This is a breaking story and I don't know the details yet.
Apparently they did not want her at the President's State of the Union address. Cowards!
Update: She wore a t-shirt that said "2,245 dead. How many more?". They said they asked her to cover it up and she refused. This should make an interesting court case.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Things that don't go together: Republicans and balanced budgets and watching porn and driving.
I find these two stories amazing! In both of the news stories these morons decide to look at pornography while driving an instrument of death around their prospective cities.
In this one two gentleman were observed watching a porn DVD while going through the McDonald's drive thru. Not only did other patrons in the restaurant have to see that smut while they are waiting to stuff their faces with fat laden, heart stopping, meals of death, but you know these two morons did not just fire it up when they arrived at the restaurant. Which means these two Mensa members were undoubtedly watching the DVD while they drove to McDonald's. Does porn make them hungry?
Then we have this guy who could not wait until he got home to start ogling naked women in a magazine. He forced other innocent drivers off of the road as he leered at these periodicals.
Now I make no value judgements when it comes to looking at porn, (Glass houses you know) but why do these nutballs feel that it is something to be done while driving a vehicle? I mean both of these endeavors require a certain amount of concentration to do them properly, so why combine them? I may be odd but I have to admit that I rarely think about sex while I am driving. And on the converse I rarely think about driving while I am having sex.
Oh sure I have had sex in a parked car, I am not a freak after all, but I usually had a real girl in the car with me. It was all her idea. The slut! But I did not resume driving until I had finished the task at hand. I mean let's keep our priorities straight!
So to these horndogs I would just say, "Hey concetrate on driving safely to the privacy of your home. Once there you can molest yourself to your hearts desire. This way the only lives that are being affected are the thousands of potential ones that are now all over the sheets of your bed!" Happy whacking!
In this one two gentleman were observed watching a porn DVD while going through the McDonald's drive thru. Not only did other patrons in the restaurant have to see that smut while they are waiting to stuff their faces with fat laden, heart stopping, meals of death, but you know these two morons did not just fire it up when they arrived at the restaurant. Which means these two Mensa members were undoubtedly watching the DVD while they drove to McDonald's. Does porn make them hungry?
Then we have this guy who could not wait until he got home to start ogling naked women in a magazine. He forced other innocent drivers off of the road as he leered at these periodicals.
Now I make no value judgements when it comes to looking at porn, (Glass houses you know) but why do these nutballs feel that it is something to be done while driving a vehicle? I mean both of these endeavors require a certain amount of concentration to do them properly, so why combine them? I may be odd but I have to admit that I rarely think about sex while I am driving. And on the converse I rarely think about driving while I am having sex.
Oh sure I have had sex in a parked car, I am not a freak after all, but I usually had a real girl in the car with me. It was all her idea. The slut! But I did not resume driving until I had finished the task at hand. I mean let's keep our priorities straight!
So to these horndogs I would just say, "Hey concetrate on driving safely to the privacy of your home. Once there you can molest yourself to your hearts desire. This way the only lives that are being affected are the thousands of potential ones that are now all over the sheets of your bed!" Happy whacking!
Did American female soldiers die of dehydration rather then face the risk of rape at the hands of the male soldiers?
In a startling revelation, the former commander of Abu Ghraib prison testified that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former senior US military commander in Iraq, gave orders to cover up the cause of death for some female American soldiers serving in Iraq.
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
The latrine for female soldiers at Camp Victory wasn't located near their barracks, so they had to go outside if they needed to use the bathroom. "There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night," Karpinski told retired US Army Col. David Hackworth in a September 2004 interview.
It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn't drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn't have to urinate at night. They didn't get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.
Karpinski testified that a surgeon for the coalition's joint task force said in a briefing that "women in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the port-a-lets or the latrines were not drinking liquids after 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and in 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep."
"And rather than make everybody aware of that -- because that's shocking, and as a leader if that's not shocking to you then you're not much of a leader -- what they told the surgeon to do is don't brief those details anymore. And don't say specifically that they're women. You can provide that in a written report but don't brief it in the open anymore."
Oh my god! If there is any chance that this really happened then there needs to be an immediate investigation!
I almost hope that Karpinsky is lying but I seriously doubt it! This makes me heartsick!
I hate rapists! I would never hurt a woman and I would gladly fuck up somebody who would!
As if I needed it, here is another reason to hate this goddamn war!
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
The latrine for female soldiers at Camp Victory wasn't located near their barracks, so they had to go outside if they needed to use the bathroom. "There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night," Karpinski told retired US Army Col. David Hackworth in a September 2004 interview.
It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn't drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn't have to urinate at night. They didn't get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.
Karpinski testified that a surgeon for the coalition's joint task force said in a briefing that "women in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the port-a-lets or the latrines were not drinking liquids after 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and in 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep."
"And rather than make everybody aware of that -- because that's shocking, and as a leader if that's not shocking to you then you're not much of a leader -- what they told the surgeon to do is don't brief those details anymore. And don't say specifically that they're women. You can provide that in a written report but don't brief it in the open anymore."
Oh my god! If there is any chance that this really happened then there needs to be an immediate investigation!
I almost hope that Karpinsky is lying but I seriously doubt it! This makes me heartsick!
I hate rapists! I would never hurt a woman and I would gladly fuck up somebody who would!
As if I needed it, here is another reason to hate this goddamn war!
Good bye Mrs. King.
Coretta Scott King, who surged to the front of the fight for racial equality in America after her husband Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, has died at age 78, friends and family said on Tuesday.
There are so few hero's and heroines left and she was certainly one of the greatest. It is the end of an era.
There are so few hero's and heroines left and she was certainly one of the greatest. It is the end of an era.
Christiane Amanpour joins Walter Cronkite in condemning the Iraq war.
“The war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster,” Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, declared from London live on Monday’s Larry King Live. In the segment in which journalists discussed the serious injury from a bomb in Iraq to ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, she lamented how “journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that.” She added: “For some reason which I can't fathom, the kind of awful thing that's going on there now on a daily basis has almost become humdrum. So when something happens to people that we identify, like Bob and like Doug, we wake up again and realize, no, this is not acceptable, what's going on there. And it's a terrible situation." King replied: “Well said.” Later, in a segment on kidnaped journalist Jill Carroll, Amanpour asserted that “by any indicator Iraq is a black hole” and a “spiraling security disaster.”Congratulations to Christiane for finally speaking out against this debacle! I hope that her example, and Walter Cronkite's, will get other journalists to start telling it like it is. We need these people to stop covering for this administration and to let Americans know just how badly we have stumbled.
New brand of Evangelicals will be watching the "State of the Union" to compare what Bush says to the Bible.
These "watch parties" are being organized by a small but growing movement of evangelical Christians who no longer want to be defined by gay marriage and abortion. Plumbing the Bible for God's priorities, they are talking instead about global warming and affordable housing, about fewer tax cuts for the rich and more food stamps for the poor.
"The typical image of evangelicals is that they're concerned with the sanctity of life, the traditional family and that's it -- they buy the whole Republican agenda when they vote," said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, a think tank based in Wynnewood, Pa.
Citing Jesus' concern for those who are most vulnerable, evangelicals last month led a protest against a proposed federal budget that would cut deeply into food stamps, subsidized health insurance and student aid.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, has spoken out for clean-air and clean-water policies, arguing that God ordered man to be a good steward of creation. He hears pastors everywhere picking up the theme.
This is the heart of George Bush's base. Once he loses them he will be the lamest of lame ducks. It seems that the real gift that Bush has is the ability to turn any positive into a negative.
WWJIN? "Who would Jesus impeach now"?
"The typical image of evangelicals is that they're concerned with the sanctity of life, the traditional family and that's it -- they buy the whole Republican agenda when they vote," said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, a think tank based in Wynnewood, Pa.
Citing Jesus' concern for those who are most vulnerable, evangelicals last month led a protest against a proposed federal budget that would cut deeply into food stamps, subsidized health insurance and student aid.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, has spoken out for clean-air and clean-water policies, arguing that God ordered man to be a good steward of creation. He hears pastors everywhere picking up the theme.
This is the heart of George Bush's base. Once he loses them he will be the lamest of lame ducks. It seems that the real gift that Bush has is the ability to turn any positive into a negative.
WWJIN? "Who would Jesus impeach now"?
New laws would allow health care workers to deny care if it conflicted with their faith.
More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients' rights.
About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills because they believe the drugs are tantamount to abortion. But many are far broader measures that would shelter any doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy. That might include in-vitro fertilization, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cells, and perhaps even providing treatment to gays and lesbians.
This is rediculous! If you cannot provide the help that is needed then you should look for another line of work! I mean if you are an animal lover then don't work for a taxidermist. If you don't believe that people should drink then don't go to bartending school. And if your faith precludes you from giving somebody a pill which will keep them from getting pregnant then don't be a fucking Pharmicist!
The idea that their religious beliefs should be allowed to keep people from meeting their work responsibilities is fraught with potential abuses.
How would a judge feel if one of his jury members was a Quaker and refused to consider the death penalty for a man accused of multiple murders? Could a prosecutor keep that man off of the jury? Isn't it his right to serve regardless of his religious beliefs?
What if you ordered a BLT from a Jewish waitress who refused to serve it to you? That is sort of tongue in cheek but it serves to illustrate how bizarre these laws really are for practical purposes.
These changes to the laws are absurd and only cause to create even more of a distance between people of differing religious views. Does a customer have to ask the religious affiliation of the person behind the counter before asking them to help them? In the end doesn't this serve to define us by our religious differences rather then how we do our jobs?
About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills because they believe the drugs are tantamount to abortion. But many are far broader measures that would shelter any doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy. That might include in-vitro fertilization, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cells, and perhaps even providing treatment to gays and lesbians.
This is rediculous! If you cannot provide the help that is needed then you should look for another line of work! I mean if you are an animal lover then don't work for a taxidermist. If you don't believe that people should drink then don't go to bartending school. And if your faith precludes you from giving somebody a pill which will keep them from getting pregnant then don't be a fucking Pharmicist!
The idea that their religious beliefs should be allowed to keep people from meeting their work responsibilities is fraught with potential abuses.
How would a judge feel if one of his jury members was a Quaker and refused to consider the death penalty for a man accused of multiple murders? Could a prosecutor keep that man off of the jury? Isn't it his right to serve regardless of his religious beliefs?
What if you ordered a BLT from a Jewish waitress who refused to serve it to you? That is sort of tongue in cheek but it serves to illustrate how bizarre these laws really are for practical purposes.
These changes to the laws are absurd and only cause to create even more of a distance between people of differing religious views. Does a customer have to ask the religious affiliation of the person behind the counter before asking them to help them? In the end doesn't this serve to define us by our religious differences rather then how we do our jobs?
Monday, January 30, 2006
Is America really at war?
Here is the embarrassing question: Is America actually at war? We have a war president, war hawks, war planes, war correspondents, war cries, even war crimes -- but do we have war? We have war dead, but the question remains. With young US soldiers being blown up almost daily, it can seem an absurd question, an offensive one. With thousands of Iraqis killed by American firepower, it can seem a heartless question, as if the dead care whether strict definitions of ''war" are fulfilled. There can be no question that Iraq is in a state of war, and that, whatever its elements of post-Saddam sectarian conflict, the warfare is being driven from the Pentagon.
But, regarding the Iraq conflict as it involves the United States, something essential is lacking that would make it a war -- and that is an enemy.
This is a very thought provoking article which echoes some of my earlier posts.
It makes the point that the Iraqi insurgency is completely understandable if you put yourselves in their place. Invaded, bombed, relatives murdered, occupied by an unwelcome force, and the loss of electricity and sewer for months on end. I would start shooting at the Americans as well.
So we create an enemy and then spend billions fighting them. Just more of that good Neo-con logic that we have come to appreciate so much.
The real sin is that this administration is taking money from our much needed social programs to pay for this much unneeded "war".
But, regarding the Iraq conflict as it involves the United States, something essential is lacking that would make it a war -- and that is an enemy.
This is a very thought provoking article which echoes some of my earlier posts.
It makes the point that the Iraqi insurgency is completely understandable if you put yourselves in their place. Invaded, bombed, relatives murdered, occupied by an unwelcome force, and the loss of electricity and sewer for months on end. I would start shooting at the Americans as well.
So we create an enemy and then spend billions fighting them. Just more of that good Neo-con logic that we have come to appreciate so much.
The real sin is that this administration is taking money from our much needed social programs to pay for this much unneeded "war".
New Jill Carroll tape released.
Al-Jazeera aired a new videotape Monday of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, showing her wearing a veil and weeping. The video had no sound, but the station said she appealed for the release of women Iraqi prisoners.
Carroll is visibly crying in the video and wears a conservative Islamic veil as she speaks to the camera. The footage has a time signature with the date Jan. 28.
The fact that miss Carroll is alive is a very good sign!
I believe that she may have been able to convince her captors that she is sympathetic to their cause. That may be the thing that spares her life. I hope that since the last deadline passed and she is still with us that the kidnappers are now just using her to gain attention and to get their point out to the Americans. They may now have no intention of ending her life.
I truly do hope that is the case.
Carroll is visibly crying in the video and wears a conservative Islamic veil as she speaks to the camera. The footage has a time signature with the date Jan. 28.
The fact that miss Carroll is alive is a very good sign!
I believe that she may have been able to convince her captors that she is sympathetic to their cause. That may be the thing that spares her life. I hope that since the last deadline passed and she is still with us that the kidnappers are now just using her to gain attention and to get their point out to the Americans. They may now have no intention of ending her life.
I truly do hope that is the case.
There is no longer any doubt; Al-Zawahri lives!
Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a videotape aired Monday that President Bush was a "butcher" and a "failure" because of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeting the bin Laden deputy, and he threatened a new attack on the United States.
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
He continues to mock our president at will and demonstrates that our intelligence is faulty and unreliable.
We are the "keystone kops" of the international community. We need to get our act together.
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
He continues to mock our president at will and demonstrates that our intelligence is faulty and unreliable.
We are the "keystone kops" of the international community. We need to get our act together.
Much of Bush's 15 billion for AID's is going to religious groups.
President Bush's $15 billion effort to fight AIDS has handed out nearly one-quarter of its grants to religious groups, and officials are aggressively pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use.
Conservative Christian allies of the president are pressing the U.S. foreign aid agency to give fewer dollars to groups that distribute condoms or work with prostitutes. The Bush administration provided more than 560 million condoms abroad last year, compared with some 350 million in 2001.
Secular organizations in Africa are raising concerns that new money to groups without AIDS experience may dilute the impact of Bush's historic three-year-old program.
"We clearly recognize that it is very important to work with faith-based organizations," said Dan Mullins, deputy regional director for southern and western Africa for CARE, one of the best-known humanitarian organizations.
"But at the same time we don't want to fall into the trap of assuming faith-based groups are good at everything," Mullins said.
I believe that the pamphlet from one of these Christian AID's organizations says simply:
"Stop having sex you sinful faggots!"
I am just not sure how effective that will be in the long run.
Conservative Christian allies of the president are pressing the U.S. foreign aid agency to give fewer dollars to groups that distribute condoms or work with prostitutes. The Bush administration provided more than 560 million condoms abroad last year, compared with some 350 million in 2001.
Secular organizations in Africa are raising concerns that new money to groups without AIDS experience may dilute the impact of Bush's historic three-year-old program.
"We clearly recognize that it is very important to work with faith-based organizations," said Dan Mullins, deputy regional director for southern and western Africa for CARE, one of the best-known humanitarian organizations.
"But at the same time we don't want to fall into the trap of assuming faith-based groups are good at everything," Mullins said.
I believe that the pamphlet from one of these Christian AID's organizations says simply:
"Stop having sex you sinful faggots!"
I am just not sure how effective that will be in the long run.
Starting Monday on a lighter note. Maxim magazines "100 things you need to know about women".
Some of these things were news to me and I have been married twice! So it's quite possible I know something!
79. Never trust the woman who gives you the best blow job you’ve ever had.
Wow! Trust versus amazing blowjobs. This will really test my need for honesty.
67. Kiss her before two dates have gone by or you’ll be “friended.”
So if I sleep with her on the first date I am good right?
51. Don’t call her “cute.” In her mind it’s the same as “not vomit-inducing.” “Sexy,” OK. “Hot,” yes. “Fucking awesome,” only if she’s at least slightly buzzed.
I totally messed this on up already. She really was cute!
44. A psycho jealous girl will do anything to keep her man—including anal.
Okay I have a new important personality trait to look for, psycho jealousy!
79. Never trust the woman who gives you the best blow job you’ve ever had.
Wow! Trust versus amazing blowjobs. This will really test my need for honesty.
67. Kiss her before two dates have gone by or you’ll be “friended.”
So if I sleep with her on the first date I am good right?
51. Don’t call her “cute.” In her mind it’s the same as “not vomit-inducing.” “Sexy,” OK. “Hot,” yes. “Fucking awesome,” only if she’s at least slightly buzzed.
I totally messed this on up already. She really was cute!
44. A psycho jealous girl will do anything to keep her man—including anal.
Okay I have a new important personality trait to look for, psycho jealousy!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Joining the Army is easy, leaving is almost impossible. Thanks to "stop-loss" program.
The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called "stop-loss," but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat.
"As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank.
"When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you're edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism."
They refer to this as a backdoor draft. You have to know that these soldiers are angry and frustrated at the prospect of being kept in Iraq until they are killed. As if being killed is the only way out of the Army anymore.
"As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank.
"When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you're edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism."
They refer to this as a backdoor draft. You have to know that these soldiers are angry and frustrated at the prospect of being kept in Iraq until they are killed. As if being killed is the only way out of the Army anymore.
There once were heroes in this administration and they were punished.
These Justice Department lawyers, backed by their intrepid boss Comey, had stood up to the hard-liners, centered in the office of the vice president, who wanted to give the president virtually unlimited powers in the war on terror. Demanding that the White House stop using what they saw as farfetched rationales for riding rough-shod over the law and the Constitution, Goldsmith and the others fought to bring government spying and interrogation methods within the law. They did so at their peril; ostracized, some were denied promotions, while others left for more comfortable climes in private law firms and academia. Some went so far as to line up private lawyers in 2004, anticipating that the president's eavesdropping program would draw scrutiny from Congress, if not prosecutors. These government attorneys did not always succeed, but their efforts went a long way toward vindicating the principle of a nation of laws and not men.
The rebels were not whistle-blowers in the traditional sense. They did not want—indeed avoided—publicity. (Goldsmith confirmed public facts about himself but otherwise declined to comment. Comey also declined to comment.) They were not downtrodden career civil servants. Rather, they were conservative political appointees who had been friends and close colleagues of some of the true believers they were fighting against. They did not see the struggle in terms of black and white but in shades of gray—as painfully close calls with unavoidable pitfalls. They worried deeply about whether their principles might put Americans at home and abroad at risk. Their story has been obscured behind legalisms and the veil of secrecy over the White House. But it is a quietly dramatic profile in courage.
A President that will not brook negative comment.
An administration too cowed to warn the Chief Executive that what he is doing is not legal.
The picture is getting clearer and clearer.
And what is becoming crystal clear is that the only hope of stopping this megalomaniac is to depose him. He needs to be removed from office. If impeachment is not the answer then what is?
(And by the way for any of you NSA guys, I am not suggesting a violent coup.)
The rebels were not whistle-blowers in the traditional sense. They did not want—indeed avoided—publicity. (Goldsmith confirmed public facts about himself but otherwise declined to comment. Comey also declined to comment.) They were not downtrodden career civil servants. Rather, they were conservative political appointees who had been friends and close colleagues of some of the true believers they were fighting against. They did not see the struggle in terms of black and white but in shades of gray—as painfully close calls with unavoidable pitfalls. They worried deeply about whether their principles might put Americans at home and abroad at risk. Their story has been obscured behind legalisms and the veil of secrecy over the White House. But it is a quietly dramatic profile in courage.
A President that will not brook negative comment.
An administration too cowed to warn the Chief Executive that what he is doing is not legal.
The picture is getting clearer and clearer.
And what is becoming crystal clear is that the only hope of stopping this megalomaniac is to depose him. He needs to be removed from office. If impeachment is not the answer then what is?
(And by the way for any of you NSA guys, I am not suggesting a violent coup.)
Saddam ejected from his own trial.
Saddam Hussein’s trial turned chaotic shortly after resuming Sunday, with one defendant dragged out of court and the defense team walking out in protest. The former Iraqi leader was then escorted from the room after shouting “down with the Americans” and refusing his new court-appointed lawyer.Damn what is wrong with this guy? He acts like he is used to people never talking back to him or something. Oh yeah, right, former dictator and everything.
I really think that the new judge just wanted to flex some of his new judicial muscle in front of the cameras. Let everyone know that there is a new sheriff in town.
(By the way Saddam is going to get off.)
"The Lawless World" a book which offers even more evidence that both Bush and Blair duped the U.N. about the need for war in Iraq.
Both governments will be horrified that the stream of leaks revealing the grim truth about the war is turning into a flood. The most damaging new revelation concerns the meeting between Mr Blair and Mr Bush at the White House on January 31, 2003, during which Mr Blair urged the President to seek a second UN resolution giving specific backing for the war.
The Mail on Sunday has established that the meeting was attended only by Mr Blair, his Downing Street foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning, Mr Bush and the President's then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, plus an official note-taker.
The top-secret record of the meeting was circulated to a tiny handful of senior figures in the two administrations.
Immediately afterwards, the two leaders gave a Press conference in which a nervous-looking Mr Blair claimed the meeting had been a success. Mr Bush gave qualified support for going down the UN route. But observers noted the awkward body language between the two men. Sands' book explains why. Far from giving a genuine endorsement to Mr Blair's attempt to gain full UN approval, Mr Bush was only going through the motions. And Mr Blair not only knew it, but went along with it.
I will definitely be buying this book.
We need to get this information out to the public as often as possible. The point is that the lies that were told to justify the invasion makes our current occupation morally repugnant. Our President and Tony Blair both told boldface lies to make the case to go to war. That cannot be allowed to be swept under the rug. The truth counts!
This will never change the minds of the hyper conservatives over at Tim Blair orPowerline, but it should raise serious questions with Americans who have real concerns about how we went to war and what our ultimate goal is in Iraq.
The Mail on Sunday has established that the meeting was attended only by Mr Blair, his Downing Street foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning, Mr Bush and the President's then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, plus an official note-taker.
The top-secret record of the meeting was circulated to a tiny handful of senior figures in the two administrations.
Immediately afterwards, the two leaders gave a Press conference in which a nervous-looking Mr Blair claimed the meeting had been a success. Mr Bush gave qualified support for going down the UN route. But observers noted the awkward body language between the two men. Sands' book explains why. Far from giving a genuine endorsement to Mr Blair's attempt to gain full UN approval, Mr Bush was only going through the motions. And Mr Blair not only knew it, but went along with it.
I will definitely be buying this book.
We need to get this information out to the public as often as possible. The point is that the lies that were told to justify the invasion makes our current occupation morally repugnant. Our President and Tony Blair both told boldface lies to make the case to go to war. That cannot be allowed to be swept under the rug. The truth counts!
This will never change the minds of the hyper conservatives over at Tim Blair orPowerline, but it should raise serious questions with Americans who have real concerns about how we went to war and what our ultimate goal is in Iraq.
Frist is on "Meet the Press" right now and he is fidgeting like an ADHD child without his meds.
Russert is hammering Frist!
Frist has shown a completely blank expression at least three times so far.
He cannot effectively answer why the administration bypassed the FISA court!
He did a terrible job at answering why the White House invaded Iraq and not other countries with similar human rights violations. He did bring up WMD's which Tim bitchslapped him with!
He stumbled over the question of his not so blind trust.
Now Tim is kidney punching him over the Terry Shiavo debacle. He does not regret trying to use the Senate to stop the removal of the tube. He did learn that the American people do not want you to interfere in these type of decisions. Wow no shit!
All in all a good performance by Tim Russert who gains some brownie points from me today.
Frist is nowhere near Presidential material! He is too nervous and smarmy! But if the republicans want to nominate him I consider him to be a "formidable opponent".
Frist has shown a completely blank expression at least three times so far.
He cannot effectively answer why the administration bypassed the FISA court!
He did a terrible job at answering why the White House invaded Iraq and not other countries with similar human rights violations. He did bring up WMD's which Tim bitchslapped him with!
He stumbled over the question of his not so blind trust.
Now Tim is kidney punching him over the Terry Shiavo debacle. He does not regret trying to use the Senate to stop the removal of the tube. He did learn that the American people do not want you to interfere in these type of decisions. Wow no shit!
All in all a good performance by Tim Russert who gains some brownie points from me today.
Frist is nowhere near Presidential material! He is too nervous and smarmy! But if the republicans want to nominate him I consider him to be a "formidable opponent".
I went and saw "The New World". This is to be avoided at all cost.
I love movies! I have watched thousands of movies in my time. I have enjoyed movies that others found wanting. I did not enjoy this movie!I swear if the lady at the end of my aisle had not looked so comfortable I would have walked out of this film!
It was literally so boring that I thought maybe it was a joke! The dialogue sounded like it was written by a pre-pubescent girl.
"I wonder what he is thinking? Does he love the water as much as me?" Aaaaahhh!
If I had to identify a positive I would say that the cinematography was beautiful. That would be the only positive thing that I could say.
By the way Q Orianka Kilcher is a striking young lady. But she is fourteen years old! Everytime Colin Farrell or Christian Bale touched her I wanted to yell at the screen. "Get your filthy hands off of her you pedophile!" That could just be my own personal prejudices sneaking through however.
Anyhow do yourself a favor and skip this movie unless you are suffering from insomnia, because this will certainly cure that!
ABC's Bob Woodruff is injured in Iraq.
ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured Sunday in an attack and explosion while reporting from Iraq.The two journalists were traveling with U.S. and Iraqi troops near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad, when an improvised explosive device went off, ABC News President David Westin said. Both were in serious condition and undergoing surgery at a U.S. military hospital in the area, the network said.
This is a breaking story so I don't know too much. I hope that he recovers completely from his injuries. These are the unsung heroes of the Iraq war.
It also makes me wonder again how Jill Carroll is doing today.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
The Top Ten Censored Stories of 2005.
Below is one that chills my soul!
Media Coverage on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death Toll
The civilized world may well look back on the assaults on Fallujah in 2004 as examples of utter disregard for the most basic wartime rules of engagement. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called for an investigation into whether the Americans and their allies had engaged in "the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons, and the use of human shields," among other possible "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions" considered war crimes under federal law. More than 83 percent of Fallujah's 300,000 residents fled the city. Men between the ages of 15 and 45 were refused safe passage, and all who remained—about 50,000—were treated as enemy combatants. Numerous sources reported that coalition forces cut off water and electricity, shot at anyone who ventured out into the open, executed families waving white flags while trying to swim across the Euphrates, shot at ambulances, and allowed corpses to rot in the streets and be eaten by dogs. Medical staff reported seeing people with melted faces and limbs, injuries consistent with the use of phosphorous bombs. But you likely know little of this as the media hardly mentioned it.
Media Coverage on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death Toll
The civilized world may well look back on the assaults on Fallujah in 2004 as examples of utter disregard for the most basic wartime rules of engagement. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called for an investigation into whether the Americans and their allies had engaged in "the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons, and the use of human shields," among other possible "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions" considered war crimes under federal law. More than 83 percent of Fallujah's 300,000 residents fled the city. Men between the ages of 15 and 45 were refused safe passage, and all who remained—about 50,000—were treated as enemy combatants. Numerous sources reported that coalition forces cut off water and electricity, shot at anyone who ventured out into the open, executed families waving white flags while trying to swim across the Euphrates, shot at ambulances, and allowed corpses to rot in the streets and be eaten by dogs. Medical staff reported seeing people with melted faces and limbs, injuries consistent with the use of phosphorous bombs. But you likely know little of this as the media hardly mentioned it.
When Bush offers up Hillary as a "formidable opponent" it is clear that the Republicans believe she is someone they can beat.
President Bush said Friday that Sen. Hillary Clinton, a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is "formidable," but he declined to speculate on which Republicans might run for the White House in 2008.
So spake Karl Rove, master manipulator, and Bush's puppeteer. Now he is peppering the ground with seeds for a Republican win in 2008.
Pretend to be impressed, or worried, or scared of the opponent that you feel you have the best chance of winning against. This is not exactly the trickiest maneuver I have ever seen.
Hillary is not our best choice for 2008. I think that most of us know that. I don't really know who the Democrats have worth backing at this point. I am underwhelmed by Clinton, Biden, Kerry, and most of the others who are hinting at an interest in running.
We need somebody fresh. Somebody with impeccable character. Somebody untarnished by voting for this war in Iraq. Somebody who did not receive a dime from one of Abramoff's clients. Somebody who can speak for the poor, the minorities, the disenchanted. Somebody who we can trust.
So spake Karl Rove, master manipulator, and Bush's puppeteer. Now he is peppering the ground with seeds for a Republican win in 2008.
Pretend to be impressed, or worried, or scared of the opponent that you feel you have the best chance of winning against. This is not exactly the trickiest maneuver I have ever seen.
Hillary is not our best choice for 2008. I think that most of us know that. I don't really know who the Democrats have worth backing at this point. I am underwhelmed by Clinton, Biden, Kerry, and most of the others who are hinting at an interest in running.
We need somebody fresh. Somebody with impeccable character. Somebody untarnished by voting for this war in Iraq. Somebody who did not receive a dime from one of Abramoff's clients. Somebody who can speak for the poor, the minorities, the disenchanted. Somebody who we can trust.
George Bush slips further away from the reality based world as he proposes cuts to Army Reserves and threatens Iran with military action.
President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs.
Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 — the current number of slots it is allowed — to 188,000, the actual number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.
Is this not one of the clearest signs of a man with a disconnected sense of reality? We have shown what our limitations are to the enemy by falling short in Iraq. Now this fool wants to further weaken us by reducing the size of our fighting force just when there are countries out there looking to call our bluff.
I am not an advocate of a military solution to the situation in Iran but it does our bargaining position no good for the world to know that we are reducing our potential troop strength.
And where does that leave our homeland security situation? Will we have the resources to defend ourselves if Bush manages to embolden the enemy enough to actually attack us again in our own backyard? I highly doubt it.
Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 — the current number of slots it is allowed — to 188,000, the actual number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.
Is this not one of the clearest signs of a man with a disconnected sense of reality? We have shown what our limitations are to the enemy by falling short in Iraq. Now this fool wants to further weaken us by reducing the size of our fighting force just when there are countries out there looking to call our bluff.
I am not an advocate of a military solution to the situation in Iran but it does our bargaining position no good for the world to know that we are reducing our potential troop strength.
And where does that leave our homeland security situation? Will we have the resources to defend ourselves if Bush manages to embolden the enemy enough to actually attack us again in our own backyard? I highly doubt it.
Being Americans does not make us right. But being right makes us better Americans.
When I first learned that Jill Carrol had been kidnapped in Iraq I was upset because I know that the chances of her release are not very good.
When I heard that her kidnappers wanted to use her to gain the release of female prisoners I was a little surprised to hear that we were still holding any female prisoners, but I assumed that they were captured as suspects in potential suicide bombing missions. I would support putting these type of individuals in jail pending a trial.
But now we learn that we may be holding the innocent wives of suspected insurgents in a ploy to get them to give themselves up. This information is represents a whole new level of mistreatment.
Now instead of comfortably judging these terrorists who kidnap women to as bargaining chips or as symbols of their defiance I find myself and my country on shaky ethical ground. We cannot morally condemn a practice that we ourselves engage in.
What has happened to my country?
When I heard that her kidnappers wanted to use her to gain the release of female prisoners I was a little surprised to hear that we were still holding any female prisoners, but I assumed that they were captured as suspects in potential suicide bombing missions. I would support putting these type of individuals in jail pending a trial.
But now we learn that we may be holding the innocent wives of suspected insurgents in a ploy to get them to give themselves up. This information is represents a whole new level of mistreatment.
Now instead of comfortably judging these terrorists who kidnap women to as bargaining chips or as symbols of their defiance I find myself and my country on shaky ethical ground. We cannot morally condemn a practice that we ourselves engage in.
What has happened to my country?
- We condemn the 9-11 bombers for killing thousands of innocent civilians and then attack a country that did not threaten us and kill even more thousands of their innocent civilians.
- We condemn Saddam Hussein for jailing and torturing his people and then find our own military does the same thing in Abu Ghraib.
- We condemn our enemies for using chemical weapons and then are exposed for using phosphorous in Fallujah.
- We condemn the Iraqi insurgents for killing their own people indiscriminately and then evidence is exposed that shows our soldiers doing the same thing.
These are just examples of our hypocrisy toward the people of Iraq. Our government is doing almost as much harm here in this country. We have lost the moral high ground! We have lost our hold on ethics! We have lost what it means to be Americans!
I want it back! And I want you to want it back as well!
George Bush came into office promising to be Bill Clintons moral superior. This constitutes the biggest prank ever played on America! I have said it before but it bears repeating. I would take any president with a penchant for blow jobs over a president with a penchant for war any day of the week! There is much more to morality then sexual preference. I want a man who puts the needs of his country first and makes decisions that benefit the world at large. Then if he wants a hummer, well then let him have as many as he wants!
Bush lies about how well he knows Jack Abramoff.
It is obvious that Mr. Abramoff was no stranger to the Bush White House from the very beginning. Well before the President took office, Mr. Abramoff was named to the Bush transition team for the Department of the Interior. He may not have had any discernible qualifications to oversee that department's appointments, but he had clients on tribal reservations and in the Marianas Islands whose businesses were regulated by Interior officials.He has been a friend of Karl Rove, the deputy chief of staff and Presidential political advisor, for more than a quarter-century. His personal assistant soon showed up as the personal assistant to Mr. Rove. His associate David Safavian, since indicted, became the administration's chief procurement officer. He told his friends and clients that he could get into the Bush White House -- and get whatever he wanted there.
Are we really expected to believe that George Bush was not intimately connected to a man who is friends with his most important advisor. If Abramoff is friends with Karl Rove then of course he is known by George Bush. And who named him to the transitions team? Does this stuff happen with no input from George Bush? Is that what we are expected to believe?
The reason these pictures are being surpressed is because they show just how close Bush and Abramoff were. This White House stone walls justice at every turn and it is past time that the main stream media called them on this criminal interference!
Friday, January 27, 2006
U.S. Military is imprisoning the wives of suspected insurgents!
The US Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, US military documents show.
In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a US intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."
The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.
I also saw this on the NBC News tonight.
What is wrong with us? What is wrong with our military? How do we justify this tactic? I am slack jawed over this revelation.
How in the hell do we gain the trust of these people if we imprison innocent family members of suspected insurgents? Especially their women? I mean isn't anybody considering the fallout of something like this? This is just wrong! There is no excuse for this barbaric practice. None!
Get us the hell out of that country before there is nothing left of our reputation in the world!
In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a US intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."
The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.
I also saw this on the NBC News tonight.
What is wrong with us? What is wrong with our military? How do we justify this tactic? I am slack jawed over this revelation.
How in the hell do we gain the trust of these people if we imprison innocent family members of suspected insurgents? Especially their women? I mean isn't anybody considering the fallout of something like this? This is just wrong! There is no excuse for this barbaric practice. None!
Get us the hell out of that country before there is nothing left of our reputation in the world!
Is it my imagination or has Bush completely stopped making sense?
Okay now read what Bush said here;
President Bush again defended his program of warrantless surveillance Thursday, saying "there's no doubt in my mind it is legal."
"The program's legal, it's designed to protect civil liberties, and it's necessary," Bush told a White House news conference.
"But it's important for people to understand that this program is so sensitive and so important that if information gets out to how we run it or how we operate it, it'll help the enemy," he said. "Why tell the enemy what we're doing?"
"We'll listen to ideas. But I want to make sure that people understand that if the attempt to write law makes this program -- is likely to expose the nature of the program, I'll resist it," he said.
Okay what? Did he just say that we can't make a law allowing him to spy on us legally because we might tip off Al-Aaeda to the fact that he is spying on us illegally? Here let me read it again.
Yep, I think that is what he said. Does he really think that the terrorists are unaware that their phone calls and e-mails might have been peeked at? Does he think that he has to break the law or else the enemy will stop clumsily calling their friends in America and telling them when and where to plant the bombs? Have we caught them doing this?
You know if I were a cynic.......which I am not....entirely.....I might think that this president is much less concerned with the fact that the terrorists might find out what his methods are, and much more worried that Americans might find out what his methods are.
I mean if I were a cynic I might think that.
I also might think that when the president talks about the "enemy" that he is actually referring to the people in this country who disagree with him and not the enemy that attacked us on 9-11.
It sure is a good thing that I am not a cynic!
President Bush again defended his program of warrantless surveillance Thursday, saying "there's no doubt in my mind it is legal."
"The program's legal, it's designed to protect civil liberties, and it's necessary," Bush told a White House news conference.
"But it's important for people to understand that this program is so sensitive and so important that if information gets out to how we run it or how we operate it, it'll help the enemy," he said. "Why tell the enemy what we're doing?"
"We'll listen to ideas. But I want to make sure that people understand that if the attempt to write law makes this program -- is likely to expose the nature of the program, I'll resist it," he said.
Okay what? Did he just say that we can't make a law allowing him to spy on us legally because we might tip off Al-Aaeda to the fact that he is spying on us illegally? Here let me read it again.
Yep, I think that is what he said. Does he really think that the terrorists are unaware that their phone calls and e-mails might have been peeked at? Does he think that he has to break the law or else the enemy will stop clumsily calling their friends in America and telling them when and where to plant the bombs? Have we caught them doing this?
You know if I were a cynic.......which I am not....entirely.....I might think that this president is much less concerned with the fact that the terrorists might find out what his methods are, and much more worried that Americans might find out what his methods are.
I mean if I were a cynic I might think that.
I also might think that when the president talks about the "enemy" that he is actually referring to the people in this country who disagree with him and not the enemy that attacked us on 9-11.
It sure is a good thing that I am not a cynic!
We are being attacked by ice in Alaska! And no this is not an everyday occurrence!
Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore."It just looked like a big old mountain of ice," said L.A. Leavitt, 19, who left his nightshift job at the city early Tuesday to check out the ridges.
Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena.
This is why I live in Anchorage! Hang on........I am back.....I had to go turn up the thermostat. All cozy now.
Helen Thomas pays Bush back for not calling on her during press conference. She just rips him a new one.
We are now learning what President Bush considers to be the limits of his power—nothing.
In public appearances this week, Bush defended his program of domestic spying without court approval, citing the inherent war powers of the presidency under the U.S. Constitution.
The president points to his status as commander-in-chief and the resolution — approved by Congress three days after the 9/11 attacks — authorizing him to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against the terrorists.
It is an obvious overreach of presidential prerogative; thin justification for what amounts to a snooping foray against Americans and others in the U.S.
It all smacks of France's Louis XIV's famous dictum: "L'etat, c'est moi"— "I am the state."
Nicely done Helen. Nicely done. I like how she signs off at the end.
I wonder what other secret orders Bush has issued to enhance his powers and diminish ours?
I have lost a little sleep over that one myself Helen. I have indeed.
In public appearances this week, Bush defended his program of domestic spying without court approval, citing the inherent war powers of the presidency under the U.S. Constitution.
The president points to his status as commander-in-chief and the resolution — approved by Congress three days after the 9/11 attacks — authorizing him to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against the terrorists.
It is an obvious overreach of presidential prerogative; thin justification for what amounts to a snooping foray against Americans and others in the U.S.
It all smacks of France's Louis XIV's famous dictum: "L'etat, c'est moi"— "I am the state."
Nicely done Helen. Nicely done. I like how she signs off at the end.
I wonder what other secret orders Bush has issued to enhance his powers and diminish ours?
I have lost a little sleep over that one myself Helen. I have indeed.
If you are sitting around wishing you had somebody to hate but just can't think of anybody, well you always have Ann Coulter!
Universal Press Syndicate columnist Ann Coulter "joked" during a Thursday speech that liberal Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned. "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee," Coulter said at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark. "That's just a joke, for you in the media."
Well I am not one of the "media" so I will take offense.
This is literally one of the most repugnant human beings on the planet.
Well I am not one of the "media" so I will take offense.
This is literally one of the most repugnant human beings on the planet.
Apparently our government fights terror by spying on "vegans" and other threats to our democracy.
The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files on Wednesday that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected of being threats simply for expressing controversial opinions.
For example, more than two dozen government surveillance photographs show 22-year-old Caitlin Childs of Atlanta, a strict vegetarian, and other vegans picketing against meat eating, in December 2003. They staged their protest outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway in DeKalb County.
Does anybody still feel comfortable allowing our government to have carte blanche when it comes to deciding whose privacy to invade or not?
How much more of this do we have to learn before we decide that this administration is completely out of control and needs to be stopped?
For example, more than two dozen government surveillance photographs show 22-year-old Caitlin Childs of Atlanta, a strict vegetarian, and other vegans picketing against meat eating, in December 2003. They staged their protest outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway in DeKalb County.
Does anybody still feel comfortable allowing our government to have carte blanche when it comes to deciding whose privacy to invade or not?
How much more of this do we have to learn before we decide that this administration is completely out of control and needs to be stopped?
Here she is! The only Republican that The Immoral Minority would endorse!
This is Sarah Palin. She is a Republican here is Alaska. She is currently running to be our next governor. That's right she is challenging incumbent Frank Murkowski! We don't like him.
You ask why I would support a Republican? Because this is a Republican with ethics! I am totally not kidding! She has real ethics! Just like a real person!
She started an ethics probe on her own party! She caught them breaking the rules and she totally busted them on it!
No I am not stoned! Sarah is the real deal. She is the only hope that our local republicans have in gaining any sense of credibility.
Now I don't know what Sarah's take on the Iraq war is, and that might have a negative impact on my adulation, but so far Sarah is an extremely impressive individual who deserves our support no matter what side of the fence we find ourselves.
(By the way doesn't she look really cute in her glasses? That is not a very good picture of her.)
Uh oh! Violence in Palestine.
Angry Fatah supporters took to the streets of Gaza City on Friday, blaming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for their party's trouncing by the militant group Hamas in this week's parliamentary elections. Boy, Bush is right! Democracy really does bring peace!
CNN's Aaron Brown says truth no longer matters on cable news.
"Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news," said Aaron Brown, whose four-year period as anchor of CNN's NewsNight ended in November, when network executives gave his job to Anderson Cooper in a bid to push the show's ratings closer to front-runner Fox News.Many Americans on the left and the right aren't interested in the truth, but simply want news that confirms their viewpoints, he said. "You'd think that it's no more complex than good vs. evil," he said.
Is he right? I have to say that I choose CNN as my news source more often then MSNBC, and only turn to FOX "the opposite of" News when I want to see what kind of spin the right wing is putting on a story. But lately I have noticed some alarming developments on CNN. It seems as if they are starting to lean right.
Wolf "My beard never grows" Blitzer has been going after critics of the president with a little more enthusiasm then seems completely warranted. But then is that my own prejudice coloring my perception? Maybe he is being completely neutral and I am exactly what Aaron Brown is talking about when he says that viewers want their points of view reinforced.
I do not envy the news gatherers of today. They struggle to tell the story, no matter which side of the aisle it helped or hurts, and at the same time keep their advertisers so that they can afford to produce the programs.
Well I will let you all know that I am somebody who turns off the stories about the runaway brides or celebrity legal difficulties. Of course I am just better then most people. Except for my humongous ego.
Murtha says that Iraq is already having a civil war.
"Our troops are the target," Murtha told the newspaper. "We're not fighting terrorism in Iraq. We're fighting a civil war in Iraq. We've got to give them an incentive. We fought our Civil War. Let them fight their civil war."
"There is no reason in the world we couldn't do what we're doing (in Iraq) from the periphery," Murtha said. "I've just come to the conclusion it's going to happen and it's just a matter of time."
Murtha, who voted in 2002 to give President Bush the authority to go to war, said he believes Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had no ties to al-Qaida and wasn't a threat to the United States.
"We're not cutting and running. We're giving the Iraqis incentive to take over," he said.
More straight talk from the only American hero that we seem to have left.
"There is no reason in the world we couldn't do what we're doing (in Iraq) from the periphery," Murtha said. "I've just come to the conclusion it's going to happen and it's just a matter of time."
Murtha, who voted in 2002 to give President Bush the authority to go to war, said he believes Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had no ties to al-Qaida and wasn't a threat to the United States.
"We're not cutting and running. We're giving the Iraqis incentive to take over," he said.
More straight talk from the only American hero that we seem to have left.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Al Jazeera doubts authenticity of newest Bin Laden tape.
They make a compelling argument.
I don't know what to believe concerning this.
It does show that Al Jazeera does not put anything past this administration. Just another demonstration of how much trust we have lost in the world.
I just don't have enough tinfoil to make the size of hat I will need for this theory. Could it be?
I don't know what to believe concerning this.
It does show that Al Jazeera does not put anything past this administration. Just another demonstration of how much trust we have lost in the world.
I just don't have enough tinfoil to make the size of hat I will need for this theory. Could it be?
John Kerry will soon spend a day tilting at windmills. Decides to filibuster Alito nomination.
"Judge Alito's confirmation would be an ideological coup on the Supreme Court," Kerry said in a written statement explaining his support for a filibuster.
"We can't afford to see the court's swing vote, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, replaced with a far-right ideologue like Samuel Alito."
First I need to say that I am pleased to see Democrats finally getting off of their dead ass and doing something. But.....It is too little too late.
I am just as worried about the court swinging too far to the right as every other good progressive. I just don't see this changing the outcome in any significant way.
Alito is going to get confirmed. That is a given. It will have a dramatic effect on the court cases that come before the Supreme court in the coming decades. That is also a given. This blows hard! Also a given.
Democrats need to focus on defeating the republicans in 2006 and getting the opportunity to investigate some of the scary shit that this White House has pulled in the last five years. That should be the Dems priority before any other.
After that is done they should indict the entire administration. Then I will be happy. Please make me happy!
"We can't afford to see the court's swing vote, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, replaced with a far-right ideologue like Samuel Alito."
First I need to say that I am pleased to see Democrats finally getting off of their dead ass and doing something. But.....It is too little too late.
I am just as worried about the court swinging too far to the right as every other good progressive. I just don't see this changing the outcome in any significant way.
Alito is going to get confirmed. That is a given. It will have a dramatic effect on the court cases that come before the Supreme court in the coming decades. That is also a given. This blows hard! Also a given.
Democrats need to focus on defeating the republicans in 2006 and getting the opportunity to investigate some of the scary shit that this White House has pulled in the last five years. That should be the Dems priority before any other.
After that is done they should indict the entire administration. Then I will be happy. Please make me happy!
Bush's approval rating hovering at 41 percent according to FOX News. That's right! FOX News!
Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News on January 24-25.
Today, 41 percent of Americans approve of the job President Bush is doing and 51 percent disapprove. From late November through mid-January the president's approval rating has been 42 percent and disapproval has ranged between 48 percent and 51 percent.
On the issues, as has been the case in the past, the president receives his highest job rating on the issue of terrorism: 51 percent approve and 44 percent disapprove. Approval is down from 53 percent in the two previous surveys (August 2005 and October 2004).
On the economy, 41 percent approve and 52 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing, a slight 3-percentage point improvement from last summer. A year ago, opinion was evenly divided at 46 percent approve and 46 percent disapprove (January 2005).
I am still completely befuddled about how people can give Bush even a 51% approval rating for fighting terrorism. He sucks at fighting terrorists! What he should receive is a high approval rating for is creating terrorists! I don't think that any thinking person could argue with the fact that there are substantially more terrorists today then there were when George Bush first took office.
He is the Great White Father of the modern day terrorist! They should observe a day off to commemorate him all of his fine help in assisting their recruitment drives.
"No bombing today Omar! Today is George Bush day!"
Today, 41 percent of Americans approve of the job President Bush is doing and 51 percent disapprove. From late November through mid-January the president's approval rating has been 42 percent and disapproval has ranged between 48 percent and 51 percent.
On the issues, as has been the case in the past, the president receives his highest job rating on the issue of terrorism: 51 percent approve and 44 percent disapprove. Approval is down from 53 percent in the two previous surveys (August 2005 and October 2004).
On the economy, 41 percent approve and 52 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing, a slight 3-percentage point improvement from last summer. A year ago, opinion was evenly divided at 46 percent approve and 46 percent disapprove (January 2005).
I am still completely befuddled about how people can give Bush even a 51% approval rating for fighting terrorism. He sucks at fighting terrorists! What he should receive is a high approval rating for is creating terrorists! I don't think that any thinking person could argue with the fact that there are substantially more terrorists today then there were when George Bush first took office.
He is the Great White Father of the modern day terrorist! They should observe a day off to commemorate him all of his fine help in assisting their recruitment drives.
"No bombing today Omar! Today is George Bush day!"
Who is George Bush afraid of? Helen Thomas that's who!
President Bush today again avoided taking a question from White House doyenne Helen Thomas during his 45-minute press conference, even though he took questions from every reporter around her front-row, center seat."He's a coward," Thomas said afterward. "He's supposed to be this macho guy. He'll take on Osama bin Laden, but he won't take me on."
Thomas, who worked as the UPI White House reporter for 57 years and is now a columnist, raised her hand every time the president was concluding an answer to a reporter's question, but he never called on her.
She had a few questions in mind, though. "I wanted to ask about Iraq: 'You said you didn't go in for oil or for Israel or for WMDs. so why did you go in?' "
She also had another question at the ready, just in case, this one about the president's contention that a 28-year-old wiretapping law known as FISA is out of date, which prompted him to order the National Security Agency to conduct a secret electronic surveillance program that Democrats contend is illegal.
"You keep saying it's a 1978 law, but the Constitution 200 years old. Is that out of date, too?"
Maybe we should send Helen after Osama Bin Laden.
Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry says military is being irrevocably damaged by the wars.
I listened to Rumsfeld's happy talk about how these individuals are exaggerating the situation and that the military is just reorganizing itself to be a more effective fighting force. But I stopped believing that prick a long time ago. Here is some truth for you.
The U.S. military's ground forces are so stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that potential adversaries may be tempted to challenge the United States, a group headed by former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said on Wednesday.
"If the strain is not relieved, it will have highly corrosive and long-term effects on the military," Perry, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, told a Capitol Hill news conference.
"We believe that the Bush administration has broken faith with the American soldier and Marine," the report said, citing poor planning for Iraq stability operations, too few troops there to accomplish the mission at an acceptable level of risk, and inadequate equipment and protection for deployed troops.
The report said these failures caused "a real risk of 'breaking the force.'"
So apparently what we are doing is reorganizing our military into a losing military. And the whole time this is happening our "chimp in charge" is swaggering around with his fingers carressing the butt of his six gun just itching for a showdown.
Hey I understand talking tough in the hopes that nobody will call your bluff! But we have a little thing called the internet. Acting like there is no problem while the world is constantly being made aware that there is a problem is not just bluffing, it is insanity.
The U.S. military's ground forces are so stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that potential adversaries may be tempted to challenge the United States, a group headed by former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said on Wednesday.
"If the strain is not relieved, it will have highly corrosive and long-term effects on the military," Perry, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, told a Capitol Hill news conference.
"We believe that the Bush administration has broken faith with the American soldier and Marine," the report said, citing poor planning for Iraq stability operations, too few troops there to accomplish the mission at an acceptable level of risk, and inadequate equipment and protection for deployed troops.
The report said these failures caused "a real risk of 'breaking the force.'"
So apparently what we are doing is reorganizing our military into a losing military. And the whole time this is happening our "chimp in charge" is swaggering around with his fingers carressing the butt of his six gun just itching for a showdown.
Hey I understand talking tough in the hopes that nobody will call your bluff! But we have a little thing called the internet. Acting like there is no problem while the world is constantly being made aware that there is a problem is not just bluffing, it is insanity.
When terrorists become politicians. Hamas is in the hizzouse!
Hamas' apparent victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections has dramatically shaken up the political landscape of the Middle East, elevating Islamic militants who call for
Israel's destruction and most likely encouraging Israel's go-it-alone approach to Mideast peacemaking.
I have to imagine that Israel is beginning to feel like it is in a giant vice which keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter. The only friend that Israel seems to have left is America. And we are just stretched to the brink militarily.
Personally I don't know why Bush is so hesitant to interact with terrorist regimes. What does he think the rest of the world thinks America is?
By the way all of this is moving us even closer to the next global war. The Crusades are back! Foam fingers and "Crusader" t-shirts will be sold in the lobby!
Israel's destruction and most likely encouraging Israel's go-it-alone approach to Mideast peacemaking.
I have to imagine that Israel is beginning to feel like it is in a giant vice which keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter. The only friend that Israel seems to have left is America. And we are just stretched to the brink militarily.
Personally I don't know why Bush is so hesitant to interact with terrorist regimes. What does he think the rest of the world thinks America is?
By the way all of this is moving us even closer to the next global war. The Crusades are back! Foam fingers and "Crusader" t-shirts will be sold in the lobby!
Pentagon demonstrates cognitive dissonance by refusing to learn anything from the Iraq war.
Iraq "is clearly a one-off," said a Pentagon official who is working on the top-to-bottom study, known as the Quadrennial Defense Review. "There is certainly no intention to do it again."
Really? Have you guys been talking to the fruit loop in the White House? Because that guy acts like he would start another war if somebody just looked at him wrong. This is unbelievably short sighted of these people with so many potential conflicts brewing. There are those who disagree however.
"There is a logical disconnect between the lessons learned from Iraq and the conclusions that we can live with a smaller ground force," said Michele Flournoy, a defense policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former top Pentagon official.
"The Iraq war has been a nonstop embarrassment for the people who believe in military transformation," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based defense think tank.
"Some of the senior policy makers don't want to believe what they're watching on their television sets."
That last statement gives me the mental image of Pentagon members channel surfing trying to find an old World War 2 movie where America won and they can feel good about themselves again.
Really? Have you guys been talking to the fruit loop in the White House? Because that guy acts like he would start another war if somebody just looked at him wrong. This is unbelievably short sighted of these people with so many potential conflicts brewing. There are those who disagree however.
"There is a logical disconnect between the lessons learned from Iraq and the conclusions that we can live with a smaller ground force," said Michele Flournoy, a defense policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former top Pentagon official.
"The Iraq war has been a nonstop embarrassment for the people who believe in military transformation," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based defense think tank.
"Some of the senior policy makers don't want to believe what they're watching on their television sets."
That last statement gives me the mental image of Pentagon members channel surfing trying to find an old World War 2 movie where America won and they can feel good about themselves again.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
The news is filled with Bush screw ups. Time to shuffle the deck and pull out that Terrorist card again.
"I understand there are some in America who say, 'Well this can't be true, there aren't still people willing to attack.' All I would ask them to do is listen to the words of Osama bin Laden and take him seriously," Bush said at the National Security Agency.
"When he says he's going to hurt the American people again or try to, he means it. I take it seriously and the people of NSA take it seriously and most of the American people take it seriously as well," Bush said.
If I might be allowed to interpret this for you gentle readers.
"Look, we are at war! Bin Laden wants to kill us! Therefore I should be allowed to break the law as often as I see fit. And to take away your civil rights just so long as I continue to tell you scary bedtime stories to keep you frightened and docile."
I have no problem believing that Bin Laden would love to pull off another attack here in America. And if he does it will not be because we did not allow King George to run roughshod over our privacy rights. It will be because Bush wasted our military might settling a vendetta with Saddam Hussein instead of running this maniac to the ground and capturing or killing him once and for all.
If we are attacked again the fault lies solely on the shoulders of George W Bush and don't you forget it.
"When he says he's going to hurt the American people again or try to, he means it. I take it seriously and the people of NSA take it seriously and most of the American people take it seriously as well," Bush said.
If I might be allowed to interpret this for you gentle readers.
"Look, we are at war! Bin Laden wants to kill us! Therefore I should be allowed to break the law as often as I see fit. And to take away your civil rights just so long as I continue to tell you scary bedtime stories to keep you frightened and docile."
I have no problem believing that Bin Laden would love to pull off another attack here in America. And if he does it will not be because we did not allow King George to run roughshod over our privacy rights. It will be because Bush wasted our military might settling a vendetta with Saddam Hussein instead of running this maniac to the ground and capturing or killing him once and for all.
If we are attacked again the fault lies solely on the shoulders of George W Bush and don't you forget it.
Christian school + Gay student = Expulsion.
Guinn said he became a Christian two years ago and chose to attend the university last fall because it’s in his hometown, and because he admired the unique bond the administration had with the student body and because, as the son of a faculty member, his tuition would be free. Guinn’s father, Gary M. Guinn, is an English professor and his mother, Mary Ann Guinn, is the campus nurse, he said.
Seems like a delightful young man. Why would the university have any problem with him attending?
The university learned that Guinn was gay last summer from an anonymous e-mail that included a link to Guinn’s online journal on the Xanga Web log community, where Guinn makes his sexual orientation known, he said.
Uh oh! I smell trouble.
Guinn said he was told : not to dress in women’s clothing ; if he participated in sports he could not slap other players on the rear end ; he could not hug or shake hands with other men for too long ; he could not “broadcast” his lifestyle ; he could not tell other students he was gay until he got to know them well.
That is only the tip of the iceberg. There were other rules that the article did not mention.
Seems like a delightful young man. Why would the university have any problem with him attending?
The university learned that Guinn was gay last summer from an anonymous e-mail that included a link to Guinn’s online journal on the Xanga Web log community, where Guinn makes his sexual orientation known, he said.
Uh oh! I smell trouble.
Guinn said he was told : not to dress in women’s clothing ; if he participated in sports he could not slap other players on the rear end ; he could not hug or shake hands with other men for too long ; he could not “broadcast” his lifestyle ; he could not tell other students he was gay until he got to know them well.
That is only the tip of the iceberg. There were other rules that the article did not mention.
- Guinn was not allowed to lean forward and talk directly to student's penises.
- He is not allowed to yell "You go Girl!'" when the football team scores a touchdown.
- He is not allowed to offer fashion tips to the school's male or female students.
- He is not allowed advocate for a "musicals only year in" theatre class.
- He is not allowed to paint his toenails to match his underwear.
Truly Mr. Guinn should not be surprised. Closed minded is what Christian schools are known for. A member of my family has suffered some of this same prejudice. It really pisses me off!
Bush commits to defending Israel against Iran nuclear threat. Another inch closer to World War 3.
George Bush yesterday committed the US to the defence of Israel against threats from Iran, saying he would not allow the world to be "blackmailed" by an Iranian nuclear weapon.
And now we are committed to protecting Israel in the event of a military exchange with Iran. I assume this means that even if Israel fires the first volley that we will be honor bound to rush to their defense. So essentially Israel gets to start the next great battle.
I wonder if our famously media resistant president has bothered to check out the article by Robert Burns. If he did bother to read the article he may come to realize that he is out of ammo. You cannot start a gun fight if your gun is broken.
I am all for defending our Jewish brethren. However if it is up to us to protect them in the event of a military conflict with another country then we should get to decide whether they start that fight or not.
It seems to me (here let me get my tinfoil hat on right) that this is just a way to circumvent Congress, which is very unlikely to allow Bush to invade another country, by having another country do the invading and us just riding to their rescue all innocent like.
"What? I had no idea that the Israelis were gonna go and attack Iran! Well we can't let our friends be defeated now can we?"
By the way, long time readers may remember that I already wrote about this on the 21st of this month, just goes to show that Nostradamus ain't got nothing on me! I wanted to be wrong, why can't I be wrong?
And now we are committed to protecting Israel in the event of a military exchange with Iran. I assume this means that even if Israel fires the first volley that we will be honor bound to rush to their defense. So essentially Israel gets to start the next great battle.
I wonder if our famously media resistant president has bothered to check out the article by Robert Burns. If he did bother to read the article he may come to realize that he is out of ammo. You cannot start a gun fight if your gun is broken.
I am all for defending our Jewish brethren. However if it is up to us to protect them in the event of a military conflict with another country then we should get to decide whether they start that fight or not.
It seems to me (here let me get my tinfoil hat on right) that this is just a way to circumvent Congress, which is very unlikely to allow Bush to invade another country, by having another country do the invading and us just riding to their rescue all innocent like.
"What? I had no idea that the Israelis were gonna go and attack Iran! Well we can't let our friends be defeated now can we?"
By the way, long time readers may remember that I already wrote about this on the 21st of this month, just goes to show that Nostradamus ain't got nothing on me! I wanted to be wrong, why can't I be wrong?
Election fraud in Alaska?
Democrats say that in the 2004 election, many more people voted in House districts than actually live there.
Lisa Murkowski received almost 150,000 votes, and President Bush got almost 200,000, but if calculated district by district, Murkowski would have gotten an extra 80,000 with an additional 100,000 for President Bush.
There really is no hope that Kerry won Alaska, but the senate race was much closer. I was stunned when Murkowski won rather then the very popular ex-governor Tony Knowles. When the campaign began I really believed that Tony would walk away with it.
If the republicans pulled off election fraud on such a grand scale in every state in the union it would be the biggest political crime in history. It would also be the death of the Republican party as we know it. In my current frustrated state I am not sure that would be a bad thing.
Lisa Murkowski received almost 150,000 votes, and President Bush got almost 200,000, but if calculated district by district, Murkowski would have gotten an extra 80,000 with an additional 100,000 for President Bush.
There really is no hope that Kerry won Alaska, but the senate race was much closer. I was stunned when Murkowski won rather then the very popular ex-governor Tony Knowles. When the campaign began I really believed that Tony would walk away with it.
If the republicans pulled off election fraud on such a grand scale in every state in the union it would be the biggest political crime in history. It would also be the death of the Republican party as we know it. In my current frustrated state I am not sure that would be a bad thing.
Two more Alaskans die in Iraq. It just got a little colder here.
The bomb, which detonated Sunday night about 18 miles north of Baghdad, blew apart an armored Humvee with three Elmendorf airmen in it.
Two of the men, Tech. Sgt. Jason L. Norton, 32, and Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, 28, died from their injuries, leaving behind wives and children. The third, who has not been named, was flown to Germany for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries including burns, scrapes and a head wound.
We mourn the passing of two more of our brave soldiers.
Two of the men, Tech. Sgt. Jason L. Norton, 32, and Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, 28, died from their injuries, leaving behind wives and children. The third, who has not been named, was flown to Germany for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries including burns, scrapes and a head wound.
We mourn the passing of two more of our brave soldiers.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Bush broke our Army.
Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump — missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 — and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.
"You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue," he said in an interview.
Wow, I knew this was coming but it is still pretty hard to take in. The greatest military on earth has literally been used up. So what happens now? Do we admit that we bit off more then we could chew? Do we leave the policing of the world to China? England? Who else is there?
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump — missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 — and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.
"You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue," he said in an interview.
Wow, I knew this was coming but it is still pretty hard to take in. The greatest military on earth has literally been used up. So what happens now? Do we admit that we bit off more then we could chew? Do we leave the policing of the world to China? England? Who else is there?
Questions for Daniel C. Dennett. He wrote the book "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.
Q: How could you, as a longtime professor of philosophy at Tufts University, write a book that promotes the idea that religious devotion is a function of biology? Why would you hold a scientist's microscope to something as intangible as belief?
I don't know about you, but I find St. Paul's and St. Peter's pretty physical.
But your new book, "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," is not about cathedrals. It's about religious belief, which cannot be dissected in a lab as if it were a disease.
That itself is a scientific claim, and I think it is false. Belief can be explained in much the way that cancer can. I think the time has come to shed our taboo that says, "Oh, let's just tiptoe by this, we don't have to study this." People think they know a lot about religion. But they don't know.
So what can you tell us about God?
Certainly the idea of a God that can answer prayers and whom you can talk to, and who intervenes in the world - that's a hopeless idea. There is no such thing.
Yet faith, by definition, means believing in something whose existence cannot be proved scientifically. If we knew for sure that God existed, it would not require a leap of faith to believe in him.
Isn't it interesting that you want to take that leap? Why do you want to take that leap? Why does our craving for God persist? It may be that we need it for something. It may be that we don't need it, and it is left over from something that we used to be. There are lots of biological possibilities.
Didn't religion spring up in its earliest forms in connection with the weather, the desire to make sense of rain and lightning?
We have a built-in, very potent hair-trigger tendency to find agency in things that are not agents, like snow falling off the roof.
There was so much infant mortality in the past, which must have played a large role in encouraging people to believe in an afterlife.
When a person dies, we can't just turn that off. We go on thinking about that person as if that person were still alive. Our inability to turn off our people-seer and our people-hearer naturally turns into our hallucinations of ghosts, our sense that they are still with us.
But they are still with us, through the process of memory.
These aren't just memories.
I take it you do not subscribe to the idea of an everlasting soul, which is part of almost every religion.
Ugh. I certainly don't believe in the soul as an enduring entity. Our brains are made of neurons, and nothing else. Nerve cells are very complicated mechanical systems. You take enough of those, and you put them together, and you get a soul.
That strikes me as a very reductive and uninteresting approach to religious feeling.
Love can be studied scientifically, too.
But what's the point of that? Wouldn't it be more worthwhile to spend your time and research money looking for a cure for AIDS?
How about if we study hatred and fear? Don't you think that would be worthwhile?
Traditionally, evolutionary biologists like Stephen Jay Gould insisted on keeping a separation between hard science and less knowable realms like religion.
He was the evolutionist laureate of the U.S., and everybody got their Darwin from Steve. The trouble was he gave a rather biased view of evolution. He called me a Darwinian fundamentalist.
Which I imagine was his idea of a put-down, since he thought evolutionists should not apply their theories to religion.
Churches make a great show about the creed, but they don't really care. A lot of the evangelicals don't really care what you believe as long as you say the right thing and do the right thing and put a lot of money in the collection box.
I take it you are not a churchgoer.
No, not really. Sometimes I go to church for the music.
Yes, the church gave us Bach, in addition to some fairly spectacular architecture and painting.
Churches have given us great treasures. Whether that pays for the harm they have done is another matter.
I don't know about you, but I find St. Paul's and St. Peter's pretty physical.
But your new book, "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," is not about cathedrals. It's about religious belief, which cannot be dissected in a lab as if it were a disease.
That itself is a scientific claim, and I think it is false. Belief can be explained in much the way that cancer can. I think the time has come to shed our taboo that says, "Oh, let's just tiptoe by this, we don't have to study this." People think they know a lot about religion. But they don't know.
So what can you tell us about God?
Certainly the idea of a God that can answer prayers and whom you can talk to, and who intervenes in the world - that's a hopeless idea. There is no such thing.
Yet faith, by definition, means believing in something whose existence cannot be proved scientifically. If we knew for sure that God existed, it would not require a leap of faith to believe in him.
Isn't it interesting that you want to take that leap? Why do you want to take that leap? Why does our craving for God persist? It may be that we need it for something. It may be that we don't need it, and it is left over from something that we used to be. There are lots of biological possibilities.
Didn't religion spring up in its earliest forms in connection with the weather, the desire to make sense of rain and lightning?
We have a built-in, very potent hair-trigger tendency to find agency in things that are not agents, like snow falling off the roof.
There was so much infant mortality in the past, which must have played a large role in encouraging people to believe in an afterlife.
When a person dies, we can't just turn that off. We go on thinking about that person as if that person were still alive. Our inability to turn off our people-seer and our people-hearer naturally turns into our hallucinations of ghosts, our sense that they are still with us.
But they are still with us, through the process of memory.
These aren't just memories.
I take it you do not subscribe to the idea of an everlasting soul, which is part of almost every religion.
Ugh. I certainly don't believe in the soul as an enduring entity. Our brains are made of neurons, and nothing else. Nerve cells are very complicated mechanical systems. You take enough of those, and you put them together, and you get a soul.
That strikes me as a very reductive and uninteresting approach to religious feeling.
Love can be studied scientifically, too.
But what's the point of that? Wouldn't it be more worthwhile to spend your time and research money looking for a cure for AIDS?
How about if we study hatred and fear? Don't you think that would be worthwhile?
Traditionally, evolutionary biologists like Stephen Jay Gould insisted on keeping a separation between hard science and less knowable realms like religion.
He was the evolutionist laureate of the U.S., and everybody got their Darwin from Steve. The trouble was he gave a rather biased view of evolution. He called me a Darwinian fundamentalist.
Which I imagine was his idea of a put-down, since he thought evolutionists should not apply their theories to religion.
Churches make a great show about the creed, but they don't really care. A lot of the evangelicals don't really care what you believe as long as you say the right thing and do the right thing and put a lot of money in the collection box.
I take it you are not a churchgoer.
No, not really. Sometimes I go to church for the music.
Yes, the church gave us Bach, in addition to some fairly spectacular architecture and painting.
Churches have given us great treasures. Whether that pays for the harm they have done is another matter.
This is why I advocate gun control laws.
A 7-year-old girl was shot in the arm at a day-care center Tuesday after a 8-year-old classmate brought in his father's gun and it accidentally went off, police said.
The father was arrested on gun charges.
I am all for responsible people owning weapons so long as they take the privilege very seriously. The owners of the weapons should be responsible for whatever damage or death is caused by their weapon even if it is stolen.
Just like the owner of a dog who bites somebody, gun owners should be legally responsible for any harm that their weapon of destruction causes. After all the gun would not be available unless the owners were negligent in some way. If it is stolen then the owner should be obligated to report the robbery within 24 hours. This would absolve them of some of the blame unless it could be demonstrated that they did not store their weapons in a safe manner. And if they are found to have been negligent then they should be forbidden from owning any other weapons.
If a driver is caught driving drunk he loses his license and his car is impounded. It seems like this is the least that should be asked of somebody whose gun is used to cause harm.
I am sure my fellow Alaskans would agree with me. (Okay I made that last part up.)
The father was arrested on gun charges.
I am all for responsible people owning weapons so long as they take the privilege very seriously. The owners of the weapons should be responsible for whatever damage or death is caused by their weapon even if it is stolen.
Just like the owner of a dog who bites somebody, gun owners should be legally responsible for any harm that their weapon of destruction causes. After all the gun would not be available unless the owners were negligent in some way. If it is stolen then the owner should be obligated to report the robbery within 24 hours. This would absolve them of some of the blame unless it could be demonstrated that they did not store their weapons in a safe manner. And if they are found to have been negligent then they should be forbidden from owning any other weapons.
If a driver is caught driving drunk he loses his license and his car is impounded. It seems like this is the least that should be asked of somebody whose gun is used to cause harm.
I am sure my fellow Alaskans would agree with me. (Okay I made that last part up.)
More trouble with the Saddam Hussein Trial.
In the latest delay involving the Saddam Hussein trial, Tuesday's court session was postponed five days because a number of witnesses were not able to attend, a court official told CNN.
The court said some witnesses had been abroad attending the Hajj, the annual Muslim holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that ended earlier this month.
This is the latest delay in a case that has had just a handful of full trial days since the proceedings began three months ago.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey, a member of Hussein's defense team, told CNN he believed the delay actually was "because the judges couldn't agree on what to do, because they put in new political people, because there's pressure on them."
I hate to say I told you so but, you know, I kind of did!
By the way I still say that Saddam will not be convicted of any serious crimes. And he may very well walk. I actually hope I am wrong about this!
The court said some witnesses had been abroad attending the Hajj, the annual Muslim holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that ended earlier this month.
This is the latest delay in a case that has had just a handful of full trial days since the proceedings began three months ago.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey, a member of Hussein's defense team, told CNN he believed the delay actually was "because the judges couldn't agree on what to do, because they put in new political people, because there's pressure on them."
I hate to say I told you so but, you know, I kind of did!
By the way I still say that Saddam will not be convicted of any serious crimes. And he may very well walk. I actually hope I am wrong about this!
White House braces itself for Impeachment hearings.
Administration sources said the charges are expected to include false reports to Congress as well as Mr. Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance inside the United States without a court warrant. This included the monitoring of overseas telephone calls and e-mail traffic to and from people living in the United States without requisite permission from a secret court.
Sources said the probe to determine whether the president violated the law will include Republicans, but that they may not be aware they could be helping to lay the groundwork for a Democratic impeachment campaign against Mr. Bush.
"Our arithmetic shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president," the source said. "If we work hard, there could be a tie."
Okay I am a little shocked! I have been hearing for weeks that the idea of impeachment is just a Liberal pipe dream and that it will never happen. However if this article is correct that is just the perception that the Republicans are trying to put forth while all of the time secretly fearing that it might actually come to fruition.
Well color me excited! I believe that the evidence for impeachment is readily available and that if the Democrats can convince the American people just how badly their trust has been abused that this entire administration will find itself getting the bums rush out of the White House door.
This will be a groundbreaking development that may change American politics forever.
And before the Republicans get their tits in an uproar they would do well to remember how low they set the bar for impeachment when they impeached Bill Clinton!
Sources said the probe to determine whether the president violated the law will include Republicans, but that they may not be aware they could be helping to lay the groundwork for a Democratic impeachment campaign against Mr. Bush.
"Our arithmetic shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president," the source said. "If we work hard, there could be a tie."
Okay I am a little shocked! I have been hearing for weeks that the idea of impeachment is just a Liberal pipe dream and that it will never happen. However if this article is correct that is just the perception that the Republicans are trying to put forth while all of the time secretly fearing that it might actually come to fruition.
Well color me excited! I believe that the evidence for impeachment is readily available and that if the Democrats can convince the American people just how badly their trust has been abused that this entire administration will find itself getting the bums rush out of the White House door.
This will be a groundbreaking development that may change American politics forever.
And before the Republicans get their tits in an uproar they would do well to remember how low they set the bar for impeachment when they impeached Bill Clinton!
Drew Barrymore gets caught having sex in Opera house bathroom. Classy huh?
Rocker Fabrizio Moretti and girlfriend Drew Barrymore were left red-faced recently when they were caught having sex in the bathroom at a New York opera house.The Strokes drummer, 25, and Charlie's Angels star Barrymore, 30, decided to find another way to entertain themselves after becoming bored watching the show.
Moretti tells Jane magazine, "I had sex in the bathroom at the opera a little while ago, in New York.
"We went to La Boheme and it was wicked boring. So we decided to go to the bathroom, and we got caught, and it was embarrassing."
"If we'd gone to the men's room, people would've heard it and said, 'Good on you, man.'"
"But we were in the ladies' room, and when we heard an old woman start to tinkle, we couldn't help but crack up."
"I guess she told the security guy - he came in and was, like, 'Just go.'"
Drew just moved up to the top of my list of ex-child star that I want to bang.
Actually I don't have an official list like that so I will have to start one and her name will be the only one on it.
At least it was in an Opera house. That classes it up a little bit. It's not like she is throwing down in a strip club bathroom. Because that would be just nasty!
It would still make me want to bang her though.
John McCain says that Bush wiretaps were illegal.
Today on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Bush’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program is illegal:
WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.
MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it.
Oh look! He said it on FOX "Unfair and unbalanced" News. That must have closed up a bunch of sphincters!
Bring on the hearings!
WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.
MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it.
Oh look! He said it on FOX "Unfair and unbalanced" News. That must have closed up a bunch of sphincters!
Bring on the hearings!
Have you ever been jealous of your car?
Okay now if you are at work you need to be careful. There is no nudity or inappropriate sounds it is just not something that you want somebody to watch over your shoulder.
By the way I think that it is an advertisement for glasses.
By the way I think that it is an advertisement for glasses.
Finally! The perfect gift for the perverted guy who has everything!
Sorry. I had a tough weekend, I need to let off a little steam.
Besides it cracked me up!
Besides it cracked me up!
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Top Ten George W. Bush moments caught on video.
This is brought to us by the fine folks at The David Letterman Show.
Very, very funny stuff.
Very, very funny stuff.
Hardball's Chris Matthews tied to Jack Abramoff.
So we have a sleazy lobbyist in bed with a lot of sleazy politicians, all of which are from the GOP. They use a fake charity to provide themselves with junkets around the world such as golfing at St. Andrews in Scotland. This is where Chris Matthews comes in. On March 5, 2003, Matthews helped put on a charity event for the purpose of raising $300,000 for the Capital Athletic Foundation. According to sourcewatch.com:“Fox News Channel's Tony Snow is master of ceremonies, and Fox's Brit Hume and MSNBC's Chris Matthews are aboard. Opera great Placido Domingo is an event committee member. But, this being Washington, the event will be mostly populated by powerful lawmakers, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.”
As The Daily Kos correctly points out, there are two problems with Matthews’ involvement. The first is what in the world is Chris Matthews doing cavorting with Jack Abramoff and helping him generate money into his fake charity? The second problem and more unseemly, is what is Matthews doing at such a blatantly partisan event? A man who plays the role of impartial journalist is now exposed as being a darling of the Republican Party? Certainly no one would be surprised at Tony Snow’s involvement, since he works for Fox News, but Chris Matthews?
Oh shit! I used to love Chris Matthews until I started noticing him devolving into a barely concealed partisan attack dog for the Bush administration. This, however, is a complete surprise. I have been able to stomach Mr. Matthews for a few minutes when he has topics on that I am interested in and I know that he has been very wishy washy about the Abramoff scandal. At one point he asked if this is not just politics as usual. Now his ambiguity is completely understandable. Chris needs to close up shop immediately! His journalistic integrity has ceased to exist.
Maybe he can do a show with Robert Novack over at FOX. I believe that is where all journalists who drink the administration Kool-aid eventually end up.
FOX News! We don't even pretend to be impartial anymore!
In Russia there are rocks that spy. I am not kidding!
Russia's internal security service has accused four British Embassy employees of conducting a high-tech spying operation that included using an "advanced electronic spy gadget" in a fake rock, news agencies reported."An electronic cache from the British intelligence service was seized by counterintelligence," Interfax quoted Federal Security Service (FSB) chief spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko as saying Monday.
Interfax reported that the FSB had found the "spy gadget" installed inside the fake rock and that the British agents used it to reach their Russian contacts.
I am not a fan of spying on our allies. But I have to say that this stuff is so cool!
Why are American troops killing Iraqi soldiers?
U.S. troops opened fire at civilian cars Saturday night in Baiji town, some 200 km north of Baghdad, killing three people, who turned out to be U.S.-trained Iraqi army soldiers, a source from the Iraqi-US liaison office in Tikrit told Xinhua on Sunday.
"The Multi National force opened fire last night at four civilian cars travelling on the main road between Tikrit and Baiji, setting fire to all the cars," the source from the Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit said.
The U. S. shoot-out killed three people and wounded four others and the U.S. soldiers detained six other people, who turned out to be Iraqi soldiers travelling to their base in Samarra in the south of the country, the source said.
He said the Iraqi soldiers' cars were surprised by a U.S. military convoy travelling wrongly on their side of the two-side road and opened fire. Enditem
This seems somewhat counter intuitive. How are we ever going to be able to bring our troops home if we kill our replacements?
I just noticed that this article came from a Chinese newspaper. They seem to be paying very close attention to our Iraq situation. I am sure they are learning a lot about our capabilities and our weaknesses.
"The Multi National force opened fire last night at four civilian cars travelling on the main road between Tikrit and Baiji, setting fire to all the cars," the source from the Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit said.
The U. S. shoot-out killed three people and wounded four others and the U.S. soldiers detained six other people, who turned out to be Iraqi soldiers travelling to their base in Samarra in the south of the country, the source said.
He said the Iraqi soldiers' cars were surprised by a U.S. military convoy travelling wrongly on their side of the two-side road and opened fire. Enditem
This seems somewhat counter intuitive. How are we ever going to be able to bring our troops home if we kill our replacements?
I just noticed that this article came from a Chinese newspaper. They seem to be paying very close attention to our Iraq situation. I am sure they are learning a lot about our capabilities and our weaknesses.
Somebody's lying! Pakistan PM calls CIA claims about missile strike "bizarre".
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday ridiculed as "bizarre" a U.S. report that senior al Qaeda leaders were killed in a CIA attack on a home along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
"There is no evidence, as of half an hour ago, that there were any other people there," Aziz said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"The area does see movement of people from across the border. But we have not found one body or one shred of evidence that these people were there."
Okay what the hell is going on here? Are the Pakistanis lying? Is the CIA?
Why would either group lie? Are the Pakistanis protecting Al-Qaeda? And if they are then can we consider them our allies in the war on terror?
Or is the CIA lying? And are they doing that to cover this colossal mistake?
I have no idea who is being truthful here.
"There is no evidence, as of half an hour ago, that there were any other people there," Aziz said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"The area does see movement of people from across the border. But we have not found one body or one shred of evidence that these people were there."
Okay what the hell is going on here? Are the Pakistanis lying? Is the CIA?
Why would either group lie? Are the Pakistanis protecting Al-Qaeda? And if they are then can we consider them our allies in the war on terror?
Or is the CIA lying? And are they doing that to cover this colossal mistake?
I have no idea who is being truthful here.
George Bush recommends a book of his own, "Mao: The Unknown Story". Suck it Osama and Oprah!
"The book certainly makes an effective case for the wickedness of dictatorship," said Andrew Nathan, a specialist in Chinese politics at Columbia University. "It doesn't talk about democracy, but for a person who believes in democracy, this is a valuable brief."
Nathan, who criticized what he called the authors' vague and inaccessible sourcing last year in The London Review of Books, said the biography presented Mao as a "comic-book monster," with little explanation of the psychological, sociological and historical forces that allowed him to rise.
He also said he was skeptical that the book would help in understanding China's current leadership.
"Today's Communist Party is a highly developed bureaucracy like IBM or General Motors," Nathan said. "It's not the Communist Party of Mao's time."
"The book makes an effective case for the wickedness of dictatorship".
It seems to me that Bush is completely immune to irony. Here is a president who has made the most naked grab for power in this country since "Tricky Dick" and he feels free to harshly judge the power grabs of his fellow dictators.
Cue Alanis Morrisette music.
Nathan, who criticized what he called the authors' vague and inaccessible sourcing last year in The London Review of Books, said the biography presented Mao as a "comic-book monster," with little explanation of the psychological, sociological and historical forces that allowed him to rise.
He also said he was skeptical that the book would help in understanding China's current leadership.
"Today's Communist Party is a highly developed bureaucracy like IBM or General Motors," Nathan said. "It's not the Communist Party of Mao's time."
"The book makes an effective case for the wickedness of dictatorship".
It seems to me that Bush is completely immune to irony. Here is a president who has made the most naked grab for power in this country since "Tricky Dick" and he feels free to harshly judge the power grabs of his fellow dictators.
Cue Alanis Morrisette music.
Halliburton poisons troops in Iraq with contaminated water.
WASHINGTON Halliburton employees say they told the defense contractor that contaminated water was being used by U-S troops and civilians at a U-S military base in Iraq.
But the employees say they couldn't get Halliburton to inform camp residents of the problem.
The contaminated water came to light in internal company documents The Associated Press obtained from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry tomorrow.
One of the memos was written by the official for Halliburton's K-B-R subsidiary, which was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait. He writes -- quote -- "we exposed a base camp population to a water source that was not treated."
Bottled water was used for drinking, but a water expert says the tainted water was used for everything else, including making coffee. Someone who worked at the base in Ramadi says he was among many people who got sick.
A Halliburton spokeswoman says the company did not find any contaminated water nor medical evidence of illnesses.
Just more evidence that America hates the troops.
But the employees say they couldn't get Halliburton to inform camp residents of the problem.
The contaminated water came to light in internal company documents The Associated Press obtained from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry tomorrow.
One of the memos was written by the official for Halliburton's K-B-R subsidiary, which was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait. He writes -- quote -- "we exposed a base camp population to a water source that was not treated."
Bottled water was used for drinking, but a water expert says the tainted water was used for everything else, including making coffee. Someone who worked at the base in Ramadi says he was among many people who got sick.
A Halliburton spokeswoman says the company did not find any contaminated water nor medical evidence of illnesses.
Just more evidence that America hates the troops.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
The good news from the Islamic world just keeps rolling in.
Sympathy for al-Qaida has surged after a U.S. airstrike devastated this remote mountain hamlet in a region sometimes as hostile toward the Pakistani government as it is to the United States.
A week after the attack, villagers insist no members of the terror network were anywhere near the border village when it was hit. But thousands of protesters flooded a nearby town chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden"
"This attack has increased our hatred for Americans because they are killing innocent women and children," said Zakir Ullah, one of 5,000 demonstrators in Inayat Qala, a market town about three miles from Damadola.
"We support jihad (holy war). Jihad is the duty of every Muslim," he said.
Have I mentioned lately what a fine job we are doing in this whole war against terror thing?
A week after the attack, villagers insist no members of the terror network were anywhere near the border village when it was hit. But thousands of protesters flooded a nearby town chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden"
"This attack has increased our hatred for Americans because they are killing innocent women and children," said Zakir Ullah, one of 5,000 demonstrators in Inayat Qala, a market town about three miles from Damadola.
"We support jihad (holy war). Jihad is the duty of every Muslim," he said.
Have I mentioned lately what a fine job we are doing in this whole war against terror thing?
Palestinian president agrees with me.
Hey remember that post from yesterday? The one where I talked about this great battle brewing between the Islamic world and the rest of the world? Well though I kind of hoped I was a little off in left field, apparently I have some company out here now.
President Ahmadinejad said Friday Palestine is the center of the final stages of the battle between Islam and arrogance, saying the Palestinian Intifada is progressing.
The plots hatched by enemies against Palestine should not be overlooked even for a moment, Ahmadinejad noted in a meeting with leaders of the Palestinian resistance movements in Damascus, Syria.
You know I would really like to be wrong about some of this stuff occasionally. But just my luck I am right about the really scary stuff!
President Ahmadinejad said Friday Palestine is the center of the final stages of the battle between Islam and arrogance, saying the Palestinian Intifada is progressing.
The plots hatched by enemies against Palestine should not be overlooked even for a moment, Ahmadinejad noted in a meeting with leaders of the Palestinian resistance movements in Damascus, Syria.
You know I would really like to be wrong about some of this stuff occasionally. But just my luck I am right about the really scary stuff!
An angry Marine posts on Craigslist.
Berger, you were the best man, you shouldn't have died like that. Kerns, you were a funny dude. I am sorry I couldn’t see you buried, or have the courage to write your Mom and Dad about what nice guy you were. Murphy, why would you sign up for that shit! Your kids will never get to know what an awesome guy you were.
I am in tears I am so frustrated. I wish you were still around, but I won't die like you. I won’t be some number on CNN's death 'o meter. I won’t contribute to this madness of telling the Wing we can do it when we are so far on our ass we can’t see the light of day. You Generals are fucking cowards. You know it’s broke, but you won’t say no will you. I did my part, and that's all I can do. Fuck you Marine Corps. I am not the only one that feels this way. Let's see where your retention is when the planes are so broke dick nobody can fly them, no matter how many rules you break to keep them up. Fuck You!
I am speechless.
Hat tip to This Century Sucks!
I am in tears I am so frustrated. I wish you were still around, but I won't die like you. I won’t be some number on CNN's death 'o meter. I won’t contribute to this madness of telling the Wing we can do it when we are so far on our ass we can’t see the light of day. You Generals are fucking cowards. You know it’s broke, but you won’t say no will you. I did my part, and that's all I can do. Fuck you Marine Corps. I am not the only one that feels this way. Let's see where your retention is when the planes are so broke dick nobody can fly them, no matter how many rules you break to keep them up. Fuck You!
I am speechless.
Hat tip to This Century Sucks!
Alaska continues its metamorphosis into becoming just like Texas.
Supporters say the legislation gives people more freedom to protect themselves and would act as a deterrent to crime.
Critics say it hands power that should remain with police and courts to the people, and that the measure fosters violence.
I am shocked! Yeah I am shocked that we don't already have this law on our books!
I have never known Alaskans to be hesitant to open fire when they feel threatened. Hell people get shot here all of the time. Especially in the winter. Either we kill others or we turn the gun on ourselves. It is a state tradition.
Now in the old days you had to actually do something before somebody filled you full of lead. You know like steal your woman, or jump your claim, or drink one of your beers. You know, important stuff!
Now days people shoot each other for any old reason. I don't think it is a good idea to give these Yahoos permission to kill for every minor infraction.
By the way I hate guns! Just another reason why I don't exactly fit in with my fellow Alaskans. Actually I am allergic. Guns cause these little bleeding sores to appear on my body whenever anybody fires one at me. I just hate that!
Critics say it hands power that should remain with police and courts to the people, and that the measure fosters violence.
I am shocked! Yeah I am shocked that we don't already have this law on our books!
I have never known Alaskans to be hesitant to open fire when they feel threatened. Hell people get shot here all of the time. Especially in the winter. Either we kill others or we turn the gun on ourselves. It is a state tradition.
Now in the old days you had to actually do something before somebody filled you full of lead. You know like steal your woman, or jump your claim, or drink one of your beers. You know, important stuff!
Now days people shoot each other for any old reason. I don't think it is a good idea to give these Yahoos permission to kill for every minor infraction.
By the way I hate guns! Just another reason why I don't exactly fit in with my fellow Alaskans. Actually I am allergic. Guns cause these little bleeding sores to appear on my body whenever anybody fires one at me. I just hate that!
The Presidency that Osama Bin Laden built.
When the question of why there is evil in the world is asked of Christian clergymen they often reply that it is the work of Satan. They then talk about a great struggle for our souls between the agents of darkness and the Lord.
When people talk about terrorism they often talk about he agents of terror and their desire to destroy our way of life. They then talk about the great struggle between the agents of Al-Qaeda and our president, George W. Bush.
It is as if without the threat of terrorism there is no need for George Bush.
Do any of us remember what kind of president Bush was before 9-11? Or are you like me and did not really notice him until he stood on the rubble and told us we were going to find these criminals and bring them to justice? That is when he entered my field of vision. And I believed him. I needed him to say that. But those were just words.
George Bush would love to go down in history as the man who finally fought terrorism. Not defeated it. Just the man who fought it. After all, as many in his administration will admit, you cannot really defeat terrorism. Or can you?
CIA field commander Gary Berntsen claims that he had Bin Laden contained at Tora Bora. He further claims that the U.S. commanders just let him slip away. Why would they do that? That was in December 2001. That was just three months after we were attacked on September 11th, 2001. Could we have ended this war on terror in three months? And if we could why did we not do it?
On December 2001 the number of terrorists loyal to Bin Laden was probably in the hundreds. They were a splinter group of angry Muslims that hated America for interfering in the affairs of their country and for supporting Israel. If we had captured or killed Bin Laden in 2001 we may have greatly curtailed the growth of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic world.
After letting Bin Laden escape America invaded Iraq. The reason given was that they had "Weapons of Mass Destruction", and that they represented a very real threat to America. After defeating the small resistance, our forces stuck around and attempted to create a new democracy. As we are now aware many of the Iraqis took umbrage with our interference and joined an insurgency. Now Iraq is a breeding ground for for a whole new generation of terrorists who hate America. We know that the number of Al-Qaeda has grown exponentially. We now face possibly thousands of enemies determined to cause us harm.
Our president's response to this is to continue to grab power here in the United States and conduct business as usual overseas. He seems incapable of learning from his mistakes and is constantly caught screwing up or abusing his power. But everytime he stumbles the media reminds us of the terror threat. We are reminded that we are at war. That we are in danger.
Do you remember when the terror alert seemed to go up every time there was a negative story about the administratin on the airwaves? It was not until late night comedians started making jokes about it that it came to a sudden stop. And it did stop suddenly didn't it? Why would it stop suddenly? Did the number of threats diminish? Or were all of those threats pure bullshit? Did any of them amount to anything? No!
And where are the alerts after Bin Laden released his most recent tape? In the tape Bin Laden makes very direct threats against our country. Yet there are no alerts. None.
Does George Bush need another attack in this country to shore up his support? Is he that desperate? That heartless? I do not want to believe that.
George Bush needs Osama Bin Laden. Without Osama, Bush is a failed president. He has stumbled at every opportunity. He has come up short on every challenge. The only success he can point to is the war on terror. Of course we know that that probably has been his biggest failure. He attacked the wrong country. Appointed unqualified individuals to run FEMA and The Department of Homeland Security. He has stomped on the law in a desperate attempt to gather information. He has angered our allies and caused them to pull away from us after such an incredible outpouring of support after 9-11. Without Bin Laden to keep us scared Bush has nothing.
So do we now understand why we could not capture Bin Laden four years ago? What do you think?
When people talk about terrorism they often talk about he agents of terror and their desire to destroy our way of life. They then talk about the great struggle between the agents of Al-Qaeda and our president, George W. Bush.
It is as if without the threat of terrorism there is no need for George Bush.
Do any of us remember what kind of president Bush was before 9-11? Or are you like me and did not really notice him until he stood on the rubble and told us we were going to find these criminals and bring them to justice? That is when he entered my field of vision. And I believed him. I needed him to say that. But those were just words.
George Bush would love to go down in history as the man who finally fought terrorism. Not defeated it. Just the man who fought it. After all, as many in his administration will admit, you cannot really defeat terrorism. Or can you?
CIA field commander Gary Berntsen claims that he had Bin Laden contained at Tora Bora. He further claims that the U.S. commanders just let him slip away. Why would they do that? That was in December 2001. That was just three months after we were attacked on September 11th, 2001. Could we have ended this war on terror in three months? And if we could why did we not do it?
On December 2001 the number of terrorists loyal to Bin Laden was probably in the hundreds. They were a splinter group of angry Muslims that hated America for interfering in the affairs of their country and for supporting Israel. If we had captured or killed Bin Laden in 2001 we may have greatly curtailed the growth of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic world.
After letting Bin Laden escape America invaded Iraq. The reason given was that they had "Weapons of Mass Destruction", and that they represented a very real threat to America. After defeating the small resistance, our forces stuck around and attempted to create a new democracy. As we are now aware many of the Iraqis took umbrage with our interference and joined an insurgency. Now Iraq is a breeding ground for for a whole new generation of terrorists who hate America. We know that the number of Al-Qaeda has grown exponentially. We now face possibly thousands of enemies determined to cause us harm.
Our president's response to this is to continue to grab power here in the United States and conduct business as usual overseas. He seems incapable of learning from his mistakes and is constantly caught screwing up or abusing his power. But everytime he stumbles the media reminds us of the terror threat. We are reminded that we are at war. That we are in danger.
Do you remember when the terror alert seemed to go up every time there was a negative story about the administratin on the airwaves? It was not until late night comedians started making jokes about it that it came to a sudden stop. And it did stop suddenly didn't it? Why would it stop suddenly? Did the number of threats diminish? Or were all of those threats pure bullshit? Did any of them amount to anything? No!
And where are the alerts after Bin Laden released his most recent tape? In the tape Bin Laden makes very direct threats against our country. Yet there are no alerts. None.
Does George Bush need another attack in this country to shore up his support? Is he that desperate? That heartless? I do not want to believe that.
George Bush needs Osama Bin Laden. Without Osama, Bush is a failed president. He has stumbled at every opportunity. He has come up short on every challenge. The only success he can point to is the war on terror. Of course we know that that probably has been his biggest failure. He attacked the wrong country. Appointed unqualified individuals to run FEMA and The Department of Homeland Security. He has stomped on the law in a desperate attempt to gather information. He has angered our allies and caused them to pull away from us after such an incredible outpouring of support after 9-11. Without Bin Laden to keep us scared Bush has nothing.
So do we now understand why we could not capture Bin Laden four years ago? What do you think?
U.S. Accused of spying on those who disagree with Bush administration.
Richard Hersh, of Boca Raton, Fla., director of Truth Project Inc. of Palm Beach County, told an ad hoc panel of House Democrats that his group and others in South Florida have been infiltrated and spied upon despite having no connections to terrorists.
"Agents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed Web sites and listened in on phone conversations," Hersh charged. "We know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared."
The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported last month that it was described as a "credible threat" in a database of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon's Talon program. The listing cited the group's gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military recruitment at high schools.
Gee look another Bush lie is exposed! How many is that? Is anybody keeping track?
I can't help but wonder how much money was spent on keeping tabs on these American citizens, and how many man hours were used to sift through their garbage and invade their home computers. How could those resources have been put to better use to keep our country safe from the enemy?
George Bush uses our intelligence resources and our military as his own personal army to do with as he sees fit. Somebody needs to sit his ass down and slowly explain the difference between a President and a King. Where is his father?
"Agents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed Web sites and listened in on phone conversations," Hersh charged. "We know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared."
The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported last month that it was described as a "credible threat" in a database of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon's Talon program. The listing cited the group's gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military recruitment at high schools.
Gee look another Bush lie is exposed! How many is that? Is anybody keeping track?
I can't help but wonder how much money was spent on keeping tabs on these American citizens, and how many man hours were used to sift through their garbage and invade their home computers. How could those resources have been put to better use to keep our country safe from the enemy?
George Bush uses our intelligence resources and our military as his own personal army to do with as he sees fit. Somebody needs to sit his ass down and slowly explain the difference between a President and a King. Where is his father?
NO HEAT!
It is 13 degrees outside and there is no heat in my house!
Update: Called the furnace guy, he will be here in an hour or less.
Up-update: Heat back on! $216.00 dollars! Well I am warm again so it was worth it.
Alaska is just not the place to have the furnace go on the fritz! No sir!
Update: Called the furnace guy, he will be here in an hour or less.
Up-update: Heat back on! $216.00 dollars! Well I am warm again so it was worth it.
Alaska is just not the place to have the furnace go on the fritz! No sir!
Democrats warn that some in Bush administration may face jail time.
House Democrats warned President Bush, top leaders of his administration and officials of the National Security Agency on Friday that if the political climate changes they could face criminal prosecution for ordering and carrying out warrantless domestic eavesdropping.
"These are clearly crimes and the statute of limitations extends beyond this president's term,'' which will end in January 2009, said Rep. Jerry Nadler D-N.Y., at an ad hoc hearing called by House Judiciary Committee's Democrats to assail Bush's contention that his order for warrantless domestic wiretaps on American citizens is legal.
Okay I know you can't see it, and I am equally sure you don't want to, but my nipples are very erect right now! Members of the Bush administration going to jail? It is all I ever hoped for, and more!
"These are clearly crimes and the statute of limitations extends beyond this president's term,'' which will end in January 2009, said Rep. Jerry Nadler D-N.Y., at an ad hoc hearing called by House Judiciary Committee's Democrats to assail Bush's contention that his order for warrantless domestic wiretaps on American citizens is legal.
Okay I know you can't see it, and I am equally sure you don't want to, but my nipples are very erect right now! Members of the Bush administration going to jail? It is all I ever hoped for, and more!
George Bush has borrowed more money from other countries then all 42 presidents before him combined!
President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined, a group of conservative to moderate Democrats said Friday.
Blue Dog Coalition, which describes itself as a group "focused on fiscal responsibility," called the administration's borrowing practices "astounding."
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.
Where is the personal responsibility from this President? This debt will be passed on to our children and their children. George Bush does not have to pay this money back! My grandchildren will be making good on his spending spree!
George Bush is unfit for every part of the job of President! He cannot handle money! He cannot handle diplomacy! He cannot deal with natural disasters! He cannot lead this country!
The lesson for us is to hold our leaders to a higher standard.
No more sound bites!
No more folksy, good old boy bullshit!
No more personal attacks on their opponents!
No more special interest group backed candidates!
No more politics as usual!
We owe our children so much more then this! Don't let yourselves be scared into voting for the guy who puffs up his chest and plays the tough guy. We need the guy that may appear quiet but knows when to use the big stick or when to use quiet diplomacy. We need the guy who says what he believes and not what his focus group says we want to hear. We need the guy who feels our pain and not just in front of the cameras. We need the guy who appoints competent individuals to the most important offices in the land. We need a real President!
Blue Dog Coalition, which describes itself as a group "focused on fiscal responsibility," called the administration's borrowing practices "astounding."
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.
Where is the personal responsibility from this President? This debt will be passed on to our children and their children. George Bush does not have to pay this money back! My grandchildren will be making good on his spending spree!
George Bush is unfit for every part of the job of President! He cannot handle money! He cannot handle diplomacy! He cannot deal with natural disasters! He cannot lead this country!
The lesson for us is to hold our leaders to a higher standard.
No more sound bites!
No more folksy, good old boy bullshit!
No more personal attacks on their opponents!
No more special interest group backed candidates!
No more politics as usual!
We owe our children so much more then this! Don't let yourselves be scared into voting for the guy who puffs up his chest and plays the tough guy. We need the guy that may appear quiet but knows when to use the big stick or when to use quiet diplomacy. We need the guy who says what he believes and not what his focus group says we want to hear. We need the guy who feels our pain and not just in front of the cameras. We need the guy who appoints competent individuals to the most important offices in the land. We need a real President!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
There are at least five pictures of Bush with Abramoff!
White House press secretary Scott McClellan admits that the White House has been on a search mission for any photos showing President Bush with toxic lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is cooperating with the Justice Department on its investigation of a wide-ranging lobbying scandal.
At a press conference, McClellan said if there were pictures, which officials hadn’t found, they might have been taken at a Christmas-party line, where the President poses with hundreds of people. “The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him,” McClellan said.
The comment about searching raised images in the press room of a “White House plumbers” operation looking for incriminating photos.
If the White House can’t find the photos, prosecutors already know where to look. The Washingtonian has seen five photos of the President with Abramoff or his family. One photo shows the President and Abramoff shaking hands at a meeting in the Old Executive Office Building, where a bearded-Abramoff introduced Bush to several of the lobbyist’s native-American clients.
Abramoff was named a “pioneer” in the Bush presidential campaign, collecting more than $100,000, in $2,000 maximum increments, for his campaign in 2004. Bush has returned $6,000 of Abramoff’s contributions, the part that would represent the legal limit for Abramoff; his wife, Pam; and a client.
Sources say the photographs are being kept safe. Abramoff would tell prosecutors, if asked, that not only did he know the President, but the President knew the names of Abramoff’s children and asked about them during their meetings. At one such photo session, Bush discussed the fact that both he and Abramoff were fathers of twins.
When I get access to these pictures rest assured they will be plastered all over this blog.
He knows the names of Abramoff's kids! That is not just a passing acquaintance!
At a press conference, McClellan said if there were pictures, which officials hadn’t found, they might have been taken at a Christmas-party line, where the President poses with hundreds of people. “The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him,” McClellan said.
The comment about searching raised images in the press room of a “White House plumbers” operation looking for incriminating photos.
If the White House can’t find the photos, prosecutors already know where to look. The Washingtonian has seen five photos of the President with Abramoff or his family. One photo shows the President and Abramoff shaking hands at a meeting in the Old Executive Office Building, where a bearded-Abramoff introduced Bush to several of the lobbyist’s native-American clients.
Abramoff was named a “pioneer” in the Bush presidential campaign, collecting more than $100,000, in $2,000 maximum increments, for his campaign in 2004. Bush has returned $6,000 of Abramoff’s contributions, the part that would represent the legal limit for Abramoff; his wife, Pam; and a client.
Sources say the photographs are being kept safe. Abramoff would tell prosecutors, if asked, that not only did he know the President, but the President knew the names of Abramoff’s children and asked about them during their meetings. At one such photo session, Bush discussed the fact that both he and Abramoff were fathers of twins.
When I get access to these pictures rest assured they will be plastered all over this blog.
He knows the names of Abramoff's kids! That is not just a passing acquaintance!
This is a really bad idea!
Israel's defense minister hinted Saturday that the Jewish state is preparing for military action to stop
Iran's nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action.
"Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that that implies, and this we are preparing," Shaul Mofaz said.
Okay look, I agree that it is not a good idea for Iran to get access to nuclear weaponry. I also understand how Israel may feel especially threatened by this development. But this is just not a good idea.
If Israel actually does attack Iran it will start a monstrous battle that will pit the Muslims against the Jews and Christians in a holy war to beat all holy wars.
Once the Israelis send planes into Iran, Iran will retaliate. They will ask for support from other Islamic nations which may feel honor bound to support Iran. If Israel finds itself facing defeat it will not hesitate to call on the United States to protect them. Once that happens the entire planet may find themselves choosing sides.
Now the conspiracy side of my personality can't help wondering if this is not part of George Bush's "master plan". It is just stupid enough to have come from his warped mind. His administration has made a point of talking about being in a war against terror that is inspired by the Islamic fundamentalists. This would be one way to put a stop to them once and for all. Or maybe, destroy the whole fucking planet!
Please tell me I am wrong!
Iran's nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action.
"Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that that implies, and this we are preparing," Shaul Mofaz said.
Okay look, I agree that it is not a good idea for Iran to get access to nuclear weaponry. I also understand how Israel may feel especially threatened by this development. But this is just not a good idea.
If Israel actually does attack Iran it will start a monstrous battle that will pit the Muslims against the Jews and Christians in a holy war to beat all holy wars.
Once the Israelis send planes into Iran, Iran will retaliate. They will ask for support from other Islamic nations which may feel honor bound to support Iran. If Israel finds itself facing defeat it will not hesitate to call on the United States to protect them. Once that happens the entire planet may find themselves choosing sides.
Now the conspiracy side of my personality can't help wondering if this is not part of George Bush's "master plan". It is just stupid enough to have come from his warped mind. His administration has made a point of talking about being in a war against terror that is inspired by the Islamic fundamentalists. This would be one way to put a stop to them once and for all. Or maybe, destroy the whole fucking planet!
Please tell me I am wrong!
Harry Reid finally issues criticism of GOP senators rampant corruption and then apologizes for it? You know I have to say it. PUSSY!
"The document released by my office yesterday went too far and I want to convey to you my personal regrets," Reid said in a letter. "I am writing to apologize for the tone of this document and the decision to single out individual senators for criticism in it."
"I am clearly devoid of any backbone and you can feel free to bitchslap me to your hearts content."
Yours always
Harry "Pussy" Reid
P.S. This is why we need a third party.
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