Friday, November 17, 2006

Carville's an Ass, Rahm's a Donkey

News and Commentary by David Caputo of Positronic Design.

A very good article appeared on Raw Story about James Carville's campaign to oust Howard Dean from the DNC Chairmanship, and how that contrasted with Rahm Emmanuel's decision to bury the hatchet WITH Howard Dean instead of in the middle of his forehead.

The article inspired me to leave behind the following comment. More on this subject will be coming soon...

It seems to me that the real story here is that Rahm woke up and smelled the Vermont-roasted coffee and realized that to avoid too much discussion of how he and his fellow strategists SCREWED UP virtually all their calls during the campaign, he'd have to make nice and be magnanimous and essentially join the winning team.

Emmanuel virulently opposed Dean's 50-state strategy and systematically picked LOSERS like the combat-disabled-yet-still-pro-war Tammy Duckworth (who's mixed messages on the war earned her only an ultimately-fatal lukewarm response from the voters) instead of genuine progressive candidates with legitimate grassroots (and netroots) support.

Time after time, pro-war, republican-lite, socially conservative candidates were showered with money and support, many times only to fail miserably in the Democratic primaries. Undaunted by this rebuff of their preference, Rham then (often with Dean's capitulation, sadly) totally froze out the victorious grassroots candidates. Despite this, many of these candidates actually won, while Rham-supported conservative primary victors were almost universally swept in district after district.

Dean's strategy is an excellent start, and the perfect example of party-building strategies that have a long-term likelihood of success. Progressive activists need to continiously pressure the Democratic party to get it's collective heads out of their Carville-minded posteriors. Such behavior only keeps them from being able to see what's really going on, plus it make their hair smell terrible...

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Only an overwhelming tide...

News and Commentary by David Caputo of Positronic Design.

Despite the recent Democratic victory, the problems of paperless (i.e. unverifiable) balloting procedures are only growing. Activists should not be lulled into a false sense of security because the "worst" was avoided this go-around. Such tweakings (fraud/theft/vote-switching) are done at the margins, so an overwhelming tide of public sentiment was, in my opinion, just too much of a landslide to overcome. But you can be sure they are working on it...

I reprint below an excellent article that I found posted on 911Truth.org.

I recommend everyone read it and help publicize its findings. The democracy you save may be your own.


Widespread Vote-Switching Detected by EDA Data Analysis

The movement to uncover vote fraud may ironically have been dealt a blow in the euphoria following Democrats’ victory last week. We have not heard much at all about voting problems since the election. Yet the problems are still there, as the article below makes clear.

While the Neocon Express may finally be derailing, we should not let any satisfaction from the coming train wreck slow the momentum for exposing vote fraud and demanding accountable voting systems. That's more important than the results of a single election.

We await further information from the Election Defense Alliance, and we’ll post any newsworthy information in this space.


— Ed.

Widespread Vote-Switching Detected by EDA Data Analysis Update from Jonathan Simon, on EDA Data Analysis findings

To Everyone Keeping Score At Home--

My apologies for being out-of-touch over much of the past two very eventful days. I have been holed-up with Bruce O'Dell and a few others crunching numbers, lots of numbers, including historical data, pre-election polling trends, authentic(!) and adjusted official exit polls, independent exit polls and Election Day canvasses, and of course the reported returns. The analysis will go on for quite some time. But I want to give a very brief preliminary impression of what we see so far.

It is simply this: there are, venue for venue, plenty of "anomalies" and vote-shifting patterns to go around. So far, once again, the "glitch" pattern and the shift patterns do not appear to be random. Without pursuing a detailed analysis, it would be easy to overlook this while oohing and ahhiing at the overall results.

The danger here in our view is that E2006, because the Democrats "won," will be spun as a triumph for electoral honesty and security--when in fact it appears that the combination of massive public revulsion and heightened public scrutiny may simply have made this one too high and risky a mountain for the prospective manipulators to climb to the top. There are numerous signs emerging that the climbing party brought its gear and tackled the slopes, reaching a good way up this Everest before meeting the howling winds and bitter cold that kept them from reaching the summit, as they had in prior expeditions up less lofty and forbidding peaks.

We will continue assembling the data and analyzing the patterns, reporting our findings along with supporting data as they emerge. For now, those inclined to celebrate the apparently unthwarted triumph of the public will, by all means feel free to go out and paint the town red, or blue. But, although E2006 should certainly confirm for us the value of our work and of the heightened scrutiny our hard labor engendered, it should in no way seduce us into any prolonged sense of satisfaction or, dare I say it, mission accomplished. We have as much work before us as behind us, in fact more. The system is no less vulnerable this week than it was last week, and the numbers we have crunched thus far appear to confirm that vulnerability.

We've all made sacrifices and worked very hard. The warm bath beckons and we've surely earned it. But make it a very short one.

All the best--Jonathan Simon


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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Renewable Energy Access Newsletter

News and Commentary by David Caputo of Positronic Design.

I am reproducing one example of the free Renewable Energy Access Newsletter below because I want to encourage everyone to subscribe. They have a paid daily newsletter, but the twice-weekly one is free, and always worth the read.

It's consistently excellent, and collects news about renewable energy better than any other forum I've seen to date. They're high-powered, relevant, and very thorough.

Enjoy!

================================

The Democrats' Clean-Energy Mandate

by Ron Pernick, Clean Edge, Inc.

Now that the mid-term elections are over -- and the votes counted -- the Democrats step into power in both the House and Senate.
...read the complete RE Insider at RenewableEnergyAccess.com

RE Q & A WITH SCOTT SKLAR

Environmental Footprints of Renewable Energy vs. Nuclear

A senior nuclear power exec claimed at a recent seminar that the environmental footprint of a nuclear power station was 100 times smaller than an onshore windfarm. (no sizes given unfortunately). What are the comparable eco-footprints? -- Polly H., London, United Kingdom
Read Scott's answer to this and other questions.

RE TOP NEWS

Solar: California's Rising Star
by Claudia Graziano, Special Contributor
A growing demand for cleaner, cheaper and arguably safer forms of energy is turning what was once considered a cottage industry into big business in California. Landmark legislation to fund the nation's largest solar program goes into effect early next year, bringing with it rebates and financial incentives to spur consumer and commercial use of solar technologies -- and the promise of more jobs and economic growth for the state. Sensing big opportunity, investors are pumping hundreds of millions into solar innovation for Silicon Valley startups.

California Debates Ownership of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates
by Stephen Lacey, RenewableEnergyAccess.com
A California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposed decision to grant 100% ownership of solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) to utilities from solar system owners could hamper the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and slow down the state's burgeoning solar market, according to solar advocacy groups.

Integrating Wind Energy into the European Power Network
The European power network was the key topic of conversation last week during the two-day policy conference, Large Scale Integration of Wind Energy. Held in Brussels, more than 250 delegates from the European Union (EU) were in attendance to discuss the need to modernize the grid, increase interconnection between networks and adapt the grid to new technologies such as wind energy.

More Bands Cleaning Up Their Act
by Stephen Lacey, RenewableEnergyAccess.com
As concern over energy security and global climate change grows, many musicians around the United States are greening their concerts using renewable energy.

Conergy to Set Up Solar HQ in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has landed another international renewable energy-based firm, Germany-based Conergy AG, which plans to introduce 50 engineering, financing and management jobs and up to $100 million in clean energy deals over the next three years.

SCHOTT to Build New Solar Receiver Manufacturing Facility in Spain
SCHOTT will establish a second manufacturing facility for solar receivers, a key component of solar thermal parabolic trough power plants, in Spain's Sevilla region, effectively doubling its current solar receiver production capacity by the beginning of 2008.

SDG&E to Buy 120 MW of Solar, Geothermal Energy
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) signed two new contracts to procure an additional 120 megawatts (MW) of solar and geothermal power for its customers by 2010. SDG&E, which now has approximately 16 percent of its customers' energy requirements under contract to be delivered by 2010, will be submitting the new contracts for approval to the California Public Utilities Commission this year.

PPM's 221 MW Klondike III Wind Project Builds on Success
Once construction is complete, PPM Energy's Klondike III Wind Project near Wasco, Oregon, is expected to generate 221 megawatts (MW) of electricity. During the ten-month construction period, up to 135 jobs will be created, half of them from the region. The facility is due to be fully commercially operational in 2007.

NASDAQ Clean Edge Index for Renewable Energy Investing
The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. and Clean Edge, Inc. announced that First Trust Advisors L.P. has licensed the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series Index, for clean-energy investors, in order to launch a new exchange traded fund (ETF).

Ocean Power Technologies Files for IPO in U.S.
Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPT) has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register up to $100 million in shares for a proposed public offering (IPO) of the company's common stock in the U.S.

More News: Top Stories | Headline News | Briefly Noted

RE INDUSTRY PR

More Industry PR

RE COMPANY PROFILE

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FREE RSS Feed! Get every news headline we publish delivered to you the way you want, through our free RSS feeds. Click here to learn more.

==========================

Now isn't that a fantastic example of a high quality online newsletter.

Bravo folks! Keep up the good work.

Again, I encourage all my readers to subscribe.


(newsletter reprinted under Fair Use guidelines as a piece of news / criticism)

The author has no connection to this newsletter other than as an avid reader.


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My letters to CounterPunch re: Alex & 9/11

News and Commentary by David Caputo of Positronic Design.

In reference to my first post's mixed-message comment on CounterPunch and 9/11, I thought I'd include the letters I wrote to them on that subject.

After reading this article by Alex Cockburn,

I wrote the following reply:

Dear Counterpunch and Alex Cockburn,

As a long-time fan and paying subscriber to Counterpunch, I am dismayed by the ad-hominem attack on myself and my friends as "nuts" because we are deeply suspicious of the Bush administration's claims as to the events on 9/11/01.

His hyperbolic piece would almost be amusing in its shrillness if it weren't covering such a serious topic.

His refutation arguments are very weak, and he tars with guilt by association with unrelated conspiracy controversies anyone who suspects that the "official" 9/11 story is a bunch of baloney.

His statement: "One characteristic of the nuts is that they have a devout, albeit preposterous belief in American efficiency, thus many of them start with the racist premise that “Arabs in caves” weren’t capable of the mission." completely misses the point and uses the vague "many" to call most of us "racist" because we believe that the 19 names "found" in "Mohammad Atta's" car in the Portland, ME airport (by the ever-reliable FBI) are nothing approaching a definitive list of the operatives involved.

He seems overly eager to accept hook, line, and sinker the Bush administration arguments about 9/11 without ever stopping to consider what a preposterous "Conspiracy Theory" the official story is.

Really, guys with Cessna and Microsoft Flight Simulator (remember all the talk about that?) training can commandeer a modern jumbo jet and then meander all over the place (seemingly blithely indifferent to the fighter-interceptors they must have expected would be coming) until finally guiding their planes perfectly to their targets using only visual navigation?? Does that sound even plausible? Numerous professional pilots have claimed this is impossible. Does he disagree with all of them? Or are they just "racist" because they don't think "Arabs" could do it? This is not their claim. They claim that NO ONE, of any ethnicity, could pull that off.

Many of these guys lived on and received training at US military bases. Has he never heard of patsies? Has he ever heard of "false flag terror operations?" Does he believe that there has never been a false flag operation by the US government? He displays what I consider to be either a staggering naivety or willful ignorance of relevant history.

As for Desert One, another of the red herrings he flings on the path in a seemingly desperate attempt to avoid too many of the specific issues of 9/11, Gen. Richard Secord was in charge of theater operations at that time. Alexander may think otherwise, but Reagan and Bush's greatest fear in Fall 1980 was a successful Carter rescue of the hostages, so it's not too outlandish that they or their minions may have sought to covertly thwart the mission, no? In any event, no one I have ever met has even brought the subject up to me, so I'm not sure who he's referring to. It's certainly not a subject of discussion on any 9/11-related web sites I've ever seen.

Curiously, he doesn't link in the Oklahoma City bombings into his anti-conspiracy-theorist broadside. Maybe he's seen the local news reports that reported that federal officials had confirmed that they found not one but two "explosive devices" inside the building. Where did these come from? Where did they go? Why did no one mention them after that day? Why was the building summarily destroyed before the evidence could be examined further? Does he accept that Timothy McVeigh did the deed with his Ryder truck fertilizer bomb alone? Has he ever seen the analysis that a truck bomb of that type could NEVER have damaged the building and knocked out the core columns like was observed?

His claims that only garden-variety corruption around 9/11 should be pursued leaves me mystified.

What of the collapse of WTC-7? Like the official 9/11 Commission report, he makes no mention of it. This is curious, because anyone who seeks to effectively debunk the 9/11 story critics surely must attack this, as this is the most obvious anomaly that day (not being hit by aircraft, still collapses anyway into a nice neat pile on its footprint).

Has he ever read David Ray Griffin's analysis of the 9/11 Commission Report? It doesn't seem like it. Has he read the Commission report itself? Does he find it credible? How about the methods used in the investigation, and the budget, and the Executive Director, Philip Zelekow, from the Bush transition team? Is he satisfied with the answers provided? Does he consider the unanswered questions (including those posed by the widows of the dead) petty and irrelevant?

And what of interviewing Bush and Cheney together, not under oath, where no video or even note taking was allowed??

Isn't this highly irregular? Shouldn't Alex be saying at least that this was inadequate? Doesn't he realize that hundreds of billions of dollars has been dedicated to the "breaking things and hurting people" end of the economy because of the "attacks" of 9/11? Is this just a lucky accident for the Pentagon and CIA and Lockheeds, Halliburtons, and Blackwaters of the world? And what of Larry Silverstein's three billion dollar payday out of the event. I'm surprised that his well traveled nose doesn't smell a rat here.

Considering all of this, don't people who are suspicious of the official story of 9/11 but are otherwise progressive political allies of Counterpunch deserve more than his unvarnished contempt and ham-handed ridicule?

I'm very disappointed. I will have to think very carefully about renewing my paid Counterpunch subscription.

I look forward to your reply.

Be well,

David Caputo
PositronicDesign

Home of "Bachelors in Baghdad"

==========================================================

I got no reply to my letter, just this next article in CounterPunch:

==========================================================

Which inspired me to write the following:


Dear Counterpunch,

I'm not sure what your deal is with the 9/11 (lack of) investigation, but I can no longer support with my money people who seem to go out of their way to attack progressives who are suspicious of the official 9/11 story and its direct link to not just one but two wars of conquest the USA has engaged in since then.

Do you really think that the 9/11 Commission Report was anything other than a systematic coverup?

Alex did not, of course, reprint my letter to him in his column, he chose an outrageous and inarticulate example of the genre, and then smeared the rest of us with it.

In addition to being called a racist "nut" because I've done things like read your newsletter for the past several years (which helped my overall distrust of this administration and the permanent government that carries out its policies), I don't appreciate how you give aid and comfort to our mutual enemies by discrediting even their most reasoned and articulate opponents.

Most 9/11 official story disbelievers want Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al in PRISON for their 9/11 and subsequent crimes. We know they've killed many more people SINCE that day than ON that day. We are not stupid.

Don't you'all want them arrested too? For similar reasons? I just don't get your approach here.

I agree with almost all of your points about the evils of US foreign policy and corporate greed, but think that 9/11 is the ultimate argument they have to justify what they are doing as understandable, even necessary, because of the "external" nature of the "attacks" and "threat".

Haven't you ever heard of "false flag terror operations"? Do you think that they're always just another "wild conspiracy theory"?

Didn't you guys ever hear of the Reichstag fire? Doesn't this situation even remotely resemble that one? Would you have ridiculed the "communists did it" theory debunkers back then too?

It would have been no defense for you. You'all would have been rounded up shortly after your political usefulness had expired. After all those debunkers had been rounded up, tortured, and killed.

Am I really that far off base here?

How can you use such weak arguments to "debunk" the 9/11 skeptics case and think that progressive intellectuals will buy it?

Joann Wypijewski's article is so totally lame in this regard that it's almost laughable. And what's with ridiculing activists who say "do the research on the internet" by people who make a living off people who already do just that. Don't you folks realize you're a web site where people do political research too? Huh?

How about you guys do a point-by-point study of the 9/11 Commission report and compare your analysis of the document with David Ray Griffin's.

Really, I dare you. Now THAT I would be interested in reading.

How about a review of Paul Thompson's Complete 9/11 Timeline? Has anyone on staff actually read it? Don't you think it's credible and respectable journalism? Is he a "nut" too?

Right now, I'm pretty disgusted. If you guys are so totally bought off or brain dead or full of yourselves up in "Counterpunch Tower" that you can't even consider the 9/11 researchers and activists to be thoughtful concerned citizens and allies worthy of your support, then creeping Fascism has already reached the salon.

Until I hear otherwise, I'll put my financial resources elsewhere, and encourage others to do the same.

Please cancel my subscription.

Thank you,

David Caputo
PositronicDesign

Home of "Bachelors in Baghdad"

===========================================

Anyone out there have any theories as to why CounterPunch is so off the deep end on this one, when they're so good about almost everything else? It's a real mystery to me.

- David

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Monday, November 13, 2006

Welcome To TotallyFixed.blogspot.com

News and Commentary by David Caputo of Positronic Design.

Greetings, and welcome to my new Blog!

It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally getting around to publishing my own material again. Not since the semi-famous run of "BushWhacking" in The Weekly News from January 1989 to February 1991 have I regularly offered commentary under my own name. I've been working behind the scenes (kinda) on projects like ConsumersForPeace.org and PVSustain.com, but now, with the recent Democratic takeover of the House and Senate, I feel a new sense of urgency to offer my perspective on creative solutions to the many extremely serious challenges we face as a nation and as a planet and ecosystem.

To start with, I'll make a list of some of my favorite political web sites and link to some of the political projects I've been involved with.

AntiWar.com - Justin Raimondo deserves much credit and praise for this excellent resource for news and information about the wars and war politics of the US Empire project.

CounterPunch.org - Despite Alex Cockburn's vituperative attacks on 9/11 Truth Activists and Researchers (of which I am one), this site still contains some very insightful writings from some of the most advanced political thinkers around. If only they would wake up about 9/11...

Wayne Madsen Report - Top notch investigative journalism. Reports here you won't find elsewhere. Great political analysis.

WTC7.net - My friend Jim Hoffman's groundbreaking 9/11 research site. Why exactly DID WTC Building 7 collapse into a tiny pile of cut up little pieces, completely in its own footprint, in six and a half seconds. This would have been the largest building in the state in 33 of our nation's states. Why has so little attention been paid to this (HUGE) tiny little fact? Hmmm... most curious, neh?

911Truth.org - One of the central repositories of 9/11 investigation materials.

LewRockwell.com - Some of the best articles the Libertarian perspective has to offer. Always something different and idiosyncratic. Good stuff.

Here's a good 9/11 Truth link list.

...more to come, but that's a good start.

Now, for some personal additions to the overall debate...

Our "Bush in 30 Seconds" MoveOn.org contest submission, which was judged too radical for MoveOn to even put before its membership to vote on.

The new trailer for America's hottest new "reality" TV show, Bachelors in Baghdad.

And of course our long-time hit on LiveJournal - The Bush Countdown Timer.


Days until Bush leaves office.


Designed by georgedorn and provided by Positronic Design.

Grab your own copy here.


I've also been on the radio recently on Valley Free Radio (WXOJ 103.3 FM) talking about 9/11 and the evidence of insider (i.e. Government Employee or Contractor) involvement in the planning and execution of those crimes. Click here to hear the first show. (approx 15 min)

I'm interested in people's comments and thoughts on my writings and remarks.

Here goes...

David Caputo
President
Positronic Design

Publishers of Hidden-Hills.com and the
Hidden Hills Map of Western Massachusetts

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