If you want to see this whole interview without having to go through YouTube, then go here. Jon Stewart is an amazing man and we are lucky to have him making us laugh while educating us about what is really going on in our world.
Monday, April 30, 2007
This DC Madam thing is going to be huge!
ABC News’ Brian Ross revealed tonight that the list of customers of an alleged Washington-based prostitution service includes White House and Pentagon officials as well as prominent attorneys.
“There are thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers,” Ross said. “And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers — a long, long list.” Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, “include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers.”
So the gist of this woman's defense is that she only ran a massage business, and is counting on these prominent people, who do not want to admit they paid for sex, to back her up. Interesting strategy.
Unfortunately the prosecution is going to subpoena these women who worked for the madam, give them immunity, and have them tell all of us what really happened.
So this thing is going to get very, very ugly. I can hardly wait.
“There are thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers,” Ross said. “And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers — a long, long list.” Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, “include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers.”
So the gist of this woman's defense is that she only ran a massage business, and is counting on these prominent people, who do not want to admit they paid for sex, to back her up. Interesting strategy.
Unfortunately the prosecution is going to subpoena these women who worked for the madam, give them immunity, and have them tell all of us what really happened.
So this thing is going to get very, very ugly. I can hardly wait.
John McCain is a lying bastard! 72% of US military have wanted out of Iraq since 2006.
An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.
The poll, conducted in conjunction with Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies, showed that 29% of the respondents, serving in various branches of the armed forces, said the U.S. should leave Iraq “immediately,” while another 22% said they should leave in the next six months. Another 21% said troops should be out between six and 12 months, while 23% said they should stay “as long as they are needed.”
This poll is from February 2006, but does anybody really believe that there are any less soldiers wanting this war to be over as soon as possible?
But John McCain is telling anybody who will listen that the soldiers he talks to think that what they are doing is important and they do not want to leave until the mission is accomplished.
And that is just a load of bullshit! "Straight talk express" my ass!
The poll, conducted in conjunction with Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies, showed that 29% of the respondents, serving in various branches of the armed forces, said the U.S. should leave Iraq “immediately,” while another 22% said they should leave in the next six months. Another 21% said troops should be out between six and 12 months, while 23% said they should stay “as long as they are needed.”
This poll is from February 2006, but does anybody really believe that there are any less soldiers wanting this war to be over as soon as possible?
But John McCain is telling anybody who will listen that the soldiers he talks to think that what they are doing is important and they do not want to leave until the mission is accomplished.
And that is just a load of bullshit! "Straight talk express" my ass!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Former CIA chief George Tenet is exposing the lies of the Bush administration.
This really good stuff, much of it is information that we did not know before. And of course all of it continues to point out how unbelievably screwed up the Iraq war planning was and how even more fucked up the planning for after the war has been.
Here is just a small indication of what kinds of colossal mistakes were made by this administration in conducting their illegal war:
We soon began hearing stories about how Iraqis could not send their kids to school because all the teachers had been dismissed for being members of the Ba'ath Party. In the context of a country armed to the teeth, this was not a good thing. If the kids and teachers were not in school, they were on the streets. I went to see Condi Rice and complained that the indiscriminate nature of the de-Ba'athification order had swept away not just Saddam's thugs but also, for example, something like forty thousand schoolteachers, who had joined the Ba'ath Party simply to keep their jobs. This order wasn't protecting Iraqis; it was destroying what little institutional foundations were left in the country. The net effect was to persuade many ex-Ba'athists to join the insurgency. Condi said she was very frustrated by the situation, but nothing ever happened. Several months later, with a full-blown insurgency under way, an interagency group headed by Deputy National Security Advisor Bob Blackwill desperately looked for ways to reach out to dissident Sunni Arabs. We again raised the subject of rolling back the de-Ba'athification order. Doug Feith retorted that doing so would "undermine the entire moral justification for the war."
Here is just a small indication of what kinds of colossal mistakes were made by this administration in conducting their illegal war:
We soon began hearing stories about how Iraqis could not send their kids to school because all the teachers had been dismissed for being members of the Ba'ath Party. In the context of a country armed to the teeth, this was not a good thing. If the kids and teachers were not in school, they were on the streets. I went to see Condi Rice and complained that the indiscriminate nature of the de-Ba'athification order had swept away not just Saddam's thugs but also, for example, something like forty thousand schoolteachers, who had joined the Ba'ath Party simply to keep their jobs. This order wasn't protecting Iraqis; it was destroying what little institutional foundations were left in the country. The net effect was to persuade many ex-Ba'athists to join the insurgency. Condi said she was very frustrated by the situation, but nothing ever happened. Several months later, with a full-blown insurgency under way, an interagency group headed by Deputy National Security Advisor Bob Blackwill desperately looked for ways to reach out to dissident Sunni Arabs. We again raised the subject of rolling back the de-Ba'athification order. Doug Feith retorted that doing so would "undermine the entire moral justification for the war."
Primitive humans were a bunch of pervs. I am so proud of my heritage.
Practices ranging from bondage to group sex, transvestism and the use of sex toys were widespread in primitive societies as a way of building up cultural ties.
According to the study, a 30,000-year-old statue of a naked woman - the Venus of Willendorf - and an equally ancient stone phallus found in a German cave, provide the earliest direct evidence that sex was about far more than babies.
Timothy Taylor, reader in archeology at Bradford University, reviewed evidence from dozens of archeological finds and scientific studies for his research.
“The widespread lay belief that sex in the past was predominantly heterosexual and reproductive can be challenged,” said Taylor.
He argues that monogamy only became established as hunter-gatherer societies took up agriculture and settled in houses, allowing the social roles of men and women to become more fixed.
The fact is that we are sexual beings. We like to have sex, we like to think about sex, we like to watch sex, and we are often distracted by sexual images or ideas.
This is not a bad thing. We only believe it is bad because small minded people told us that their God did not want us to want sex unless it was to make a baby. That is in opposition to everything that our bodies and our minds desire. It is in opposition to what we see in much of the animal kingdom as well. We see homosexuality every where in the natural world. We see multiple partners in the animal kingdom. We see literally dozens examples of what our moral police would call unnatural desires. But if they were indeed "unnatural" then why would they be found everywhere in nature?
We have the most highly developed brain on the planet, we can decide for ourselves how to express our sexuality, but if we allow ourselves to be controlled by the most self loathing people in our community then we give away the power to be who we really are.
My rules have always been this: If you and another consenting adult want to do it, then it is perfectly okay to do it. Nobody should ever be forced, berated, or threatened into complying. And they must be of an age, and in a mental state to make an honest decision to participate. But if those criteria are in place then even if I don't particularly understand or share whatever gets you off, I certainly will not judge your predilections.
According to the study, a 30,000-year-old statue of a naked woman - the Venus of Willendorf - and an equally ancient stone phallus found in a German cave, provide the earliest direct evidence that sex was about far more than babies.
Timothy Taylor, reader in archeology at Bradford University, reviewed evidence from dozens of archeological finds and scientific studies for his research.
“The widespread lay belief that sex in the past was predominantly heterosexual and reproductive can be challenged,” said Taylor.
He argues that monogamy only became established as hunter-gatherer societies took up agriculture and settled in houses, allowing the social roles of men and women to become more fixed.
The fact is that we are sexual beings. We like to have sex, we like to think about sex, we like to watch sex, and we are often distracted by sexual images or ideas.
This is not a bad thing. We only believe it is bad because small minded people told us that their God did not want us to want sex unless it was to make a baby. That is in opposition to everything that our bodies and our minds desire. It is in opposition to what we see in much of the animal kingdom as well. We see homosexuality every where in the natural world. We see multiple partners in the animal kingdom. We see literally dozens examples of what our moral police would call unnatural desires. But if they were indeed "unnatural" then why would they be found everywhere in nature?
We have the most highly developed brain on the planet, we can decide for ourselves how to express our sexuality, but if we allow ourselves to be controlled by the most self loathing people in our community then we give away the power to be who we really are.
My rules have always been this: If you and another consenting adult want to do it, then it is perfectly okay to do it. Nobody should ever be forced, berated, or threatened into complying. And they must be of an age, and in a mental state to make an honest decision to participate. But if those criteria are in place then even if I don't particularly understand or share whatever gets you off, I certainly will not judge your predilections.
Judas may have been set up by Jesus. What's up with that Jesus?
An ancient manuscript rediscovered after 1,700 years may shed new light on the relationship between Jesus and Judas, the disciple who betrayed him.
Rather than the traitor Judas is portrayed as in the New Testament, this document — the "Gospel of Judas" — indicates that he acted at the request of Jesus to help him shed his earthly body.
I have written about the "Gospel of Judas" before. It is not new to those of us who have studied religions. However many people are not aware how many different gospels were competing for space in the original bible. Much of what Christians believe to be the unfettered word of God was only placed in the bible due to the political maneuvering of its supporters. If other gospel supporters could have garnered more support, we may have had the "Book of Mary" as well as the "Book of Judas". It makes the critical mind do cartwheels to imagine how the most powerful religion on this planet may have been altered by the inclusion of these differing interpretations, as well as if some of the others were excluded.
If you want to read more on this topic let me suggest that you start with the book "Who Wrote the Bible?" by Richard Elliot Friedman. It is one of my favorites.
Rather than the traitor Judas is portrayed as in the New Testament, this document — the "Gospel of Judas" — indicates that he acted at the request of Jesus to help him shed his earthly body.
I have written about the "Gospel of Judas" before. It is not new to those of us who have studied religions. However many people are not aware how many different gospels were competing for space in the original bible. Much of what Christians believe to be the unfettered word of God was only placed in the bible due to the political maneuvering of its supporters. If other gospel supporters could have garnered more support, we may have had the "Book of Mary" as well as the "Book of Judas". It makes the critical mind do cartwheels to imagine how the most powerful religion on this planet may have been altered by the inclusion of these differing interpretations, as well as if some of the others were excluded.
If you want to read more on this topic let me suggest that you start with the book "Who Wrote the Bible?" by Richard Elliot Friedman. It is one of my favorites.
Retired General says George Bush has gone AWOL.
“To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL, that is ‘absent without leave."
“Most Americans suspect that something is fundamentally wrong with the President’s management of the conflict in Iraq. And they are right.
“The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place. The war could never have served American interests.
“But it has served Iran’s interest by revenging Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran in the 1980s and enhancing Iran’s influence within Iraq. It has also served al Qaeda’s interests, providing a much better training ground than did Afghanistan, allowing it to build its ranks far above the levels and competence that otherwise would have been possible.
“We cannot ‘win’ a war that serves our enemies interests and not our own. Thus continuing to pursue the illusion of victory in Iraq makes no sense. We can now see that it never did.
This is not information that most of us don't already know, but it is remarkable the types of military people that are coming forward to tell us that they share our opinions of George Bush's Iraq policies. My only question is where were you when this whole thing began? We could have really used more of these dissenting opinions back then.
“Most Americans suspect that something is fundamentally wrong with the President’s management of the conflict in Iraq. And they are right.
“The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place. The war could never have served American interests.
“But it has served Iran’s interest by revenging Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran in the 1980s and enhancing Iran’s influence within Iraq. It has also served al Qaeda’s interests, providing a much better training ground than did Afghanistan, allowing it to build its ranks far above the levels and competence that otherwise would have been possible.
“We cannot ‘win’ a war that serves our enemies interests and not our own. Thus continuing to pursue the illusion of victory in Iraq makes no sense. We can now see that it never did.
This is not information that most of us don't already know, but it is remarkable the types of military people that are coming forward to tell us that they share our opinions of George Bush's Iraq policies. My only question is where were you when this whole thing began? We could have really used more of these dissenting opinions back then.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid was offered to America after Hurricane Katrina by other countries but virtually none of it was accepted.
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.
And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show.
Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.
As if we needed any further proof of just how badly broken our government has become. There has never been an administration as incompetent as this one, or as criminally negligent of how it treats the American people.
Even without the Iraq war this Presidency would still probably have gone down in history as the worst one in history.
And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show.
Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.
As if we needed any further proof of just how badly broken our government has become. There has never been an administration as incompetent as this one, or as criminally negligent of how it treats the American people.
Even without the Iraq war this Presidency would still probably have gone down in history as the worst one in history.
Do black holes function as wormholes connecting different universes together? Well God I hope so!
Though black holes are not seen directly, astronomers have identified many objects that appear to be black holes based on observations of how matter swirls around them.But physicists Thibault Damour of the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, and Sergey Solodukhin of International University Bremen in Germany now say that these objects could be structures called wormholes instead.
Wormholes are warps in the fabric of space-time that connect one place to another. If you imagine the universe as a two-dimensional sheet, you can picture a wormhole as a "throat" connecting our sheet to another one. In this scenario, the other sheet could be a universe of its own, with its own stars, galaxies and planets.
Damn science is getting pretty damn cool lately! First we found a planet with earth like atmosphere, then we discovered kryptonite, and now this!
Another Bush Administration hypocrite bites the dust.
Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation.
So what makes this guy a hypocrite? Well in his old job he was the Ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief. And what was his main strategy for combating aids?
As the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
That's right, Mr. Tobias was telling other people to stay faithful and keep their pants on when he was dropping trou for a paid sex worker. And don't buy that shit about there not being any sex and that all he received was a massage, if this guy just wanted a massage he would have gone to a salon or gym like every other over privileged asshole with too much money. This guy wanted privacy and it wasn't just because he did not want any of the other guys to see his "man teats".
So what makes this guy a hypocrite? Well in his old job he was the Ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief. And what was his main strategy for combating aids?
As the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
That's right, Mr. Tobias was telling other people to stay faithful and keep their pants on when he was dropping trou for a paid sex worker. And don't buy that shit about there not being any sex and that all he received was a massage, if this guy just wanted a massage he would have gone to a salon or gym like every other over privileged asshole with too much money. This guy wanted privacy and it wasn't just because he did not want any of the other guys to see his "man teats".
The GOP starts to eat its young.
When it comes to Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment -- "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans" -- GOP presidential candidates seem to be losing their religion.
Republican candidates have been speaking a lot of ill -- sometimes quite directly.
"Governor [Mitt] Romney, his views ... have been moderate to liberal in [the] North, in the Northeast, and it's all on videotape," former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore said on "The Situation Room" recently. "And now he's trying to shift to be a conservative."
At a Republican dinner in Iowa this month, Gilmore took on his party's front-runners collectively, saying, "Rudy McRomney is not a conservative."
The former Massachusetts governor's response? He said his rivals -- Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- have changed their minds on issues, too.
And talk about speaking ill of a fellow Republican, President Bush is not off limits:
"We all know the war in Iraq has not gone well," McCain said. "We have made mistakes, and we have paid grievously for them."
Bush is very unpopular. Conservatives want to make the point that it's not because he's a conservative. Instead, they say, it's because his administration has wandered away from conservative principles.
Hee hee hee.
You know I am pretty sure that the American people are exhausted by all of the negative campaigning of the last several years and they will be completely turned off by this nitpicking being done by the Republicans.
So in my opinion they should keep right on attacking each other, that will save the Democrats all that work later on. They can just replay the attacks that the Republicans have launched at each other. That should save a couple of dollars during the national election.
Republican candidates have been speaking a lot of ill -- sometimes quite directly.
"Governor [Mitt] Romney, his views ... have been moderate to liberal in [the] North, in the Northeast, and it's all on videotape," former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore said on "The Situation Room" recently. "And now he's trying to shift to be a conservative."
At a Republican dinner in Iowa this month, Gilmore took on his party's front-runners collectively, saying, "Rudy McRomney is not a conservative."
The former Massachusetts governor's response? He said his rivals -- Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- have changed their minds on issues, too.
And talk about speaking ill of a fellow Republican, President Bush is not off limits:
"We all know the war in Iraq has not gone well," McCain said. "We have made mistakes, and we have paid grievously for them."
Bush is very unpopular. Conservatives want to make the point that it's not because he's a conservative. Instead, they say, it's because his administration has wandered away from conservative principles.
Hee hee hee.
You know I am pretty sure that the American people are exhausted by all of the negative campaigning of the last several years and they will be completely turned off by this nitpicking being done by the Republicans.
So in my opinion they should keep right on attacking each other, that will save the Democrats all that work later on. They can just replay the attacks that the Republicans have launched at each other. That should save a couple of dollars during the national election.
White House continues to move the goal line.
The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.
It has been clear for quite some time that this administration is simply trying to find some way to leave the failure of the Iraq war on the doorstep of somebody else. This is a criminal endeavor that is becoming even more desperate as the months go by.
They have tried, so far without success, to goad the Democrats into cutting the war funding so that they can then blame the failure in Iraq on the unpatriotic actions of the Democrats. But since the Democrats have failed to take the bait they are now trying to appear as if they are utilizing different tactics in Iraq which are simply diversions to hold the media's focus while they slowly move toward 2008 when they can leave this albatross around the neck of the next President.
But in the meanwhile they are not simply using up time, they are using up the lives of our fellow Americans. Essentially everybody in the world knows this thing is lost and George Bush's arrogance and inability to admit wrongdoing is costing children their parents and mothers their sons. How many more precious lives will be lost in this conflict?
If this is not the very definition of cowardice then I don't know what is.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.
It has been clear for quite some time that this administration is simply trying to find some way to leave the failure of the Iraq war on the doorstep of somebody else. This is a criminal endeavor that is becoming even more desperate as the months go by.
They have tried, so far without success, to goad the Democrats into cutting the war funding so that they can then blame the failure in Iraq on the unpatriotic actions of the Democrats. But since the Democrats have failed to take the bait they are now trying to appear as if they are utilizing different tactics in Iraq which are simply diversions to hold the media's focus while they slowly move toward 2008 when they can leave this albatross around the neck of the next President.
But in the meanwhile they are not simply using up time, they are using up the lives of our fellow Americans. Essentially everybody in the world knows this thing is lost and George Bush's arrogance and inability to admit wrongdoing is costing children their parents and mothers their sons. How many more precious lives will be lost in this conflict?
If this is not the very definition of cowardice then I don't know what is.
Friday, April 27, 2007
I can hardly wait to use this information.
SLEEPING with someone on a first date can INCREASE chances of a long-term relationship, a biologist claims.
Dr Barry Gibb rejects the belief it is best to wait before having sex.
His new book, The Rough Guide To The Brain, says love-making sparks chemical changes in the brain that lead to love and commitment.
And you can bet that Dr. Gibb would know what he is talking about since he was one third of the seventies disco band known as the Bee Gees. That music never failed to get the ladies in the mood for love.
Dr Barry Gibb rejects the belief it is best to wait before having sex.
His new book, The Rough Guide To The Brain, says love-making sparks chemical changes in the brain that lead to love and commitment.
And you can bet that Dr. Gibb would know what he is talking about since he was one third of the seventies disco band known as the Bee Gees. That music never failed to get the ladies in the mood for love.
Democratic Debate: No major gaffes but not much excitement either.
I only was able to watch this in dribs and drabs last night (life can be so distracting sometimes), but what I saw convinces of a few things.
- Hillary will never escape her vote to go to war. Nor should she.
- Barack Obama is a great speaker. But continuing to point out that he did not vote for the Iraq war is ridiculous since he was not in the Senate yet and could not have participated. It is like the guy on the sidelines of a ballgame claiming that he would have caught that last ball if he were in the game.
- Kucinich does not realize that having a hot young wife makes him look like a sad old pervert. (And if he believes she is attracted to him because of anything other then his money and access to power then he is even more delusional then George W. Bush.)
- Mike Gravel unfortunately is a good representative of what Alaskan politicians are really like. We are very eclectic up here.
- John Edwards excuse for the $400 haircut was lame. He immediately made the point that he had come from humble beginnings. But the fact is that he is showing a type of extravagance that makes him seem out of touch with the average American. We see that as wasteful and pretentious. I will never vote for somebody because of their hair.
- I don't believe that most of Hillary Clinton's supporters are really supporting her. They are supporting the return of Bill Clinton to the White House. If she did not have him she would have absolutely no shot.
- Watching the Democratic hopefuls all gathered in one place made me realize that there was somebody missing. Al Gore. And that when he shows up, everything changes.
Here is the transcript from Bill Moyers amazing documentary "Buying the War".
BILL MOYERS: When American forces went after the terrorist bases in Afghanistan, network and cable news reported the civilian casualtiesÂ…the patriot police came knocking.
WALTER ISAACSON: We'd put it on the air and by nature of a 24 hour TV network, it was replaying over and over again. So, you would get phone calls. You would get advertisers. You would get the Administration.
BILL MOYERS: You said pressure from advertisers?
WALTER ISAACSON: Not direct pressure from advertisers, but big people in corporations were calling up and saying, 'You're being anti-American here.'
BILL MOYERS: So Isaacson sent his staff a memo, leaked to THE WASHINGTON POST: 'It seems perverse' he said, 'to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan,"
REPORTER: There's a body up here.
BILL MOYERS: And he ordered his reporters and anchors to balance the images of civilian devastation with reminders of September 11th.
Reporters have a lot to answer for in their duplicity in selling this war, but so do the American people. We allowed ourselves to be cowed by the pressure to show solidarity in fighting this invisible enemy. But we had a responsibility to not let our country do bad things in our name and we ignored that responsibility out of fear for our own safety, which is why George Bush was re-elected and allowed to continue his illegal activities in the White House and around the world.
Shame on the media, but also, shame on us.
WALTER ISAACSON: We'd put it on the air and by nature of a 24 hour TV network, it was replaying over and over again. So, you would get phone calls. You would get advertisers. You would get the Administration.
BILL MOYERS: You said pressure from advertisers?
WALTER ISAACSON: Not direct pressure from advertisers, but big people in corporations were calling up and saying, 'You're being anti-American here.'
BILL MOYERS: So Isaacson sent his staff a memo, leaked to THE WASHINGTON POST: 'It seems perverse' he said, 'to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan,"
REPORTER: There's a body up here.
BILL MOYERS: And he ordered his reporters and anchors to balance the images of civilian devastation with reminders of September 11th.
Reporters have a lot to answer for in their duplicity in selling this war, but so do the American people. We allowed ourselves to be cowed by the pressure to show solidarity in fighting this invisible enemy. But we had a responsibility to not let our country do bad things in our name and we ignored that responsibility out of fear for our own safety, which is why George Bush was re-elected and allowed to continue his illegal activities in the White House and around the world.
Shame on the media, but also, shame on us.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
That dude from "Growing Pains" and some other guy I have never heard of are going to prove God exists. I am prepared to be underwhelmed.
Cameron ("Growing Pains" sitcom and Left Behind movies) will speak on what he believes is a major catalyst for atheism: Darwinian evolution. The popular actor stated, "Evolution is unscientific. In reality, it is a blind faith that's preached with religious zeal as the gospel truth. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was once a naïve believer in the theory. The issue of intelligent design is extremely relevant at the moment. Atheism has become very popular in universities--where it's taught that we evolved from animals and that there are no moral absolutes. So we shouldn't be surprised when there are school shootings. Cameron will also reveal what it was that convinced him that God did exist.
"Most people equate atheism with intellectualism," Comfort added, "but it's actually an intellectual embarrassment. I am amazed at how many people think that God's existence is a matter of faith. It's not, and I will prove it at the debate - once and for all. This is not a joke. I will present undeniable scientific proof that God exists.
They are going to scientifically prove that God exists? Wow these may be the most delusional people on the planet!
But you know I will be watching. I just love a good train wreck!
"Most people equate atheism with intellectualism," Comfort added, "but it's actually an intellectual embarrassment. I am amazed at how many people think that God's existence is a matter of faith. It's not, and I will prove it at the debate - once and for all. This is not a joke. I will present undeniable scientific proof that God exists.
They are going to scientifically prove that God exists? Wow these may be the most delusional people on the planet!
But you know I will be watching. I just love a good train wreck!
Hey it's Thursday how is the administration lying to us today? Oh this is bad!
U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
President Bush explained why in a television interview Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.
Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population -- one of the surge's main goals.
"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.
You know I can't even remember how cynical I was before George Bush was elected, but I just know I was no where near this cynical!
I don't think that there is anything these assholes could do that would surprise me anymore.
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
President Bush explained why in a television interview Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.
Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population -- one of the surge's main goals.
"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.
You know I can't even remember how cynical I was before George Bush was elected, but I just know I was no where near this cynical!
I don't think that there is anything these assholes could do that would surprise me anymore.
Please don't say anything stupid! Please don't say anything stupid! Please....
We are starting much too early, and there is just so much time to put their feet in their mouths.
I will be watching with my fingers crossed.
I will be watching with my fingers crossed.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Semi-hot female teacher has sex with male student, in a van, in front of a church. I will save her a seat in hell.
School officials placed a Jackson Middle School teacher on paid administrative leave on Tuesday after she was found in a van with a 16-year-old student.
Janet Lea Hughes, 32, of Viera, was arrested Monday night after two undercover Titusville police officers found her with a student in a van parked at First Presbyterian Church.
I think that Ms. Hughes should have taken a moment to look in a mirror, then maybe she would have realized that she is too old to be having sex in a van. It is just unseemly. Not to mention the teenager!
Janet Lea Hughes, 32, of Viera, was arrested Monday night after two undercover Titusville police officers found her with a student in a van parked at First Presbyterian Church.
I think that Ms. Hughes should have taken a moment to look in a mirror, then maybe she would have realized that she is too old to be having sex in a van. It is just unseemly. Not to mention the teenager!
George McGovern predicts that George Bush's and Dick Cheney's days are numbered. From your mouth to God's ears George.
It is my firm belief that the Cheney-Bush team has committed offenses that are worse than those that drove Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew and Atty. Gen. John Mitchell from office after 1972. Indeed, as their repeated violations of the Constitution and federal statutes, as well as their repudiation of international law, come under increased consideration, I expect to see Cheney and Bush forced to resign their offices before 2008 is over.
Whenever I hear talk like this i get so excited that I just start to giggle uncontrollably. Admittedly it is not terribly masculine.
Whenever I hear talk like this i get so excited that I just start to giggle uncontrollably. Admittedly it is not terribly masculine.
Last night John McCain told Jon Stewart they he talks to soldiers and they do not want to give up the Iraq fight. I bet he did not talk to this one.
I'm having the worst damn week of my whole damn life so I'm going to write this while I'm pissed off enough to do it right.
I am SICK of all this bullshit people are writing about the Iraq war. I am abso-fucking-lutely sick to death of it. What the fuck do most of you know about it? You watch it on TV and read the commentaries in the newspaper or Newsweek or whatever god damn yuppie news rag you subscribe to and think you're all such fucking experts that you can scream at each other like five year old about whether you're right or not. Let me tell you something: unless you've been there, you don't know a god damn thing about it. It you haven't been shot at in that fucking hell hole, SHUT THE FUCK UP!
How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are "Supporting our Troops" and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I'll tell you why. I'm a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he's coming home in a box.
You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.
And you know what the most fucked up thing about this Iraq shit is? They don't want us there. They're not happy we came and they want us out NOW. We fucked up their lives even worse than they already were and they're pissed off. We didn't help them and we're not helping them now. That's what our soldiers are dying for. Oh while I'm good and worked up, the government doesn't even have the decency to help out the soldiers whos lives they ruined. If you really believe the military and the government had no idea the veterans' hospitals were so fucked up, you are a god-damn retard. They don't care about us. We're disposable. We're numbers on a page and they'd rather forget we exist so they don't have to be reminded about the families and lives they ruined while they're sipping their cocktails at another fund raiser dinner. If they were really concerned about supporting the troops, they'd bring them home so their families wouldn't have to cry at a graveside and explain to their children why mommy or daddy isn't coming home. Because you can't explain it. We're not fighting for our country, we're not fighting for the good of Iraq's people, we're fighting for Bush's personal agenda. Patriotism my ass. You know what? My dad served in Vietnam and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
So I'm pissed. I'm beyond pissed. And I'm going to go to my husband funeral and recieve that flag and hang it up on the wall for my baby to see when he's older. But I'm not going to tell him that his father died for the stupidty of the American government. I'm going to tell him that his father was a hero and the best man I ever met and that he loved his country enough to die for it, because that's all true and nothing will be solved by telling my son that his father was sent to die by people who didn't care about him at all.
Fuck you, war supporters, George W. Bush, and all the god damn mother fuckers who made the war possible. I hope you burn in hell.
I would like to thank Skippy the Bush Kangaroo for bringing this powerful posting to our attention. I did not edit any of it as I don't feel that I have the right to do so, and that this person has every right to be heard.
I am SICK of all this bullshit people are writing about the Iraq war. I am abso-fucking-lutely sick to death of it. What the fuck do most of you know about it? You watch it on TV and read the commentaries in the newspaper or Newsweek or whatever god damn yuppie news rag you subscribe to and think you're all such fucking experts that you can scream at each other like five year old about whether you're right or not. Let me tell you something: unless you've been there, you don't know a god damn thing about it. It you haven't been shot at in that fucking hell hole, SHUT THE FUCK UP!
How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are "Supporting our Troops" and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I'll tell you why. I'm a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he's coming home in a box.
You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.
And you know what the most fucked up thing about this Iraq shit is? They don't want us there. They're not happy we came and they want us out NOW. We fucked up their lives even worse than they already were and they're pissed off. We didn't help them and we're not helping them now. That's what our soldiers are dying for. Oh while I'm good and worked up, the government doesn't even have the decency to help out the soldiers whos lives they ruined. If you really believe the military and the government had no idea the veterans' hospitals were so fucked up, you are a god-damn retard. They don't care about us. We're disposable. We're numbers on a page and they'd rather forget we exist so they don't have to be reminded about the families and lives they ruined while they're sipping their cocktails at another fund raiser dinner. If they were really concerned about supporting the troops, they'd bring them home so their families wouldn't have to cry at a graveside and explain to their children why mommy or daddy isn't coming home. Because you can't explain it. We're not fighting for our country, we're not fighting for the good of Iraq's people, we're fighting for Bush's personal agenda. Patriotism my ass. You know what? My dad served in Vietnam and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
So I'm pissed. I'm beyond pissed. And I'm going to go to my husband funeral and recieve that flag and hang it up on the wall for my baby to see when he's older. But I'm not going to tell him that his father died for the stupidty of the American government. I'm going to tell him that his father was a hero and the best man I ever met and that he loved his country enough to die for it, because that's all true and nothing will be solved by telling my son that his father was sent to die by people who didn't care about him at all.
Fuck you, war supporters, George W. Bush, and all the god damn mother fuckers who made the war possible. I hope you burn in hell.
I would like to thank Skippy the Bush Kangaroo for bringing this powerful posting to our attention. I did not edit any of it as I don't feel that I have the right to do so, and that this person has every right to be heard.
Is the Bush surge plan in Iraq designed to kill more Americans?
Increasingly across Iraq, U.S. forces are leaving the comfort and safety of their fortified mega-bases and establishing small combat outposts and patrol bases like the one insurgents struck outside Baquba that left 20 soldiers wounded as well. Some patrol bases are well protected with blast walls and large numbers of troops. Others are little more than abandoned houses that a few platoons circle with Humvees while hunkering down inside. As a reporter frequently embedded with U.S. forces, I've visited many such patrol bases, and the sense of vulnerability at them is all too palpable. The paratroopers tasked with controlling the volatile territory on the outskirts of Baquba knew they would face attacks from insurgents in the area as they stepped up their presence by manning such patrol bases. But they saw little choice, since the ongoing surge strategy calls for U.S. forces to abandon the old notion of return-to-base patrols in favor of living full time in deadly areas.
I often wonder if Bush does not believe that the death of more American service men and women might anger the American people and make them want to kick some insurgent butt enough to support this war. If he does believe that then he is even more removed from reality then I could have possibly imagined.
You know the fact is that our troops main goal in Iraq is just to survive! It is as if they are being sent into a burning building and then congratulated for not getting burned right before they get back in line to try it again.
Nothing we are doing there right now is going to help the Iraqi people in the long run. We may be limiting the number of Iraqi deaths for the moment (though I am not completely convinced of this) but the end of this thing is a forgone conclusion. We are simply holding off the inevitable at the cost of our soldiers lives.
You know years ago when I studied the marital arts my instructor told me that with my skill I was honor bound to come to the aid of those who were unable to defend themselves against violence, but that if by doing so I would not be able to save them and would simply sacrifice myself needlessly then I was honor bound to focus on my own survival instead. To me that same criteria should be applied to our brave soldiers in Iraq.
I often wonder if Bush does not believe that the death of more American service men and women might anger the American people and make them want to kick some insurgent butt enough to support this war. If he does believe that then he is even more removed from reality then I could have possibly imagined.
You know the fact is that our troops main goal in Iraq is just to survive! It is as if they are being sent into a burning building and then congratulated for not getting burned right before they get back in line to try it again.
Nothing we are doing there right now is going to help the Iraqi people in the long run. We may be limiting the number of Iraqi deaths for the moment (though I am not completely convinced of this) but the end of this thing is a forgone conclusion. We are simply holding off the inevitable at the cost of our soldiers lives.
You know years ago when I studied the marital arts my instructor told me that with my skill I was honor bound to come to the aid of those who were unable to defend themselves against violence, but that if by doing so I would not be able to save them and would simply sacrifice myself needlessly then I was honor bound to focus on my own survival instead. To me that same criteria should be applied to our brave soldiers in Iraq.
Jon Stewart vs John McCain. Part one.
This is the most contentious that I have ever seen Jon Stewart get on the Daily Show.
Even though he clearly has great affection for Senator McCain he certainly called him to task over the Iraq war surge among other points.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Scientists have just discovered Krypton.
Above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky - a full ten times the size of our Sun as seen from Earth. Small waves lap at a sandy shore and on the beach, something stirs...This is the scene - or may be the scene - on what is possibly the most extraordinary world to have been discovered by astronomers: the first truly Earth-like planet to have been found outside our Solar System.
This fires up geek genes like nobodies business.
I certainly hope that we discover planets with life on them before my life ends. It would suck to not be around for what may be the most earthshaking discovery of all time. ("Earthshaking" get it?)
P.S. You know when I first posted this it was sort of done with my tongue firmly in my cheek. But then I read this. Coincidence? I don't think so!
Pentagon being called on lies about Lynch and Tillman incidents.
Mr. Tillman and Ms. Lynch appeared at a hearing called to examine why “inaccurate accounts of these two incidents” were put out by the administration. Today’s session was part of the Democratically-controlled Congress’s effort to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other issues.
Pentagon officials and military representatives were scheduled to testify later in the hearing.
Ms. Lynch said she could not know why she was depicted as a “Rambo from West Virginia,” when in fact she was riding in a truck, not fighting, when she was injured.
Dr. Gene Bolles, a doctor who treated Ms. Lynch at a hospital in Germany after she was rescued, said that her injuries, while extensive, were not the result of bullet wounds, as first described.
Mr. Tillman’s tone was more bitter than Ms. Lynch’s. He described the early accounts of his brother’s death as “deliberate and calculated lies” and “deliberate acts of deceit,” rather than the result of confusion or innocent error.
For her part, Ms. Lynch said in her testimony that other members of her unit had acted with genuine heroism that deserved the attention she received. “The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideas of heroes, and they don’t need to be told elaborate tales,” she said.
My question about both of these incidents and many others is how much influence did the White House have over how they were handled? I really believe that almost everything to do with this conflict has been micro-managed by the administration. I could be proved wrong, but it all smells of the same incompetence that we have come to recognize from the President and his staff.
Pentagon officials and military representatives were scheduled to testify later in the hearing.
Ms. Lynch said she could not know why she was depicted as a “Rambo from West Virginia,” when in fact she was riding in a truck, not fighting, when she was injured.
Dr. Gene Bolles, a doctor who treated Ms. Lynch at a hospital in Germany after she was rescued, said that her injuries, while extensive, were not the result of bullet wounds, as first described.
Mr. Tillman’s tone was more bitter than Ms. Lynch’s. He described the early accounts of his brother’s death as “deliberate and calculated lies” and “deliberate acts of deceit,” rather than the result of confusion or innocent error.
For her part, Ms. Lynch said in her testimony that other members of her unit had acted with genuine heroism that deserved the attention she received. “The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideas of heroes, and they don’t need to be told elaborate tales,” she said.
My question about both of these incidents and many others is how much influence did the White House have over how they were handled? I really believe that almost everything to do with this conflict has been micro-managed by the administration. I could be proved wrong, but it all smells of the same incompetence that we have come to recognize from the President and his staff.
Karl Rove might want to build a moat around his office.
....the Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.
The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.
First, the inquiry comes from inside the administration, not from Democrats in Congress. Second, unlike the splintered inquiries being pressed on Capitol Hill, it is expected to be a unified investigation covering many facets of the political operation in which Rove played a leading part.
"We will take the evidence where it leads us," Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. "We will not leave any stone unturned."
There is not one drop of sympathy in my heart for Karl Rove. Possibly the only head I would like to see displayed on the wall of an investigation committee would be his bosses, George Bush.
Have I said how much I am enjoying 2007 so far?
The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.
First, the inquiry comes from inside the administration, not from Democrats in Congress. Second, unlike the splintered inquiries being pressed on Capitol Hill, it is expected to be a unified investigation covering many facets of the political operation in which Rove played a leading part.
"We will take the evidence where it leads us," Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. "We will not leave any stone unturned."
There is not one drop of sympathy in my heart for Karl Rove. Possibly the only head I would like to see displayed on the wall of an investigation committee would be his bosses, George Bush.
Have I said how much I am enjoying 2007 so far?
Monday, April 23, 2007
Here is an owners manual for the penis. Not much help to me now.
Gee I had to figure everything out through trial and error. Actually not a bad way to go.
Sheryl Crow hits me where I live.
Singer Sheryl Crow has said a ban on using too much toilet paper should be introduced to help the environment.
Crow has suggested using "only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required".
One square? I have no bathroom functions where one square of toilet paper would suffice. I am a man! So we are talking shaking it off or scraping it off. And trust me sister one square of toilet paper would not even make a dent in the sludge that accumulates on my hind quarters.
Now I will change a light bulb, ride my bike, eat organic foods, and keep the heat turned down in my house to help save the environment, but I will never walk around with my underwear stuck fast to my asshole just to save a tree! I mean let's be reasonable!
Crow has suggested using "only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required".
One square? I have no bathroom functions where one square of toilet paper would suffice. I am a man! So we are talking shaking it off or scraping it off. And trust me sister one square of toilet paper would not even make a dent in the sludge that accumulates on my hind quarters.
Now I will change a light bulb, ride my bike, eat organic foods, and keep the heat turned down in my house to help save the environment, but I will never walk around with my underwear stuck fast to my asshole just to save a tree! I mean let's be reasonable!
Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing. Where have all the flowers gone? Long time ago.
Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen and the immature insects remaining. Whatever worker bees survived were often too weak to perform their tasks.
If the bees were dying of pesticide poisoning or freezing, their bodies would be expected to lie around the hive. And if they were absconding because of some threat -- which they have been known to do -- they wouldn't leave without the queen.
Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.
I have read that some scientists believe this may be the result of cell phone use.
If our agricultural survival is based on stopping cell phone use then we are truly screwed! I can not imagine the teenagers of today giving up their cell phones to keep us supplied in honey and fruit. Now if the bees were somehow responsible for Red Bull or caffeinated sodas we might have a fighting chance.
If the bees were dying of pesticide poisoning or freezing, their bodies would be expected to lie around the hive. And if they were absconding because of some threat -- which they have been known to do -- they wouldn't leave without the queen.
Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.
I have read that some scientists believe this may be the result of cell phone use.
If our agricultural survival is based on stopping cell phone use then we are truly screwed! I can not imagine the teenagers of today giving up their cell phones to keep us supplied in honey and fruit. Now if the bees were somehow responsible for Red Bull or caffeinated sodas we might have a fighting chance.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Iraq Prime Minister asks US troops to stop building wall in Baghdad. Will we listen? Have we listened to them so far?
Iraq's prime minister said on Sunday he had urged the U.S. military to halt work on a wall separating a Baghdad Sunni enclave from nearby Shi'ite areas after sharp criticism from some residents.
The cement wall around the district of Adhamiya is part of a new U.S. military tactic to protect flashpoint neighborhoods with barriers, in a security crackdown in the capital that is seen as a final attempt to halt civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
"I asked yesterday that it be stopped and that alternatives be found to protect the area," Maliki said in his first public comments on the issue.
"I said that I fear this wall might have repercussions which remind us of other walls, which we reject," he added.
Some Adhamiya residents have compared the wall to barriers erected by Israel in the occupied West Bank.
You know it is just one fuck up after another. I wonder if this is part of the so-called "surge", because if this is the best we can do then we are even worse off then even I thought.
The cement wall around the district of Adhamiya is part of a new U.S. military tactic to protect flashpoint neighborhoods with barriers, in a security crackdown in the capital that is seen as a final attempt to halt civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
"I asked yesterday that it be stopped and that alternatives be found to protect the area," Maliki said in his first public comments on the issue.
"I said that I fear this wall might have repercussions which remind us of other walls, which we reject," he added.
Some Adhamiya residents have compared the wall to barriers erected by Israel in the occupied West Bank.
You know it is just one fuck up after another. I wonder if this is part of the so-called "surge", because if this is the best we can do then we are even worse off then even I thought.
US Attorney scandal even reaches us here in Alaska.
The state’s chief federal prosecutor, Pittsburgh native Nelson Cohen, owes his job to the U.S. attorney in his hometown, who succeeded in getting him the Anchorage post over Alaskans nominated by Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens.
But now, the U.S. attorney scandal threatening to topple Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may cost Cohen his job here. His “interim” appointment will vanish when that classification is amended out of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which is expected to happen in the next few months.
At the same time, Mary Beth Buchanan, Cohen’s well-connected benefactor and former boss, is in trouble herself, with investigators from the House Judiciary Committee wanting to question her over what role she may have played in deciding which U.S. attorneys got fired, allegedly for partisan reasons.
Oooh I am so excited! We never get to be involved in any national scandals. Usually Alaska is left to make up our own scandals, and that can get very annoying and time consuming.
But now, the U.S. attorney scandal threatening to topple Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may cost Cohen his job here. His “interim” appointment will vanish when that classification is amended out of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which is expected to happen in the next few months.
At the same time, Mary Beth Buchanan, Cohen’s well-connected benefactor and former boss, is in trouble herself, with investigators from the House Judiciary Committee wanting to question her over what role she may have played in deciding which U.S. attorneys got fired, allegedly for partisan reasons.
Oooh I am so excited! We never get to be involved in any national scandals. Usually Alaska is left to make up our own scandals, and that can get very annoying and time consuming.
Top Ten Stupid Things about Hunting.
10. Camouflage. Why do hunters wear camouflage? Animals are colorblind! So who are you hiding from? You could wear bright pink raincoats and carry purple parasols and the animals could hardly care less. Let’s face it, hunters dress up for other hunters, just like women dress for other women.
9. Taxidermy. Even though we all know that most hunters shoot the animals when they are eating, taking a nap, or taking a crap, they always have the taxidermist pose the animal as if it was about to rip their heads right off. Let’s face it if the animal were really coming at you like that before you fired off a shot, then its your head that would be hanging on their wall.
8. Taking an ice chest of Budweiser hunting with you. Because nothing says “gun safety” like stumbling through rugged, unfamiliar terrain with a loaded weapon and the inability to focus your eyes.
7. Hunting Farms. In these facilities a hunter pays to hunt animals raised in captivity and then released in a fenced enclosure to make it easier to kill them without all of that unnecessary…uh….hunting for them. So essentially you are killing a pet. So I just have to wonder why you would pay to go to one of these farms when there are probably several pets in your very own neighborhood. I mean if that poodle across the street won’t stop barking then doesn’t that cry out for an impromptu hunting trip? You may not even need to leave your front yard! And won’t little Fritz’s head hanging on your wall make you just beam with pride?
6. Automatic weapons. These are clearly weapons for the man who is just too lazy to take the time to aim. Who needs a weapon that fires 1800 rounds per minute? What do you do stand in the middle of the forest, holding down the trigger, and spinning in a circle?
5. Claiming that you hunt just like your forefathers did before you. Let me explain something to you Skippy. Your forefathers went into the jungle to hunt mastodons with a pointy stick! Now that was some manly, damn hunting! If you can go into the Alaskan brush with a pointy stick and come out with even a ground squirrel I will be absolutely amazed! But let’s face it, it is much more likely that the squirrel will kick your ass and take away your little stick.
4. Going hunting for bears with a handgun. Handguns are not for killing bears. Handguns are for killing yourself so you won’t suffer as the bear devours you alive! If you shoot the bear with a handgun, you will just make him mad, and he will kill you slower!
3. Rubbing deer urine on yourself to mask your human smell. Because nothing helps to cover the smell of a fat man sweating Budweiser and stale corndogs like a bottle of “Eau de Bambi”. It makes you wonder if the deer are secretly laughing at you for being a pervert who wanders through the woods trying to find deer to piss on him.
2. The excuse that hunting for game is no different then buying hamburger at the store. You know wild animals freely roam the forest having hot animal sex and raising their precious young. Every day they use their speed, strength, and intelligence to survive in a hostile environment populated with dangerous predators, right up until a guy sitting in a folding chair with a scope on his rifle blows a grapefruit sized hole in their shoulder so that they will slowly bleed out on to the forest floor as he carefully gathers his cooler and chair and clumsily makes his way to his bloody prize.
On the other hand cows stand around in a field all day wearing unflattering leather outfits and waiting for a farmer to herd them into a stale smelly barn, attach cold vacuum pumps to their bovine jugs, and then rip the milk from their shivering bodies. When it comes time for them to go to that great butcher shop in the sky they probably fight to be first in line.
And the number one stupid thing about hunting is:
1. The idea that to be a real man you have to hunt. I hate to break it to all of the “real men” out their but putting holes in the indigenous creatures of Alaska will not make your winky any bigger, your kids respect you any more, or keep your wife from banging her personal trainer down at the gym. Killing does not make you a man! Suppressing your emotions, and watching Bruce Willis movies, that’s what makes you man!
Now I live in Alaska which means I am surrounded by people who feel that hunting is more important to them then religious beliefs, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. They just cannot stomach anybody talking smack about hunting.
But I am in no way the typical Alaskan, and I have always found much of the hunting rituals to be silly dress up and play acting for grown men. It reminds me of the men who stay in motorcycle clubs well into their fifties and sixties. As if they have not matured past the need to pretend to be a rebel or dangerous person to impress their friends or others.
So I wrote this as sort of a funny method to point out the absurdity of the hunting lifestyle.
9. Taxidermy. Even though we all know that most hunters shoot the animals when they are eating, taking a nap, or taking a crap, they always have the taxidermist pose the animal as if it was about to rip their heads right off. Let’s face it if the animal were really coming at you like that before you fired off a shot, then its your head that would be hanging on their wall.
8. Taking an ice chest of Budweiser hunting with you. Because nothing says “gun safety” like stumbling through rugged, unfamiliar terrain with a loaded weapon and the inability to focus your eyes.
7. Hunting Farms. In these facilities a hunter pays to hunt animals raised in captivity and then released in a fenced enclosure to make it easier to kill them without all of that unnecessary…uh….hunting for them. So essentially you are killing a pet. So I just have to wonder why you would pay to go to one of these farms when there are probably several pets in your very own neighborhood. I mean if that poodle across the street won’t stop barking then doesn’t that cry out for an impromptu hunting trip? You may not even need to leave your front yard! And won’t little Fritz’s head hanging on your wall make you just beam with pride?
6. Automatic weapons. These are clearly weapons for the man who is just too lazy to take the time to aim. Who needs a weapon that fires 1800 rounds per minute? What do you do stand in the middle of the forest, holding down the trigger, and spinning in a circle?
5. Claiming that you hunt just like your forefathers did before you. Let me explain something to you Skippy. Your forefathers went into the jungle to hunt mastodons with a pointy stick! Now that was some manly, damn hunting! If you can go into the Alaskan brush with a pointy stick and come out with even a ground squirrel I will be absolutely amazed! But let’s face it, it is much more likely that the squirrel will kick your ass and take away your little stick.
4. Going hunting for bears with a handgun. Handguns are not for killing bears. Handguns are for killing yourself so you won’t suffer as the bear devours you alive! If you shoot the bear with a handgun, you will just make him mad, and he will kill you slower!
3. Rubbing deer urine on yourself to mask your human smell. Because nothing helps to cover the smell of a fat man sweating Budweiser and stale corndogs like a bottle of “Eau de Bambi”. It makes you wonder if the deer are secretly laughing at you for being a pervert who wanders through the woods trying to find deer to piss on him.
2. The excuse that hunting for game is no different then buying hamburger at the store. You know wild animals freely roam the forest having hot animal sex and raising their precious young. Every day they use their speed, strength, and intelligence to survive in a hostile environment populated with dangerous predators, right up until a guy sitting in a folding chair with a scope on his rifle blows a grapefruit sized hole in their shoulder so that they will slowly bleed out on to the forest floor as he carefully gathers his cooler and chair and clumsily makes his way to his bloody prize.
On the other hand cows stand around in a field all day wearing unflattering leather outfits and waiting for a farmer to herd them into a stale smelly barn, attach cold vacuum pumps to their bovine jugs, and then rip the milk from their shivering bodies. When it comes time for them to go to that great butcher shop in the sky they probably fight to be first in line.
And the number one stupid thing about hunting is:
1. The idea that to be a real man you have to hunt. I hate to break it to all of the “real men” out their but putting holes in the indigenous creatures of Alaska will not make your winky any bigger, your kids respect you any more, or keep your wife from banging her personal trainer down at the gym. Killing does not make you a man! Suppressing your emotions, and watching Bruce Willis movies, that’s what makes you man!
Now I live in Alaska which means I am surrounded by people who feel that hunting is more important to them then religious beliefs, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. They just cannot stomach anybody talking smack about hunting.
But I am in no way the typical Alaskan, and I have always found much of the hunting rituals to be silly dress up and play acting for grown men. It reminds me of the men who stay in motorcycle clubs well into their fifties and sixties. As if they have not matured past the need to pretend to be a rebel or dangerous person to impress their friends or others.
So I wrote this as sort of a funny method to point out the absurdity of the hunting lifestyle.
Evil Karl Rove is caused pain by Sheryl Crow's righteous touch.
This is comes to us from Laurie David and Sheryl Crow posting over at Huffington Post.
We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.
Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in. Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China's lead?)
In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, "Don't touch me." How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."
I wonder if Karl was nursing the pain in that arm for the rest of the night. When you are surrounded by people who are payed to agree and fawn over your every word how painful must it be to be confronted by the naked truth in the lovely visage of the luminous Sheryl Crow?
And how hot is Sheryl Crow these days? I swear she is getting hotter every year.
My favorite quote from this article is this one: Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."
So as if she was not beautiful enough Sheryl says something that fills my heart with love. I am going to have to by me a new CD today.
We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.
Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in. Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China's lead?)
In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, "Don't touch me." How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."
I wonder if Karl was nursing the pain in that arm for the rest of the night. When you are surrounded by people who are payed to agree and fawn over your every word how painful must it be to be confronted by the naked truth in the lovely visage of the luminous Sheryl Crow?
And how hot is Sheryl Crow these days? I swear she is getting hotter every year.
My favorite quote from this article is this one: Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."
So as if she was not beautiful enough Sheryl says something that fills my heart with love. I am going to have to by me a new CD today.
The Democratic front runners may be about to learn an "Inconvenient Truth".
Friends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House.
Two members of Mr Gore's staff from his unsuccessful attempt in 2000 say they have been approached to see if they would be available to work with him again.
Mr Gore, President Bill Clinton's deputy, has said he wants to concentrate on publicising the need to combat climate change, a case made in his film, An Inconvenient Truth, which won him an Oscar this year.
But, aware that he may step into the wide open race for the White House, former strategists are sounding out a shadow team that could run his campaign at short notice. In approaching former campaign staff, including political strategists and communications officials, they are making clear they are not acting on formal instructions from Mr Gore, 59, but have not been asked to stop.
His denials of interest in the presidency have been couched in terms of "no plans" or "no intention" - politically ambiguous language that does not rule out a run.
One of his former campaign team said: "I was asked whether I would be available towards the end of the year if I am needed. They know he has not ruled out running and if he decides to jump in, he will have to move very fast.
If Al Gore enters this race then all bets are off. He will fundamentally change the race and immediately put every other possible front runner in second place, even Hillary.
And eve for myself, who has been a dedicated supporter of John Edwards for over a year, will have to seriously look at what Gore brings to the table.
I don't want to take anything away from John, but Al brings the kind of gravitas that Edwards just cannot muster as of yet.
Yes, things are definitely going to get sticky.
Two members of Mr Gore's staff from his unsuccessful attempt in 2000 say they have been approached to see if they would be available to work with him again.
Mr Gore, President Bill Clinton's deputy, has said he wants to concentrate on publicising the need to combat climate change, a case made in his film, An Inconvenient Truth, which won him an Oscar this year.
But, aware that he may step into the wide open race for the White House, former strategists are sounding out a shadow team that could run his campaign at short notice. In approaching former campaign staff, including political strategists and communications officials, they are making clear they are not acting on formal instructions from Mr Gore, 59, but have not been asked to stop.
His denials of interest in the presidency have been couched in terms of "no plans" or "no intention" - politically ambiguous language that does not rule out a run.
One of his former campaign team said: "I was asked whether I would be available towards the end of the year if I am needed. They know he has not ruled out running and if he decides to jump in, he will have to move very fast.
If Al Gore enters this race then all bets are off. He will fundamentally change the race and immediately put every other possible front runner in second place, even Hillary.
And eve for myself, who has been a dedicated supporter of John Edwards for over a year, will have to seriously look at what Gore brings to the table.
I don't want to take anything away from John, but Al brings the kind of gravitas that Edwards just cannot muster as of yet.
Yes, things are definitely going to get sticky.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
This is the only promise that Americans want from their next President.
A woman's tearful plea to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to end the Iraq war momentarily caught him off guard Friday at a New Hampshire town hall meeting.
The Illinois senator vowed to end the conflict if elected.
Obama fielded questions about health care, gun control and energy during a midday appearance before some 200 people at a Nashua, N.H., senior center. The residents politely applauded, and then Jean Serino of Hudson, N.H., told the candidate her nephew was heading to Iraq to serve.
"I can't breathe," she said, her voice breaking with sobs. "I want to know, when am I going to able to breathe? Are you going to get us the hell out of there? Promise us you will get us out of there. That's the most important thing."
The crowd's applause as she finished gave Obama time to compose an answer.
"I can only imagine how you feel, as a father and as a parent," he said. "I don't go to a single town-hall meeting where I don't meet a mother or father who either is seeing a loved one go over there or has already lost someone, or has a loved one who has come back injured.
"So I make a solemn pledge to you, as president we will be out of Iraq," the Illinois senator said to loud applause.
In my opinion this is why no Republican who supports this war will have a chance in 2008, and why if a Democrat wants to get the nomination they will have to give Americans some version of this same answer.
The Illinois senator vowed to end the conflict if elected.
Obama fielded questions about health care, gun control and energy during a midday appearance before some 200 people at a Nashua, N.H., senior center. The residents politely applauded, and then Jean Serino of Hudson, N.H., told the candidate her nephew was heading to Iraq to serve.
"I can't breathe," she said, her voice breaking with sobs. "I want to know, when am I going to able to breathe? Are you going to get us the hell out of there? Promise us you will get us out of there. That's the most important thing."
The crowd's applause as she finished gave Obama time to compose an answer.
"I can only imagine how you feel, as a father and as a parent," he said. "I don't go to a single town-hall meeting where I don't meet a mother or father who either is seeing a loved one go over there or has already lost someone, or has a loved one who has come back injured.
"So I make a solemn pledge to you, as president we will be out of Iraq," the Illinois senator said to loud applause.
In my opinion this is why no Republican who supports this war will have a chance in 2008, and why if a Democrat wants to get the nomination they will have to give Americans some version of this same answer.
Catholic church ends tradition of frightening the parents of newborns. How Christian of them.
The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.
In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."
Okay now I am confused. So is the church saying that they will no longer talk about limbo as it pertains to babies or that limbo is a false concept that never existed in the first place?
And how do they know there is no limbo? And then why did they think there was a limbo? There is no reference to limbo in the bible.
So the Catholic church seems to have invented limbo to frighten parents into baptizing their children as soon as possible to save them from an eternity of nothingness. And now that we have evolved into a kinder, gentler people who are less willing to believe is such harsh punishments for our innocent children, they decide to let us off the hook.
Then will they apologize to all of the grieving mothers throughout history who lost children before they could be baptized, and went through the rest of their life believing their babies had been consigned to a dimension where they would never be touched by God's love and where they would never be allowed to join them even after their death?
In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."
Okay now I am confused. So is the church saying that they will no longer talk about limbo as it pertains to babies or that limbo is a false concept that never existed in the first place?
And how do they know there is no limbo? And then why did they think there was a limbo? There is no reference to limbo in the bible.
So the Catholic church seems to have invented limbo to frighten parents into baptizing their children as soon as possible to save them from an eternity of nothingness. And now that we have evolved into a kinder, gentler people who are less willing to believe is such harsh punishments for our innocent children, they decide to let us off the hook.
Then will they apologize to all of the grieving mothers throughout history who lost children before they could be baptized, and went through the rest of their life believing their babies had been consigned to a dimension where they would never be touched by God's love and where they would never be allowed to join them even after their death?
In twenty years time America has gone from demanding the wall in Germany be torn down to building our own wall in Iraq. Who is America now?
The US military is building a three-mile concrete wall in the centre of Baghdad along the most murderous faultline between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
The wall, which recognises the reality of the hardening sectarian divide in Baghdad, is a central part of George Bush's final push to pacify the capital. Work began on April 10 under cover of darkness and is due for completion by the end of the month.
The highly symbolic wall has evoked comparisons to the barriers dividing Protestants and Catholics in Belfast and Israelis and Palestinians along the length of the West Bank.
I think that this will symbolize Harry Reid's assertion that this war is lost better then anything that the Democrats could ever do.
I was not that much of a Ronald Reagan fan but I have to wonder if he is not spinning like crazy in his grave at this new "strategy".
We invade countries, depose leaders, destroy their infrastructure, kill innocent civilians, and then build a wall to hide our screw ups, and this is America?
The wall, which recognises the reality of the hardening sectarian divide in Baghdad, is a central part of George Bush's final push to pacify the capital. Work began on April 10 under cover of darkness and is due for completion by the end of the month.
The highly symbolic wall has evoked comparisons to the barriers dividing Protestants and Catholics in Belfast and Israelis and Palestinians along the length of the West Bank.
I think that this will symbolize Harry Reid's assertion that this war is lost better then anything that the Democrats could ever do.
I was not that much of a Ronald Reagan fan but I have to wonder if he is not spinning like crazy in his grave at this new "strategy".
We invade countries, depose leaders, destroy their infrastructure, kill innocent civilians, and then build a wall to hide our screw ups, and this is America?
Friday, April 20, 2007
John McCain is a sensitive, sensitive man.
Arizona Sen. John McCain said critics complaining about his recent joke about bombing Iran should "lighten up and get a life."
"Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends," the Republican presidential candidate told reporters Thursday, a day after he parodied the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" at a campaign stop in South Carolina. The senator changed the song's title to "Bomb Iran."
"My response is lighten up and get a life," he said.
Asked by reporters Thursday if he thought the joke was insensitive he said: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"
No, you asshole, we are not saying that you are insensitive to the Iranians but that perhaps you are insensitive to the American voter who is desperately trying to make sure they do not vote another psychopath into the most powerful position in the world who has a hard on to start bombing another country.
Maybe we would like a leader who is sensitive to the idea of negotiation rather then obliteration.
"Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends," the Republican presidential candidate told reporters Thursday, a day after he parodied the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" at a campaign stop in South Carolina. The senator changed the song's title to "Bomb Iran."
"My response is lighten up and get a life," he said.
Asked by reporters Thursday if he thought the joke was insensitive he said: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"
No, you asshole, we are not saying that you are insensitive to the Iranians but that perhaps you are insensitive to the American voter who is desperately trying to make sure they do not vote another psychopath into the most powerful position in the world who has a hard on to start bombing another country.
Maybe we would like a leader who is sensitive to the idea of negotiation rather then obliteration.
Bill Moyers takes media to task for lack of investigation in run up to Iraq war.
The most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called "Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." E&P was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the program this week.
While much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.
Bill Moyers may be one of the very few reporters who did not lose his integrity during the Iraq war buildup and he has every right to call his colleagues on their lack of scruples and guts.
I know I will be clearing my television watching schedule to make room for this.
While much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.
Bill Moyers may be one of the very few reporters who did not lose his integrity during the Iraq war buildup and he has every right to call his colleagues on their lack of scruples and guts.
I know I will be clearing my television watching schedule to make room for this.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The top most embarrassing photos taken of George W. Bush.
This really helps to illustrate just how big of a dumbass this President truly is.
Bush is drinking again.
Strange things sometimes come out of President Bush's mouth. "Polls just go poof." "Remember the rug?"
Some highlights:
_"Politics comes and goes, but your principles don't. And everybody wants to be loved — not everybody. ... You never heard anybody say, `I want to be despised, I'm running for office.'"
_"The best thing about my family is my wife. She is a great first lady. I know that sounds not very objective, but that's how I feel. And she's also patient. Putting up with me requires a lot of patience."
_"There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about."
_"There are some similarities, of course" between Iraq and Vietnam. "Death is terrible."
_"I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times."
You know I would ding the President for being a lush, but wouldn't you be drinking if you were in his position? You know you would.
Some highlights:
_"Politics comes and goes, but your principles don't. And everybody wants to be loved — not everybody. ... You never heard anybody say, `I want to be despised, I'm running for office.'"
_"The best thing about my family is my wife. She is a great first lady. I know that sounds not very objective, but that's how I feel. And she's also patient. Putting up with me requires a lot of patience."
_"There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about."
_"There are some similarities, of course" between Iraq and Vietnam. "Death is terrible."
_"I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times."
You know I would ding the President for being a lush, but wouldn't you be drinking if you were in his position? You know you would.
Finally somebody says what most of us already know.
The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
Reid said he had delivered the same message to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, when the US president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war funding bill.
"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear ... I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."
We know that the Republicans are going to beat Harry Reid over the head with this statement for weeks to come, and that is too bad because it may be one of the bravest things uttered by a Congressman in a very long time.
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
Reid said he had delivered the same message to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, when the US president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war funding bill.
"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear ... I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."
We know that the Republicans are going to beat Harry Reid over the head with this statement for weeks to come, and that is too bad because it may be one of the bravest things uttered by a Congressman in a very long time.
Were the U.S. Attorneys fired for not supporting the suppression of the Democrat voters?
For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.
The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.
Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws. Presidential political adviser Karl Rove alluded to the strategy in April 2006 when he railed about voter fraud in a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association.
Look boys and girls, another impeachable offense.
I swear the only way we may be able to get this moron out of office is if he robs a bank, buck naked, while involved in a homosexual relationship.
The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.
Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws. Presidential political adviser Karl Rove alluded to the strategy in April 2006 when he railed about voter fraud in a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association.
Look boys and girls, another impeachable offense.
I swear the only way we may be able to get this moron out of office is if he robs a bank, buck naked, while involved in a homosexual relationship.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
I really have no choice but to post this. Finally a museum that I will not find boring!
A SPANKOMETER, an orgasm tunnel and a giant wall of willies - roll up, roll up, for the world's first-ever 'sex theme park', opening today in London.
As you wander around, kissing and massage tutorials play on TVs while a range of sex toys sit in a glass cabinet waiting for you to have a feel.You're encourage to pick up and play with silicone boob implants and a fake testicle.
Several items are considered a bit too dangerous to hold - such as the vibrator hooked up to a power drill.
Around the corner, another set of dummies await with the inner workings of their privates on show so you can search for the G-spot.
Locate it and your model lets out an almighty moan. Meanwhile, you get a wink from your other half.
Of course I don't need any of this instruction since I know everything about pleasure, "cough cough", but I know that this will be very instructional for some people.
What a great game! Hit the erogenous zone and a light flashes to let you know that you found it! Why don't women come equipped like that? You know not for me, but the poor bastards that might need the input.
As you wander around, kissing and massage tutorials play on TVs while a range of sex toys sit in a glass cabinet waiting for you to have a feel.You're encourage to pick up and play with silicone boob implants and a fake testicle.
Several items are considered a bit too dangerous to hold - such as the vibrator hooked up to a power drill.
Around the corner, another set of dummies await with the inner workings of their privates on show so you can search for the G-spot.
Locate it and your model lets out an almighty moan. Meanwhile, you get a wink from your other half.
Of course I don't need any of this instruction since I know everything about pleasure, "cough cough", but I know that this will be very instructional for some people.
What a great game! Hit the erogenous zone and a light flashes to let you know that you found it! Why don't women come equipped like that? You know not for me, but the poor bastards that might need the input.
All volunteer army not suited for protracted ground war says Pentagon official, calls for draft.
The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony Tuesday that increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps may not resolve severe and growing personnel problems. There was even talk of returning to the draft to fill the ranks.
“It is better to take a smaller force than to lower your standards,” said Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon personnel official now affiliated with the Center for Defense Information and the Center for American Progress.
“The current use of ground forces in Iraq represents a complete misuse of the all-volunteer military,” he said.
The all-volunteer force was never designed for a protracted ground war, but that is exactly what it faces, he said.
“If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft.”
And that boys and girls is how the Iraq war finally came to a close.
There is no doubt that as soon as there is any serious talk of returning to a draft in this country that every single ounce of support for the Iraq war will dry up virtually overnight. George Bush will not be able to start a fist fight in a night club and expect anybody to have his back. He will be done sending our young people to die overseas.
And it is well past time for that to happen.
“It is better to take a smaller force than to lower your standards,” said Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon personnel official now affiliated with the Center for Defense Information and the Center for American Progress.
“The current use of ground forces in Iraq represents a complete misuse of the all-volunteer military,” he said.
The all-volunteer force was never designed for a protracted ground war, but that is exactly what it faces, he said.
“If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft.”
And that boys and girls is how the Iraq war finally came to a close.
There is no doubt that as soon as there is any serious talk of returning to a draft in this country that every single ounce of support for the Iraq war will dry up virtually overnight. George Bush will not be able to start a fist fight in a night club and expect anybody to have his back. He will be done sending our young people to die overseas.
And it is well past time for that to happen.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Al-Qaeda really appreciates our help.
The head of an al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq said the country had become a "university of terrorism", producing highly qualified warriors, since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In an audio recording posted on the Internet on Tuesday, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said his fighters were successfully confronting U.S. forces in Iraq and have begun producing a guided missile called al-Quds 1 or Jerusalem 1.
"The largest batch of soldiers for jihad ... in the history of Iraq are graduating and they have the highest level of competence in the world," Baghdadi said.
Can somebody tell me again how this war is going to make us safer here at home. I keep getting confused about that part. Maybe Dick Cheney has a moment to explain it to me.
In an audio recording posted on the Internet on Tuesday, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said his fighters were successfully confronting U.S. forces in Iraq and have begun producing a guided missile called al-Quds 1 or Jerusalem 1.
"The largest batch of soldiers for jihad ... in the history of Iraq are graduating and they have the highest level of competence in the world," Baghdadi said.
Can somebody tell me again how this war is going to make us safer here at home. I keep getting confused about that part. Maybe Dick Cheney has a moment to explain it to me.
Kaffee: "I want the truth!" Col. Jessup: "You can't handle the truth!"
It looks like this White House wants to treat us like Colonel Jessup tried to treat Tom Cruise's character from the movie "A Few Good Men". They are going to do what they feel is in our best interests without trusting us enough to tell us exactly that may be.
The Bush administration’s allies in Congress on Monday blocked a bill that would require the White House to disclose the locations of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency and to reveal the amount spent annually by American intelligence agencies.
The vote on the intelligence bill was a blow to Senate Democrats, newly in control of Congress, who had hoped that they would be able to extract more details from the White House about some of the most widely debated intelligence programs begun after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Opponents of the legislation, led by Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, won enough support on Monday to prevent the bill from going to the Senate floor for a final vote. But Congressional officials said that negotiations over the measure would continue Tuesday, and Democrats said they were still hopeful the bill could eventually pass.
You know I am a big boy. And I have no trust whatsoever in this administration to do the right thing. So if they want to do anything on my behalf, they sure as shit better tell me what the fuck that might be. Because I do not want another group of terrorists blowing the hell out of one of our cities because they hate us due to our governments interference in their lives.
It is time we make our government level with us. We have suffered, and will suffer, for their mistakes!
The Bush administration’s allies in Congress on Monday blocked a bill that would require the White House to disclose the locations of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency and to reveal the amount spent annually by American intelligence agencies.
The vote on the intelligence bill was a blow to Senate Democrats, newly in control of Congress, who had hoped that they would be able to extract more details from the White House about some of the most widely debated intelligence programs begun after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Opponents of the legislation, led by Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, won enough support on Monday to prevent the bill from going to the Senate floor for a final vote. But Congressional officials said that negotiations over the measure would continue Tuesday, and Democrats said they were still hopeful the bill could eventually pass.
You know I am a big boy. And I have no trust whatsoever in this administration to do the right thing. So if they want to do anything on my behalf, they sure as shit better tell me what the fuck that might be. Because I do not want another group of terrorists blowing the hell out of one of our cities because they hate us due to our governments interference in their lives.
It is time we make our government level with us. We have suffered, and will suffer, for their mistakes!
I am too distracted by the news to post anything much today. Here is a poem I once wrote that expresses how I feel.
The Words
I believe that words are a treasure gently mined with special tools.
And if carefully weaved together can make kings out of simple fools.
For in the hands of an artist they have the power to shape our fate.
But I must question whether I can do this, for the hour is growing late.
I have spent a lifetime struggling to write what I feel inside.
Yet every time that I am close, again I am denied.
So everyday I search for the words to ease my troubled heart.
Words to heal the wounds of a world that’s been viciously torn apart.
Words to make a war scarred warrior lay his sword upon the ground.
Words that bring smiles to a child, and chase away her frown.
Words that would convince a coward to finally face his fears.
Or to make a hate filled person’s eyes suddenly fill with tears.
Words with the power to dissipate hate and allow love to take its place.
Words to help a prejudice man see people and not their race.
Words to let a broken heart know that love is not far away.
And that every love is a precious love, even those that do not stay.
So I may be but a simple poet without the skill to attain my prize.
But the only one who is certain to fail is the one who never tries.
Gryphen
I believe that words are a treasure gently mined with special tools.
And if carefully weaved together can make kings out of simple fools.
For in the hands of an artist they have the power to shape our fate.
But I must question whether I can do this, for the hour is growing late.
I have spent a lifetime struggling to write what I feel inside.
Yet every time that I am close, again I am denied.
So everyday I search for the words to ease my troubled heart.
Words to heal the wounds of a world that’s been viciously torn apart.
Words to make a war scarred warrior lay his sword upon the ground.
Words that bring smiles to a child, and chase away her frown.
Words that would convince a coward to finally face his fears.
Or to make a hate filled person’s eyes suddenly fill with tears.
Words with the power to dissipate hate and allow love to take its place.
Words to help a prejudice man see people and not their race.
Words to let a broken heart know that love is not far away.
And that every love is a precious love, even those that do not stay.
So I may be but a simple poet without the skill to attain my prize.
But the only one who is certain to fail is the one who never tries.
Gryphen
What legacy is the Iraq war leaving to the children of Iraq?
About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
The survey of about 2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi.
Many Iraqi children have to pass dead bodies on the street as they walk to school in the morning, according to a separate report last week by the International Red Cross. Others have seen relatives killed or have been injured in mortar or bomb attacks.
"Some of these children are suffering one trauma after another, and it's severely damaging their development," said Said Al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at Mustansiriya Medical School and runs a private clinic in west Baghdad. "We're not certain what will become of the next generation, even if there is peace one day," Al-Hashimi said.
If we are talking about making our world safer it would seem to be only common sense to insulate these children from violence. The death and destruction that is so much a part of their formative years will help raise them to be cold, emotionless killing machines to be used by terrorist's to visit horrible attacks against America, who they universally blame for their situation.
We have helped to create our future enemies.
The survey of about 2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi.
Many Iraqi children have to pass dead bodies on the street as they walk to school in the morning, according to a separate report last week by the International Red Cross. Others have seen relatives killed or have been injured in mortar or bomb attacks.
"Some of these children are suffering one trauma after another, and it's severely damaging their development," said Said Al-Hashimi, a psychiatrist who teaches at Mustansiriya Medical School and runs a private clinic in west Baghdad. "We're not certain what will become of the next generation, even if there is peace one day," Al-Hashimi said.
If we are talking about making our world safer it would seem to be only common sense to insulate these children from violence. The death and destruction that is so much a part of their formative years will help raise them to be cold, emotionless killing machines to be used by terrorist's to visit horrible attacks against America, who they universally blame for their situation.
We have helped to create our future enemies.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Oh my God!
Thirty-three people, including the gunman, were killed at a Virginia university Monday in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. At least 15 other people were injured, some of them as they leaped to safety from the fourth floor of a classroom building.
The shootings, which took place in two locations on campus, came just four days before the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. They created panic and confusion at the college, where students and employees angrily asked why the first e-mail warning did not go out to them until the gunman had struck a second time.
Federal law enforcement officials said the gunman killed himself after he shot dozens of people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, in southwest Virginia. Thirty-two people plus the shooter were confirmed dead.
Somebody explain to me again why we do not have tighter gun control laws in this country.
I cannot express how sad I am for the families of these students, what a senseless act of violence.
The shootings, which took place in two locations on campus, came just four days before the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. They created panic and confusion at the college, where students and employees angrily asked why the first e-mail warning did not go out to them until the gunman had struck a second time.
Federal law enforcement officials said the gunman killed himself after he shot dozens of people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, in southwest Virginia. Thirty-two people plus the shooter were confirmed dead.
Somebody explain to me again why we do not have tighter gun control laws in this country.
I cannot express how sad I am for the families of these students, what a senseless act of violence.
Well this gets filed in the "no shit" category.
Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.
Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers.
So let me see if I have this right. Regular viewers of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart or "The Colbert Report" with the Stephen Colbert are well informed geniuses, and those who get their "news" from Fox noise are ignorant, knuckle dragging, inbreds? That is what I have always believed.
By the way, the above statement, was both "fair" and "balanced". Roger Ailes is Stephen Colbert's bitch!
Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers.
So let me see if I have this right. Regular viewers of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart or "The Colbert Report" with the Stephen Colbert are well informed geniuses, and those who get their "news" from Fox noise are ignorant, knuckle dragging, inbreds? That is what I have always believed.
By the way, the above statement, was both "fair" and "balanced". Roger Ailes is Stephen Colbert's bitch!
Do you know what your wife does all day?
About one in five adults in monogamous relationships, or 22 percent, have cheated on their current partner. The rate is even higher among married men. And nearly half of people admit to being unfaithful at some point in their lives, according to the results of the MSNBC.com/iVillage Lust, Love & Loyalty survey.
Spending years together, exchanging wedding rings, even having children doesn’t inoculate a couple against cheating. In fact, married folks with kids — including women with very young children — are nearly as likely to commit adultery as childless couples.
Indeed, having kids is no deterrent. According to the survey, 15 percent of women and 16 percent of men with children ages 2 to 5 years had an affair. An unexpected 7 percent of women and 9 percent of men cheated while there was a baby under the age of 2 in the home.
It is interesting how much married people are willing to risk just to have somebody temporarily make them feel desirable. I have seen both sides of this issue in my romantic history and I know how damaging it is to have a spouse, or girlfriend, who suddenly decides that you are not giving them what they need so they are tempted to seek it elsewhere rather then try and save what they already have. And truthfully I have not exactly been and angel either.
This has led me to believe that monogamous relationships may not be a possibility for me. I do think they work for some but not necessarily for me.
So it is just passionate temporary sexual interludes for me in the foreseeable future. Damn the luck.
Spending years together, exchanging wedding rings, even having children doesn’t inoculate a couple against cheating. In fact, married folks with kids — including women with very young children — are nearly as likely to commit adultery as childless couples.
Indeed, having kids is no deterrent. According to the survey, 15 percent of women and 16 percent of men with children ages 2 to 5 years had an affair. An unexpected 7 percent of women and 9 percent of men cheated while there was a baby under the age of 2 in the home.
It is interesting how much married people are willing to risk just to have somebody temporarily make them feel desirable. I have seen both sides of this issue in my romantic history and I know how damaging it is to have a spouse, or girlfriend, who suddenly decides that you are not giving them what they need so they are tempted to seek it elsewhere rather then try and save what they already have. And truthfully I have not exactly been and angel either.
This has led me to believe that monogamous relationships may not be a possibility for me. I do think they work for some but not necessarily for me.
So it is just passionate temporary sexual interludes for me in the foreseeable future. Damn the luck.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Another teacher throws her career away in pursuit of some adolescent DNA gathering.
Rebecca Kelley, 24, appeared in justice court with her attorney Stephen Weiss Friday.She pleaded not guilty to 4 counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
The incident allegedly took place throughout January of this year."There's no question that it was consensual," says Weiss. "No question at all. Consent doesn't make any difference. If it is consensual it's still a crime under that statute."
"I feel sorry for her," says Reverend Fred Tillotson, head of Salpointe High School. "I feel sorry for her because here was a young lady who had potential as a teacher. We've hired her because she was a good English teacher, and the kids did well with her. Probably this will ruin her career."
Court records indicate that "biological evidence" taken from her home during a recent search includes "samples" from a love seat, from a couch and a rug in a living room, and samples from a bedroom floor and a mattress in a bedroom.
Kelley provided a DNA sample in the form of cells from inside her cheeks, according to those records.
It must be extremely hard to stick to that abstinence thing with such a hot teacher groping your goodies. Even in a Catholic High School.
The incident allegedly took place throughout January of this year."There's no question that it was consensual," says Weiss. "No question at all. Consent doesn't make any difference. If it is consensual it's still a crime under that statute."
"I feel sorry for her," says Reverend Fred Tillotson, head of Salpointe High School. "I feel sorry for her because here was a young lady who had potential as a teacher. We've hired her because she was a good English teacher, and the kids did well with her. Probably this will ruin her career."
Court records indicate that "biological evidence" taken from her home during a recent search includes "samples" from a love seat, from a couch and a rug in a living room, and samples from a bedroom floor and a mattress in a bedroom.
Kelley provided a DNA sample in the form of cells from inside her cheeks, according to those records.
It must be extremely hard to stick to that abstinence thing with such a hot teacher groping your goodies. Even in a Catholic High School.
It looks like Barack Obama has raised the bar in this political campaign. Well played sir.
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has returned more than $50,000 in political contributions after discovering the donors were lobbyists.
Obama, who has pledged to change the ways of Washington, has repeatedly said he will not accept money from lobbyists or from special interest political action committees.
"I am concerned about the role of lobbyists and campaign donations generally in our politics," Obama told The Associated Press while campaigning in Florence, S.C. "That's part of the reason I don't take PAC money and I'm not taking federal lobbyist money in this campaign."
Damn! If Obama keeps this kind of stuff up he going to make the best Vice President to John Edwards that we could ever hope for!
Now let's look at how much lobbyist money Hillary received. Was it a lot? Oh yeah, we know that it was.
Obama, who has pledged to change the ways of Washington, has repeatedly said he will not accept money from lobbyists or from special interest political action committees.
"I am concerned about the role of lobbyists and campaign donations generally in our politics," Obama told The Associated Press while campaigning in Florence, S.C. "That's part of the reason I don't take PAC money and I'm not taking federal lobbyist money in this campaign."
Damn! If Obama keeps this kind of stuff up he going to make the best Vice President to John Edwards that we could ever hope for!
Now let's look at how much lobbyist money Hillary received. Was it a lot? Oh yeah, we know that it was.
With teachers like this is it any wonder that I am as unconventional as I am?
Fifty miles northwest of Alaska's largest city, the roadless hills and boggy swamps of the Yentna River Valley have for years hidden the secret of bear man Charlie Vandergaw.What goes on each summer at Vandergaw's remote homestead is so far from the ordinary as to be almost unbelievable. Visitors tell of him petting black and brown bears, playing with grizzly cubs while sows stand by, sitting on bears and teaching them tricks. His own photographs show even more. They capture him easing to within feet of breeding grizzlies and nursing an injured brown bear.
Charlie Vandergaw was my high school science teacher. He was a great guy whose identical twin brother, Glen Vandergaw my math teacher, was his polar opposite. Charlie was a great guy who loved talking about science and used to come into the weight room, where I spent much of my after school time, and always bench press exactly ten more pounds then I could bench. He did that many times, no matter how strong I became he always lifted just ten extra pounds never letting on just how strong he actually was.
I had teachers who raised dog sled teams, some were ex-Olympic athletes, and others spent their summers on fishing boats braving the most dangerous seas in the world. They were some very colorful people and they gave me an eclectic and interesting education, which I still treasure.
I have not seen Charlie in almost thirty years now, it is nice to see that he is still teaching us all something.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington want Patrick Fitzgerald to re-open his investigation in light of the missing e-mails.
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said today, "It looks like Karl Rove may well have destroyed evidence that implicated him in the White House's orchestrated efforts to leak Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity to the press in retaliation against her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson." Sloan continued, "Special Counsel Fitzgerald should immediately reopen his investigation into whether Rove took part in the leak as well as whether he obstructed justice in the ensuing leak investigation."
Now as one of those who was somewhat less then satisfied at the outcome of Fitzgerald's last case, the one that resulted in the conviction of Scooter Libby, I would truly love to see him go after this administration again. As a matter of fact I would not be at all surprised if Fitzgerald got the information about these e-mails out to CREW himself with the intention of re-starting his investigation.
The man is described as "scary smart" for a reason.
Now as one of those who was somewhat less then satisfied at the outcome of Fitzgerald's last case, the one that resulted in the conviction of Scooter Libby, I would truly love to see him go after this administration again. As a matter of fact I would not be at all surprised if Fitzgerald got the information about these e-mails out to CREW himself with the intention of re-starting his investigation.
The man is described as "scary smart" for a reason.
E-mails prove that US attorneys were removed for political reasons.
A Justice Department e-mail message released on Friday shows that the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proposed replacement candidates for United States attorneys nearly a year before they were dismissed in December 2006. The department has repeatedly stated that no successors were selected before the dismissals.
The Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail message, written by D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned last month as the top aide to Mr. Gonzales, identified five Bush administration officials, most of them Justice Department employees, whose names were sent to the White House for consideration as possible replacements for prosecutors slated for dismissal.
Some of the new documents show the department’s acute awareness of individual United States attorneys’ political and ideological views. An undated spreadsheet attached to a Feb. 12, 2007, e-mail message listed the federal prosecutors who had served under President Bush along with their past work experience.
It is getting clearer that the point of these firings was to create a buffer between any litigation that might be filed against this administration and the White House. They were clearly trying to reinforce their ramparts for the siege that is about to come their way.
However doing so is clearly against the law. I have a feeling that this is the way the Democrats will see it as well.
The Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail message, written by D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned last month as the top aide to Mr. Gonzales, identified five Bush administration officials, most of them Justice Department employees, whose names were sent to the White House for consideration as possible replacements for prosecutors slated for dismissal.
Some of the new documents show the department’s acute awareness of individual United States attorneys’ political and ideological views. An undated spreadsheet attached to a Feb. 12, 2007, e-mail message listed the federal prosecutors who had served under President Bush along with their past work experience.
It is getting clearer that the point of these firings was to create a buffer between any litigation that might be filed against this administration and the White House. They were clearly trying to reinforce their ramparts for the siege that is about to come their way.
However doing so is clearly against the law. I have a feeling that this is the way the Democrats will see it as well.
US security plan in Baghdad declared a failure. Not not by the Democrats, by the Iraqi government.
Some Iraqi legislators declared the U.S.-led plan to secure Baghdad a failure after an unprecedented suicide bomb attack on parliament Thursday capped a violent week in the capital.
The explosion inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings, killed at least eight people. Also Thursday, a suicide truck bomb collapsed a bridge across the Tigris River, further isolating mostly Sunni western Baghdad from the largely Shiite east.
"Someone can walk into our parliament building with bombs. What security do we have?" said Saleh al-Mutlaq, who heads the Sunni National Dialogue Front in the Iraqi parliament.
"The plan is 100% a failure. It's a complete flop," said Khalaf al-Ilyan, one of the three leaders of the Iraqi Accordance Front, which holds 44 seats in parliament. "The explosion means that instability and lack of security has reached the Green Zone."
Somebody go fetch John McCain! I want to hear what he has to say about this.
I love the argument that when we pull our troops out that Iraq will devolve into this horrible sectarian war. As if that is not what is happening right now.
The explosion inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings, killed at least eight people. Also Thursday, a suicide truck bomb collapsed a bridge across the Tigris River, further isolating mostly Sunni western Baghdad from the largely Shiite east.
"Someone can walk into our parliament building with bombs. What security do we have?" said Saleh al-Mutlaq, who heads the Sunni National Dialogue Front in the Iraqi parliament.
"The plan is 100% a failure. It's a complete flop," said Khalaf al-Ilyan, one of the three leaders of the Iraqi Accordance Front, which holds 44 seats in parliament. "The explosion means that instability and lack of security has reached the Green Zone."
Somebody go fetch John McCain! I want to hear what he has to say about this.
I love the argument that when we pull our troops out that Iraq will devolve into this horrible sectarian war. As if that is not what is happening right now.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Uh oh!
Women might soon be able to produce sperm in a development that could allow lesbian couples to have their own biological daughters, according to a pioneering study published today.
Scientists are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman's bone marrow tissue after showing that it possible to produce rudimentary sperm cells from male bone-marrow tissue.
Creating sperm from women would mean they would only be able to produce daughters because the Y chromosome of male sperm would still be needed to produce sons. The latest research brings the prospect of female-only conception a step closer.
Well great! First there is a study showing that woman achieve better orgasms without men and now they might soon be able to make babies without men.
As soon as these chicks learn to change their own flat tires we are going to be fucked! And not in the good way.
Scientists are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman's bone marrow tissue after showing that it possible to produce rudimentary sperm cells from male bone-marrow tissue.
Creating sperm from women would mean they would only be able to produce daughters because the Y chromosome of male sperm would still be needed to produce sons. The latest research brings the prospect of female-only conception a step closer.
Well great! First there is a study showing that woman achieve better orgasms without men and now they might soon be able to make babies without men.
As soon as these chicks learn to change their own flat tires we are going to be fucked! And not in the good way.
How much is a human life worth? According to the American military around $7,500.
The US army memo about the killing of an Iraqi woman in a taxi at a checkpoint in Iraq is terse and matter-of-fact.The incident occurred in the eastern Iraqi town of Baquba in February last year, when a taxi carrying a woman and her two children went through the checkpoint. US troops opened fire, killing the woman, who died from internal bleeding, and wounding her two children.
“There is evidence to suggest that the warning cones and printed checkpoint signs had not yet been displayed in front of the checkpoint, which may be the reason why the driver of the taxi did not believe he was required to stop,” says the memo, which recommended a compensation payment of $7,500 (£3,798).
The memo is just one of 500 claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by US forces and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU made the documents public on its website today.
In another case, an Iraqi civilian said US forces opened fire with more than 100 rounds on his sleeping family, killing his mother, father and brother. Such was the firepower that 32 of the family’s sheep were also killed. The army acknowledged responsibility and made two payments: a compensation payment of $11,200 and a $2,500 condolence payment.
How can we ever hope to convince any of these people to trust us when we carelessly kill their family members and then act as if it is just an unfortunate additional cost to fighting this war.
No wonder the enemy is having little trouble finding Iraqis who are willing to strap a bomb on their backs for the chance to take a few of the "invaders" with them when they die.
“There is evidence to suggest that the warning cones and printed checkpoint signs had not yet been displayed in front of the checkpoint, which may be the reason why the driver of the taxi did not believe he was required to stop,” says the memo, which recommended a compensation payment of $7,500 (£3,798).
The memo is just one of 500 claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by US forces and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU made the documents public on its website today.
In another case, an Iraqi civilian said US forces opened fire with more than 100 rounds on his sleeping family, killing his mother, father and brother. Such was the firepower that 32 of the family’s sheep were also killed. The army acknowledged responsibility and made two payments: a compensation payment of $11,200 and a $2,500 condolence payment.
How can we ever hope to convince any of these people to trust us when we carelessly kill their family members and then act as if it is just an unfortunate additional cost to fighting this war.
No wonder the enemy is having little trouble finding Iraqis who are willing to strap a bomb on their backs for the chance to take a few of the "invaders" with them when they die.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Women apparently don't need us men. Yeah! Well I don't need them either. I can burn my own dinner.
A new sexuality survey has confirmed what women know and some men fear - single females have far more luck achieving orgasm than those partnered off.
Taking men out of the picture allows women to "better connect with themselves", according to sex therapists behind the Queensland study of 500 older women.
The research found that 56 per cent of sexually-active women with no current partner could reach orgasm every time with masturbation compared with only 24 per cent of women with partners.
"That's a significant difference and I'd imagine there are few men out there a little surprised and unimpressed that women have better luck without them," said medical sex therapist Dr Jane Howard.
Okay now my male ego demands that I say that no woman is better off without me. Of course that may not be true.
It does make me wonder just how clumsy some of my male counterparts in the bedroom. Come on gentlemen let's bring our "A" game! And stop watching so much porn! Nobody does it in those positions!
Taking men out of the picture allows women to "better connect with themselves", according to sex therapists behind the Queensland study of 500 older women.
The research found that 56 per cent of sexually-active women with no current partner could reach orgasm every time with masturbation compared with only 24 per cent of women with partners.
"That's a significant difference and I'd imagine there are few men out there a little surprised and unimpressed that women have better luck without them," said medical sex therapist Dr Jane Howard.
Okay now my male ego demands that I say that no woman is better off without me. Of course that may not be true.
It does make me wonder just how clumsy some of my male counterparts in the bedroom. Come on gentlemen let's bring our "A" game! And stop watching so much porn! Nobody does it in those positions!
The White House cover up is in full swing.
In a startling new revelation, CREW has also learned through two confidential sources that the Executive Office of the President (EOP) has lost over five million emails generated between March 2003 and October 2005. The White House counsel's office was advised of these problems in 2005 and CREW has been told that the White House was given a plan of action to recover these emails, but to date nothing has been done to rectify this significant loss of records.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, "It's clear that the White House has been willfully violating the law, the only question now is to what extent? The ever changing excuses offered by the administration Ð that they didn't want to violate the Hatch Act, that staff wasn't clear on the law - are patently ridiculous. Very convenient that embarrassing - and potentially incriminating - emails have gone missing. It's the Nixon White House all over again."
You know it is almost embarrassing how clumsy this administration is in trying to trick all of us into believing that they have done nothing wrong. It is almost like watching your three year old, with a face smeared with chocolate, tell you the he has no idea what happened the Easter candy.
Except your three year old is cute as a button and probably not sending Americans overseas to die in an illegal war. I have somewhat less sympathy for these assholes.
I am starting to believe that we may actually be able to charge this administration with treason. I know that the right wing is always throwing that word around and have made it seem like an empty threat but I think that it truly applies to this administration. They have lied, and broken virtually every single rule that applies to running the government of this country.
Surely there must be an appropriate punishment for all of this!
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, "It's clear that the White House has been willfully violating the law, the only question now is to what extent? The ever changing excuses offered by the administration Ð that they didn't want to violate the Hatch Act, that staff wasn't clear on the law - are patently ridiculous. Very convenient that embarrassing - and potentially incriminating - emails have gone missing. It's the Nixon White House all over again."
You know it is almost embarrassing how clumsy this administration is in trying to trick all of us into believing that they have done nothing wrong. It is almost like watching your three year old, with a face smeared with chocolate, tell you the he has no idea what happened the Easter candy.
Except your three year old is cute as a button and probably not sending Americans overseas to die in an illegal war. I have somewhat less sympathy for these assholes.
I am starting to believe that we may actually be able to charge this administration with treason. I know that the right wing is always throwing that word around and have made it seem like an empty threat but I think that it truly applies to this administration. They have lied, and broken virtually every single rule that applies to running the government of this country.
Surely there must be an appropriate punishment for all of this!
John Edwards is closing the gap!
Seven Democratic White House hopefuls participated in the April 10 event, sponsored by the influential MoveOn.org Political Action PAC, and MoveOn members picked Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) as the candidate who “would be best able to lead the country out of Iraq.”
Obama received 27.87 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards with 24.84 percent. A total of 42,882 MoveOn members participated in the vote.
What is that, a 2.3% difference? That is hardly even worth noting.
Edwards is gaining more national exposure and people are liking what they hear. It is just a shame that his future vice president managed to squeeze past him in this particular poll.
Obama received 27.87 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards with 24.84 percent. A total of 42,882 MoveOn members participated in the vote.
What is that, a 2.3% difference? That is hardly even worth noting.
Edwards is gaining more national exposure and people are liking what they hear. It is just a shame that his future vice president managed to squeeze past him in this particular poll.
McCain's safer Baghdad suffers another suicide bombing, inside the green zone!
An explosion has hit a cafeteria at the Iraqi parliament, killing at least eight people, at least two of them MPs, the US military has said.
Police said they believed a suicide bomber was involved. Twenty-three people were injured in the attack.
The cafe, in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone, is for MPs and their staff, some of whom were having lunch there.
Earlier, a bomb on a bridge in Baghdad killed at least eight people and sent several cars into the River Tigris.
You know I don't think I have to add anything here. These incidents speak for themselves.
Police said they believed a suicide bomber was involved. Twenty-three people were injured in the attack.
The cafe, in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone, is for MPs and their staff, some of whom were having lunch there.
Earlier, a bomb on a bridge in Baghdad killed at least eight people and sent several cars into the River Tigris.
You know I don't think I have to add anything here. These incidents speak for themselves.
Teaching children how to act like gorillas, okay. Simulating gorilla sex on them, not okay.
"The teacher, Mr. Harold Skinner, grabbed a student by putting his hands on his torso from the rear, and then thrust his pelvic into the student several times, acting as a gorilla would act under a sexual type situation," said Sheriff Metts.
The investigation report says it happened in a drama class at White Knoll High School, where the students and teachers were working on improvisational skills. In particular, they were practicing how gorillas might act.
Metts says, that's when Skinner performed the questionable improv act on the student in front of several classmates.
"It was very distasteful to the student and embarrassing to the student to have the teacher put his hands on his torso and then thrust his pelvic into him a number of times in the rear," said Sheriff Metts.
Well great! Now these students will finish their high school education without ever knowing how gorilla's mate. That is just a terrible disservice to our young people!
This qualifies as possibly the creepiest teacher/student sex story that I have ever posted about. And that is saying something.
The investigation report says it happened in a drama class at White Knoll High School, where the students and teachers were working on improvisational skills. In particular, they were practicing how gorillas might act.
Metts says, that's when Skinner performed the questionable improv act on the student in front of several classmates.
"It was very distasteful to the student and embarrassing to the student to have the teacher put his hands on his torso and then thrust his pelvic into him a number of times in the rear," said Sheriff Metts.
Well great! Now these students will finish their high school education without ever knowing how gorilla's mate. That is just a terrible disservice to our young people!
This qualifies as possibly the creepiest teacher/student sex story that I have ever posted about. And that is saying something.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Keith Olberman article in New York magazine.
No wonder Keith dislikes O'Reilly so much, he feels partly responsible for his success.Earlier, for the sheer sport of it, I had asked him about O’Reilly: “It wasn’t until I left MSNBC in December of ’98 that Bill took second place. Seeing what he did with that and the perversions of television he’s created, I felt bad about it. I might have been able to stop this. It must be like the way Gore or Kerry wake up in the middle of the night thinking, I could have stopped this. I carry that around with me.”
Don't take it so hard Keith. O'Reilly and FOX News are like the cancer that invades a healthy person's body so that they can suddenly realize how precious life is and start creating a fuller life for themselves after they have removed the cancer from their bodies.
Someday we will all look back and see that FOX News ultimately made us more intelligent consumers of news and news programming.
Did I just write that?
Bush must be frustrated that he has not completely destroyed the military yet, so he has upped the ante.
Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours — three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush’s revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.
Officials on Monday said some 13,000 National Guard troops were receiving orders alerting them to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq — meaning a second tour for several thousand of them.
Many of these soldiers are looking at their fourth, or even, fifth Iraq tours. They are tired, they are homesick, man of them are suffering from physical or mental impairments, and yet they are still expected to enter the most dangerous place on earth simply because they managed to survive their last tours.
It seems the only way for our brave soldiers to escape this deadly merry -go-round is to desert or die. And would any of us blame them if these men and women decided to preserve their lives by running away rather then to face death for the third, or fourth time in the deserts of Iraq? I certainly wouldn't!
It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush’s revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.
Officials on Monday said some 13,000 National Guard troops were receiving orders alerting them to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq — meaning a second tour for several thousand of them.
Many of these soldiers are looking at their fourth, or even, fifth Iraq tours. They are tired, they are homesick, man of them are suffering from physical or mental impairments, and yet they are still expected to enter the most dangerous place on earth simply because they managed to survive their last tours.
It seems the only way for our brave soldiers to escape this deadly merry -go-round is to desert or die. And would any of us blame them if these men and women decided to preserve their lives by running away rather then to face death for the third, or fourth time in the deserts of Iraq? I certainly wouldn't!
McCain says he did not need military protection to visit Baghdad market.
McCain said he would have walked through a central Baghdad market without the military protection, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, had recommended the armed escort.
"I'm not notorious for being nervous about going anywhere," said McCain. "I'll gladly go almost anywhere in the world, under any circumstances, but I did respond and do what Gen. Petraeus asked me to do."
Okay so McCain would have gladly walked through the market without protection. But the General in charge of security, who know how dangerous Baghdad can be, said that McCain needed that much protection.
So we are to glean what from this information?
That General Petraeus overreacted, and used limited military resources to protect a hopeful Republican candidate for President?
Or that McCain is a doddering old fool who does not know when he is placing himself in danger?
"No Gram pa, you may not have the keys to the car, you know the doctor said that your reflexes are much to slow to safely use a motor vehicle!"
Yeah I want this old bastard running my country. And I want Paris Hilton giving clothing advice to my daughter. I think not.
"I'm not notorious for being nervous about going anywhere," said McCain. "I'll gladly go almost anywhere in the world, under any circumstances, but I did respond and do what Gen. Petraeus asked me to do."
Okay so McCain would have gladly walked through the market without protection. But the General in charge of security, who know how dangerous Baghdad can be, said that McCain needed that much protection.
So we are to glean what from this information?
That General Petraeus overreacted, and used limited military resources to protect a hopeful Republican candidate for President?
Or that McCain is a doddering old fool who does not know when he is placing himself in danger?
"No Gram pa, you may not have the keys to the car, you know the doctor said that your reflexes are much to slow to safely use a motor vehicle!"
Yeah I want this old bastard running my country. And I want Paris Hilton giving clothing advice to my daughter. I think not.
Bush cannot find anybody to take responsibility for his two crappy wars. Shocking!
The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.
Well no shit man! Who, in their right mind, would be willing to commit career suicide by jumping on two sinking ships and steering them to the bottom of the ocean?
This is Bush and Cheney's war and they are going to held accountable by history no matter how hard they try to place the blame on the Democrats for trying to end it or the military for not delivering them their shiny new victory.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.
Well no shit man! Who, in their right mind, would be willing to commit career suicide by jumping on two sinking ships and steering them to the bottom of the ocean?
This is Bush and Cheney's war and they are going to held accountable by history no matter how hard they try to place the blame on the Democrats for trying to end it or the military for not delivering them their shiny new victory.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Okay we can stop worrying about saving our planet, we may have found a replacement.
Evidence of water has been detected for the first time in a planet outside our solar system, an astronomer said on Tuesday, a tantalizing find for scientists eager to know whether life exists beyond Earth.
Travis Barman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, said water vapor has been found in the atmosphere of a large, Jupiter-like gaseous planet located 150 light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The planet is known as HD 209458b.
Thank God I can now drive my giant gas guzzling SUV over small animals while sipping my Starbucks Caffe' Verona on the way to my job of using reams of paper for useless documents and depleting our rain forests without feeling a stitch of guilt. Some of that was really starting to bother me.
I wonder how soon I can purchase my ticket to my new home on planet HD 209458b? I hope I get there before all of the pristine water vapor gets sucked up for some assholes jacuzzi.
Travis Barman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, said water vapor has been found in the atmosphere of a large, Jupiter-like gaseous planet located 150 light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The planet is known as HD 209458b.
Thank God I can now drive my giant gas guzzling SUV over small animals while sipping my Starbucks Caffe' Verona on the way to my job of using reams of paper for useless documents and depleting our rain forests without feeling a stitch of guilt. Some of that was really starting to bother me.
I wonder how soon I can purchase my ticket to my new home on planet HD 209458b? I hope I get there before all of the pristine water vapor gets sucked up for some assholes jacuzzi.
Obama calls McCain out over his Baghdad market bullshit.
"The idea that the situation in Iraq is improving because it takes a security detail of 100 soldiers, three Black Hawk helicopters and a couple of Apache gunships to walk through a market in the middle of Baghdad is simply not credible and not reflective of the facts on the ground," Obama said in a taped interview that will air as part of a Democratic presidential forum sponsored by MoveOn.org.
I have to give Obama mad props for this, and I wonder where Hillary and my boy John Edwards are when it comes to McCain trying to lie to the American people?
I have to give Obama mad props for this, and I wonder where Hillary and my boy John Edwards are when it comes to McCain trying to lie to the American people?
Alberto Gonzales is trying desperately to get his lies straight before appearing in front of the Democrats.
At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers — including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan — about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source.
Okay first Monica Goodling, a top Gonzales aide, threatens to plead the fifth and then quits over having to appear before Congress, and now Gonzales is cramming like a freaked out law student before having to appear before the House.
Now my question is, if they are just going to tell the truth about what happened in the firing of these U.S. Attorneys, then why the hell do they need to be all up in a panic?
It just makes it as obvious as can be that there is a whole lot going on here that we do not yet know. I can hardly wait to watch Gonzales crumble before Congress and the television cameras. That is going to be some great television!
Okay first Monica Goodling, a top Gonzales aide, threatens to plead the fifth and then quits over having to appear before Congress, and now Gonzales is cramming like a freaked out law student before having to appear before the House.
Now my question is, if they are just going to tell the truth about what happened in the firing of these U.S. Attorneys, then why the hell do they need to be all up in a panic?
It just makes it as obvious as can be that there is a whole lot going on here that we do not yet know. I can hardly wait to watch Gonzales crumble before Congress and the television cameras. That is going to be some great television!
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