Then their major question wouldn't be which country the current U.S. Secretary of State will pick off next but rather what to name their coins. The Mido?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 17, 2006
The Bush bureaucracy: Definitely NOT "Government at the Speed of Thought"! After reading Bill Gates' book on inovation and openness in business, comparing his ideas to the way George Bush runs our government just makes me want to cry. America needs to be run smoothly and efficiently, not just be somebody's toy. Instead of correcting errors as they happen, Bush's failures such as Iraq, FEMA and 9-11 go on and on. With a secretive inflexible dufus as its CEO, America is being run into the ground.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 16, 2005
The economic collapse of the Soviet Union, er, I mean, the United States There was the analogy between the USSR going into Afghanistan and the USA going into Iraq -- that an economic collapse might result here like it did there. There may be another analogy here also: If the USA also suffers an economic collapse, will the New America resemble the New Russia too?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The trees of Trinity County, the trees of Tibet: Forest fires & toilet paper.... Forest fires are destroying trees rapidly in Trinity County -- but not as fast as the trees of Tibet are being turned into toilet paper. And in the future we can expect many more blockbuster summers of forest fires due to global warming. Folks, it's time to take action to get our forests out of the toilet!
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 1, 2007
Report From Baghdad; Jane Stillwater Talks To McCain, Was the locale McCain took his walk known for it's safety or danger? OpEdNews own Jane Stillwater had done it!! She's in Baghdad getting answers to questions the mainstream media don't ask.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The special "Clean House -- Home Makeover" issue of my housing co-op newsletter Well, the Board alliance at my co-op has finally gone and done it -- HUD is about to shut our housing project down. But the good news is that I'm finally going to move to a downstairs unit and am having a junk-sorting party this Saturday. YOU are invited! And also those people on the reality TV show called "Clean House" are invited too. But I think that my junk collection is too horrifying even for them!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Special "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition" issue of my housing co-op newsletter Is the re-hab at my housing co-op actually finally gonna happen now? Or will the Board of Directors get their way and get rid of their prime whistle-blower -- ME! And will my two-month-old granddaughter end up living on the streets? The Stillwater family is deserving. Our home deserves an extreme makeover! Where is Ty Pennington when we need him? "Move the bus!"
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 27, 2008
The New China: Wall-to-wall smog I was so freaking jet-lagged when I got back from China that I said some things that I probably shouldn't have -- such as "If you want to know how 'aweful' Tibet was 100 years ago, just go to modern-day Bhutan," and "The Chinese may have a smog problem but THEY aren't stupid enough to allow themselves to get screwed royally by Bush, Cheney & the neo-cons like us dumb-ass Americans have."
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 13, 2008
Richard Engel's book "War Journal" gives us the Big Picture on Iraq & may help us predict what will happen there next... The US troops' role in Iraq has changed. They are now more like cops on the beat, going out to the hot-spots & supporting the rule of law. This is new -- and Engel's book describes the situation on the ground amazingly well in this regard. But how much longer can we afford to pay for this? And if America leaves, will Iran and the Saudis step in? Hey, at least they know how to "deal with Arabs," a talent Bush does not possess.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 7, 2008
Children reflect their parents: Patrolling the streets of Baghdad's Al Rasheed district Today we patrolled Al Rasheed, met real Iraqis who were very poor & gave small business owners some mini-grants. We should also give mini-grants to small businesses back in the States! And the children were very friendly, not throwing stones -- which seems to reflect their parents' thinking. I miss my granddaughter & the soldiers here miss their families too. And young Ashley just e-mailed me about a new flavor of gelato!
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Bush's two biggest con games: Iraq's Shock & Awe and Gaza's Shock & Awe Bush conned us about Iraq's Shock & Awe. What makes you think he's not conning us about Gaza's Shock & Awe too? And five years from now will we also hear the NYT moan and groan about how they had been MISLED about Gaza too? But I don't have time for this now. I gotta get ready for my trial with the DoD on Friday. That will be my own personal Shock & Awe -- as they try to con me into paying for THEIR legal costs!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 19, 2008
Madam Jane Predicts: There will be a one-person war on the loss of America! It's wet & rainy in South Carolina where I've come to cover the Dem primary debates & I've just had my latest Iraq embed jerked out right from under my nose. And America is going to Hell in a hand-basket. Yet Madam Jane has nothing to say--other than, "Every single person in American is in grave danger. Watch out, my friend. We are ALL being screwed -- and headed toward an early grave too." MJ, can you please be more specific?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 9, 2008
Stuck in Baghdad freeway rush-hour traffic -- in a Bradley tank: My Iraq embed, Part 6 What's it like to ride in a Bradley tank through the streets of Baghdad? You're about to find out. And did you know that the UN distributes food in Baghdad? That everyone at her work is trying to marry my daughter Ashley off? And that the Beagle Boys in Washington hardly ever come to Iraq -- they're too busy hounding John Edwards and Paris Hilton.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Springtime for Obama and Afghanistan Bush had his "Springtime in Afghanistan" and it failed because of too many Congessional Dittoheads and too much pork. And now Obama is having his springtime too. But if Obama is determined to send more troops into that Afghan sinkhole, then here are some suggestions on how to make the best use of them. Put this in your BlackBerry, Mr. President!
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 24, 2008
Iraq on $5,000 a second: Where to go & what to see Lonely Planet doesn't have any guidebooks out on post-Shock-and-Awe Iraq, so I decided to write one myself -- everything you ever wanted to know about touring the military bases of Iraq, including the best places to sleep and eat. And I've also included some hot tips. For instance, if you are ever planning to embed in Iraq as a journalist, be sure not to write any negative comments about John McCain!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Report from Iraq # 11: Wherein 25 Iraqi journalists invade my bedroom & I meet an admiral In the Green Zone, I interviewed an Iraqi journalist (he said Maliki must do what the Americans tell him to do), met an Iraqi admiral & a Brit captain -- who I think said the British navy is responsible for protecting oil interests. I also had to ride the Rhino again & got bug-bite advice from a conservative journalist -- who I then gave advice about the dangers of corporate welfare. Then we argued about Georgia and the Surge
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 17, 2007
The American military: Are they Bush's flying monkeys -- or not? It's time for America's military to stop acting like flying monkeys, carrying out GWB's every undiciplined whim. Kansas needs them more than Iraq does! Just say, "There's no place like home..." And in the meantime, I plan to throw water on the Wicked Witch of The White House in the form of a lawsuit because the State Dept. is systematically denying me freedom of the press, allegedly in order to protect GWB's [arse].
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 15, 2007
Living in a Third World country? Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 6 I'm down here in Yelapa, Mexico, checking the news -- and there is a LOT of news out there about how the media is being censored, how elections are being rigged, how the economy is slipping away, how torture is being committed, how unemployment is rampant and how the heads of the country are all liars and crooks. And, no, I'm not talking about Mexico. I'm talking about the United States of America!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 17, 2008
Embedded at the Kuwait airport Starbucks, part 2: Here come the Marines! Stranded at the Kuwait airport, livng at Starbucks, begging CentCom to re-embed me in Iraq, throwing myself on the mercy of Islamic charities and the American embassy -- and I STILL managed to come up with a good story! Or maybe two or three....
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 19, 2009
Form 95: How Congress replaced "meaningful access to justice" with a form Here's an update on my court case with the DoD. First they dragged me kicking & screaming into federal court & now they want me to fill out the notorious Form 95 instead. Will Form 95 work? I sent Nancy Drew down to New Orleans to investigate if it worked for Katrina victims. Probably not. Congress took away our right to gain "meaningful access" to the court system & gave us From 95 instead. Forget about Drew! We need Kafka.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 15, 2006
The Holocaust: Who died & from what? Historians, put your thinking caps on! With everyone all in a dither about the recent Holocaust summit in Iran, I thought that this debate regarding how many Jews died in the Holocast could be easily answered by using basic math skills. But the main thing we need to learn from the Holocaust is that something like that should never happen again -- to anybody! War is wrong.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 14, 2007
Madame Jane predicts stuff about Iraq: Get 2 fabulous predictions for the price of 1! Bush is creating chaos in the Middle East -- and guess what? Chaos is contageous. Chaos spreads. And it is coming our way.... Plus Madame Jane predicts that I need to go back to Iraq and make sure that our troops are being accorded the right to die a soldier's death instead of being rushed to Final Judgment by the Bush war machine.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 15, 2007
Please help our Berkeley HUD Section 8 housing co-op find new Board members! What does one do when one's HUD Section 8 co-op has been taken over by self-interested bullies? Ask for help from the outside world. Anybody want to serve on our Board of Directors? You would only have to fly in once a month....
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 8, 2008
Gas prices, public transit & John Zogby's new book on America's future: My 2008 Book Expo Report, Part 2 Zogby said that Americans are basically "a sober, caring, honest, ethical people," and that young Americans are not just stereotyping people into 'issue' niches but want to examine eash issue, such as illegal immigration, gays, abortion and empire-building, case by case. And they want authenticity, not lies. But one of the most popular books at the Expo was Vincent Buglioli's "The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder".
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 11, 2008
Would North Korea ban my book -- or just Sarah Palin? Well, I'm here in China, having just gotten back from North Korea -- the next hot new tourist destination! They gots golf courss and fancy hotels and everythng. Strange isn't it? Asian countries are getting more democratic while America slips into dictatorship. And I toured NK with the author of 2 banned childrens' books, a lovely woman who won 3 Newberry honor awards. Sarah, please ban my book too! I could use the publicity.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 17, 2009
Appeasement: Yet another comparison between Gaza & Nazi Germany? Neville Chamberlain tried to appease Nazi Germany by sacrificing Czechoslovakia. Will Obama follow Bush's example and try to appease the Israeli neo-cons by continuing to sacrifice the poor slobs in Gaza to the Israeli neo-con power-grab? Is there an analogy here? But at least Chamberlain, unlike Bush, didn't fork over billions in tax dollars to the aggressers -- so perhaps my comparison is flawed after all.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Mumbai: First shot of the war on globalization? The octopus of globalization has taken over so much of the world that nation-states' methods of defending themselves no longer work when the enemy is within. But even though Mumbai was apparently an example of a new war on globalization, the truth still remains -- no matter who fights who, war is still a bad thing. PS: What if corporations started declaring war on each other? "AT&T bombs IBM!" a headline might scream. Weird.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 5, 2008
Camping near Yosemite in the freezing rain while looking for gold: One Love, Part 2 A contractor in Iraq told me how to pan for gold but it didn't work. But here are the instructions in case it might work for you. And after camping in the COLD and RAIN for two days I learned that if global cooling ever arrives, I'm screwed. I'm a wimp. No electricty or heat? Oh no!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Lost Conversations: Richmond shipyard's rich African-American history will boggle your mind! Here is a wonderful video from my friend Betty Soskin, showing memories from Richmond, CA's African-American past. Did you know that there were Black "Rosie the Riveters" and a battleship named after Toussaint L'Overture? But as romantic as past history makes WWII appear to be, we still do NOT need WWIII.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 1, 2006
Antiques Roadshow: My adventures with receiving Social Security before age 65 I went on Social Security before age 65. Big mistake. I found out the hard way that SS money you receive BEFORE the official retirement age ISN'T REALLY YOUR MONEY. And now, like Mike Tyson, I'm in debt to the government and have to pay it all back. I paid into Social Security. I earned that money. Congress needs to stop acting holier-than-thou and just give me my darn money.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The special "Big Bang Theory" issue of my housing co-op newsletter If my housing co-op's problem with its current off-the-wall board of directors was being solved by Sheldon, the nerd-genius type on TV's "Big Bang Theory" show, he's cite HUD statutes, Congressional bills, Eric Holder and receivership court case numbers -- but Penny would bring him back to Real Life. "Just fire the freaking board and get on with the re-hab!"
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 5, 2006
The Center vs.the Fringe: How TiVo caused the war on Iraq In capitalism, investors follow the flow of money toward new, more efficient businesses. So. What do the dinosaur corporations do when they are no longer producing a good product and can't attract investors? They get the taxpapers to capitalize them instead. How? By terrifying them into endless war. That's not capitalism. That's corporate welfare.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Codetalkers: How to win friends & influence people in Iraq.... Instead of spending all that money on weapons, try using your words! Just teach all the US military in Iraq how to speak Arabic. If they can learn to operate a Howitzer, surely they can learn 20 Arabic words a week. And it would really help. Plus here's my last report from Iraq -- and also some suggestions on what to do next.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 12, 2007
Pilgrims' progress?: Do Iraqis feel safe enough to go on Hajj this year? When I was in Iraq last month, I came up with this brilliant idea for determining a barometer of just how stable the situation in Iraq is by checking out how many people actually felt safe and comfortable enough to attempt to go on Hajj this year. If you were an Iraqi would YOU go on Hajj? Here are the results of a very informal poll.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 3, 2008
Politics, religion, economics & geeks: My report from Iran # 5 Did you know that there are not only a whole bunch of Persian antiquities and ornate 17th-century mosques in Esfahan but also some churches and synagogues? I toured them all! From the rabbi's daughter's Hamsa hand blessing to the Armenian church with the paintings of martyrs getting boiled alive, I saw it all. And I also came to the conclusion that mixing bad politics with bad religion is NOT a good idea.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Who gave Israel and Pakistan The Bomb? "The Rosenbergs did it!" When the Soviet Union came up with The Bomb, US prosecuters screamed bloody murder that a traitor had to be involved. Yet when Pakistan and Israel suddenly developed The Bomb, our government said nothing. Why is that? Maybe the Rosenbergs came back from the grave and gave it to Israel and Pakistan?
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 15, 2009
Dating-age women beware: War is killing off all the eligible guys! At the rate things are going in Gaza, Iraq, etc. the world's men are getting all killed off by war. If you wanna find an eligible guy, ladies, just try the cemetery! So. What will stop wars? I got a plan. As women get older and their chances of having babies get slimmer, many of these women tend to become, er, rather desperate. Well. Just how desperate ARE you, ladies? Are you desperate enough to stop wars?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Bottomless Pit: Jane's special "What-will-fill-me-up?" diet When it comes to food, I'm a bottomless pit. So I did an experiment to see what exactly would actually fill me up. Here are the results. Three boxes of Girl Scout cookies did the job but carrots are WAY down on the list.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Visiting North Korea: Would Kim Yong Il like me to bring him a box of Girl Scout cookies? After he stole the 2000 election, GWB told us about the dread "Axis of Evil". I went to Iran -- no evil there. And Iraq? Couldn't find evil there either. But what about North Korea? I was scheduled to go there but my visa fell through. Maybe if I offer Pres. Kim Yong Il a box of Girl Scout cookies, he'll let me in after all. Perhaps North Koreans aren't evil either and Bush is once again wrong?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 8, 2008
Report from Iraq: If the Iraq Army wants to buy $10.6 billion in weapons, then let's have a fire sale! Juan Cole says there's talk about getting out of Iraq by 2010. The Iraq Slogger says the Iraq Army is looking to buy $10.9 bn in weaponry. So. Let's have a yard sale & sell Iraq all our tanks, etc -- before we end up giving them to Iraq for free. And the Shia Govt needs to have an election before its base gets pissed off that no Big Oil money is trickling down to them. And those dogs at my COP are still trying to bite me.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 2, 2008
Survivor Texas: Will Tribe America or Tribe Globalization be voted off on March 4? Unfortunately, tribe America will go In Survivor Texas, the Globalazation tribe is competing against Tribe America. Already, three members of the Final Four are from Tribe G -- Obama, Clinton & McCain -- while Tribe America is sitting most of its players out except for perhaps Ron Paul -- plus America's players squabble among themselves all the time while Tribe Globalization falsifies tree-mail & uses the crew to beat up Tribe A. Who will win? It's a no-brainer.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 16, 2009
Tearing down historic Jerusalem: Urban removal hits the Holy Land too When I was desperate and six months pregnant, Bill Tatum took me under his wing, and together him and a ragtag group of misfits saved the Lower East Side from certain destruction back in 1965 -- and are't you glad that we did. Now another Lower East Side is facing demolition -- East Jerusalem. Let's save this historic Arab-Christian-Palestinian area too -- where Christ once walked and taught. And we'll be glad that we did.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 4, 2008
The Calming Reflex: How to end Bush, Cheney & bin Ladin's temper tantrums I've been reading baby-advice books a lot lately and did you know that if a baby is swaddled and soothed, it stops having tanturms? Let's swaddle and sooth our world leaders too. For instance we could swaddle Bush and Cheney in San Quentin... And I'm also enclosing the latest episodes of my housing co-op's soap opera -- for those of you who like "reality" shows.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 25, 2007
Three weeks with the Marines in Iraq? Priceless! More adventures with Marines, sheiks, Humvees, camels and feasts. Aand considering what a good job they are doing in Anbar, maybe we should ask the Marines to take over Baghdad too!
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 3, 2005
Gangs of DC: The Bush bureaucracy has invaded America's turf & what can we do? Corruption in the Bush bureaucracy has reached gangland porportions
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 29, 2006
How I judge people: Are they doing good deeds? Back in my 1950s all-American hometown, everybody got judged. You gossiped about everyone. And it was mean gossip too. I learned to be spiteful. And nasty. "Do they have money? Do they own their own home?" And are they sleeping around without getting caught? I still judge people. But now I use God's criteria instead. "Are they doing good deeds?"
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 2, 2006
Burning Man, Part 3: And then there's the party aspect.... At the media center at Burning Man, I learned a lot of journalistic hot gossip -- yes, Cheney DID lie to the VFW. And then I took an involuntary after-dark tour of the partying aspect of Burning Man. Impressive!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 14, 2006
Be very afraid: 10 things that are FAR more scary than "terrorists" If every terrorist in the world were to suddenly disappear tomorrow, we'd STILL have a bunch of stuff to be scared of. And the irony is that most of this NEW terrifying stuff can be traced back to the failures of the Bush bureaucracy. Here is the list. America, it's time to suck it up, stop sniveling and do something courageous for a change.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 5, 2008
The Admiral's child: One probable reason why McCain flip-flops so much When my father came home from WW II & ran our home like a ship, I learned how to survive by becoming wishy-washy -- to lie, back-pedal, manipulate, pass the buck, let other people take the fall, whine a lot and flip-flop. I learned how to do all this just from being a lieutenant commander's kid. Imagine what I would have been like if I had been an admiral's child!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 23, 2007
"Dancing with George Bush": He may have lost the call-in vote but.... While watching "Dancing with the Stars" I was so cheering for Leila Ali that when she didn't win, I almost thought that the vote counting was rigged just like it is in our presidential elections. But then I got a grip. The Bush legacy of election corruption hasn't quite trickled down that far -- yet.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Iraqi Book of the Dead What is everyone talking about in Baghdad? Death. In Iraq, death is the ultimate problem-solver. Death runs the government here. Death is even represented on the UN Security Council. Death is a member of the G8.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 7, 2008
Survivor Baghdad: I've finally made it to the Big City! I left my new Ian Rankin novel back on the C-130, got driven across Baghdad in an MRAP and ended up at Camp Falcon. My new roommate there is a war correspondent. "I have PTSD and I think that McCain has it too. Victims of PTSD tend to spin out of control occasionally. But what if he gets elected and goes out of control while he has his finger on the red button?" Obviously, she is not voting for McCain.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 22, 2007
Contracting the troop death tolls out: Why more US soldiers died in Nam than Iraq Let's make a gesture of good faith to the people of Iraq -- let's put George Bush in jail. Maybe it would make them feel better knowing that Americans still value justice and aren't totally at the mercy of crazy gunmen who shoot up innocent people for no reason.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Stuck in Memphis again: McCain cancels the debate! I have a ticket to Memphis in my hand and 3,000 other journalists are all set to go to the debate as well -- but McCain's poll figures fall 10% so he cancels the debate in order to run off to DC and help his cronies on Wall Street! "I need to look Presidential" he cries. Moose dookie! Congress isn't in session at 9 pm on Friday night. Will Palin cancel too? Because the Russians are invading Alaska? Yeah right.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama to Olmert about Gaza: "Stop stealing my show!" I bet you anything that Obama was pissed off at Olmert and Bush for stealing the spotlight away from his inauguration. Who was thinking of Michelle's new dress when children were dying in Gaza? No one. I bet Obama called Olmert up and gave him an earful. And did you SEE the way that Bush tried to hog the spotlight from Obama even on Inaugeration Day itself? How embarrassing for Bush.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 1, 2008
Embedded in Iraq -- but not on Blogspot! I've got the credentials to be embedded in Iraq but not at the Democratic or Republican conventions -- and Google/blogger.com just informed me that my blog was just locked down because it was "spam". Well. If writing about how the economy is tanking is being considered as spam these days, then free speech is in more trouble than we thought.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Hate crimes in Galilee? Land-grabs in Bethlehem? Oy vey! If you defaced a religious place in New York or Amsterdam, you would be in Big Trouble. But do it in Galilee and you are given a pass. And if you steal land in Bethlehem, the civilized world apparently considers that cute. "Boys will be boys". It may have been cute 62 years ago but Israel's getting too old for that. It's time for Israel to finally grow up! PS: Go see "Waltz with Bashir". It will haunt you -- but in a good way.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 23, 2008
Madam Jane predicts the fall of America: Not with a bang but a whimper Madam Jane is at it again. "Don't you find it ironic that all the trillions of dollars we spent on our high-tech top-flight military machine can't even BEGIN to protect us from the real danger -- the fall of the dollar." So stop being 1950s wannabes & face up to what we can do to protect ourselves now, after the Fall, in our new post-Bush world. And then start to enjoy living like Americans did 150 years ago instead.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Beyond Gettysburg: Consecrating the death of two Marines in Iraq, April 2008 Why do these two deaths seem more newsworthy than deaths of 4,042 other soldiers? Because they signal the spillover into Anbar of Maliki's failures in Basra & Baghdad. "We can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground," said Abraham Lincoln. No, but we CAN demand that the greedy and treacherous men who maliciously, mendaciously & deliberately covered this sacred earth with the blood of OUR Marines get what they deserve
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 19, 2008
My recent e-mail to Leila Fadel, the McClatchy bureau chief in Baghdad (Yes, I'm still trying to get embedded!) When the US military rescinded my embed and stranded me in Kuwait in February, I filed a legal action against the Army in order to get my $1,780 in expenses back. That complaint has just been denied. So when I saw Ms. Fadel on the Bill Moyers show, I hoped she could help. I'm also taking this to small claims court. Maybe Judge Judy can sort this all out.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Good luck, America -- but if luck fails you, there's always St Louis! A soothsayer once told me that I brought people luck so I've been traveling the world trying to spread luck around but one down-on-its-luck country seems to need it more than anyone these days -- America. But if my scheme doesn't work, we can always take lessons from St Louis, an early victim of corporate greed & the perfect place to hold a pre-apocalyptic boot camp. It has abandoned buildings, even its own bridge to nowhere.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 7, 2006
No Social Security, unemployment benefits or chocolate: When your safety nets are all gone Man, my economic safety nets are all gone! But Halliburton still has theirs. They get welfare and I don't? That sucks eggs.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 17, 2006
Eat your heart out, Texas: A typical Sunday in Berkeley Berkeley has so many things going on -- from the opening of the new MoveOn.org office in nearby Oakland to our "How Berkeley Can You Be" parade to breakfast at the local Thai temple. Sorry, GWB. We're not doing so well in promoting your "Clash of Civilizations". Are we doing something wrong?
(30 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 11, 2008
Why vote for Hillary: She'd be the one most likely to put Bush in jail. Since Bush stole the 2000 election, my major goal in life has been to put him in jail. So. Which of the presidential candidates would be most likely to do that? Not McCain! And Obama? Who knows. But Hillary is my person. I'm thinking that she might be thinking, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." And boy do I want revenge! For 9-11, violating our Constitution, torture, Katrina, death of the American working class....
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Catching up on hot gossip: Friends & lunch & 1 bath a week in Australia At lunch yesterday, six of us who used to work together in a law office went out for lunch in order to catch up on each others' lives. We were joined by a friend of one of us survivors from past legal wars. She had just gotten back from drought-ridden Australia and what she told us made us all...thirsty! "No one is even allowed to wash dishes in one small town in Australia. They all use paper plates," she said.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 10, 2008
The Final Solution: Give Gaza back to Egypt! This article has everything -- a review of the movie "10,000 BC," a good suggestion for a way out of the Gaza crisis, advice on how not to be swallowed alive by the boa constrictor of globalization and some tips on how to make mac-cheese without burning your mouth.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sinking to their level: Bush's flea-bitten mafia is dragging America down -- and me too! If Americans start to follow the Bush example, pretty soon we'll be lying to everyone, committing murder and stealing little kids' lunch money too! We need to follow Bobby Kennedy's example and put those White House mafia wannabes in jail for tax evasion -- if nothing else.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Sun Also Rises: News from sub-Saharan Africa In sub-Saharan Africa, I've been told that the only difference between the President {sic] of America and the President of Zimbabwe is that Bush has more money to pay for spilling blood -- but they are both crazy!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 4, 2008
Bad money karma: The falling dollar & its effect on a former South African bantustan village -- and me! I had made plans to help out a women's crafts cooperative in Motswedi by selling their hand-made stationery at a store here in Berkeley. But GWB put a monkey-wrench in my plans by letting the economy get SO bad that the stationery store here went out of business. Now I'm selling the cards on the street or trying to sell them to YOU. First GWB ruined Christianity, then he ruined the peace dividend and now this!
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 24, 2008
How come our favorite online news services didn't get credentialed for the national presidential conventions? I just checked to see if the Congressional Press Gallery had credentialed me to cover the national conventions. They hadn't. But many of our favorite progressive news services hadn't been credentialed either. Yet the MSM who supported the invasion of Iraq, housing deregulation, etc have been credentialed on mass. If I was a progressive news service, I'd be really pissed about this.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 23, 2006
The Big Dog has spoken: Bush is doomed.... When Bill Clinton spoke out on Fox News recently, this was really big news! Why? Not because of what he said -- we bloggers have been saying that since September 11, 2001 -- but because HE was the one that said it. Clinton has his fingers on the pulse of America more accurately than Gallup or Zogby and if he spoke out against Bush, Bush is in deep dog dookie in the polls!
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 6, 2006
"The Nine" hostages: Nine ways that Bush neo-cons hold America hostage too There's a new series on television this fall. It's called "The Nine". Here's the plot: Bank robbers force their way into a bank, take hostages by storm, battle it out with the law, get sent to jail and leave the hostages in shock. Now where have I heard this plot-line before? Did the scriptwriters at ABC steal it -- almost word for word -- off of the Bush neo-cons' plot to hold AMERICA hostage? Here's 9 plot similarities....
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 8, 2008
John's Anatomy: What would Dr. McDreamy say about the state of McCain's health? "I've observed McCain on television on several occasions & have come up with some tentative diagnoses," Dr. McDreamy might reply. "For instance, I've noted that he has trouble going up and down the stairs of planes. He doesn't seem to have much functional control over his legs and knees." Interesting. "And during the debates I noticed that his body movements are stiff." McCain needs a Dr. McDreamy exam. And I want one too!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 22, 2008
The corporatists vs. the grandmothers Can you believe the example that UC Regents are setting for their students about what is most important in life, actually announcing on TV that they plan to starve the tree-sitters out -- just a half-mile from where Mario Savio proclaimed in 1964, "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part...." I wanted to cry. But grandmothers are fighting back!
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The "Hanoi Hilton" revisited -- and making plans for the new Baghdad Hilton too What do Vietnam and Iraq have in common? The deceivers who started both wars justified their continuation of them because of the communism (and Islamofascism) "Domino Theory" and "to keep the country from sliding into chaos and civil war". Now Vietnam has Corporatism, not communism. Plus it has a REAL Hilton hotel. If we get out of Iraq now, will it also have a REAL Baghdad Hilton after a couple of years? It's time to find out
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Calling the Bad Guys' bluff: If you are DETERMINED to have WW III, let's just do it & get it over with! I can't stand listening to yet another propaganda build-up for yet another war. If the White House, Congress and the New York Times want to blow up the world, then just DO it. At least I'll be safely in Heaven, where I won't have to listen to all that third-rate propaganda no more -- because those guys will all be in HELL.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 8, 2007
Gossip Girl in Kuwait: Is IRAQ going to be Bush's next Ground Zero? I'm in Kuwait, on my way to Iraq. And this place is TEEMING with hot gossip about Bush, Cheney, Blackwater and Rush. "Gossip Girl here...."
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 3, 2006
American absolutists' two biggest mistakes: Communist China & Islamistan In the late 1940s, "Old China Hands" tried to warn the American absolutists in Washington that they were following blinkered policies guaranteed to lose China to the communists. Now American absolutists are following the same blinkered policies in the Middle East. Will another strong new nation, stretching from Kosovo to Indonesia, also arise as a reaction to Bush's American absolutist polices? Will history repeat itself?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 23, 2006
Earthquakes for Christmas: Global warming comes to Berkeley Even as I write this, there goes another earthquake! Are quakes caused by the contrast between warm days and cold nights? Professor Jane says yes. And the daytime temps in Berkeley right now are unseasonably high. Apparently, earthquake season has expanded due to global warming. Quick! Grab the crockery!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 20, 2008
Meeting the House whip & CNN's DC bureau chief: The SC debate, episode 3 Today I got to go onstage with CNN's David Borman and Rep. James Clyburn! But unfortunately for my 15 minutes of fame, the cameras weren't on. But I got to interview Borman and that made me feel just like Mary Tyler Moore! I LOVE being a reporter. And what did Borman have to say? Read on....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 25, 2007
Family battles: They're like the Middle East wars in microcosm.... In the Middle East, at least you know who doesn't like you because they are shooting at you. But back at home, who the heck knows which family member is your enemy? I'm totally lost here. Please send me back to Iraq!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 9, 2007
Pirate Masters: "Mates, there's treasure to be had in that Iran war!" Har har har... Have Cap'n Cheney and his scurvy parrot Dubya been plotting the Iran expedition just so they can score more pirate booty? Yar, mateys! It's time to throw these two pirate masters into the brig, cut them adrift and give them the dread Black Spot before they can bury OUR treasure somewhere in the Cayman Islands! Don't you just hate getting robbed by pirates?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 12, 2007
Bush leagues: How GWB lost the World Series to Iran Why is America allowing Bush to play in the Big Leagues? He struck out on 9-11, in Afghanistan and Iraq -- and now he's swinging wildly at Iran. IRAN? We used to play top teams like Russia and China. Now we're up against second stringers because Bush keeps striking out. GWB needs to be put on the bench.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 11, 2008
Special "Dorothy Visits the Wizard of Savo!" issue of my housing co-op newsletter "Raindrops, flooding and mold -- oh my!" Can our management company keep our runaway Board's feet directed firmly upon the Yellow Brick Road to good housing long enough to fix our roofs after this winter's storms or will the Board just continue to smell the poppies and do whatever appears to benefit them? Toto, what do YOU think? "Arf!"
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 4, 2007
Bad Karma: Scalping Dalai Lama tickets & front row seats to World War III If I scalp these tickets to the Dalai Lama's two-day seminar in April in San Francisco, I'll probably be reborn as a cockroach. But if that happens, I'll be safe when that Count Dracula wannabe in the White House nukes the rest of the planet. Cockroaches are supposed to be able to survive nuclear radiation. Anybody wanna buy an extra ticket to this marvelous event?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Note to self: Politico.com was at Obama's press conference and I wasn't.... Obama had all kinds of right-wingers there -- he probably even thought about inviting Rush Limbaugh. But was OpEd News represented? Or supporters of single-payer healthcare? Or ME? "Get over it, Jane." No one is INTERESTED in inviting us -- even though we elected Obama.
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 13, 2008
Dear Ashley and Joe: Your poor sweet mommy just got arrested in China... There I was, surrounded by rent-a-soldiers in green uniforms. all shouting "Watch out for this criminal terrorist grandmother!" in Chinese. Or at least to me that sounded like what they were yelling. OMG, I was scared! And now my children aren't gonna ever let me out of their sight again for fear I'll create yet another international incident. Rats.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 16, 2007
I'm down here in Mexico where it's WARM! Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 7 I'm down here trying not to gloat about the balmy 75-degree evenings I'm now enjoying, but it's hard. However, knowing me, I still gotta find something to worry about so even while going without a jacket in sunny Puerto Vallarta, I can still fret about the US economy. "I know that the Great Depression of 2008 is coming but what can I do to prepare?" Aside from hiding out in Mexico where it is WARM!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Jane Stillwater, Cache Raider? (My embed report from Iraq, Pt 8) I went out with the troops to visit the neighborhoods again yesterday. A young mother wanted her husband released from jail, we saw an abandoned home, tracked possible AQI members and planned a night raid. Can I come too? I like our troops. They do a good job. But will they be ready, willing or even able to clean up after GWB if he makes another mess like this in Iran?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Eye witness report: Marines drop acid in western Iraq! I finally got out of the Green Zone. So. What is it like out there? Here's the 411 on military travel, a grunt's life in Iraq and stuff like that.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 25, 2007
Ode to becoming a foster care parent: Changing the world one child at a time... PLEEEZE consider becoming a foster parent. The need is great-- children are waiting. And the rewards are great too.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The most frequently asked question in Iraq: "What the freak is going on over here?" FAQs in Iraq: Is Bush applying Milton Friedman's Shock Doctrine here in Iraq? And is he also applying it at home in America, trying to shock us insensible with "The Great Depression, Part 2" so we won't notice when he steals us all blind? Are the Marines doing a good job here? And will I be able to successfully hobble across the Al Asad airfield carrying my Kevlar without falling flat on my face?
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Too much stuff: The Paris Hilton rationale for not leaving Iraq There are many good reasons for leaving Iraq -- and many good reasons for staying. The situation here is very complex. But if US troops DO decide to leave, maybe Paris Hilton will teach them how to pack.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Notes from a massage table in China: It's time for world peace! First I got thrown out of my hotel room in China. Then the Women's Delegation got back from North Korea and rubbed it all in about what a good time they had. Then I went for a massage and had a vision on the massage table that the only thing worth living for is to bring world peace. And then I started writing my Nobel Prize acceptance speech -- but first I had to go find my luggage....
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 24, 2007
Woman of Steel: I'm off to Iraq & need Kevlar by Wednesday! Just because GWB sends our troops into a combat zone without adequate body armor, this doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Plus after being told for almost a year that I couldn't embed because I wasn't "fact-based", I'm finally being allowed to go over. Or am I? Read on....
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 30, 2007
Survivor Puerto Vallarta: I need advice on how to survive 16 days on a beach! "Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." But after all my various attempts to do good deeds -- such as trying to get Bush and Cheney in jail -- and my good-deed-doing adventures in South Africa and Iraq, I'm all worn out. So I bought a plane ticket to Puerto Vallarta for $198. But now what? I could sleep on the beach & eat street-vendor tacos. But WHERE DO I PEE?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Sweet Home Iraq: In Anbar province, I met the governor... Western Iraq used to be most concerned about security. Now they are starting to worry about water treatment instead. This is a good sign. And I got to ride in a Seven-Ton.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 25, 2006
Getting ready for Burning Man: It's like getting ready for Armageddon! I'm going to the Burning Man fire and art festival out in the Nevada desert. They warn you to bring canned food, watch out for sandstorms, there will be no water, no flush toilets...but I will have FUN. Sounds like I'll be in training for Bush's post-Armageddon America -- minus the art and the fun.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Desperate (voting) Housewives: No matter who wins in 2008, women get screwed! Okay. What are American women voters concerned about most in this election cycle? And will their concerns -- and even their votes -- even count? And if American female voters get screwed once again, will they finally get pissed off? And if they do, will they seek passive-aggressive revenge on those globalized corporate dudes? "Hell hath no fury?" Or not.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 13, 2008
The special "Hell's Kitchen" edition of my housing co-op newsletter My housing co-op is in such run-down physical condition that it almost burned down last week -- plus the Board of Directors refuses to settle my HUD Fair Housing complaint. But what would Chef Ramsey say if he was running Savo Island? "Shut it down!" But, Chef, this is my HOME! "Well then fire the Board of Directors. Immediately!" YES, CHEF!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Four more years!: Jeb Bush's new biography -- entitled "The Next Bush" I was at the Oakland airport yesterday, waiting for a plane to take me off to an AIDS training course, when I saw a book that scared the [bodily waste] out of me! There it was. On the top shelf of Hudson News. In hard-cover yet. "The Next Bush". Poor Rudy G, being led down the garden path to thinking he was the one who got to steal the next election? Not when there's still Melvin and Laura and....
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 21, 2008
It's easier to tour Iran than to tour the White House: My report from Iran # 5 It only took me two months to get my visa to Iran, three weeks to get a visa to Iraq. But I've been waiting since MARCH for permission to tour the White House. What's with that? And if Obama wins, will he finally open the WH up to the people who pay for it -- US! And if the GOP tries to steal the presidential election a third time, well, they'd just better not -- for their own good. Americans will be truly pissed off!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 3, 2008
The special "Savo Island, the Movie" issue of my housing co-op newsletter My housing co-op's board of directors is at it again. If life in my co-op was made into a movie, who would possibly believe that this stuff was happening? "Bad screenwriting!" declare Robert and Tony. But, believable or not, I still have to live here. And I'm no Julia Roberts.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 21, 2006
If you can't fight them, join them: Hacking the vote for the Dems.... Tired of Republicans winning all the elections by hacking the vote? Dems, pull out your mini-bar keys! Democracy is at stake!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Bush's personal war on oil-producing countries: Which one will be next? Russia? China? The US? Since taking over the White House, George Bush's foreign policy has been visible, steady and consistent -- to seize the world's oil producing countries one by one. He's already got Iraq. Iran's a sitting duck. Russia and China are gonna be tougher nuts to crack but he's working on it. And never forget that one of the world's biggest oil producers is America....
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 25, 2006
Small World: My cowardly Thanksgiving road trip to Disneyland The bravest people of all are the little guys -- who bravely face the 50 years of work-home-work drudgery stretching in front of them without even flinching. Well, I flinched. For 48 blissful hours, I became a coward and ran off to Disneyland. Did you know that in Disney's Small World there is no Middle East?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Twilight Zone: Where even the lowly RUPEE is stronger than the dollar! It used to be that the dollar would hold its own against ANY currency. Now, in India, even the most desperate bazaar hawkers are turning up their noses at the dollar -- and the rupee has gained 7 whole points just since Christmas.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Revolution: The aftermath of creating an American peasantry? I just listened to John Reed's book-on-tape called "Insurgent Mexico" wherein the peons finally got fed up and revolted. But we don't have a peasant class here in America, do we? At least not for now -- but you just wait! PS: I'm leaving for Iraq again on Saturday.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 29, 2007
Nuclear power: Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights... If one has cancer or AIDS, how does one find out about it before it is too late to treat? And if our planet has been infected with the cancer of thousands of tons of radioactive waste invading it, how will we know about that infection either -- until it is too late? Either we stop the production of radioactive waste now or will the last one left on Earth have to turn out the lights....
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 22, 2008
Spending more money, buying less stuff: The new "Stealth" recession We are now in a STEALTH recession. What does that mean? Unlike the gigantic Crash of 1929, this one is sneaking up on us gradually. Americans still trudge off to work every morning. They still come home to the kiddies each night. "But now you have nothing extra to spend and worrying about money is replacing baseball as the national pastime." I worry about money -- and also how I can sell my stuff NOW, before the big rush....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 14, 2006
Ramadan: Islam's secret weapon Every year, 1.3 billion Muslims do without food during the daylight hours of every day during the month of Ramadan. This sacrifice forces them to understand the suffering of their fellow-men and to have empathy for those in need. It is Islam's secret weapon in the human race's battle to become better people. With Ramadan coming up on Sept. 24, 2006, here is a refresher course on the meaning of Ramadan.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 9, 2006
Putting America in peril: The deadly Toilet Bomb Toilet Bombs can be deadly but even deadlier still is the Sugar Bomb -- but this is one deadly bomb you can even advertise on TV and still never get caught! Remember the days when you had to go to a circus sideshow to see someone weighing 300 pounds? Those days are GONE.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Amazing Race (to the buffet table): One reporter's take on the New Hampshire primaries Freelance journalist Stewart Nusbaumer just sent me some reports on what it's really like in New Hampshire. For instance, which candidate offers the best smorgasbord, which bar one should hang out in to pick up a scoop & which journalists are being left out in the cold? Read on and find out. But only one candidate, in my opinion, is offering America a true healthy choice and not just more moonshine -- Dennis Kucinich.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 20, 2008
Advice to Obama: "The New Adventures of the Old New Deal" The bailout is a loser & betting on it is like betting on a losing horse in a race. Let's bet on a proven winner instead. President-elect Obama, please become the next FDR. Who knows? You may get your face on a dime. PS: The Red states are always complaining about government interference, except when it comes to marriage, bailouts or anythng else that involves scary TV ads or PACs -- but the New Deal is GOOD interference.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Darfur Diaspora: Floating like driftwood throughout all of Africa... Darfur is yet another "Closed Military Zone" -- meaning that genocide can go on unobserved by us Pulitzer-Prize-seeking journalists. But we can still interview the refugees from Darfur, of which there are a lot of in Africa.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 1, 2006
JFK, RFK, 9-11 & Waco: The ultimate bodice-ripper! How much of the news that we read in the paper is true? No one knows. With regard to the truth about the Kennedy assassinations, Waco and 9-11, are we being told the whole story? Or are our bodices being ripped? Again?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 7, 2007
Eating well in Iraq -- an article I wrote for my friend Yoko's food blog My friend Yoko has a food blog. I love food! So I wrote her an article which is basically an ode to the military food in Iraq. I know it's only a clever way to get soldiers to re-up but still....
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Truly scary: A Republican campaign ad with a "Leave it to Beaver" theme song! The neo-cons are appealing to voters' basic instincts and running ads fit for soap opera text. What would it sound like if Progressives ran those kind of ads too?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 16, 2007
Bringing it all back home: I'm almost on my way back from Iraq.... Maybe the reason I didn't get embedded was actually the reason they claim; that I was just the innocent victim of too much paperwork. Okay. Maybe we should defeat the enemy that way -- smother them all in triplicate forms! Well, at least I got to fly over Diwaniyah in a helicopter and finally meet Michael Ware.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 25, 2008
Bush & McCain get their horoscope read: "In 20 years, you will own all the world's oil" My horoscope gave me a lecture today. "You know that McCain will win in 2008." But then what will happen? "He will follow Bush's pattern of invading oil-rich countries & 20 years from now, they will own all the oil." America will? "No, McCain & Bush. America will just be standing in line like everyone else, begging for crumbs." Why can't my horoscope be like other horoscopes & just tell me whether or not I'll find true love?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 2, 2007
Report from Baghdad: MREs, swift-boating & Kevlar Instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on obsolete missile systems, let's protect our troops and invent some body armor that doesn't weigh 40 pounds! And my interview with CNN was canceled. Rats!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 6, 2007
An eye-witness account of Lt. Watada's first day in court A friend just e-mailed me this eye-witness account. I hope he doesn't mind me passing it along -- but it is just too important to keep to myself. Lt. Watada is a hero! (And so is his mother, who is also being put through the wringer because her son bravely stood up to protest Bush's evil "war".
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 20, 2006
The collection agency wears Prada: Taking a student loan debt to small claims court When my daughter's fashion college said I still owed them money for a whole year even though she dropped out after only one quarter, my credit rating was in danger so I took the school to small claims court -- and won! Maybe I can get a make-over in lieu of Satisfaction of Judgment? I'm devishly good in court -- but still not all that stylish. "The Devil Wears Good Will"
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 15, 2009
Fashion statement: Wearing an Israeli flag in NYC is FIERCE this season! Watching Max Blumenthal's video of a pro-Israeli rally in NYC, I started to get an insight into how Germans might have felt during Nazi times -- chauvinism, group-think and the justification of the unjustifiable at its finest hour. And speaking of chauvinism, why are patriotic Americans waving Israeli flags? Exactly where do their alliegences lie?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 12, 2009
Berkeley Blogger's Suit Against Defense Department in Limbo Here's an update on my small-claims court case against the Department of Defense. Things are not looking too good for me at this point. Does anyone know a San Francisco Bay Area attorney or law school who would be willing to advise me on how to file a "Motion to Remand" myself back into small claims court?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Drug smuggling made easy: Why GWB wants to sell America's ports to his friends? Why is Bush so anxious to sell America's ports to his friends? He and his friends already control Afghanistan, the world's top producer of heroin. Might he also want to control the means of heroin distribution too?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 30, 2006
Why they hate us: Because they can't control us! Bush and his buddies own more things than any other rulers in history. Julius Caeser, eat your heart out! So, when they could be jet-setting around the world and enjoying their billions, why do they spend so much time trying to destroy us bloggers and "liberals"? Because they know we can't be controlled.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 1, 2007
There goes the neighborhood: Is the White House bringing property values down in DC? Pennsylvania Avenue used to be such an upscale place to live. Don't you just hate it when someone moves onto your block, lets his home go to seed & brings all the other property values down? Now you gotta start locking your doors before your stuff gets stolen, watching out for your kids & spending all your time worrying that the neighbors down the street might be selling them drugs, recruiting them into gangs or even worse....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 19, 2008
"Survivor Iraq" vs. "Survivor Afghanistan": Which reality show will get the top rating this year? After five whole years of being one of the highest-rated shows on TV ever, "Survivor Iraq" is starting to slip in the popularity polls and "Survivor Afghanistan" is starting to edge up. What's with that? Now everyone wants to be a contestant on "Survivor Afghanistan" and no one is watching "Survivor Iraq" any more. But what about starting a NEW reality show -- "Survivor America". Nah, no corporations would sponsor that one.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 30, 2006
New book about the Hajj: Stephanie Plum goes to Mecca? Tired of trying to understand Islam by reading dry and scholarly religious tomes? This book takes you to the sacred heart of Islam and makes certain that you have fun along the way too.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 11, 2007
Final Jeopardy: And the correct answer is "What is Al-Qaeda in Iraq?" Al-Qaeda is composed of foreign-led Iraqi Islamic fundamentalist insurgents with access to deep pockets who use threats to keep their area under control. People here are afraid of them because they have power & money & if you disagree, they tend to steal your car, kidnap your children & chop off your head. Because of this behavior, Iraqis are turning away from then. Americans have actually become the lesser of two evils!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The Taliban did it: If ANYTHING goes wrong in Afghanistan, we know who to blame! Report from Kabul: Bush and the media blame everything that goes wrong in Afghanistan on the "Taliban". It's not them. It's the mercenaries Pakistan uses American aid to pay for. It's the warlords, the corrupt officials.... Will Afghanistan be destroyed by the fighting and bombing? And if it is, will we conveniently blame it on the "Taliban"?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 11, 2007
America's Player: Has HUD just become a houseguest on Big Brother (Section) 8? Big Brother's new TV season features "America's Player" -- where America tells someone in the BB house what to do. We used to have someone like that in the White House, but not any more. Now Bush is too busy trying to drown HUD in the bathtub to focus on what us mere taxpayers want. And without HUD subsidies keeping up the illusion that America is actually being housed, we'll soon start to look like a hobo jungle again.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 26, 2008
Buried in the back yard: Dig anywhere in Iraq & find wall-to-wall weapons caches? I love making fun of GWB but try not to make jokes at the US military's expense. Until now. Sorry but I just can't resist! The military keeps sending me press releases about weapons caches found in Iraq. They must be everywhere! But there ARE places there that do not have wall-to-wall caches. Bet you can't find any caches under the 200+ permanent US bases now in Iraq. Whew! What a relief.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 3, 2006
Teenage angst: Jordan gets busted, Nathan researches juvenile hall.... Sometimes juvenile hall is the only place a kid can get a good education, some rational parenting, three square meals a day and a real bed all their own.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 5, 2006
One word that makes me feel better: "Justice"? Nah. "Revenge!" I became a blogger by cutting my teeth on my local housing project's politics. After dealing with the people where I live, taking on George Bush was a walk in the park! Will my project's Alliance waterboard me next? Who knows. But I bet they would if they could!
(20 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 12, 2007
An hour after I left it, the Iraqi Parliament was attacked by a suicide bomber! I'm in shock. An hour after I left the Iraqi Parliament, two members were killed and approximately 20 wounded by a suicide bomber. Right where I stood. That brings this war home. That's for sure.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 12, 2007
It's the PESO, stupid: Survivor Puerto Vallarta, Episode 5 What makes Americans happy? If it's going to the mall, they had better find something else to make them happy quick! And if Vanity Fair's article on Bush's secret economic time bomb is right, the New York Times has some explaining to do. If Americans had been told all of this by our media before, there's a 50-50 chance that Bush would be LYNCHED by now. And now? Even the peso is in less danger than the dollar.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 3, 2007
Just looking for a home: From Baghdad to bag lady.... After I got back from Iraq, I got offered a job as a bag lady in a movie. No one wanted to hear my fresh new insights into how the people of Iraq are putting the tragedy of Shock and Awe behind them and taking their future into their own hands but someone wanted me for something! Now if only Americans would take their futures into their own hands too!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Mean Girls: To stop a dictator, take away his resources Plotting to get revenge on the evil "popular girls," Lindsay Lohan is advised to "take away their resorces". Let's take away Bush's resources too. Where would he be without Air Force One and his chest of war toys? And let's take away his Diebold too...and his key to the Lincoln Bedroom. But why wait until November? Ask OPEC to take away his oil now.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 19, 2006
Lost luggage: Was I in Iraq this morning or not? Was I in Iraq this morning or not? How bizarre to think that commerical aircraft can fly happily above it all, with us innocently watching in-flight movies with no thought to the killing going on below.
(19 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Drowning government in the bathtub, part one: Who killed off the National Guard? There is no mystery about what will happen if we have a "national emergency" and Bush declares martial law. No one will be able defend us and the culprit will get clean away because there would have been only two groups stopping him -- the lower echelons of the military (who think Bush is a joke) and our National Guard. Fortunately for Bush and Cheney, however, both of these are safely out of the way, off in Iraq.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 12, 2007
Sadr City: My fall-back date to the prom The Iraqi Army was supposed to take me on patrol yesterday and they stood me up. But I scored a interview with two female Parliamentarians instead. So there!
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 13, 2007
Friday the 13th: No luck getting out of the Green Zone -- or the war I was at the Combat Support Hospital when the injured Iraqi Parliament delegates started streaming in. It turned me off of "war" forever.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 30, 2007
Touring an African jail: I found an empty cell here for George Bush! If Congress can't find enough jail cells to house Bush and Cheney in America, I've found the perfect accomodations for them here. "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free?" Nope.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 14, 2008
Campaign 2008: The world's strangest debate -- where only one side gets to speak Imagine a debate where one side of an issue -- say, NAFTA or Iraq -- is debated in a comfortable auditorium in front of national television yet the other side of the question is debated out in the parking lot. With questions like the future of democracy in America vs. mega- globalization being debated right now, these debates are far too important to leave OUR side out in the cold.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 28, 2007
OMG! I just interviewed Sean Penn! It started out to be a bad day but then I went to hear Dennis Kucinich speak and bumped into Sean Penn. "Can I interview you for my blog?" I asked. Yes! So. What did I find out? That Sean Penn is the Real Deal. And so is Dennis Kucinich.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 25, 2007
Heartbreak Hotel: Let's open up a resort and spa in Al Anbar, Iraq! Why should Iraqi refugees go all the way to Syria to be safe when they could come to the Anbar Hilton, the Regency Al Asad or the Hit Comfort Inn for half the price. And, like in Las Vegas, they would be located in the desert. Does anyone want to invest?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 7, 2007
Green Zone Cabin Fever: Prime Minister Maliki, help help help! Please PM Maliki, help me embed in the Red Zone! Don't make me rent a Humvee and go out there by myself. And Muqtada Al Sadr, you want people in the street for your demonstration this week? Here I am!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Flogging my book: "Disaster: A Personal Journey Through George Bush's Middle East" Writing a book is a piece of cake. Typing it up is a bit more difficult. But getting it published and/or distributed is almost impossible! Does anyone out there know how to do this? Help help help.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Not shopping victoriously: My adventures on eBay while trying to sell my Samurai sword Here is an account of my not-so-excellent adventures on eBay. Which got me to thinking -- let's put the White House up for sale on eBay too. $5 a bid, you can only bid once for your favorite candidate -- preferredly Dennis Kucinich. Wouldn't that be better than just having it stolen by corporate hacks? Nod your head yes....
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 29, 2008
From Senator Boxer: McCain is a heartbeat away from someone with NO experience Senator Boxer sounds pretty disgusted about this whole nomination. Apparently Palin is also under investigation by the Alaska state legislature as well as having no experience with national affairs.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 30, 2007
Special "Oops they forgot the Brown Act" issue of my housing co-op newsletter For those of you who have kept up with the on-going saga of my housing co-op's soap opera, here's yet another installment. Now they have apparently given up on holding Board meetings altogether! Arrgh.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 15, 2007
To paraphrase Disney: "A goal is a photo your heart takes when you're wide awake...." I see photos I took in the past & they remind me of the past. And in my heart I also carry around images of the kind of future I want. And the image that ALL of us carry around is the one of us walking toward The Light -- because ALL of us eventually have to die. And when this happens, we need to know what to say -- that we have done good deeds. This is the best way to plan our lives, so that in the end we will be okay.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 12, 2008
One plane-ride away from pretty: Mothers Day in Iraq This is my third embed in Iraq and so far it's going rather smoothly -- except that Mothers Day over here consisted of eating pumpkin pie in the DFAC, worrying about stop-loss and trying to make it to the latrine in the middle of the night in my bunny slippers.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 7, 2008
Shameless plug for decadent Gelato: Try the date-walnut, blackberry Cabernet, triple espresso.... My daughter has a job selling fabulously delicious gelato. Here's the flavor list plus information on playing beer pong and guess what else! I've just been credentialed by CNN to cover the SC Black Caucus presidential debates on January 21 for OpEd News!!!!!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 30, 2008
What really happened to the Marines in Afghanistan? We may never know.... An irate Marine mom asked me to look into what actually happened to the Marines in Afghanistan that were accused of shooting civilians. She thinks that they are being railroaded by witnesses who are actually with the Taliban. So. What did actually happen in Afghanistan? That's easy to find out. I'll just read the results of the court of inquiry. Except that those results are now classified....
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 6, 2006
The meek shall inherit the earth: An ode to Slim the Cat For the last 15 years, my cat Slim has used non-violent means to defend his turf. The Gandhi of Stuart Street, Slim has held off raccoons, rats, macho tomcats, possums, invading neighbors and even a vector control specialist. Now he is fighting the ultimate WMD -- cancer. This is a heart-felt ode to my cat.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 28, 2007
How my housing co-op is following the national trend: Bye-bye Rule of Law! GWB is demanding that the average American citizen must obey all the laws -- but feels no compunction about breaking them himself. This is how the Rule of Law starts to break down in a nation -- first nationally and then locally. Why should my housing co-op members behave themselves when Bush and them obviously do not?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 30, 2006
Islam: The reason why George Bush will never win in the Middle East Islam would really be a help to George W. Bush. It would help him think more clearly. It would help him realize that his policies in the Middle East are really and truly STUPID. And, no, I'm not just saying this because every woman in America who watches Big Brother on TV has a crush on Kaysar either.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 10, 2008
Where to next: A slow boat to Gaza? If I had my choice, where would I like to go next? To Gaza? Or to Iraq? Or to simply hide under the bed with the rest of America as they happily ignore injustice? And then guess what happened? I went to a benefit for a boat trip to break the siege of Gaza and then I got a very surprising e-mail....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 4, 2008
"In America -- without George Bush": Teddy Kennedy visits Oakland.... The last of the Kennedy brothers took Oaktown by storm last Saturday. What a speech! And to think I almost didn't go because I thought that the campaign trail was boring. "Do you know where we will be one year from today?" he asked us. "In America -- without George Bush!" That got him a standing ovation. "And we need the young people to get involved in politics." It was an Obama rally but Kennedy's speech has universal appeal.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 15, 2008
North Korea from the flight deck: "Mission Accomplished!" Since I couldn't score a visa to North Korea though official channels, I decided to follow Gen. MacArthur's example and head for the Yalu River instead -- hopefully with more peaceful results. After I took a train from Shenyang to Dandong, the concierge at my hotel then put me on a boat and within minutes I was actually in DPRK waters! Now if only I'd been costumed up in a flight suit, I coulda crowed, "Mission Accomplished!"
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 11, 2007
Truth & Reconciliation: The Israeli neo-cons need to 'fess up! If you were an member of the South african Defense Force and told the truth about your crimes against humanity, you got absolved. Wouldn't you love to see the Israeli neo-cons finally tell the truth about thier Apartheid policies too?
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 4, 2008
Dear AOL subscribers: You can no longer receive e-mails containing the word "Blogspot" Can you believe it? In the last two days, AOL has actually blocked ALL of the e-mails you may have received containing the Blogspot domain name! And what is AOL planning to do next? Block everyone receiving e-mails from CNN? Or Oprah? Or is it just that they hates bloggers? Or maybe they just hate me. Why not? Everyone else does.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 19, 2007
The weapons industry: With the world already overstocked with misery, why keep manufacturing more? With all the millions and millions of people in this world who are hurting and dying, why does the one of world's largest industries keep manufacturing a product whose only goal is to make sure that even MORE people are hurting and dying? What's the point? It seems to me that deliberately manufacturing even more ways to create misery in this world is a bad business practice. Get a clue! Has anyone heard of Adam freaking SMITH?
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 21, 2006
My new best friend: How I learned to love job interviews Here's an encouraging word to the unemployed: Go on as many job interviews as you can! I used to DREAD job interviews. Then I suddenly realized that they were actually fun. Where else do you find someone willing to hang on your every word, show interest in YOU and even bring you tea! Forget about My Space! For over an hour per interview, a job recruiter will be your best friend.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 9, 2007
Black like me: What do Strom Thurmond, 50% of all Americans & me have in common? Judge Judy's producer just called and asked if I wanted to be on her show because I'm being sued for discriminating against my neighbor because she drives a Lincoln Navigator. That got me thinking about racial discrimination too. Did you know that approximately 50% of all Americans have "Negro" DNA? That would explain my sister's luxurious dark thick rich "naturally curly" hair! Why didn't I get hair like that!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 24, 2006
The biggest threat to America: The nuclear bomb? No, the dollar store! When patriotic U.S. consumers finally become brave enough to buy goods manufactured here, then I will stop worrying about our economy. In the meantime, Wal-Mart is fast becoming the new Saks Fifth Avenue, displaced as America's "Low-price Leader" by the dollar store.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, China, Vermont: Let's just bomb ALL their nuclear plants! When I was in Iraq, I saw small shoots of hope & positive progress springing up as the Iraqis, with the help of many dedicated & enlightened members of the US military, worked really hard to try to put the pieces of their poor country back into place. And then I came back to America, only to find that the cold clouded atmosphere of "Bomb them back to the Stone Age" still prevails here, & even the Left wants its pound of flesh.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Not smarter than a 5th grader: How runaway inflation has slipped under our radar The only difference between the high inflation rate of the late 1970s and now is that in the 1970s we were constantly being told about it -- and now we are constantly being told that it doesn't exist. But have you BEEN to a gas station lately? It's time for us to judge for ourselves.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 9, 2006
Better than casinos: South Dakota's legal abortion spa for women! I think that the Oglala Sioux reservation is a sovereign nation. If so, then how about they open a posh abortion clinic spa for the women of South Dakota? Like casinos, it will bring income and jobs to the Rez. And what's the alternative? More women dying at the hands of back-street butchers who are assisted by the South Dakota State legislature and the Angel of Death?
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The Bachelor--Baghdad: Why 12 determined women want to marry this man! Imagine 12 gorgeous intelligent ladies all looking for love. But then the camera zooms in on The Bachelor. Yuck! The guy has pimples, is a nerd & is missing half an ear & left foot! That's the best they can do? Yeah. Apparently all the really hunky Middle Eastern guys have already been blown up, beheaded or shot -- but still the ladies of Baghdad are DESPERATE to find a man. ANY man. "Casting was a bitch!"
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 7, 2006
America, we need to go back to the basics -- doing good deeds What makes us human and different from animals? Our ability to do good deeds. America, it's time to get back to the basics. Either you are a good person or you're not. Either you help little old ladies across the street and give up water-boarding or you don't. "Oh, but we have to protect ourselves," you complain. Do we? At the cost of our immortal souls? Jesus knew better than that. And so should we.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 6, 2006
Darfur: It's not about religion or race. It's about greed We are being led to believe that the attrosities in Darfur are being perpetuated by Arabs or Muslims. Wrong. A Sudanese woman set me straight the other day. "What is happening in Darfur is not about religion or race. No, it's all about greed."
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Christmas in Mecca: Are the US occupying forces closing Iraq's borders at Hajj time? Dear GWB: Now is NOT a good time to be closing Iraq's borders as many Muslims prepare to go to Mecca for Hajj. Celebrate the holiday instead by declaring a truce -- or better yet, withdraw U.S. troops.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 29, 2006
Federal witness protection program: The future home of George W. Bush? What will happen to GWB when America finally wakes up and discovers how badly he has screwed our country? Will Alberto Gonzales arrange to put him in a witness protection program? Or will he just play drop-the-soap with Kenny-boy Lay?
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Madam Jane predicts: The Bush-Cheney-McCain axis of neo-cons will attack Iran on.... Will the Bush-Cheney-McCain axis of globalization attack Iran before November and thus suspend the 2008 presidential elections and make a bundle of money for themselves at the expense of democracy, freedom, our economy and apple pie? Madam Jane tells all!
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 27, 2007
A post-Christmas report on America and an ode to Baby New Year.... Since my granddaughter was born already smiling, perhaps this bodes well for America in 2008 too -- that we'll finally get rid of all the graft and corruption in DC and start anew. And I need to get back to Iraq but I hate to fly. Maybe I could just take a bus to Chiapas or New Hampshire or South Dakota -- or anywhere else that the neo-cons' grim war on American ideals is being waged.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 18, 2007
My Pet Goat: Please help me organize national "Every Baby Gets a Bedtime Story" week! The flower of one whole generation of American youth has been murdered, crippled, maimed and/or taught to become heartless killers by men whose hearts are filled only with hatred and greed. If only Cheney and Bush had spent their time reading instead. Shame on you, Barbara Bush! You shoulda read more bedtime stories to young Georgie! "My Pet Goat" would have been a good start.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 16, 2006
The obese generation: Why my 33-year-old friend lays dying in some forlorn ICU My best friend in the world is hooked up to a wall of ventilators, monitors and IV drips. She is dying. She is only 33 years old. And this is only the tip of the iceberg as a whole American generation faces death from old people's diseases thanks to obesity caused by hydrogenated oils, corn syrup and false advertising aimed at the young.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 30, 2007
"Lost" and "September 11": A tale of two rigged plane crashes? With more spare time at my new job, I thought I'd finally catch up on past seasons of "Lost". So far it seems there was a plane crash that was secretly caused by people who then posed as victims and it's all very confusing and there is a lot of speculation in the chat rooms about what actually happened. Sound a lot like 9-11? Yeah.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Our youth in crisis: Where is Tookie Williams when we need him! There is an epidemic of gang-bangers in America today but these kids CAN be reached -- by strong role models who can give them a sense of future. Tookie Williams was one of these people. He could have helped. But where is he now when we really need him? Offed by a state-sactioned drive-by shooting. Schwarzenegger terminated a valuable resource when he approved Williams' execution -- one that we couldn't afford to lose.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 18, 2006
Joey, Rachel, Phoebe & Jordan: How to hide from the future & still be "Friends" Generational debt? The younger generation is already in it, thanks to TV. Haven't paid the rent or the college loans back? No problem. Just lose yourself in the next re-run of "Friends". And it's not just this one generation. All of America is doing this too. America, it's time to turn your televisions off before the WB and AT&T comes and repossesses YOU.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 24, 2006
UNCLEAN: Muslims killing Muslims is "Haram" Many Muslims are real sticklers for details when it comes to following the exact letter of the Qur'an in such matters as making sure women wear veils. But when it comes to the heart and soul of the Qur'an, many Muslims are not paying attention. It's time for Muslims to STOP KILLING MUSLIMS!
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 21, 2007
In Iraq, "The war is over if you want it." The insurgents here seem hell-bent on losing hearts & minds while the US Marines are trying to be the good guys & corrupt officials here act like sharks & Iran, Saudi, etc. drool over Iraq's corpse & American media think it's still a "war" over here but it's not. Iraq is now only some poor country in need of aid after having been hit by the Bush tsunami.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Baghdad days: Playing at being a tourist in the Green Zone Unable to embed out in the REAL Iraq for the next few days, I relaxed and became a tourist in the Green Zone
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 22, 2007
Special "Why Bother?" issue of my housing co-op newsletter (and why endangering Section 8 is a bad thing) I came back from Iraq only to find the usual meaningless petty bickering going on at my co-op's Board of Directors' meetings. In the past 20 years they have made such a wreck of this place that HUD is probably considering taking away our Section 8 eligibility. That would be a disaster! PS: Without its excellent Section 8 program, America would start to look like some third-world country overnight. How discouraging.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The National Security Presidential Directive: Now we're just one hurricane away from a dictatorship! I'm getting tired of "viewing with alarm" all the tricks BushCo is constantly up to. When do I finally get to "point with pride"? At the failed education system, the Iraq debacle, oil prices, the new Presidential Directive, the lack of Freedom of the Press? No. But how about pointing with pride at America when it throws Bush & Cheney in jail for corrpution and hurting our troops? Works for me.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 21, 2008
In 2009, who would you want in the White House when the spit hits the fan? The SC debate, Episode 4 How are you going to decide who to vote for in 2008? Here's a suggestion. Imagine who you want to be in the White House after all of Bush and Cheney's gross mismanagement blowbacks hit the fan and we've got another Great Depression and the Middle East is in flames. Hillary? Obama? McCain? Rep. Clyburn had a good answer. "Me!" However, I myself would like Kucinich or Edwards. Huckabee? No.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 24, 2006
Jericho and Yom Kippur: TV worth watching & a holiday worth observing In this new TV show, there is nuclear destruction and the small town of Jericho is the only place left standing in the USA. And, unless we start forgiving our neighbors as recommended on Yom Kippur, this TV scenario is not going to be all that unlikely in real life.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 19, 2007
"Expect the Best": My new mantra -- which also involves sushi & chocolate Raised in a Republican town, I learned early on to always expect the worst. But now I'm trying to learn to expect the best instead. How's it going? Well, maybe I can expect America to finally wise up and throw Bush in jail? Or maybe not. But my daughter's new job at a small-but-wonderful Berkeley "Gourmet Ghetto" food court is DEFINITELY THE BEST!
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 6, 2008
What doesn't go on in Iraq -- stays in Afghanistan: My Iraq embed, part three Apparently Afghanistan is heating up now and Iraq is cooling off. So the US military is deploying more troops to Afghanistan -- and apparently Arabic foreign fighters are deploying there too. And I finally got a flight out to Baghdad.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 19, 2006
Throw mama from the plane: My weird skydiving adventure Trying to convince myself that I wasn't a wimp, I offered to embed in Occupied Iraq but CentCom turned me down. What was the next most scariest thing I could think of? Skydiving! Would I survive? And if I did, would I still be a wimp?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Ides of March: A fire, winter soldiers, Barbara Lee & the squelch button It was one of those days. My apartment caught on fire, we spent the night on my daughter Ashley's couch, Rep. Barbara Lee told us how bad things are in Washington and the Winter Soldiers testified to the disasters of the Iraq "war". But now that the Ides are over, things can only get better, right? As Rep. Lee says, however, "You need to turn up the street heat."
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 20, 2005
What Jordan and GWB have in common: Power and ulterior motives? Is Dubya deliberately destroying America so he can be king? Or is the fault of liberal lies that he is being slandered? This article compares the soap opera in Washington with a soap opera involving a local family's penchant for melodrama -- with obvious (and tragically funny) results.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 13, 2007
Battle fatigue: Me and Oprah in the Green Zone I'm stuck in the Green Zone again! But not to worry -- Oprah is here to give me good advice. Or least her magazine is. That article entitled "5 Ways to Derail Rage" is really helping me out!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Here's the official statement by the Commission on Presidential Debates Are the debates going to go ahead? Or not? According to the CPD, "We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled."
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 25, 2008
The Special "Big Brother House" issue of my housing co-op newsletter I always said that living at my housing co-op is like living in a soap opera but now I think it's more like being on a reality show -- the Big Brother House. Step inside with me and listen to Julie Chen explain why I need to form an alliance -- and fast! Maybe I can form one with HUD, the ultimate Head of Household.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 20, 2007
GWB's new Iraq strategy: "Keep Jane Stillwater out of the Red Zone -- and the Green Zone too!" At long last! I discovered who has placed the glass ceiling on my latest embed request. It's George Bush himself! But I'm in good company. Me and Jimmy Carter and the Dixie Chicks. PLEEZE, George? Embed me in June and I promise that I'll come and visit you in jail when I get back? Deal? Or no deal?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 25, 2007
Location location location: Has Gitmo just bought a new home in Kabul? Yeah. Rumor has it that Bush has his real estate ladies out buying property in suburban Kabul to house his "New Guantanamo". Interesting. And it's right next to Pul-i-Charkhi, Afghanistan's own Abi Ghraib. Location is everything, George! PS I'm still not being embedded in Iraq but they are letting Oliver freaking NORTH embed with no problem. Guess one has to sell arms to the enemy to get an embed these days. Sigh.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 11, 2007
Why "excavating" Al Aqsa is a bad idea: It's like "excavating" the Sistine Chapel Whenever Israeli neo-cons want to take over Palestinian land, one of their ploys is to announce that they are gonna "excavate" some archelogical treasures. Yeah right. And now they want to "excavate" Al Aqsa mosque. That would be as if Muslims invaded Italy and tried to "excavate" the Sistine Chapel. Not a good idea.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 1, 2006
Burning Man: The Good & the Bad (and the Evil Twin) Why do ortherwise-sane people spend a week hunkering down in the Nevada desert? In the middle of sandstorms and 115-degree heat? Maybe they are searching for community, kindness and culture. Has Burning Man become another Woodstock? Are there still some idealists left?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 28, 2007
Like a drunk blowing his paycheck on booze, will Bush blow his $100B on Iran? Is anybody in America who has seen Bush in action over the last seven years still naive enough to think for an instant that he is actually planning to use his new-found 100 billion dollars to "support the troops" in Iraq and/or "keep America safe" here at home? Face it, guys. Iraq was last year's toy. Bush is no longer interested in playing with last year's toy. Bush wants to spend his money on a new toy -- IRAN
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 8, 2006
Low Rent District: Spending the night at the Berkeley Public Library What is it like to be homeless? Since the trend in America under the Bush bureaucracy seems to be heavily slanted toward increasing homelessness in America, I decided to find out what it is like. Call me a trend-setter or whatever but I didn't get much sleep. I was too busy getting in on the ground floor!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 11, 2006
My friend's letter from northern Israel: They did it 60 years ago & they're doing it again A friend of mine recently visited the ruins of a Christian/Muslim/Palestinian village near the Lebanese border that had been bombed to oblivion by the Israeli army 60 years ago. And 60 years later, NOTHING HAS CHANGED. For the Israeli army, blowing up villages is still the preferred activity of choice.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Illegal Aliens: NAFTA, Bush's Middle East blunders & the great migrations in the EU & here Just like birds fly south for the winter, illegal aliens migrate to Europe and America from Mexico and the Middle East when it gets too hot for them in their own countries. What to do? If we get rid of both NAFTA and George Bush, then people who WANT to stay in their own countries can do so without risking starving to death or getting blown up.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Better than the Hilton?: US detention centers in Iraq You will be pleased to know that the new detainee program in Iraq is excellent -- better than the US jails by far! And lots of broad transparency and public accountability. Now if they would only have that much broad transparency and public accountability at Guantanamo!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 11, 2006
Data-mining our blogs: It's like tuna sleepwalking through quicksand! The internet is already highly censored -- but in such subtle ways that most of us don't even know it is happening. But after my battles with "String Character Verification" and data-mining, being a blogger has become like herding tuna-fish through a swamp.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 31, 2007
Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1 Leaving Kuwait for Baghdad by troop transport has really forced me to bond with the troops. GWB, this are my guys now. Hurt them and you will have to go through me. Stop blundering, fool!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 25, 2006
Nightmare in Kabul: The Soviets, dysentery and dial-up instead of DSL! On April 28, 1978, the Soviet Union ruthlessly invaded Afghanistan. It was just like Pearl Harbor here in Kabul -- lots of shock and awe. Then 12,000 of Afghanistan's teachers, doctors, engineers, judges, writers, lawyers, etc. were marched off to Abu Ghraib, er, I mean Pul-e-Charkhi prison where they were tortured and buried alive....
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 27, 2007
COPS: America's #1 employment agency goes headhunting What happens to so many of our young men who spend their teenage years in juvenile hall? With that amount of specialized on-the-job training skills, they are ready to move on to permanent employment in their life-time career path specialization -- prisoner, convict, jailbird!
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 4, 2007
Why Bishop Tutu would be an excellent resource to help Israeli neo-cons get out of a tight corner Both Americans and Isrealis should be taking notes on everything this man says instead of fawning all over the likes of "phony soldiers" like Cheney, Bush and Ehud Olmert. But, sadly, such is not the case. If people REALLY wanted to support Israel, Bishop Tutu would be the very best man to have in their corner!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 23, 2008
"I'm still drunk!": A visit from a member of Generation X-Box.... What the freak is happening to members of Generation X-Box? They drink like fish! Could it be because there are so many brands of alcohol being marketed that taste too much like the soda-pop they drank as kids? Kevin found out the hard way. He drank, he passed out and he PEED in his girlfriend's bed! So we did an intervention, gave him some Depends, and told him to try saving the world instead.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 28, 2006
American Inventor: I've invented yet another way to save our country from GWB With the Federal Reserve churning out dollars like they were Kleenex and GWB stealing dollars from us like he was Al Capone, its time for Americans to protect THEMSELVES any way they can from coming economic disasters. I suggest that we start buying euros. And we should also pick up some Canadian dollars while we're up in Canada buying our prescription drugs!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 27, 2006
Born on the Bayou: Tribal Katrina victims, you have not been forgotten! Hurricane Katrina has taken a terrible toll on the Houma indians who have hunted, trapped and fished in the bayous of southern Louisiana all of their lives. I toured those bayous this week with the American Indian Movement's Sacred Run. Here is my report -- the funny parts and the parts that are dead serious.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 11, 2006
Macbeth visits the Holy Land: Zionists with 60 years of blood on their hands? I'm going to a writers' conference and spending 18 days with a bunch of American cheerleaders for Zionism. How can I change their minds? By quoting the greatest writer in the English language? Or maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. To paraphrase Lady Macbeth, "Who would have thought the [Middle East] would have so much blood in [it]?"
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 7, 2007
The reluctant blogger: Wracking my brains for a solution to the disaster in Iraq How about we get a Neighborhood Watch going over in the Middle East? Iraq has lots of neighbors who are willing to help. And to get the ball rolling, China, Russia, the EU and America can bring the refreshments to the organizational meeting -- but nothing else. Except for a certificate stating that Bush and Cheney are going on trial for their crimes.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 23, 2006
Opium in Afghanistan: Nobody wants to talk about it...except me! Afghans will talk about ANYTHING -- corruption, earthquakes, how much they hate Pakistan, etc. They even talk about liking US AID (but hate that Condi is screwing them) HOWEVER. No one will talk about opium....
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Marines: They're killers and attack dogs but they're OUR killers and attack dogs The Marines are living in a fairy tale -- Cinderella, to be exact. That wicked stepmother known as Globalization is using them like scullery maids to do their dirty work. The Few? The Proud? Now the Bush-McCain clone is forcing them to wash its dirty laundry. And if we should ever really need the Marines to protect us, where will they be? Asleep in the attic, worn out from doing menial chores for the globalization mafia.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 5, 2008
My embed in Iraq, continued: Turning up the heat in Kuwait.... It's hot in Kuwait, but I had a mission -- to buy my daughter a soccer jersey. I did it but it was HOT. You gotta give the US military snaps for carrying around all that equipment in the heat. I'd like to see Bush, Obama & McCain humping all that equipment in this heat. Obama might do it but Bush & McCain were born with silver spoons in their mouths & probably wouldn't last long enough to hump all that body armor OUT of Iraq
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 27, 2008
John McCain in SF: A man of the people? Hardly. Today was a boring day -- until I got to be on the radio with Cindy Sheehan and to see John McCain in San Francisco. But seeing McCain turned out to be boring too. John, where were your Republican fans? No one was outside waiting for your autograph -- plus you had to be smuggled in through the back door. After seeing the receptions that voters gave Clinton & Obama in South Carolina & Texas, that's gotta hurt.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 5, 2008
Wanna go to North Korea in September? Here's your chance! My friend Mrs. Hwa Young Lee just called me. She's trying to put together a tour to North Korea in September. "Jane, do you know anyone who might be interested in going?" she asked. "There will be Mass Games." What in the freak is a Mass Game? Go to North Korea with Mrs Lee and find out!
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 19, 2007
THE WAR ON TRUTH: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Invasion of Iraq but Your Government Wouldn't Tell You I was trying to give up blogging forever in complete frustration with Bush STILL not being in jail when this nice Scotsman asked me to write a blurb on his book. How can you turn down a Scotsman? Especially when this is a really good book
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 2, 2007
Day 2 of the NYC Book Expo: Christopher Hitchens & Independent Book Publishers.... I visited small presses and was pleased by the books that they offered. Then I was totally entertained by a talk by Christopher Hitchens, the bad-boy author who writes for Vanity Fair.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 11, 2006
The difference between Jews and neo-con Israelis: Jews believe in God? You don't have to believe in God to be an Israeli Neo-con. You just have to believe in the Promised Land. But Who promised the land if there isn't a G-d? And if you DO believe in God then stop breaking His commandments. You can't have it both ways.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 1, 2008
Forget about Dance Wars: "Court Wars" is the show we should be watching in 2008! There's another elephant in the "spin room" these days. Whoever gets elected President gets to stack the Supreme Court. Here is a review of the decisions our present court has made in the past year. Usually the votes went 5 to 4 in favor of the "proceduralists". Kennedy usually sits on the line. But if McCain (shudder) or Romney or Huckabee get to pick the next few justices, us progressives are screwed.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 29, 2006
Why Bush is incompetent -- despite his successful reduction of govt. services George Lakoff says that Conservatives ARE sucessful in their terms -- because they have cut government services. HOWEVER, as long as we are still paying for the services that they have cut, they are still incompetent. Either no more Bush or no more April 15th!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 5, 2006
The War at Home: How to make war on America without getting caught! If you live in a foreign country and there is oil under your land, you are screwed. Sooner or later the oil-obsessed neo-cons will declare war on you. But what if there is oil under your land in southern Louisiana? The neo-cons can't just declare war on America to get at it. Or can they?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 16, 2006
The dollar's evil twin: Exploring the Bush bureaucracy's private monetary system The American economy is in really really big trouble. Dire straits. But why hasn't it crashed? Because there is a flow of underground money that keeps it going -- the dollar's evil twin. Does our wonderful country now only function because of an infusion of corruption, drug money, petro dollars, unbelievable debt and monopoly money from the Federal reserve? How sad.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 12, 2006
Something wicked this way comes: Is Olmert visiting GWB to plot an attack on Iran? The last time Olmert visited Bush, they dreamed up the attack on Lebanon two months later. Olmert is coming here again -- so what can we expect two months from now? I'll bet you a free trip to Gaza that it's gonna be an attack on Iran.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Ramadan: A wonderful story about FOOD! During the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, one is supposed to go without food from sunrise to suset. What! I get scared just thinking about going without food! So I made a deal with God.... Now I just TALK about food.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 30, 2007
A review of the US troop chow hall in Kuwait: Would Michelin give it three stars? When entering a war zone, it's always first things first. What is the FOOD like!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 1, 2006
It's that time of year again: My Weird Weekend at the Bohemian Grove! When I snuck into the Bohemian Grove bacchanalia for the rich and powerful in 2004, I wrote an article about it. Re-reading that essay in honor of this year's Bohemian Grove, I discovered that -- aside from the fact that instead of Powell we now have Rice lying to the UN and that Kenny Boy Lay is allegedly dead -- NOTHING has changed.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 15, 2006
Iran the video game: Bush is confusing real war with PlayStation! "Shock and Awe Over Baghdad" may have seemed like a video game to George W. Bush but if he thinks that war on Iran is gonna be just another Xbox fantasy, he's gonna get a rude reality check when his guys start getting shot out of the sky. George, stick to Donkey Kong! Declaring war on Democrats is much more on your level of skills.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 2, 2007
Annapolis and beyond: Bush needs to stop teasing the tigers Every time you deprive a Palestinian child of an education or an Iraqi child of food, you are creating a tiger, George. Don't tease the tigers! Why? Because someday you too will be behind bars -- and then you too will know how it feels to be teased and tormented. And when -- not if -- this finally happens, all of your weapons and money and power won't be able to save you....
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 23, 2008
I just got media credentials for the Ohio primary debates! What now, punk! They'll be making history at the Ohio debate this Tuesday & I got credentialed for the "Spin Room" & everything! But will I be there? Probably not. The most I can afford now is to rent a cable-accessed motel room in Berkeley, put on my bunny slippers, break out the Fritos & make my own "Spin Room". Sigh. But I can still diss John McCain! You can always do THAT for free. PS: Does anybody know anybody in Cleveland who could....
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 1, 2007
The NYC 2007 Book Expo: I just met Walter Mosley! I just heard the author Walater Mosley speak at the NYC Book Expo. He was terrific. The whole Expo is terrific. And I LOVE New York.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Wrong Occupation: Why over-extending the war-and-oil business is a bad thing As oilmen and weapons manufacturers, Cheney and Bush double their profits every time there is a war for oil. But pickig a fight with China is NOT a good merchanising strategy. And the next thing you know, Bush & Cheney will be claiming that they need to seize America in order to take back occupied territory for the sake of defending the poor Indians. Enough is enough!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 30, 2008
One Love, Part 1: Visiting a Combat Support Hospital in Iraq I visted the combat support hosptial in Anbar province, expecting the worst but only saw a handful of Iraqis and one Marine. Bush didn't play by the rules in Fallughah but the docs at the CSH do.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 31, 2006
The miracle of India: Peace (and a good shave) The poor in India are UNBELIEVABLY poor -- and yet there is civil obedience. Can you imagine Americans being that docile if WE were faced with the prospect of starvation daily? Ha! It would be like another Baghdad here within less than a month.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 17, 2007
Does Madam Jane predict future disaster?: Call me at 1-800-AFTER-THE-FALL After reading the lifelines in some Oakland gang members' palms, I realized there WILL be a future for some of them. And also there will be a future for some of the human race as well -- although probably as cavemen when Bush and Cheney get done with us. But always remember this -- Where there's life, there's hope.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tales from behind the counter at the mall: Generation X-Box speaks up! Much to my surprise, there really are jobs out there for Generation X-Box -- at the mall, where they grew up. And even more surprising is the way that Gen X-Box types apply for these jobs and then quit and then do it all over again, like there was no tomorrow. But as long as you are a babe-magnet and use your glam-cred to sell the merchandise, the retailers don't seem to care!
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Dear John: The only way to "win" in Iraq is to leave Poor sweet be-nighted John McCain! He thinks we are still trying to "win" in Iraq. That's old-school thinking. We already "won" back in 2003. Now the only way we can "win" is to leave and then see if the place falls apart without us or not. Or else send me over there and if I can walk down the street without getting kidnapped, killed or sold into prostitution, then that's a victory right there. And THEN we can leave!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 4, 2005
Palestine goes to the Olympics: Winning the checkpoint-crossing event With approximately 750 checkpoints to go through daily, life in Palestine is harsh.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 2, 2006
How to save the Israeli soldier: ship him off to the Hague for trial Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been jumping up and down so vigorously lately about that "kidnapped" soldier that I'm afraid he's gonna follow Ariel Sharon's example and have a stroke too. How about we spare Olmert the anxiety and simply try Cpl. Shalit at the Hague?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 14, 2007
Blind: Watching the Israel-Palestine eye-for-an-eye tragedy unfold Israelis and Palestinians have clearly demonstrated for all the world to see -- and David Pratt's new book has recorded it -- what happens when violence, revenge and retribution guides one's policies. Everyone loses. There are no winners in this terrible game -- only survivors with no vision.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Ghost of the First 9-11 Christmas She was looking for some kind of evidence that perhaps someone she knew who had been in the World Trade Center on the day it was destroyed might still be alive. She was looking for me. But I wasn't there. I was up in East Harlem - Spanish Harlem - watching a Posada pass by. And as the poor desperate couple was turned away from inn after inn, I knew just how they felt. I felt the same way too. No one wants to let me in either.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 3, 2005
Killing is blasphemy: Only God can take a human life Killing is wrong. For no matter what reason. God does NOT like ugly.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Road Warrior: Kerouac, Cheney, China, the VFW & hot dogs On the road to Burning Man, I discovered Dick Cheney lying to the VFW and sneaking around to avoid Code Pink....
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Rolling on the River: It will be 10 more years before New Orleans is safe Homeland security begins at home! Instead of adventuring off in foreign lands, we need to fix eminent dangers to Americans here at home, starting with repairing the levees of the Mississippi delta. And speaking of levees, was the NOLA levee blown up in order to create an impromptu flood gate that sacrificed the Ninth Ward? And if so, who made that decision to play God?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving and a photo of Pumpkin Pie taken near Baghdad.... Happy Thanksgiving! I love pumpkin pie. Here's a photo of my favorite thing to be thankful for in these dark times.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 4, 2006
Ashes & diamonds: Ideas on how to protect our savings from Bush's fire sale on the dollar Under the looming threat of mega- inflation, I asked my friend Stephen how Americans could change their dollars into something safer. His answers surprised me. Gold? Silver? No.... Diamonds! Why? Because DeBeers has complete commodity control. Then my friend Martie told me why there WOULD be a war on Iran -- for the same reason. Commodity control.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 15, 2008
Irony: I'm over here safe in Iraq and my neighbor just got shot to death in Berkeley Apparently there really is a lot of rebuilding going on here in Anbar province. Here's a report on a lot of it. But am I drinking the Kool-Aid? Who knows. But I'm definitely brushing my teeth in it. And, sadly, I find things are safer here than in Berkeley where my neighbor just got shot to death up near Telegraph Avenue -- in broad daylight.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 18, 2007
Where's the beef: How I almost ate a whole cow...and am now at the dentist When the neighbors slaughtered a cow last Saturday, I was THERE! After living on toast and eggs for two weeks in a small African village, all I wanted to know was, "Where's the beef!"
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 2, 2008
Dear Kos, thanks for your Book Expo speech -- and WAS Sadr City just flattened? Or not? The Daily Kos guy has a book coming out and I got an advance copy at the 2008 Book Expo. And I also have a question of his readers -- and the readers of OpEd News too. Does anyone know what went on in Sadr City in April? Was it bombed a lot or is that just a rumor? Where is Scott McClellan when we need him!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A death in the family: Unfortunately Slim the Cat did NOT have nine lives My cat was in pain. What should I do? Then I remembered that today was my father's birthday and that, before he died, he had not wanted to suffer either. So I followed my father's example. I miss my father. I miss my cat. But both of them are now no longer in pain.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 2, 2006
Your home is your museum: Don't call it housecleaning. Call it CURATING! Because the one person you spend the most time with in life is yourself, you gotta learn to LIKE yourself. I like myself fine -- except for when it comes to housework. So I've changed the paradigm and decided to look at it as curating insead of being the maid. Works for me. Welcome to my museum.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 5, 2006
Thank you, GWB: To put my daughter through college, I'm selling the family china! To help put my daughter through college, I'm selling the family heirlooms on eBay. But wait, it's gonna get worse. Soon college students won't even be able to afford Kraft Dinner!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 7, 2008
"Mom likes you better!": Living on the government teat in Iraq Can you believe it? I'm being thrown out of Iraq AGAIN! And I haven't even gotten over there yet. They told me to come, I bought my plane ticket and then they canceled my embed. Now I'm stuck with the ticket. In Bush's America, it's all a matter of access -- who gets access to the news and who does not. And apparently I don't. Why? Apparently because I keep hatin' on GWB. My bad.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 8, 2006
The War Lover: The US has never been invaded but we have all experienced war.... "Americans aren't against the war in Iraq because it is wrong; they are against it because we are losing," said Scott Ritter. Are Americans pro-war? Has the fact that there have been no recent wars on American soil softened us to its horrors? Or is it something else that makes Americans so blood-thirsty?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 6, 2006
Let's turn to Chapter 11 in America's neo-con history book: The one on bankruptcy.... America's credit is extremely overextended and it looks like Chapter 11 is gonna happen soon -- no matter who wins, loses or steals this election. Still and all, it WOULD be nice to see the crooks who blackened America's Experian report go to jail!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 3, 2006
Health Care in a Third World Country: Better than what we get here American hospitals are pretty, sure, but compared to the service and affordability of hospitals in other countries, even in some third world countries, the beauty of American hospitals is only skin deep.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 13, 2006
A kid talks about current affairs: "That war is on crack!" Older Americans may be fooled by Bush policies, but American kids haven't been fooled. They know that Bush, Olmert and AIPAC are pushing "war crack" and that it is bad stuff. So. There's hope that when they grow up, they will vote Bush and Cheney out of the White House. But are we stuck with war until then? And at least ten more years of Cheney and Bush?
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 17, 2007
Courting the Supremes: Justice Roberts' big chance to go down in history one way or the other... When I went to hear a local retiring judge speak last night, here's what he said. "Currently Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears to be doing everything that he can to have an emergency judicial system ready in case we have another 9-11. Does he know something the rest of us don't know? He's already got all the gears in motion in case of a second and even a third attack." That's scary.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 9, 2007
On getting promoted: From American drudge to the Laughing Goddess of India! Today, my assignment is to write about "Scenic India". Boy, what an easy assignment! Camels, tigers, ancient ruins and dancing girls? Wow!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 31, 2006
Sounds familiar: The Israeli press spins "Preemptive strike" and "Support our troops" Why do we expect the average Israeli to be invulnerable to Olmert's "spin" on his poorly-planned attack on Lebanon when the average American still believes Bush's "spin" that Iraq had WMDs? Then, once their ill-conceived "wars" are going badly, Olmert and Bush (and Fox News) fall back on that old chestnut, "Support our troops".
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 30, 2006
Sherlock in India: Will keep my eye out for the stolen uranium! When Nuc News said there was some stolen uranium in Indai, I vowed to keep my eye out for it! So Far i've just seen three sacred cows and an itnernet cafe.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dishing the dirt at my housing co-op: The special "I Want Revenge" issue of my newsletter Good grief! The Board of Directors at my housing co-op is at it again! Only this time they are going after my daughter. But I gotta be grateful to this bunch -- they taught me how to deal with people like Cheney and Bush. So. What is Savo Island up to this time? I'm more than willing to spill.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The Thailand coup: Pentagon, please take note! An ex-pat friend of mine in Thailand just e-mailed me, "Mr. Thaksin and his cronies have caused a lot of damage to this country," My friend was glad for the military coup. Hey. Bush has done a lot of damage to America too -- especially to national security. Maybe the Pentagon will take note of what happened in Thailand?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bring your own flak jacket: Helpful tips for touring today's Middle East.... Well I'm back from living at the Kuwait airport Starbucks -- and I'm broke and hyping my book. But it looks like everyone else in America is broke too. But if you are one of the lucky ones who can still pay your rent, here's a review of my book, hint, hint....
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 30, 2008
See ya at the Fair: I get to go to the Palin-Biden debate too! I wanted to stay home from the Palin-Biden debate in St Louis and pack for my trip to Iran in October but my friend Patrick tempted me. "St Louis is the murder capital of America," he told me. I can't miss that! And also, will Palin actually show up? Or plead a family emergency.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 13, 2005
Paradise Found -- in Jerusalem: The Dome of the Rock's big secret a little-known fact is that the Dome of the Rock is only for women. Good rule for our leaders too?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 21, 2006
"No Americans allowed": The sign on George Bush's new bunker? With all this saber-rattling in the Middle East, is GWB trying to create Armageddon? Sure. And will he die in the flames too? Hell, no. George Bush is afraid to die. Hence the fabulous new bunker. But has he built bunkers for the rest of us Americans too? Hell, no.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 2, 2006
The Burning Man grand finale: Setting 400 billion dollar bills on fire Sure, when they "Burn the Man" in the Nevada desert it is impressive. But it is ART! But when the neo-cons set fire to a pyre of 400,000,000,000 dollar bills and call it a war on Iraq, it's just plain wrong.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Has GWB's spending spree cost YOU PERSONALLY more than your annual salary? Probably. Bush has us heading toward the poor house -- but this is not exactly new....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 22, 2006
Clean Break: Why the dilemma of choosing between Israel and Lebanon isn't a dilemma at all Choosing between Lebanon and Israel isn't really necessary. We just gotta look deeper to find out who the real culprit is. The Bush gang was planning this hit on Lebanon way back in 1996. It's time to stop tearing ourselves apart about who's right and who's wrong. We all know who.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Straight Talk: In Baghdad and in New Hampshire, did John McCain lie, exaggerate or just vacillate? Straight talk from McCain? Not in my experience. But now he has a great chance to "Straight Talk" regarding election fraud. In the NH Republican primary, McCain got only 36% of the Diebold votes but 39% of the hand-counted votes. Hmmmm.... Has the Bush family been hatin' on Senator McCain once again? And if McCain expects to finally secure SC, he'd better demand paper ballots quick!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Asleep at the wheel: Our leaders snooze while our government speeds out of control! Like a taxi we hired to get us where we want to go but discover to our horror that instead we are careening backwards down a steep hill while our driver is asleep at the wheel, our leaders are failing to keep us passengers safe -- even though WE are paying the fare.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 14, 2006
Israel in danger: Apparently Bush thinks that Israel is expendable too Judging from his actions, Bush's foremost Middle East policy is to kill as many Arabs/Muslims/whatever in the region as he can in order to de-stabilize oil prices. So. When Israel roils up the water in the Middle East, that helps George Bush. But with all this water churning around, what if Israel should also happen to drown? If I were Olmert, I would learn to swim fast -- and keep away from those Washington sharks!
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 10, 2006
Credit where credit is due: Monetary survival in middle-class America I always use cash -- and have actually been turned down for a job because I have no credit rating. But credit is EVERYTHING to most middle-class Americans. How do they do it? I couldn't stand living life that close to the edge, knowing that I could lose all I own at any minute. Too dangerous for me!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 4, 2007
Men In Trees: It's time for GWB to "Man Up" Like the advice Patrick's father gave him on the TV show "Men In Trees", it's time for Geroge Bush to "Man Up". Stop whining and blaming other people for your mistakes and GET OVER the fact that you are not allowed to bomb Iran. "Man Up," George. Take some freaking responsibility for your mess!
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 24, 2006
Invading California: Bush lost in Lebanon but his victory over CA is almost assured Our George has just sent his swift-boating psy-ops Special Froces to California to bolster up Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign against Califonia taxpayers. Why should Bush lose sleep about losing Lebanon when he can successfully invade the world's fifth-largest economy instead? I heard Arnie's opponent Phil Angelides speak today. Phil made it perfectly clear -- the invasion of California by the Bush trolls is ON!
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tales from the Press Room: Camping out with journalists in Iraq Being stuck in the press room does have its advantages. Reporters always have interesting tales to tell. And at the press conferences, you can always count on Iraqi reporters to ask the hard questions.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 4, 2008
Fear of flying: The scariest thing about going to Iraq is the turbulence over the Atlantic! I hate to fly. And there's a rape video going around the Middle East that is scaring Muslims about us almost as much as shock-jocks are scaring their audiences in the US about Muslims. And I made it as far as Kuwait without having a heart attack from sustained terror that only comes from flying through turbulence....
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 2, 2006
Don't bomb Iran yet, George: I'm still lost in Tehran! Somehow I got on the wrong plane in Kabul and ended up in Tehran. Gee, I hope GWB doesn't bomb it while I'm here. On the plane I sat next to a "contractor". The Middle East is CRAWLING with "contractors". He told me what it was like to work in Baghdad.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Madame Jane's Halloween prediction: There will be no 2007! Madame Jane is finished with making subtle predictions and giving subtle hints. Here's my in-your-face analysis of America's future. If we don't jail those devils and incubuses who have seized OUR White House, there is going to be no more Halloween -- and no more Happy New Year either! How to stop them? File a felony charge with the DC police. 202-727-4218.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 9, 2005
My bleeding liberal heart takes a bath: Have Katrina victims followed GWB's example? We know that GWB is running welfare scams on the American people. But are the Katrina victims following his example? And will they too get praised for doing it?
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 30, 2007
Farewell to Africa, good morning Iraq! I'm going back to Iraq in October but this time with a difference -- according to a woman speaking in tongues in Africa, I've now got God on my side! Bush and Cheney need to stop their unholy killing spree, go off to Africa and get God on their side too. Endless war? That's ungodly. And God don't like ugly.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Al Gore's global warming film: We've got the early review! Unlike movies about obsessed albinos, Al Gore's new movie is about something that really has relevance to our lives. But don't worry! It's even more scary than the DaVinci Code!
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Help Help Help! I'm stranded at the Kuwait airport Starbucks and they won't let me embed! The US military has gone back on its word to embed me. Could it be because I don't like GWB? But whatever their reason, it's midnight here in Kuwait and I have no place to saty and no flight back home. Help!Help!!!!!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 15, 2005
The Great Depression: What will we do when we no longer have Bush to kick around? How to survive in our new post-George Bush world....
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 23, 2006
Semper Fi: The funeral production line at Quantico Virginia In the short space of time that it took us to walk past the U.S. Marine base at Quantico, Virginia -- fifteen minutes max -- we saw two military funeral corteges leaving the main gate on their way to the cemetery. One funeral every 15 minutes? Does this funeral production line go on all day? Every day? Or did we just come at a bad time.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 17, 2006
OPEC & Apocalypto: We've got the early review.... What do OPEC and Apocalypto have in common? The movie's opening quote. "Great civilzations can only be conquered after they have started to decay from within." It wasn't so much that OPEC was fierce enough to conquer the dollar. It was that the dollar had already started to decay from within.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 14, 2005
Ramadan: Islam's secret weapon Here is the story of my experience with the Islamic month of Ramadan and the fast that goes with it.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 16, 2006
Syria just changed over to the euro: I want to change to the euro too! Syria has just fired a major shot across the Bush bureaucray's bow by switching to the euro. What if Latin America follows suit? And me too! I want to switch to the euro too. Take that, George!
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 29, 2006
"You're safe": Iraq's new unofficial draft board Don't you just love it on "Rock Star Supernova" when Brooke Burke tells contestants "You're safe"? Well, no one is safe in Lebanon right now. But women and children are safer in Iraq than they have been in a while. Why? Because U.S. troops have orders to concentrate on killing draft-age men. Can you imagine a draft board like that in America? Yeah.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 27, 2008
What goes on in Wall Street, stays on Wall Street.... My mother always told me when I was growing up that our family was totally POOR. I'm older & wiser now & can note that my parents owned their home, bought expensive clothes & took European vacations. How poor could they have been? I think that Wall Street & the Federal Reserve are doing the same thing now -- crying poor while they take European vacations. & we naive Americans may never find out "What goes on in Wall Street..."
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 19, 2006
Red Alert: Why is GWB hijacking our airlines? You can't fly because of the lines. You can't drive because of gas prices. So much for the global village, the travel industry and "America on the Go". There's still the train but don't let Bush know or he'll hijack Amtrak too -- and start issuing terror alerts for Trailways and Greyhound as well. Why is Bush making travel so difficult? And why are Americans putting up with it?
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 6, 2006
Grey's Anatomy: Time to do some surgery on the White House Remember, in the TV show Grey's Anatomy, when George told Izzy, "There are watchers and there are do-ers". America needs to stop watching and start doing. Bush needs to go to jail. But GW has brought about his own doom. Gas prices alone will finally change America from lurkers into do-ers. And it's about time!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 5, 2006
An angel in trouble: Schwarzenegger's war chest is massive! Please help Angelides win in California Who is in the best position to buy the leadership of the world's fifth largest economy? Arnold Schwarzenegger. Again. The campaign ads Arnie buys are outrageous, accusing his angelic opponent Phil Angelides of wanting to raise our taxes by TEN BILLION DOLLARS. Is Arnie offering us "True Lies" again? Nope. These are lying lies. Just like the ones we got from his friends at Enron....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Lost: Why I will NOT abandon America When hospital bureaucrats told me that I could not hold my new-born child, I did not abandon her to those cold-blooded bastards. I fought back. And I will NOT abandon America to the cold-blooded bastards who now control the White House either. There are still some Americans who will also fight back. We have not abandoned our country. And the bureaucrats in Washington need to know that we will no longer be ignored.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 22, 2008
An October Surprise: Some thoughts on robbing a bank and going to Iran.... How can you tell if Iraq is finally done living behind Bush's "Iron Curtain"? When Global Exchange is able to run tours to Baghdad again. But they are runnng a tour of Iran this October. I want to go! But how to afford it? Guess I'll just have to follow another Bush family example and go rob a bank....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun: Highway Baghdad revisited At a press conference today, General Caldwell stated, "Democracy is good for debate, but what is NOT debatable is our commitment to Iraq. Every day we are putting boots on the ground...." Did he really just tell the American people to go take a flying leap?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 26, 2006
Surprise, surprise: In Afghanistan, Pres. Karzai is a GOOD GUY! I have it from reliable sources that President Karzai is actually a prince, not a frog. But if the progressives in America are going to stop thinking of him as George Bush's errand boy, Karzai is going to have to get better PR -- and perhaps get kissed by a princess too.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 19, 2007
Cannon fodder: What will happen next in Iraq -- and America? When I saw all those young and green U.S. troops at that airbase in Kuwait, all lined up and ready to get transported off to Iraq, two words kept running through my brain. "Cannon fodder."
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 4, 2006
How America can FINALLY win a war: Fight it in Utah? Jon Carroll just wrote an article wherein he stated that because America's "leaders" do not understand the nature of modern -- or even stone-age -- warfare, they keep getting bogged down in these stupid high-tech wars that end up being quagmires. They just don't understand the most basic rule of warfare. "People have a unique attachment to the country of their birth, and they will fight for it beyond all reason."
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 10, 2005
All I want for Christmas is the Maudelle Shirek Post Office! A Congressman from Iowa is blocking naming a CA post office after our wonderful City Council member -- on the grounds that she might have been a communist. He cited Joe McCarthy as a "hero for America". Yet we have buildings named after war-mongers, blackmailers and Richard M. Nixon!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 5, 2006
BUSH KNEW: An important link between stolen elections and 9-11 More and more facts are proving that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen. Did Bush know about this, one of the most massive and heinous crimes in U.S. history? And would a man capable of committing such a crime be also capable of committing another of the most massive and heinous crimes in U.S. history? Duh.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 11, 2006
Cheering for Iran: In the basement of an Oakland mosque this morning, everyone wanted our World Cup team to win! We were all hoping that somehow underdog Iran would win its World Cup game against top-ranked Mexico. I particularly was hoping that if Iran won in soccer, Bush would somehow back off of bombing Tehran. Magical thinking...but miracles do happen. Would a miracle happen today? Would Iran win?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Flight plan: Discovering that Social Security isn't the parachute I thought it was My experiences in falling into the ranks of the unemployed in George Bush's America
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 15, 2007
Fashion Statements: Pink is the new black -- and Iraq is the new base camp Bush and Cheney are at it again. First we had the Gulf War, using Saudi Arabia as a base camp. Then we had the War on Iraq, using Kuwait as a base camp. Guess what happens next? Iraq is now the new base camp for the attack on Iran. And guess what else? Pink is NOT the new black. We've been duped again.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 13, 2007
Courage & Grief: Iraqi Parliament's memorial service for its slain members Today I went to the moving and heart-felt special session of the Iraqi Parliament held in honor of its injured and dead. I also saw the cafeteria where the bomb went off. Here's a description, written through tears.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Dracula had family values too: The Republican 2006 campaign against Senator Byrd In West Virginia, John Raese wants conservatives to give him $9.85 million to bring "family values" to the Senate. Yeah right. After all the White House lies, corruption, torture, etc, that's like Count Dracula saying he represents America's best interests because he has so much in common with the Red Cross -- they both collect blood.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 8, 2006
"Little Miss Sunshine": Can she stop World War III? I went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" the other day and never laughed so hard in my life. Then I went home and watched an episode of that never-ending Bush-Olmert box-office-flop, "Little Miss Rain." Don't those guys EVER lighten up? Why does EVERYTHING have to be about their mortician-like obsession with oil pipelines and World War III?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 8, 2006
Battlestar Gallactica: Facing the question that EVERYONE ignores No one seems to be asking about the future -- after war as a foreign policy has failed, we run out of electricity and gas and the icebergs all melt. The only people who are actively addressing these problems today are the producers of Battlestar Gallactica, The Survivor, Jericho and Lost!
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 13, 2007
They killed Kenny!: Did my friend Kenny really need to die? When my friend Kenny got melanoma cancer and yet couldn't get health insurance, I couldn't resist the chance to cry, "They killed Kenny!" Well, it's time for Bush and Congress to stop pandereing to insurance companies and start answering to US instead. But Kenny had a big heart and I think he would probably appreciate my attempt at dark humor if it meant that others wouldn't have to go through what he did.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 17, 2006
Return of the Jedi: Are the Ewoks kicking George Bush's butt? In "Return of the Jedi" the Ewoks, armed only with bows and arrows, kicked the Evil Empire's butt. Is fourth-generation warfare now following the Ewok's example? PS: According to Time Magazine, Iraq now looks like it's been invaded by Darth Varder and the Death Star.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 9, 2006
Why there WILL be a war on Iran: Bush's daddy will pay for it Bush is used to getting everything he wants and having his Daddy pay for it. Like Veruca Salt, that spoiled little girl in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Bush has only to scream, "Daddy, I want it!" and he gets it -- no matter what the cost. He wants the war on Iran? He'll get it. George Sr. has been replaced and guess who his new Daddy is now? The American taxpayer. Me and you.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 23, 2006
Kabul, Afghanistan: The best place for people-watching in the entire world! There is so much to SEE on the streets of Kabul. It is endlessly fascinating. At the Ministry of Health we learned that 70% of the people in Afghanistan suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome as a result of over 25 years of poverty and war. 70% of the country has "issues"? This place is a people-watching paradise!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 25, 2006
Report from Kabul: America is being Bush-whacked in Afghanistan-and at home too After seeing the effects of George Bush's barbaric policies first hand in Afghanistan, I am FURIOUS. We need to try that man for high crimes NOW.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 23, 2007
Have remote, will travel: Imagine never having to see Bush & Iraq on TV again! You have NO idea what a relief it is not to have to see GWB's face on the tube every night and not have to listen to neo-con bull-dookie about Iraq on the news every night too. I didn't either until my friend wrote me from Sweden. "What impressed me most here is that we don't have to keep watching all those gruesome images of Bush's disastrous war on Iraq every night."
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Madame Jane Predicts: "With Bush in jail, a new 9-11 threat is avoided...." "Expect the best," the cards say. I alway expect the worst -- and what can be worse than Bush in the White House, a quagmire in Iraq, our phones being wire-tapped, our liberties being threatened, Jesus being dissed by war-mongering crackpots hyping The Rapture and our economy on the skids? The neo-cons SPECIALIZE in bad news. What could be worse than that? Another 9-11. How to aviod it? "Have Bush in jail by Christmas..."
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 10, 2006
California: I'm going to Darfur where it's safer! Since California was invaded by Bush, Schwarzenegger and election fraud, things have been on a downward spiral here in the Golden State. And now that North Korea has us in its sights too, the future looks even more grim. Maybe I should go to Darfur or Iraq to see exactly how far the Bush-Schwarzenegger policies will take California if we don't watch out.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 20, 2005
After the fall: What will we do after Bush goes to jail? Let's figure out what will happen after Bush is in jail -- and how to keep our country from being hijacked again.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 20, 2006
My AIM Sacred Run "On the Road" report from Virginia + an effective media tactic from--surprise--Falun Gong While getting ready to meet the AIM Sacred Run in Virginia, we toured Washington DC and discovered that the Falun Gong -- yes, THAT Falun Gong -- had 20 people on every street corner in DC, holding up pictures of Chinese attrocities. Maybe the American peace movement should stage something like that too. Bush has given us LOTS of attrosity photos to chose from -- both here and abroad!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 28, 2006
The world's new peacekeepers: China -- and OPEC? Olmert justified the destruction of Lebanon because of the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Because a Chinese soldier was killed, is China now justified in destroying Israel too? In this situation, China chose to send humanitarian aid instead. Good for China! Now if only OPEC would do the Right Thing also and stop selling Bush and Olmert jet fuel and gasoline! Then war in the Middle East would be over like THAT.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 16, 2006
More bloody than Carrie: Bush's revenge on the National Guard Like the plot of that old horror movie, Bush was humiliated by the National Guard and now he is getting his revenge. He's already desimated them by deploying them to Iraq without adequate body armor. And now he wants what's left of them to trudge along our borders in 140-degree heat. What's next after that?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 22, 2006
Blaming Clinton wasn't enough: Now they are blaming everything on JIMMY CARTER! We all know that the current failed U.S. foreign policies are not BUSH'S fault. How can they be? We have been told over and over that they are all the fault of President Clinton. But NOW we being told to believe that they are actually the fault of Jimmy Carter! That's Carter. C-A-R-T-E-R. Not Reagan. Not Bush. How could I have been so wrong as to think that "The Decider" was deciding our foreign policies?
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 17, 2006
Newsflash: President [sic] Bush supports my efforts to embed in Iraq! President [sic] Bush announced today that there was Freedom of Press in Iraq! Does that mean that I can now embed over there -- even though I am a Progressive? Yeah right.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 7, 2006
We're paying for it: Getting our money's worth out of the War on Iraq Like a low-income family spending all its money on a Cadillac, America has bought a war it can't afford. "Look, dear. I just bought Abu Ghraib! Won't it look nice on the shelf next to the Bible!" I'm going to Iraq to see if there is anything about my purchase that is positive. I hope so -- since there is no return policy on it. PS: Does anybody have any Kelvar they could loan me?
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 6, 2007
Message from the Green Zone: Humpty Dumpty was here The Iraqi egg has broken. It's past time to even make an omelet with it. I have a suggestion -- Let's give every Iraqi $15,000 and a passport, send them off to Cleveland and start again with all new people. No one can put Humpty Dumpty back together again -- not even Bush! Especially not Bush....
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 24, 2005
Someone please tell Cindy: Bush may be at Camp David for Thanksgiving Is Bush at Camp David and not Crawford for Thanksgiving?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 29, 2006
Home invasion: Why haven't cops taken the White House back yet? There used to be a punk in our neighborhood who made his living doing "home invasions" -- but the cops soon put a stop to that. Our White House has been illegally invaded. There is a "home invasion" now going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Why aren't the cops doing something about that too? Where are the bullhorns and SWAT teams when we really need them? I want to know.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 11, 2006
You want to embed in Iraq? You had better not be a Progressive journalist I applied to go over there and do some POSITIVE reporting on the "War on Iraq" on behalf of OpEd News. And I got turned down. CentCom is so touchy about allowing reporters in that I suspect the "War" is going really badly these days -- like the last days before the fall of Saigon?
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 4, 2005
Foreclosing on Gaza: Why Ariel Sharon can't afford the mortgage on his three homes The economics of isreal are shakey
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Even the freaking electronic ballot boxes didn't work! We expect the voting machines to fail -- but now the freaking electronic ballot boxes don't work either! The poll worker was down on his knees trying to "unstuff" it....
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 3, 2006
Where have all the Pro-Lifers gone: Long time passing... The Middle East is on fire. The Dogs of War have been loosed and they are ripping the eyes out of the skulls of dead babies. Who has the political clout to stop the greatest infant massacre since Herod? The Pro-Life movement. Pro-Lifers? Baby protectors? Where are you now?
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 14, 2007
Madame Jane Predicts: In 2007, GWB will send HIMSELF to jail! Americans are basically naive and slow to anger but when even the most gullible Red State Republicans finally figure out that they have been conned and duped by GWB, then solitary confinement will be the only safe place left in this world for Bush. Even Paraguay will not be far enough away!
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The Simpsons: Who will Homer & Marge vote for in 2006? In the 2006 elections, Homer Simpson is forced to choose between self-interest and Mr. Burns
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 29, 2006
The Mile High Club: Are airlines soon going to be a thing of the past? There is a whole sub-culture of American retirees who do nothing but travel. If global warming causes commercial airlines to have to shut down because they pollute too much, these seniors are going to be really PISSED. It's time to come up with a non-polluting jet fuel if your don't want the wrath of the AARP Generation coming down on your head!
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 7, 2005
Why is ANTARCTICA is the only continent whose residents are not furious with the Bush bureaucracy? Bush diehard fans are blaming CLINTON for their hero's governing disasters. Too bad for them that the rest of the world doesn't agree.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 5, 2007
Joe T, they've gone and cancelled POPCORN!!! Good grief! Is nothing sacred? Now they've gone and eliminted POPCORN! At the rate that "Conservatives" are conserving America, there's gonna be nothing left of us in less than a decade. AT&T should be ashamed of themselves.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Why the Red States love Bush: He moved YOUR cheese Yes, they still love GWB in Texas. why? Because he is giving them what they want -- our Blue State incometax money.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 31, 2006
My 15 minutes of fame: Auditioning to be on "The Apprentice" When I tried out to be on next season's "Apprentice" TV show, they asked us contestants how we felt about 9-11 -- just to see if we knew how to speak up. Boy did I ever! "Remember the photo of the woman standing on the steel beam in the North Tower? The one that was supposed to have been so hot that it melted?"
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Rule of Law In Iraq: My address to the Berkeley-Albany Bar Association Despite all the bad lawyer jokes, it is the Rule of Law that holds a country together. And when that breaks down, all Hell breaks loose. And BushCo deliberately eliminated most aspects of the Rule of Law in Iraq....
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 29, 2005
How to end the war on Iraq: Tax land instead of income! If we taxed land instead of income, Donald Trump would put an end to Pentagon waste fast. "You're fired!"
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 11, 2006
No place like home: How to end America's housing shortage If the U.S. ever subsidizes housing in America at the rate that Congress is subsidizing upscale settler condos in the West Bank, our housing problems will be over! And if you ever get to the West Bank, visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. You will be glad you did.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 15, 2007
America's Next Top Spin: "The sooner we defeat Al Qaeda, the sooner we can come home" Can you believe it? Bush's latest spin is that Al Qaeda has now overrun Iraq and we can't leave until it is defeated. What does THAT mean? That after four years of American occupation, Al Qaeda has spread through Iraq like a cancer? Geez Louise! We had better bring our troops home now before Al Qaeda spreads throughout the whole Middle East!
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 9, 2005
The Simpsons: Who will Homer & Marge vote for in 2006? Lisa gives Homer good advice on how to vote in 2006 -- but will Mr. Burns' influence-pedaling carry the day?
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 10, 2005
The reluctant tourist: Is going to Iraq the only way I can find out what's happening there? "Facts on the ground" are always a lot different than what we see on TV. Do I have to go to Iraq, Paris and DC to find out the real truth?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Attica & Munich: A tale of two SWAT teams Spielberg's new film causes us to ask once again -- in Munich and in Attica, who really killed the hostages? Probably government snipers....
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 9, 2006
Good advice for Neo-cons: Be the first on your block to turn State's Evidence! Be the first Neo-con on your block to become Andrew Fastow! Don't wait around to become Jeffrey Skilling. Who do you bet will be the first in the Bush bureaucracy to save his own hide and sing like a canary in order to avoid jail time?
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 12, 2006
Madame Jane Predicts: I WILL return from Afghanistan alive Is my dream trip to Afghanistan this week still on? With a stop-over in Dubai, the Las Vegas of the Middle East? And will I return alive from America's second most dangerous colony -- where over 500 people have been killed in the last few weeks?
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 24, 2006
Katrina fatigue: 7 months after Katrina, 2 months before the next hurricane While down in New Orleans for the AIM Sacred Run, I discovered that even though the Katrina disaster is far from being cleaned up, a new hurricane season is due. GWB had better start watching The Weather Channel!
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Madame Jane predicts: The Fall of the House of Bush In my crystal ball, I see that George Bush will attack Iran, the resulting radioactive bunker-buster fallout will contaminate the entire world and Americans will forget all about bird flu as we struggle with lung cancer and mutated babies. And our George will go to jail forever. End of story. But what will happen to the USA after that?
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 15, 2006
Superman Returns: Has GWB just become America's Lex Luthor? As Chunky, Grace and I watched the movie "Superman Returns" tonight, I realized that the destruction Lex Luthor wrought on Metropolis will be coming our way too if GWB doesn't stop messing around with the Dogs of War in the Middle East.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 21, 2007
Not fact-based enough: Why GWB won't be hired as an embedded reporter in Iraq I'm still trying to get embedded in Iraq but CentCom says no. "We are looking for factual reporting, not opinion-based articles." I guess that leaves out George "WMD" Bush and the New York Times! But the sad actuality is that the last thing in the world Bush wants is fact-based reporting. CentCom Iraq, you need me. Get me over there ASAP. I'll tell the truth. I'll help you guys to get home.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 2, 2006
GWB's January 2006 State of the Union speech: A sociopath's dream... Bush's speech the other night was typical of him -- promise us anything but continue to lie, torture and steal.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Write THIS on your Absentee Ballot: "Better, safer & more accurate than Diebold!" Write-in method to protest Diebold voting in California
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 7, 2006
2006: The year we lost our chance How much longer can Americans go on thinking that war is the answer to everything and still remain a democracy? Not very much longer. What will happen when even Diebold can't keep "liberals" from taking back Congress in November 2006? Will the neo-con war machine then turn on us too? Yeah. That's how those guys think.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 11, 2006
Apocalypse or no Apocalypse: What if DC's Armageddon contestants have chosen the wrong case? The people in Washington DC who are playing the Apocalypse game -- with our lives -- are gonna be really surprised on Judgment Day when they finally discover that "God doesn't like ugly" and that they have been mislead by Satan. Too late! Playing God with others' lives is a definite Biblical no-no.

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