The scale of the devastation in Sichua Province, China has been tremendous. Reports can't keep with the news of more wounded, dead and dying residents of this largely agricultural region. The earthquake that struck was especially deadly because it was shallow, 6 miles in depth, and a fairly powerful magnitude 7.9.  It was felt strongly in the capital with office workers running into streets in Beijing 930 miles to the north.  With over 50,000 estimated dead (and rising by the day)it is already in the top 15 deadliest quakes since records were kept.

The scale of the tragedy and pain is hard to grasp but we can only cry when we hear of the pain of the people of Dujiangyan whose Xinjian Elementary School collapsed and killed about 400 kids. The horrible tale in Dujiangyan City at the Juyuan Middle School where most of the 900 teens lost their lives as the building collapsed entirely over them. The scale of the destruction will only be known after weeks of recovery.

The screams of the moms and dads will hover for centuries over these places of sorrow.

Although the US media has chosen not to cover this as news, marine terminals closed across the West Coast early Thursday as longshoremen protested the war in Iraq

All 29 U.S. West Coast ports were at a standstill on Thursday because of a stoppage by longshore workers, a Pacific Maritime Association spokesman said.
"We are hearing there is no activity taking place up and down the West Coast," spokesman Steve Getzug told Reuters. The Pacific Maritime Association represents all 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast from San Diego to Washington. "There is no unloading or loading," Getzug said.

Guardian

Kos your front page post on Obama on FOX was dripping with disappointment and tinges of regret. Yet you can't come forward and honestly see that Barack as a human being will be a much stronger candidate because although the perfect image was great for motivation and fund raising, the actual person is the repository of all integrity, wisdom and knowledge. More importantly, it is at the personal level that the individual can triumph against what is holding him back from his/her dreams.

I wrote a poorly read diary recently that essentially called on Obama to toughen up promptly. I will reprise some of what I wrote then. My concern was mainly that in taking the constant road of conciliation and compromise he is not serving his campaign or himself well because he becomes less clear, more political while undermining his basic appeal of honesty. He thus appears more weak with every passing month.

I'm sure by now you have all read about the special deal the maverick McCain got by using his wife' firm's jet. The NYT in an article detailed the many months he flew all over the country without paying the going rate. I was not surprised at that. He is as crooked and perhaps more hypocritical than the Washington politicians he differentiates himself from. I was amazed how truly in bed the press is with him. In all that time, with all that daily coverage of his campaign, they just somehow forgot over and over to mention this to us. How long would that have happened with Kerry if he used his millionaire wife's plane in the same manner?

Barack better be really alert when he takes on the maverick this fall because this will be real big problem. He better not be expecting fairness or any form of even handedness for the general election. Barack will need all the money we can spare to balance this BS.

I have very much admired the dignity and reasoned approach that Senator Obama has shown throughout this campaign. His natural manner and calm sense of purpose and reasonableness are a major contrast to Senator Clinton and, for that manner, most politicians we are forced to deal with.

This contrast appeals to many Americans who are both well educated and want to see the political process elevated. This approach has served him well in our primaries and caucuses but I sense it is time to evolve the campaign and the candidate to assure its success.

Senator Obama for the next stage of securing the Democratic nomination and especially for November needs to move from his current consensus 24/7 manner to display some of the killer instinct essential for a winning run at the Presidency. I am speaking of coming forward and defending himself, when appropriate, in clear and forceful ways.  

The BBC reports today that the tragic killing of 10 rare mountain gorillas in Viruna, DRC (on the border with Uganda) in 2007 was in fact accomplished by a senior member of the wildlife protection group, the Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN). This story in another tragic step in the willful extinction of a species, so akin to our own, that it should bring tears to every human. I can't fathom why it is only an economic motive that will protect other species on our planet and not the basic right that we all share to live on this spinning garden of eden. By the time we awaken to the base stupidity of our own species, it will be too late to protect these wonders for forthcoming generations and perhaps too late to save the eco-system that makes our greedy economies possible.

Below are a series of photographs by the acclaimed South African photographer Brent Stirton and some details from an article today in the BBC about this tragedy.

In one of only two Diaries, Tone, Truth, and the Democratic Party, that Senator Obama addressed to the DKos community, he wrote some wise words in 2005 that the many Obama supporters hurling attacks and hate (at the Clinton family and their supporters) should now heed. Disrespect and hate has infected this site and is destroying this community regardless of whether the owner, Kos, has the wisdom, leadership and character to address the problem. It has gotten way past midnight and it goes on to this very minute.

I, for one, am disgusted and close to leaving this community. If the Obama supporters are preparing fresh, self-righteous "Dkos love it or leave it"  comments for me right now without knowing my politics or character, they should first read the words of Senator Obama. His words should cause some self examination. Please, then go back and reread your diaries and comments and see how they support the spirit of what he wants for our nation. That is what a real supporter would do.....

If you have been baffled by the coverage on the controversy in the WA. state Republican caucus you will find this posting interesting. You are aware that despite a very close race (separated by about 200 votes), WSRP Chair Luke Esser  stopped the count on election day and called McCain the winner. This disrupted the press coverage of McCain possibly losing three contests in the same day after he was the presumptive R nominee.  The Huckabee camp protested and now Luke Esser is  offering many explanations for the arbitrary close of counting and the quick decision to award a victory to McCain when it wasn't clear.The Huckabee camp has yet to concede the loss.

Since then the party apparatus in WA has been back reassuring everyone with what the result will when the final count is restarted and finished.

The following post, that reviews the rules in WA. state, indicates the vote really didn't matter and that it was more of a selection of non-bound delegates.

That is about what we have worked ourselves into...For Senator Obama to win, we need to turn someone, who has dedicated her life to political ends we can be proud of, into something close to the Devil. (We in this community are very energized by Senator Obama and probably will feel that regardless of the possible outcome of the primaries that he is the one and best choice.)  I don't like this narrative any more than I think the Republicans are right in demonizing the Clinton family. There are many more reasons for the Republicans to viciously attack our party than for our party to be uncivil while we make our choices. We have a very clear difference in perceptions, values and hopes for this nation.

I think that if you read what is now written on this site you must begin to wonder if there has been a change from the even handed and constantly critiqued approach of analysis to one more guided a partisan need to win and see only what we want to see.

Minke Calf and Mother

The Japanese government has continued their charade of conducting "scientific" studies in Antarctic waters that involve the indiscriminate culling of whales. The Japanese industrial whaling fleet departed this year in an effort to kill over 1,000 whales while in the Southern Ocean, including 50 endangered fin whales, 50 threatened humpback whales and 935 minke whales. Much of the information on this hunt has come from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza but now the Australian Government has been engaged in both monitoring and reporting on the lawless activities of the Japanese.

The Hunt for Humpback whales is the first since a ban in the 1960's. The Japanese have sent four whaling ships (239 men) from the southern port of Shimonoseki, Japan in November which will hunt until mid April.

I don't understand why almost every recommended Diary is some breathless pro-Barack story. Yes- He is an excellent candidate. Yes- He is charismatic. But- He is not fully proven at leading anything near the size and complexity of the US government.(None of the candidates of either party are complete in this area! There are trade offs with each candidate but at least with the two Dems we are at least more aligned in almost every major policy area.) He has great promise and I am impressed as many of you are but I haven't committed yet. I am still studying Senator Clinton as well.
We should rejoice we have at least two very promising candidates and remain open minded to the strengths each brings to the position. Neither is complete but both bring something that completes the other.
The Republicans are doing their attack studies for both and regardless of who we pick they will go through a guaranteed bath of fire. Let us not add to it for either one.  

...then why is the rewrite of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) going southbound without a whimper? Could someone please explain why after all the Tarzan like chest pounding we hear at this site that something as basic and necessary to National Security and our basic constitutional rights as this bill is just grinding towards disaster and there is no leadership to make a difference?
Three keys toxic aspects remain as very possible in the current version the Senate Democrats almost allowed to be voted on:
1)the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant
2)the destruction of the authority of the FISA court that oversees                                                          
electronic espionage
3)Amnesty for the telecommunications companies that broke the law on spying       on citizens without a warrant
What can we do?
How can we do it?
Who should lead it?

It didn't take long for Attorney General Mukasey to start towing the Administration line on our civil liberties.

 In his second day on the job, Attorney General Michael Mukasey leaped into the political fray, telling a key Democratic senator he opposes his electronic surveillance plan and would recommend the president veto it if it is passed.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on the eve of crucial committee votes to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Mukasey was adamant in opposing Leahy's plan for changing the law.

Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell co-signed the letter released Wednesday night by the Justice Department...

Leahy last week introduced his substitute to a FISA modernization bill already approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee. That effort, led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., won wide bipartisan support and is backed by the administration. It includes retroactive immunity to legally protect the telecommunications companies which cooperated with the administration's classified warrantless surveillance program.

CNN

We need to continue to circulate information and discuss what can be done to support the Burmese people.The battle for Burma has continued to escalate as the Burmese military dictatorship has sealed monasteries, set curfews, arrest/beat/shoot citizens and is not trying to prevent digital information on the revolt from being circulated around the world. Irrawaddy.org is still sporadically available and trying to get the message out. Below you will find info from  their site.

Today in the capital- AP

The early reports this morning from Burma were not encouraging but went from bad below to worse below the fold.

Troops cleared the streets of central Yangon on Thursday, telling protesters they had 10 minutes to go home or be shot, as the Myanmar junta intensified its two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years.

Crowds scattered as 200 soldiers marched slowly through the streets, rifles at their sides and loudspeakers blaring out warnings -- ominous reminders of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 people were killed in the crushing of nationwide demonstrations.

Riot police walking from Sule Pagoda, end-point of more than a week of monk-led marches against military rule and economic hardship, clattered their rattan shields with wooden batons.

"It's a terrifying noise," one witness said.

Reuters

We can start by saying that the President of Iran holds some views that are in conflict with what history has taught us, are against some of our values and what we feel will be best for our own interests in the middle east. That said, there is much to be remembered why his nation might be furious with our country way beyond what might be our recent stated views as enunciated by the Bush administration. We placed and supported a brutal dictator (the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after the nationalization of the Iranian Oil industry) over the Iranians and supported Saddam Hussein in his heinous war against Iran ( estimated 1 million Iranian casualties)  with weapons, chemicals and intelligence. This is all within the last 50 or so years.

Why is it that we can't host him in our country and allow him to be interviewed without having the press sounding even more like agents of the White House than Bush himself (see Sunday's 60 minutes)? Why can't our press and for that matter the President of Columbia, ask the hard questions that Iranian President Ahmadinejad needs to answer on his statements and most importantly on the actions of his government without spewing bile?

If you had any confusion or doubt as to who is the managing partner in the relationship between China and the US look no further than the toy recalls of the few last months. Mattel the leading toy maker based in the US was forced in talks with Beijing bureaucrats to apologize for the damage to China's reputation of the recalls Mattel made in the US. There is no mention of the responsibility Chinese firms had for the recalls involving  the substitution of cheaper lead based paints which had nothing to do with design.

Mattel has admitted that most of the toys recalled in recent safety scares had "design flaws" and that Chinese manufacturers were not to blame.

During talks in Beijing, a senior Mattel executive apologised for the damage that the incidents had done to the reputation of Chinese-made goods.

The recall of more than 20 million toys led some in the US to call for limits on the number of Chinese imports.

This followed other product scares over Chinese food, toothpaste and tyres.

This is an outstanding and hilarious  video that combines The Avenue Q puppets and Larry Craig's news conference denying his actions, sexual orientation and responsibility for his arrest. The puppets have their way with everything he says. Very Professional and very witty....