On the last Saturday of every month (an auspicious day in the Holy Chess Calendar), I encourage dozens of my chess students to head down to the Muslim Elementary school in Santa Clara to join the host kids in chess competition (clearly the local Muslim association doesn't follow that old fool Sistani, who considers the game an abomination because the brain-dead "scholar" thinks it is still played with dice and is a form of gambling). At the school they are surrounded by Muslim "dangerous thoughts" (e.g., "No running in the halls", "A good Muslim keeps clean" and "Be on-time to class").

The competition takes place in the library, which has many books about the Muslim faith. The contents of the books leak into their young minds and promote radical thinking. Of course there are also books about mythical creatures like dinosaurs, including discussion evolution. Indeed, science is given great respect and represents a large percentage of the library.

Why do I subject the kids to this environment? Read on ...

When I or others rant here that Bush and Cheney etc. should be convicted of war crimes and sentenced to the ultimate penalty, our remarks are generally dismissed or we are told not to "make threats against the President". Well, now a Massachusetts Law School Dean Lawrence Velvel has taken steps to make it happen!

Here is the link. Below the fold some discussion and a poll. On a sad day (George Carlin died) this is the best news I've seen in a long time.

High insiders have confirmed that there is a new name on Obama's VP list. Vern Powers, a 10th generation farmer from rural Tennessee, has been in circulation since the Obama crack computer team ran their SuperDemo demographics program on the weekend.

As you can see below the flip, Mr. Powers has the ideal demographics to please the pundits and public alike. A thorough Google search turned up no negatives at all and the likelihood of his selection has prompted the Secret Service down to Patriot Junction to insure his safety.

Please forgive the hyperbolic title, but this is indeed urgent and we Californians are under threat by the forces of evil, led by the Devil-spawned Howard Jarvis. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow, Jarvis and his speculator and landlord forces will try to destroy rent control in California by the misleading measure known as Proposition 98.

Since almost every newspaper in CA has come out against it, this diary is just an urgent reminder that you've got to get out and vote tomorrow. Below the fold some background for the uninitiated.

How do you get rid of an established politician who is causing trouble? Our transatlantic friends revealed the solution as a Christmas present back in 2005, at the very end of the holiday episode of Doctor Who. In "The Christmas Invasion", with its killer Xmas trees and Santas with automatic weapons, the British Prime Minister poisoned the happy ending by killing the defeated aliens.

While Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh were no doubt cheering, the Doctor was very pissed off, and he told the politician he could destroy her with just six words. As he stormed off, he stopped to whisper those word to one of her political aides: "Don't you think she looks tired?". While the consequences of those words were not revealed until a later episode (when the PM had been replaced), those words revealed the effective way to deal with John McCain, as close to an evil alien as we have in this election.

Demonizing Iran is all the rage these days. Bush needs a daily fix, and Hillary is out there threatening to obliterate the nation. For what? For allegedly pursuing a fraction of the nuclear arsenal America and Israel have? For supporting the liberation of a neighboring country that suffers an illegal occupation and war crimes?

Iran has every right to aspire to an arsenal that is equal to that of their enemies. And since Bush has declared Iran an enemy and evil force, the circumstances surrounding their aspirations, if any (for none have been proven) are justified.

For the past weeks and leading up to tomorrow, our Kosmos has been dominated by a political contest in Pennsylvania that is not likely to have any permanent effect on the campaign. The most likely result is a non-result.  The Clinton campaign will continue to clutch at straws and do everything possible to derail Obama's candidacy.  So what?

On the other hand, tomorrow is Earth Day.  Never has our planet been in such bad shape.  The crisis affects is daily, from climate-based disasters to rising gasoline prices.  Every day, the effects of global warming affect our lives much more than the choice between two candidates whose positions are, contra Teacherken, almost identical.

more below the fold.

This is a brief diary, because so far all I've seen is calls for boycotts and bitching and moaning to ABC. I propose more direct action (as usual). Below I will present a specific plan for dealing with the rating whores posing as journalists. It is a practical plan that will teach the bastards a lesson in democracy.

I see no point in contacting ABC. They don't fucking care. They will not change. their job is to make money off these elections. We must respond by destroying careers when necessary.

Step-by-step instructions below.

Mayor Newsome thwarted my planned protest (mooning the Goebbels torch relay) by moving the relay far from the crowds, so  only a few locals and media could see it. He canceled the closing ceremonies. I don't blame him. He was doing his job. But in many ways it was a big victory for those who want to liberate Tibet, Darfur, Burma and the Uighur regions, among others.

The Chinese Communist Party imported many hundreds of their supporters, flying in some from Canada. I guess they all enjoyed the free trip to SF. By my eyewitness and media accounts, the pro-Tibet forces were equal in number and much better behaved.

---more---

I just got back from the Tibet demonstration in SF. A very nice turnout (lots of Tibetans and Uighurs) turned out for speeches and music in support of all the oppressed people in China and Darfur. The big action is tomorrow of course (more on the flip side) but this was a meaningful protest with headliners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Supervisor Chris Daly.

Tutu made a short speech with a vigorous call for all political leaders to personally boycott the Olympic Games and Ceremonies, while supporting the participation of the athletes who have trained so long and hard. He led the crowd in a chant of "Don't Go!", his message to all the politicians. He profusely thanked the assembled activists for their help in ending apartheid in South Africa and drew many parallels.

(more below with important stuff about tomorrow's actions)

Over at HuffPo, someone named Tom Doctoroff (who he?) posted a screedarguing against offending the Chinese people by boycotting the Olympic Games Chinese propaganda exercise. He went on and on about how we need to see things from their perspective (Slavery good. Torture good. Human rights evil.) because the Chinese people will be offended if we use their propaganda spectacle to promote freedom for Tibet, which China has been brainwashed into believing belongs to them.

In fact, he offers us the best reasons to boycott and embarrass China as much as possible. The Chinese care about their image, and their barbaric practices and genocidal campaign against Tibetan culture should be highlighted. But what sort of boycott should be mounted?

Answers below the fold.

There has been much talk about bringing in Al Gore to resolve the mess that is the nomination process. There is new talk about Gore/Obama as the right way to go. Though I am a big Gore supporter, I have expressed strong views against bringing in Gore now, mostly on the grounds that it seems the Dems can't accept a woman or African-American. I may have been wrong. For which I owe no apologies, but do owe some explanation.

I think that Obama must be on the ticket, or minorities will abandon the party in droves. Clinton/Obama seems to have been ruled out. I don't think women will abandon the party in large numbers if Hillary isn't on the ticket. But Obama/Napolitano or (ugh!) Obama/Feinstein might work.

I started my refusal to say the pledge of allegiance in second grade. I simply refused to utter the words "under god" because in my view America wasn't "under" anything. It stood above all that nonsense, even while it guaranteed everyone they could follow their weird. Nor have I ever covered up my heart while saying anything serious. I don't wear ribbons to support political causes. That's what arm bands are for. Flags are symbols perfect for burning when a country shames its principles. I burned flags and my draft card during the Vietnam era. Yet I am more patriotic than any republican asshole.

I grew up in a household where our nations founders were treated as household gods. Each of the 6 kids had to choose a favorite (mine was Hamilton as my younger brother got to Franklin first). Our dinner conversations often included my father explaining ho9w some issue was settled by those great men.

even more patriotism below

It seems now that the March 4th primaries will give Obama an insurmountable lead and the heated debates will be replaced by a unified front prepared to do battle with the vampire McCain. We need to unify our community for this important campaign.

As a progressive, I feel we must elect representatives and senators who will support an aggressive agenda and push President Obama to take the actions we desperately need. While Obama will lead the Democratic Party, I hope it is the agenda of Al Gore, with specific proposals coming in his new book in April, that will be our goal.

To that end, a few more comments and a poll.

A year ago things seemed so bright. The Democratic field was wide open with some good people, and there was optimism that the best candidate of all, Al Gore, would get into the race. Then the trees started falling. When it became clear (to me) that Big Al was not going to step up to the plate, I was willing to support John Edwards. Not perfect, but better than "good enough". Then he quit, and it came down to Obama or Hillary.

I had strong reservations about Obama, but was certainly not going to support Hillary "Disarm or be disarmed" Clinton, with her support for profiteers in health care and her complete misunderstanding of how to contain the spread of nuclear weapons.

Then I saw this report on Obama, guns and Jesus. It gets ugly below the fold.

Yes, Bill Clinton has been behaving like a asshole recently. Still, I think he did the best job of all the presidents of my lifetime.  I was just five years old when JFK ran and my parents had me talking to other kids telling them to get their parents to vote for him.  It was my first political experience.  But I think he is remembered more for his assassination and perhaps the space program and then anything else and in many areas he didn't do a very good job, for example in Vietnam.

So I'm willing to cut the big dog some slack.  He's been a politician all his life and his wife is running for president which would put him back in the White House as well.  I can't blame him for pulling out all the stops and would be surprised if he didn't cross the line a few times.  But I don't think he's having any real effect, at least not one that is helping Hillary.  Most people assume that what comes out of his mouth is designed to get his wife elected and is pure politics, and it is.

This is a brief diary, as the football games are on. I'm enjoying my usual morning liter of coffee (Peet's Ethiopian Super Natural today) and was thinking a bit about how my coffee habits affect the global economy.

Though I'm on the Ethiopian now, the Fair Trade coffees are part of my rotation. Peet's Fair Trade coffee is usually a great blend, and I buy it often. Buying fair trade coffee means that the workers get paid a fair wage, much better than the huge corporations pay. But even when you buy non-fair trade coffee, a little money goes into the economy of a nation that needs it. So, if you enjoy coffee from New Guinea, you are helping a little bit too.

There's another cup below ...

Sorry, I'd really like to do a diary praising Bill Maher for telling it like it is on this video(scroll down for it). But I can't do that. I'm allowed just one diary today, and Bobby Fischer died, so that comes first.

Bobby Fischer, tin-foil hatted conspiracy theorist, anti-semitic supporter of 9/11, and someone who truly hated America. How can that be forgiven? Easily. Just look at his art. One of the greatest chess players of all time, Fischer produced dozens of artistic masterpieces at the chessboard. Sure he became mentally ill -- it happens to any American who climbs to the top of the chess world. But before that he gave us creations worthy of Michaelangelo.