Two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were in the office of Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, the Senate Rules Committee chairman. They declined to identify themselves or what they were looking for, instead referring a reporter to the bureau's Anchorage office. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage says agents were executing search warrants, but wouldn't say what they were looking for.
According to a legislative aide working in the Capitol, the offices of Senate President Ben Stevens, R-Anchorage, and Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, were also part of the raid. Kohring, contacted at his legislative office in Wasilla, would not confirm or deny that his office was part of the raid or what agents were searching for. He said, "I can't talk about that right now."
I don't know exactly what is happening yet.
And yes, for those with sharp eyes, Ben Stevens is indeed the son of Alaska Senator Ted "Internet tubes" Stevens. He is a beady eyed little jerk who has been investigated multiple times for ethics violations.
The nut does not fall far from the ancient senile old tree.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
The United States does not negotiate with terrorists! Unless the terrorists are holding Fox news reporters.
The U.S. secretly agreed to the "real demands" set by the group behind the August 14 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, according to a report in the pan-Arab newspaper al Hayat.
The paper quotes "informed sources close to the mediations" as saying that the U.S. secretly negotiated with the group through leaders of "the Palestinian popular resistance committees."
Last week, the previously unknown group calling itself "The Holy Jihad Brigades" issued a statement demanding the release of all Muslims held in U.S. prisons in return for the release of the two journalists. In fact, the paper reports that the public demand was not serious and that the group's "real demands" were that the U.S. press Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine and cease the shelling of "Palestinian activists'" residences.
According to the report, the mediators contacted a representative of a European country who in turn contacted U.S. and British diplomats. The paper's sources said in the report that members of a senior FBI delegation, who had arrived in the area a few days earlier, were also involved in the negotiations.
The announcement that the two journalists had converted to Islam as a reason for their release was only a camouflage to conceal the fact that the U.S. had agreed to the hostage-takers' demands, according to the sources cited in the article. A few days ago the Rafah crossing was reopened for a few hours daily, and the Israeli forces stopped shelling residences of activists in the past few days, noted the paper's sources.
Hypocritical son of a bitches!
How many other Americans have died at the hands of kidnappers while the US did nothing to help secure their release? Unfortunately those soldiers, reporters, and contractors had lives of no value to this administration. But the great propagandists of FOX news are a vital part of national security and their lives must be spared at all cost!
If any person on this planet still had any doubt, however small, that the FOX network was working as the information dissemination outlet for this White House I hope that you have seen the light now. Nothing that is said on that network can be believed. Nothing!
The paper quotes "informed sources close to the mediations" as saying that the U.S. secretly negotiated with the group through leaders of "the Palestinian popular resistance committees."
Last week, the previously unknown group calling itself "The Holy Jihad Brigades" issued a statement demanding the release of all Muslims held in U.S. prisons in return for the release of the two journalists. In fact, the paper reports that the public demand was not serious and that the group's "real demands" were that the U.S. press Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine and cease the shelling of "Palestinian activists'" residences.
According to the report, the mediators contacted a representative of a European country who in turn contacted U.S. and British diplomats. The paper's sources said in the report that members of a senior FBI delegation, who had arrived in the area a few days earlier, were also involved in the negotiations.
The announcement that the two journalists had converted to Islam as a reason for their release was only a camouflage to conceal the fact that the U.S. had agreed to the hostage-takers' demands, according to the sources cited in the article. A few days ago the Rafah crossing was reopened for a few hours daily, and the Israeli forces stopped shelling residences of activists in the past few days, noted the paper's sources.
Hypocritical son of a bitches!
How many other Americans have died at the hands of kidnappers while the US did nothing to help secure their release? Unfortunately those soldiers, reporters, and contractors had lives of no value to this administration. But the great propagandists of FOX news are a vital part of national security and their lives must be spared at all cost!
If any person on this planet still had any doubt, however small, that the FOX network was working as the information dissemination outlet for this White House I hope that you have seen the light now. Nothing that is said on that network can be believed. Nothing!
Somebody is not doing something right.
ABOUT one in 12 people have fallen asleep during sex, a poll shows.
And women who doze off mid-romp outnumber men nearly two to one.
Well this is just embarrassing. How unstimulating must you be for your partner to actually fall asleep during the sex act?
Now having one pass out from pleasure? The Immoral one knows all about that.
And women who doze off mid-romp outnumber men nearly two to one.
Well this is just embarrassing. How unstimulating must you be for your partner to actually fall asleep during the sex act?
Now having one pass out from pleasure? The Immoral one knows all about that.
Fox News is hemorrhaging viewers.
Total day:FNC CNN MSNBC
Aug. '06: 933 584 277
Aug. '05: 1,001 433 220
% change: -7% +35% +26%
Primetime:FNC CNN MSNBC
Aug. '06: 1,511 902 371
Aug. '05: 2,093 748 349
% change: -28% +21% +6%
This certainly warms the heart of my cockles.
Aug. '06: 933 584 277
Aug. '05: 1,001 433 220
% change: -7% +35% +26%
Primetime:FNC CNN MSNBC
Aug. '06: 1,511 902 371
Aug. '05: 2,093 748 349
% change: -28% +21% +6%
This certainly warms the heart of my cockles.
Girl stops boyfriend from killing man by giving him a blow job. See? More oral sex stops violence!
Seems that during the holdup, McIntosh requested that his cohort Carr provide him with some mid-robbery oral relief. While receiving the sexual favor, McIntosh allegedly leveled a gun at store clerk Charles Cheeks, who told cops that McIntosh had told Carr that there was "only one thing that can stop him from" shooting Cheeks. At that point, Cheeks recalled, McIntosh pulled down his pants and was serviced by Carr. In a police interview, Carr acknowledged performing the sex act, adding that McIntosh told her, "the nigger's gonna get his chitlins knocked out of him" if she didn't service him.
Wow the power of a good blow job is amazing to behold.
Actually she is just a child, and the man is a pig, and I hope he goes to jail for a very, very long time.
Wow the power of a good blow job is amazing to behold.
Actually she is just a child, and the man is a pig, and I hope he goes to jail for a very, very long time.
Here is exactly what Keith Olbermann said yesterday when he verbally eviscerated Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.
Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.
It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.
You should definitely visit the link above to read the whole thing, it is brilliant!
African preacher says he is just as good as Jesus and tries to prove it by walking on water. African church has opening for new preacher.
A PRIEST has died after trying to demonstrate how Jesus walked on water.
Evangelist preacher Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle.
But he drowned after walking out to sea from a beach in the capital Libreville in Gabon, west Africa.
One eyewitness said: "He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus.
"He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat.
"He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back."
Let's see I need to say something nice here. Well you cannot say he did not have the power of his convictions. Too bad he was an idiot.
I just don't do nice very well do I?
Evangelist preacher Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle.
But he drowned after walking out to sea from a beach in the capital Libreville in Gabon, west Africa.
One eyewitness said: "He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus.
"He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat.
"He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back."
Let's see I need to say something nice here. Well you cannot say he did not have the power of his convictions. Too bad he was an idiot.
I just don't do nice very well do I?
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Screw eating less and working out! I am going on the Photoshop diet!
This is so pathetic! I wonder if they do this for the male anchors.
I mean do they add more hair to Brian Williams head? Or add digital makeup to Charlie Gibson's crows feet? And if they do this kind of stuff why can't they take a crack at the hedges growing over Andy Rooney's eyes? The man looks like he is half way through a tranformation into a werewolf.
Republicans redefine the word "fascism". It now means anyone who disagrees with them.
President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.
Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of "Islamic fascists" in a later speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months.
And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."
Just when I thought that the Republicans had scraped the bottom of the barrel in terms of making new and frightening nouns to label their critics they come up with one that harkens back to the 1940's. So what is a fascist?
Here is what the Random House Unabridged Dictionary has for a definition: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Hmmm. You know who that kind of sounds like?
Have you ever met somebody who labels everybody they dislike with terms that actually describe themselves? That is exactly what this administration has done constantly.
They call the Democrats weak on defense while they waste billions of dollars and the lives of our soldiers in a conflict which has destroyed our reputation around the world and left us weaker here at home. They also call those who disagree with them "fascists" while the term defines them to a "T'.
My only hope is that the under-educated voters amongst us are not fooled by this pathetic double speak and that when the November elections come we sweep the Senate and House clean of these liars and replace them with ethic leaders who will help to hold this White House responsible for all of the horrible lies that they have told the American people for the last five and a half years. (Don't you just love a good run on sentence?)
Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of "Islamic fascists" in a later speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months.
And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."
Just when I thought that the Republicans had scraped the bottom of the barrel in terms of making new and frightening nouns to label their critics they come up with one that harkens back to the 1940's. So what is a fascist?
Here is what the Random House Unabridged Dictionary has for a definition: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Hmmm. You know who that kind of sounds like?
Have you ever met somebody who labels everybody they dislike with terms that actually describe themselves? That is exactly what this administration has done constantly.
They call the Democrats weak on defense while they waste billions of dollars and the lives of our soldiers in a conflict which has destroyed our reputation around the world and left us weaker here at home. They also call those who disagree with them "fascists" while the term defines them to a "T'.
My only hope is that the under-educated voters amongst us are not fooled by this pathetic double speak and that when the November elections come we sweep the Senate and House clean of these liars and replace them with ethic leaders who will help to hold this White House responsible for all of the horrible lies that they have told the American people for the last five and a half years. (Don't you just love a good run on sentence?)
What do bong hits, Jesus, and former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr have in common? Alaska and free speech, that's what!
Former Whitewater special counsel Kenneth Starr petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Alaska's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, a dispute involving a high school student, a banner and a tough school policy.
Starr, who gained national prominence while investigating former President Clinton's Whitewater land deal and relationship with Monica Lewinsky, filed the petition Monday on behalf of the Juneau School District in response to a March ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court sided with a high school student who displayed a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during an Olympic torch relay in 2002. It ruled former Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse violated former student Joseph Frederick's free speech rights.
Ken Starr? Well I guess any circus must have a clown. This is such a non-story that I almost feel embarrassed to have posted it.
Yeah I know, I have posted much more embarrassing stories in the past.
Actually it is surprisingly hard to embarrass me.
Starr, who gained national prominence while investigating former President Clinton's Whitewater land deal and relationship with Monica Lewinsky, filed the petition Monday on behalf of the Juneau School District in response to a March ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court sided with a high school student who displayed a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during an Olympic torch relay in 2002. It ruled former Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse violated former student Joseph Frederick's free speech rights.
Ken Starr? Well I guess any circus must have a clown. This is such a non-story that I almost feel embarrassed to have posted it.
Yeah I know, I have posted much more embarrassing stories in the past.
Actually it is surprisingly hard to embarrass me.
The senator who put a hold on the bill to reveal federal spending has been revealed at last. It is....oh crap!
The identity of the blogosphere's "secret senator" has been revealed.CNN has confirmed that Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has placed a hold on a bill that would require the government to publish online a database of federal spending.
"He does have a hold on the bill," Stevens' spokesperson Aaron Saunders told CNN. "At the time he placed the hold he notified Sen. [Tom] Coburn and his staff and identified several questions we had with the bill. Two weeks ago Sen. Coburn named Stevens as having a hold on the bill, so we don't consider it a secret."
Senate tradition allows any senator to keep a piece of legislation from reaching the Senate floor by placing a hold on the bill.
Coburn's office confirmed that Coburn had revealed Steven's hold during a town hall meeting in Oklahoma two weeks ago.
The bill has become a cause célèbre for both liberal and conservative bloggers as they tried to uncover the "secret senator" who had blocked passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590). The bill was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and Coburn, R-Oklahoma.
The conservative-leaning, anti-government waste site Porkbusters urged readers to call their senators and ask them to go on the record denying that they placed the hold. TPMuckraker, under the banner "blogosphere unites in pursuit of masked senator" also got in on the act, posting updates from readers around the country.
Well of course it is my very own Senator that would be putting the brakes on a bill that would reveal who spent what, and how much. He has much to keep hidden.
I am so embarrassed. But not at all surprised.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Ever wonder how Hitler could have done such terrible things? This guy says he was possessed by the devil. Simple son-of-a-bitch.
Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Stalin were possessed by the Devil, the Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed.
Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Father Amorth said: "Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.
"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil.
The moronic people who see the world in these simple "good vs evil" terms make my damn head hurt!
There is not one scintilla of evidence to suggest that there is a devil or demons, and yet these backward thinking inbreds seem to have no problem blaming them for all of the ills of the world.
Hitler was a victim of a number of complex psyological ills. According to Dr. Henry A. Miller, who wrote a psycholocial analysis in 1943, Hitler: had a personality type stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury, that held grudges, had a low tolerance for criticism, an excessive demand for attention and a tendency to belittle, bully or blame others and seek revenge. But his personality also manifested a persistence in the face of defeat, along with strong self-will and self-trust. However, Hitler lacked "the offsetting qualities that round out a balanced personality.
Look, no mention of the devil. This is the difference between the logical examination of a problem and the superstitious need for the "quick fix".
"The devil made me do it" is just a saying Jethro, not a fucking explanation!
Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Father Amorth said: "Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.
"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil.
The moronic people who see the world in these simple "good vs evil" terms make my damn head hurt!
There is not one scintilla of evidence to suggest that there is a devil or demons, and yet these backward thinking inbreds seem to have no problem blaming them for all of the ills of the world.
Hitler was a victim of a number of complex psyological ills. According to Dr. Henry A. Miller, who wrote a psycholocial analysis in 1943, Hitler: had a personality type stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury, that held grudges, had a low tolerance for criticism, an excessive demand for attention and a tendency to belittle, bully or blame others and seek revenge. But his personality also manifested a persistence in the face of defeat, along with strong self-will and self-trust. However, Hitler lacked "the offsetting qualities that round out a balanced personality.
Look, no mention of the devil. This is the difference between the logical examination of a problem and the superstitious need for the "quick fix".
"The devil made me do it" is just a saying Jethro, not a fucking explanation!
The Bush administration is winning, our children are getting dumber!
The high school class of 2006 recorded the sharpest drop in SAT scores in 31 years, a decline that the exam's owner, the College Board, said was partly due to some students taking the newly lengthened test only once instead of twice.
Fatigue wasn't to blame, the College Board insisted, even though this year's class was the first to take a new version of the exam which added an essay. It now takes an average of three hours and 45 minutes to complete the test, not counting breaks.
The results come several months after numerous colleges reported surprisingly low SAT scores for this year's incoming college freshmen. The nonprofit College Board, which had said scores would be down this year, released figures Tuesday showing combined critical reading and math skills fell seven points on average to 1021.
The average critical reading score fell from 508 to 503, while math dropped from 520 to 518. On the new SAT writing section, the class scored 497 on average, with girls scoring 11 points higher than boys.
Everybody knows, the dumber the voter, the more likely they will vote Republican.
That is a fact, look it up!
Fatigue wasn't to blame, the College Board insisted, even though this year's class was the first to take a new version of the exam which added an essay. It now takes an average of three hours and 45 minutes to complete the test, not counting breaks.
The results come several months after numerous colleges reported surprisingly low SAT scores for this year's incoming college freshmen. The nonprofit College Board, which had said scores would be down this year, released figures Tuesday showing combined critical reading and math skills fell seven points on average to 1021.
The average critical reading score fell from 508 to 503, while math dropped from 520 to 518. On the new SAT writing section, the class scored 497 on average, with girls scoring 11 points higher than boys.
Everybody knows, the dumber the voter, the more likely they will vote Republican.
That is a fact, look it up!
Iran's President calls our President out.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on U.S. President George W. Bush to participate in a "direct television debate with us," so Iran can voice its point of view on how to end problems in the world."But the condition is that there can be no censorship, especially for the American nation," he said Tuesday.
The White House called the offer to debate Bush a "diversion" from international concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Reuters reported.
During a news conference in Tehran, Ahmadinejad also blamed "special concessions" granted to the United States and Britain as "the root cause of all the problems in the world."
"At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to."
I know that in the case of a debate between President Ahmadinejad and George Bush that Ahmadinejad's part will be subtitled. I just wonder if they could do that for Bush as well, except I would like the subtitles to print what he really means instead of the pre-digested pablum that usually drops out of his crooked maw.
You know I will probably get some heat for this but I have kind of taken a shine to Ahmadinejad, he is scrappy!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Marines guarding Saddam are making him watch "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut". He must really enjoy the Saddam/Satan sex scene.
TOPPLED dictator Saddam Hussein is being tormented in jail – by being forced to watch HIMSELF in South Park.The evil tyrant is portrayed in the movie version of the cult cartoon as the Devil’s gay lover.
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut was banned in Iraq on its launch in 1999 for showing Saddam as a homosexual.
This might explain why Sadddam seems so happy in court.
The mainstream media is completely broken!
9NEWS confirmed from two sources Monday that John Mark Karr's DNA did not match the samples taken from the crime scene in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.The fact that every news channel in existence made this obvious falsehood the top story for over a week is proof positive that our media is a bunch of sheep that are easily misdirected by any moron who takes the time to call them up and send them on a wild goose chase.
I never doubted for an instance that this guy was completely full of shit. There was important news on at the same time and it had to take a back seat to this horrible travesty. And the fact that that poor little girl's face had to appear on our televisions night after night is just fucking criminal!
I just hope that our news outlest will take a moment and let the lesson of this travesty sink in and maybe they can be a little more selective about what kind of story they pollute our airwaves with in the future.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Here is another study that I must disagree with.
For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.I have learned much, much more from women then I ever have from men. And it was much, much more fun too!
And it was naughty.
Woman finds out why her husband no longer plays with her breasts. Because he now has a pair of his very own.
SHE hadn't seen him naked for a while - but when she walked in on her husband Stephen in the bathroom, Catherine Everett couldn't fail to spot something very different.
He still had a full head of hair. He was still ruggedly handsome.
But he certainly wasn't the man she married.
He had grown a pair of breasts.
I
n fact he was admiring them in the mirror at the very moment she walked in to give him a kiss.
Catherine says the 41-year-old pizza restaurant manager had decided to have a sex change - without telling her.
Wow and I thought my ex-wife and I had drifted apart before we divorced. I am still pretty sure she would have noticed my new tits!
This next part totally floors me:
For the sake of the children the couple agreed to try to carry on living as man and wife.
She still wanted to work it out even though he had boobies! You know I think that my last marriage ended because I left the top off of the toothpaste tube but this guy can totally alter his maleness and still hang on to his woman. But then he went a little too far.
"Stephen tried wearing men's clothes but he'd always go back to his dresses, high heels and handbags.
"We would go out with the children and people would shout 'Freak!' When he took the kids swimming he wore a bikini. I knew we had to divorce."
I don't want to take sides here but I think I sense a little jealousy. I will bet that he looked better in some of her dresses then she did and the bitch just could not take the competition.
He still had a full head of hair. He was still ruggedly handsome.
But he certainly wasn't the man she married.
He had grown a pair of breasts.
I
n fact he was admiring them in the mirror at the very moment she walked in to give him a kiss.
Catherine says the 41-year-old pizza restaurant manager had decided to have a sex change - without telling her.
Wow and I thought my ex-wife and I had drifted apart before we divorced. I am still pretty sure she would have noticed my new tits!
This next part totally floors me:
For the sake of the children the couple agreed to try to carry on living as man and wife.
She still wanted to work it out even though he had boobies! You know I think that my last marriage ended because I left the top off of the toothpaste tube but this guy can totally alter his maleness and still hang on to his woman. But then he went a little too far.
"Stephen tried wearing men's clothes but he'd always go back to his dresses, high heels and handbags.
"We would go out with the children and people would shout 'Freak!' When he took the kids swimming he wore a bikini. I knew we had to divorce."
I don't want to take sides here but I think I sense a little jealousy. I will bet that he looked better in some of her dresses then she did and the bitch just could not take the competition.
Colin Powell's number two man Richard Armitage is getting ready to take the Plame bullet for the administration.
Months earlier, Novak had caused a huge stir when he revealed that Valerie Plame, wife of Iraq-war critic Joseph Wilson, was a CIA officer. Ever since, Washington had been trying to find out who leaked the information to Novak. The columnist himself had kept quiet. But now, in a second column, Novak provided a tantalizing clue: his primary source, he wrote, was a "senior administration official" who was "not a partisan gunslinger." Armitage was shaken. After reading the column, he knew immediately who the leaker was. On the phone with Powell that morning, Armitage was "in deep distress," says a source directly familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities. "I'm sure he's talking about me."
This is bullshit.
The leak was orchestrated by the Cheney and Rove to destroy Joe Wilson's credibility and we have already seen the evidence to support that. And the article even mentions it.
But officials at the White House also told reporters about Wilson's wife in an effort to discredit Wilson for his public attacks on Bush's handling of Iraq intelligence. Karl Rove confirmed to Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and days later offered the same information to Time reporter Matt Cooper. The inquiry into the case led to the indictment of Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Armitage himself was aggressively investigated by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, but was never charged.
So what is the point of writing about Armitage now? Well Newsweek and the author of this book seem to be working to get the heat off of Rove and Cheney before the Democrats take back the House and Senate and start investigating what really happened in the run to the war, the Plame outing, and the Katrina debacle.
So does Newsweek now work for the Bush administration?
This is bullshit.
The leak was orchestrated by the Cheney and Rove to destroy Joe Wilson's credibility and we have already seen the evidence to support that. And the article even mentions it.
But officials at the White House also told reporters about Wilson's wife in an effort to discredit Wilson for his public attacks on Bush's handling of Iraq intelligence. Karl Rove confirmed to Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and days later offered the same information to Time reporter Matt Cooper. The inquiry into the case led to the indictment of Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Armitage himself was aggressively investigated by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, but was never charged.
So what is the point of writing about Armitage now? Well Newsweek and the author of this book seem to be working to get the heat off of Rove and Cheney before the Democrats take back the House and Senate and start investigating what really happened in the run to the war, the Plame outing, and the Katrina debacle.
So does Newsweek now work for the Bush administration?
Christians remind us how they came to be the dominant religion in the world today.
Canada's only major Arctic petroglyph site -- a 1,500-year-old gallery of mysterious faces carved into a soapstone ridge on a tiny island off of Quebec's northern coast -- has been ransacked by vandals in what the region's top archeologist suspects was a religiously motivated attack by devout Christians from a nearby Inuit community.
More than 170 mask-like images, animal shapes and other symbols have been recorded on the island since the 1960s. Studies suggest Qajartalik was a sacred place, used for Dorset spiritual ceremonies and coming-of-age rituals.
But the site has been dubbed "the Island of the Stone Devils" because some of the faces -- possibly depicting a Dorset shaman in religious costume -- appear to be adorned with horns. In the past, crosses have been scratched on the "pagan" petroglyphs and some area residents have told researchers they believe the site is infested with evil spirits.
Religions that are based on fear always seem to lash out at anything that they feel threatens them or their belief system. This is truly sad that these people feel that ancient artifacts can still do them some harm. Ignorance and intolerance are a dangerous combination.
More than 170 mask-like images, animal shapes and other symbols have been recorded on the island since the 1960s. Studies suggest Qajartalik was a sacred place, used for Dorset spiritual ceremonies and coming-of-age rituals.
But the site has been dubbed "the Island of the Stone Devils" because some of the faces -- possibly depicting a Dorset shaman in religious costume -- appear to be adorned with horns. In the past, crosses have been scratched on the "pagan" petroglyphs and some area residents have told researchers they believe the site is infested with evil spirits.
Religions that are based on fear always seem to lash out at anything that they feel threatens them or their belief system. This is truly sad that these people feel that ancient artifacts can still do them some harm. Ignorance and intolerance are a dangerous combination.
Can a person who hates gays change his mind? This Republican Senate hopeful would like you to believe that.
U.S. Senate candidate Stephen Laffey said he regrets that he wrote columns denigrating gays when he was a college student.The Republican candidate wrote them in 1983 and 1984 while studying at Bowdoin College in Maine. The articles appeared in a paper published by campus Republicans.
In one column, Laffey said he has never seen a happy homosexual.
"This is not to say there aren't any; I simply haven't seen one in my lifetime. Maybe they are all in the closet," he wrote. "All the homosexuals I've seen are sickly and decrepit, their eyes devoid of life."
In another column he wrote that pop music was turning the children of America into sissies, and criticized the singer Boy George, referring to him as "it."
"It wears girl's clothes and puts on makeup," he wrote. "When I hear it sing, 'Do you really want to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry,' I say to myself, YES, I want to punch your lights out, pal, and break your ribs."
So can somebody who once wrote words filled with so much hate really have changed his mind? Or does he just want people to believe that so he can get elected?
We have no idea what is in the hearts of most of our politicians. They will say literally anything that they think will get them elected. I would certainly place more faith in something that was written before a candidate was seeking public office then something written or said afterward.
Once a homophobe, always a homophobe.
Some good news this Sunday morning.
Militants in the Gaza Strip released two kidnapped journalists from the American Fox News Channel on Sunday after the men appeared on a videotape saying they had converted to Islam, Fox said.
Fox said correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were in a hotel in the Palestinian coastal strip.
They hugged colleagues inside the hotel lobby before running up the stairs to a higher floor, Fox News footage showed.
"Our heroes are home," Fox anchorman Shepard Smith said in a live broadcast from New York.
It is always good news when we see the victims of kidnappers released relatively unharmed.
I have to admit I am a little surprised at how quickly it was resolved. That makes me wonder what the kidnappers gained from this.
Fox said correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were in a hotel in the Palestinian coastal strip.
They hugged colleagues inside the hotel lobby before running up the stairs to a higher floor, Fox News footage showed.
"Our heroes are home," Fox anchorman Shepard Smith said in a live broadcast from New York.
It is always good news when we see the victims of kidnappers released relatively unharmed.
I have to admit I am a little surprised at how quickly it was resolved. That makes me wonder what the kidnappers gained from this.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
What does it mean when a university uses your likeness to make fun of your alma mater. Does it sting even more that you are the President?
Lakehead University is poking fun at U.S. President George W. Bush and his Ivy League alma mater in an edgy new guerrilla marketing campaign intended to lure students to its Thunder Bay campus.Dubbed "Yale Shmale," the $100,000 promotion features an image of Bush — Yale University, Class of 1968 — on posters that will be plastered on construction sites and other outdoor locations across the Greater Toronto Area.
"Graduating from an Ivy League university doesn't necessarily mean you're smart," reads the second of two posters set for release, "Choosing Lakehead does."
You know I think we should always elect Presidents that are routinely laughed at by the citizens other countries. It is the least we can do for these people who must not have leaders of their own that they can laugh at.
"President Bush. Well he is good for a laugh."
More education did not end religious belief. Neither did Communism, Rock & Roll, or MTV. But now it has met its match. Religion makes you fat!
"America is becoming known as a nation of gluttony and obesity, and churches are a feeding ground for this problem," says Ken Ferraro, a Purdue sociology professor who studied more than 2,500 adults over a span of eight years looking at the correlation between their religious behavior and their body mass index.
Ferraro's most recent study, published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, is a follow-up to a study he published in 1998, where he found there were more obese people in states with larger populations of folks claiming a religious affiliation than elsewhere -- particularly in states with the most Baptists.
So it's not surprising that Ferraro's latest study found that about 27 percent of Baptists, including Southern Baptists, North American Baptists, and Fundamentalist Baptist, were obese.
Surely there are several contributing factors to such a phenomenon, but when Ferraro accounted for geography (southern cooking is generally more high-caloric), race and even whether overweight folks were attracted to churches for moral support, the statistics still seem to indicate that some churches dispense love handles as well as the love of the Lord.
This is why I don't attend church. This and all of that talk about God and stuff.
Ferraro's most recent study, published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, is a follow-up to a study he published in 1998, where he found there were more obese people in states with larger populations of folks claiming a religious affiliation than elsewhere -- particularly in states with the most Baptists.
So it's not surprising that Ferraro's latest study found that about 27 percent of Baptists, including Southern Baptists, North American Baptists, and Fundamentalist Baptist, were obese.
Surely there are several contributing factors to such a phenomenon, but when Ferraro accounted for geography (southern cooking is generally more high-caloric), race and even whether overweight folks were attracted to churches for moral support, the statistics still seem to indicate that some churches dispense love handles as well as the love of the Lord.
This is why I don't attend church. This and all of that talk about God and stuff.
This is a propagandized bullshit study that I believe was financed by the NBA.
While researchers have long shown that tall people earn more than their shorter counterparts, it's not only social discrimination that accounts for this inequality -- tall people are just smarter than their height-challenged peers, a new study finds.
This is a truly ridiculous statement. I mean what about Asians? They are very intelligent and they are certainly not reaching things on the top shelf without a stool.
Stephen Hawkins cannot even stand up I am pretty sure he is far more intelligent then most of these freakishly tall people. Einstein was five foot nine inches tall is that considered tall? Edison was five foot ten inches tall is that considered tall? It is just a dumb study.
It was probably conducted by some tall dude who is tired of people asking him to change the light bulb or dust the ceiling. He probably had some regular sized guy do all of the writing for him.
Do I seem a little sensitive about this? Well I am not.
This is a truly ridiculous statement. I mean what about Asians? They are very intelligent and they are certainly not reaching things on the top shelf without a stool.
Stephen Hawkins cannot even stand up I am pretty sure he is far more intelligent then most of these freakishly tall people. Einstein was five foot nine inches tall is that considered tall? Edison was five foot ten inches tall is that considered tall? It is just a dumb study.
It was probably conducted by some tall dude who is tired of people asking him to change the light bulb or dust the ceiling. He probably had some regular sized guy do all of the writing for him.
Do I seem a little sensitive about this? Well I am not.
69% of Americans don't like me. Yeah? Well I don't care what you think, so there! I am so not inviting them to my birthday!
An authoritative annual survey on attitudes to religion in the United States, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, has found that 69% of respondents believe that liberals are too secular, while 49% believe that religious conservatives are too assertive.
A majority of those polled also expressed concern about religion's declining influence in the USA, and half of those identifying this trend are worried about the perceived decline. Other analysts argue that the religious right, in particular has far too great a shaping role on public policy.
The summary continues: “Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. But the proportion who express reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values has edged up in the past year, with about half the public (49%) now expressing wariness about this.”
So it sort of appears that the extremists on both sides of the fence are going to have a hard time gaining support in the upcoming election. Interesting.
I am not really bothered by people who are uncomfortable with my secular viewpoints. I have sort of walked my own path since I was very young.
I remember when I was seven wanting to talk about the existence of God. My friends would just look at me with graham cracker crumbs on their face and say "What is your problem, Dude?" Stupid second graders!
A majority of those polled also expressed concern about religion's declining influence in the USA, and half of those identifying this trend are worried about the perceived decline. Other analysts argue that the religious right, in particular has far too great a shaping role on public policy.
The summary continues: “Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. But the proportion who express reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values has edged up in the past year, with about half the public (49%) now expressing wariness about this.”
So it sort of appears that the extremists on both sides of the fence are going to have a hard time gaining support in the upcoming election. Interesting.
I am not really bothered by people who are uncomfortable with my secular viewpoints. I have sort of walked my own path since I was very young.
I remember when I was seven wanting to talk about the existence of God. My friends would just look at me with graham cracker crumbs on their face and say "What is your problem, Dude?" Stupid second graders!
So what happens when the Iraqis stand up and we stand down? Well they loot the place that is what happens.
About 1,200 British forces withdrew on Thursday from Abu Naji, a camp near Amarah in southern Maysan province. The base had been targeted repeatedly with mortar fire, and shortly after the British left, members of the Shiite-controlled Mahdi Army passed out pamphlets claiming credit for the British retreat. The camp had been targeted for mortar and rocket fire almost daily.
Looters arrived at the camp within hours after the final British soldiers left at noon on Thursday. Iraqi soldiers put up resistance and later fired on the crowds who had gathered. There were reports of some injuries for both Iraqi forces and civilians but no fatalities.
The looting was an indication of the tenuous hold Iraqi authorities have on the countryside, though a police spokesman for the region denied any looting occurred. An Iraq Army source said that as many as 2,000 people surrounded the camp at one point.
You see the idea that there will someday be some peaceful relinquishing of control to the Iraqi government is ludicrous. No matter how long American and British forces stay in Iraq whenever they finally do leave, the place is going to devolve into chaos unless some local warlord takes control through the use of force.
Nobody that the US puts in power is going to be taken seriously by the Iraqis, election or no election.
We might as well leave today and let this thing work itself out as soon as possible. At least our coalition forces will be safe.
Looters arrived at the camp within hours after the final British soldiers left at noon on Thursday. Iraqi soldiers put up resistance and later fired on the crowds who had gathered. There were reports of some injuries for both Iraqi forces and civilians but no fatalities.
The looting was an indication of the tenuous hold Iraqi authorities have on the countryside, though a police spokesman for the region denied any looting occurred. An Iraq Army source said that as many as 2,000 people surrounded the camp at one point.
You see the idea that there will someday be some peaceful relinquishing of control to the Iraqi government is ludicrous. No matter how long American and British forces stay in Iraq whenever they finally do leave, the place is going to devolve into chaos unless some local warlord takes control through the use of force.
Nobody that the US puts in power is going to be taken seriously by the Iraqis, election or no election.
We might as well leave today and let this thing work itself out as soon as possible. At least our coalition forces will be safe.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Woman asked to leave restaurant for breast feeding her baby. This happened after many of the male patrons asked to have what the baby was having.
When her infant daughter, Isabelle, started fussing in a restaurant one day, Erin Simons knew what she had to do to mollify her: Breastfeed.After discreetly positioning the child, Simons was shocked when a waiter asked her to leave the dining room because some of the Ohio eatery's other patrons had expressed discomfort.
Only after she finished breastfeeding Isabelle, now 13 months, in the car, did Simons feel a flush of anger replace her first blush of embarrassment.
"There's no reason why you should feel embarrassed about feeding your child in the most healthy way there is," she says. "The breasts are so sexualized. It's just funny because when you get to nurse for a while, it's the most natural thing in the world and you never think about that anymore."
Now as a man I cannot fathom why we should have any problem whatsoever with a woman wanting to pull out her funbags in a public place. It is just not in my DNA to be bothered by seeing boobies.
Stupid restaurant!
War widow confronts Bush and tells him he is responsible for the death of American soldiers.
This a very interesting and moving account of one woman's attempt to make the President see that what he is doing is hurting our soldiers and America.
I just wonder if he can even hear this kind of criticism anymore.
I just wonder if he can even hear this kind of criticism anymore.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
So which is more immoral, whacking off in a porn shop or burning the place to the ground afterward? Yeah I thought it was a toss up too.
Police continue to search for a man who burned down an adult bookstore in Miami after watching a pornographic film this month.Video surveillance from the bookstore, located at 7455 SW 40th St., shows the suspect requesting change from the clerk and then entering a small booth to watch the movie.
After the viewing, the man told the clerk he had a guilty conscience, police said. He then doused the store with liquid, ignited it and calmly walked out.
I am guessing that there was no DNA evidence at the scene. But before the fire I bet there was a potpourri of DNA evidence.
I can't help wondering if burning the place down actually made him feel less guilty.
So you think that you are a conspiracy theorist? Well meet your queen!
Now I don't want to use any unfortunate labels but in my opinion, and remember I have years of training in the field of mental health, this woman is bat shit!
Plaintiff Teri Smith Tyler, appearing pro se, filed a complaint in December 1992 alleging a bizarre conspiracy involving the defendants to enslave and oppress certain segments of our society. Plaintiff contends she is a cyborg, and that she received most of the information which forms the basis for her complaint, through ``proteus,'' which I read to be come silent, telepathic form of communication. ... She asserts that the defendants are involved in the ``Iron Mountain Plan,'' which provides for the reinstitutionalization of slavery and ``bloodsports'' (which she identifies as death-hunting and witchhunting), and the oppression of political dissidents, herself included. Plaintiff's complaint alleged a number of personal indignities visited upon her by defendants: ``strafing of my dormitory room by planes and helicopters, the electronic bugging of my student rooms and apartments, deliberate noise harassment, blasting of loud rock music with lyrics designed for witch-hunts (music about social pariahs) ... students following me around to prevent me from studying, whispering campaigns and social ostrification ...'' ... Plaintiff also makes the following allegations against the defendants. Former President Jimmy Carter was the secret head of the Ku Klux Klan; Bill Clinton is the biological son of Jimmy Carter; President Clinton and Ross Perot have made fortunes in the death-hunting industry, and are responsible for the murder of at least 10 million black women in concentration camps, their bodies sold for meat and their skin turned into leather products. The defendants are also responsible for breeding farms, which turn out 2,000 black girls a year, who are then sold for recreational murder or as human pets. Additionally, the defendants utilize weather control and earthquake technology to threaten other countries that object to the Iron Mountain Plan.
Now quick get a measuring tape and measure how far your jaw dropped after reading that last segment. I got almost four inches!
Wow I am in awe of that level of crazy! They may have to create a whole new diagnosis for her kind of psychosis. I hear that tinfoil sales in her neighborhood have skyrocketed!
You really need to click the link and read the whole affadavit. It is un-fucking-believable!
Plaintiff Teri Smith Tyler, appearing pro se, filed a complaint in December 1992 alleging a bizarre conspiracy involving the defendants to enslave and oppress certain segments of our society. Plaintiff contends she is a cyborg, and that she received most of the information which forms the basis for her complaint, through ``proteus,'' which I read to be come silent, telepathic form of communication. ... She asserts that the defendants are involved in the ``Iron Mountain Plan,'' which provides for the reinstitutionalization of slavery and ``bloodsports'' (which she identifies as death-hunting and witchhunting), and the oppression of political dissidents, herself included. Plaintiff's complaint alleged a number of personal indignities visited upon her by defendants: ``strafing of my dormitory room by planes and helicopters, the electronic bugging of my student rooms and apartments, deliberate noise harassment, blasting of loud rock music with lyrics designed for witch-hunts (music about social pariahs) ... students following me around to prevent me from studying, whispering campaigns and social ostrification ...'' ... Plaintiff also makes the following allegations against the defendants. Former President Jimmy Carter was the secret head of the Ku Klux Klan; Bill Clinton is the biological son of Jimmy Carter; President Clinton and Ross Perot have made fortunes in the death-hunting industry, and are responsible for the murder of at least 10 million black women in concentration camps, their bodies sold for meat and their skin turned into leather products. The defendants are also responsible for breeding farms, which turn out 2,000 black girls a year, who are then sold for recreational murder or as human pets. Additionally, the defendants utilize weather control and earthquake technology to threaten other countries that object to the Iron Mountain Plan.
Now quick get a measuring tape and measure how far your jaw dropped after reading that last segment. I got almost four inches!
Wow I am in awe of that level of crazy! They may have to create a whole new diagnosis for her kind of psychosis. I hear that tinfoil sales in her neighborhood have skyrocketed!
You really need to click the link and read the whole affadavit. It is un-fucking-believable!
Okay now if this were happening to human males this global warming nonsense would be taken care of today!
The icecap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in east Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants.
Scientists report this shrinkage could, in the worst case scenario, endanger polar bears there and elsewhere by spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to diminish.
In fact, all marine mammals could get affected by these pollutants, "especially the Arctic fox, killer whale and pilot whales," wildlife veterinarian and toxicologist Christian Sonne at the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark in Roskilde told LiveScience. These animals bodies also carry extremely high levels of these contaminants.
Okay that is just about enough of this fucking around! I can deal with the droughts. I can deal with the super hot summers. I can even deal with the occasional tsunami. But come on! I am not going to allow my winky to shrink just so you all can drive a giant gas guzzling SUV! That is just not fair!
So I am going to start recycling and riding my bike to work. No more styrofoam! No more spray cans! And no more using petroleum jelly to uh....you know uh....well just no more petroleum jelly!
Scientists report this shrinkage could, in the worst case scenario, endanger polar bears there and elsewhere by spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to diminish.
In fact, all marine mammals could get affected by these pollutants, "especially the Arctic fox, killer whale and pilot whales," wildlife veterinarian and toxicologist Christian Sonne at the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark in Roskilde told LiveScience. These animals bodies also carry extremely high levels of these contaminants.
Okay that is just about enough of this fucking around! I can deal with the droughts. I can deal with the super hot summers. I can even deal with the occasional tsunami. But come on! I am not going to allow my winky to shrink just so you all can drive a giant gas guzzling SUV! That is just not fair!
So I am going to start recycling and riding my bike to work. No more styrofoam! No more spray cans! And no more using petroleum jelly to uh....you know uh....well just no more petroleum jelly!
Man arrested for broadcasting Hezbollah television station.
U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hizbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
It did not say how long Iqbal's company had been providing satellite broadcasts of al-Manar, which the U.S. Treasury Department in March had designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, making it a crime to conduct business with al-Manar.
Iqbal has been charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the statement said. Federal authorities searched HDTV's Brooklyn office and Iqbal's Staten Island home, where Iqbal was suspected of maintaining satellite dishes, the statement said.
The U.S. Treasury Department froze U.S. assets of al-Manar in March, saying it supported fund-raising and recruitment activities of Hizbollah, a Shiite Muslim group backed by Syria and Iran that has been at war with Israel in southern Lebanon.
I am a little shocked at this. You mean that broadcasting from a source that the government does not want us to hear from is an offence that requires jail time? I mean isn't this still America?
Isn't the point of having a free press is that we may hear or see things that our leaders may not want us to see or hear?
What are we going to hear from Hezbollah that threatens our democracy?
Do you know what really threatens our Democracy? Not letting us have access to information that is not sanctioned by our leaders. That is what will ulimately put our freedoms at risk.
You know I have little or no interest in hearing anything that Hezbollah has to say but I must admit that now that the governemnt won't let me listen to them my interest is now piqued. Good going government!
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
It did not say how long Iqbal's company had been providing satellite broadcasts of al-Manar, which the U.S. Treasury Department in March had designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, making it a crime to conduct business with al-Manar.
Iqbal has been charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the statement said. Federal authorities searched HDTV's Brooklyn office and Iqbal's Staten Island home, where Iqbal was suspected of maintaining satellite dishes, the statement said.
The U.S. Treasury Department froze U.S. assets of al-Manar in March, saying it supported fund-raising and recruitment activities of Hizbollah, a Shiite Muslim group backed by Syria and Iran that has been at war with Israel in southern Lebanon.
I am a little shocked at this. You mean that broadcasting from a source that the government does not want us to hear from is an offence that requires jail time? I mean isn't this still America?
Isn't the point of having a free press is that we may hear or see things that our leaders may not want us to see or hear?
What are we going to hear from Hezbollah that threatens our democracy?
Do you know what really threatens our Democracy? Not letting us have access to information that is not sanctioned by our leaders. That is what will ulimately put our freedoms at risk.
You know I have little or no interest in hearing anything that Hezbollah has to say but I must admit that now that the governemnt won't let me listen to them my interest is now piqued. Good going government!
Government removes funding for Evolutionary Biologists.
Evolutionary biology has vanished from the list of acceptable fields of study for recipients of a federal education grant for low-income college students.
The omission is inadvertent, said Katherine McLane, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, which administers the grants. “There is no explanation for it being left off the list,” Ms. McLane said. “It has always been an eligible major.”
Another spokeswoman, Samara Yudof, said evolutionary biology would be restored to the list, but as of last night it was still missing.
If a major is not on the list, students in that major cannot get grants unless they declare another major, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Mr. Nassirian said students seeking the grants went first to their college registrar, who determined whether they were full-time students majoring in an eligible field.
“If a field is missing, that student would not even get into the process,” he said.
That the omission occurred at all is worrying scientists concerned about threats to the teaching of evolution.
Just another example of the Bush administration's attack on science.
They figure if they can keep us ignorant they can keep us voting Republican. Diabolical!
The omission is inadvertent, said Katherine McLane, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, which administers the grants. “There is no explanation for it being left off the list,” Ms. McLane said. “It has always been an eligible major.”
Another spokeswoman, Samara Yudof, said evolutionary biology would be restored to the list, but as of last night it was still missing.
If a major is not on the list, students in that major cannot get grants unless they declare another major, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Mr. Nassirian said students seeking the grants went first to their college registrar, who determined whether they were full-time students majoring in an eligible field.
“If a field is missing, that student would not even get into the process,” he said.
That the omission occurred at all is worrying scientists concerned about threats to the teaching of evolution.
Just another example of the Bush administration's attack on science.
They figure if they can keep us ignorant they can keep us voting Republican. Diabolical!
Israel is a slow learner.
Israel is carefully watching the world's reaction to Iran's continued refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, with some high-level officials arguing it is now clear that when it comes to stopping Iran, Israel "may have to go it alone," The Jerusalem Post has learned.
One senior source said on Tuesday that Iran "flipped the world the bird" by not responding positively to the Western incentive plan to stop uranium enrichment. He expressed frustration that the Russians and Chinese were already saying that Iran's offer of a "new formula" and willingness to enter "serious negotiations" was an opening to keep on talking.
"The Iranians know the world will do nothing," he said. "This is similar to the world's attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s - they are trying to feed the beast."
He said there was a need to understand that "when push comes to shove," Israel would have to be prepared to "slow down" the Iranian nuclear threat by itself.
So after their disasterous, poorly planned battle with Hezbollah you would think that Israel would do some serious self evaluations before getting ready to attack a bigger and more dangerous foe. I mean if I were to lose a fight I sure as hell would not pick another one with a larger opponent immediately afterward. That is just ignorant.
And why do we feel that Iran is such a threat anyhow? Because they helped to arm their brothers in Hezbollah after they were attacked by Israel? Because they are arming and helping to train some of the Shiites in Iraq as they fight for supremacy? Because they want to develop nuclear weapons in an are a where they are surrounded by enemies similarly equipped?
None of this sounds any different then what any other country would do in the same circumstances, including the US who saw no hypocrisy in helping to arm Israel in their fight with Hezbollah. We are being incredible hypocrites in how we are dealing with Iran and we are tranparent in our attempt to use Israel to start a conflict with them in order to provide a reason for America to get involved.
Mark my words, if this is allowed to happen and Israel does indeed attack Iran we will quickly find America in the middle of yet another major war in the Middle East and this country will see the military draft reinstated so fast it will make your heads spin.
My advice? Vote Democrat!
One senior source said on Tuesday that Iran "flipped the world the bird" by not responding positively to the Western incentive plan to stop uranium enrichment. He expressed frustration that the Russians and Chinese were already saying that Iran's offer of a "new formula" and willingness to enter "serious negotiations" was an opening to keep on talking.
"The Iranians know the world will do nothing," he said. "This is similar to the world's attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s - they are trying to feed the beast."
He said there was a need to understand that "when push comes to shove," Israel would have to be prepared to "slow down" the Iranian nuclear threat by itself.
So after their disasterous, poorly planned battle with Hezbollah you would think that Israel would do some serious self evaluations before getting ready to attack a bigger and more dangerous foe. I mean if I were to lose a fight I sure as hell would not pick another one with a larger opponent immediately afterward. That is just ignorant.
And why do we feel that Iran is such a threat anyhow? Because they helped to arm their brothers in Hezbollah after they were attacked by Israel? Because they are arming and helping to train some of the Shiites in Iraq as they fight for supremacy? Because they want to develop nuclear weapons in an are a where they are surrounded by enemies similarly equipped?
None of this sounds any different then what any other country would do in the same circumstances, including the US who saw no hypocrisy in helping to arm Israel in their fight with Hezbollah. We are being incredible hypocrites in how we are dealing with Iran and we are tranparent in our attempt to use Israel to start a conflict with them in order to provide a reason for America to get involved.
Mark my words, if this is allowed to happen and Israel does indeed attack Iran we will quickly find America in the middle of yet another major war in the Middle East and this country will see the military draft reinstated so fast it will make your heads spin.
My advice? Vote Democrat!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Just like the Lieberman/Lamont upset we Alaskans have our own unbeatable incumbent that is getting the boot.
Former Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin knocked embattled incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski out of office in the Republican primary race for governor Tuesday, setting the stage for a general election showdown with former two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles and for a potential shake-up in her own party.Palin’s advantage looked insurmountable while Knowles walloped lesser-known challenger Eric Croft, an Anchorage state representative, after a wild election day marked by flooding in the soggy Mat-Su Valley, downpours in Anchorage and a Murkowski campaign volunteer falling victim to stray gunfire.
Throughout the primary, candidates for governor told voters why they’d do a better job than Murkowski, but with the incumbent out of the race, the contest changes. Now they must sell Alaskans on the way they’ll launch a much-anticipated natural gas pipeline and how they plan to steer the state from here.
I have a number of conflicting emotions running through my mind right now.
I am a huge fan and constant supporter of Democrat Tony Knowles. However I am rapidly becoming enamored of the fresh new Republican face of Sarah Palin.
I mean look at her. She is hot! And she has integrity. Real honesty and integrity. My nipples are erect!
I mean what is a liberal to do when confronted with a tried and true Democratic candidate and a new brand of ethical Republican? Do I just vote the party line? Or do I believe that there exists the possiblity that there is a Republican who is honest and uncorruptable? My head hurts.
I need to go eat some brie and wash it down with a latte.
The Christian Coalition is facing a mutiny.
Three disgruntled state affiliates have severed ties with the Christian Coalition of America, one of the nation's most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s but now buffeted by complaints over finances, leadership and its plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas.
"It's a very sad day for our people, but a liberating day," said John Giles, president of the coalition's Alabama chapter, which announced Wednesday that it was renaming itself and splitting from the national organization. The Iowa and Ohio chapters took similar steps this year.
Giles said he and his Alabama colleagues have "a dozen hard reasons" for the action but would elaborate on only one — a perception that the coalition's leadership was diverting itself from traditional concerns such as abortion and same-sex marriage to address other issues ranging from the environment to Internet access.
So to sum up why some of these Christian churches are leaving the Coalition it is because they are not hating the gays enough and are loving the trees too much!
"How dare you stop spitting at the faggots to start hugging the damn trees! What kind of a Christian are you?"
So I guess in this case I am on the side of the Christian Coalition? Oh dear!
"It's a very sad day for our people, but a liberating day," said John Giles, president of the coalition's Alabama chapter, which announced Wednesday that it was renaming itself and splitting from the national organization. The Iowa and Ohio chapters took similar steps this year.
Giles said he and his Alabama colleagues have "a dozen hard reasons" for the action but would elaborate on only one — a perception that the coalition's leadership was diverting itself from traditional concerns such as abortion and same-sex marriage to address other issues ranging from the environment to Internet access.
So to sum up why some of these Christian churches are leaving the Coalition it is because they are not hating the gays enough and are loving the trees too much!
"How dare you stop spitting at the faggots to start hugging the damn trees! What kind of a Christian are you?"
So I guess in this case I am on the side of the Christian Coalition? Oh dear!
The "Holy Jihad Brigades" are holding the "Holy Fox News for Bush" reporters.
A previously unheard of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.
American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand were kidnapped Aug. 14 from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City. Although Palestinian militant groups have often seized foreigners, including members of the media, this is the longest any have been held.
I keep wondering where the right wing bloggers who accused Jill Carroll of orchestrating her own kidnapping are right now. I mean Fox News certainly has more money to pay Iraqis to pretend to kidnap them for the ratings boost then poor little independant Jill had. But I have not found any right wingers willing to accuse these men of trying to pull a fast one. I wonder why?
Or do the "wingers" just assume that the insurgents and terrorists are only interested in taking conservative news reporters?
Well as a decidely left wing blogger I hope for the safe return of these men and have no reason whatsoever to think that they are not in grave danger. I hope that they are delivered back safely to their families just as Jill Carroll ultimately was.
American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand were kidnapped Aug. 14 from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City. Although Palestinian militant groups have often seized foreigners, including members of the media, this is the longest any have been held.
I keep wondering where the right wing bloggers who accused Jill Carroll of orchestrating her own kidnapping are right now. I mean Fox News certainly has more money to pay Iraqis to pretend to kidnap them for the ratings boost then poor little independant Jill had. But I have not found any right wingers willing to accuse these men of trying to pull a fast one. I wonder why?
Or do the "wingers" just assume that the insurgents and terrorists are only interested in taking conservative news reporters?
Well as a decidely left wing blogger I hope for the safe return of these men and have no reason whatsoever to think that they are not in grave danger. I hope that they are delivered back safely to their families just as Jill Carroll ultimately was.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Can you say backdoor draft?
The U.S. Marine Corps said Tuesday it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number of Marines who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military battles the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.
Just watch how fast the poll numbers decline in support of the Iraq war after this latest atrocity.
I think that the military is going to start talking out against this war en masse.
Usually the Commander in Chief can rely on the support of the military but I really believe those days are coming to an end for this administration.
Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number of Marines who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military battles the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.
Just watch how fast the poll numbers decline in support of the Iraq war after this latest atrocity.
I think that the military is going to start talking out against this war en masse.
Usually the Commander in Chief can rely on the support of the military but I really believe those days are coming to an end for this administration.
Man converts to Christianity to avoid prison but since Jesus let him down he is going to become a Jew again. Good going Jesus!
March was convicted last week of murdering his wife Janet.
In the latest twist to the case, sources told NewsChannel 5 that March is now trying to
convert from Christianity back to Judaism.
He became a Christian only a few weeks ago.
Detective Pat Postiglione said March may again be trying to manipulate the system.
“If you are able to convince the TDOC you’re are a practicing Jew it can send you to certain prisons. But, I don't think any prison is good,” Postiglione said.
Certain inmates are sometimes placed in prisons separate from ones that hold anti-Semitic gangs.
The jail chaplain declined to comment on March's religion.
Sure, you can fool God, but no way can you fool the inmates in the local "pound you in the ass prison". Those guys don't care if you are kosher or not.
In the latest twist to the case, sources told NewsChannel 5 that March is now trying to
convert from Christianity back to Judaism.
He became a Christian only a few weeks ago.
Detective Pat Postiglione said March may again be trying to manipulate the system.
“If you are able to convince the TDOC you’re are a practicing Jew it can send you to certain prisons. But, I don't think any prison is good,” Postiglione said.
Certain inmates are sometimes placed in prisons separate from ones that hold anti-Semitic gangs.
The jail chaplain declined to comment on March's religion.
Sure, you can fool God, but no way can you fool the inmates in the local "pound you in the ass prison". Those guys don't care if you are kosher or not.
I just joined the workforce.
I just got the call letting me know that I have a new teaching job.I imagine that I will be posting a little bit less in the future.
I just hope they can afford to pay me what I am worth.
(By the way I don't discuss politics or religion with the children. In case you were wondering.)
I am not sure how much time I have to post today because apparently I have to go make a baby.
According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections.Oh great as if I don't have enough to do this year now I have to go and find a woman willing to carry my demon spawn for nine months and then get it to the voting booth in eighteen years!
Aww! Look he is expressing his first political opinion.
Yay! It is the first day of school!
I love the first day of school!Now let's see do I have my lunchbox? Check.
Number 2 pencils? Check.
The big box of crayons with the sharpener on the back? Check.
My round tipped scissors? Check.
My two jars of paste (One for pasting and one for eating)? Check.
Well I am all set! Wish me luck!
Monday, August 21, 2006
After eleven years, church discovers that sunday school teacher is a woman and they fire her ass. But don't get upset cause the bible says it's okay
Since 1946, Mary Lambert has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Watertown, and for the past 11 years, she's been the Sunday school teacher.
But, last Thursday Lambert received a letter from the Diaconate Board telling her that she was dismissed from her position because the board had adopted the scriptural qualifications for Sunday school teachers. In short, this prohibits women from teaching men.
"I was astonished, absolutely astonished to pick up and read that kind of a letter without being talked to ahead of time about the possibility," said Mary Lambert.
The letter Lambert received says, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became sinner."
Well this is just stupid on a whole bunch of levels. So woman cannot teach men or boys anything? Does that include our moms? How about school teachers? Can you imagine little Johnny going to school and telling his second grade teacher that she is not to speak to him anymore? I would love to be a fly on the wall for that parent/teacher conference.
And what are the chances that this church is going to find guys willing to read bible stories to a room full of wiggling little anklebiters? Good luck with that.
The Christian church, dragging us back to the dark ages since the sixteenth century.
But, last Thursday Lambert received a letter from the Diaconate Board telling her that she was dismissed from her position because the board had adopted the scriptural qualifications for Sunday school teachers. In short, this prohibits women from teaching men.
"I was astonished, absolutely astonished to pick up and read that kind of a letter without being talked to ahead of time about the possibility," said Mary Lambert.
The letter Lambert received says, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became sinner."
Well this is just stupid on a whole bunch of levels. So woman cannot teach men or boys anything? Does that include our moms? How about school teachers? Can you imagine little Johnny going to school and telling his second grade teacher that she is not to speak to him anymore? I would love to be a fly on the wall for that parent/teacher conference.
And what are the chances that this church is going to find guys willing to read bible stories to a room full of wiggling little anklebiters? Good luck with that.
The Christian church, dragging us back to the dark ages since the sixteenth century.
My PJ's are way more Godly then your PJ's.
Boy those look comfy don't they? Do they have to sleep with both the headgear and shield?And remember this was not the Mom's idea, this was God's idea!
(I have to give a head nod to Shakespeare's Sister. She had this first.)
I have seen the enemy and he wears a funny hat.
I don't what country this guy is from, but I bet he hates America and he is clearly ready for anything.I think his hat has rendered me sterile.
Just another reason to be proud to be an American. When it comes to Evolution only one other country is dumber then we are.
Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals: true or false? This simple question is splitting America apart, with a growing proportion thinking that we did not descend from an ancestral ape. A survey of 32 European countries, the US and Japan has revealed that only Turkey is less willing than the US to accept evolution as fact.Religious fundamentalism, bitter partisan politics and poor science education have all contributed to this denial of evolution in the US, says Jon Miller of Michigan State University in East Lansing, who conducted the survey with his colleagues. "The US is the only country in which [the teaching of evolution] has been politicised," he says. "Republicans have clearly adopted this as one of their wedge issues. In most of the world, this is a non-issue."
Miller's report makes for grim reading for adherents of evolutionary theory. Even though the average American has more years of education than when Miller began his surveys 20 years ago, the percentage of people in the country who accept the idea of evolution has declined from 45 in 1985 to 40 in 2005 (Science, vol 313, p 765). That's despite a series of widely publicised advances in genetics, including genetic sequencing, which shows strong overlap of the human genome with those of chimpanzees and mice. "We don't seem to be going in the right direction," Miller says.
The main opposition to evolution comes from fundamentalist Christians, who are much more abundant in the US than in Europe. While Catholics, European Protestants and so-called mainstream US Protestants consider the biblical account of creation as a metaphor, fundamentalists take the Bible literally, leading them to believe that the Earth and humans were created only 6000 years ago.
This ridiculous argument has probably done more harm to science then any other. The idea that science can be trusted to make better medicine, create better technologies, but is somehow suspect when it is applied to the origins of mankind is obviously flawed.
And the further charge made by Christian Fundamentalists that there is a conspiracy in science to detroy faith in God is also full of shit. What the scientist says is that if the evidence supports the existence of a supreme being then great, but if it does not then we have to look for alternative answers to our questions. And so far the evidence for a supreme being is lacking.
However the evidence to support evolution is literally under our very feet. There are more and more discoveries being uncovered in Anthropology and Biology every day. It is truly a shame that so many young Americans will not be exposed such an exciting fields of study due to fear and primitive superstitions.
What are they trying to hide?
The Bush administration has begun designating as secret some information that the government long provided even to its enemy the former Soviet Union: the numbers of strategic weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during the Cold War.
The Pentagon and the Department of Energy are treating as national security secrets the historical totals of Minuteman, Titan II and other missiles, blacking out the information on previously public documents, according to a new report by the National Security Archive. The archive is a nonprofit research library housed at George Washington University.
"It would be difficult to find more dramatic examples of unjustifiable secrecy than these decisions to classify the numbers of U.S. strategic weapons," wrote William Burr, a senior analyst at the archive who compiled the report. " . . . The Pentagon is now trying to keep secret numbers of strategic weapons that have never been classified before."
The report comes at a time when the Bush administration's penchant for government secrecy has troubled researchers and bred controversy over agency efforts to withhold even seemingly innocuous information. The National Archives was embroiled in scandal during the spring when it was disclosed that the agency had for years kept secret a reclassification program under which the CIA, the Air Force and other agencies removed thousands of records from public shelves.
This is , of course, all just a red herring designed to throw the media off of the trail of the secrets that this administration really wants to keep secret. By re-classifying so many things as secret, it makes it so much easier to hide the documents that you want to keep from the prying eyes of journalists buried in a huge jumble of newly re-classified government papers. It is hiding your potentially embarrassing needle in an information haystack.
This President has talked about making his mark on history over and over again, and I believe that he is aware that if Americans really knew just how many lies and deceptions this administration had used they would damn them in the history books for all time. He is clumsily trying to polish his image for the future generations who do not have first hand knowledge of how bungled this Presidency really was.
However Bush and Co. are making an ignorant mistake. Just like he re-classified this information, a future President may just as easily de-classify it again. No, there is no place to hide from the judgement of history Mr. Bush. The truth will be discovered and you will supplant Nixon as our very worst President ever.
The Pentagon and the Department of Energy are treating as national security secrets the historical totals of Minuteman, Titan II and other missiles, blacking out the information on previously public documents, according to a new report by the National Security Archive. The archive is a nonprofit research library housed at George Washington University.
"It would be difficult to find more dramatic examples of unjustifiable secrecy than these decisions to classify the numbers of U.S. strategic weapons," wrote William Burr, a senior analyst at the archive who compiled the report. " . . . The Pentagon is now trying to keep secret numbers of strategic weapons that have never been classified before."
The report comes at a time when the Bush administration's penchant for government secrecy has troubled researchers and bred controversy over agency efforts to withhold even seemingly innocuous information. The National Archives was embroiled in scandal during the spring when it was disclosed that the agency had for years kept secret a reclassification program under which the CIA, the Air Force and other agencies removed thousands of records from public shelves.
This is , of course, all just a red herring designed to throw the media off of the trail of the secrets that this administration really wants to keep secret. By re-classifying so many things as secret, it makes it so much easier to hide the documents that you want to keep from the prying eyes of journalists buried in a huge jumble of newly re-classified government papers. It is hiding your potentially embarrassing needle in an information haystack.
This President has talked about making his mark on history over and over again, and I believe that he is aware that if Americans really knew just how many lies and deceptions this administration had used they would damn them in the history books for all time. He is clumsily trying to polish his image for the future generations who do not have first hand knowledge of how bungled this Presidency really was.
However Bush and Co. are making an ignorant mistake. Just like he re-classified this information, a future President may just as easily de-classify it again. No, there is no place to hide from the judgement of history Mr. Bush. The truth will be discovered and you will supplant Nixon as our very worst President ever.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The times they are a changin, and finally our musicians are lending their voices to protest this war.
Anti-war songs are often thought of as a relic of the Vietnam era, but today's stars are now increasingly criticizing the government over the war in Iraq.
Just a few years ago, this was considered a risky career move, but now rocking against the war is, quite literally, all the rage.
Perhaps the most acidic anti-war songs today are coming from an old hand. In the 1960s and '70s, Neil Young raged against the Vietnam War.
Now he has a new album, "Living With War," filled with songs like "Let's Impeach the President." Young says he's never made a record that produced more anger -- or more appreciation.
"I have people holding me by the shoulders with tears in their eyes thanking me for saying these things," he told ABC News.
That a major record label put out this album signals a real cultural shift. In 2003, the Dixie Chicks were bashed and boycotted for criticizing the president.
Today, the Dixie Chicks have a hit record.
Meanwhile, anti-war songs are pouring in from all corners of the musical spectrum -- including country legends such as Merle Haggard, classic rockers such as Bruce Springsteen, pop stars such as Pink, rappers such as KRS-One and punk rockers such as Green Day and Anti-Flag.
"We're trying to get a reaction out of people," said Justin Sane of Anti-Flag. "Even if people don't agree with what we say, we're trying to get people to think."
The proliferation of protest songs is reminiscent of the Vietnam era. But there's one big difference: Today, the musical movement is not accompanied by a mass movement against the war.
"The question is: Why haven't these musicians written the right song to start the movement?" says Dave Marsh, a rock historian. "And the answer to that is: That's not what songs do.
What songs do is not start things. What songs do is help sustain them."
I have long been writing about he need for some good protest songs to get people singing along and letting their feelings about this war out in songs and protests and gatherings. I am very glad to see it happening finally.
By the way, for my money the best song so far is Pink's "Dear Mr. President". Try listening to that one without tearing up sometime.
Just a few years ago, this was considered a risky career move, but now rocking against the war is, quite literally, all the rage.
Perhaps the most acidic anti-war songs today are coming from an old hand. In the 1960s and '70s, Neil Young raged against the Vietnam War.
Now he has a new album, "Living With War," filled with songs like "Let's Impeach the President." Young says he's never made a record that produced more anger -- or more appreciation.
"I have people holding me by the shoulders with tears in their eyes thanking me for saying these things," he told ABC News.
That a major record label put out this album signals a real cultural shift. In 2003, the Dixie Chicks were bashed and boycotted for criticizing the president.
Today, the Dixie Chicks have a hit record.
Meanwhile, anti-war songs are pouring in from all corners of the musical spectrum -- including country legends such as Merle Haggard, classic rockers such as Bruce Springsteen, pop stars such as Pink, rappers such as KRS-One and punk rockers such as Green Day and Anti-Flag.
"We're trying to get a reaction out of people," said Justin Sane of Anti-Flag. "Even if people don't agree with what we say, we're trying to get people to think."
The proliferation of protest songs is reminiscent of the Vietnam era. But there's one big difference: Today, the musical movement is not accompanied by a mass movement against the war.
"The question is: Why haven't these musicians written the right song to start the movement?" says Dave Marsh, a rock historian. "And the answer to that is: That's not what songs do.
What songs do is not start things. What songs do is help sustain them."
I have long been writing about he need for some good protest songs to get people singing along and letting their feelings about this war out in songs and protests and gatherings. I am very glad to see it happening finally.
By the way, for my money the best song so far is Pink's "Dear Mr. President". Try listening to that one without tearing up sometime.
Blair feels let down by Bush over Lebanon. Blair lifts his poodle tail and trots out of the room defiantly.
The alliance between George Bush and Tony Blair is in danger after it was revealed that the Prime Minister believes the President has 'let him down badly' over the Middle East crisis.A senior Downing Street source said that, privately, Mr Blair broadly agrees with John Prescott, who said Mr Bush's record on the issue was 'crap'.
The source said: "We all feel badly let down by Bush. We thought we had persuaded him to take the Israel-Palestine situation seriously, but we were wrong. How can anyone have faith in a man of such low intellect?"
Yes our president is a man of "low intellect" but what does that say about Tonay Blair and the other European leaders who followed George Bush into Iraq and allowed him make all of the important decisions? I mean the man is an imbecile and yet all of these sophisticated intellectual men followed him like he was the "Big Man on Campus" or something.
This was not a decision to "tp" a rival fraternities house, this was a decision to attack another country and depose its leader! And Bush managed to get England, Italy, Spain, Norway, Japan, and let's not forget Poland, to follow him into this disasterous war. How? And when are these leaders going to start making George pay for costing them the confidence of their fellow countrymen? It literally makes my head hurt sometimes.
I actually doubt that Blair will publicly say anything against the President. It would go against his poodly nature.
As if you need another reason to keep your children away from military recruiters.
More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.
A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.
At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. That's significantly more than the handful of cases disclosed in the past decade.
The AP also found:
A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.
At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. That's significantly more than the handful of cases disclosed in the past decade.
The AP also found:
- The Army, which accounts for almost half of the military, has had 722 recruiters accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996.
- Across all services, one out of 200 frontline recruiters , the ones who deal directly with young people, was disciplined for sexual misconduct last year.
- Some cases of improper behavior involved romantic relationships, and sometimes those relationships were initiated by the women.
- Most recruiters found guilty of sexual misconduct are disciplined administratively, facing a reduction in rank or forfeiture of pay; military and civilian prosecutions are rare.
- The increase in sexual misconduct incidents is consistent with overall recruiter wrongdoing, which has increased from just over 400 cases in 2004 to 630 cases in 2005, according to a General Accounting Office report released this week.
You know I want to support our military as much as I can, I know they are overworked and spread incredibly thin fighting two wars and trying to get help to their comrades in arms as soon as possible. But if they don't do some serious housecleaning they are going to find themselves vilified like they have not been since Vietnam.
We have soldiers raping and killing Iraqis, we have soldiers shooting civilians like they are part of some bigoted computer game, we have recruiters falsifying documents so that they can enlist kids much to screwed up to be in the Army, and now we have recruiters using their positions of power to rape young women.
All in all this makes the United States military look like a gang of thugs getting off on dominating and murdering anybody perceived as weaker then them. This must be stopped now!
I don't think that it will be effectively dealt with until we get our soldiers out of Iraq. Until then I would suggest that any parents out there with children old enough to serve, to keep them home and away from these predators until they do some internal investigations and find out just how screwed up the military has become.
Not only are there Atheists in foxholes, but they are kind of pissed!
There are no atheists in foxholes," the old saw goes. The line, attributed to a WWII chaplain, has since been uttered countless times by grunts, chaplains and news anchors. But an increasingly vocal group of activists and soldiers—atheist soldiers—disagrees. "It's a denial of our contributions," says Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, who founded the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. "A lot of people manage to serve without having to call on a higher power."
In the past several years, atheists have organized letter-writing campaigns against Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer (who issued a public apology) and other news anchors for repeating the "no atheists in foxholes" line on TV. And on Veterans Day 2005, several dozen atheist veterans paraded down the National Mall bearing American flags and signs reading ATHEIST VETERAN—WE SHARED YOUR FOXHOLES! Johnson says atheists in the military face prejudice. "Before I got to be the rank I am I had to keep my head down and my mouth shut. I had commanding officers who made it clear that they wouldn't tolerate atheism in their ranks." Military leaders deny any discrimination.
The idea that Atheists are cowards who quickly embrace a religion as soon as the going gets tough is truly insulting to any of us who approach the world with our eyes wide open. We are not Atheists because we have no fear. We are Atheists because fear does not dictate our choices in life.
The religious community will never understand us anymore then we will truly ever understand them.
In the past several years, atheists have organized letter-writing campaigns against Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer (who issued a public apology) and other news anchors for repeating the "no atheists in foxholes" line on TV. And on Veterans Day 2005, several dozen atheist veterans paraded down the National Mall bearing American flags and signs reading ATHEIST VETERAN—WE SHARED YOUR FOXHOLES! Johnson says atheists in the military face prejudice. "Before I got to be the rank I am I had to keep my head down and my mouth shut. I had commanding officers who made it clear that they wouldn't tolerate atheism in their ranks." Military leaders deny any discrimination.
The idea that Atheists are cowards who quickly embrace a religion as soon as the going gets tough is truly insulting to any of us who approach the world with our eyes wide open. We are not Atheists because we have no fear. We are Atheists because fear does not dictate our choices in life.
The religious community will never understand us anymore then we will truly ever understand them.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Our Chinese overlords would like the US to kindly shut up if they know what is good for them.
China’s Ambassador to the UN Sha Zukang admonished Washington yesterday of interfering in Beijing’s domestic affairs, particularly in its military program. Asked by a BBC reporter about China’s growing military budget, Sha Zukang did not contain himself and shouted out: “The population of China is six times as much as that of the United States. So, it’s time for Americans to shut up and keep quiet. They will be better off like this.”
“The United States have the right to settle domestic problems on its own, so let them not pry into China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese diplomat said. Sha Zukang also warned that if Taiwan declares independency and any country recognizes it, China will apply military force. “It is not a question of how big Taiwan is. Each centimeter of Chinese land is more important to us than lives of our soldiers,” the Chinese ambassador to UN stated openly.
I can't believe these guys are talking to us like that! well I am not going to stand for it.
Look you pajama wearing, bicycle riding, Chairman Mao following, douchebags, you better just watch your step! You know if our military wasn't scattered all over the world, and if what was left of our fighting force was not made virtaully impotent by poor leadership, and if our country did not owe you billions of dollars, and if our leader wasn't the biggest horses ass in history, and ....uh....and uh....you know maybe I was a little too harsh when I started this diatribe.
You know in America "douchebag" is a compliment.
I will just stop typing now, and hey listen, you do whatever you want with Taiwan they sold me a crappy toy when I was a kid anyway.
“The United States have the right to settle domestic problems on its own, so let them not pry into China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese diplomat said. Sha Zukang also warned that if Taiwan declares independency and any country recognizes it, China will apply military force. “It is not a question of how big Taiwan is. Each centimeter of Chinese land is more important to us than lives of our soldiers,” the Chinese ambassador to UN stated openly.
I can't believe these guys are talking to us like that! well I am not going to stand for it.
Look you pajama wearing, bicycle riding, Chairman Mao following, douchebags, you better just watch your step! You know if our military wasn't scattered all over the world, and if what was left of our fighting force was not made virtaully impotent by poor leadership, and if our country did not owe you billions of dollars, and if our leader wasn't the biggest horses ass in history, and ....uh....and uh....you know maybe I was a little too harsh when I started this diatribe.
You know in America "douchebag" is a compliment.
I will just stop typing now, and hey listen, you do whatever you want with Taiwan they sold me a crappy toy when I was a kid anyway.
Does religion have a societal benefit? Oh this should be good.
In broad terms the hypothesis that popular religiosity is socially beneficial holds that high rates of belief in a creator, as well as worship, prayer and other aspects of religious practice, correlate with lowering rates of lethal violence, suicide, non-monogamous sexual activity, and abortion, as well as improved physical health. Such faith-based, virtuous “cultures of life” are supposedly attainable if people believe that God created them for a special purpose, and follow the strict moral dictates imposed by religion.
Many people, especially Americans, believe this to be inarguably accurate. But is it?
Among the developed democracies absolute belief in God, attendance of religious services and Bible literalism vary over a dozenfold, atheists and agnostics five fold, prayer rates fourfold, and acceptance of evolution almost twofold. Japan, Scandinavia, and France are the most secular nations in the west, the United States is the only prosperous first world nation to retain rates of religiosity otherwise limited to the second and third worlds.
The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill” to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health.
No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction. In some cases the highly religious U.S. is an outlier in terms of societal dysfunction from less theistic but otherwise socially comparable secular developed democracies.
So let's see if we can simplify this shall we? The nations of the world that accept evolution nad reject a thiestic belief system have a healthier society then the countries that reject science and cling to ancient superstitions. Got it?
Actually I know for a fact that if you were a believer you just discounted this out of hand and stopped reading several paragraphs ago.
If you are a non-believer you probably have read this post all the way to this point. Sorry I am all out of gold stars, but good for you anyway! You my friend are a thinker! You will go far in life and be an embarrassment to your holy roller friends and family.
Many people, especially Americans, believe this to be inarguably accurate. But is it?
Among the developed democracies absolute belief in God, attendance of religious services and Bible literalism vary over a dozenfold, atheists and agnostics five fold, prayer rates fourfold, and acceptance of evolution almost twofold. Japan, Scandinavia, and France are the most secular nations in the west, the United States is the only prosperous first world nation to retain rates of religiosity otherwise limited to the second and third worlds.
The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill” to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health.
No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction. In some cases the highly religious U.S. is an outlier in terms of societal dysfunction from less theistic but otherwise socially comparable secular developed democracies.
So let's see if we can simplify this shall we? The nations of the world that accept evolution nad reject a thiestic belief system have a healthier society then the countries that reject science and cling to ancient superstitions. Got it?
Actually I know for a fact that if you were a believer you just discounted this out of hand and stopped reading several paragraphs ago.
If you are a non-believer you probably have read this post all the way to this point. Sorry I am all out of gold stars, but good for you anyway! You my friend are a thinker! You will go far in life and be an embarrassment to your holy roller friends and family.
Mighty hunter kill bear! Bear was tame. Bear was killed while it was still penned up. Hunter not so mighty after all. Hunter is a pussy!
Troy Lee Gentry, of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, has been accused of killing a tame black bear that federal officials say he tagged as killed in the wild. Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., and Lee Marvin Greenly, 46, of Sandstone, appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in connection with a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis.
Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly's property in October 2004.
What a truly horrible excuse for a man! First he pretends to be a cowboy and now he pretends to be a hunter. He is just a little boy playing make believe.
Joe Lieberman, finally a Democrat that Republicans can endorse! This advertisement brought to you by the "People Against Accountability".
Facing Senator Joseph I. Lieberman’s independent candidacy, Republican officials at the state and national level have made the extraordinary decision to abandon their official candidate, and some are actively working to help Mr. Lieberman win in November.
Despite Mr. Lieberman’s position that he will continue to caucus with Democrats if re-elected, all three Republican Congressional candidates in Connecticut have praised Mr. Lieberman and have not endorsed the party’s nominee, Alan Schlesinger. An independent group with Republican ties is raising money for Mr. Lieberman, who has been a strong supporter of President Bush on the Iraq war.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, while saying he would support the Republican nominee, is not planning to campaign for him, and even allowed two of his aides to consult with the Lieberman camp before the Aug. 8 Democratic primary. And Newt Gingrich, the Republican who once served as House speaker, has endorsed Mr. Lieberman’s candidacy.
You know if this were World War 2 and you found that one of your generals was receiving ammunition and cigars from the Germans wouldn't you be afraid to turn your back on him? Of course you would. You would have to ask yourself, what does the enemy know about my general that I do not?
Now I don't know what Zell Miller's....I am so sorry....Joe Lieberman's game is here but if he is going to allow the Republicans to help him to get elected then why doesn't he have the balls to officially switch parties? And what kind of Democrat would vote for a candidate that is being endorsed by the party that brought us record high deficits, through the roof gas prices, and a embarrassingly unpopular war?
Maybe it is time for these so-called Democrats to go look in a mirror and admit to themselves that they are really Republicans. There, now you can freely oppress the minorities and buy a larger SUV. Don't you feel better?
Despite Mr. Lieberman’s position that he will continue to caucus with Democrats if re-elected, all three Republican Congressional candidates in Connecticut have praised Mr. Lieberman and have not endorsed the party’s nominee, Alan Schlesinger. An independent group with Republican ties is raising money for Mr. Lieberman, who has been a strong supporter of President Bush on the Iraq war.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, while saying he would support the Republican nominee, is not planning to campaign for him, and even allowed two of his aides to consult with the Lieberman camp before the Aug. 8 Democratic primary. And Newt Gingrich, the Republican who once served as House speaker, has endorsed Mr. Lieberman’s candidacy.
You know if this were World War 2 and you found that one of your generals was receiving ammunition and cigars from the Germans wouldn't you be afraid to turn your back on him? Of course you would. You would have to ask yourself, what does the enemy know about my general that I do not?
Now I don't know what Zell Miller's....I am so sorry....Joe Lieberman's game is here but if he is going to allow the Republicans to help him to get elected then why doesn't he have the balls to officially switch parties? And what kind of Democrat would vote for a candidate that is being endorsed by the party that brought us record high deficits, through the roof gas prices, and a embarrassingly unpopular war?
Maybe it is time for these so-called Democrats to go look in a mirror and admit to themselves that they are really Republicans. There, now you can freely oppress the minorities and buy a larger SUV. Don't you feel better?
Friday, August 18, 2006
I have to admit that I am both amazed and a little bit shocked. You will just have to see it for yourself. Go ahead give it a click.
A Christian sex toy shop!I just typed "Christian" and "sex toy" in the same sentence and it does not involve somebody picketing outside an adult business. Can you beleive it?
I had thought I had seen everything.
Well now I have.
(Isn't this little porno Easter bunny just the cutest thing?)
Christian college students feel persecuted just like....uh like....uh I can't think of an example here.
But what students and parents don’t realize is that today’s campuses are functioning as an indoctrination into the realm of liberalism. As early as the 1790s, Yale college students were openly disavowing Christ. Despite periods of revival, the denial of Christian beliefs and the acceptance of secularism have persisted and gained strength through the years.
This is what I loved about college, all of the thinking. Oh, and the drinking.
In April 2000, Tufts University in Massachusetts decertified a Christian student group “for its refusal to allow a lesbian to run for president,” as columnist Matt Kaufman reported on Boundless.org. The decision was later repealed.
Yet, six years later, students at the University of Michigan may sign up for “Lesbian Worlds: Subject, Object and Representation,” “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Queer Studies” and other homosexual-based offerings for the 2006 fall semester.
So let me get this straight. The little Christian children feel oppressed because the college does not oppress gays and bi-sexuals?
Man, my heart bleeds.
This is what I loved about college, all of the thinking. Oh, and the drinking.
In April 2000, Tufts University in Massachusetts decertified a Christian student group “for its refusal to allow a lesbian to run for president,” as columnist Matt Kaufman reported on Boundless.org. The decision was later repealed.
Yet, six years later, students at the University of Michigan may sign up for “Lesbian Worlds: Subject, Object and Representation,” “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Queer Studies” and other homosexual-based offerings for the 2006 fall semester.
So let me get this straight. The little Christian children feel oppressed because the college does not oppress gays and bi-sexuals?
Man, my heart bleeds.
21 ex-generals call the Bush administration on their terrible foreign policy decisions.
Twenty-one former generals and high ranking national security officials have called on United States President George W. Bush to reverse course and embrace a new area of negotiation with Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. In a letter released Thursday, the group told reporters Bush's 'hard line' policies have undermined national security and made America less safe.
Of particular concern for the generals was increased saber rattling between Washington and Tehran over the development of an Iranian nuclear program.
"We call on the administration to engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions to help resolve the current crisis in the Middle East and to settle differences over an Iranian nuclear program," their letter read.
"An attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region and U.S. forces in Iraq," they argued. "It would inflame hatred and violence in the Middle East and among Muslims everywhere."
Of course the White House immediately dismissed the letter.
At the White House, Bush's spokesperson Tony Snow dismissed the letter.
"In a political year people are going to make political statements, including retired generals, and they're perfectly welcome to," Snow told reporters at his daily briefing. "It's an important addition to the public debate. But we're also--the president is a guy who has got real responsibility here. Now, I've got to tell you, just given to what I said...in response to the sort of ongoing cost of promoting freedom around the globe, do you not think a president will do everything in his power to succeed? And the answer is, yes. He's not sitting around saying, boy, I'm stubborn, I'm going to stick with it.
You know when you see a bunch of generals in a panic about the direction this administration is taking you better sit up and take notice. These guys are warriors and they don't scare easily.
Of particular concern for the generals was increased saber rattling between Washington and Tehran over the development of an Iranian nuclear program.
"We call on the administration to engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions to help resolve the current crisis in the Middle East and to settle differences over an Iranian nuclear program," their letter read.
"An attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region and U.S. forces in Iraq," they argued. "It would inflame hatred and violence in the Middle East and among Muslims everywhere."
Of course the White House immediately dismissed the letter.
At the White House, Bush's spokesperson Tony Snow dismissed the letter.
"In a political year people are going to make political statements, including retired generals, and they're perfectly welcome to," Snow told reporters at his daily briefing. "It's an important addition to the public debate. But we're also--the president is a guy who has got real responsibility here. Now, I've got to tell you, just given to what I said...in response to the sort of ongoing cost of promoting freedom around the globe, do you not think a president will do everything in his power to succeed? And the answer is, yes. He's not sitting around saying, boy, I'm stubborn, I'm going to stick with it.
You know when you see a bunch of generals in a panic about the direction this administration is taking you better sit up and take notice. These guys are warriors and they don't scare easily.
England finally recognizes that it is Christians that are screwing up this planet. The Buddhists smugly nod their heads in agreement.
"I think Christian theology is a bit to blame here," says Claire Foster, the Church of England's environment policy adviser.
"Genesis talks about God giving man dominion over the animals and nature. There was an idea (in Victorian England) that it wasn't just that we had a right, but that we had a God-given duty to exploit nature for the sake of man. That's a kind of bad theology. If you look at the story of Adam and Eve and the job that Adam was given before he ate the apple, before the fall, it was to till and keep the garden."
Descartes is also to blame, says Foster, for proposing that humans are distinct from the rest of the universe: that the universe was inert matter to be controlled and used for humans. Darwin and his theory of evolution, she says, put mankind back into the play.
"That is the theory of evolution, isn't it, that we are deeply interconnected with the whole of nature?"
Possibly the most dangerous idea proffered by any religion is the belief that the planet was created for them and therefore they may do whatever they want with it without any consequences befalling them. It is the sort of belief that is dreamed up by a primitive people who have no understanding of how the world works and therefore believe everything that they observe is a miracle.
In today's world we can no longer afford to be so self centered. We are destroying this rock and we have do not have the technology to flee it as it crumbles beneath our feet.
To put it bluntly, if we don't implement some dramatic changes we are fucked!
"Genesis talks about God giving man dominion over the animals and nature. There was an idea (in Victorian England) that it wasn't just that we had a right, but that we had a God-given duty to exploit nature for the sake of man. That's a kind of bad theology. If you look at the story of Adam and Eve and the job that Adam was given before he ate the apple, before the fall, it was to till and keep the garden."
Descartes is also to blame, says Foster, for proposing that humans are distinct from the rest of the universe: that the universe was inert matter to be controlled and used for humans. Darwin and his theory of evolution, she says, put mankind back into the play.
"That is the theory of evolution, isn't it, that we are deeply interconnected with the whole of nature?"
Possibly the most dangerous idea proffered by any religion is the belief that the planet was created for them and therefore they may do whatever they want with it without any consequences befalling them. It is the sort of belief that is dreamed up by a primitive people who have no understanding of how the world works and therefore believe everything that they observe is a miracle.
In today's world we can no longer afford to be so self centered. We are destroying this rock and we have do not have the technology to flee it as it crumbles beneath our feet.
To put it bluntly, if we don't implement some dramatic changes we are fucked!
Canadians still don't know how to use a condom right.
Condoms are very much in style as a fashion accessory at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, showing up on strait-laced men, shy teenagers and African grandmothers."There's a great need to de-stigmatize condoms around the world, especially in Africa," said Franck DeRose, executive director of The Condom Project, which aims to get people comfortable about condoms, especially those living in countries where the little piece of latex is considered taboo.
To do that, the project has a program that gets people making their own condom art pin. It all starts with a craft table, packaged condoms, scraps of colored paper, candy and other double-sided tape.
Oh yeah, wearing the condoms as clothing should really reduce the number of AID's cases and pregnancies.
"Look Fernando, we can have sex without worry because my hat is made of prophylactics! Is that not wonderful?"
Canada is doomed!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
If you want to know the truth about bears then you need to visit Wikiality courtesy of Stephen Colbert.
Here is a taste:
Bear Trivia
Bear Trivia
Shit in the woods.
They are godless killing machines.
How many bears does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None, because they hate light, and all other good and holy things.
Roosevelt is also responsible for the teddy bear. The toys were named in honor of Roosevelt when, during a hunt, he refused to shoot an old female bear tied to a tree. After that act of appeasement, this bear went on to shoot Archduke Ferdinand, thus igniting World War I.
When you’re hiking, you should pin a bell to your clothes. It jingles, and that noise makes the bears think it’s Christmas, which they hate, because when they're not waging war on mankind, they're waging a War on Christmas.
If confronted by a bear never turn your back on one. Such a gesture maybe seen as permission to mate.
In the year of 2006 a grizzly and polar bear mated, this is just one step in their plan to create the ultimate killing machine.
Also in 2006 a bear consumed a monkey, this is just one step in their move through the evolutionary chain.
Bears love honey and picnic baskets.
The bear population has increased in recent years, having risen over 3 times its previous level.
You might think it's just elephants, but that's just the bear conspiracy, a bearspiracy if you will to make us all focus on the elephants while those godless killing machines get freaky in our woods!
Bears tend to attend their own walk of fame ceremonies in nothing but a red T-shirt! That's just despictable, think of the children.
Bears are allied with the Democratic Party, along with the Asses.
Bears are the majority shareholders in The New York Times stock.
Osama bin Laden is actually a bear taking human form.
Bears use Tabasco sauce for eye drops.
Bears superficially watch CBS in droves to create a dishonest market sample of viewership so CBS can propagate more terrible shows.
Some people mistakenly think "bear spray" is a bear repellent, so they spray it on their kids. The bears like this because it makes the kids taste a little spicy.
Stephen Colbert will never submit to the bear agenda unlike weaker television hosts such as Bill O'Reilly aka "Papa Bear"
Stephen Colbert is slowly taking over this planet. Well how much worse can he be then the ones who are running things now?
Could somebody actually blow a plane out of the sky using liquids? Probably not!
We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.
Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard.
Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you'll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you'll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.
After a few hours - assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven't overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities - you'll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two.
The genius of this scheme is that TATP is relatively easy to detonate. But you must make enough of it to crash the plane, and you must make it with care to assure potency. One needs quality stuff to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," as Deputy Police
Commissioner Paul Stephenson put it. While it's true that a slapdash concoction will explode, it's unlikely to do more than blow out a few windows. At best, an infidel or two might be killed by the blast, and one or two others by flying debris as the cabin suddenly depressurizes, but that's about all you're likely to manage under the most favorable conditions possible.
Well now isn't that interesting?
So now we must ask ourselves whether the British government and the Bush administration have anybody on staff with a degree in Chemistry who might have informed them that this plan was a non-starter? Or did they already know that this was no real danger and just chose to try and scare us so that we would be distracted from recent bad news about Iraq and the Hezbollah-Israel conflict?
Guess which one I am going to believe?
Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard.
Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you'll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you'll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.
After a few hours - assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven't overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities - you'll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two.
The genius of this scheme is that TATP is relatively easy to detonate. But you must make enough of it to crash the plane, and you must make it with care to assure potency. One needs quality stuff to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," as Deputy Police
Commissioner Paul Stephenson put it. While it's true that a slapdash concoction will explode, it's unlikely to do more than blow out a few windows. At best, an infidel or two might be killed by the blast, and one or two others by flying debris as the cabin suddenly depressurizes, but that's about all you're likely to manage under the most favorable conditions possible.
Well now isn't that interesting?
So now we must ask ourselves whether the British government and the Bush administration have anybody on staff with a degree in Chemistry who might have informed them that this plan was a non-starter? Or did they already know that this was no real danger and just chose to try and scare us so that we would be distracted from recent bad news about Iraq and the Hezbollah-Israel conflict?
Guess which one I am going to believe?
Army recruiters caught breaking the rules again.
The Army has launched an investigation into claims by the parents of a young soldier from Utah that recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him.
The 17-year-old was recruited from a youth prison in Ogden.
In a coincidence of timing, a Congressional report was released today detailing hundreds of complaints of recruiting irregularity and fraud.
In the Utah case, is it fraud or just a homesick kid who wants to come home?
To take the oath and join the military, a 17-year-old must have parental approval in writing. Steve Price of Brigham City was barely 17 when he enlisted last January. He was recruited while serving time at a youth prison in Ogden.
He's now a PFC at Ft. Stewart Georgia. He told us by phone, he believes his parents' approval signatures were forged.
Pfc.Steven Price: "I want out. Right now. It's all, it's all bull. It's all a game. It's terrible."
How desperate must our military be to recruit a teenager out of a youth prison and then falsify the documents? I keep hearing the right wing bloggers talking about the millitary meeting their recruitment goals without a problem. I think that this dispells that particular lie.
I truly doubt that this kid had any idea what he was getting into. He probably only thought about getting out of prison and did not consider what life in the military might be like for somebody like him.
And what kind of a soldier will he make anyway? Would you want to be in his battalion?
The 17-year-old was recruited from a youth prison in Ogden.
In a coincidence of timing, a Congressional report was released today detailing hundreds of complaints of recruiting irregularity and fraud.
In the Utah case, is it fraud or just a homesick kid who wants to come home?
To take the oath and join the military, a 17-year-old must have parental approval in writing. Steve Price of Brigham City was barely 17 when he enlisted last January. He was recruited while serving time at a youth prison in Ogden.
He's now a PFC at Ft. Stewart Georgia. He told us by phone, he believes his parents' approval signatures were forged.
Pfc.Steven Price: "I want out. Right now. It's all, it's all bull. It's all a game. It's terrible."
How desperate must our military be to recruit a teenager out of a youth prison and then falsify the documents? I keep hearing the right wing bloggers talking about the millitary meeting their recruitment goals without a problem. I think that this dispells that particular lie.
I truly doubt that this kid had any idea what he was getting into. He probably only thought about getting out of prison and did not consider what life in the military might be like for somebody like him.
And what kind of a soldier will he make anyway? Would you want to be in his battalion?
School decides to change abstinence only sex education program after 65 female students show up pregnant. "Didn't you kids read chapter four?"
An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school's female students were pregnant last year.
There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.
The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district's health curriculum in line with national standards.
Sixty five pregnant students? Holy crap that is a lot of slutty girls!
You know I remember when I learned sex education in school. It was in a station wagon parked at the edge of the woods next to the school. I was a very, very attentive student. I even got a gold star, and a hickey!
There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.
The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district's health curriculum in line with national standards.
Sixty five pregnant students? Holy crap that is a lot of slutty girls!
You know I remember when I learned sex education in school. It was in a station wagon parked at the edge of the woods next to the school. I was a very, very attentive student. I even got a gold star, and a hickey!
Federal judge sides with the terrorists.
Well at least that is the way that the Republicans and this administration are going to spin this:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
I have already heard one CNN correspondent mention that this judge is a Carter appointee as if that somehow made the decision less important. I have confidence that this is just one of many decisions that are going to be handed down that demonstrate that this administration callously and with malice broke many of our most important laws. I can only hope that they get a chance to experience the true consequences of breaking those laws.
Can you say "soap on a rope"?
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
I have already heard one CNN correspondent mention that this judge is a Carter appointee as if that somehow made the decision less important. I have confidence that this is just one of many decisions that are going to be handed down that demonstrate that this administration callously and with malice broke many of our most important laws. I can only hope that they get a chance to experience the true consequences of breaking those laws.
Can you say "soap on a rope"?
Are you still just having sex with some human? Wow, how primitive is that?
In his 1991 book "Virtual Reality," new media guru Howard Rheingold speculated on virtual reality sex and suggested a way to solve this lack of sensation, using a term first coined by computer networking pioneer Ted Nelson: teledildonics.
(You know I just had to post a story that had the word teledildonics in it, didn't you?)
By using computers to control sex toys over long distances, VR sex could seem quite real indeed. Now, 15 years after Rheingold’s book, a few companies say teledildonics have finally arrived.
Web-based outfits like Sinulate.com and HighJoy.com enable users to engage in sex play when they connect a vibrator to a computer that receives electronic instructions submitted by somebody sitting at another computer. The user interfaces, which resemble airplane cockpit controls or stereo sound leveling dials, change the speed and direction of a vibrator hooked up to the receiver’s computer.
I can certainly see the advantages. No more going to bed with Jenna Jameson and waking up to Jo Jo, the dog face boy. And think how easy breakups will be. You just delete the little darling from your "friends" list.
Hughes, for one, looks forward to the day when VR, teledildonics and other technologies combine. “Fifteen, 20 years from now, relationships online are going to be increasingly realistic,” he argues.
A future of VR sex could have some advantages. No STDs, no worry the fellow furry fetishist you meet at a convention will turn out to be the guy who works the counter at Dunkin’ Donuts, and men could finally have sex with virtual women who look like the wide-eyed characters in manga comics.
So, he says, “body-to-body sex is probably going to become less common. People will increasingly turn to mediated experiences.”
Sorry, as much as I want to be on the cutting edge of kinky technology I am going to have to give this a pass. Call me old fashioned but I still enjoy the comfort of holding each other right after a rousing two hour session of hot monkey love. I like making her sleep in the wet spot and telling her that, of course I love her, right now. I like kissing her lips and telling her that she is the best I have had, tonight.
Who could posssibly let such tender moments slip away?
(You know I just had to post a story that had the word teledildonics in it, didn't you?)
By using computers to control sex toys over long distances, VR sex could seem quite real indeed. Now, 15 years after Rheingold’s book, a few companies say teledildonics have finally arrived.
Web-based outfits like Sinulate.com and HighJoy.com enable users to engage in sex play when they connect a vibrator to a computer that receives electronic instructions submitted by somebody sitting at another computer. The user interfaces, which resemble airplane cockpit controls or stereo sound leveling dials, change the speed and direction of a vibrator hooked up to the receiver’s computer.
I can certainly see the advantages. No more going to bed with Jenna Jameson and waking up to Jo Jo, the dog face boy. And think how easy breakups will be. You just delete the little darling from your "friends" list.
Hughes, for one, looks forward to the day when VR, teledildonics and other technologies combine. “Fifteen, 20 years from now, relationships online are going to be increasingly realistic,” he argues.
A future of VR sex could have some advantages. No STDs, no worry the fellow furry fetishist you meet at a convention will turn out to be the guy who works the counter at Dunkin’ Donuts, and men could finally have sex with virtual women who look like the wide-eyed characters in manga comics.
So, he says, “body-to-body sex is probably going to become less common. People will increasingly turn to mediated experiences.”
Sorry, as much as I want to be on the cutting edge of kinky technology I am going to have to give this a pass. Call me old fashioned but I still enjoy the comfort of holding each other right after a rousing two hour session of hot monkey love. I like making her sleep in the wet spot and telling her that, of course I love her, right now. I like kissing her lips and telling her that she is the best I have had, tonight.
Who could posssibly let such tender moments slip away?
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