{Well, I just found out about this last night, and like I said, there's so much going on that these extraordinary measures are just getting lost in the shuffle. But in Michigan, there is a bill that's already passed the House. It's on the verge of passing the Senate. And I'll just read you some excerpts from it. It says that in the case of an economic crisis, that the governor has the authority to authorize the emergency manager--this is somebody who would be appointed--to reject, modify or terminate the terms of an existing contract or collective bargaining agreement, authorize the emergency manager for a municipal government--OK, so we're not--we're talking about towns, municipalities across the state--to disincorporate. So, an appointed official with the ability to dissolve an elected body, when they want to.}

More....{A municipal government. And it says specifically, "or dissolve the municipal government." So we've seen this happening with school boards, saying, "OK, this is a failing school board. We're taking over. We're dissolving it. We're canceling the contracts." You know, what this reminds me of is New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when the teachers were fired en masse and then it became a laboratory for charter schools. You know, people in New Orleans--and you know this, Amy--warned us. They said, "What's happening to us is going to happen to you." And I included in the book a quote saying, "Every city has their Lower Ninth Ward." And what we're seeing with the pretext of the flood is going to be used with the pretext of an economic crisis. And this is precisely what's happening. So it starts with the school boards, and then it's whole towns, whole cities, that could be subject to just being dissolved because there's an economic crisis breaking collective bargaining agreements. It also specifies that--this bill specifies that an emergency manager can be an individual or a firm. Or a firm. So, the person who would be put in charge of this so-called failing town or municipality could actually be a corporation.}

So let me see if I understand... the Gov will be able to give a no bid contract to the Koch brothers Corp, the Koch's Corp will be in a position to define 'economic emergency' and disband what?  The elected govt of a town/municipality or just all of the boards?  Are they just targeting school boards or are the entitled to wipe out environmental/water/utility boards?  The legislation already gave the Gov the ability to award no bid contracts on utilities.

Along with a no-fly zone, another step would be use American military aircraft to jam state t.v. and radio propaganda and military communications, which the general feels would be "dead easy."  Bad choice of words, but I again digress.    

Kristof seems to be persuaded by the general's line of thinking in that if Obama's administration has exaggerated the risks, it has downplayed the risks of continued passivity.  Moreover, he was "chilled" by a conversation he had with a Libyan friend who has been candid in the past, but in his latest conversation sounded as if it was being monitored for he was praising Qaddafi to the skies.  Kristof could not tell whether the guy really believed that or had a gun to his head. Either way, the new tone was to Kristof, an indication that the government had the upper hand.  To me, it also gave a reminder that our supporter, egging us on one day, may not welcome our presence the next.  But I digress, once again.  

So what to do?  The president may be ready to undertake such a no-fly zone, but my guess is that he will do so only with a coalition--maybe like the 90 nations put together by Daddy Bush for Desert Storm with the idea that that will shield us from Middle East criticism.  But we know, Osama freaked out over the presence of US troops on Saudi soil as a part of that war with continuing and catastrophic consequences.

Jobless claims rose last week

Julie Taymor, the Tony Award winning director of "The Lion King," will no longer direct Broadway's troubled "Spider-Man" musical as producers announced a new creative team and postponed the show's official opening to summer.

Taymor, who also co-wrote the book for "Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark," will remain a part of the new team, lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris said Wednesday, in announcing an unprecedented sixth delay for the musical.

All of a sudden, there's a lot of speculation that Sarah Palin's political future runs through Arizona, the home state of her 2008 presidential running mate John McCain and where her daughter Bristol Palin recently bought a house.

On Tuesday, state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, forwarded a rumor that Palin was contemplating coming to Arizona to run for retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl's open seat in 2012.

Hundreds of local and federal police officers who fanned out across Baltimore at dawn yesterday, hauling suspects out of homes and off the streets, announced at days' end they had shut down one of the city's major sources of illicit drugs and violence.

In all, they charged 63 suspects with federal and state drug conspiracy charges -- among them actress Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, whose arrest on heroin-related and aiding and abetting charges echoed the street lifestyle she portrayed as a character in HBO's series "The Wire" and sought to overcome in her personal life.

[snip]

The arrests were the culmination of an intensive five-month investigation by the DEA and Baltimore police, acting on intelligence that started flowing in about the Latrobe Homes-based organization in 2008, authorities said at an afternoon press conference.

A federal indictment against 15 of the individuals alleges ties to New York and California, and that members of the conspiracy "would engage in acts of violence against members of the conspiracy who failed to perform required tasks," though officials declined to elaborate on what they called one of the largest cases to be brought in the city.

[snip]

The DEA invited two reporters to accompany officers carrying out raids on warrants issued at the state level. About 450 officers from various law enforcement agencies met up before 4:30 a.m. at the Baltimore Ravens' downtown stadium, gathering in groups of eight to 10 officers before heading out to execute search warrants in a persistent rain.

8.4?!