I thought Friday the 13th was 2 weeks away...

Today I had a dog chase me, a scrapped knee and birds shit on my car; all before 9am. Good times...

What do you want to talk about? Anyone out there?

Serena Pic of the Week...

Enjoy...

Abu Ghraib Anniversary

The Abu Ghraib scandal broke a year ago Saturday, and as NY Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, army grunts, and not the higher ups responsible, took the fall for it, and the other pervasive abuses of human rights during the, "War on Terror."

Darfur: Update and Action Alert

The good news: The African Union has pledged to beef up their peacekeeping force, and to exert their powers more to intervene in violence that the force observes and to protect humanitarian convoys.

The (could be) good news: There is a Supplemental Appropriations bill in conference between the House and Senate. The Senate version includes over $90 million to support the African Union force and humanitarian efforts. We can help to make sure that these appropriations make it to the final bill by putting pressure on the House members that didn't include them. How to do that? Click here, then call Congressman Hyde (202-225-4561) and Congressman Kolbe (202-225-2542) and urge them to keep these provisions to aid Darfur intact in the final conference version of the Supplemental Appropriations Bill.

The bad news: People are still dying and the world is still moving to slow to stop the genocide.

Nuclear Option Update

As the polls keep slipping away from Republicans that are intent on doing away with the filibuster, democrats are stepping up and speaking with more force each day. Al Gore (yes, Al Gore) gives makes an excellent appeal to retain Senate rules that protect against the "tyranny of the majority." There's a long way to go til there's a resolution of this, but things are starting to look good.

To know why Dems are trying to keep these nominees off of the bench check here.

Star Wars: The Saga ain't over on May 19th

George Lucas has announced a while ago that the Star Wars movie saga will end with the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on May 19th. That didn't mean that it couldn't keep rolling on the small screen though. Rumors have been floating around about a Star Wars TV series being in the works, and now Lucas has made it official; there will be not one, but 2 Star Wars series right there on your TV. Both take place between Sith and the original Star Wars, but nothing else has really been decided about it, including which networks will air the series. There are also plans for theatrical re-releases of each Star Wars film in Imax 3-D beginning in '07, but these plans are preliminary too.

Happy 4/20!!!

Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!Happy 4/20!Happy 4:20!


Shouldn't the NBA have this day off???

We'll be Ready to Bomb Iran by June

According to Scott Ridder, former UN Weapons inspecter our plans to bomb Iran will be ready by June. John Negroponte, war criminal and soon to be intelligence chief will be able to trump up the necessary intelligence to "justify" going in and John Bolton will be there to alienate and bully the UN into a corner of resistance that "forces" the U.S. to act on it's own. Good times...

Raiders News: Phillip Buchanon- Outta Here!!!

Philip Buchanon demanded a trade right before the last game of last season. Now he gets his wish. Good riddance! Does this mean that C-Wood stays in Silver and Black? We'll see...

Update: Tell Frineds in "Swing States," to Call Thier Senators to Keep the Right from Packing the Courts

The Filibuster vote is coming. The conservatives are gearing up for it with, "Justice Sunday," a mass rally/tlecast/radio-cast that will rally against a filibuster that is, "being used against people of faith." Don't let them turn American government into a oneparty fundamentalist theocracy. Find family and friends in states with Republican Senators that can decide this thing. As Daily Kos reports:

We have all 44 Dems and Jeffords (against killing the filibuster). We have
McCain and Chafee.
These are the swing votes. We need four of them.
Collins (ME)
Hagel (NE)
Snowe (ME)
Smith%20(OR)

Sununu(NH)

Warner (VA)

If you are a constituent (and only if you are a constituent), it's time to
make that call.

Call your Senator today!!!!!

The issue is below, and the momentum is on the side of keeping the Senate a place where minority views must be taken into account. Help keep the pressure on, those last four Senators MUST fall into the correct column this time:

Do you care about Civil Rights? Then Judge Terrence Boyle isn't for you. Interested in protecting the enviorment? Judge William Myers III probably won't be much help. Believe in a woman's right to choose? You may not want a judge appointed that called Roe vs. Wade, "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." Care about Senate procedural rules? Probably not, but if you think that judges with extreme views on issues that you care about shouldn't be appointed for life to the highest courts in the land then you need to worry about the fate of the filibuster. It's a procedural rule in the Senate that gives the minority party the ability to block extremely right wing appointments (or extremely left wing appointments when the GOP's in the minority, hopefully very soon). It's been used for virtually all of America's history, sparingly, when necessary. It's one reason why the Senate's more temperate and bipartisan then the House, and the Republicans want it out of their way; preferibly before they even begin to nominate Supreme Court justices. If we don't stop Republican's attempts to iniate the "nuclear option," we won't be able to stop the lifetime appointment of far right wing judges to Federal benches on all levels, all the way up to the Supreme Court (with 4 justices over 70 years old that may need replacing in the next 4 years). This is not something that can be undone with the next election, or next 5 elections. We must act TODAY or pay for a good while longer.

Please take a minute and find your Senators at http://www.senate.gov and tell them to fight the "nuclear option."

-gbrey


ps-please leave a comment to let me know if you called, or to let me know if you're against this...

Pray for Tom Delay

Our friends at the Capitol Hill Prayer Alert Foundation have asked us to say a prayer for Tom Delay as he faces, "liberals (politicians, media, polltakers etc.)," that hate him. According to CHPA, Tom Delay is, "a man of greqat integrity." Our prayer should be:

"Father, we call upon You to VINDICATE Your servant
& to DELIVER
him from those who hate him. EXPOSE every lie. Cause TRUTH
to PREVAIL. "

Amen...

NFL Schedules Release Today at 2pm Eastern!!!!!!!!

Raii-ders, Raii-ders, Raii-ders! We have found out when we dominate our opponents today at 11am Pacific Time on NFL Network and NFL.COM. Even a lefty pinko like me loves the football...

DJ Frane- Spinning Live!

DJ Frane spins live in Downtown L.A. on Saturday, opening up for the lewd and legendary Blowfly at Pedro's. Trust me, you do not want to miss this one!!!

"Little Pedro's Blue Bongo w/ DJ Frane Time: 9:00PM 901 E. 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Cost: $5- FINALLY! BLOWFLY IS BACK IN LA!!!!! That's right freaks, My Weird World is returning to LA! My buddy Rodi and the Good Foot Djs are bringing me and DJ Frane to little pedro's blue balls. Hopefully we can get that motherfucker laid, so he can change the name of the club! See you there!"

R.I.P. Brother Johnnie Cochran

Johhnie Cochran got paid his respect by a super A-List of Black stars, politicians and former clients, while the LA Weekly gives his life's work mixed reviews. The bottom line for me is that I remember hearing Black folk say, "don't get a Black lawyeer when you're in trouble, get a jew or at least a white boy." After Johnnie, I don't hear my people feel that way about "our" lawyers anymore...

Update: Tom Delay: He's a Pretty Corrupt Guy, and we Can Shut him Down...

Tom Delay made the front page of two of his favorite papers, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The pasper's exposed new corrupt practices by the House Majority Leader, to add to a very long list. From bribing/threatening fellow Republican House members, to taking money from a children's charity to pay for parties during the GOP convention, this guy's pretty sick. He's like the villain in "Distinguished Gentleman," Eddie Murphy's underrated political "expose." It's a seemingly true and surprisingly in-depth snapshot of how government works, especially for a comedy. It's not classic Edddie, but it's better then I thought it would be... I'm getting away from my point... Tom Delay's an evil, corrupt, slimy sick asshole...

You can take action to get him outta here!!!

20 Second Movie Wrap

Must C: OLDBOY!!!

Should C: Sin City, American Cinematheque's "Film Noir," series

Don't C:

I Walked Out: Robots (especially since the "Star Wars," trailer is playing with other movies now)

Any other suggestions/warnings???

Judges under attack (and the way we confirm them)!!

The judge hunt is on. It doesn't matter if the judges are Republican and Baptist like George Greer, the presiding judge in the Schaivo case. They rule on the law in ways that conservatives don't like so their power must be cut off. Even congressional Republicans are sounding off, with Tom Delay threatening judges and Senator (Senator!) John Cornyn suggesting that violence against judges is understandable! I guess "Checks and Balances," aren't very attractive to the neo-cons anymore...

So what's the plan of attack? The first step is to demonize the judiciary. Then once the "problem" of "activist judges," is established the neocons will propose their solutions; limiting the power of the judiciary and stacking the court with far right judges. To accomplish the later goal, Senate Republican leadership is attempting to end the filibuster in the Senate. What's the filibuster? A Senate rule that can delay debate or block legislation. It requires 60 votes to end a filibuster, forcing broad consensus to confirm judges or pass legislation. Why would we want broad consensus before we confirm judges to lifetime appointments???

I'll let you guys figure out the answer to that one...