NAFTA RELOADED

Jerome Corsi over at WND believes that the 3 NAFTA partners are all involved together within a shadow government

Government documents released by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the Bush administration is running a "shadow government" with Mexico and Canada in which the U.S. is crafting a broad range of policy in conjunction with its neighbors to the north and south.

The documents clearly reveal that SPP, working within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is far advanced in putting together a new regional infrastructure, creating a 'shadow' trilateral bureaucracy with Mexico and Canada that is aggressively rewriting a wide range of U.S. administrative law, all without congressional oversight or public disclosure," Corsi said.

I said I wasn't going to discuss NAFTA anymore, however, I felt that this article above may have something to do with this:

The United States Coast Guard has started to patrol the Great Lakes with machine guns mounted on their vessels and is conducting live-ammunition training drills on the U.S. side to prepare officers to combat terrorists flooding across the border from Canada by boat.



Have a read. It's an unbelievable story. When residents on both sides of the border heard of this, it was a complete suprise. One mayor in Ontario actually thought it was an internet hoax at first.

The high-powered drills have, however, stunned environmentalists, boaters and mayors in cities dotting the lakes in both countries who are outraged that the U.S. government would jeopardize the safety of pleasure boaters and commercial fishermen who could stray into the line of fire. Just as infuriating, they say, is the risk of lead exposure to fish and the more than 40 million people who draw drinking water from the Great Lakes.

“We're trying to be prepared in case something happens,” said a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier.

“I don't know what it is, but I know I want to be prepared for it when it happens. We need to conduct these live-fire exercises so we are prepared for whatever it may be. If we are not prepared for it, there are going to be questions about why we weren't prepared for it.”

WAIT --IT GETS BETTER

Toronto Mayor David Miller chairs a coalition of U.S. and Canadian mayors working to restore and protect the lakes.

He said the target practice violates a treaty signed after the War of 1812 that outlaws military weapons on the Great Lakes, tampering with two centuries of peaceful history.

(Aren't treaties considered more sacrosanct than laws?)

As for the shaky status of the world's longest undefended border, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ambra Dickie, said that Canada and the United States signed a written agreement three years ago articulating that moves to arm U.S. law-enforcement vessels with light machine guns in U.S. jurisdiction do not violate the spirit of the treaty. That treaty, the argument goes, was drafted to ensure peace in the Great Lakes by forbidding weapons of war such as cannons on sailing ships.

“We don't have any cannons or rocket launchers or anything like that,” CPO Lanier said.

That's the spirit sir! What's a little machine gun gonna do?
You don't have cannons now, but I am sure that when this treaty was signed, they would have included machine guns had they been in existance.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

UPDATE:

Liz found THIS ARTICLE
over at Media Matters -- Who is Jerome Corsi? (I think he may very well be Lush Bimbo's Mini-Me!)

Thoughts, etc.

For the last few days I have been pondering what my son, who served in Gulf War I, almost died for, and it's a struggle. The only things that keep running through my mind are fragments of poems, songs, and speeches by some of our best philosophers and statesmen. Don't worry. By "statesmen" I don't mean any present-day politicians. The last great American stateman was Adlai Stevenson and he died in 1965.

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,
"And don't you make any noise!"
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place---
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there. -- Little Boy Blue by Eugene Field (1850-1895)


"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.

"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.

"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'" -- Winston Churchill speech to the House of Commons - June 18, 1940


Lazarus is not dead; he only sleeps. -- The Man from Galilee

Hypocritical WH has yet a new reason for the Iraq War

Remember WMDs, mushroom clouds, Saddam concocting 9/11 with Bin Laden? Remember "we better fight them there then here"? "The world is better off without Saddam"..." Saddam was an evil dictator"..."he murdered his own people" - are these familiar soundbites? Does "spreading democracy" in the Middle East ring a bell? Or, "we cannot abandon our newest ally, Iraq"?

This is yet a new rationale that the Talking Points Ideologues in the basement of the White House concocted:

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in an interview published Saturday, offered a different rationale for continued US military presence in Iraq, saying it was needed to counter the growing influence of neighboring Iran:

"We just have to fight tooth and nail for the victory of the Iraqis who do not want Iranian influence in their daily lives," she told The Wall Street Journal. "We've got a chance to resist the Iranian push into the region, but we better get about it."

In other news retired Lt. General Odom has the exit strategy from Iraq:

Rep. Woolsey and 15 Other Congress Members Hold Hearing on Iraq
Lt. General Odom speaks truth in basement of U.S. Capitol. The Dome shakes.
Rep. Hinchey asked Odom "How do we get out?" Odom's reply came without a pause: "Well, the Constitution gives the House the right to impeach."

WTF has happened to us?

It has been a long, hard week.

Too many people have died both here and abroad. I am tired and depressed and my entire frame of mind was summed up by the morning DJ on WXPN. "I don't know how you parents do it anymore. If anyone had told me twenty years ago that going to school and eating spinach would be fatal I would have asked them what they were smoking."

She's right you know. Our world has been turned upside down lately. American has always been the 'land of oppurtunity', home of the free, land of the brave. Americans were decent, hardworking people. They were kind and generous and often looked upon with jealousy by other nations. But that has changed, hasn't it?

Now it is America who has decided that war for any reason or even no reason is just fine. It is not Saddam who is running the torture camps and rape rooms but America instead. Our children are beyond our protection and in many cases beyond control. Predators of all shapes, sizes and inclinations roam not only our streets, but our schools. I cannot be the only person who sees this.

I have heard some people rant and wail that it is the fault of mass media, or the liberals or MTV or feminists or what have you. Personally I think it boils down to poor management of resources and the destruction of the middle class. The middle class has always born the burden of carrying this country. We work to support ourselves and others, our tax dollars were used to fund 80% or more of the country. Everything from NASA research to welfare to military programs. But where is the middle class now?

The middle class is extinct. Now it is a two income family trying to scrape by. The parents are out working, some of them holding more than one job just to keep the family above water; This means that many of the children are raising themselves. I'm sure most of us would agree that this is NOT a good thing either for the child or the parent.

And what about those tax dollars? The top 5% of the richest get cuts, the rest have to make up for it, but the money is NOT being reinvested in the country. It goes to Haliburton and other no-bid contracts. It goes to line the pockets of dishonest Congressmen who vote against the best interests of their constituants. Money is taken away from schools, social programs and health programs; leaving scores of people without a safety net. Leaving mentally unstable people to walk our streets without medication, counselling or oversight. More families slipping through the crack, living on the streets or in cars, becoming more desperate and more depressed with each passing day. More people turning to drugs to temporarily ease the pain of knowing they have no where to turn but the grave or crime.

Is this the sole reason for the ills of America? Sweet zombie jesus on a pogo stick NO. But I think it is a good place to start. With a little effort and a good financial planner we can create a fairly big impact in a reasonably short period of time. And a huge revamp of Welfare does need to be addressed but that is a whole 'nother post.

And It Gets Worse

Another bill was passed this week in the House, one that prevents attorneys from " recover compensation for their fees if they successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation of his or her constitutional or civil rights" from the government. So, unless you have oodles of money to pay a lawyer personally the chances of you being represented when the Govnmt illegally hauls your ass off to a detention center is looking mighty slim.

It directly flies in the face of the first amendment, making the institution of a theocracy that much easier to accomplish. HR 2679 'The Public Expression of Religion Act' has effectively been rendered dead. Now those obnoxious, in your face evangelicals CAN use public funds and public places to hold, present and indoctrinate and unless you, the rightfully concerned citizen can pay a lawyer out of your own pocket to fight these anti-democracy forces....well, our children's future is pretty much doomed.

It really isn't too far a step to see the Red States using this to drive the non-existant war against christmas by INSISTING the bible, nativity and who know what else be taught to impressionable children in our public schools. Want to know why that is scary, because idiots like this will be the ones to teach them.

As it is our school children are the dumbest of any industrialized nation. Our science and math skills are laughable, many cannot read above a 8th grade level, basics in health and sex education are forbidden because of idiots who think EVERYONEs life should be based solely on a badly translated and oft edited book that they have decided to hold sacred.

As for all those neo-cons and xtian extremists who shout out over and over again about the Muslim terrorist and how they indoctrinate the foolish and the innocent. Take a good look in the mirror and open your eyes. The exact same thing is now happening here, only instead of Allah it is Jesus. The world is not now nor has it ever been black/white, there is no us/them. Those are arguments meant to divide and conquer; it is an old, old ploy and as we can see, it is still quite effective.

Long Live King George

Something billydoom asked in one of the threads below got me to musing how close the country is to living an imperial presidency. We may already be there; alternatively, the final confrontation may be just around the corner. Either way, there is no question that if we keep to the current path we are heading for a system of government in which King George holds fully all reins of the government.

A brief review of how the balance of power is supposed to work: The Congress passes the laws; the Executive implements the laws; the Courts decide whether the laws comport with the "supreme law of the land", a/k/a the Constitution. The basis for the courts' authority to be the final arbiter of whether a law passes Constitutional muster stems from a case called Marbury v. Madison in the young days of the Republic. The case has a complicated procedural history that I won't bore you with, but the upshot was that Justice Marshall, writing for the Supreme Court as the first Chief Justice, stated that the Congress had no authority to pass any law that trifled with the jurisidiction of the Supreme Court, because the basis for the Supreme Court's jurisdiction was set forth in the Constitution itself, and ever is the Constitution the "supreme law of the land." Therefore, when the Congress passes a law, it is the purview of the courts to determine whether such law conflicts in some respect with the Constitution. If the law (or an act of the Chief Executive) is repugnant to the Constitution, it cannot stand. That is the system under which the Republic has been operating for the past 220+ years. In my humble opinion, it's worked pretty well.

Now, what has happened over the past six years has been no less than a fundamental reworking of the balance of governmental power, the beloved "checks and balances" we learned about in our civics classes in middle school. We know that King George has already decided that he doesn't have to, as his oath of office states, "faithfully execute the laws of the United States." Over the past months, we have heard repeatedly how King George signs bills passed by Congress into law, while at the same time secretly signing statements that arrogates to himself the authority NOT to implement any law that, in his sole opinion, are an unconstitutional infringement on his authoririty as Chief Executive. Wait, you might say, it is the responsibility of the courts to determine whether Congress has gone too far; it is up to the courts to say to Congress that a law they have passed is an impermissible infringement upon the authority of the Executive branch of the goverment. And of course you would be exactly correct. Yet this is, undisputably, exactly what King George has done. Thus, he already holds the reins of two of the three branches of the government.

But what to do about those pesky courts? The final confrontation, I believe, is just around the corner, if we're not there already. It will come the day that the Supreme Court rules against King George on one of his criminal acts, whether it be tapping the phones of American citizens without a warrant, or extraordinary rendition, or detaining and torturing anyone he, in his sole opinion, believes is dangerous. On that day, he will stand before the cameras and declare that he doesn't care what the Supreme Court says, that his authority as President in a time of war is absolute and the courts cannot do anything about it, that the courts do not have the power to enforce their rulings. Isn't that really what Alberto Gonzales is threatening when he "warns" the courts not to cross King George on the Torturers R Us Act? Isn't he really saying, "look you judges, you better stay in line, we will not brook interference with our master plan"? The President is, after all, the Commander in Chief of the military. Suppose King George orders the military to take the Justices of the Supreme Court (or maybe just a few of them, like Justices Ginsberg, Breyer and Stevens) into custody because they, in his opinion, are dangerous (and indeed these particular Justices are dangerous to his view of how power is "shared" in our government). What's to stop him? Hasn't he already set a precedent that he can detain indefinitely any person he, in his sole opinion, deems dangerous. Without charges, without lawyers, without access to courts (which will no longer exist)?

King George will soon hold in his hands the reins of all three branches of our government; he will be the Supreme Law of the Land; he will be our Maximum Leader; he will be our Imperial President; he will be our dictator.

That day is coming, my lovelies, it is coming.

Update: Okay, so I have been a little out of touch this past week with work and what not, so this is just finally sinking in. The day I alluded to above is not coming; it is here. We have been quite focused on this whole question of torture, and I think maybe we have missed the largest issue here (or maybe just I have missed the largest issue). The Detainee Act, or whatever the hell they are calling it, strips the courts of the authority to review decisions rendered by King George with respect to detainees. Says the New York Times: "The bill, which cleared a final procedural hurdle in the House on Friday and is likely to be signed into law next week by Mr. Bush, does not just allow the president to determine the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions; it also strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear challenges to his interpretation." So there you have it, the final check on untrammeled executive authority purportedly has been removed. So what will happen if the courts determine that the Congress does not have the authority to srip them of their jurisdiction and hears challenges to the new law anyway?

First, constitutional crisis; then, civil war.

Developing News To Keep An Eye On

Baghdad was locked down in a curfew. Some speculate that there was going to be a coup attempt by an Iraqi militia or even the Iraqi military. Developing.

Bob Woodward's book, "State of Denial" to be released Monday asserts a lot of the stuff we already knew or figured out, but it will send heads rolling. Seems the only person who liked Rummy was Bushie. Daddy Bush lost sleep over his son's blunders. Seems that Rice brushed off Tenet's warning of an imminent attack in June, 2001. Let's see the WH smear Woodward. Story at MSNBC, NY Times, WaPo, CNN.

The truth about the elections in Georgia 2002 are going to be revealed. And more. The great hacking of America's elections by Diebold. It's coming.

Yesterday, bush was supposed to sign the torture bill with much fanfare. He didn't. Instead Alberto Gonzales came out swinging against federal judges, before they even said anything. He said that federal judges should not substitute their personal views for the president's judgments in wartime. The administration must be getting nervous.

Another One Bites The Dust.

UPDATE: Some Republican Congressman knew about Foley's behavior and chose not to act on it.
Americablog has some transcripts of IM's with other boys. ick.



Republican Congressman Resigns

In the wee hours of the morning, I read this short article at ABC News about Congressman Foley who was accused by a 16 year old page of writing emails that were "too friendly" from his private AOL account. I wasn't really convinced that writing a "friendly" email meant that he was a pervert so I didn't blog it. But then again we know which party has the most perverts. Foley is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus. He worked with John Walsh (TV’s America’s Most Wanted) on a variety of child protection programs. His website reports that "Among the latest of these is a program designed to show children how to protect themselves from online predators." Uh oh. Red flag.

While reading the comments at the ABC story this morning, many stated with conviction that this was a "left wing" or Democratic smear campaign- as if the left wing, especially a Democrat is capable of orchestrating anything. sheesh. His democratic opponent Tim Mahoney, who was barely named in any article was calling for an investigation though.

Well it turns out that today Foley Resigned Over Sexually Explicit Messages to Minors.

ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

Oh my. This was not a one shot deal then. The details have not been released, thank God. Foley immediately handed in his resignation after being questioned by ABC News. His opponent, Tim Mahoney also says that his campaign will not use these charges against Foley in their election campaign. There's a pretty good chance we'll see a new Democratic congresscritter in Florida next month. yay?

Elvis Has Left The Building: RIP America

The fearmongers won in the Senate.
The fearmongers won in the House.

Whoever said that good will prevail over evil lied.

A twice unelected sociopath with no sense of humanity was granted all his wishes. A man who can barely string words together to form a coherent sentence, whose favorite philospher is Jesus and who has brought nothing but shame upon our country gets to decide what the Geneva Conventions mean thanks to the pandering, sniveling, ever scared minions in DC. These are the men and women that Americans voted for.

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

The End of America as We Know It . . . And I Don't Feel Fine

Today is a day for the history books. The Torture Bill/Detainee Act (S. 3930) was passed by the Senate early this evening by a vote of 65-34. Here is the list of Democratic traitors who voted to give Our Dear Leader a free hand:

Carper (Del.)
Johnson (S.D.)
Landrieu (La.)
Lautenberg (N.J.)
Lieberman (Conn.)
Menendez (N.J)
Pryor (Ark.)
Rockefeller (W. Va.)
Salazar (Co.)
Stabenow (Mich.)
Nelson (Fla.)
Nelson (Neb.)

Burn the names of these people and their Republican counterparts into your memory, as future generations must be taught who among our so-called representatives was willing to make America into a mirror of Latin American tin-pot dictatorships.

Of course the Grand Old Party (of torture) maintained discipline in the ranks. They were happy to march in lockstep towards their vision of the New! Improved! America (tm) that is awaiting us. We now have legal torture, all based on what the Decider decides are permissible methods. The war criminals have now been given retroactive immunity. Oh hell, I can't bring myself to list all the horrors of this law. These horrors don't just apply to "enemy combatants", they could apply to you or me or other Americans, because now there are new definitions for that too.

Read the list of horrors here: "Rushing Off a Cliff" from today's NYT.

R.I.P. America
I am overtaken with grief and heartbreak.
I mourn for all that has been lost.
Are you grieving too?

But this Monday I'll pick myself back up and get back into the fight. There is no other choice. I will not give in to despair or give up. Will you please keep fighting too?

- by Auntie Roo

jocelyn elders for secretary of education

Well, to spend the afternoon cleaning house or blogging?

I must confess it has been a while since my last entry. I haven't wanted to write about the disappointments or the daily insults. Sometimes the theater of the absurd that is modern living gets to be an old, repetitive topic. Or it could just become a regular feature on these pages.

Someone I knew said that I am an angry person. If you aren't angry, you are delusional.

Part of the function of public schools of all levels is teaching civics. We do a really poor job of it. One of my students said that her professor wouldn't allow her to take a make up exam. She needed to miss the exam because she had been subpoenaed and she had to testify in state district court. When did professors get the idea that their exams are more important than a subpoena? The student had the court summons issued by the court in hand. She wasn't lying. She cannot duck the subpoena or she will be arrested. Perhaps her instructor isn't familiar with the laws of the State of Texas. My student performed the exam in a rush, made it to court late, and the judge admonished her. Fortunately she did not hold my student in contempt.

Another colleague told his classes that there are at least 500 "partial birth abortions" (not a medical term, but rather a term more closely associated with propaganda) performed a week. He did not inform them of the emotional nature of the term or the fact that federal law prohibits the procedure. The basis of the law is probably unconstitutional because it violates Roe v. Wade.

How in the Hell are we supposed to teach students something of their responsibility as citizens if we don't provide proper, honest, information to students?

Another police officer was murdered in Houston last week. Talk radio has used the fact that the suspect in the shooting is here illegally to mew and puke about ICE (sounds like a name straight out of Get Smart) and what is known as a "sanctuary policy." Our police cannot ask someone their legal residency status because if they are here illegally, we don't really have the manpower or the jail capacity to process them and ICE is overwhelmed. The same people who complain about this policy are the same people who hate paying taxes and refuse to raise taxes to provide for enough police officers so the police must work alone rather than with a partner. They won't raise their taxes to provide ICE with manpower and facilities. Conservatives want to gripe about illegals but they don't want to raise taxes to cope with a problem that they understand to be a national security issue.

Two weeks ago, the decision was made at our house to purchase new Michelin tires for my Volvo. I like Michelins. I don't buy other tires. I ordered said tires from a national chain tire dealer. They still haven't called me to tell me that the tires are here. The manager of the tire store told me that UPS had brought him, "like 500 new tires and I can't tell if the ones you ordered are like here. I mean there is this invoice and a shipping list, but hey, I have got 500 new tires so I don't know where your tires are." So I went to where America shops for washing machines, underwear, and tires and bought said Michelins there for about $200 less than the discount store wanted. But I had to wait three hours for a service person to remove my old tires and replace them with my new tires. Thank God they remembered to tighten the lug nuts. During that time while I waited, even though I had a reservation --whatever that means-- I was subjected to Dancing with the Stars on the television in the waiting room. I think the premiere of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip said it best when one of its characters noted while describing the general tone of television programing, ''If you pointed a camera at two people masturbating, it'd be among the least embarrassing things on the National Broadcasting System.''

It might not be the most embarrassing thing happening in modern life, either.

We purchased a new dishwasher and it took no less than 27 hours to have it installed. The installer went to the wrong house--common in our neighborhood where the builder named all the streets practically the same name and gave houses the same numbers a block over--where the installer sat in the driveway unable to call us on his cell because it was dead. Evidently leaving the driveway once he found it and say calling us from a near-by gas station isn't company policy. The next day, he found a phone that actually worked and called while standing on our porch without an appointment. We let him in the house to install the dishwasher because we were afraid that no one would ever again show up to install the dishwasher. That also took three hours. Not kidding. Wish I were. He was from Syria via Bulgaria armed with a university degree in engineering.

What do these paragraphs have in common? You can't fix stupid and it is clearly running us into circles into the ground.

When Jocelyn Elders, the Surgeon General in the Clinton Administration, suggested that we teach young people how to masturbate, she was on to something. She shouldn't have been fired. She should have been made Secretary of Education. If masturbation was included in the curriculum at all schools, at least young people would learn something and perhaps something they would be good at and enjoy. This makes much more sense than depending on the school system to tell students something important like honoring a subpoena, recognizing propaganda from truth, why we pay taxes and where they go, and reading well enough to understand how to order and change tires.

Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

September 28, 2006

"Mr. President, the Senate is currently debating a bill on how we treat detainees in our custody and, more broadly, on how we treat the principles on which our nation was founded.

The implications are far reaching for our national security interests abroad; the rights of Americans at home; our reputation in the world; and the safety of our troops.

The threat posed by the evil and nihilistic movement that has spawned terrorist networks is real and gravely serious. We must do all we can to defeat the enemy with all the tools in our arsenal and every resource at our disposal. All of us – every one of us – is dedicated to deterring and defeating this enemy.

The challenge before us on this bill, in the final days of session before the November election, is to find a solution that serves our national security interests. I fear, however, that there are those who place a strategy for winning elections ahead of a smart strategy for winning the war on terrorism.

Democrats and Republicans alike believe that terrorists must be caught, captured, sentenced, punished. I believe there can be no mercy for those who perpetrated 9/11 and other crimes against humanity. But in the process of accomplishing what I believe is essential for our security we must hold on to our values and set an example we can point to with pride, not shame. Those captured are going nowhere – they are imprisoned now – so we should follow the duty given us by the Supreme Court and carefully craft the right piece of legislation to try and punish them. The president acted without authority and it is our duty now to be careful in handing this president just the right amount of authority to get the job done.

Mr. President, During the Revolutionary War, between the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which set our founding ideals to paper, and the writing of our Constitution, which fortified those ideals under the rule of law, our values – our beliefs as Americans – were already being tested.

We were at war and victory was hardly assured, in fact the situation was closer to the opposite. New York City and Long Island had been captured. General George Washington and the Continental Army retreated across New Jersey to Pennsylvania, suffering tremendous casualties and a body blow to the cause of American Independence.

It was at this time, among these soldiers at this moment of defeat and despair, that Thomas Paine would write, “These are the times that try men's souls.” Soon afterward, Washington lead his soldiers across the Delaware River and onto victory in the Battle of Trenton. There he captured nearly 1000 foreign mercenaries and he faced a crucial choice.

How would General Washington treat these prisoners? The British had already committed atrocities against Americans, including torture. As David Hackett Fischer describes in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Washington's Crossing, thousands of American prisoners of war were “treated with extreme cruelty by British captors.” There are accounts of injured soldiers who surrendered being murdered instead of quartered, countless Americans dying in prison hulks in New York harbor, starvation and other acts of inhumanity perpetrated against Americans confined to churches in New York City.

You can imagine, the light of our ideals shone dimly in those early dark days, years from an end to the conflict, years before our improbable triumph and the birth of our democracy. General Washington was not that far from where the Continental Congress had met and signed the Declaration of Independence. But it is easy to imagine how far that must have seemed. General Washington announced a decision unique in human history, sending the following order for handling prisoners:

Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren.

Therefore, George Washington, our commander-in-chief before he was our President, laid down the indelible marker of our nation’s values even as we were struggling as a nation – and his courageous act reminds us that America was born out of faith in certain basic principles. In fact, it is these principles that made and still make our country exceptional and allow us to serve as an example. We are not bound together as a nation by bloodlines. We are not bound by ancient history; our nation is a new nation. Above all, we are bound by our values.

Now these values – George Washington’s values, the values of our founding – are at stake. We are debating far-reaching legislation that would fundamentally alter our nation’s conduct in the world and the rights of Americans here at home. And we are debating it too hastily in a debate too steeped in electoral politics.

The Senate, under the authority of the Republican Majority and with the blessing and encouragement of the Bush-Cheney Administration, is doing a great disservice to our history, our principles, our citizens, and our soldiers. The deliberative process is being broken under the pressure of partisanship and the policy that results is a travesty.

Fellow Senators, the process for drafting this legislation to correct the administration’s missteps has not befitted the “world’s greatest deliberative body.” Legitimate, serious concerns raised by our senior military and intelligence community have been marginalized, difficult issues glossed over, and debates we should have had have been shut off in order to pass a misconceived bill before Senators return home to campaign for re-election.

For the safety of our soldiers and the reputation of our nation, it is far more important to take the time to do the job right than to do it quickly and badly. There is no reason other than partisanship for not continuing deliberation to find a solution that works to achieve a true consensus based on American values.

In the last several days, this bill has undergone countless changes – all for the worse – and differs significantly from the compromise brokered between the Bush Administration and a few Senate Republicans last week.

Fellow Senators, we all know we are holding this hugely important debate against the backdrop of November’s elections. There are some in this body more focused on holding on to their jobs than doing their jobs right. Some in this chamber plan to use our honest and serious concerns for protecting our country and our troops as a political wedge issue to divide us for electoral gain.

How can we in the Senate find a proper answer and reach a consensus when any matter that does not serve the Majority’s partisan advantage is mocked as weakness, and any real concern for our troops and values dismissed demagogically as coddling the enemy?

This broken process and its blatant politics will cost our nation dearly. It allows a discredited policy ruled by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional to largely continue and to be made worse.

We must stand for the rule of law before the world, especially when we are under stress and under threat. We must show that we uphold our most profound values. The rule of law cannot be compromised.

Our Supreme Court in its Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision ruled that the Bush Administration’s previous military commission system had failed to follow the Constitution and the law in its treatment of detainees. The question before us is whether this Congress will follow the decision of the Supreme Court and create a better system that withstands judicial examination – or attempt to confound that decision, a strategy destined to fail again.

The bill before us allows the admission into evidence of statements derived through cruel, inhuman and degrading interrogation. That sets a dangerous precedent that will endanger our own men and women in uniform overseas.

Will our enemies be less likely to surrender? Will informants be less likely to come forward? Will our soldiers be more likely to face torture if captured? Will the information we obtain be less reliable? These are the questions we should be asking. And based on what we know about warfare from listening to those who have fought for our country, the answers do not support this bill.

As Lieutenant John F. Kimmons, the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence said, “No good intelligence is going to come from abusive interrogation practices.”

Allowing coercive treatment and torturous actions toward prisoners not only violates the fundamental rule of law and the institutions of justice, not only will it fail to bear fruit in intelligence gathering, but it promotes radicalization. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, the architect of many of the attacks on our country and throughout Europe and the world, has said, over and over, that torture helps the cause of extremism – watering the seeds of jihad.

M. President, I would like to submit for the Record letters and statements from former military leaders, 9/11 Families, the religious community, retired judges, legal scholars and law professors, all of whom have registered serious concerns with this bill and its provisions.

The bill also makes significant changes to the War Crimes Act. As it is now written, the War Crimes Act makes it a federal crime for any soldier or national of the United States to violate, among other things, Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions in an armed conflict not of an international character. The administration has voiced concern that Common Article 3 – which prohibits “cruel treatment or torture,” “outrages against human dignity,” and “humiliating and degrading treatment” – sets out an intolerably vague standard on which to base criminal liability, and may expose CIA agents to jail sentences for rough interrogation tactics used in questioning detainees.

But the current bill’s changes to the War Crimes Act have done little to clarify the rules for our interrogators.

This bill undermines the Geneva Conventions by allowing the President to issue Executive Orders to redefine what are permissible interrogation techniques. Have we fallen so low as to debate how much torture we are willing to stomach? By allowing this Administration to further stretch the definition of what is and is not torture, we lower our moral standards to those whom we despise, undermine the values of our flag wherever it flies, put our troops in danger, and jeopardize our moral strength in a conflict that cannot be won simply with military might.

Once again, there are those who are willing to stay a course that is not working, giving the Bush-Cheney Administration a blank check – a blank check to torture, to create secret courts using secret evidence, to detain people, including Americans, to be free of judicial oversight and accountability, to put our troops in greater danger.

The bill has several other flaws as well.

This bill would not only deny detainees habeas corpus rights – a process that would allow them to challenge the very validity of their confinement – it would also deny these rights to lawful immigrants living in the United States. If enacted, this law would give license to this Administration to pick people up off the streets of the United States and hold them indefinitely without charges and without legal recourse.

At the very least, this is worth a debate on the merits, not on the politics. This is worth putting aside our differences – it’s too important.

Our values are central. Our national security interests in the world are vital. And nothing should be of greater concern to those of us in this chamber than the young men and women who are, right now, wearing our nation’s uniform, serving in dangerous territory.

After all, our standing, our morality, our beliefs are tested in this chamber and their impact and their consequences are tested under fire, they are tested when American lives are on the line, they are tested when our strength and ideals are questioned by our friends and by our enemies.

When our soldiers face an enemy, when our soldiers are in danger, that is when our decisions in this chamber will be felt. Will that enemy surrender? Or will he continue to fight, with fear for how he might be treated and with hate directed not at us, but at the patriot wearing our uniform whose life is on the line?

When our nation seeks to lead the world in service to our interests and our values, will we still be able to lead by example?

Our values, our history, our interests, and our military and intelligence experts all point to one answer.

Let’s pass a bill that’s been honestly and openly debated, not hastily cobbled together.

Let’s pass a bill that unites us, not divides us.

Let’s pass a bill that strengthens our moral standing in the world, that declares clearly that we will not retreat from our values before the terrorists. We will not give up who we are. We will not be shaken by fear and intimidation. We will not give one inch to the evil and nihilistic extremists who have set their sights on our way of life.

Vladimir Bukovsky, who spent nearly 12 years in Soviet prisons, labor camps, and psychiatric hospitals for nonviolent human rights activities had this to say: “If Vice President Cheney is right, that some ‘cruel, inhumane, or degrading’ treatment of captives is a necessary tool for winning the war on terrorism, then the war is lost already.”

Before George Washington crossed the Delaware, before he could achieve that long-needed victory, before the tide would turn, before he ordered that prisoners be treated humanely, he ordered that his soldiers read Thomas Paine’s writing. He ordered that they read about the ideals for which they would fight, the principles at stake, the importance of this American project.

Now we find ourselves at a moment when we feel threatened, when the world seems to have grown more dangerous, when our nation needs to ready itself for a long and difficult struggle against a new and dangerous enemy that means us great harm.

Just as Washington faced a hard choice, so do we. It’s up to us to decide how we wage this struggle and not up to the fear fostered by terrorists. We decide.

This is a moment where we need to remind ourselves of the confidence and bravery of George Washington. We cannot, we must not, subvert our ideals – we can and must use them to win. "

(read it large here)

Big Brother Alert

Goofing Off During Work Creates Jobs
Although you may lose yours.

The watchers and computer monitoring software developers are doing fine keeping your employers up to date with your non-work activity.

The boss is watching your every click... is a rather alarmming article at newscientisttech.com

Corporations are worried about employees divulging company secrets. They are also nosy and want to know exactly is working for them. Sure, you are not supposed to be engaged in non work activities when you're on the clock, but with the advent of the internet, the bosses really know where you stand and what your interests are in more ways than you care to divulge. An email dashed off to a friend on your lunch hour may be read by your boss soon afterwards. Better not say anything about work to anyone. They can find out a lot about you before you even get hired (or not). If you work from home on your computer, even your very personal life can become the business of your employer.

huh?

Here is the question Wisconsin voters will see on their ballot:

QUESTION 1: "Marriage. Shall section 13 of article XIII of the constitution be created to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state?"


-----
Meanwhile some guys were discussing the pending amendment in a Wauwatosa, Wi restaurant the other night and it ended in a violent brawl. A very anti-gay marriage customer attacked a couple of other patrons, then went out and came back throwing ketchup bottles. On the other hand a formal debate took place in Green Bay on the same night. No one was injured. Another non-violent forum took place in Wausa where some insisted that allowing gay marriage would lead to polygamy.

Anyway, since gay marriage is already illegal in Wisconsin and they aren't required to recognize a same sex marriage contracted in another state, why are they bothering to even cast a vote for an amendment? Politics.

Keith Olberman -- THANK YOU!

From Crooks and Liars

Keith Olbermann responds to Bush’s non-response to Bill Clinton. He goes over his first months in office leading up to 9/11. It’s not a pretty picture,

But it is an accurate one. They are ALL truly pathetic -- it's really sad.

I can't wait to pass this along to a few bush loving 'friends' for discussion. I do believe this time-line provided by Olberman will shut them up once and for all!

ATMs For Jesus

An entrepreneurial and modern pastor in a Georgia church came up with the idea for "Giving Kiosks" in the back of his church. The flock can stop there and make donations via their ATM cards. The pastor noticed that fewer people carry cash in their wallets and some people forget their checkbooks, so ATM machines would be just the ticket for his upper middle class parishioners to tithe. The three kiosks in his 1,100 member parish will give about $200,000 to $240,000 via kiosk this year, about 15% of the church's total donations.

It seems to have paid off for the church. Pastor Baker and his wife set up a for-profit corporation in order to market "Giving Kiosks" to other churches. Seven other churches have joined the bandwagon.

"The Bakers charge between $2,000 and $5,000 for the kiosks, which come in a variety of configurations. They also collect a monthly subscription fee of up to $49.95 for licensing and support. And a card-processing company gets 1.9% of each transaction; a small cut of that fee goes to SecureGive."

Other congregations, according to the article use "e-tithing" where their donations are directly debited from their checking accounts. The Bakers claim that if they get rich from their innovation, they will praise the Lord and make a donation to their church.

Amen

Fascism Anyone ?

I wrote this piece two and a half year ago. How much came true?

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines fascism as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized, autocratic government."
There are two forms of fascism: "autocracy" and "corporatism"

Autocracy is a totalitarian regime where the government gets hold of all national resources to control public and private lives, dominated by one political party, headed by a single charismatic leader. Information and ideas are effectively organized through the control of television, radio, the press, and education at all levels. They, systemicly penetrate all levels of society, and systematically use propaganda, terror and patriotic slogans to arouse it's subjects. Example of past autocracies are Hitler's Third Reich, or Saddam's Baathist regime.

Corporatism is different fundamentally, but identical regarding the control of it's subjects. It is constituted by an alliance of "big business", "religious organizations", "broadcasting corporations", " press", "conservative groups" forming an oligarchy with a shadow government and a figurehead leader. In this form of government "the council" (shadow government) is making the decisions and the figurehead communicates the decision dressed in an acceptable lingo to the people without substantial meaning.

Secrecy and disinformation is their fundamental policy: "Wolf dressed in sheepskin"
They would call deregulation or relaxation of factory chemical releases in the atmosphere as " Clean Air Act" and name as secretary of Environmental Protection Agency a coal mine executive or lobbyist. Or, "Save our Forests Act", deregulating or relaxing the quota of cutting down trees and name as secretary of the agency a lumber company executive. ( any coincidence with real facts or people is not intended, nor is documented )

Fascism will not be referred to by it's name, since that word is tabu. Instead "planned capitalism" or "industrial policy" will be used. Everything comes in disguise like "war on terror" or "homeland security" (doesn't that ring "fatherland"?) Under the slogan "homeland security" a government may invent restrictions on liberties and name it "patriot act"; instill fear and terror in the general population, occasionally raise the terror alert level as a reminder to distract attention from economic uncertainties, unemployment, lack of health care provision to large masses, downsizing etc.

By institutionalizing the "war on terrorism" a government may acquire a rationale for expanding its powers and furthering its domestic agenda. While the nation's resources are directed toward endless war, promoting tax cuts in the midst of recession, leaving few resources available for domestic programs.

This form of fascism will sneak up on you in a disguise. Slowly it's roots will grow deeply, spreading in all directions, entangling the entire society.The ideologically driven party nurturing its own intellectuals and supporting a network that transforms the national ideology from mildly liberal to predominantly conservative, slowly pushes the Democrats to the right enfeebling opposition. The government responds primarily to corporate interests; voters become cynical, resigned and opposition decreases. It adopts a reckless unilateralism, demands unquestionable support on terms it dictates; ignores treaties and violates international law at will; invades other countries without provocation; and incarcerates persons indefinitely without charging them with a crime or allowing access to counsel.

Does any of this ring a bell?

Oh man

And in local news

because sometimes it's more interesting than politics and war

• NYC may ban trans fats
It's creating havoc among restauranteurs and donut makers. On one hand, NY has gotten out of hand legislating all sort of restrictions for "our own good," on the other hand, transfats should be banned in all foods that we buy. And on the other hand, they ought to ban radioactive hot spots in NYC while they're at it.

• Long Island Woman Misdiagnosed with Breast Cancer
"After undergoing a lumpectomy and 25 painful radiation treatments, Lynne Yurosko got surprising news: She never actually had breast cancer."

Man oh man, that's the same lab that I used for screenings. I also had surgery after their findings in 1992. The anesthesiologist almost killed me.

TDS: Getting edgy

Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. It will be re-run today and I am searching for the video on the internet this morning. Supposedly "real" news media were aghast that Musharaf would be on Comedy Central because afterall, TDS is "fake" news. Stewart immediately asked the Pakistani leader, after offering him tea and twinkies, "Where’s Osama bin Laden?” I wonder how many other "journalists" went straight to the point?

Musharaf met with Stewart one day before he meets with bush.

Condo-Lies- A

MSNBC spent a segment talking about Clinton's sock falling down in his interview with Fox News on Sunday. Someone shoot me.

HOST: Well, people haven’t just been talking about Bill Clinton’s red face in that Fox News interview and all the anger and the finger pointing, but some have been focusing on Clinton’s white legs. The former president showing off a little leg during the sitdown with Chris Wallace. We’re going to show you that, and that’s left some — see, there it is, a little glimpse of leg. Well, how does this happen? … I mean — is this a travesty or what?
[SNIP]
RON CHRISTIE: Yes, I do have longer socks on. And the fact of the matter is —
HOST: How high do they come? To your calf or knee?
RON CHRISTIE: They’re almost up to the knee. You don’t have to worry about any leg showing here.
HOST: Very good. Because I prefer modesty in all of my interviewees.
RON CHRISTIE: Exactly.
HOST: Julian Epstein, Ron Christie, that was fun.
RON CHRISTIE:Thanks.
HOST: If I had been doing that interview, I’ve got to say, I would just say, “Oh, Mr. president, your leg is showing,” or it’s sort of like telling someone they have spinach in their teeth. Come on, it’s not cool to let someone go around with spinach in their teeth, same thing with leg.

What a fucking waste of airtime. I'd like to know who sponsored that segment.

Meanwhile after the interview with Clinton aired, Rice A Roni declared that The Clinton administration did not leave her with a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaida. That made news, of course. But it was a lie.

RAW STORY has found that just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to Rice included the 2000 document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." This document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically addressing strategies for securing Pakistan's cooperation in airstrikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Oh, and here's the memo sent to Condolieza by Richard Clark in January of 2001 AND more of her lies.

Hey remember when the bushistas moved into the WH that they claimed that Clinton stole stuff and that all the W's were missing from the typewriters? That was a lie too. Most people believe it to this day. It's just unbelievable how the television media distorts the news and they know damn well that most Americans get their news from television.

Open Thread. Rant, baby rant.

Oh for god's sake, who's going to invade us?



If the administration was so darn worried about national security, then they would have done something about it, but they haven't. Fighting in Iraq has nothing to do with our national security except that the war made more people pissed off at America so maybe our chances of being attacked are increased. I'm not building a bomb shelter.

If the pretzeldent and president of vice gave a shit about national security, we would get the hell out of the middle east and bring the troops back here to protect my arse. How are the Republicans protecting me? I don't see it. Closing military bases in the states gives me the impression that the powers that be aren't all that concerned about a military presence here. Is anyone checking the ports? I doubt it. Have you checked out the TSA workers in the airports? Feel safer?

I am so sick and tired of "national security" issues. The pretzeldent is going to deliver another fucking speech about the war on terra this Friday- probably because there were two reports released this week declaring that the invasion and occupation of Iraq are a disaster inciting more people around the world to become terrorists. Well duh. What did they expect? That people would just sit there and take it like big fat lazy Americans do?

With elections looming, the fear mongering will be in full gear. I'm putting in my ear plugs. How so many Americans buy this crap amazes me. No one is going to nuke the US. The nuclear arms race is a matter of "whoever dies with the most toys, wins". Lots of countries have to deal with a possible terrorist attack and they don't go around the world acting like big old bullies. I remember bush insinuating that Iraq wasn't part of the civilized world. What the hell world is he a part of? If someone said that about America, bush would order a napalm strike on their country.

Oh god, I needed to get that off my chest. What's on your mind?

This is a video from a mid-'70s episode of "The Electric Company"

Actually, I thought it was A VERY STRANGE VIDEO. Maybe it's just me. After all, the show was produced by the Children's Television Workshop and PBS. And, they surely know what they're doing when it comes to producing award winning children's shows - right?

I was a bit older and missed Sesame Street and Electric Company. Maybe that's why I never learned how to spell!! I had Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans, Hap Richards (the Mayor of Joyville), and Ranger Andy. Oh what playful fun we had!!

Anyway, it's a short video clip. (I just happened to come across it when I was looking for a Victor Borge video on punctuation.) If you have time, I'd love to hear what you think. Just a cute little video on how to spell, right?

Diplomacy Doesn't Pay

I rented "Why We Fight" and watched it yesterday. It was a pretty good dot connecting movie for me. I am obsessed with the cold war and life in the 1950's so I thought it would be a good movie to see. We grew up afraid of the enemy. It was always in the background.

The movie was inspired by Eisenhower's warning of the Military Industrial Complex in his farewell speech of 1961. It turns out that even Eisenhower didn't even know all that was going on behind the scenes. There is another force at work (surprise surprise). Fear mongering and war mongering go together and it's really not because the US wants to spread freedom, it's because it makes certain people rich and powerful.

After WWII when the rest of the world was rebuilding from ashes, the US remained the only country unwrecked by the war, yet the fear mongers realized just how much money could be made from continuous military interventions, the "defense" industry grew, millions of people were employed in defense all across the country, the propaganda movies were made and the American people were scared into submission without a clue as to why this was going on. People were working and they didn't ask questions.

The movie asserts that so much goes on behind the scenes that the American people are left out of the loop. When 9/11 happened, we wanted to know why. No one ever told us why and no one will. The powers that be deliberately disconnected foreign policy from the American people. We were just told since WWII, that there was an enemy and the enemy must be stopped. Troops were sent all over the globe to keep "peace".

Gore Vidal calls us the United States of Amnesia because we've forgotten how many times the US intervened unilaterally throughout history. When they put up the world map, it all became clear. Our priorities are set by corporate interests in world domination and it has nothing to do with political parties. Independent contractors are doing what soldiers used to do (thanks to the KBR) and corporations that depend on wars are finding new ways to make money aside from creating weapons. It all became clear to me why we bombed the hell out of Iraq and destroyed their infrastructure.

Why are we in this mess now? In 1992, Dick Cheney gave Kellogg Brown and Root the job to write proposals in order to privatize the services industry. This was after he and Wolfowitz decided a year earlier that the US should be the only world power. They had it all planned out in advance and on 9/11/01 it was all implemented. US corporations could get rich in other countries. And that's what it's all about.

There's a lot more about the movie here with many clips from the movie. Do check it out.

Wagging the Dog

I am just going to post this trip down memory lane from Think Progress.

"In his interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, former President Bill Clinton noted that the political right, which now accuses him of not doing enough to stem the al Qaeda terrorist threat, criticized his 1998 missile strikes in Afghanistan as “wag the dog.” Clinton said:

The people on my political right who say I didn’t do enough spent the whole time I was president saying, Why is he so obsessed with bin Laden? That was wag the dog when he tried to kill him.

Originating from a 1997 movie, Wag the Dog was a phrase used by the right to suggest Clinton’s airstrikes were driven by ulterior motives in an effort to distract the public. Some examples below:

Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV):
“‘Look at the movie Wag the Dog. I think this has all the elements of that movie,’ Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said. ‘Our reaction to the embassy bombings should be based on sound credible evidence, not a knee-jerk reaction to try to direct public attention away from his personal problems.’” [Ottawa Citizen, 8/21/98]

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA):
“There’s an obvious issue which will be raised internationally about the response here as to whether there is any diversionary motive involved. … I have deliberated consciously any references to Ms. Monica Lewinsky, but when you ask the question in very blunt terms, the president’s current problems have to be on the minds of many people.” [CNN, 8/20/98]

Former Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO):
“‘We support the president out of a sense of duty whenever he deploys military forces, but we’re not sure - were these forces sent at this time because he needed to divert our attention from his personal problems?‘ Ashcroft said during the taping of a TV program in Manchester, N.H.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21/98]

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX):
“I’m very supportive of the strike that has happened, but I will tell you that the timing is very questionable. This was the day that Monica Lewinsky has gone back to the grand jury, evidently enraged. Certainly that information will be overshadowed.” [Dallas Morning News, 8/21/98]

Former Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN):
“Coats (R-IN), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, ‘While there is clearly much more we need to learn about this attack and why it was ordered today, given the president’s personal difficulties this week, it is legitimate to question the timing of this action.‘” [CNN, 8/20/98]

Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL):
“‘The obvious question is, are the two connected?’ asked Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), who chairs the National Security Committee’s research subcommittee. ‘That’s the unthinkable, and I would hope it would never occur in America, but I can tell you, a lot of people are wondering about it today.‘” [Los Angeles Times, 8/21/98]

Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA):
“All I’m saying is if factors other than good intelligence, military necessity, being prepared for the consequences entered into it, then it is wrong, and it appears that one of those factors that may have entered into it is to take something that could have been done a week ago and do it today in an effort to divert some attention.” [Fox News, 8/20/98]"

I remember back during the clinton years wondering if the Republicans were too obsessed with Clinton's sex life to actually let him do his job, let alone do their own jobs.

Have you watched Wag the Dog lately? It's prophetic.

URGENT request from DownSizeDC.org

They are making a lot of noise and need a lot of help ASAP!

STOPTHELIE has a request from downsizeDC.org for us to send letters to congress opposing warrantless spying and a campaign opposing the new tribunals: PASS IT ALONG

(use their sample letter to send an e-mail to your congress critter if you don't want downsizeDC to send the petition on your behalf)

c l u s t e r f u c k

Looks like the Military Industrial Complex isn't as good at conducting a war as they are good at profiteering. The following stories are all in the headlines as we speak. Amazing.

Talabani asks for long-term US military presence in Iraq

"I think we will be in need of American forces for a long time -- even two military bases to prevent foreign interference," Talabani told The Washington Post. "I don't ask to have 100,000 American soldiers -- 10,000 soldiers and two air bases would be enough."

Silly Mr Talabani, that was the plan from the get go.

The Rise of Jihadistan

Five years after the Afghan invasion, the Taliban are fighting back hard, carving out a sanctuary where they—and Al Qaeda's leaders—can operate freely.

If you saw foreign versions of Newsweek, you would know that we are losing the war in Afghanistan. The US edition of Newsweek has a different cover. Can you smell propaganda?

I could have told you that this was going to happen. Proposal to carve up Iraq moves forward

Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political leaders in parliament formed the 27-member committee Monday to begin discussing whether to amend the constitution.

The (US trained) Iraqi Troops Suck.

The plan was simple: Iraqi troops would block escape routes while U.S. soldiers searched for weapons house-by-house. But the Iraqi troops didn't show up on time.

The Army is at its breaking point
and Army extends troops' Iraq duty yet again
And furthermore, a group of retired military officers on Monday bluntly accused Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S. troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical facts were hidden from the public.

And after all that money spent and all the lives lost and soldiers mutilated, the British forces killed the leading terrorist from al Qaida in Afghanistan and we didn't.

Secession or Revolution ?

It's about the only two ideas I have been thinking about lately. Well, actually just dreaming about since neither will probably ever happen. I just can't think of many other ways for us common folk, and our future generations, to thrive. The madness going on within our current government will surely mess up our children's futures-- don't you think? I just hope there are enough kids out there who will be able to lead a revolution when that day comes.
It's not looking very good though.

What about Secession then? A peaceful revolution. Didn't New Hampshire want to do this?

I just read an article Secession -- a Revolutionary Idea
over at WRH. A group from Vermont called The Second Vermont Republic thinks that "It's not a question of 'if,' "the question is: When?" They envision a country much like Switzerland — neutral and economically independent. Imagine if they could ever pull it off -- that would be something! Makes me want to by some land in VT -- honestly, it does. It's probably a better investment then just about anything right now.

But the grass-roots secession campaign faces a major sales job. A recent study by the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont showed that only 8% of respondents thought Vermont should separate from the U.S.

Hey -- 8% is a good start!

"... not going to happen, and no one believes it is going to happen. We are not going to isolate ourselves into a little cocoon where we all milk goats and a windmill runs whatever electrical appliances we are permitted to have. Being a 10th-generation American, I really don't want to let go."

Too bad....

"But there is no basis to it. It's something I can't take seriously. I'll joke about it, but it will never happen."

Well, we can dream about it, can't we? Could or would your state ever try to pull it off? Do you think the common folk would do a better job running their individual states than our current government. With a clean sweep, I sure think we could. Maybe someday (soon) the bloggers will campaign together and produce a candidate that will save us all in '08!

In the meantime ......

...I dug out this "Official state motto winners" from an e-mail that one of you guys sent around. (It's one of my favorites - I thought it went well with the subject matter)

Alabama - Hell Yes, We Have Electricity.
Alaska - 11,623 Eskimos Can't Be Wrong!
Arizona - But It's A Dry Heat.
Arkansas - Literacy Ain't Everything.
California - By 30, Our Women Have More Plastic Than Your Honda.
Colorado - If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother.
Connecticut -Like Mass., Only The Kennedy's Don't Own It Yet.
Delaware - We Really Do Like The Chemicals In Our Water.
Florida - Ask Us About Our Grandkids.
Georgia - We Put The Fun In Fundamentalist Extremism.
Hawaii - Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru (Death To Mainland
-Scum, Leave Your Money)
Idaho - More Than Just Potatoes... Well, Okay, We're Not, But
-The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good.
Illinois - Please, Don't Pronounce the "S"
Indiana - 2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free
Iowa - We Do Amazing Things With Corn
Kansas - First Of The Rectangle States
Kentucky - Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names
Louisiana - We're Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos, (But That's Our Tourism Campaign.)
Maine - We're Really Cold, But We Have Cheap Lobster
Maryland - If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It
Massachusetts - Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden 's
Michigan - First Line Of Defense - From The Canadians
Minnesota - 10,000 Lakes...And 10,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes
Mississippi - Come And Feel Better About Your Own State
Missouri - Your Federal Flood Relief Tax Dollars At Work
Montana - Land Of The Big Sky, The Unabomber, Right-wing
Crazies, and Very Little Else.
Nebraska - Ask About Our State Motto Contest
Nevada - Hookers and Poker!
New Hampshire - Go Away And Leave Us Alone
New Jersey - You Want A ##$%##! Motto? I Got Yer ##$%##!
--Motto right here!
New Mexico - Lizards Make Excellent Pets
New York - You Have The Right To Remain Silent, You Have The Right To An Attorney...
North Carolina - Tobacco Is A Vegetable
North Dakota - We Really Are One Of The 50 States!
Ohio - At Least We're Not Michigan
Oklahoma - Like The Play, But No Singing
Oregon - Spotted Owl...It's What's For Dinner
Pennsylvania - Cook With Coal
Rhode Island - We're Not REALLY An Island
South Carolina - Remember The Civil War? Well, We Didn't Actually Surrender Yet
South Dakota - Closer Than North Dakota
Tennessee - The Edyoocashun State
Texas - Se Hablo Ingles
Utah - Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus
Vermont - Ay, Yep
Virginia - Who Says Government Stiffs And Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?
Washington - We have more rain than you do
West Virginia - One Big Happy Family...Really!
Wisconsin - Come Cut The Cheese!
Wyoming - Where Men Are Men... And The Sheep Are Scared

Check it out

I came across this website called, HinesSight. It bills itself as the anti-drudge. It's pretty good and doesn't have that stupid Hollywood crap like HuffPo has.

Bush Fluffs Off Iraq Debacle

First bush said the constitution was just a piece of paper... actually he uses it as toilet paper, but yesterday on Wolf Blitzer he said that the Iraq Invasion and Occupation and continued violence will "look just like a comma" when it is history. Good one, bushie, ya moron. Tell that to the families of those fighting the bush wars.

Did You Watch It?

It wasn't easy to get Faux News back on my tv as I have that channel blocked, but I was interested in watching Bill Clinton meet up with that GOP shill, Chris Wallace and oh my god, am I glad that I don't have to watch that POS excuse for a journalist on a regular basis.

If you missed it, you can watch it here or read it here.

What was most astonishing is that after the interview, Wallace had on a panel of "experts" to discount everything he said which actually proved Clinton's point.

How Cool!

says The Fat Lady Sings most recent post. Check it out!
(she's such an awesome writer -- don't you agree?)

UPDATE: Well Hot Damn!! The Fat Lady Sings won a silver medal in 'The Mysterious Lady's Blogging Emmy's.

HOW SWEET IT IS!!

Let's celebrate with a BALLROOM BLITZ!!!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.......
Way to go Fat Lady! Let's all jump on the furniture and do a jig!
(be careful though)

Domestic Terrorism? Yawn.

David Robert McMenemy is an alleged domestic terrorist. He admits that on the morning of 9/11/01 he attempted to blow up an abortion clinic in Davenport, Iowa. Apparently, he is so distraught by the idea of abortion that he feels a deep need to blow things up. The interesting thing about this story from Talk To Action, is that the FBI didn't want anything to do with his failed attempt to blow up the abortion clinic that day. And not only because there was a bigger terrorist attack that morning, the FBI is simply not interested in helping the prosecutor in Iowa who wants to know if McMenemy has connections with other groups or if he is a lone nutjob. The FBI used to investigate anti-abortion violence, but now that domestic anti-abortion terrorists identify themselves as "christians", the FBI doesn't care anymore. Read more

Talking Points

I don't know about you, but it inflames me that the latest winger talking points are to blame clinton for bush's anti-terror failings. Why not arm ourselves with counter talking points? Why not, indeed.

Here's an article to print out and use for your talking points when you meet up with your neighbors and friends who insist that 9/11 was all Clinton's fault. It's from WaPo January 20, 2002.

Here's an excerpt to whet your whistle:

On a closed patch of desert in the first week of June, the U.S. government built a house for Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden would have recognized the four-room villa. He lived in one just like it outside Kandahar, Afghanistan, whenever he spent a night among the recruits at his Tarnak Qila training camp. The stone-for-stone replica, in Nevada, was a prop in the rehearsal of his death.

From a Predator drone flying two miles high and four miles away, Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency ground controllers loosed a missile. It carried true with a prototype warhead, one of about 100 made, for killing men inside buildings. According to people briefed on the experiment, careful analysis after the missile pierced the villa wall showed blast effects that would have slain anyone in the target room.

The Bush administration now had in its hands what one participant called "the holy grail" of a three-year quest by the U.S. government – a tool that could kill bin Laden within minutes of finding him. The CIA planned and practiced the operation. But for the next three months, before the catastrophe of Sept. 11, President Bush and his advisers held back. (WaPo)

Couple the above information with
Bill Clinton's frank interview with Chris Wallace at Fox Spews to be aired this afternoon (see clip of first part of the interview at C&L),
his administration's attempts at fighting terrorism,
how the Republican Senate in 1996 ignored Clinton's attempts to pass anti-terror legislation,
and the latest information from spy agencies that the bushistas made terrorism worse since the Invastion and Occupation of Iraq and you've got enough information to shut your war mongering friends up for the time being.

Quote of the Day:

"As a 24-year veteran of the FBI, I know that using rough interrogation tactics to overbear a suspect's will is not only wrong ethically, it is ineffective. Subjecting someone to pain and humiliation doesn't compel them to tell the truth; it compels them to say whatever will make the pain stop. This generates bad intelligence." -- Coleen Rowley

Read the rest of Ms. Rowley's essay at
"A Missed Opportunity for Accountability"

Just in time for the elections redux

U.S. can't confirm bin Laden death report: official

He might have died in Pakistan, but then again maybe he didn't.

-------------
Meanwhile the Democrats vow to get tough in the next 6 weeks. yawn.

NAFTA (again)

A few posts down (Oh Canada) I did say I was not going to bring up NAFTA -- SPP -- NAU -- NASCO, etc.. anymore. Before I do close the NAFTA issue completely, I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts about the lack of reporting on these 'secret' committees and 'secret' meetings. According to Joseph Farah, founder of the conservative rag World Net Daily, they are the ones that uncovered all of this. Mr. Farah asks Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, what he knows about the NAFTA superhighway:

"There's nothing I'm aware of in any authorization bill. I don't know where these things get started. This is one of those blogosphere things that makes you wonder what's going on."

Now, given that Roberts made an allusion to the Internet in this response, I get the feeling he knows precisely where this thing got started – right here at WND. This is not the blogosphere, however. This is WND, one of the largest news sources on the Net.

This is not a rumor.

This is not conjecture.

This is not conspiracy mongering.


This is simple reporting of what is public information on the public record.

Here is Mr. Farah's full commentary.
(doesn't he look like Bobby Badfingers?)

I just can't help wonder what rush bimbo's buddy, Mr. Farah, is up to with this constant reporting of NAFTA, etc.... and why is he one of the few "news sources" doing so?

I guess I'm just looking to file this topic under FARCE, once and for all... so whattaya think....file it?

Clinton Kicks Fox Ass

Fox's Chris Wallace was to interview Bill Clinton about his Global Initiative and the $7 billion dollars he raised in only 3 days, but no. Wallace decided to ambush him and smear him about not catching bin Laden, a popular neocon talking point. Thank goddess for ThinkProgress as they have a transcript of the interview which will air on Sunday on Faux News.

WALLACE: When we announced that you were going to be on Fox News Sunday, I got a lot of email from viewers, and I got to say I was surprised most of them wanted me to ask you this question. Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business when you were President? There’s a new book out which I suspect you’ve read called the Looming Tower. And it talks about how the fact that when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, Bin Laden said “I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of US troops.” Then there was the bombing of the embassies in Africa and the attack on the USS Cole.

CLINTON: OK..

WALLACE: …may I just finish the question sir. And after the attack, the book says, Bin Laden separated his leaders because he expected an attack and there was no response. I understand that hindsight is 20/20.

CLINTON: No let’s talk about…

WALLACE: …but the question is why didn’t you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?

CLINTON: OK, let’s talk about it. I will answer all of those things on the merits but I want to talk about the context of which this arises. I’m being asked this on the FOX network…ABC just had a right wing conservative on the Path to 9/11 falsely claim that it was based on the 9/11 Commission report with three things asserted against me that are directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission report. I think it’s very interesting that all the conservative Republicans who now say that I didn’t do enough, claimed that I was obsessed with Bin Laden. All of President Bush’s neocons claimed that I was too obsessed with finding Bin Laden when they didn’t have a single meeting about Bin Laden for the nine months after I left office. All the right wingers who now say that I didn’t do enough said that I did too much. Same people.

and more...

WALLACE: Do you think you did enough sir?

CLINTON: No, because I didn’t get him.

WALLACE: Right…

CLINTON: But at least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including all the right wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn’t…I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke… So you did FOX’s bidding on this show. You did you nice little conservative hit job on me. But what I want to know..

WALLACE: Now wait a minute sir…

CLINTON:…

WALLACE: I asked a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?

CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke? I want to know…

and a good ass kick:

CLINTON: You said you’d spend half the time talking about what we did out there to raise $7 billion dollars plus over three days from 215 different commitments. And you don’t care.

more

And here is some video from Faux News.

Goddamn You, Democrats

I'm getting madder and madder at the Democratic party by the minute. I mean to say, these ladies and gentlemen (and I use that term loosely) could fuck up a wet dream. Less than six weeks ago, there was every sign that they really (really!) could take back one or two houses of Congress, and then perhaps some of this madness, this absolute insanity, could be stopped. So let's review what the Dems have done during this period:

Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely not a goddamned thing. Did we hear from one prominent Democrat during the debate over the US torture policy? Nah, I think every Dem in the country was hiding under a rock, relying on McCain and Warner to carry their water. That's a fabulous idea . . . not! Now that McCain and Warner have capitulated? Nada, zip, zilch, nothing. And when they do actually manage to open their mouths, they aren't saying anything worth hearing. Yes, Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel (whom I usually like very much), that means you, so just STFU.

Get a freaking clue folks: To sorta paraphrase Bill Clinton: It's the WAR, stupid! And I don't just mean as a political issue. I mean as a moral issue, as a financial/budgetary issue, as a diplomacy issue, as an energy policy issue. It always comes back (at least in the main) to this issue. Why (mostly) does the world hate us? It's the WAR, stupid! Why is the country's budget drowning in red ink? It's the WAR, stupid! Why are American men and women dying daily for no reason? It's the WAR, stupid! What is the single biggest reason the American public is ready for a change in leadership? It's the WAR, stupid!

What is it going to take to make these people grow some balls? Can I nominate the entire Democratic party for next week's Douchebags of the Week?

Chavez' Speech: Democrats fault.

Yesterday, if you happened to watch any cable "news", you'd see that the buzz was all about Chavez' speech to the UN. I have carefully read his speech and he brought up a lot of good points. Indeed George Bush acts like he is the president of the world and believes that he can bomb the world to peace. Perhaps the "devil came to this room" and the "stench of sulphur" comments were pretty over the top, but they sure got the world's attention.

Interestingly however, the talking points given to the cable "news" stations are that this is all the fault of the Democrats (and of course, they threw Clinton in there too). It's simply ludicrous since the Democrats don't do anything, can't do anything, and rarely assert themselves until AFTER they've been attacked. Democrats are war mongering, corporate profiteering, jerks too, but the mouths that make bush look bad go directly to the Republicans when they describe the atrocities being committed in our name by the president with happy assuring smiles on their faces.

Has it ever occured to ANYONE in the media EVER that bush is simply the worse president ever? That his actions do not reflect will the American people? That the American people and world leaders dislike bush, not just because he is a bumbling, swaggering, cocky, lying, unqualified for the job of world leader, but because his actions are indeed evil? If he was a good man and had some problems with public speaking, people would overlook it.

Apparently Americans did pay attention to the speech because Chomsky's book, Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance mentioned in Chavez' speech, rose to number 7 at Amazon overnight and is now #1. Way to go, Chomsky!

During heated debates on this subject locally, people are still misinformed. Iraq is worse now than it was under Saddam. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Why Can't A Whole Bunch of Us Do This Across The Country?

A former GOP congressional candidate from Nashua NH recently filed for a restraining order barring bush and cheney and other “unnamed defendants actively engaging in acts of war against Iran and Syria in the guise of the war against terrorism” from bombing Syria or Iran. She asserted that congress has not challenged bush's "authority" to fight the so-called "war on terra" and furthermore fears for her health from radioactive fallout. Her case was rejected by the court. Ms. Maxwell plans to appeal to higher courts.

Story here. Her lawsuit here. Her request for a restraining order here.

What if hundreds, or thousands of Americans followed suit? Even if denied, wouldn't it send a strong message? Especially if there is a chance that radioactive fallout would harm citizens of the world?

What say the legal eagles (Red State Blues, Texas Jaye and others)?

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

The first penis transplant ever performed is a failure. A man in China had the surgery performed because his member had been injured in an accident and he was unable to unrinate properly or have sex. However, though all went well physically, two weeks after the surgery, the doctors have lopped it off because he and his wife developed severe psychological problems. "The patient finally decided to give up the treatment because of the wife’s psychological rejection, as well as the swollen shape of the transplanted penis," the doctor was quoted as saying.

The transplanted penis was 10 cm or 4 inches long. Not to be too snarky, but if I were a guy and I were going through all the trauma of a surgery like this, I would want something a little larger.

Anyway, poor fella, I feel badly for him.

Update: And speaking of lopping off penises (although thankfully this was a wooden one).

A few good videos.....

Remember my two favorites from America's got talent? Bianca Ryan and Bobby Badfingers? Well, as you may know, the incredible 11-year-old voice of Bianca Ryan won the million dollars!

Here is her million dollar performance!!!

and.....I came across an "A & E Biography" (spoof) of my other favorite, Bobby Badfingers. This A & E piece is a riot!

Let's have some pun.....

"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" Well, "It's Not Unusual."

Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

DejaMoo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why," they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him "Juan." Year's later; Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him. (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good)..... A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

And finally, there was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Update on Mayhem and Destruction Pool

Just to show everyone that you need to have a twisted sense of humor to work in healthcare and/or have Santorum as Senator (man, he's been freaking out HUGELY over the past two weeks, hasn't he - bwhahaha) I thought I would just do a quick post of our front runners in the Death, Destruction and Mayhem pool we're running in the ER. I think you may notice a disturbing trend:

• 1] Birdflu/mystery illness that occurs 2 weeks prior to elections (now and/or 2008) keeping ppl away from the polls
• 2] Terror attacks (domestic) that hit just prior to elections
• 3] Assassination (successful or attempted) on an Allied leader by
• 3a. Man of middle eastern descent
• 3b. Katrina survior
• 4] Mysterious death of W in 2007 leading way for Cheney to take over the reigns AND become nomination for 2008
• 5] Major natural disaster - this one is a toss up between storms or earthquakes

Anything you think should be added? We actually have a list of 12 with a pot of close to $120 at this point. I'm sure it will get quite a bit higher as dates come and go and the odds pare down. Oh, and if no one wins? We go to the Chicken Lounge for a get together.

I Gotta Say Thanks

Thanks, that is, to Liz and the rest of the goils for resurrecting one of my favorite epithets from a bygone era: DOUCHEBAG. Yep. It was about 25 years ago that that particular insulting description worked its way through the Midwest. Note to readers: It was always pronounced "dooojbag" around here, said pronunciation seeming to lend itself to an even more critical evaluation.

But this reminds me of the time I walked into a bar in Chicago and had a seat at the bar, at which point I noticed there was only one other patron, and how shall I phrase this?--these are supposed to be "politically correct" times you know. Well, let's just say she was not blessed with fair features, she was overweight, and she looked like she needed a bath. So the bartender says to me, "What'll you have"? "Gimme a shot of Bushmills and a side of Guinness for a chaser", I replied. "And while you're at it, see if that douchebag down at the end of the bar will let me buy her a drink". "Heeeyyy, man; what's the matter with you", the bartender said, "you can't come in here and call my customers douchebags. You'll drive my business away and I'm just getting by as it is". Suitably castigated, I reflected on his words and feeling contrite, I said, "Yeah, you're right. I apologize. Well, see if she'll have a drink on me anyway". "Sure", he replied, and walking down to the woman he said, "The gentleman at the other end of the bar would like to buy you a drink. What'll you have"? And she said, "Gimme a vinegar and water".

Oh Canada...

Some interesting stories from our neighbors to the north can be found here (Harper slams U.S. border plan) and here. (Getting closer to Uncle Sam Public kept in dark as business leads talks about North American integration)

I have not posted an update to our NAFTA discussions in a while. Here's why: last week, I came across this story about Canadians protesting the 'North American Union'. I was going to post it, along with another story by Jerome Corsi about the superhighway. Then I realized who Corsi was -- he wrote "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry". He is also a major contributor to the WND rag.

I don't think I will be discussing this topic anymore. I did attempt to get the SPP, NAU, NASCO, NAFTA, TTC, ET CETERA straight in my mind, but all I keep hearing in my head now is "Life is a highway -- and I want to ride it all night long"!! so I'm just going to stop here, enjoy the music that's playing now, and go for a ride.

I just can't seem to figure out why these topics are supposedly so hush hush in the media, but you have guys like Corsi exposing all of the "secrets" in rags like WND. Is he really doing his job as an investigative journalist or is he just a jerk who purposely misleads readers and totally exaggerates every story?

Olympic Waterboarding?

Excerpt from Let’s Catch the Wave of Waterboarding!:

We have not taken lightly the responsibilities of developing a new sport, especially one that will likely receive international attention. We have spent many days and even weeks outlining what we believe are the proper standards for evaluating this event. First, we think depth and time of submersion should be the primary criteria, but the number of times an athlete manages to be submerged is another important factor in judging. There were some who, in our initial discussions, thought that points also should be given for the quality of actionable information obtained during the sporting competition, but this suggestion is still under consideration with the appropriate Olympic officials.

“I might remind you that snowboarding may have its slalom, its half-pipe, but our sports advisers have developed waterboarding’s own competitive categories, such as the triple gasp, and the full-steam ahead. We believe that our application to the Olympic Committee will soon be accepted, in time for the necessary preparations leading to the 2008 Olympic competition in Beijing, China—a country, I understand, with its own unique waterboarding traditions.

“Finally, this initiative should go a long way toward silencing the critics of our efforts in the War on Terror. How could even the most negative nay-sayers possibly define healthy athletic training as ‘undue coercion,’ or accuse a legitimate Olympic event of being ‘torture’?

Yes, it's a satire.

Bagdad Today: When you find a bloody man lying on the ground, alive, leave him alone.

No One Dares to Help
The wounded die alone on Baghdad's streets. An offer of aid could be your own death sentence, an Iraqi reporter writes.

"... I saw a man lying on the ground in a small pool of blood. He wasn't dead.

"The idea of stopping to help or to take him to a hospital crossed my mind, but I didn't dare. Cars passed without stopping. Pedestrians and shop owners kept doing what they were doing, pretending nothing had happened.

"I was still looking at the wounded man and blaming myself for not stopping to help. Other shoppers peered at him from a distance, sorrowful and compassionate, but did nothing.

"I went on to another grocery store, staying for about five minutes while shopping for tomatoes, onions and other vegetables. During that time, the man managed to sit up and wave to passing cars. No one stopped. Then, a white Volkswagen pulled up. A passenger stepped out with a gun, walked steadily to the wounded man and shot him three times. The car took off down a side road and vanished.

"No one did anything. No one lifted a finger. The only reaction came from a woman in the grocery store. In a low voice, she said, "My God, bless his soul.""

The idiot in the White House wants to legalize torture and the House is worried about immigrants who vote as if immigrants have anything to do with the debacle that is the way we conduct elections in this country. And the laugh riot goes on:

The bill the House passed Wednesday, meanwhile, would require everyone to present a photo ID before voting in federal elections by 2008. By 2010, voters would have to have photo IDs that certified they were citizens. In response to criticism that this would be a burden for the poor, the bill stipulates that states must provide the identification cards free of charge to those who can't afford them.

"Supporters of this Republican voter suppression bill will claim this bill is about preventing noncitizens from voting," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "It's just the opposite. It's a bill designed to prevent citizens from voting."

Republicans said photo IDs are already common practice in cashing checks, buying alcohol or boarding planes, and there was no intent to keep voters from the polls. "We want everyone to participate, to vote, and to know that their vote counts," said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said he was initially denied a voter ID required under a Missouri state law because he doesn't have a driver's license and couldn't immediately produce a passport or birth certificate. His congressional ID card was not accepted.

A Missouri court earlier this month struck down the state law, and on Tuesday a state superior court judge in Georgia ruled that that state's law requiring a photo ID was an unconstitutional condition for voting.

It was uncertain whether the Senate would take up the voter ID bill this year.
The voter ID bill is H.R. 4844.

---------

ACTIVISM UPDATE: Call your congress critters and tell them that you support the

"Let America Vote Act"

The emergency paper ballot mandate of 2006.

Emergency paper ballots shall be made available at every voting jurisdiction in the United States during the November 7th, 2006 General Election. These paper ballots shall be available in sufficient numbers for optional use by voters who prefer to use them, and by all voters in the event of voting machine failure or unavailability. These paper ballots are not to be provisional ballots, but regular paper ballots that shall be counted immediately upon the close of polls on election night along with all other votes cast by properly registered voters.

More at bradblog

"Airs of Grandeur....?" (Douchebag follow-up)

Thank you READER Paul (A) for sending this link from crooksandliars!! I had missed this daily show -- John Stewart's rebuttal to Novak's comments "he's a self-righteous comedian with airs of grandeur". One of his bests yet!

Have a look if you missed it. Stewart is a riot as he tries to put on an 'air of grandeur', trying to figure out what Novak is referring to.

I really think Novak got his douchebag comments and comedy shows mixed up. He was probably thinking of the SNL skit Lord and Lady Douchebag that was done a million years ago.

For the heck of it, I googled 'airs of grandeur' and this newsbusters site came up. It's the transcript of TDS. Check out the comment section. Talk about airs of grandeur!

Hail to those who call 'em as they see 'em:

Chavez Says U.S. Empire Will Soon Fall, Calls Bush 'Devil'

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that the United States would soon lose its place as leader of the free world, and that the United Nations was a broken organization that was beyond repair.

"The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah," Chavez told reporters, ending the statement with the Arabic phrase for "God willing."

"Chavez said that the United Nations was a "deceased" organization because it was formed to bridge the differences between the United States and Russia, and a brand new international organization would have to be formed to replace it.

"Earlier, Chavez initiated a verbal assault on President Bush, calling him "the devil" during an insult-riddled address to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly."

A fitting salute to Buttfuckboy on this the 3-1/2 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Check it all out at the Carolina Ten O'Clock News
.

Hypocrisy to Make My Head Explode

Does Bill (Gorilla Killa) Frist (R-National Zoo) think the American public has Attention Deficit Disorder? I ask because you may have seen in today's news that the Republicans are threatening to filibuster the McCain bill in the Senate opposing The Shrubster's attempts to redefine torture under the Geneva Convention. What the fuck is that all about? Six or seven months ago, we were told by the Republican leadership that the filibuster was the vilest of Parliamentary maneuvers, weren't we? That the filibuster thwarted the will of the majority? That it was an underhanded attempt to subvert the will of the people? You remember, when the Democrats threatened to filibuster the Alito nomination? Wasn't there extensive discussion at that time that the Republicans would take the "nuclear option", whereby the filibuster would be eliminated if the Dems followed through with their threat to use it?

Up or down vote, Dr. Frist, up or down vote.

On a personal note, I cannot believe, in 2006, we are seriously debating the issue of whether it is okay to torture people. Christ on a cracker, I learned more than 25 years ago in Matt Lippman's political science classes that torture is never acceptable under any circumstances. The fact that it is even being debated as a serious topic of conversation is ludicrous in the extreme.

What a hypocrite

We found out this week that Bush working on false intelligence from Canada had an innocent man whisked away to Syria to be tortured.

And yesterday, Bush railed against Syria by "telling Syrians that their government has allowed the country to become "a crossroad for terrorism" and "a tool of Iran."

(hat tip Americablog)

Further exascerbating his hypocrisy:

To the people of Iran, Bush said in his speech, "the United States respects you; we respect your country. We admire your rich history, your vibrant culture and your many contributions to civilization. You deserve an opportunity to determine your own future."

Too bad he wasn't thinking about rich history, vibrant culture and contributions to civilization when he bombed the shit out of Baghdad.

He added: "The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons."

Was he just reading a United States history book or what?

More election time lies

The only Republican congressman on Long Island (we also have 4 Democrats whom you hardly ever hear from), Peter King, who is known for his outspoken Rovian talking points that usually have nothing to do with Long Island interests, has a Democratic opponent, David Mejias. As usual, Mr King is making false accusations. He claims his opponent is taking contributions from "radical" Long Island Muslim extremists- from the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury and from the president of the Long Island Muslim Society in East Meadow. Well it turns out that Peter King has also taken contributions from the same groups (and they are not radical extremists). So what else is new? See the article in Newsday for details.

We gotta get rid of this guy. He's ruining it for the whole country as he is also the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and also serves on the International Relations Committee.

Visit Dave Mejias' campaign website to find out more and maybe make a contribution in order to unseat wingnut, Peter King.

Let's Trash Ted!!

From Editor & Publisher -- Ted Turner says the media, especially in the US, should work harder to cover all parts of the world honestly and intelligently...AND Ted even said some nice things about women, --"men should be barred from public office for a hundred years in every part of the world." and -- As for women: "If we had women holding all the public offices, the amount of money on the military would be immediately cut way back and more would be spent on healthcare and education," Turner said. "There wouldn't be lack of family planning or birth control if the women ran things."

SO, maybe I should cut him some slack? (I just hope he didn't say those nice things about women with that TT smirk on his face)

And maybe he DOES put his money where his mouth is. I understand he has put up a lot of $$ for The United Nations and (their) causes around the world!

And....Turner expressed his hope that the next U.S. President would be a "great leader who thinks ahead, like Al Gore." He suggested the audience help convince Gore to run because "we can't afford to waste another eight years."

I'm starting to like this guy! -- how about you?

OK TED -- Don't you own a couple of TV Networks?
How about you turn TNT into a 24/7 "honest and intelligent" news source with the likes of Olberman, Stewart, maybe a special blog segment? Let the women run the show. Sponsor Al Gore for President. SHIT! Just imagine......

COME ON TED! Help us out here Cowboy! You could round up quite a posse!!


UPDATE

Here's the full story from reuters. He also said:

"....it would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently run world. The men have had millions of years where we've been running things. We've screwed it up hopelessly. Let's give it to the women."

(Jane learned him well!)

Free DSCOVR now

It is built. It is paid for. Nations are offering to launch it for free. We need this information to help us survive upcoming climatic changes....so why is it sitting in a box in DC?

Politics perhaps? Fear of science maybe? Or maybe its the realization that the data DSCOVR sends back to us will prove, once and forall, beyond ANY arguement that global warming is real and its dangers are already being felt

Oh GOOG, my BFF -- what to do - what to do......?

I've always been in awe of you, GOOG! I'm not alone either; I think you're still the most popular engine on the track. I see you practically everywhere I go -- I'm so glad you're always there for me. BAM! BAM! BAM! Whatever, whenever I need ANYTHING --in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD -- you come through!

I remember reading THIS STORY last year in TIME magazine -- I still dream of working at Google. What a place! "a sand-volleyball court, a pair of heated lap pools and, for some reason, a ball pit with dozens of brightly colored plastic balls, like the one you throw the kids into at Ikea. The dress code? "You have to wear something,"

AND "Above all, there is Google's fetishistic devotion to food; the company serves three excellent meals a day, free, to its staff, at several cafés. In what passes in Mountain View for a crisis, Google has spent months trying to find a successor, or maybe two, to replace departing head chef Charlie Ayers, who once cooked for members of the Grateful Dead. A search committee has been meeting with candidates. We're not talking meat loaf and bug juice. In a recent tryout, the executive chef from an acclaimed area restaurant prepared sugar-pie pumpkin lasagna and cedar spring lamb chops." MY KIND OF PLACE! Bummer! Too bad I'll never get a job there:

"Google is on a hiring binge, adding about 100 people a week. It applies quirky tests of talent. Google once put up a billboard on Route 101, the heavily trafficked artery that links the Valley to San Francisco, that said, in its entirety:

(first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e).com

No Google logo, no recruiting pitch. Just the equation. The curious who solved it (yep, it's 7427466391.com typed the answer into their browsers and went to that Web page, which offered another, harder problem (don't ask) that finally led to an invitation to interview at Google. The company also has inserted the "Google Labs Aptitude Test" in geeky publications like Linux Journal. It poses 21 questions, ranging from absurdly complex mathematical equations to poetic queries like "What is the most beautiful math equation ever derived?"

Best of all is your informal motto.... "Don't be evil" Well, who could ask for a better BFF than that!

I hope it will be forever. You know SO MANY secrets.

Hey, what's up with the "failure" search? I thought that was pretty cool how George W Bush showed up for the longest time as the first entry. You probably could have done something about that a while ago, but you didn't. So....what's up with this new
First google entry for 'failure'?
(well, ok -- I guess you just wanted to acknowledge those googlebombers)


AND...AND...AND

WHAT'S UP WITH YOU STARTING A PAC?

we need to talk....

Surviving the The Atomic Age:Part I

The Golden Age of Civil Defense Propaganda: Atomic Scare Films

A nuclear attack was just another hazard that came with ordinary American life in the 50's and 60's. The enemy was never named in Atomic Scare Films and it was never suggested that perhaps the US government's use of bombs in Japan might have sparked the possibility of a nuclear war. The most important aspect of Civil Defense short films of the cold war era was to instill an underlying fear in post war America. People in rural areas weren't excluded from the fear tactics. Hey you, on your tractor, what will you do when you see the flash? Sure, go about your daily lives, water your lawns, have backyard cookouts, take a ride in the family car, but never forget that at any time, any day, your life could be in danger. It's not a matter of "if", but a matter of "when". The following are some films I found from that era on the internet:

Atomic Bomb Newsreel (vintage)

This is how we learned how to plan to survival in the atomic age. Watch the Navy test atomic bombs in Bikini . See our brave soldiers endure the effects of plutonium in the ironically named Pacific, all in the name of peace, ironically. Watch a Nevada town being tested for the effects of a blast. Watch the troops dust off the radioactive fallout with a broom! All this and more on Google Video

Duck And Cover (1951)

"Teacher, how can we tell when an atomic bomb is going to explode?" It's 1951. What happens when you see the flash? Duck and Cover! Bert the turtle, the "Duck and Cover" mascot of the cartoon world, teaches children how to survive in a real world where an atomic bomb can explode at any time. Was this a prelude to Duct tape and plastic? Watch "Duck and Cover" at YouTube or at GoogleVideo.

Target YOU! (c 1953)

An urgent Civil Defense short designed to scare you into keeping your house clean and prepare a home shelter for the very worst. An atomic bomb. Watch "Target You" at Google Video.

Occupying A Shelter (1965)

How to survive a nuclear attack in a community shelter by the US Army and The Department of Federal Civil Defense. Brought to you in living color. Watch it on Google Video

A new look at the H bomb

What is radioactive fallout? Oh it's those particles that fall out of a mushroom cloud. You had better go into your shelter, but don't worry, radioactivity only lasts for a few hours to a few days. Don't forget your battery operated radios. Watch it at Google Video

Introduction to cold war

The Manhattan Project, Enola Gay, Cuban Missle Crisis, clips from various civil defense films of the atomic age. Watch it at Google Video

Alert today, alive tomorrow (1956)

Neighborliness and working together have always been wonderful human virtues and that is what kept humanity going. But, uh oh, atomic bombs can obliterate us! Civilians can be bombed? Who knew? What to do? What to do? The military will be busy fighting a war and it's up to civilians (who survive) to set up local civil defense units in conjunction with the Federal Civil Defense Headquarters. Let's watch what happens when Redding, Pa. gets bombed. Watch it at Google Video

How about a fun list of 100 Atomic films? The Conelrad 100
------------

"It's a dangerous world. I wish it wasn't that way. I wish I could tell the American people, don't worry about it, they're not coming again. But they are coming again." -G.W. Bush

The President's Weekly Radio Address

September 16, 2006: Fact vs. Belief

President Bush sets the record straight about differing philosophies of facts.
HAVE A LISTEN HERE

I came across this radio address over at Smoking Mirrors in the comment section of a post:
52 Days to The Moment of Tuth(great read, btw)

Hmmm?

Maybe I'm reading too many books, maybe I just have a naturally suspicious mind. But is anyone else wondering how low gas prices will drop PRIOR to the November elections and how quickly they will rise again afterward?

My hubby was reading an article in the local paper stating that prices COULD drop as low as $2 by November. Wonder if that will cross over into heating oil? Wonder what their excuse will be when the prices skyrocket?

Just mailed to me from a friend:

Maybe you've heard it before but it bears repeating:

President Bush was visiting a primary school and he dropped in on one of the classes, where they were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the President if he would like to lead the discussion of the word "tragedy". So, the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a "tragedy."

One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him that would be a tragedy." "No," said Bush, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy." "I'm afraid not," explained the president. "That's what we would call a great loss."

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?" Finally at the back of the room a small boy raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One, carrying you and Mrs. Bush, was struck by a friendly fire missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy." "Fantastic!" exclaimed Bush. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?" "Well," said the boy, "it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

In other news...

A happy camper from "Jesus Camp" exclaimed in a new documentary, "We're a key generation to bringing Jesus back." This is scary. I'm not so sure that they mean it metaphorically. (and they worship a photo of Bush) Youths training to fight (literally) for Jesus.

So many douchebags, so little time.
What this has to do with the war on terra™, I don't know. Saxy Chambliss: “If Gen. JEB Stuart had had better intelligence, we’d all be meeting in Richmond right now.” If Chambliss had intelligence... oh nevermind.

The Taliban told ABC news that they have 500 suicide bombers ready to go. They will be attacking Kabul since the US and NATO have headquarters there. The Taliban is angry that the US attacked them.

Something's fishy in Papua. There's a shark who's walking on its fins among 52 new species of creatures.

Time Magazine examines what a war with Iran would look like. Pretty fucking bad.

And just to piss me off, NYC's Mayor Bloomberg will host a fund raiser for Joe Lieberman, who recently lost his Joementum.

What else is going on out there? I'm almost afraid to look.

Douchebag of the Week -- (I can't decide)

I was just over at Think Progress and read a story about Robert Novak (the original "douchebag of liberty"), and a story about Donald Rumsfeld (another douchebag)

Rumsfeld Unveils New Justification For Iraq War: High Gas Prices

He says: The fact of the matter is - if Saddam Hussein were still in power in Iraq, he would be rolling in petrol dollars. Think of the price of oil today. He would have so much money. And he would be seeing the Iranians interested in a nuclear program, he would be seeing the North Koreans developing a nuclear program, and he’d say well why shouldn’t he - and he would. So we’re fortunate that he’s gone.

WTF???

and then we have this marble mouth insulting my hero:

During an appearance on C-SPAN, columnist Robert Novak was asked about his television viewing habits. Novak said, “somebody mentioned the Jon Stewart program, I’ve never seen that in my life and I will go to my grave never having seen it.” Asked why, Novak said, “I don’t see any reason for it. It’s a comedian, self-righteous comedian taking on airs of grandeur and I really don’t need that.”

Maybe I'll just call it a tie....?

Sound Familiar?

IAEA says Congress report on Iran's nuclear capacity is erroneous and misleading

And talk about being a weenie coward who won't look at his enemy in the eyes:
Bush plans to avoid Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at all costs at the UN tomorrow. Ahmadinejad says he will dog bush into having a debate.
(Big protests at the UN tomorrow. Wanna go?)

Is it any wonder that most wars have been fought over religious beliefs?

A college student in SUNY Binghamton (state school) is starving himself because he says the school failed to meet his religious (Rastafarian) dietary requirements.

Glover said a dietician from the Sodexho food service vendor met numerous times with Akaberi, then recommended they would do several things, such as drawing up menus of 100 percent organic foods, detailing methods of food preparation, and using specially selected pots, pans, knives, spoons and forks. The company also called for training a chef to prepare an agreed-upon menu for Akaberi, making organic food items available in a dormitory cafe as late as 1 a.m. "All this would kick in upon response on this proposal from him, but he has not responded as yet," Glover said.

Akaberi said he found the university's proposal unacceptable. "This all looks great on paper, but the reality is much different," he said, noting that a chef wasn't available in a dormitory cafe during recent visits. "They expect more of me than any other student. The expense of the meal plan is supposed to be justified by convenience and peace of mind that comes with constant meal availability," he said citing the $1,660 per semester cost of the meal plan.

"They expect more of me than any other student."
It also appears that he expects more from the school's caterers than any other student.

I am all for religious freedom in this country. I understand that many people have special dietary requirements. The cost of the school's meal plan is $1660 per semester. I assume that kids who just eat whatever is made for them pay the same price and that price also subsidizes those students who have special needs. The other students have constant meal availability and this student claims that he doesn't- his special chef wasn't there when he was hungry a few times. He is threatening to die for his beliefs. How do we determine if this person is not full of crap? Or should we dare to question anyone's religious beliefs even when they become difficult for the rest of a community?

This student reports that "he cannot eat non-organic foods or those cooked on metallic surfaces." The school apparently made an effort to comply with his requirements. It appears that he's the only student with these specific requirements. What if dozens of other students decide that they have special "religious" requirements just to be ball breakers? How will that financially affect non-fussy students in a state funded university?

How far should we as tax paying Americans who support freedom of religion and freedom from religion, bend over backwards to accommodate certain religious requirements?

I'm just asking. I don't know.

Torture Is Wrong

by guest blogger Auntie Roo

Torture is Wrong

Torture is a morally bankrupt practice perfected by the worst villains in human history. It is a vile institution that so undercuts the righteousness of whomever practices it, that other nations band together to prosecute its perpetrators. There is a special cell in the Hague, and a special ring of hell for those who take the public trust and commit war crimes in the people's names. America is the country that is most responsible for building this moral fortress in the world. We sent our Justice Robert Jackson to Nuremberg to speak with moral clarity about those acts which not even war can justify. (Torture is Wrong by Stephanie Dray)

However the delusional moral midget that wrote "Will we fight terrorism or not?" doesn't think so. He's so far gone over-the-edge with the screaming meemies that he wants our country to engage in the interrogation/torture practices of the television fantasy "24". Roll that twisted thought around in your mind for awhile.

Thank God for Jack Bauer.

The fictional hero of the television series "24" may be the only true defense we have against terrorism in this country. We just have to hope and pray that Osama and the other cave-dwelling Muslim terror rats get Fox on their satellite service.

If they do, and they watch counter-terrorism agent Bauer interrogating murderous vermin using any means necessary, they may actually start to worry that the American people have the will and strength to defend themselves against any enemy using whatever means is necessary.

And when he says "whatever means necessary" he means it. Humiliating and degrading treatment? No problem. Waterboarding? That's fine by him.

He's so terrorized by thoughts of the Big Bad Islamic Boogeyman(tm) that even Dubya's plans to throw out the Geneva Conventions doesn't make him feel safe enough.

Which brings us back to Jack Bauer.

He doesn't follow the Geneva Conventions either. If he catches a terrorist, and he thinks there is even a chance the guy will be able to provide information that will save innocent American lives, he doesn't mess around by calling Sen. McCain for permission to interrogate — he shoots the terrorist in the leg. After that "warning shot," he puts the gun to the terrorist's head. Every once in a while the gun goes off. Usually, Bauer feels bad about it, but not as bad as the terrorist.

And you know what? Bauer usually wins. Maybe HE will run for president in 2008. We could sure use him.

I have only one thing to say to the WATBs out there who want America to legalize torture because they're pissing their pants with fear: Not while I'm living and breathing, buckaroo!

So I leave you with this call to action from Stephanie Dray. And from your Auntie Roo...

Torture is wrong.

As I said, that is not a political statement; it is a moral one. But only politicians can stop our government from torturing. And that is why I implore you, from whatever political party you hail, to search deep within yourself. Ask yourself what you can tolerate being done with your tax dollars, being done in your name. Think of what you might tell your children, whether they are yet born or not, when they ask you what you did when the country was debating whether or not we should truly remain a member of the civilized world. Please call your Senators and tell them the plain, undeniable truth. That no matter how you 'redefine' it, or quibble over how much cruelty is too cruel, one undeniable fact remains.

Torture is wrong.

-Auntie Roo

George's Lament

Two years 'til the End, yet Dawn's not unfurled
God in his Place and all reich with the World.

I've tried, how I've tried, with lies and in scorn,
To heed His whisper: "Corrupt and suborn,

Reshape all this land as feudal in mold,
And make highly noble the Corporate Fold."

The tools I was given were ancient, yet bold,
The same long employed by barons of old:

Terror and Fear, sown Division and Shame,
All proved fabulous used in my name.

That I mastered them well, I offer as proof
That Wrong is now Right, and Lying is Truth.

The Past I've turned clay, and molded to shape
A tale of History that's but its rape.

And, all the Dead lying in wait of Charon,
Died not in vain, but for Cause of my own

As good sheeple should, for God has decreed
Me as Decider, they, fuel for my leede.

So, why are my minions now falling away,
Treacherous scum, in confused disarray?

And, over a thing so small and pic'yune
It boggles the mind: Mere Torture's the tune

They're playing on strings while sobbing in pain
Like delicate schoolgirls caught in the rain!

It sure would be funny, if not for the gall:
They're "terrists", stupid, not human at all!

And, as for the World and quaintness of law:
God's says I'm Master, regard me with awe.

- by Gaia Sighs

What do you get when you mix a rich Iranian/American woman with a US and Russian space crew?

You get The First Female Space Tourist!

I was over at The Big Brass Blog (Dark Wraith's amazing new endeavor! -- check it out) and came across this story on the NPR newsfeed over there.

Well, all I can say is: Good for you lady! It must be nice.....

Hey, don't get me wrong; the idea of space travel is cool! I understand there are a lot of benefits to space exploration -- it really is amazing when you think about it. Who knows, maybe if I had an extra 20mil, I'd check it out too. I should be excited for her. She's worked (studied) hard all her life. Her family had to leave their country after the Islamic revolution -- in part because "the opportunities for a young girl to study science were becoming limited there."

Ansari said she expected seeing Earth from space would alter her view of the planet. "You'll see how small and how fragile the Earth is compared to the rest of the universe," she said. "It will give us a better sense of responsibility." (REALLY! -- is that what it takes?)

Well, she "hopes to inspire girls in her homeland to study science". EXCELLENT!! You go girl! I agree, we need more woman scientists -- we need more women everywhere!

Actually I can think of 20 million better ways she could have helped the women in Iran.

What do you think?

“Bush makes Nixon look like a Boy Scout.”

So says Texan, Jim Goodnow, who is launching a campaign to impeach the president across the state of Texas. Most people are agreeable except for one guy who threatened him in Lawrence, which of course is expected from war mongering bush supporters.

Texan Works To Impeach President

IRS investigates churches

I hope that IRS goes after those tax exempt religious leaders who spout pro-bush, pro-war and pro-GOP candidates just as much as they go after "liberal" churches. IRS probes liberal California church. IRS Investigating Liberal Calif. Church

I seem to remember the Catholics renouncing John Kerry because he was 'pro-choice' and belonged the the party that condones choice. I guess the IRS is going after the Catholic churches too.

Very Interesting

Did anyone notice this part of bush's press conference on Friday?

"The information that the Central Intelligence Agency has obtained by questioning men like Khalid Sheik Mohammed has provided valuable information and has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including strikes within the United States.

For example, Khalid Sheik Mohammed described the design of plane attacks on building inside the U.S. and how operatives were directed to carry them out. That is valuable information for those of us who have the responsibility to protect the American people.

He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure that the explosives went off at a point that was high enough to prevent people trapped above from escaping."

UPDATE: Bush said "Planned attacks" and not "Plane attacks".
He may also have meant "explosions" not "explosives". Nevertheless, even if he meant "explosions went off a point that was high enough", the sentence makes no sense. Wouldn't they want the explosions (from the plane crash?) to go off low enough to keep more people trapped? He was reading when he mentioned the explosives.

The point of this post is that it is all very interesting as to why he brought up this bone of contention for the critics of the 9/11 official story. What are they trying to tell us? Or not tell us? I believed that the buildings came down by natural causes and that the explosions were caused by jet fuel and floors collapsing from fire. Why on earth would he bring this up?

Some People Just Consider Bigotry a "Value"

I suppose I should just be more tolerant of these people like a good "liberal."

Don't you just love it when GOP'ers pretend to have "values". Well actually I don't love it because it's bad enough they redefined so many other words that previously held good meanings, but using the word "values" to depict hatred and bigotry is hitting below the belt and never seems to slow down. But some people seem to just eat it up. I suppose we have to think of another word to mean "values" in the traditional sense.

George Macaca Allen is participating in a GOP lynching "Values" Summit next week with Murka's favorite bigots: (hat tip Americablog)

Sept. 22 - 24. VOTERS-VALUES SUMMIT - Family Research Council's legislative action arm holds "Washington Briefing: Values Voter Summit 2006,'' with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, others.
Highlights:

• 7:15 a.m. Breakfast for pastors, with Dr. Jerry Falwell.
• 9 a.m. Morning session, with Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), Dr. James Dobson, Tony Perkins and Alan Sears.
• 10:40 a.m. Morning session on traditional marriage and other issues. Marilyn Musgrave; Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS); Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), others.
• 2:35 p.m. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
• 3 p.m. Senator George Allen (R-VA)
• 7:30 p.m. Evening session, with Ann Coulter, others.
• Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW
  

Mann Coulter? Hahahahahahahaa
Oy vay. So can we go to this thing?

The Terrists Are Coming

Yesterday, the pretzel informed us that the terrorists are coming back. Do they want us to think that al Qaida is going to don a sombrero and sneak over the Mexican border?

Just in time for election day, the house approved a US-Mexican border fence. Long Island's only Rep. congresscritter, Peter King, said that "the separate fence bill was needed to show Americans "we can take meaningful action to secure the border."" (King is up for re-election on L.I. Gawd help us.)

I think this means that they are appeasing certain voters, but have no intention of doing anything about it. Pretty much like the abortion debate. They aren't going to do anything about it. They just talk about abortions to get votes and then blame the Democrats and so-called "activist judges" for holding it all back.

How are they going to pay for it? Chertoff didn't give NY money for counter-terrorism in favor of funding possible anti-terror measures at a mule parade and other assorted "terror magnets" across the USA. What makes those living on border states think that they will get a dime for a fence? Look at the big hole in the middle of NYC- it's a talking point for the GOP. Does anyone think that the GOP would build a fence across another talking point?

I did some research and lo and behold, the minute men in Arizona and New Mexico are willing to build the fence and pay for it via contributions. I'd say, knock yourselves out fellas, but you'd be tresspassing on Halliburton federal land. I smell a no bid government contract in there if anything were ever to happen.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

This one sent in by Billydoom:

Charges dropped in O'Hare penis pump scare

Excerpt: Amin's odd brush with the law began Aug. 16, when the 29-year-old, his two children and his mother were going through O'Hare security on a trip to Iraq. A security guard plucked a small, black rubber object from Amin's hand luggage, and asked him about it. Unwilling to openly say the words "penis pump" while his mother stood near, Amin twice whispered something that, according to Amin, the guard misinterpreted as "bomb."

Amin, who lives in Skokie, was promptly arrested and charged with a felony. His attorney, Eileen M. O'Neill, said this week common sense demanded the Cook County state's attorney's office drop the charge.

"Right from the get-go, it made no sense that a guy who has worked as a translator for [the U.S.] Army in Iraq wouldn't know the consequences of saying, 'I have a bomb,' " O'Neill said.

Does the Pope Shit in the Woods?

UPDATE: The Pope apologized profusely.

----------

On Tuesday it was widely reported that the Pope had quite a bit of bad stuff to say about Islam and the prophet Mohammad.

"Benedict said Christianity is tightly linked to reason and contrasted this view with those who believe in spreading their faith by the sword."

Actually some christian theology is linked to reason (I will write about that some time) but he is way off by saying that Islam believes in spreading faith by the sword. He must be attending the Karl Rove school of propaganda or has some memory loss.

"...the Pope quoted, among others, the 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos who wrote that Mohammad had brought things "only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.""

Way to win hearts and minds there, Popey.

"Benedict several times quoted Emperor Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable and that acting without reason -- "logos" in the original Greek -- was against God's nature."

Man you could write a whole book arguing as to why the pope is talking out of both sides of his mouth there. The Pope's handlers tried to explain what the pope meant.

"... Benedict used Emperor Manuel's views on Islam only to help explain the issue and not to condemn all of the Muslim religion as violent."

And "This is just an example. We know that inside Islam there are many different positions, violent and non-violent. The Pope does not want to give an interpretation of Islam that is violent."

Well you sure could have fooled me. Benedict was right however in stressing that faith needs to be partnered with reason but so far no mainstream religions have embraced that concept and stressed it to their followers. god forbid people should think for themselves

Apparently, Muslims did not find the Pope's speech an invitation to dialogue. Would you want to "dialogue" with someone who told you that everything you believed in was evil and that you are wrong and unreasonable?

In Today's NY Times: Muslim Leaders Assail Pope’s Speech on Islam
Muslim leaders around the world were very insulted by the Pope's comments and expect an apology. The pope's handler's insist that the pope didn't mean to hurt anyones feelings.

The Vatican just installed a new Secretary of State today. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 71, gets to start out in his new position by tackling the Pope vs Islam controversy.

Vatican experts in Rome spoke of a papal "slip" and suggested that future pope speeches may be checked by the Secretary of State's office to ensure they do not spark further diplomatic incidents of this kind.

I just knew that this was going to open a big can of worms.

Question of the Day

Matt Lauer got the pretzeldent a bit flustered in his latest interview over the secret prisons. Bushie got all, "There are people who want to kill your family!"

I found this thread at DU and it's a good topic for Friday.

What question would you ask W to induce a total mental breakdown?

Ignorance is Bliss

There was a time when I absolutely paid no attention to the news. I started losing interest in early 2000 when my dad passed away and I was exhausted from the Clinton years' witch hunt. Whatever I knew, I heard from people who would tell me what they read or saw on television. I still gleaned enough information from them to realize that this country was in big trouble, I had enough on my plate to deal with (taking care of my sick mom) and therefore, I wouldn't spend much time caring about it anymore because as far as I was concerned, we were all gonna die anyway.

I simply gave up caring altogether right after the stolen 2000 election. My mom told me about John Ashcroft one morning in early 2001 while we were having breakfast at a coffee shop and why she liked him. My head nearly exploded. I asked her to please not regurgitate what she saw on CNN every day. I begged her to watch nature shows on cable. She died a few months later and I was too busy to follow the news after that. I had an estate to settle, a house to unload and I was back in the music business (to take my mind off being an orphan).

I jumped back into the news on 9/11. Even people I knew were shocked that I had the television on that morning when I saw the story unfold from the get-go and started making phone calls to everyone to tell them to get the hell out of the city or turn on their tv's. That was the first time in months that I actually had it on tuned to a morning news show. It was my son's first day of junior year of high school, so maybe that's why I had it on in the kitchen. He came home from school that day telling me how many of his schoolmate's parents worked in the WTC and what a horrific day it was. I later found out that 60 people in my mom's village were killed in the WTC- some of whom I knew from town. My friends managed to get out of the buildings before they collapsed and one of my oldest friends had taken the day off. Thank god.

The thing that really caught my attention was the Newsweek cover the day after 9/11 when I went to my mother's house to pick up the mail. Newsweek's issue that week was about how Bush stole the 2000 election. "Ah finally", I thought. Well too bad, 9/11 happened and this would be brushed under the rug. How convenient. Convenient indeed.

I have spent the past 6 years closely reading practically all the news that came over the wire. I tried to talk to people and wake them up, but they just spewed back whatever stories the television media were picking up or they just told me they were merely trying to survive and didn't have time to watch tv (good answer). A lot of people believe that the bushistas will keep them safe. Perhaps they are in denial too and don't want to think otherwise. I don't believe that the bush administration will keep us safe-- maybe from terrorists, maybe not, but definitely not from a dictatorship.

If the Fourth Reich is still in power after this November's elections, I will surely go back to not paying any attention to the news. I think it's a defense mechanism I have. I am expecting my deliberate ignorance to kick back in gear unless some miracle happens between now and then. With a corporate media informing us and rigged elections, what hope can I have?

I am reaching the end of my rope. How about you? Are you optimistic about the midterm elections? The reasons I believe are that we don't have a strong independent media and that the elections are rigged. We are turning fascist faster than I had expected. I feel utterly helpless.

On the other hand, thank god for Jon Stewart. He will keep me going for the next 2 months.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post, One Day Early

This was too good to wait.

You know how we always say that it seems like "Christians" are scared of and embarrassed by sex? Joe Beam, an evangenlical preacher, thinks so too, and now he's telling his flock that they need to get out there and have "hot sex" with their spouses.

Welcome to the world of hot Christian love.

According to Beam's philosophy, most kinds of sex between married couples is okay, except for sex during menstruation (because of some weird Biblical prohibition). If the Bible doesn't prohibit it, married couples can do it: anal sex (okay as long as no one gets hurt), vibrators, masturbation, oral sex, doggie style, phone sex. Beam says go for it. The guy even provides technique advice for oral sex, and advice to men on how to make their sperm taste better. Hallelujah, the guy even supports birth control.

Now, of course, there are some limitations even for Pastor Beam. Gays are still icky, unmarried sex is still out, he won't let you have sex with your dog or sheep, you can't look at porn, and you can't pay for it.

Anyway, I found the whole article hilarious. Not that it wouldn't be nice if the so-called Christians in this country loosened up a bit and let their 17th century Puritanical hair down. I just wonder how long this guy will actually last in Fundieville.

Irony Alert: clown vs clown vs clown

The president of Kazakhstan is flying to the US to meet with our president to discuss the effects of Sacha Baron Cohen's character, Borat, a bumbling Kazakhstan TV host, whom you may know from Da Ali G Show on HBO. Borat says he enjoys the free American prostitutes at the beach, left.

Kazakhstan's president Nazarbayev wants to talk to our own national clown about the effects of Cohen's character on the world wide view of Kazakhstan (I didn't know we had one). Cohen has a new film out about Borat and this has stirred controversy because it gives a negative view of real life in Kazakhstan according the country's president.

This blonde cannot understand how Mr Nazarbayev would expect Mr. Bush, our own worldwide laughing stock who makes US citizens look like war monger imperialists or Nazi sympathizers to "get it." But that is just some of the stuff that makes life more interesting, I suppose.

On Cohen's website, He responds to all the legal threats by the Kazakhstan government:

Baron Cohen responded to Ashykbayev in character by posting a video on the Official Borat website.

In the video, Borat said, "In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew.

"Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world.

"Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old."

Bwahahahaa. Get a sense of humor, Kazakhstan. Look what we have to deal with.

I did a little digging and found out that while Kazakhstan says they have freedom of the press in their country (they removed Borat's website with the .kz suffix though) it's pretty much like ours. Because of "national security" concerns, free speech and political expression have been limited. On the other hand, Kazakhstan boasts at 98% literacy rate. Not bad.

PS, Borat's My Space is pretty funny too.

Does God want you to be rich?

Here we go again! Oh Boy! Yep -- that's the Cover Story on this week's TIME Magazine This ought to get a lot of people revved up to by more "earthly possessions". What do you think?
Since I have "cast my weekly trips to WallyWorld", I have actually become RICHER! Go figure...

The sheeple are going to eat this cover up! I don't know about you, but I have come in contact with more and more people who believe in the
"Prosperity Gospels". Maybe they don't sit in front of the TV and donate part of their income to these christian warriors, but they "truly believe" -- they NEED to believe. That's fine -- whatever gets you though the day. I can deal with most of them, some are actually close friends. One thing they all have in common: you really can't discuss this "belief" they have because -- THEY RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROAT and there is nothing you say that will make them pause and consider your opinion. It's pretty scary to see the look they get in their eyes when I challenge them. I've learned to talk about the weather when I see them.
IF there is a Prosperity Gospel though, I would tend to follow this one, because this Pentecostal Preacher of Prosperity Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church, makes me want to
BARF -- BIG TIME!

I'm getting the feeling that we are not going to be able to stop this nonsense. The growing number of followers that these guys are getting is frightening. What to do, what to do....?

I know,
Take a look at this

and......

Keep dancin'!

Ann W. Richards

Ann Richards, the second female governor of Texas, was a popular figure in some circles. She was particularly popular with the Texas and national media. She partied with them and they in turn gave her unfailing good print. She was good for a sound bite, the empty phrase, and could throw out some "genuine frontier gibberish," to quote Blazing Saddles.

She did appoint many, many women, blacks and Hispanics to public office. I supported her administration, once she was elected, and I supported her re-election efforts.

Having said that, Ann Richards helped change the political climate in Texas from a Democratic Party state to a Republican state. In all fairness, she didn't do it all by herself, but she did push it along quicker.

My dear friend and mentor Jim Mattox ran against Richards in 1990. I worked on his campaign and so my thinking about Ann Richards is colored by that experience. Mattox had tremendous political credentials; he had been a congressman and attorney general of Texas. He was not liked by the Austin establishment because he often did things like sue the insurance industry for price fixing and anti-trust violations and some considered the most dangerous place in Texas to be was between Jim Mattox and a television camera. He did more for women's rights as attorney general than any governor of Texas could. Richards had been married to Mattox's first assistant attorney general and some thought she made his experiences and connections her own. Richards had been a county commissioner and state treasurer. But she got a tremendous boost by keynoting the Democratic National Convention in 1988. She looked like a national political figure; there were rumors of an offer of the vice presidency. Mattox was a workhorse, she was a media superstar.

I met Governor Richards in the kitchen of the governor's mansion. We had been invited to her birthday party which was a huge Texas literary, music, and arts affair. She had wonderful friends and many of them had drug and alcohol problems. It was part of the culture and romance that was the Austin scene.

Governor Richards had been in a bruising gubernatorial Democratic primary against Mattox. In Texas, a race for sheriff can be as bad as any bar fight. Broken glass, switchblades. An issue was raised first in letters to editors and then by Mattox himself that candidate Richards had used illegal drugs while she was a county commissioner and state treasurer. It wasn't that he had "issues" with addicts, he had "issues" with law breaking. The nuance was lost on her friends in the press who drank with her.

Richards never forgot fighting Mattox. When she had an opportunity to appoint Mattox to the U.S. Senate when Senator Bentson joined the Clinton Administration as Secretary of the Treasury, (Bentson said a Texan was perfect to run Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms!) she appointed Bob Kruger a former Texas congressman to Bentson's seat. Kruger is a decent, brilliant Shakespearian scholar who had once chaired the Duke University English Department. Not the sort that gets elected by Hispanic oil field workers in Beaumont.

Mattox was the senior Democrat in the state. He had the experience and the name recognition. But Richards was angry, had called Mattox a "venial" man and this was her opportunity to teach Mattox a lesson.

Thus we got Republicans.

When George W. ran against Richards, Richards lost because Bush was a credible candidate. His daddy had just lost the White House to Bill Clinton so there was some sympathy votes and about 3% of Texans actually believed that George Bush, not his son, was on the ballot. Richards had beaten a Republican cartoon character named Clayton Williams in 1990. It was like running against Yosemite Sam. He made a really ignorant comment to the press about how "rape was like rainy weather--sometimes y'all just have to lay back and enjoy it." Williams was so embarrassing that Republicans in urban areas like Houston and Dallas voted for Richards.

Yet, she never broadened her base. Those embarrassed Republicans were not embarrassed by George W. Bush and they voted for him. They still like him. She didn't run a good race, allowing Bush to get under her normally tough hide and she actually called him a "clown" in a public speech. Her father had died, the campaign ads weren't as good as they could have been, and her heart, some say, wasn't in it.

Richards was a lobbyist for the tobacco industry and for that she will not be remembered. She did not fight big tobacco for the school children that she had once educated, she was not anti-smoking. The rare form of cancer that killed her was due to her alcohol and tobacco use.

She should be remembered for the good she did. And she did fine. She enjoyed her later life and she gave women and minorities a place at the government table they had never had before her and certainly not since. Like Texas, she was larger than life, rough around the edges, and unique.

I was hoping for a "Third Awakening", but.......

NOT the "Third Awakening" that George W Bush speaks of.

"There was a stark change between the culture of the '50s and the '60s -- boom -- and I think there's change happening here," he added. "It seems to me that there's a Third Awakening."

That's Right Folks!

President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."

Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history

"A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me," Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades.

The Washington Post article said that the White House did not release a transcript of Bush's remarks, but mentioned that the National Review
had highlights on its website. CAUTION: You WILL need a barf bag to read these "highlights":

“I don’t know,” he continues, “I’m not giving you a definitive statement — it seems like to me there’s a Third Awakening with a cultural change. And it would be interesting to get your observations if that is accurate or not accurate. It feels like it. I’m just giving you a reference point, if this is something you’re interested in looking at. It feels like it to me. I don’t have people coming in the rope line saying, ‘I’d like a new bridge, or how about some more highway money.’ They’re coming to say, ‘I’m coming to tell you, Mr. President, I’m praying for you.’ It’s pretty remarkable.”

(did he really say rope line?)

Fighting a gaining battle

This article at NYTimes this morning, says Exercise = Weight Loss, Except When It Doesn’t
It's an interesing read. We're all different and we all have to try different things until they come out with the magic pill. I simply added lots of moving around and long long walks 5 times a week to see if I could break the gaining weight barrier. I didn't change my eating very much and I still drank beer a few times a week. Happily, I can report that intense sweating worked and it's still working. I dropped a few sizes over the summer and I have the stamina I thought I had lost decades ago. You thought 9/11 changed everything? Menopause changes everything. So I guess I will stick with this regime until it doesn't work anymore.

Naturally thin people need not add anything to this thread. I love you but I don't want to hear about it.

Um. No.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.

Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices. (continued)

"I only deal with foreign policy so I'm gonna get me some Ferragamos."

"Condoleezza Rice blames black Americans for their ignorance about African issues in her upcoming interview with Essence magazine's Tatsha Robertson. "On the foreign-policy side, if African-Americans indeed care about Africa, how many African -Americans know that this President has tripled official development assistance to Africa, tripled after it was flat since Jimmy Carter?" "

Have at it.

Remember the Game Operation?

Help Bush remove the remaining organs from the body politique.

When Will This End?

I remained quiet yesterday out of respect for those who both lost their lives (victims) and those who sacrificed their lives (first responders) and their family members. But today I'm talking and I'm being loud.

The 16 acres were the towers stood is still nothing more than a deep pit. There is no monument there, no marker on the mass grave of over 2, 500 people. But then, perhaps a pit is the most accurate monument this administration can give. Brushing aside the whole 'how much responsibility does the Bush Administration bear for this attack" arguement. Let's pretend to play along with the MSM bile that OBL and his rag-tag group of operatives were solely responsible for this tragic occurence. Hell, I won't even bring up the "Pet Goat" or the 9 minutes of blank staring or the blood curdling smirk on his face at that little photo op inside the school.

Let us start instead with the response of both citizens, (national and global) and the administration.

Thousands of civilian volunteers came out to help anyone and everyone, shifting through rubble, trying to find even the tiniest fragments of bone or flesh in the attempt to give someone's family at least the peace of mind of knowing for certian what had happened to their loved ones.
The Bush Administration? Photo ops, sound bites and cheerleading over how great America is and how the rest of the world wants to either emulate or destroy her.

Global reaction? Without fail every major world govenment was squarely behind us, mourning with us, offering us financial and technical aid. Even Le Monde's headline read "We are all Americans today".

For one brief period of time not only was all of America united, 80% of the WORLD was united. Truly we had a moment of global brotherhood that could have been turned into the greatest epoch of human acheivement and cooperation that the world may have ever born witness to. But it didn't happen that way, did it?

Instead that outpouring of grief and sympathy and solidarity was turned against the citizens of the USA and the hands outreached in friendship from across the globe were all but smacked away or ignored. We were forced to give up many of the Rights our ancestors fought and died for (Patriot Act) miraculously the paperwork for all the highjackers seemed to be the only things that were not destroyed in the collapse of the towers. And the madmen who rule us now firmly dug themselves in, using fear, uncertainty and bigotry to cement themselves into their current positions of power.

W used lies, deceit and the open raw wounds of this country to start a war with Iraq. 'Somebody' had to pay...this wasn't justice it was a lynching and any dark-skinned people would do. So much of the country fell for his lies, those that didn't were branded traitors, shouted down or physically stopped from voicing any rational dissent.

We should have listened better, we should have yelled louder.

Now, five years have passed. We have as many members of the armed forces dead as there were victims in the towers. Are we feeling better now? More moral, more justified. Has it brought peace to any of the families of those who died?

What about the president and his cronies? I doubt they lose any sleep over it, after all no one important died, just the people they were sworn to protect. But then they can allow NOLA to drown and fester for days, shoot old men in the face and steal away our liberties, money and future and not bat an eye so I wouldn't be looking to that lot for moral guidance.

BTW, if you want to hear the BEST editorial regarding the 9/11 anniversary, I point you towards Crooks and Liars to listen to Keith Olberman, I think I found a hero.

Giuliani Fears His Health Hurt on 9/11

Well he says that it "could have" affected his health. Misleading title on the article for sure.

"Instead of wasting time in finger-pointing, time should be devoted to figuring out how to get people the benefits, the help and the assistance they need," he said covering his ass.

China Replaces U.S. As World's Largest Exporter: Trade Imbalances Could Cause Financial Upheaval; MAPI Analyst Implores U.S., IMF To Act Now On China'

Just thought I'd pass along a little 'lite reading' for the morning...

(Since our only source of income is hubby's job in 'manufacturing', I suppose I should be taking this seriously)

Divided We Fall

Last night, bush insulted Americans and the memory of those who died on 9/11/01 by repeating the lie that Iraq was a "clear threat" and that we didn't ask for this war in Iraq. He said that they needed a regime change although he has never been clear as to why they needed a regime change at that very moment in history especially since the fiasco in Afghanistan hadn't been resolved and Osama bin Ladin was still on the loose. He said we have to stay there and fight because if we pull out, that we won't be safe (he left out the part that if we re-elect incumbents in November, we will be fucked). With the reckless behavior of the bushistas over the past 5 years, their partisan attacks on Americans who disagree with the bush regime's foreign policy, our country is more split than ever.

Keith Olbermann, the only brave soul to speak the truth in television news had a lot to say.

I cannot see how we will win the war against terra when our troops are in Iraq, not fighting, but just trying to stay alive.


Our friend is stationed in Mosul. He had said he doesn't care why he is there. His wife had a baby after he was deployed for the second time and he frequently sends pictures of the sweet little angel. He wanted to go because he needed the money and benefits. Last night, we got an email from him (yes they have email in the war) and this was all it said:

"Fallen"

Heaven bend to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight

Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
THe past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden
Time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning
In the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
That I've held so dear.

I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

Heaven bend to take my hand
Nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends
To everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarassed
Pretend that they don't see
But it's one missed step
One slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

Guerilla Artist On The Loose

This guy is great. Banksy hails from Bristol, UK and is notorious for his subversive artistic stunts according to BBC News. He recently placed a figure of a Guantanamo detainee inside the Big Thunder ride at Disney Land over the weekend. It lasted for a full 90 minutes before it was removed.

He also replaced 500 altered Paris Hilton CD's showing her topless with a dog's head and remixed her songs titled thusly: Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?

Banksy spray painted murals on the Palestinian side of the West Bank Barrier depicting an ideal life on the other side. (left) See more here. He infiltrated New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art among other museums with anti-war paintings such as Soldier With a Spray Can. Brilliant. (right)



Banksy added a painting to the Tate Museum of a rural scene with police tape. He also participated in an art show that featured "pigs painted in police colors, sheep painted in concentration camp stripes and a cow covered in images of Andy Warhol's face". Check it out here.

My favorite stunt was when he hoaxed the British Museum with a fake prehistoric rock showing a caveman pushing a shopping cart. (left) He unveiled a tremendous large bronze statue of "justice" as a prostitute. His mural of a naked man hanging out of a window while a woman in her underwear stands behind her husband who is looking out the window for her "lover" was so enjoyed by the public that it was allowed to stay on a building near his home town.

Some people are very appalled by graffiti, but honestly, if the artist is good, I'd rather see his or her work than the effects of war.

Click on any photos above for larger images and click on the links to see more articles about his work. (yeah, a lot of clicking)

Unanswered Questions Remain

It's nearly the exact 5th anniversary of the news that a plane had struck the World Trade Center on 9/11. I called just about everyone I knew that morning who would be in and around downtown NYC to see if they were ok and if they were near the WTC, to get the hell out of there. I was on the phone with a friend while we were both looking at the television and the second plane hit the other tower. Things have never been the same.

Since that time, I have entertained many conspiracy theories and fortunately for my sanity, have dropped most of them after asking a whole lot of questions and delving deeper into every single news report and investigations concerning that day.

There is one nagging aspect of that morning that will not go away and it is bush's behavior in the classroom that morning- Bush's photo-op at Booker Elementary School which is conveniently located on YouTube.

All conspiracy theories aside, this video says a lot. Bush later said he didn't want to upset the children so he waited for them to finish "The Pet Goat" after being informed of the attack. It took several more minutes to finish the story. But he didn't jump up when they were finished, he chit chatted with the kids and the teacher before he went into another room to speak with his advisors and work on his statement. In fact he delivered his statement in photo-op like fashion with the children gathered around him. Very strange behavior indeed.

While bush was listening to the rest of the story, he could see all the press and his staff whispering on cell phones. Wouldn't he be wondering what was going on? He still proceeded to fart around in the classroom after the kids finished reading the book.

Furthermore, I can't imagine that children would be freaked out if the president stood up in the middle of their reading presentation to say that he would have to take care of something very important. Eventually, they would know what it was anyway. If I was the mother of one of those kids in the classroom that day, you could betcherass that I'd be all over the press complaining that my child was put into danger. How was anyone to know that the school wouldn't be overrun by terrorists with bombs strapped to their bodies? How?

Why didn't Andrew Card wait for Bush to reply after informing him of the attack? Strange. It almost looks like a photo-op, doesn't it? Card just walked away and bush sat there. Think about yourself. How would you react? Oh you'd just sit there? Yeah right.

And what about the Secret Service? Wouldn't you assume if you were assigned to protect a world leader and if the country was attacked that perhaps the leader would also be on the agenda and you'd immediately get him the heck out of there? I would think so. Nope. The Secret Service didn't do anything. How did they know there weren't any other planes in the air destined to attack them in Florida? How did they know that there weren't any other alternate plans to attack that school that day? There were indeed other known hijacked planes in the air at that time. When bush left Sarasota, Air Force One wasn't even escorted. How did they know they were safe?

UPDATE: My co-bloggers, Jersey and Missouri reminded me in the comments, that the dog didn't bark. See WRH for the story.

Watch the video and tell me if that is a man who was completely oblivious to the meaning of the words, "America is under attack" or if he knew something was coming (he did if he saw the August 6th PDB) and was told to just sit there and wait for further instructions? If he was so unmoved when informed that the country was under attack, while the rest of us were freaking out watching our televisions wondering what would be attacked next, then why wasn't he even criticized for doing nothing?

Wasn't he wondering if fighter planes were deployed? Heck, I had assumed that morning that they must have been but I was wrong. If I were the president, that's probably the first thing I would want to know- is the Air Force handling this situation? Furthermore, news reports would later show that when the first plane hit, the word was out that it had bin Laden's fingerprints all over it, as we know from the 9/11 Commission. Bush proceeded to the photo-op anyway. (Watch the events happen on split screen.)


How could bush claim to have seen the first plane hit the tower two times?

Here's a video: What Bush must have known. I don't necessarily agree with the conclusion, but the questions are valid and there is some extra footage I hadn't seen. This video concludes that bush may have had access to a closed circuit tv showing the first plane attack. That's a stinging indictment. I don't come to that conclusion, but it does raise a question - Why did bush use the same story about what he was thinking on the morning of 9/11 when it obviously doesn't fit with the official story? No one bothered to tell him to not say that again?

Here is the transcript from December 4th, 2001 (white house web site)

"... you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.

But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack."

And, Jordan, I wasn't sure what to think at first. You know, I grew up in a period of time where the idea of America being under attack never entered my mind -- just like your Daddy's and Mother's mind probably. And I started thinking hard in that very brief period of time about what it meant to be under attack. I knew that when I got all of the facts that we were under attack, there would be hell to pay for attacking America. (Applause.)

And so, I got on the phone from Air Force One, asking to find out the facts. You've got to understand, Jordan, during this period of time, there were all kinds of rumors floating around. Some of them were erroneous. Obviously -- for example, there was a news report saying that the State Department had been attacked. I needed to know what the facts were. But I knew I needed to act. I knew that if the nation's under attack, the role of the Commander-In-Chief is to respond forcefully to prevent other attacks from happening. And so, I've talked to the Secretary of Defense; one of the first acts I did was to put our military on alert.

This is the second time he gave a similar story on January 5th, 2002: (white house)

"Anyway, I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff -- well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or -- anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, "America is under attack."

In five years, nary a word about the president's strange behavior on 9/11.

Secret Prisons, Lying Us Into War and CIA Insurance Policies

How can we forget the big deal that was made when Dana Priest of WaPo revealed that the CIA has secret prisons almost a year ago? The wingers went crazy. How dare we know what our government is doing? Um, because they are doing it in our name?

Just last week, bush admitted that it was all true about the secret prisons, and tied it to his new theme of "keeping America safe." This came just in time to squash the ongoing congressional debate as to whether or not Rumsfeld should be fired. And no sooner did that debate end when it was revealed that Rumsfeld said he would fire any commanders that suggested that the US have a plan for post war Iraq about the time when they were thinking up ways to sell the war to the American people. That story didn't take root in the national news.

Meanwhile Condi says that we're safe but not really, and continues to spin Iraq and 9/11 together calling for more war. Unbelievable. Yesterday on MTP, DeadEyeDick continued to spew the line, 'imagine where we'd be if Saddam was still in power?' Cheney also said he didn't know if there were more terrorists in the world or less since we invaded Iraq. And just to piss off Americans who have been paying attention, he stated that yes, he still would have invaded Iraq even if they were told that Iraq didn't have WMD's.

There is so much spin coming from all directions in this administration that it only leads me to be even more convinced that everything said by the administration is political and misleading on purpose.

It seems that CIA officers aren't all that sure that the government is going to back them up if any detainees try to sue them for torture so they are now buying Legal Insurance policies that would "pay as much as $200,000 toward legal expenses and $1 million in civil judgments." But just last week, Bush called for "Congress to approve legislation drafted by the White House that would exempt CIA officers and other federal civilian officials from prosecution for humiliating and degrading terrorism suspects in U.S. custody." How nice. Meanwhile CIA counterterrorism officers are buying the insurance policies because how can you trust your government anymore?

Barrie Zwicker

I came across an article over at Yahoo that was written last week. I missed it -- Did anyone see it?

WHAT A STORY!

False Flag Operations: Declassified Military Documents Show How US Government Planned Terrorist Attacks Against its Own Citizens

The article discusses a book by Barrie Zwicker called "Towers of Deception – The Media Cover-Up of 9/11." It could just be a book promo that someone paid a large sum of money to have appear in Yahoo News. I don't know....Regardless, I was very impressed with the article, and very suprised that it actually even appeared on Yahoo. It's quite long and has many links that legitimize Mr. Zwiker's findings.

In his book, Zwicker elaborates that false flag operations are the least-recognized, highest impact category of human deceit. He says: "False flag op is the indispensable, most dependable device rulers use to mobilize their populations, especially behind wars the rulers want."

According to a radio interview on Vancouver’s Coop radio, Zwicker believes that it is not impossible that such future events have already been planned in order to move the US towards Martial Law.

The media critic has concluded that not unlike Germany in the 1930s, a relatively small right-wing extremist group of rulers want more and more power, and will gradually further eliminate civil liberties by manipulating people’s minds using more Orwellian language.

He says that if the media doesn’t start paying more attention, there will be increased oppression of opposition that will likely move America, and perhaps other Western countries, towards a gradual further elimination of civil liberties. He calls this the path towards a new fascism, one controlled by a small group of ruling elites who perpetuate war after war, such as a never-ending "war on terror," to maintain their power and control.

Dr. Steven Greer has met and spoken to many intelligence, military, government and corporate whistleblowers who explain that to sustain and expand their existence in their current form, the military, industrial, intelligence, laboratory complex need a constant influx of new enemies.

Greer was told that conflicts would evolve "from Cold War, to Rogue Nations, to Global Terrorism, to the ultimate trump card: A hoaxed threat from space."

Sunday's Homily: A warning from the Pope

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Read all about it --

Pope Warns of Tuning Out Christianity


Benedict said modern people suffer from "hardness of hearing" when it comes to God and complained that "mockery of the sacred" is viewed as an exercise in freedom.

"Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears," Benedict told the crowd...

The Path To Delusion

click image for larger version

I was inspired after reading the front page of Americablog.com last night. John watched "The Path To 9/11" and was outraged at the deliberate lies and false conclusions. There is a lot of information there as well as ThinkProgress.org.

How Low Will They Go?

A Commentary By Auntie Roo

The Dark Forces fired their opening salvo for the upcoming elections with their well co-ordinated campaign around the release of ABC/Disney's "The Path to 9/11". The next stage is now coming into focus; a viral release into the internet tubes of 6 clips from this mockumentary as the " ...ABC footage that Bill Clinton does NOT want you to see" courtesy of the Traditional Values Coalition web site. From some comments I caught at Freeperville, it seems that their weaselly minions are spamming the links around for maximum outreach to wingnuts.

Nothing like using their hatred of the Clenis to get them fired up and frothing at the mouth to get out and vote this fall.

I'm stuck in the internet dark ages on dial up so I haven't seen the clips. And not being a wingnut Bush loving ass kisser, I certainly haven't seen the film. So, I'm guessing that these are parts of the film that have been/should be edited out of it. We won't know unless this propaganda actually runs and someone bites the bullet and watches it to find out.

In case you think the brouhaha over "The Path to 9/11" is as dirty as it's going to get this election, think again. Here's a little tidbit from today's Washington Post that gives us some idea of how much lower the Republicans will go to try to hold onto power. Yeah, I know that it's amazing how far they've sunk already and each day brings another new low, but they haven't yet hit their can't-go-any-lower-than-this rock bottom yet. Now that is a truly sobering thought.

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

Fasten your seat belts people. It's going to be one hell of a ride.

- Auntie Roo
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Editor's note: The website with the Clinton clips appears to be overloaded with visitors. The page may or may not load. Try this site.
Blondesense commenter, Mentis Fugit, is attempting to record the unedited and uncut version being shown in New Zealand of The Path To 9/11 for Americablog.com

the big lie goes prime time

If you have not yet visited http://openlettertoabc.blogspot.com please do so. It clearly explains what a small cabal inside ABC is doing with the miniseries commercial for Bush and the Republicans just in time for the November election.

These people are out to get Clinton. It never stops. Evil never tires. It isn't enough that they impeached him and lost. Now they have to smear a twice elected president. They so want to tar the Clinton name because they want to hurt Senator Clinton, too.

The Big Lie in the series of Big Lies is that while President Clinton was obsessed with the Lewinski scandal, Osama got away, to plan 9/11. While Congress was forced to impeach the wicked president no one was concerned with terrorism.

If ABC broadcasts the program The Path to 9/11 knowingly and intentionally attempting to libel President Clinton, then Mr. Clinton may have a defamation lawsuit against ABC and Disney.

But this is about more than Bill Clinton. This is a threat to the two party system. These neo-cons will not rest until they have destroyed the Democratic Party and turned our nation into a Republican theocracy.

The program is the brainchild of David Cunningham, who according to The Huffington Post's Max Blumenthal, Cunningham helped found an auxiliary of his father's group called The Film Institute (TFI), which, according to its mission statement, is "dedicated to a Godly transformation and revolution TO and THROUGH the Film and Television industry." As part of TFI's long-term strategy, Cunningham helped place interns from Youth With A Mission's in film industry jobs "so that they can begin to impact and transform Hollywood from the inside out," according to a YWAM (Youth With a Mission.)

The ABC project is also affiliated with right wing activist David Horowitz and his financier, Richard Mellon Scaife who funded the Arkansas Project that among many other dirty tricks, paid people to lie about Bill Clinton.

ABC sent advanced copies of The Path to 9/11 to conservative bloggers and commentators while refusing to send copies to President Clinton and members of his administration.

This propaganda puts the blame for 9/11 on President Clinton.

This is coming on the heels of Republican Newt Gingrich and Donald Rumsfeld saying those that criticize the Iraqi conflict are essentially tantamount to those who appeased Hitler. Condoleeza Rice compared the Iraqi conflict to the American Civil War and said that critics of Bush and the war were like those who supported slavery in the South.

This isn't politics as usual. This is quite unusual for the political history of the United States. This is much deeper hatred than that experienced by President Franklin Roosevelt while he was in office or the hatred experienced by President John Kennedy until he was murdered. This is evil. This is fascism. And the best way to hide one's own evil is to accuse one's critics of the evil acts one is busily committing.

Poland was a threat to Germany, wasn't it? Eurasia has always been at war with Oceania. Everything wrong with America is embodied in the person of Bill Clinton. George W. Bush is God's Own Man on Earth.

Hey, Jizumjaws! Cry me a river! How much are you getting paid to take the fall?

"Source in C.I.A. Leak Case Voices Remorse"

"Expressing regret for his actions and apologies to his administration colleagues, Richard L. Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, confirmed Thursday that he was the primary source who first told a columnist about the intelligence officer at the center of the C.I.A. leak case."

More at The New York Times

More fishy news

Lionfish threaten Long Island waters
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Scientists are investigating how a flamboyant tropical fish native to the Pacific Ocean is surviving in the chilly waters off New York's Long Island.

Divers have captured hundreds of lionfish this summer in what a biologist terms "a population explosion," The New York Times reports.

Known for its brightly colored stripes and multitude of venomous spines, the lionfish is a voracious eater and could pose a threat to indigenous fish, the newspaper said.

Todd R. Gardner, a biologist at Atlantis Marine World aquarium in Riverhead, N.Y., discovered lionfish were spawning in the Atlantic five years ago when he found one clinging to a dock piling by Fire Island. The Times said Gardner has been studying them since then along with biologist Paula Whitfield of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Besides threatening Long Island's shellfish and fin fish, humans can receive a panful sting from the spines of a lionfish.

----
Just 2 days ago, Red State Blues posted an article about some gender bending fish in the Potomac. It seems that 80% of all smallmouthed bass are growing eggs. Scroll down or click here.

The Path to 9/11

Dear Senator Mitchell:

I have great respect for you and your years of public service, both in the Senate and otherwise. I believe that you are a man of honor and integrity, and that you have a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false.

I am dismayed by what I have read about "The Path to 9/11", which is set to be aired by ABC this weekend. It is quite apparent that this "docudrama"is full of inaccuracies. I do understand that the network plans to air a disclaimer, but how is the American public to distinguish between those scenes that are basedin fact and those that were simply made up out of whole cloth by the writers? The events of September 11, 2001 were some of the most tragic in this country's history. Having taken on this subject matter with a for-profit motive, at a minimum ABC and the Walt Disney Company have an obligation to ensure that they have gotten the facts straight.

Senator Mitchell, this movie should not be aired unless and until the factual inaccuraciesare corrected. I hope that you will take immediate action to ensure that happens. I hope you will do this, Senator Mitchell, in your capacity as Board Chairman forthe Walt Disney Company, for both the American people and your shareholders.

Very truly yours,
Red State Blues

george.mitchell@dlapiper.com

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

I was reading about an exhibition of erotic cycling art (who knew?) and then did some research looking for pictures of it and found quite a bit of information, which is not recommended if you are at work or timid.

MerrySaddles.com (NSFW) is an erotic cycling supply company. If you don't have a man, you really don't need one if you have one of their special bikes and it looks like it will do your heart some good too. (Decorum forbids me from publishing a photo of their wonderful products on this website.)

But I was looking up erotic cycling art, ahem, not a new exercise routine per se (save that page). So here you go: Random Bikesexual Pix. The vintage ones are cool. Lots more links there to other cycling erotica there. Do this when no one is looking over your shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~!~~~~~~~~~

How do you write an obligatory friday sex post when you're not in the mood? I found some tips at the Mirror: tea, figs, cinammon buns, coffee, garlic, chocolate, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, holding hands, send a sexy text message, rent a scary movie together, keep your make up on, exercise, keep it quick, try it in the afternoon when your sex hormones are the highest, turn the damn TV off, and if you are a man, spend an hour in the sunshine as it will boost your testosterone up to 69%... whew.

And finally,
Do I Make You Horny, Baby?

The government allowed NYer's to breathe toxins

It's not a bad idea for the "news" to bring this up again. Especially in light of the news from 2 days ago that Mayor Bloomberg doesn't really take scientific evidence as proof that almost 9,500 New Yorkers are sick with lung ailments stemming from Ground Zero. Most NYers still don't know that the EPA softened the results of the toxic air around Ground Zero because of pressure from the White House and the mayor's office. And Guiliani is still considered America's favorite mayor. feh.

CBS) NEW YORK CBS 2 Exclusive: Stunning proof has been uncovered that the government knowingly put New Yorkers in harm's way after 9/11.

CBS 2 News has obtained documents revealing that Lower Manhattan was reopened a few weeks following the attack even though the air was not safe.

The two devastating memos, written by the U.S. and local governments, show they knew. They knew the toxic soup created at Ground Zero was a deadly health hazard. Yet they sent workers into the pit and people back into their homes. Read more

UPDATE: Check this bogus shit out. Christie Whitman the EPA chief on 9/111/01 had assured NY that the air was safe. Now she says she didn't say that and it was the city's fault. May they all go straight to hell Check it out.


Speaking of 9/11, check out all the stories at ThinkProgress.org about the bogus 9/11 movie to be aired on ABC. I hope you all have written complaints. More information at their website.

I just received the following e-mail from John Conyers:

Demand ABC Correct Their 9/11 Film

Send ABC a Message

Learn More About The Path to 9/11 at:
ThinkProgress.com
MediaMatters.com

ABC is planning to air a two-part mini-series entitled The Path to 9/11 this Sunday and Monday.
In spite of its claim to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report, the film reportedly includes numerous inaccuracies and lays the blame for the September 11 tragedy on the Clinton Administration. One scene reportedly depicts a senior Clinton Administration official calling off the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden. This depiction of events has been refuted by former Bush Administration anti-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke.
It also has been reported that the film blames the intelligence breakdowns on bureaucratic obstacles allegedly created by the Clinton Administration, even though Republican 9/11 Commissioner Slade Gordon has previously refuted that claim.
Because of my concerns that false and inflammatory information would be widely disseminated to the American public, I, along with Representatives John Dingell, Jane Harman and Louise Slaughter, asked ABC to correct the film before airing it. To view a copy of our letter, click here. (Might be a slow load. -- PoLT)
The more people the network hears from, the more likely they are to correct the errors in the film. But we do not have much time. Contact them now to let them know they should not politicize this tragic event in our nation's history.
Thank you again for your commitment to a stronger democracy.

Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr.

Contact Information
website: http://www.johnconyers.com/
Conyers for Congress
P.O. Box 17204
Alexandria, Virginia 17204
Phone: 313-438-2004

What If?

It's the best idea that'll never work. It's the perfect solution that'll never fly.
We'll call it The Tour of The American Family.

The participants are Jack and Ellen Smith, and they have two children. Carl and Jenny. Subsitute any name you wish. Chances are you know these folks, a whole lot of these folks, and they go by various names.

Jack works a full-time job and has been threatened with downsizing. Ellen is a substitute teacher or accountant or hair stylist who tries to pay the bills that Jack can't manage. Carl and Jenny are frightfully and delightfully average teenagers who are pretty much bored with life but carry with them the values of their hard-working parents. If they are never afforded the opportunities to live in the solution instead of the problem, they some day will become Jack and Ellen.

The World Tour works like this: We pack up the Smiths and send them to Iraq, and to Lebanon and to Israel and Afghanistan, Mexico, Iran, France, and anywhere else where we can guarantee at least a small degree of safety. Once they hit the foreign soil we'll put out the announcement. "Here they are. Americans. Not diplomats, not corporate chieftains, and none of them are running for any political office. Come and ask them anything."

Invite the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN's International Bureau, the Afghani News Network, and anyone else who'd like to come chat. No appointment necessary, the questions need no pre-screening, and you can photograph them from any angle and we hope Jenny keeps her shirt pulled down and Carl pulls his pants up. They'll be wearing no TV makeup and they won't come with a flock of handlers and spinmeisters.

Jack gets tired around 9 p.m. and Ellen gets nervous in a roomful of people, but if you catch them at a decent hour, they are yours. An American family.

Here's my much hunch: our fellow citizens in Turkey and Saudi Arabia and Italy will see folks who are pretty much like themselves. Condi Rice does not represent the typical U.S. citizen. Jack and Ellen do. Not the interests - political, economic and military - but the United States. And the same could be said of representatives of a Democrat in the White House. In terms of what we feel, what we fear, and what we want, Jack and Ellen will come a great deal closer than George, Bill, Old George, Rummy, or Deadshot Cheney.

If we're lucky and Jack is still awake at the end of the plane trip, they'll find out that we are not demons, that we have no particular ambitions on the rest of the world, that we hate war, we're frightened by REAL terorist of any sort, and that we love peace as much as the next yodeler on a Swiss hillside. They'll find that the hopes for our children are as pure as the cheese seller on the streets of Kabul, and that when they sit in their pew at the local Methodist church they are as humble and pious as the businessmen entering the Masjid Boorasa mosque on the way to Baghdad.

Dick Cheney might be the most humble, honest, and peace-loving little monk on the face of the the planet, but because of his position in life he cannot represent me. Jack and Ellen can. Jack has no agenda and Ellen is in no danger of losing any power. Rumsfeld may be Mother Teresa in disguise, but he no more represents the typical American family than plastic cabbage makes a salad.

John Bolton can sneak into the office of U.N. representative under the dark of a Congressional recess, and although he sits behind the blue and white United States, placard at the United Nations, he doesn't have the heart for the world that Jack and Ellen do.

I wish they could hear Carl and Jenny's conversations as they listen to the nightly news. Some confusion, some fear, and on good nights, some hope. I wish they could see the look in Carl's eyes when he sees soldiers only a few years his senior crawling in the dirt of Iraq. I wish, I wish........


Fellow bloggers, I'm sorry I've been below the radar of late. I'm having some serious health problems and it's was touch and go there for a bit.

Please know, you're all in my thoughts and daily meditations and I have missed chewing the cud withcha, although, I must admit, living without politics has been delightful. Shame on me.
This is the first day in weeks that I have been out of bed due to a stroke. They keep telling me that which does not kill us makes us stronger, then I proceed to tell them, " save that shit for the poor bastards are still suffering!"
Happy Trails
The Old Gray Mule

At least 2 job openings

Help Wanted
Stephen Hawking, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, is looking for a graduate student to help him prepare lectures and assist with scientific papers.

Pays £22,774
Computer skills a +, valid drivers licence, be willing to travel Details here

Blair May Step Down in May
Oh those lucky Brits. Details here

New Dress Code
U.S Office of Special Counsel revises its dress code. Includes this line, "before choosing a skirt to wear, sit down in it facing a mirror." Details here

France rejects the war on terra.
Let's Cook Up Some Freedom Fries because "France issued an implicit criticism of U.S. foreign policy on Thursday, rejecting talk of a "war on terror."" No way! Details here

You Can't Make This Shit Up

'Idol' Singer Clay Aiken May Serve Bush

RALEIGH, N.C. — Clay Aiken is in line to be named to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, the White House said Wednesday.

Aiken, a Raleigh native who gained fame as a runner-up on"American Idol,"once worked as a YMCA counselor.

The committee's Web site said it advises the president on issues pertaining to people with intellectual disabilities. The committee was established in 1961 by President John Kennedy as the President's Panel on Mental Retardation.

A White House press release said President Bush intends to make the appointment. Officials did not say when.

The singer's new album,"A Thousand Different Ways,"is due out later this month.


(I swear I thought this was a joke, so I googled it and it's true. The AP reporter must moonlight at the Onion)

NYC 9/11 Five Years Later

NYC Unveils 9/11 Memorial Hole

NEW YORK—Days before the fifth anniversary of the destruction of New York's World Trade Center by terrorists, city officials gathered on the site where the Twin Towers once stood to dedicate the newly completed 9/11 Memorial Hole.

"From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit," said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. "This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."


A birds-eye view of the magnificent new memorial.

Pataki then cut a ceremonial ribbon to release a giant blue plastic tarpaulin, reportedly the largest of its kind, which fluttered and snapped while slowly settling into the detritus and mud at the bottom of the 70-foot Hole, drawing a long, tired sigh of resignation from the estimated crowd of 50,000 who had assembled to watch and shake their heads.

Begun only days after the 2001 attacks, the Hole covers almost the entire footprint of the original World Trade Center, contains over 16 acres of empty space, and is visible as far away as Hoboken, NJ. Over $175 million has been spent on the Hole's development, and thousands of pages of proposals and designs concerning the site in which the Hole was excavated were reviewed in over 2,800 hours of meetings. Work crews comprising more than 7,500 welders, equipment operators, excavators, and other construction specialists spent long, often unpaid shifts in its depths.

"These five years have been admittedly difficult," Pataki said. "Inevitably, we heard from the naysayers who said we would never accomplish anything on this site. To those people, I invite them to gaze down at this magnificent pit if they want proof of New Yorkers' dedication to this project."

Read the rest of the story at THE ONION

Sometimes the onion is just sooo right on.

War Turns Southern Women Away From GOP

3 out of 5 southern women have it right!!!


Republicans on the ballot this November have reason to worry. A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that three out of five Southern women surveyed said they planned to vote for a Democrat in the midterm elections. With control of the Senate and House in the balance, such a seismic shift could have dire consequences for the GOP.

THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS!!


And then we still have a few southern "ladies of the club" that need a good slapping.....

"There are some people, and I'm one of them, that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord," Tomanio said. "I don't care how he governs, I will support him. I'm a Republican through and through."


She also probably worships this
ASSHOLE who claims that "The Bush Haters Are Hurting America...

"Quite simply, the Bush haters are out of control and are hurting the country. It is patriotic to responsibly disagree with the president or with any administration. But it is wrong to smear public servants in any party."

(I do believe O'reilly is getting desperate)

Ruh Roh, This Can't Be Good News

Indeed, it is not. From the front page of today's Washington Post: Male Bass Found To Be Bearing Eggs. The fish were found in the Potomac River and its tributaries. Scientists don't understand why yet, but speculate it is the result of pollution that affects their hormonal systems, so-called endocrine disrupters. The fish (what would they be called? bi-sexual?) were first found upstream in 2003. In this last survey, the US Geological Survey found that 80% (80%!!!!) of all male smallmouth bass in the area were growing eggs. Some males also had "feminine" characteristics.

Folks, this is some seriously fucked up shit. The Potomac River serves as the drinking water for a couple of million people every day. They better figure this one out, and fast.

And if I start sporting a woodie, I'm definitely gonna sue.

5 Years Later

Aside from the obvious catastrophe that became unending wars, 9/11/01 at the World Trade Center is still having adverse effects on New Yorkers thanks to the government which denied that the air was unsafe to breathe even though it was quite obvious that it wasn't.

For the past 5 years I've been staying on top of stories about health concerns of the rescue workers and their plight to get insurance coverage or reparations when the date passed for health claims. Now, five years later, over 9,000 people who were near Ground Zero have lung ailments according to the latest study by Mt Sinai Medical Center . That's 70%.

Hillary Clinton has been on top of the situation as well as Elliot Spitzer but Republican Mayor Bloomberg is still "iffy" about the scientific study because somehow he thinks he knows more about science than the scientists (which is a popular stance if you are in politics, corporations or religion) and says that the scientific evidence linking Ground Zero to health ailments, cancer, etc, though overwhelmingly obvious, cannot be proven.

"Today, science says that you can't say directly. There is no way to tell for sure, and you've got to be very careful," Bloomberg said. "I haven't seen the Mount Sinai study, but I don't believe that you can say specifically a particular problem came from this particular event."

Has he been taking speech lessons from Rumsfeld? He is covering his ass anyway:

Bloomberg said the city will open a World Trade Center clinic that will offer treatment at Bellevue Hospital Center for uninsured and undocumented workers who believe their health troubles stem from Ground Zero.

oh what a clusterfuck

"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make," Bush told the world on September 20, 2001. "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

Now the Pakistani's have agreed to allow the terrorists including Osama bin Laden to live within their borders as long as they behave themselves. Ain't that a slap in the face, bushy?

John Kerry (even though we really don't care what he has to say these days) did put it to the pretzeldent succinctly, "Because President Bush lost focus on the killers who attacked us and instead launched a disastrous war in Iraq, today Osama bin Laden and his henchmen still find sanctuary in the no man's land between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they still plot attacks against America."

Has anyone caught the spin on this story from the dark side?

This Question Has Been Asked Before: "Scared Yet"?

Indira Rai-Choudhury is scared:

"Almost beyond speech. I, am an attorney, an activist, a former Air Force Officer who served in Desert Storm, a veteran who waited more than 10 years for her VA claim, a champion of the underdog and tireless fighter, am almost without words, and I am afraid....

"I do not fear for myself, though perhaps well I ought to...but I have real and palpable fear for this country, for what is left of Democracy, for the future of my children and, for the rest of the world.

"I watch as everything I was educated to believe in crumbles around me. I watch as there are secret detentions, extraordinary renditions, secret trials, disappeared people held with no charges and no evidence, searched without judicial review and without their knowledge, a homeland security office that last spoke of round ups of "disgruntled" and people from 33 nationalities. At the same time, our unused military bases are being turned into concentration camps. And, this is just the start, the time before the sunset provisions of the Patriot Act or being eliminated either through the Hatch bill or by the Domestic Security Act...

"I watch and I am afraid...."

Read the rest at Beware The Rise Of The Fourth Reich.

Louise SLAUGHTER for '08

I wish we had someone like her to represent us for '08. Imagine if she were the POTUS -- oh, what a wonderful world it would be...

Her statement over at dailykos

Here is Congressowman Slaughter's
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, today called for ABC to make clear to viewers that its upcoming television mini-series The Path to 9/11 is not a documentary account of the events and political decisions that preceded the terrorist attacks of that day.

"ABC has a responsibility to make clear that this film is not a documentary, and does not represent an official account of the facts surrounding the September 11th attacks," Rep. Slaughter said. "Disclaimers noting that The Path to 9/11 is a docudrama should be shown throughout its airing. We have yet to establish the impartiality and accuracy of the people behind this film and the claims it advances, and the American people need to know that."

Rep. Slaughter also expressed concern over the timing of the mini-series, as well as recent Republican rhetoric on the issue of national security and its connection to the war in Iraq.

"But what is far more important is the timing of this movie," Rep. Slaughter continued. "The anniversary of the attacks is an emotional time, and it is wrong for anyone to play on those emotions and use them to advance a political agenda."

"This is, regrettably, what many top Administration officials are doing with the rhetoric we have heard of late," Rep. Slaughter said. "We have been told we are in a fight against a new kind of fascism, and that individuals who question our current path in Iraq are morally equivalent to Nazi appeasers and those who would justify slavery."

"Such claims are more than just morally reprehensible and deeply irresponsible. They are also damaging to our country, making it difficult, if not impossible, to have a serious, non-partisan discussion about how best to protect our nation."

"Democrats have always worked to promote a more peaceful and secure world, and we will continue to do so, regardless of this divisive Republican rhetoric," Rep. Slaughter said.

"The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that we stand for real security: real implementation of the 9-11 Commission's recommendations, a real commitment to securing threats against the homeland, and a real plan for the future American military commitment in Iraq - not just more wishful thinking and empty justifications, which are what this Administration has been content to offer us."

"What America needs is real security based on an honest view of the world and the threats against us, not more divisive, pre-election rhetoric that slanders political opponents while doing nothing to make our nation more secure."

Ka Ka Ka Katie's first night.....

with baby suri

GAG me with a spoon

We're Not Nazi Sympathizers and Fascists After All

We're slavers. That's what Condi sez to those of us who don't support the maladministration's misbegotten adventure in Iraq.

"I'm sure there are people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold," Rice said in the new issue of Essence magazine.

"I know there were people who said, 'Why don't we get out of this now, take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves?'" Rice said.

How much more desperate do you think these people can get?

Hat tip to The Carpetbagger Report.

Upon Further Reflection, Never Mind . . .

Were we not told a mere two months ago that immigration reform was the single biggest issue facing the country today? An issue that simply had to be addressed on an immediate basis? An issue that took precedence over virtually all other issues?

Apparently, not so much.

Two months ago, we were told that the War on Terra was inextricably linked with getting those little brown people out of the country. Two months ago, we were told that if we didn't build a big, long fence along the border, we could not feel safe and secure in our own homes. Two months ago, we were warned that Terrarists were pouring across our porous borders and coming to attack us where we live.

So maybe you can tell me. What has changed in those two months?

It Rivals the Grand Canyon

Did you know that just off the NY, NJ coast is a canyon? The Hudson Canyon It is immense and has been graphed (the smallest items they can graph at this point is anything the size of a football field).

Talk about a world of possibilities:

New life forms (and yes, the sci-fi nut in me is hoping for a sea-serpant like life form but NOT a megladon - those things are effing frightening)

New forms of energy (methane gas pockets)

New techologies to explore the high pressure environment, which can be modified for deep space exploration

New knowledge of how these geographical features effect weather, animals and the environment in general


After hearing about Steve Irwin, and listening to more of the same shit from our politicians on a nearly non-stop basis, its kind of nice to know that there are some bright spots poking through every now and then.

Today's Political Headlines

A new poll suggests that 55% of angry voters will vote for challengers in November's elections rather than for incumbents. (CNN)

The GOP decided to put the immigration issue on the backburner since they don't agree on how to deal with it. Instead, they will pound home the security issue which always worked for them in the past. (NYTimes) Forget about domestic issues (except a bill on horse slaughtering) from now until the elections. (WSJ)

George says that we are safer but not exactly safe because we are facing yet a new enemy in the war on terra. What happened to the old enemy?

Nascar Dads and Security Moms, watch out for Mortgage Moms. (WaPo)

Do you remember when Bush commented that a submarine could blow up the Clinton Library? It's now in Sidney Blumenthal's latest book. Not only that, Rove admits he is evil. (NY Daily News)

"Last weeks' speeches indicate that Bush and Rumsfeld both know that if Americans become clear headed and logical, the Bush cabal loses and the party ends. Boldly unhampered by truth and increasingly menacing in tone, their words reveal panic and political desperation.

"My prediction is neither earth-shattering nor genius. But between now and the November elections, every opportunity to cause American emotion to trump American intellect will be seized, squeezed and sustained by this administration and its handmaidens."
-Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D., Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

Keep your wits about you, Americans. Pay no attention to the chimp puppet: "We ought to make the tax relief permanent. I like it when people are working for a living, have more after-tax money in their pocket."

When did you first suspect........

that our government knew about the events leading up to 911?

How long did it take you to mention your suspicions to someone?

I was home by myself, standing in front of the television, watching in disbelief as it was happening. I was packing up the house, getting ready to move to New Jersey. I am sure most people were watching it live -- didn't you feel frozen in time?

I immediately felt very angry at our government for letting this happen. I felt guilty about that feeling -- you know, how could ANYONE knowingly..... So I kept my mouth shut for a long time, and mourned with the rest of the world.

A few weeks later, we were living in Monmouth County. I was told that this area lost more lives in this tragedy than they did in WWII. All of my kids were in classes that had at least one child who lost a parent. We didn't talk much at all about the actual event. Most of the area residents were in shock and there was a general feeling of sadness all around, for a long time.

I don't know, maybe a year or so later, I was in line at a deli. Next to me were 2 ladies making small talk with eachother, and I joined in. I don't know what came over me, but I started asking them questions about 911. Just general "did you know anyone" type questions. After a brief silence, I said "I think our government knew or possibly assisted people in carrying this out" and held my breath waiting for their reaction. They both had that 'is anyone listening?' look on their face, and quietly said "me too". That's all we said about it, and went about our business.

I started talking about this to my husband, and for the longest time he would get SO pissed at me for even THINKING of such a thing. It took a while for him to even listen to my suspicions, and when he finally did, he came around to the possibility. Over time, he became more and more angry also. Now he is as frustrated as all of us are, and has lost a lot of respect for a lot of people. Optimist that he is, he will always end our discussions with "it is STILL the best country" -- and lately, he is working extra hard trying to convince me not to lose site of that.

Rising Hypocrisy

There's a 9/11 movie to be aired on the Mickey Mouse channel on 9/10 and 9/11 which blames the Clinton administration for 9/11. His Republican congress had a lot to do with his failure as a president. As you will recall, for the past 6 years, everything wrong with the world has been blamed on Clinton. And if I recall, practically nothing could get past Clinton's Republican house at the time unless it was clearly in the best interest of fascists (but not the "Islamo-fascists". You know and I know that EVERYTHING in DC is political. You would have to be blind to not see it.

Clinton Did Try To Enact Anti-Terrorism Legislation But Was Blocked By The GOP

Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we? When Clinton wanted the executive powers and legislation to fight terrorism 10 years ago, Trent Lott and Orin Hatch didn't want to know about it. They were more interested in going on recess. Why not read the CNN report from July, 30 1996?

Here's a snippet (but read the whole thing because it's short):

Republican leaders earlier met with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta for about an hour in response to the president's call for "the very best ideas" for fighting terrorism.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, "These are very controversial provisions that the White House wants. Some they're not going to get."

Hatch called Clinton's proposed study of taggants -- chemical markers in explosives that could help track terrorists -- "a phony issue."

"If they want to, they can study the thing" already, Hatch asserted. He also said he had some problems with the president's proposals to expand wiretapping.

I seem to remember when Clinton tried to deal with Saddam, that it was met with ridicule by the Republicans. You couldn't find anything about it on the television news, but his sex life was right there up front. And we wonder why Clinton couldn't get anything done?

Remember when Rumsfeld was speaking about a new type of fascism on Wednesday? He was speaking to an American Legion convention at the time. The American Legion is historically in favor of fascism, and that might explain why they support this administration, but I wonder if they were snickering under their breath about Rumsfeld calling terrorists, fascists.

Here's a letter sent to Bill Clinton by Harold L. "Butch'' Miller, The National Commander of the American Legion in regards to the operation in Kosovo. It's chilling in that he is so full of shit. The AL are only against war when a Democrat wants war (ie:Roosevelt, Clinton).

Dear Mr. President:

The American Legion, a wartime veterans organization of nearly three-million members, urges the immediate withdrawal of American troops participating in "Operation Allied Force.''

The National Executive Committee of The American Legion, meeting in Indianapolis today, adopted Resolution 44, titled "The American Legion's Statement on Yugoslavia.'' This resolution was debated and adopted unanimously.

Mr. President, the United States Armed Forces should never be committed to wartime operations unless the following conditions are fulfilled:

--That there be a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in hostilities;

--Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy;

--That there be support of the mission by the U.S. Congress and the American people; and

--That it be made clear that U.S. Forces will be commanded only by U.S. officers whom we acknowledge are superior military leaders.

t is the opinion of The American Legion, which I am sure is shared by the majority of Americans, that three of the above listed conditions have not been met in the current joint operation with NATO ("Operation Allied Force'').

In no case should America commit its Armed Forces in the absence of clearly defined objectives agreed upon by the U.S. Congress in accordance with Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States.

Sincerely,
Harold L. "Butch'' Miller,
National Commander

American Legion
Letter to President Clinton
May 5, 1999

Blah blah blah. They whip out the constitution when they aren't going to profit.

RIP Steve Irwin

The 44 year old Crocodile Hunter was killed by a stingray barb to his chest while snorkeling off the coast of Australia.

UPDATES:
- Despite rumors to the contrary, the reports of how he was killed are true. (BBC)

- About 5,000 stingray attacks (not deaths) are reported each year in the US despite the fact that they are skittish creatures.

opinion: Faith and Reason don't exactly go together for many on the right

In honor of the memory of my mother-in-law who passed away suddenly one week ago, I have been trying to read some of the stuff that she would have enjoyed. I was absolutely blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law for 29 years despite the fact that she actually spent money on Coulter, O'Lielly and Hannity books. She certainly didn't act like someone who believed the vitriol spewed by the popular fascists in America today and that was a good thing. She was a fabulously loving, caring and generous human being. She was an Army nurse in London during WWII, so she certainly wasn't illiterate or uneducated when it came to science.

This morning I happened upon Renew America. The writers there aren't hateful although they are rather quick to apply anything they don't agree with to the "left" as if we are all in agreement with anything that's opposite of what the "right" has to say. I don't think the left and right are polar opposites when you take it down to actual people. Humans are complex and some actually do use reasoning powers that we are bestowed with by creation. Sure, there are plenty of humans who need to get their opinions from others and these people can be found on both the right and the left.

In Kill the president? Why not , Marie Jon' falsely assumes that the new movie about Bush's assassination is a product of the Democrat's (as if the Democrats are leftist) call for revenge. She also assumes that we on the left are in favor of this movie. Take this silly conclusion for instance:

Former US Rep. Carrie Meek (D, FLA.) amply displayed what lives within the hearts of Democrats and liberals by telling delegates to the Florida Democratic convention in 2004 that: "We should be ready for revenge!"

Is the fictional but possibly hoped for assassination of a sitting president the kind of revenge Rep. Meek had in mind? The question is not out of the realm of possibility these days when speaking of the American left.

But revenge seems to be a rallying cry for the Democrats, and it has divided this country. To make matters worse, America is also under attack by the mainstream media, who, can there be any real doubt, are out and out leftists themselves? The "drive-by" media not only destroys the very fabric of America by its continuous assault on its morals and values, but it also takes much pleasure in assailing the men and women who serve the country through America's Armed forces.

Clearly, a pattern of malicious and ugly anger has long been established

Here, she is projecting. Just because those on the extreme right think that revenge means calling for murder, she assumes that this movie must be the dream of all left thinking individuals. If the president or anyone in the administration dropped dead, I probably would not cry. I wouldn't laugh either. I find it curious that the "terrorists" haven't blown them up, but I don't wish it. I most certainly would not be entertained by watching a snuff film. I saw enough when I watched Passion of the Christ.

She falsely claims that Democrats are responsible for division in this country. What have the Democrats done? They have been absolutely useless for years. A liberal media? Where? Why is it when the media happens to fall upon a truth and publish it, it is deemed "liberal"? Do people like Ms Jon' get all flustered when the news doesn't echo their exact world view? I guess so. My dear mother-in-law did too. Why? I don't know. My world view is tested almost daily and I have been known to change it in mid sentence while I am writing on the blog. I kind of like that.


If you believe that science cannot be reconciled with religion, there's Sorry folks, wrong call on deadly mix: Darwin and Hitler by Bonnie Alba. I disagree with it, but I know where she's coming from. She believes that left to our own devices, such as reasoning, we cannot possibly do good. This argument leaves me atheist. If someone believes in god though, how can they reconcile that god would create beings programmed to be innately evil just so he could bully them to act contrary to their nature? Oh wait, that's right, the bible says so. She accuses Darwinism and other isms of failing to make a utopia here on earth. Well I would have to add that religion hasn't done much a job making earth a better place to live.


Then there's a freaky article It's not easy being stupid, arrogant and a tool of Satan by Judie Brown who asserts that "Teens are not biologically programmed to have sex as much as they're indoctrinated to do so..." She goes on to say that if you do believe that we're programmed to have sex by God, then we shouldn't support Planned Parenthood. If you are a 'believer,' she has a point. But if you are a person whose faith isn't destroyed by the very fact that science exists, you can understand that in fact teens are very strongly biologically programmed to have sex. That is one of the strongest instincts known to humankind according to science. That is why teenagers got married in the past- say what you will, but biological urges to procreate made this so. Socioeconomic conditions changed, life expectancies changed and yet the biological urges haven't changed. Houston, we have a problem.

All in all, I would have to surmise from some of the political arguments I had with my mother-in-law and from reading many many articles like those I cited above, you have to have blind faith in god and be very suspicious of science in order to reconcile faith and reason. I don't agree with that though. You actually can have faith and use your reasoning powers. The churches and the schools haven't done a very good job of educating people and it shows.

Just in time for the elections

Coincidentally, al-Qaeda has released yet another video tape, this time with an American member of the terror network exhorting Americans to convert to Islam and for US troops to switch sides. He may be a Young Republican in disguise.

Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri also spoke on the video and amazingly used "the same rhetoric as the anti-war crowd" thus strengthening the message that Dumbsfeld has used in the past few days, calling Americans who don't support his opinion and the war, "Islamo-fascist supporters" or "terrorist supporters." This reminds me of the bin Laden tape that was released just before the 2004 election where he said that he wants Republicans in office because they are "incompetant" and I agreed with that last part. If bin Laden's goal was to destroy America, he has been doing a great job because the bushistas are playing right into his hands.

At ThinkProgress.org this morning, there is a transcript from a Fox News "expert" who had "analyzed" the video. Let's see what he had to say,

MINITER: Absolutely, this is designed for the September 11th anniversary. But also what’s striking, if you read the transcript of this tape — and I should say the CIA has not yet confirmed that this is indeed the voice of al-Zawahiri, although I think we have to presume that it is — is that he’s using a lot of the same rhetoric as the antiwar crowd. He refers to President Bush as a liar and a defeated president, hinting that somehow the election in 2000 was illegitimate. They call him a failure, an incompetent. These are the kinds of things that the antiwar crowd has been saying. Also on the tape, he says that Bush was foolish to turn down the truce offered by Osama bin Laden as an honorable way out, and says if the United States is winning, why is it debating a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq? Again, this is all something that they are picking up from the world media, all of the antiwar arguments, and they’re are turning them back against us. Zawahiri is saying what Michael Moore and John Kerry were saying a year ago.

It doesn't matter whether or not the viewers even know what this "expert" was talking about because those two names are code words for "aaaaaaarrrrggghhhh!" at Faux Spews. What exactly did Michael Moore and John Kerry say last year? It doesn't matter.

Do you get the feeling that the news is fixed?

Have you turned on cable news? They are indeed falling all over themselves defending the WH against the Plame leak because of op-eds by losers in WaPo the other day. Why now?

Also in the news: It seems that there is yet another #2 al Qaeda operative and he has been arrested in Iraq. Is this news supposed to make us believe that there's not a civil war as bush and rummy have been exclaiming lately despite reports to the contrary from the Pentagon?

Now in an ongoing effort to appear balanced I give you these headlines:

Soldiers Who Lost Limbs Learn to Surf
Opium crops break record in Afghanistan
Army Recommends Death Penalty for 4 Soldiers Accused of Murder

The odious "column" by Michael Noers in Forbes preaching to his choir of like minded men has gotten considerable criticism. Actually, Noers performed a public service or at least a service for women.

After I calmed down, it occurred to me that again women had to be reminded of Germaine Greer's adage, that women, "had no idea how much men hated them."

Noer's piece wasn't so much about how miserable smart well educated, well paid women made him and his fellow perpetual frat boys feel, well, so inadequate, but rather, it was a male manifesto full of misogyny.

It should serve as a serious wake up call about how much men resent sharing their lives with women who ask them to clean the house, wipe their urine from the bathroom floor, and do some laundry.

Forty-six years after the Feminine Mystique, we are still raising men with cave man values and tremendous hatred of women. They can only "love" us if we are inferior, under their thumb, not a threat to their masculinity.

Read Noer's piece and replace the word "wife" with "my niggra mammy" and see if you are more offended or get a better insight into this man who once compared wives to whores. Not that liberals haven't made the same comparison, but usually it was made to illustrate that marriages based on that type of agreement are really more about prostitution and marriage as institutions of servitude and not based on any contract a free woman would make.

Now with Viagra and the drug's competitors, guys can still be erect on demand just like their frat boy days. Men really do get insecure about their inability to get it up on demand which really shows a rather narrow imagination when it comes to human sexuality, doesn't it? Unless of course he expects her to do it all for the both of them. William Kristol said that with the legalization of Plan B, college boys are completely off the hook for any responsibility for contraception.

Remember that the next time, women, you go to bed with someone whose middle name you don't know. And how much fun is it to go to bed and perform sexually for a man who thinks your sole purpose in life is to clean up after him and stroke his ego by being his doormat, trapped in his house, with no credit, no real job, and no way out and no way in your own life.

Kristol commented on one those testosterone filled Sunday talk-chat shows that college boys would just tell their girlfriends to go buy the morning after pill. Tell their girlfriends what to do. Let that sink in while you recall that rousing anthem, "Under My Thumb." Funny how easy it is to dance to oppression.

Rather than worrying about your china patterns when you get engaged, women, go to a marriage counselor and make sure you and your beloved understand who is going to clean the bathroom, who is going to cook, who is going to wash clothes and dishes. Take that ridiculous sum of money you are going to spend on a wedding and make damn sure you know what you are contracting to do. If he won't go to counseling, you don't go to the county clerk for a marriage license. If he doesn't want you to work outside the home, he wants you to work inside the home without his help. If you do have a job, make sure you have household help.

Over that romantic, candlelight dinner, if he says he wants to take care of you completely, pay for dinner and walk out of his life. You may keep the ring, it was a gift, it wasn't consideration for your soul.

If your husband won't help you, hire someone to do it and if he won't support paying your help, get a divorce. No man is worth that impossible division of labor. And while you go slowly out of your mind, he will leave you for that younger, dumber, secretary, the one for whom he bought the new breasts and BMW, the one who does everything for him including wiping his ass while you were scrubbing the collars of his shirts.

I thought this was a given. I thought these wars were over. More and more I hear that a lack of shared responsibilities, more than sex or money, is the cause of divorce. That was what she said. He said it was because she put his job before him. But if he puts his job before her, he is a real man. She on the other hand is considered a bitch.

My father told me when I went to law school, after I had been married for 15 years, that no one would like me and they would think I was a bitch if I became a lawyer. I replied that most people who knew me were well aware of my bitchness and it was high time I got paid for it. It really hurt my feelings because I really had this fantasy that he thought I could do whatever I wanted to do. He, however, confided to a friend of mine that he and my mother thought that I would get in may be two years of college and that would be enough. Now I see why my mother and my father never encouraged me to embrace a profession. It threatened them. And it begged the question of how my mother, a very intelligent capable woman, never went to college. She was afraid to threaten his ego and afraid that she couldn't make it in the world on her own. So she lived with the fear and accepted his violent and narrow view of the world.
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Note, blogger.com was weird so I couldn't cross