Since the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military has struggled to recruit and reenlist troops. As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, issuing “moral waivers” in many cases, allowing even those with criminal records to join up. Veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder have been ordered back to the Middle East for second and third tours of duty.

The lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right. A recent Department of Homeland Security report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” stated: “The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.” Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing “hajjis” is their duty as white militants.

The problem is not a new one, but when racists were found in army since the 70s, they have been drummed out and rules introduced against recruiting them.

In fact, since the movement’s inception, its leaders have encouraged members to enlist in the U.S. military as a way to receive state-of-the-art combat training, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, in preparation for a domestic race war. The concept of a race war is central to extremist groups, whose adherents imagine an eruption of violence that pits races against each other and the government.

After 16 years at the helm, Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong said yesterday that he is stepping down. De Jong made the announcement to party members during opening remarks at the party’s annual general meeting being held this weekend in Toronto.

A leadership contest will be held to choose a successor, culminating in a leadership and policy convention November 13-15, 2009 in London Ontario. De Jong is the longest serving Green party leader in Canada (possibly the world) and has survived three separate leadership challenges.

So from “The Orient” came Turtle Soup, which, as you might have by now inferred, was made from actual turtles. The sheer exoticity of the dish- combined with the scarcity of its essential ingredient on these shores- made it a status symbol at dinner parties across the land. However, the sheer price of said essential imported ingredient rendered it basically impossible for all but the most moneyed to produce the soup at dinner parties and therefore impress any guests.

Thus was born the Mock Turtle Soup. Cooks were instructed to emulate the soup as much as possible, and for the newly emerging Middle Classes a signature dish was born. This soup did not of course use actual turtle but was based in beef stock that was given a somewhat fishy edge with added, well, fish.

Anyway, she’s got a great article on favorite food blogs:

“On the surface, food blogs look much like other food sites, magazines and cookbooks. But look closer, they stand apart. Food blogs are extraordinarily personal, even when produced with knowledge and professionalism. They radiate curiosity, excitement and creativity. They often exude rich humor, sweet charm and unedited spontaneity.

Enjoy!

1. Light Green
2. Business Green
3. State Green
4. Citizen Green
5. Centre-Left Green
6. Far left Green
7. Radical Action Green
8. Deep Green
9. Deep left Green

Confused? Go check out his whole esssay!

So there it is folks, this table was produced using the basic CORREL function in Excel. A correlation of 1 means a perfect positive correlation between the two variables, and a correlation of 0 means no relationship whatsoever. As you can see, there is a very strong relationship between reported election expenses and both the total number of Green Party votes, and the percentage of the total vote. The relationship between the financial position of the EDA the year before, and the actual vote outcome is less important, but still pretty strongly positive. Whether the funds were raised by the Campaign, or by the EDA prior to the election was still a positive relationship, but much less influential.

So clearly raising money is going to become increasingly important. Where we spend more, we do better.