Saturday Open Thread
This is an open thread...
Comments (527) «
canvas, phone bank, light candles...we are almost to the top of the mountain, hopefully the promised land is on the other side...
In the war on terror there are financiers and there are fighters. Financiers supply the funds and the supplies with which fighters carry out their orders. Without financiers the fight will fail.
This is why we must apply pressure to Saudi Arbia, the United Arab Emirates, and all other Middle Eastern nations from which terrorist funding flows. Until we do, we have no hope of ending terrorism. For every financier we remove hundreds of fighters will follow.
Good afternoon
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. To use a John Edward phrase Hope is on the way
Marine- I wish stopping terrorist were that easy.
I am separating the Iraqi's who want to control their own country from terrorist.
When you refer to Muslim extremists as terrorists,you are adding religion into the mix. I'm not sure how much funding it takes to obtain explosives for a suicide bomb.
dixie, it takes far more than explosives to make a terrorist. It takes food to sustain him, training to mold him, and fabric to cloth him. And I agree dixie, in a land where more than 80% of the population is Muslim, it is not a good idea to accuse Islam of creating the problem. We do, after all, have Muslim allies.
You must kill the movement, for so long as it exists, terrorism will continue to recruit new members. Otherwise, you have a war of attrition, and in a war of attrition he who most wishes to inhabit the land wins. I don't think we really want to colonize the Middle East, do you?
Marine - I agee we need the involvement of Arab countries in resolving our Iraqi occupation. I'm afraid we may have waited too long. All of the Saudi predictions have come true. We are still in Iraq, Iran is stronger and we have a civil war raging in that country. We did not listen to our Muslim allies so how we can expect them to become involved at this point.
greetings bloggers- happy saturday. it appears a new thread opened up around the time i posted at the bottom of the last one. i posted a couple responses (one from enquirer editor and another from a mother in mason) in today's paper to story that i posted the other night about mason school board brouhaha over some muslims who were permitted to have a separate room during ramadan so that they had somewhere they could go while others at lunch- be interested in impressions here if you want to take the time to click on links at other thread- gotta run
Marine - you and I may not wish to colonize the Middle East, but are you so sure about the neocons?
She lives in a make believe world. I hope she will be sitting down as the Nov 7 election results come in - I am not sure she can except the results when the Dems take back the Congress.
Have you seen Lynn Cheney's Wolf Blitzer interview?
see it here
dk2- Things are getting desparate at the GOP - What's next Barb?
Marine - any ideas on how you kill the movement?
When Israel was fighting Hezbolah, there was interview on BBC with women who were entering Syria. They were leaving with children to raise another generation to return and fight.
The ads get nastier as the phonies behind the Republican spin machine get more desparate. Republicans seem to have built a campaign strategy that depends on the dumbing of the American voting public. They are down to sound bites, "Willy Horton" type racist ads, lies about what Democrats stand for and their princilples and the Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter right wing propaganda machine to "communicate" their mixed messages. They hope voters don't read their local papers, listen to straight talk and honest opinion on the radio or watch any television news programs other than the Fox "unfair and unbalanced" network.
How much longer must we contend with the "tax and spend" label, isn't 20 years of that enough? Is everything left of the ideological right really "liberal"? Will "cut and run" accusations and dropping "stay the course" get republicans re-elected? Stay tuned, because in a matter of several days we'll know how involved the public is in this election. Either they've become engaged in the real debate about the many real problems we face or they'll submit to the Republican propoganda machine, ignore the accomplish nothing/lobbiest dominated congress and STAY THE COURSE presidential administration.
I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," Mr Maliki said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The stipulation of a timeline was, he said, the product of US domestic politics.
"I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign," he said then.
US involvement in Iraq and the ongoing violence there have become key issues ahead of US mid-term elections, which take place next month. bbc
So there is no timetable/benchmarks? I find it interesting that US officials say 18 months and Iraqis will be able to handle things. Iraqi parliment over Sunni objections has voted to establish 3 autonomous regions in 18 months.
Good day Dems. Lots of great posts the last few days. Lots of issues.
I see "what" discussed every way from sunday. I keep looking for some "why?".
Why do we occupy Iraq.
Why are we getting ready to bomb Iran?
Why are we letting the little group of neo cons dominate our government and implement their agenda?
Just askin
Most of the Democrat nominees for House seats are conservatives. They would be considered trolls if they posted here. If they win and the Dems take the house, there is no way that Nancy Pelosi will be speaker.
They should be running liberals.
On the bright side, you might have a whole lot of Lieberman's to "destroy" next election. LOL
Why are we letting the little group of neo cons dominate our government and implement their agenda?
Just askin
Posted by steady-as-she-goes on October 28, 2006 at 01:51 PM
I can't think of a single neo con who is still in the administration.
CalDem - I agree. I get tired of having my intelligence insulted. All the more reason to GOTV-talk to anyone and everyone you can. to quote Bill Clinton - when voters think, democrats win.
I'm certain that the neocons do not wish to colonize the Middle East by themselves. As for Muslim allies, we have them and we need to pressure them to take down those financing terrorism in the rural Middle East.
steady - we are in Iraq because GW didn't want to be a wimp like his father and Sadam tried to kill his Daddy.
By the way, it doesn't matter if the neocons do want to colonize the Middle East because they'll never find enough willing participants to overcome forces that have called the place home for millennia.
Marine - Most of our Muslim allies have seen an increase of terrorist activity in their own countries. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were home to Osama and co. I think Jordan is our best bet in the area.
I recall the last time one Congressman from Mississippi refused to vote for Pelosi, so if the House ends up closely split with the Dems with more seats, they could still elect a Republican speaker.
Especially with the conservative candidates you have running.
We are in Iraq because the desire to enter that country militarily did not die the day Bush Sr. determined that to be a horrible idea. Bush Jr. knew that the desire remained and believed that sanctions would have weakened their defenses to a point that would make the invasion easy. He was right about the invasion, of course, but he never considered the aftermath, just hopes and dreams.
Ambition guided Bush Jr. Establishing greater control over this oil rich nation was also a consideration. Humanity was the excuse.
What's all this neo con talk - Wolfowitz was the last one and he runs the world bank now.
Marine - Most of our Muslim allies have seen an increase of terrorist activity in their own countries. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were home to Osama and co. I think Jordan is our best bet in the area.
This is a direct reflection of the anti-Islam movement that took hold following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Terrorists used the religion to gather support in a region that is 80% Muslim and these foolish Americans and Brits played directly into their hands. They consider themselves our military's greatest supporters but fail to realize that their hatred of Muslims places us in grave danger, even when operating in friendly parts of the Middle East.
thought this list of pnac members might be worth posting to remind some here of who these people are- rumdum's name stands out here- i don't think this list is by any means exaustive of those who support this garbage
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush_administration:_Project_for_the_New_American_Century
On CNN earlier today: Criticism mounts of U.S. Generals in Iraq.
I believe that General Abuzaid and General Casey are to fine, dedicated military men. IMHO both generals were forced to make a choice between doing what this inept administration dictated or totally ruining their long military careers. What would you do?
cheney's name stands out on this list too- last i checked, mr "they're in their last throes" was still an active part of this fiasco
for the thick-skulled who come posting here, these are some of the key individuals who are part of the so-called "neocon" movement
Our military leaders must make the hard choice of doing what is right for America, especially when it means speaking out against an inept political leadership. This is the only way that America can be successful in the Middle East.
Many of you don't know what a neo con is. A neo con is a conservative who used to be a liberal and saw the light. None of the main players at the top levels of the Government today used to be liberals.
Marine - Maybe we should clarify the term colonize. I don't think we want to establish colonies of Americans living in the Middle East, but we do want to control the governments.
I think this is part of the problem in Iraq. We had the military might to overthrow Sadam. We haven't been able to get the Iraqis to agree to do things our way.
We do not want a Shia led government, but they are the majority in the country. We didn't/do want Sunnis (former Bathist) - who the hell knows any more?
What is happening is a quarter million or more displaced Iraqis, those who can are leaving the country. Shades of Bosnia but at the worst we are calling it a civil war
I don't think we want to establish colonies of Americans living in the Middle East, but we do want to control the governments.
You are exactly right, dixie. This is why the current approach is backwards. The current administration is not willing to compromise with local leaders. They've always wanted exactly what they want and nothing less, this is why they are not going to get it and why Iraq remains at war with itself.
lectures about who is a neocon now- look at the list- pnac was founded by neocons and their ideas- just because some on the list happen to have been "conservative" all their life (and note that many true conservatives do not subscribe to the actions or ideas of the crowd running this administration because they have violated some of their basic principles about government, society and foreign policy) does not make them any less a signatory and supporter of this neocon group and its central ideas- like i said, some who come here should spend more time reading and less time sharing the muck in their muddled mind
When you realize that all they really want is an Iraq hospitable to the thought of continued trade with the United States, their approach becomes even more troubling.
The only group of neo cons are the neo cons, you can't become a neo con by associating with them unless you are a liberal. If Rumsfeld shares some views with the neo cons that doesn't make him a neo con because he can't be a neo con because he was never a liberal.
I now it is confusing for you but maybe if your read that over slowly you will began to understand.
You could just call them scum and be done with the conversation.
Jefro- if you ignore it maybe it will just melt away
Some of us who post have read the list and know who is a neocon
You could just call them scum and be done with the conversation.
Posted by Marine on October 28, 2006 at 02:44 PM
That is no way to speak about muslems - the religion of peace.
There's blood in the water and the media is in a feeding frenzy as they rightfully savage the Republican think tanks and pundits who have been sooo wrong for sooo long.
Here's Bill Maher soundly smacking around some prominant think tanks and neocons ( 4 minute Video )
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/21/bill-maher-smacks-around-some-neocons/
Excerpt: Maher: " And finally, new rule in two parts: (A) You can't call yourself a think tank if all your ideas are stupid; and (B) If you're someone from one of these think tanks that dreamed up the Iraq War and who predicted that we'd be greeted as liberators, and that we wouldn't need a lot of troops, and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, that the WMD's would be found, that the looting wasn't problematic, that the mission was accomplished, that the insurgency was in its last throes, that things would get better after the people voted, after the government was formed, after we got Saddam, after we got his kids, after we got Zarqawi, and that whole bloody mess wouldn't turn into a civil war, you have to stop making predictions."
Amen,
Allen L Roland
A Superpower in Decline: America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser
At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States is still a superpower. But it's a superpower facing competition from beyond its borders as well as internal difficulties. Its lower and middle classes are turning out to be the losers of globalization.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,439766,00.html
The question is, what will my Democratic Party do about this?
They are Muslim, Frosty, and they are our allies. You obvious think that it would be wise to convince them that our military hates them. So tell me, do you care even a little bit for your military?
Good afternoon,
Boy, you can tell it's crunch time. While out canvassing for McCaskill this moring, we ran into at least three other groups doing the same: one for the the school bond issue, one against the stem cell ammendment, and one labor union group for minimum wage.
Nice to see so many folks getting involved. It was aso great to get out and take advantage of the wonderful weather. There's lots of people out doing yard work and happy about the Cardinal victory last night. Even the Republicans stopped and talked about the game and didn't treat us like leapers.
Cheney's alliance with core neoconservatives, including the likes of I. Lewis Libby and Paul Wolfowitz, also began long ago. Both Wolfowitz and Libby worked under Cheney when he was defense secretary during the George H.W. Bush administration. The three oversaw the drafting of the notorious Defense Policy Guidance (DPG) in 1992, the first draft of which, although immediately rejected when it was leaked to the press, is often regarded as an early blueprint for what would be become the Bush Doctrine in the wake of 9/11. The scholars Chris Dolan and David Cohen write: “While the realists, most members of Congress, and the Clinton administration rejected the 1992 DPG draft, it would later be used by the neocons as a policy foundation from which to initiate the Bush doctrine in response to 9/11” (Politics & Policy, March 2006)..............
Five years after the draft DPG was produced, Cheney joined his neoconservative friends in launching the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). PNAC's founding statement of principles, issued on June 3, 1997, repeated many of the same goals laid out in the draft DPG, including the use of preemptive force, arguing that “the history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.” It set out four additional elements of what it termed a “Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity:” “We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future; we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values; we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad; we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.” Signatories to this statement included Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Elliott Abrams, and a cast of other core neoconservatives and right-wing Republicans.....
Commenting on Cheney's transformation into a leading advocate for an Iraq War, Brent Scowcroft, a close friend of Cheney's and the national security adviser to George H.W. Bush, said: “The real anomaly in the administration is Cheney. I consider Cheney a good friend—I've known him for 30 years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore … I don't think Dick Cheney is a neocon, but allied to the core of neocons is that bunch who thought we made a mistake in the first Gulf War, that we should have finished the job.
jefro - don't you just love the way Maher just cuts through all the bs and gets right to the point
Does anyone else read the foreign press? The times of London has been running pieces on their own neocon cabal going down in flames. It's a trans-atlantic phenomenon.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7050/620/1600/civil%20war%20poster.jpg
Take a look at thid 1864 Democrat Party Poster. Not much has changed in 142 years. Then they wanted to surrender in the Civil War - CALLED IT A USELESS WAR.
Democrats wanted to surrender in the war that saved the nation and freed the slaves.
Nothing has changed, same old same old.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7050/620/1600/civil%20war%20poster.jpg
Take a look at thid 1864 Democrat Party Poster. Not much has changed in 142 years. Then they wanted to surrender in the Civil War - CALLED IT A USELESS WAR.
Democrats wanted to surrender in the war that saved the nation and freed the slaves.
Nothing has changed, same old same old.
Posted by Scorpio69er on October 28, 2006 at 02:52 PM
Let's hope our new reps running for the first time will push the issue. I don't know what the old timers will help them or elect to continue protecting their corporate campaign contributors. Let's hope they all start taking notice of the landscape and realize that the system is broken.
Either way they must concede NAFTA was unfair and fix it. If they don't act soon, it will be too late. This country is imploding as an economic force in the world. Only a fool clings to the past and failed policy.
SandyH - Glad you weren't treated as a leaper. Wow, there is hope.
jefro - Pat Buchanan claims GW was converted also
Marine - The reasonably intelligent ones on this blog do support the military. We maybe against the war, but support our troops. omg I went through this during Nam and here I am again.
The war is over when we decide it's over, sally.
Are you into war re-enacting? Which side to you like to represent or do you take turns representing both depending on what part of the country you are visiting.
Or do you just profit from the concession stand selling merchandise? I suppose that is where your heart really lies.
Don't worry dixie, I know who Frosty is and what who he works for.
Silly me. I was not aware that George McClellan was running in any of the contested races. I really must get up on current events better.
You people decided the Civil War was over a year before Lincoln won it. If you people had had your way we would be two contries and the South would still have slaves. People would be kidnapping northern Negroes and selling them in the south.
It is best that Democrats stay out of office during war time. That way we will still have a nation when the war is over.
LOL, you people. Was anyone here alive during the Civil War?
My people? My people were still in Prague, thank you.
After reading Webb's radio address, here's what I wrote to the major papers in Virginia using the letter tool.
To the editor:
What luck Jim Webb has that dolt George Allen to replace. Otherwise, patriot that he is, he might have had to move to find a suitable seat.
Why is it that Jim Webb has been talking about the unworkable bases in Iraq for over two years while everyone has kept mum? That's easy. The bases and their real purpose, to accommodate our missile defense systems and monitor the communications networks of our (soon to be) enemies in Asia, are classified information--i.e. secret, not to be mentioned by those who pay for them or those who build them. (Conveniently, the nexus of the network that's being set up is in the Vatican-sized embassy in Baghdad where the construction workers don't speak English or Arabic).
So, how come Jim Webb is opening his mouth? The logical assumption is that since these plans to relocate our overseas military headquarters from Wester Europe to Iraq have been in the works for two decades, Webb was privy to them when they were hatched and when Saddam Hussein was still being bribed to accept them.
In any event, thank goodness someone other than Conrad Burns is starting to address the big secret. If we want to get our troops and all their hardware out, we're going to have to admit that it's there in the first place.
If you think this is all a fantasy, ask yourself what the other ninety percent of our troops who aren't trying to "secure" the country are actually doing there.
Frosty, my little retarded Republican friend, you don't even have a clue do you?
It is best that Democrats stay out of office during war time. That way we will still have a nation when the war is over.
Yes. We all know that Roosevelt effed up everything and Lindburgh would have handled it all so much better.
The Iraqi occupation will end in 18 months. The Iran war will begin 11/8/06.
Iraqi parliment has voted to establish 3 autonomous regions in 18 months. Iraqi PM was elected with support from Al Sadar - we are now on a military mission to destroy Al Sadar. Guess we want a new PM.
GW is fighting for his place in history. Will he go down as the president who divided Iraq and allowed Iran to obtain those weapons whose name he can not pronounce?
LOL, you people. Was anyone here alive during the Civil War?
Posted by Marine on October 28, 2006 at 03:25 Pm
The mentallity has lived on, it is amazing.
I think that we have had several wars since the American Civil War.
WWI President Wilson (D) won it.
WWII President Truman (D) won it.
Korea President Eisenhour (R) Surrendered
Vietnam President Nixon (R) Surrendered
Why not elect a Democrat President in 08 to win in Iraq?
Dixie - Partition will never work. Turkey is our NATO ally and have already declared taht an independent Kurdish region on their border will not be tolerated. Details here.
monicasmith - Sure hope Webb can overcome all that's been thrown at him. I think the only thing left is the kitchen sink.
The neocons took advantage of Bush's ignorance and inexperience
If anyone needs a brief refresher course on the origin and rise of the neo cons go here.
I keep waiting for Webb to bring up the disturbing fact that, for the first time in my life (I'm right on schedule to need reading glasses) all seven carrier strike groups are at sea. Three are in the Gulf region and four positioned to be available for a showdown with North Korea.
This country doesn't torture, we're not going to torture," Mr Bush was quoted by the Associated Press news agency during a photo session in Washington DC.
"We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country," he said.
What GW didn't say is that like everything else in this country, we outsource to foreign countries.
BlueGirl - We may have promised something over which we have no control - unless we can kill enough Iraqis and the only ones left are willing to do it our way
Signing off for now - keep the faith
Korea President Eisenhour (R) Surrendered
Vietnam President Nixon (R) Surrendered
Why not elect a Democrat President in 08 to win in Iraq?
Posted by rashlimbo on October 28, 2006 at 03:39 PM
Ike negotiate a peace agreement.
The Democrat Congress cut off funding for the Vietnam war.
Posted by steady-as-she-goes on October 28, 2006 at 01:51 PM
We are occupying Iraq because Saddam Hussein would not be bribed, threatened or beaten into letting us have land for fourteen permanent military bases where we could set up our missile defense systems, track satellites and monitor the communications of our real "enemies," the Russians and the Chinese and the Indians who are now building a Navy.
While our spy satellites cover the whole northern hemisphere, it's my guess that communications are bad when they are over the eastern hemisphere. Which is why we are installing all that fancy equipment in the nexus of the communications network, the embassy in Baghdad (N.S.A. East).
The only people who don't seem to understand what's being planned are the American people who are paying for it. The reason they don't know is because it's a secret. And the reason it's a secret is because Americans don't want to be an empire based on the use of force.
Americans want to be number one. But they want that designation by acclamation; not as a result of having beaten everyone else to a pulp.
Does that tell you why?
take care Cixie. TYour family is in our thoughts right now.
Um. I'm not black. Kind of the opposite. Blue eyes, blond hair. On the other hand, I find it difficult to believe that a half-way decent human being wouldn't find the coker crap reprehensible. Given the idea that the Southern strategy has screwed over African Americans for years, I find it hard to believe that any black voter would choose a Republican.
What I think is this. When I was a kid, I dated a black girl I met during an outreach in Detroit. Would this be used against me, if I ran for office? Shoot, miscengation. There is no way to show these people for the racist scum they are. Black men,white women? How about whiite men, blacvk womeen.
Lee Atwater tried to make peace with God about this sort of scurrilous crap. He knew he was dying. He knew it was disgusting. The RNC has no clue.
So, I suppose this comes down to how in the world could a black person actually vote for a party that puts them up as mandingo predators worthy of being cannon fodder for an insanely incompetent invasion and occupation?
These assholles have gone out of their way to negaate, prevent black votes. Can somebody say that didn't happen? Dickless wants to talk about no-brainers? This is a no-brainer.
Preview is my Fred...
Sorry guys. My left hand is still week, I had a wrist fracture and just got the brace off two weeks ago. I'm still committing horrid typos, and I'm usually very accurate so I forget to preview, I click post out of habit. Mea Culpa.
steady- thanks for that- i had just reread it earlier this afternoon- thought about posting it but then didn't- doubtful that those who are so obviously confused over what century this is would bother to read it- it's easier that way for them
How do the 30% maintain their loyalty? Is blind fealty enough, or is chemical assistance required? Is the RNC passing out a new sedative called effitall?
Does that tell you why?
Posted by monicasmith on October 28, 2006 at 03:51 PM
That's a hell'ava start. And the first peek at "why".
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 03:45 PM
They're war games. That's the official explanation.
Having demonstrated to the world that you can be stymied by a bunch of Arab resistance fighters, don't you think you'd take any opportunity to strut your stuff?
On the other hand, maybe they're getting ready to take all those troops and their sensitive equipment out of Iraq. Since they've been bringing it in for three years, all the carrier groups might not be enough.
How would you move out the equipment of five major military bases to keep the stuff from being looted when you leave?
Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt to start a rumor that the Navy is coming to rescue the troops and bring them all home for x-mas. Give Rove something to deal with.
"Mistake"
I'm retired General Wes Clark.
Joe Lieberman introduced the resolution authorizing the War in Iraq. That was a mistake.
Joe Lieberman voted for that resolution without asking the tough questions. That was also a mistake.
And now, 3 and a half years into a failing mission in Iraq, Joe Lieberman can't seem to say we should change the course. And that's a REAL mistake.
Re-elect Joe Lieberman? Well, there's a word for it.
"Mistake."
I'm Ned Lamont and I approve this message.
****
And so do we!
monicasmith, I like your imagination. Gives me a thrill just to think of those guys gathering up their stuff and boarding a ship. I did that once in Korea.
UN Official: US Terror Law May Violate International Treaties
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2006-10-28 09:14. Media
By Associated Press
GENEVA -- Washington's new anti-terrorism law could end up violating international treaties protecting detainees, with some provisions denying suspects the right to a fair trial, a key U.N. rights expert said Friday.
Martin Scheinin, U.N.Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, speaks to the media in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Martin Scheinin, the United Nations' expert on protecting human rights in the fight against terrorism, said the Military Commissions Act signed into law earlier this month by U.S. President George W. Bush contains provisions "incompatible" with U.S. obligations to adhere to treaties on human rights and humanitarian law.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14996
No Kidding! And, it's also with the constitution that clearly says that Habeaus Corpus shall not be revoked except in time of rebellion or invasion.
Steady - My father-in-law was a 19 year old marine in Korea, fighing every step of the way from the reservoir to the shore.
Posted by jefro on October 28, 2006 at 02:57 PM
And we believe Scowcroft why?
The goals have been the same for a quarter century at least. GHWB has always been in the mix. The only reason failure never sticks to these people is because they jump ship. Rumsfeld and Cheney both bailed just before Nixon crashed and then rushed back to pick up the pieces for Ford. These people are totally without honor and totally committed to wielding power.
So much for the Civil War and Vietnam, which is where the Republican always go when you ask them how they are going to end the current occupation...what are they going to do about this?:
GAO chief warns economic disaster looms
By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer
Sat Oct 28, 12:32 PM
AUSTIN, Texas - David M. Walker sure talks like he's running for office. "This is about the future of our country, our kids and grandkids," the comptroller general of the United States warns a packed hall at Austin's historic Driskill Hotel. "We the people have to rise up to make sure things get changed."
But Walker doesn't want, or need, your vote this November. He already has a job as head of the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that audits and evaluates the performance of the federal government...
From the hustings and the airwaves this campaign season, America's political class can be heard debating Capitol Hill sex scandals, the wisdom of the war in Iraq and which party is tougher on terror. Democrats and Republicans talk of cutting taxes to make life easier for the American people.
What they don't talk about is a dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows, or at least should. The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.
There's a good reason politicians don't like to talk about the nation's long-term fiscal prospects. The subject is short on political theatrics and long on complicated economics, scary graphs and very big numbers. It reveals serious problems and offers no easy solutions. Anybody who wanted to deal with it seriously would have to talk about raising taxes and cutting benefits, nasty nostrums that might doom any candidate who prescribed them.
"There's no sexiness to it," laments Leita Hart-Fanta, an accountant who has just heard Walker's pitch. She suggests recruiting a trusted celebrity — maybe Oprah — to sell fiscal responsibility to the American people.
//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061028/ap_on_go_ot/america_the_bankrupt
BGRS, he and I would be about the same age. I was a "straight leg" (army).
Korea: There was to peace agreement. It was a truce, although ver fragile today, is still in effect. Nothing more than a cease fire.
Posted by pudgyboy on October 28, 2006 at 03:53 PM
Well, maybe if you've been kicked often enough, you might kiss the boot if that meant it wouldn't kick you again.
People who promise to never kick you aren't going to have a lot of traction, if you know that the people who beat you are going to beat them and you to boot.
You see how that works? It's a familiar pattern to victims of spouse abuse when the abuser manages to con the "man."
Whenever Democrats start talking about bi-partisanship and "getting along" they lose credibility. You cannot compromise with evil. Church-going people know that.
Not being a black voter, I'd like to point out that if I were a black voter, Kenneth Blackwell is entirely despicable. Whether or not this piece of shit is ever indicted, he cheated his ass off. I find it hard to believe anybody would say he didn't. The idea that voters don't see a problem with Secretrarys of State that are Campaign coordinators is a fairly obvious problem is just stunning. What is wrong with bvoters?
Get it but good and deserve it, yeah fine. But abject stupidity? So gay marriage actually is more important than distaste for torture. Not my country. If black voters are voting on gay marriage instead of torture, screw black voters. But how bout them white women?
The deal is pretty obvious. Everything the Republicans saisd about invading Iraq is subject to investigation. They lied their asses off. Thousands of hours, and ultimatly, 90 grand, were spent by Ken Starr were spent on some five grand crfrap over watergate.
The entire problem the republicans have is that there will be investigatins of Halliburton. Theyve robbed us all blind. The evidence is monumental. So in the meantime, Republilacns think Deval Patrick might have attracxted white women. Ken Blackwell? You would have to be the most singularly disgusting piece of shit on the facde of the earth.
Posted by SandyH on October 28, 2006 at 04:08 PM
Economists, fortunately or unfortunately don't have a lot of credibility. Partly that's because for their theories to be validated, they always have to jiggle the reality to make the data fit.
One of the big holes in economics is the failure to account for negatives. Instead of deducting the cost of illness and injury from the national accounts, the increasing cost of health care shows up as an increase in economic activity. Whenever something that used to be provided without the transfer of money (like maternal child-care) suddenly gets paid for, that registers as an increase in economic activity. Which is why the economy keeps growing and people are no better off.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran has doubled its capacity to enrich uranium by successfully executing the process with a second network of centrifuges, a semiofficial news agency reported Friday, sending a defiant new message to the U.N. Security Council.
Council members are working on a draft resolution that would impose limited sanctions on the Islamic republic because of its refusal to cease enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor or fissile material for a warhead.
The Iranian Students News Agency quoted an anonymous official as saying Iran has successfully begun injecting gas into a second network of centrifuges.
"We are injecting gas into the second cascade, which we installed two weeks ago," the official said, according to ISNA.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061027/D8L16U200.html
Meanwhile Mr. President, the real threat to the middle east keeps getting stronger. Bring the troops home soon, rest them up for a couple of years, we know where they're going next.
Divide up Iraqi oil proceeds like we do in Alaska - give a % to each citizen regardless of location/religion. Seems plausible to me.
Posted by SharpElbows on October 28, 2006 at 03:55 PM
If it works in Alaska, then the Eskimos in Iraq will go along with it? If only everyone lived in a pristine land with unimaginable resources and enough space to get away from your troubles and annoying neighbors anytime you wanted to by packing a bag and wondering off into the wilderness.
Steve Forbes is part of the problem not the solution. He's never had to deal with a social conflict or adversity in his life. The canyons and banking houses of Manhattan or not the back allies of Baghdad.
The answer is not in splitting up the spoils, it's in recognizing the rich history of religious and tribal tensions....and the recent American intervention that just made them worse. It began with installing Saddam as torturer supreme back in the 80's.
We didn't have the answer then, and we don't have it now. The Iraqis must figure out what works for them. We don't belong there and need to get out of their way, so they can work on it without all this outside interference.
The last thing Iraqi needs is another bank embezzler like Chalabi dividing revenues among the citizens.
heads up, if we win the house we immediately start hyping our reps to kill this bullshit:
NY TIMES
Businesses Seek New Protection From Litigation
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: October 29, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — Frustrated with laws and regulations that have made companies and accounting firms more open to lawsuits from investors and the government, corporate America — with the encouragement of the Bush administration — is preparing to fight back.
Now that corruption cases like Enron and WorldCom are falling out of the news, two influential industry groups with close ties to administration officials are hoping to swing the regulatory pendulum in the opposite direction. The groups are drafting proposals to provide broad new protections to corporations and accounting firms from criminal cases brought by federal and state prosecutors as well as a stronger shield against civil lawsuits from investors.
Although the details are still being worked out, the groups’ proposals aim to limit the liability of accounting firms for the work they do on behalf of clients, to force prosecutors to target individual wrongdoers rather than entire companies, and to scale back shareholder lawsuits.
The groups hope to reduce what they see as some burdens imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, landmark post-Enron legislation adopted in 2002. The law, which placed significant new auditing and governance requirements on companies, gave broad discretion for interpretation to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The groups are also interested in rolling back rules and policies that have been on the books for decades.
To alleviate concerns that the new Congress may not adopt the proposals — regardless of which party holds power in the legislative branch next year — many are being tailored so that they could be adopted through rulemaking by the S.E.C. and enforcement policy changes at the Justice Department.
The proposals will begin to be laid out in public shortly after Election Day, members of the groups said in recent interviews. One of the committees was formed by the United States Chamber of Commerce and until recently was headed by Robert K. Steel.
Korea: There was to peace agreement. It was a truce, although ver fragile today, is still in effect. Nothing more than a cease fire.
Posted by rashlimbo on October 28, 2006 at 04:19 PM
This war stuff is not a John Wayne movie where everybody gets up after the director says "that's a wrap". Cease fires save lives.
the Armistice was signed establishing a cesation of active hostilities and the DMZ at the 38th parallel. That armistice agreement is all that stands between South Korea and millions of refuges steeped in 50 years of Koreanjuche. And Juche makes Marxism look like Montessori.
We don't need to be meddling about in North Korea right now because nobody wants the sodial fallout of millions of refugees with adjustment issues.
Posted by monicasmith on October 28, 2006 at 04:29 PM
The head of the GAO seems to understand something is very wrong for whatever reason the economists want to argue over being its cause.
I agree with you. They have tremendously underestimated the scope of the problem and how numerous costs are being under reported.
Posted by Denimblue on October 28, 2006 at 04:32 PM
Cease fires save lives.
Except when they're premature.
So, you get out the vote. Get out the vote. Georgia voted against Max Cleland. I dsn't think so. I think this was hijacked. Max Cleland was somehow a coward but the awol guy was stay the course? But he wasn't stay the course. Nice valley girl bail. What sort of nonsense are these people talking about. It's a very hard thing for you W believers to admit that the Swift Goat shit was the most despicavle crap in the history of American political campaigns. Really, you people that claim to care about patriotism, you stood by this swift-boat libel. I don't believe you actually thought that. You know Kerry served honorably. You know W did not.
Posted by Denimblue on October 28, 2006 at 04:32 PM
Denim, you are correct in saying that real war is not a John Wayne movie. I know, I've been there, done that. However, the fact remains that Korea is still under a truce (cease fire). Since the truce was implemented, North Korea has developed nukes multiplying the potential for casualties thousands of times. Technically speaking, we are still at war with North Korea. Scarey, isn't it?
Posted by gregg on October 28, 2006 at 04:30 PM
Why don't we do away with the courts entirely. They just get in the way of business, tyrants, and social conservatives.
If nothing else, the Republicans are relentless in getting legislation passed that furthers the interests of their corporate backers. They've done nothing else in the last 13 years.
Oh, I forgot the English as the offical language bill and other trival BS legislation.
Posted by SharpElbows on October 28, 2006 at 04:19 PM
I think the mistake we made was that we thought the military/industrial complex referred to the production of military hardware become predominant in our economy. What it really refers to is the use of military assets to protect industrial interests and enterprise so that they don't actually have to compete on quality and expertise but can use force to get them what they want.
At present, the nuclear industry is a good example. What's on the agenda is establishing a nuclear fuels cartel in which the US and its partners would controll the production and pricing of nuclear fuel, using the excuse that it's too dangerous for other countries to handle.
I mean, they were pretty blatant in their dealing with Iran, telling them that they could have enriched uranium, if they bought it from Russia where the outfit that produces the stuff just happens to be a subsidiary of the sole US provider.
It's my contention that this whole megilla about NK and Iranian nuclear programs, as well as Iraq's ambitions was designed to motivate the American public to accept the construction of new nuclear energy plants and to accept the modernization of our nuclear weapons arsenal with the "waste" plutonium that's left over from the enrichment process. If Iran wanted to make a bomb, it would use the waste plutonium, not bother to go to highly "enriched" uranium. But, we don't want to talk about that because that's exactly what the DoD and the DoE is planning to do with out stuff.
So, Russia and China are not eager to crack down on Iran and North Korea. Well, duh. Those countries are their surrogates--an opportunity to find out what the US is really up to.
Russia, in particular, is not happy because the reprocessing of its aging weapons for fuel that it agreed to is being acquired at a discounted price by the Americans and then sold at a profit on the world market. Nobody likes being scammed.
On the other hand, nobody likes admitting they've been scammed, because that makes them look foolish. So, they wait for their revenge.
Confession That Formed Base of Iraq War was Acquired Under Torture: Journalist
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2006-10-28 09:11. Evidence
By Agence France Presse
An Al-Qaeda terror suspect captured by the United States, who gave evidence of links between Iraq and the terror network, confessed after being tortured, a journalist told the BBC.
Iban al Shakh al Libby told intelligence agents that he was close to Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and "understood an awful lot about the inner workings of Al-Qaeda," former FBI agent Jack Clonan told the broadcaster.
Libby was tortured in an Egyptian prison, according to Stephen Grey, the author of the newly-released book "Ghost Plane" who investigated the secret US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons that housed terror suspects around the world.
US President George W. Bush confirmed the existence of the network of CIA holding facilities overseas during a September 6 speech defending controversial US interrogation practices.
Libby was apparently taken to Cairo, Clonan told the broadcaster, after being captured in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
"He (Libby) claims he was tortured in jail and that would be routine in Egyptian prisons," Grey said.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14995
So, it turns out that the "confession" that obtained under torture yielded false information to justify a war. Besides proving that this war was started on a foundation of lies, this shows was torture is a useless and immoral information gathering technique.
Oh my favorite part was the people on the convention floor with the Purple Heart band-aids on their faces.
This is the party that claims exclusive providence to the loyalty of the troops in uniform and they behave like that? How utterly disrespectful.
Even if Kerry volunteered for Swift Boat duty when it was safe and it got ugly right after, he didn't whine and bitch and wheedle his way out of it. He sucked it up and did his duty. aWol didn't. His commander said about the incident that earned him the Silver Star that he didn't know whether to Court Martial him for beaching the boat or give him a medal for saving the crew. He went with the latter.
That Kerry. What a coward. He should have protected the skies of Texas by doing blow of a strippers ass in the back of a titty-bar if he wanted any military cred.
IKE ALSO GAVE UP BERLIN to Soviets - CAUSED DEATHS OF THOUSANDS. You could really blame him for the fall of the Iron Curtain too. He alone could have prevented it
Posted by SharpElbows on October 28, 2006 at 04:19 PM
I think there was a commander in Chief named Harry S Truman involved in that.
Republicans for Slave Labor
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2006-10-27 19:14. Elections
By David Swanson
What if there were Republicans in Congress who supported forced abortions and prostitution and slave labor? And what if there were progressive Democrats running against them. Meet Republican Congress Members John Doolittle and Richard Pombo and their challengers in California's 4th and 11th districts Charlie Brown http://www.charliebrownforcongress.org and Jerry McNerney http://www.jerrymcnerney.org .
Now visit the beautiful tropical islands described by disgraced House Majority Leader Tom Delay as "a perfect petri dish of capitalism." What's so perfect about Saipan and the other 13 Northern Mariana Islands? Primarily this: items produced there can carry the label "Made in USA" and be sold in the U.S. without tariffs or quotas, but the scandalously low U.S. minimum wage does not apply, and the pathetically minimal rights of immigrants and workers in the U.S. do not apply. There are no labor unions. Any worker can be terminated and deported at any time for no cause.
The workers, mostly Chinese women, sew clothing for J. Jill, Elie Tahari, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne, The Gap, and Ralph Lauren, among others. They pay so much money to obtain work and for shelter and food, that they can labor for a decade and still not pay it back. They serve, therefore, as indentured servants, sharing rooms and beds, lacking health care, and working extra unpaid hours for the reward of being permitted to also work paid overtime. Pregnancy is unacceptable, costs of it not covered, and amateur abortion encouraged.
The island of Saipan does great business in prostitution for Asian businessmen and American soldiers. Approximately 90 percent of the prostitutes are former Chinese garment workers. Others had been recruited for jobs like waitressing but were forced into prostitution instead.
Over the past decade, 29 bills in Congress have sought to apply a minimum wage standard and/or immigration law to the Mariana Islands or to deny use of "Made in USA" to items produced there. Every one of these bills has failed. Some have won support in the Senate but been blocked by the House Resources Committee. Others have won the support of a majority of House Members but still been killed in that same committee.
Guess who earned $11 million in fees from the Marianas government and garment manufacturers? A fellow by the name of Jack Abramoff.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14988
This is Republican "values" at work!
Ain't that hard to manipulate numbers if you know what you are doing (example: just change the definition of unemployment).
Bingo. That's exactly the kind of BS that has been going on for the past decade or more. If you change the definition of everything, how do we know what their figures mean?
Reports Shed Light on Ties Between Weldon, Businesses
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers
Friday 27 October 2006
Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon, under investigation for allegedly trading his influence to get lobbying business for one of his daughters, also has helped corporations that have hired another daughter, a friend and some of his former aides.
Federal Election Commission reports show that within months of Weldon's advocacy on their behalf, three of these firms and their executives gave more than $95,000 in political contributions to the 10-term Republican.
Most of those donations were made in 2001 and 2002 to an obscure "soft money" account that helped foot unspecified travel expenses for Weldon and his top aide, according to the FEC filings.
Weldon's financial and lobbying relationships helped cement his rise to power as the vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, but now they've drawn the FBI's attention as part of a Justice Department criminal investigation into possible congressional corruption.
Weldon, who's up for re-election on Nov. 7, has denied any wrongdoing and charged that the FBI investigation is part of a left-wing conspiracy. He's expressed confidence that he will be cleared. His lawyer, William Winning of Philadelphia, did not respond to phone messages for comment.
It's often difficult to tell where Weldon's official business ends and his family's and friends' personal business begins:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806D.shtml
Weldon is a fine example of Republican-ism - corrupt to the core.
When Ike was President we had the Berlin Airlift which saved Berlin.
Ruining America
By Joe Galloway
Military.com
Thursday 26 October 2006
If President George Bush's hasty news conference on Iraq this week was the Republican October Surprise - unveiling some sudden presidential flexibility after three and a half years of stubbornly staying a losing course - it didn't work.
With the midterm elections now days away, it smacked more of a change in semantics than a serious change in the direction of a war that seems to be spiraling out of control.
"Benchmark" is the new White House buzzword. We're not setting a "timetable" for the withdrawal of America's 147,000 troops in Iraq. We're not putting any real heat on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. No cutting and running for us.
And, yes, the president has full faith and confidence in the chief architect of the war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. You're doing a heckuva job, Rummy. Never mind that your approval rating is at 12 percent among the American people, Don. The Decider puts you at 110 percent.
So we're going to stay put in Iraq; going, in fact, to stay the course all the way to victory. We aren't going to be drawing down our troops, who are square in the middle of a burgeoning Iraqi civil war. In fact, we might even send more troops over there if the president can find any to send from an Army and Marine Corps already stretched so thin that you can read your morning paper through them.
The president says that there'll be tough fighting to come, which is hardly news to a military that's already suffered more than 2,800 killed and 22,000 wounded; a military so ground down that it won't be able to man the next annual deployments without once again reaching out and activating thousands of Army National Guard and Reserve troops that have maxed out their active duty availability.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806A.shtml
So what does Bush and his Republican rubber stamps intend to do about Iraq? Answer - nothing but stay the course! They may not use that phrase now until election day but the policy is nothing but stay the course.
What does Ike have to do with Iraq or anything else going on today. Has Bush been trying to channel him at one of Nancy Reagan's seances?
There are 2 major issues that our Democratic candidate's are not using effectively, they are.
The National debt. Our children should be screaming at their parents to vote away the Republicans who have landed our kids in so much debt, they and our grandchildren will be paying off for this generations national debt for many, many years to come. This is an effective response to the better economy argument.
Communications. Why won't the administration talk to the Iranians and the North Koreans. It's just common sense that most of the problems in this world are the result of bad or no communications. Lets talk to all of our adversaries and keep talking and negotiating. Talk is a lot cheaper than all of the other options.
What does Ike have to do with Iraq or anything else going on today.
****
Sandy,
Absolutely nothing!
could somebody actually present the slightest clue that the pretzeldent isnt an idiot?
No. You can't. Proof: When he wanted to present some sort of proof: This dickheade said: We weren't ever cut annd run." Dumbass is relying on that valley-girl syntax'. Like fer sure.' We werem't 'ever cut aned run'. I'd say he's an idiot. Please tell me how I'm not right. He has not got a clue. Stay the course? Well the nit has said that a couple of hundred times. Those are absolute for sure. Look. He's so stupid there's no way. He says this shit all the time and he's an absolute moron, If somebody wants to actually claim that Hw didn't dodge the congress, if anybody wants to claim that democrats actually approved his bullshit, we'll go to the wall. That didn't happen. The bill said he had to come back to the congress. He didn't. Somebody want to say he didn't promise to come baack to the congress and he sure as shit didn't? Anybody want to say that?
Report Says Iraq Contractor Is Hiding Data From US
By James Glanz and Floyd Norris
The New York Times
Saturday 28 October 2006
A Halliburton subsidiary that has been subjected to numerous investigations for billions of dollars of contracts it has received for work in Iraq has systematically misused federal rules to withhold basic information on its practices from American officials, a federal oversight agency said yesterday.
The contracts awarded to the company, KBR, formerly named Kellogg Brown & Root, are for housing, food, fuel and other necessities to American troops and government officials in Iraq, and for restoring that country's crucial oil infrastructure. The contracts total about $20 billion.
The oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said KBR refused to disclose information as basic as how many people are fed each day in its dining facilities and how many gallons of fuel are delivered to foreign embassies in Iraq, claiming that the data was proprietary, meaning it would unfairly help its business competitors.
Although KBR has been subjected to a growing number of specific investigations and paid substantial fines, this marks the first time the federal government has weighed in and accused it of systematically engaging in a practice aimed at veiling its business practices in Iraq.
The allegations come at a critical time for the company, as Halliburton is attempting to spin off the subsidiary. And in July, the Army announced that it would terminate KBR's largest contract with the government, and the company says that it will compete to regain some of that business when the government calls for new bids.
Proprietary information is protected by the so-called federal acquisition regulations, known as FAR. But the agency said KBR routinely stamped nearly all of the data it collects on its work as proprietary, impeding not only the investigations into the company's activities but also things as simple as managerial oversight of the work.
"The use of proprietary data markings on reports and information submitted by KBR to the government is an abuse of the FAR and the procurement system," says a memo released yesterday by the special inspector general.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806Z.shtml
More Republican corruption!
Posted by pudgyboy on October 28, 2006 at 04:40 PM
You're right,but......Look at this way. Some people don't want to have anything to do with telling other people what to do. So, they want small government and vote for Republicans who promise to relieve them of what they don't want to do.
Some people want to do good thing for other people, some of which those people don't even want done for them. Those are Democrats and when everyone's being honest, they strike a nice balance.
But, there are also some people who want to do nothing but dominate other people and the surest sign of their success (though they're never satisfied) is that the people they dominate are hurting. That's because when people are feeling good, they don't know they're being ruled.
Anyway, what we got now is a bunch of people who are simply into power and the ruination of the country is actually a sign of their success. And, since they're never satisfied (power being an addiction), they have to find some place else to wreck. That's where we're at.
There's only one solution--get rid of them. Or, at least, strip them of their power.
What we've come to is that smaller government is meddling in the minutiae of our daily lives and leaving the catastrophes to us.
That's what the voters have to recognize on November 7th. We have got to get the power-addicted bastards out.
42 Iraqis Die as Insurgents Attack Police Near Baquba
By Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Kirk Semple
The New York Times
Friday 27 October 2006
Baquba, Iraq - Police officers acting on a tip about several kidnapped colleagues rode into deadly insurgent ambushes near here on Thursday, resulting in two intense battles that left at least 42 people dead, including 24 police officers, officials said.
Five American service members were killed Wednesday in Anbar Province, the military command reported Thursday, raising the American death toll in October to at least 96, one of the worst monthly tolls of the war.
The insurgent ambushes came as dozens of police officers converged on an area between Baquba and Baghdad, near a town called Khan Bani Saad. Word had come down late on Wednesday from the Interior Ministry that several Iraqi policemen who had been kidnapped days earlier near Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, were being held south of there, and province officials ordered a raid. But as the police officers rode out, what they found was a large and well-armed Sunni insurgent force. A spokesman for the joint Iraqi-American command center in Baquba described the clashes as "very violent, brutal and heavy."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706T.shtml
****
Brought to you by the Republican party!
Why won't the administration talk to the Iranians and the North Koreans.
****
Because the Republican neocons do not believe in diplomacy. They believe in warfare. That's their answer for everything - war after war after war (endless war).
This is an effective response to the better economy argument.
****
better economy? What better economy? For the wealthiest people in the nation, it's a better economy. For everyone else, it's way worst than 6 years ago. The evidence is that the saving rate has turned negative. Americans are living on borrowed time. When the bills come due and they go bankrupt, they won't recover - especially with the new bankruptcy laws. In short, this is not only a worst economy, it has the feel of a 1929 style disaster in the making.
The Berlin airlift saved "West Berlin". East Berlin was to suffer for many years afterward.
On issues we should be highlighting, here is the commercial I want to see:
A newborn comes home from the hospital, and family members start oohing and aahing in the living room. The doorbell rings. Everyone is here. Who could this be? Why, it's an IRS agent. He is there to present the child with a bill for $30,000. Call it the Birth Tax.
Pretty rich for them to call us graverobbers, when they are cradle-robbers...In every sense of the word.
This will guarantee more Enron's, quicker.
***
I'll tell what it will gaurantee - a complete collapse of the stock market. The only reason the stock market came back after the crash of 2000 (and it was a crash!) is Sarbanes-Oxley. If people feel that their money is invested in stock of dubious value, they will pull out!
Sharp Elbows: In Missouri one of our candidates for state auditor is the treasurer for Platte County, and she misplaced $195,000!!! That is, of course, the Publican candidate.
The Berlin airlift saved "West Berlin". East Berlin was to suffer for many years afterward.
Posted by rashlimbo on October 28, 2006 at 05:09 PM
And that is Ikes fault not your heroes, the Godless commies eh?
BREAKING! UPDATED!President of Mexico sending federal forces to Oaxaca, 3 dead yesterday
by la urracca
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 09:34:04 AM PDT
President Vicent Fox of Mexico has announced that he is sending federal forces to the city of Oaxaca ,which has been in open rebellion for months, to "guarantee the security of the populace, and to restore peace and order".
This comes after a previous proclamation on Thursday that there would be a resolution decided upon by the end of this weekend.
In between those two announcements, the strikers in Oaxaca began to build more barricades. As this was being undertaken, "neighbors" (who were armed with high-powered rifles) attacked many of the barricaded sites. ( It is important to know that arms are NOT legal in Mexico, and are very hard to get. The strikers are armed with pipes and clubs...in other words, the attackers are either police, miltary, or para-military).
There were at least 21 separate attacks, with shell casings everywhere.
Oaxaca.
Eleven people were wounded, and three are missing.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/28/12344/792
****
Well there you go. The Mexican corporatist Fox has started a war with his own people!
What does Ike have to do with Iraq or anything else going on today.
Ike anticipated the use of the military to promote and protect industrial interests, open resource markets and practice a modern version of gunboat diplomacy.
Iran is a good example. The message to Iran has been, "buy your uranium fuel from Russia or see your facilities blasted to smitherenes by our bunker buster bombs."
When the Mafia does that kind of thing, it's called extortion.
evening all, heading out to dinner shortly, but just wanted to say I have been pissed off all day, the Hartford Courant has come out and endorsed Lieberman! And for the same list of stupid, no substance reasons that they endorsed Bush the last two times! Don't think they do not have a letter from me about it!!!
Secondly, someone was asking for a list of Neo Cons:
Well, besides Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton, Newt, Kissinger, Karl Rove, Libby, Charles Krauthammer, there are lots more:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Neo-conservatives/list
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 05:12 PM
Bluegirl, your description of paying off the national debt as "birth tax" is priceless. What a counter for the term "death tax". Great post.
Growth Slackened in Summer
By EDUARDO PORTER
Published: October 28, 2006
The housing market’s free fall slowed economic growth to its weakest pace since early 2003.
****
Housing market is dead. That's the bright spot over the past 6 years. The housing bubble was created mainly by un-justified low interest rates. The side effect was a deflated dollar.
So, where to now Bushitas? The interest rates will be tough to cut at this point because of the deflated dollar. In fact, the rates may even need to be raised just to lure foreign investors into buying more US debt.
If anyone has ever wondered whether Fox news was Biased and slanted, this article saying they thought sly, lying, Lynne Cheney came out ahead on that interview proves once and for all how they desperately grasp at straws to try and make this administration look good!
Lou Dobbs and FOX News hosts offer vastly different opinions on who came out on top of Lynn Cheney's heated interview with Wolf Blitzer. RAW STORY previous reported on a Friday interview on CNN Situation Room, Lynne Cheney accused CNN of airing terrorist propaganda.
The hosts of Fox News' Fox and Friends recalled the interview, remarking that Lynne Cheney had "turned the tables" on Wolf Blitzer." Lou Dobbs praised Blitzer's interview with Lynne Cheney. Dobbs says that Cheney's rant was "power bridling at truth being spoken to power."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_Dobbs_Fox_differ_on_outcome_1028.html
From Karl Roves mind to all the congressional races, to the senate races and all the mouths of the republican apologists
"From now until the polls close the message that needs to be stressed...it needs to be our arguement, our foundation for retaining our majorities..."
What is that message, the message that will save the republicans?
Its comes in the form of a question, its simple.
DO YOU WANT TO WIN IN IRAQ?
You probably have already heard this from people like O'Reilly, Lynne Cheney and others. You will hear this more and more as the days until election day draw to a close.
My personal response to this straw man rhetorical question is this. DO YOU THINK WE ARE WINNING?
The message to Iran has been
****
The message to Iran and North Korea is the Iraq war.
Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 28, 2006 at 04:56 PM
President Eisenhower was the last respectable Republican president. Nixon was a disgrace, Ford was out of his element, Reagan was a clueless cheerleader, Bush 41's domestic policy was hideous, and that brings us to our current president, George W. Bush, the most incompetent president in the history of the United States.
Lou Dobbs praised Blitzer's interview with Lynne Cheney.
****
Lynne Cheney ... yuck!
Well, besides Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton, Newt, Kissinger, Karl Rove, Libby, Charles Krauthammer, there are lots more:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Neo-conservatives/list
Posted by PamB on October 28, 2006 at 05:20 PM
Another moron heard from.
Cheney and Rumsfeld are not neo cons because they have always been conservatives. Neo means new and con stands for conservative. Neo cons are "New Conservatives"
Bolton, Newt, Kissinger, Karl Rove are not neo cons. I don't know about Krauthammer.
Can you believe this story? The screeners can't find bombs and guns, BUT they threw out my mascara and a small bottle of shampoo because it was not labeled last time I flew!
NEWARK, N.J. — Screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the starting points for the Sept. 11 hijackers, failed 20 of 22 security tests conducted by undercover U.S. agents last week, missing concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the major air hub's three terminals, according to federal security officials.
The tests, conducted Oct. 19 by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, also revealed failures by screeners to follow standard operating procedures while checking passengers and their baggage for prohibited items, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 28, 2006 at 05:16 PM
Chilly McMeadowMuffin, I don't like the Godless Commies nor the Godless Neocons.
From the GAO's David Walker:
If the United States government conducts business as usual over the next few decades, a national debt that is already $8.5 trillion could reach $46 trillion or more, adjusted for inflation. That's almost as much as the total net worth of every person in America -- Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and those Google guys included.
A hole that big could paralyze the U.S. economy; according to some projections, just the interest payments on a debt that big would be as much as all the taxes the government collects today.
And every year that nothing is done about it, Walker says, the problem grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion.
****
This is the macro-economic version of what is happening to millions of Americans with personal debt. It's a debt ridden society. Such societies always fail throughout history. This is the result of Republican policy - particularly the Junior Bush years.
After this election, tough new federal laws need to be enacted that ban ads that use paid actors to read phony character assassination scripts.
The antiHarold Ford ad that uses the paid actress from Texas was little more than an inflamatory racist character assasination script. In Oregon, millionaire Republican candidate for Congress, Mike Erikson has paid actors in an ad likely produced out of state to falsely associate Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley with support for bills for illegal aliens.
Federal trade laws make phony testimonial ads for products illegal unless clearly noted in the ad that the statements are scripts by paid actors. Tough restrictions on such phony testimonial ads for campaigns need to be a major priority of the next Congress. Phony recreations of events or testimonials by paid actors in campaign ads is a serious form of false advertising and needs to be addressed by new laws.
PROGRESSIVE VALUES
Cheney and Rumsfeld are not neo cons because they have always been conservatives. Neo means new and con stands for conservative. Neo cons are "New Conservatives"
****
Frosty, you must be snorting Cow Pies again. The surgeon general says that's bad for your health and even worst for your breath.
Cheney and Rumsfeld are charter members of the project for the new american century. That makes them neocons.
Of course, to call someone a neo con is not an insult. At least they had sense enough to see the folly of liberalism.
Just got home from attending a reception for Judy Feder (Democratic candidate for Virginia 10), along with Governor Tim Kaine, and a number of Democratic workers. Thank God for the Democrats today! We had a wonderful reception, and I think we will elect a new Democratic representative and senator.
:)
Lord God, am I up for a loud, shouting argument with some lazy, greedy, bloodsucking Republican criminals!
Bring it on!
:) ...
Posted by SharpElbows on October 28, 2006 at 05:09 PM
Ok, a little history here. Bear with me. Until the late sixties, government officials enjoyed something called "sovereign immunity" which meant that they couldn't be held liable (called to account) for injuries they inflicted in the performance of their official duties. For whatever reason, the Supreme Court began to find that when the injuries suffered by an individual were the result of negligent behavior by the public official (didn't do job or should have known better), he could be held personally liable and not only sued in court but a judgement could be rendered against him. (This had nothing to do with criminal behavior). As a result, the bloom was off the rose, so to speak, as far as public service was concerned. That is, incompetent public officials no longer got a pass. And that's when the flight to "privatization" commenced for the simple reason that private corporations (all local governments are public corporations) still shield their directors and officers from personal liability for their negligent mistakes. (Ken Lay et al got caught breaking the law).
Now, in the last two decades as these incompetents have made a shambles of private corporations as well and stock-holders and consumers have begun to insist that they be held accountable in civil proceedings in the courts, there has been a constant refrain against "frivolous lawsuits"--i.e. legal actions that attempt to seek redress in the courts for negligent or incompetent behavior. And that's why they judiciary is under attack by people who don't want to be held accountable. And that is why the Bush/Cheney gang are in a panic.
Their legal "experts" persuaded them that the equivalent of sovereign immunity would be attained by the executive during a period of war. In other words, you could say that a war was necessary to shield our chief executive from responsibility for failing to carry out the responsibilities of his office.
It won't hold up and Justice Anthony Kennedy signalled as much in his address to the ABA. So, they're just buying time, trying the old intimidation trick and buying land in Paraguay.
Soon enought the jig will be up.
Well, old man, why don't you start with that site I entered, which lists Cheney and rumsfeld as Neo Cons, and all the Other lists when you google Neo Cons, and tell them they are wrong, that a Senile, old fart in the back woods of MN knows better !!!
Here's a list of what Neo means, too Simple Simon,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo
now go clean some grain or something, will ya????
You're putting words in my mouth!
Just the way you put words in your head!!!
:)
Cheney and Rumsfeld are charter members of the project for the new american century. That makes them neocons.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 05:33 PM
Geez, you are stupid. Neo con applies to a specific group of people NEW CONSERVATIVES
If I joined a black church I would not become a Negro.
Of course, to call someone a neo con is not an insult. At least they had sense enough to see the folly of liberalism.
****
There goes Frosty back-tracking and flip-flopping.
Calling us liberal is a complement!
Isn't it time for you to buy some fish brains at Wal-Mart's? I hear there's a good sale this week.
now go clean some grain or something, will ya????
****
LOL ... or collect cow pies to snort.
This is off-topic, but seasonal to the upcoming Halloween holiday. I was enchanging some Emails with the great comic Gilbert Gottfried last night, and he sent me his Halloween pumpkin carving photo from his kitchen. If you'd like to see his Halloween pumpkin carving, then send an Email to me at radiotvpartz@juno.com and I'll forward you back his new hilarious photo.
Gilbert is a very nice and funny fellow and certainly wishes all here a very happy and safe Halloween, I'm sure.
PROGRESSIVE VALUES
Rash Limbo - For 20 years I kept my politics private because I was the CO's wife, and automatically had a little bit of "influence" with the wives of the enlisted.
I am making up for lost time.
Posted by Paul on October 28, 2006 at 05:34 PM
I was worried for a while yesterday when that press release came out of Sen. Allen's (R-VA) campaign. Then I read up on it. All is well. My question to you, Paul, is did the people who you came into contact with today in VA10 have anything to say about it? WRVA, the 50K watt Fox Radio station in Richmond is running ads for Monday morning's show accusing Sec. Webb of being a pornographer.
Well, old man, why don't you start with that site I entered, which lists Cheney and rumsfeld as Neo Cons, and all the Other lists when you google Neo Cons, and tell them they are wrong, that a Senile, old fart in the back woods of MN knows better !!!
Posted by PamB on October 28, 2006 at 05:36 PM
Don't get your depends all in a bunch old wrinkled one, I don't go to your sites because they are crap. Any site that would call Cheney and Rusfeld Neo cons is clearly wrong. There like you're truthout.org that "scooped" everyone with the news that Karl Rove had been secretly indicted. It was so secret that the prosecutor didn't even know about it.
Wal-Mart Adviser Linked to "Call Me" Harold Ford ad
by kellington
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 02:25:12 PM PDT
Yesterday and today's NY Times have pieces on a Wal-Mart consultant who has now been fired because he was working for the group that made the controversial "Harold Call Me" TV spot in the TN-Senate race.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Under pressure from black leaders and union groups, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, said last night that it had cut ties with a prominent Republican strategist who helped create the provocative advertisement.
The strategist, Terry Nelson, was hired by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 2005 to help burnish its image after a wave of attacks from organized labor and liberal groups.
After Mr. Nelson's affiliation with the Republican commercial became public this week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson demanded that Wal-Mart fire Mr. Nelson and a union group threatened to run advertisements in Tennessee linking the retailer to it.
****
But of course, the sweet heart of the right wingers Wal-Mart's is involved.
Posted by Richard on October 28, 2006 at 05:25 PM
Yes, that's why we have to send in the Democrats. The current team obviously doesn't know how. Time to get the stars off the bench.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 05:43 PM
Bluegirl, you are doing a great job at it too. Keep it up.
WELL THAT CREEP PAUL HOOSAN IS POSTING HIS PAEN TO THE ANTIABORTION FREAKS AGAIN
THIS IS WHAT HE PUT ON HIS "PROGRESSIVE VALUES" BLOG:
Supreme Court Will Hear Major Case Involving Abortion On November 8th
Normally, the election analysis of the aftermath of November 7th should be the major news on November 8th. Instead a major case involving abortion will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court that could major implications on Roe v. Wade.
345 members of Congress and the Senate had voted for a ban on the gruesome practice of partial birth abortion in which often later term babies are nearly delivered except for their head which is left in the birth canal, and while their little arms, legs, fingers and toes are moving, a scizzors is sruck into the back of the neck by a doctor and the babies brains are sucked out by a vacuum machine. This gruesome practive has caused some who support Roe v.Wade to oppose this practice, however a federal had ruled the ban that Congress has voted to unconstitutional. Atttorney General Gonzales is appealing this Federal Court ruling and opposing the Plantiff, Plannned Parenthood in a lawsuit entitled Gonzles v. Planned Parenthood.
With the two new additions of justices Roberts and Alito, it will interesting to see whether the Supreme Court will narrowly rule by 5 to 4 votes to affirm the ban voted by Congress on partial birth abortion or whether this will become the key case that they will use to overturn Roe v. Wade. But this case will likely present the first strong case this year with the opportunity to change the 1973 Supreme Court ruling.
Besides the gruesomeness of the procedure of partisal birth abortion that makes it so controversial, the fact that is mostly done on later term babies, and by only not allowing the head to slip from the birth canal is the only legal factor that keeps this controversial practice as being defined as murder. All of these factors and the more conservative nature of the Supreme Coirt since the two recent Bush appointees should indicate that partial borth abortion at least will be ruled an illegal practice and Roe v. Wade may also be trimmed back more or even overturned.
Whether a person has strong moral objections to partial birth abortion or even abortion in general, or is on the opposite sides of things , supporting both partial birth abortion or Roe v. Wade, the stakes simply could not be much higher for such an important key case this year. The aftemath of the November 7th elections may fade quickly as news of this major case before the court is heard the next day.
posted by Paul Hooson @ 11:29 AM 0 comments
TALK ABOUT GRUESOME!
YOU ARE CERTAINLY NOT PROGRESSIVE, AND YOUR "VALUES" SUCK.
GO AND DARKEN THE DOOR SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU WILL BE APPRECIATED, FOOL!
Any site that would call Cheney and Rusfeld Neo cons is clearly wrong. T
****
Frosty, you are total moron. Cheney and Rumsfeld are both listed as signees of the Project For The New American Century. That is the organization for neoconservatives. But, you clearly don't even understand what neoconservatism is all about.
It's a waste of time trying to explain anything to a right wing old troll like you.
I betcha you are the sort of right winger who collects social security while cursing the system. I bet you even use Medicare but have the gall to call those who created Medicare communists.
I would not even be surprised if you collect a pension from a union job - the people who fought so you would have a 40 hour week. But, no doubt you think unions are communists.
Frosty, you are an old fool. Go collect cow pies.
Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 28, 2006 at 05:45 PM
Meadow muffin, Neo Cons are made, not born. Embracing the false doctrine of the neo cons makes one a neo con. Rumhead and cheneyburton are neo cons.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 05:45 PM
Certainly you didn't expect anything less? When the "other shoe drops" on this I'd bet a major oil company or a pharmaceutical(sp?) company is involved.
CALLING ALL CELEBRITIES!
Bill O'Reilly keeps beating you up with the question, "Do you want the United States to win the war in Iraq?"
The correct response to this question is:
"I agree with Donald Rumsfeld on this point. I want the Iraqis to win the war in Iraq."
Geez, Paul got up on the wrong side of the bed again today.
Monday morning's show accusing Sec. Webb of being a pornographer.
****
What a disgusting attack on Jim Webb. From George Allen who didn't serve one day in the military. It's the same sort of slander that Bush did to Kerry. Bush never stepped foot on a battlefield. He didn't even qualify as a pilot! Yet, his goons attacked Kerry's service record. Cheney never even served in the cocktail hour squad like Bush. He got a record 5 deferrkments.
These Republicans are all chicken hawks. It's all well and good to send other people's kids off to die but when it comes to them, the bunch of these cowards are MIA.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 05:50 PM
Nope, unions are for losers - I've never had a losers job - always been management.
The "smarts" or rather, the lack thereof of neo cons is clearly demonstrated by the present situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nope, unions are for losers - I've never had a losers job - always been management.
****
You benefitted from unions as has every american worker. But, you are too much of a right wing troll to even realize it.
What did you manage? Cow pie collecting.
Well ain't you special. But without those "losers" you would not have had any job at all, because you would have had no one to "manage."
5 defferments is certainly no record, he got one for being married and one for each year he was in college. Being married would have been enough.
Ex-White House Official to Be Sentenced
By Matt Apuzzo
The Associated Press
Friday 27 October 2006
Washington - Lawyers sought leniency Friday for a former Bush administration official convicted in a lobbying scandal. But the judge suggested he would be moved only if David Safavian expressed remorse.
"Get up here and tell me, 'I agree I concealed. I agree I obstructed justice,'" U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said during the sentencing hearing. "I don't believe he's done that."
Safavian was expected to address the judge Friday afternoon before a sentence was handed down.
In the first jury conviction out of the Jack Abramoff lobbying probe, Safavian was convicted in June of lying to investigators about his relationship with the lobbyist while Safavian was chief of staff in the General Services Administration.
As the hearing began Friedman said he was leaning toward a prison term of 15 to 21 months but had not made up his mind.
Safavian's attorneys said he accepted responsibility for his behavior. Friedman repeatedly criticized that claim, saying Safavian has denied committing any crimes and even now has not shown remorse.
Prosecutors wanted a three-year sentence, arguing that Safavian lied on the stand.
Abramoff is cooperating with an FBI corruption investigation. He has admitted using gifts to influence lawmakers.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706F.shtml
****
One Republican crook in jail, 1000's more to go!
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 05:56 PM
And Sen. Allen (R-VA) proves yet again he is an idiot. The alleged act of pedophilia that Sen. Allen asserts is actually a cultural tradition of Vietnam.
5 defferments is certainly no record, he got one for being married and one for each year he was in college. Being married would have been enough.
****
Must be tough defending the Republican chicken hawks.
Rumsfeld Tells War Critics to "Back Off"
By Pauline Jeleinek
The Associated Press
Friday 27 October 2006
Washington - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday that anyone demanding deadlines for progress in Iraq should "just back off," because it is too difficult to predict when Iraqis will resume control of their country.
During an often-combative Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld said that while benchmarks for security, political and economic progress are valuable, "it's difficult. We're looking out into the future. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty."
He said the goals have no specific deadlines or consequences if they are not met by specific dates.
"You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn't met," Rumsfeld told reporters. "That is not what this is about."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706D.shtml
Well Rummy, a guillotine wouldn't be bad - as long as the right necks are under it.
There is no intention by the Republicans to do anything about Iraq. They are merely lying and distorting history when they say they never been all about stay the course.
Republicans = Stay The Course = More needless deaths and wasted money
I feel sorry for all of those people who have been "trying to make a difference" in the Lamont race. Now that Lamont is poised to lose by 20 points (60 - 40). It is just so sad that it will turn out that they made no difference at all.
Discussion of the past is fun and controversal, but, getting back to the present. At this point, the mindset of the voters is carved in stone. The task at hand is to GOTV. I trust that our hard working organizations in every state will focus on that crucial Point.
And Sen. Allen (R-VA) proves yet again he is an idiot. The alleged act of pedophilia that Sen. Allen asserts is actually a cultural tradition of Vietnam.
****
Bob,
I read that! Allen is merely distracting from the simple fact that he is a racist. This is classic Rove strategy - attack your opponent on their strength. That's why he went after Webb;s military record. Allen hasn't even earned the right to polish Webb's shoes. He is a nothing, a coward that hid out in a dude ranch during the war. The man is a total moron and a racist to boot.
Must be tough defending the Republican chicken hawks.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 06:05 PM
Well, you have no problem defending Clinton who was a draft dodger and "loathed the military".
the mindset of the voters is carved in stone.
****
rashlimbo,
Not necessarily. Keep in mind that there are many voters that don't make up their minds until the last couple of days. Of course. GOTV is important as well.
Well, you have no problem defending Clinton who was a draft dodger and "loathed the military".
****
A typical troll - keep changing the subject.
Webb's kiddy porn have screwed his chances - he has no chance to win in Virginia. Better concentrate on the other races now.
Jim Webb delivered the Democratic radio address and he was tough, tough, tough. Webb's opponent, George Felix Macaca Spitter Allen, has been a staunch follower of the failed Bush "stay the course" strategy":
"Since 2003, President Bush has laid out nine different plans for victory in Iraq, none of them serious and none of them workable. And most seriously, this incompetence has hindered our ability to fight international terror," Webb said.
It marked the second time since July 1 that Webb, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, has given the Democrats' address. Both times, his focus has been Iraq.
Webb warned in a newspaper column in 2002, the year before Bush ordered the Iraq invasion, that a war there would destabilize the oil-rich Middle East and mire U.S. forces in a bloody and protracted conflict. As of Friday, 2,810 American troops had died in Iraq.
"It gives me no great pleasure today to be saying `I told you so,'" said Webb, whose son, Jimmy, is a Marine on active duty in Iraq. "It pains me as an American that our casualties are again escalating while this president and his followers are still incapable of bringing forward an intelligent, commonsense approach to ending our involvement there."
Unlike Webb, Allen has no military experience. He just likes to pretend he's tough. Just like he pretends he's a cowboy. The image that sums up this race is their boots. Webb wears his son's combat boots. Allen wears his costume cowboy boots:
****
Tee, Hee, Hee ...
George Felix Macaca Spitter Allen indeed! Republican racist.
Well, I've gotta go club some baby seals - I've got skinners coming in the morning.
2008 presidential contender "once spit on his wife" - George Allen asked to release his divorce records to confirm if it was him
by Joe in DC - 10/28/2006 10:26:00 AM
George Allen is now obsessed with Jim Webb's fiction. It's the facts about George Allen that people want. The facts that Allen is hiding. The facts about Allen's sealed divorce records.
Josh Marshall first broached the subject Thursday night:
If Allen really wants to play rough, maybe it's time for some Democrats to start going on the shows and asking about that sealed divorce records of Allen's. All those reporters have a pretty good idea of what's in there. But Sen. Allen (R-VA) just won't agree to let them see it.
It's almost like he's spitting in their face.
Political Wire follows up:
Update: A very reputable political reporter tells me this isn't from Democratic opposition research and that it's probably coming out because many feel Allen "crossed the line" when he started talking about Jim Webb's novels.
I'm told divorce records are usually sealed for two reasons: (a) to protect kids, and (b) to protect large financial fortunes. Neither situation applies in Allen's case, so the suspicion is that it's something not very nice.
Update II: A clue might be in Ryan Lizza's recent piece on Mark Warner that cites a story that had been "making the rounds" about a 2008 presidential contender who "once spit on his wife." That rumor was also about Allen.
Allen is a renowned spitter. A former reporter posted a diary at DailyKos based on a column she wrote for a paper in Virginia:
Well, I've gotta go club some baby seals - I've got skinners coming in the morning.
****
Make sure you collect some more cow pies and by all means go buy some fish brains at Wal-Mart's.
Adios fool.
Please find me a quote where Bill Clinton uttered the words that he "loathed the military" because we were active duty his entire presidency and I never heard any such nonsense. I heard other people try to smear him by inference but I have never seen that statement, or even that sentiment, attributed directly to him.
By the way, there is a big difference between loathing a military action undertaken by the US and loathing the military itself. I loathe the action in Iraq, but I have a hell of a lot more respect and admiration for the troops who have been assigned the mission than the neo-con chicken-hawks who dreamed up this splendid mess.
Please cite your source.
Please find me a quote where Bill Clinton uttered the words that he "loathed the military"
****
bluegirl,
Frosty has no sources or facts. He is a typical Republican waterboy.
Our guy had a student deferment. He's a draft dodger and Cheney isn't? I'm sorry but just how the hell does that math work?
Wes Clark To CT Voters A YouTube Presentation ...
Seems obvious enough to me. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
Allen was born March 8, 1952. He would have been eligible for three drafts. My husband was born in December 1953 and he was in two.
Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 28, 2006 at 06:11 PM
President Clinton, second only to FDR in the 20th century, was pursuing a Rhodes scholarship at the most prestigous university on the planet. President Bush was AWOL and VP Cheney was hiding under his bed behind his wife's skirt. You're lucky the 22nd Amendment was passed otherwise President Clinton would still be President.
I don't think Allen was old enough for Vietnam.
****
Once again changing the subject.
Typical Republican waterboy troll.
In his letter to the Arkansas ROTC explaining why he reneged on his agreement, he stated that he "loathed" the military.
Google it.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 06:20 PM Please cite your source.
It comes from a song by the Temptations: Just My Imagination
But it was just my imagination
running away with me.
It was just my imagination
running away with me...
That won't stop me from demanding that bullshit be backed up. When it isn't I beat the offender to death with it.
I like bare-knuckle politics. I am enjoying beating these chuckleheads bloody and leaving them with their hats in their hands cryin' for their mama's.
Allen was born March 8, 1952. He would have been eligible for three drafts. My husband was born in December 1953 and he was in two.
****
Allen was hiding out on a dude ranch while Webb served and went on to become an admiral. Allen doesn't deserve to be in the same room with Webb.
He's a rascist chicken-hawk and stupid too!
Hastert Office Blocked Corruption Probe
Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.
The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert’s chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry, which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret security office and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks from contractors to a Defense Department employee.
****
Sweet huh? Hastert is a criminal. He should resign along with the other Republican criminals that covered up for Foley.
President Bush was AWOL and VP Cheney was hiding under his bed behind his wife's skirt.
****
Amen! Bush didn't even qualify as a polot and the tough guy veep couldn't be bothered serving.
Buzz in Virginia-Something "Not Very Nice" About Sen. Allen
Emails began pouring in earlier today about a rumor on Capitol Hill about some trouble in Sen. George Allen's (R-VA) divorce file. Josh Marshall and others cannot get a response from the Allen campaign.
It seems everyone is emptying their opposition research files today.
Update: A very reputable political reporter tells me this isn't from Democratic opposition research and that it's probably coming out because many feel Allen "crossed the line" when he started talking about Jim Webb's novels.
I'm told divorce records are usually sealed for two reasons: (a) to protect kids, and (b) to protect large financial fortunes. Neither situation applies in Allen's case, so the suspicion is that it's something not very nice.
Update II: A clue might be in Ryan Lizza's recent piece on Mark Warner that cites a story that had been "making the rounds" about a 2008 presidential contender who "once spit on his wife." That rumor was also about Allen. More
****
Allen is a dirt bag.
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Gore-Obama2008 on October 28, 2006 at 06:25 PM
Snopes
It includes Clinton's complete letter to Colonel Holmes. Here's the portion of the letter that moonbats love to spin in their delusion.
And that is where I am now, writing to you because you have been good to me and have a right to know what I think and feel. I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one story will help you understand more clearly how so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military, to which you and other good men have devoted years, lifetimes, of the best service you could give. To many of us, it is no longer clear what is service and what is disservice, or, if it is clear, the conclusion is likely to be illegal.
Many good business ideas do come from Repubs - they have had some experience in managing money, right?
****
As long as it isn't my money! Because they have a talent for spending it and then cooking the books to cover it up.
Josh Marshall hints Allen campaign's Webb novel ploy is a decoy
The Allen campaign refuses to return our calls asking whether Sen. Allen will release his sealed divorce records. We're not the only news outlet asking, just the only one telling you how the Allen campaign is responding. Heck, one major national daily had a reporter out in LA for at least week trying to nail down the story. It's what every Washington insider is talking about: what's inside those sealed records down in Albemarle County. Now that the Allen campaign is about to go on the airwaves about sex scenes in Jim Webb's books, maybe you should know about this too.
Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
Frank Morales
The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.
October 26, 2006
In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.
Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."
President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."
****
This maniac Bush is setting himself up as a dictator.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 06:28 PM That won't stop me from demanding that bullshit be backed up. When it isn't I beat the offender to death with it.
This is GOP politics, BlueGirl. They make up stuff, sling mud, and then run away before they have to answer for it.
And then go do it all over again somewhere else.
They are not interested in debate.
And in fact, they are not even interested in what's best for the country.
They are amoral. It's all a game. A hobby. They will play with others if some are willing or they will play themselves. It's all the same to them.
hey are amoral. It's all a game. A hobby.
****
dorsana, I agree. It's not at all a battle of ideas with them, it's a battle to maintain power.
here's some commentary on the clinton and the military thing- as expected, some still want to bring up things from the past and use stuff out of context to try to bludgeon people with cowpoop:
Clinton never said, "I abhor the military." Here's what he did write in a December 3, 1969, letter to Holmes:
I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one story will help you to understand more clearly how so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military, to which you and other good men have devoted years, lifetimes, of the best service you could give.
Well, as Bill Clinton was writing that letter the United States was hemorhaging officers. In the wake of Viet Nam, more academy graduates left service than at any time since the Civil War, when fully half the army left in one fell swoop.
And the same thing is happening again. Are you aware that the Army is missing 3000 officers in the active duty ranks? How about the fact that the reserves are short 11,000 Leiutenants and Captains?
You really think that this president has the unflagging support of the military? Under Clinton there were waiting lists for OCS in every branch, and standards were tough. Only the best made it. Today no one is getting turned down, and few are washing out.
When we ask who is going to lead the recruits that signed up asnd met quota, the really scary answer is who indeed.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 06:42 PM It's not at all a battle of ideas with them
It comes from a sense of entitlement, rjsnj. The world is their toilet.
if you want to talk about someone who truly loaths the military, i think don rumsfeld has to be placed at the top of the list- read janis karpinski's book- her discussion of the "tpfdl" (time-phased force and deployment list) is worth the time of reading the book- a superior had told her once that "the tpfdl saves lives"- don rumsfeld repeatedly told our military's senior commanders to throw the tpfdl out the window because he didn't think we needed it- well, we can see the results of his arrogance is the deaths of many u.s. military and countless thousands of iraqis
I need some help! I've been asked to write an ad for our local paper this week about the importance of voting and voting Democratic. Does anyone have a website they could point me too that would help make a great ad? I've got the Democratic vision cards, I just need a bit more. We've had low voter turn out in our area and we're trying to get them out!
Thanks for any help you can give!
Kelly
It comes from a sense of entitlement, rjsnj. The world is their toilet.
****
dorsano, that sounds about right. That fits with their arrogance and incompetence. It's a party led by a privileged few who manage to manipulate people using emotional issues.
Posted by dorsano on October 28, 2006 at 06:34 PM
Thanks for the complete story. Of course, we never get that from the other side of the aisle.
Are Missouri voters aware that Jim talent, who flogs his seat on the Armed Services Committee has missed 65 of the 95 meeting that have occured in his tenure?
Way to support the troops, Jim.
rjsnj - where did the guillotine comment come from?
Rummy spending too much time thinking about torture or does he fear the mobs in America rising up against this administration and hauling him off to the square to be guillotined?
of course, i guess it should be no surprise that rumdum loaths the military- after all, the military is nothing if not one of the largest governmental organizations in this country- and everyone knows that rumdum and his ilk loath the government- hence, the question that i always ask- why would anyone vote for someone to run our government who doesn't believe in it?
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Gore-Obama2008 on October 28, 2006 at 06:53 PM Thanks for the complete story.
The complete story would include the inferiority complex that some people in country still have - one that has festered for almost 40 years - and turned into the hatered of anything "left"
It's morphed from "My Country Right or Wrong" to "Hate the Left; Right or Wrong"
of course, i speak to hastily, you say- give them time, and they will privatize the military too- then we will have more fraud and waste just like halliburton industries and mercenary groups like blackwater
did folks here see who is representing the jerk-off mercenary group that was responsible for the nightmare of fallujah? none other than our ol' buddy, ken starr
Our country and our government have changed so much in my 64 yaars that the old terms "conservative" and "liberal" don't really describe either party. But we continue to be hurt because we can't seem to get out of the line of fire when the radical right calls us "tax and spend liberals". If only we could get out the message that we don't need either new taxes or tax cuts...we need increases in the number of jobs and income. In otherwords, we need to increase disposeable spending in the segment of population that usually spends all of it's disposable income. When you spend money, you support other jobs that also pay taxes. Those folks spend their money and pay taxes, etc. Investment money, money given to people who already have all of the disposeable income they can spend, goes out of circulation and into equity. We should deny being the "tax and spend" party, but admit to being the "spend and tax" party. Still not a good handle, but you get the idea. Lets invest in our own infrastructure and let the resultant strong economy help other countries. See? That used to be the Republican line. We need to redefine for the voting public what it means to be a Democrat. The old term "liberal" is now just a nebulous sound bite.
If you are an undecided voter, the choice is clear.
you know, it has occurred to me that we give chimpy way too much credit by suggesting that he has become king george- it would probably be more realisic to call him duke george, for he merely rules a part of the fiefdom of the corporate hegemony that is part and parcel of the 21st century's version of feudalism
rjsnj - where did the guillotine comment come from?
****
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706D.shtml
Rumsfeld:
"You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn't met," Rumsfeld told reporters. "That is not what this is about."
****
Rummy is speaking figuratively. I couldn't resist the temptation for some "snark".
Bottom line is that the Bushitas are not at all serious about changing course in Iraq. They are playing word games, trying to make it look as if they "might" have changed their minds.
Bush has been very clear. We will be in Iraq until 2008 and there will be no major policy changes.
Posted by coeur-de-fer on October 28, 2006 at 07:03 PM We need to redefine for the voting public what it means to be a Democrat. The old term "liberal" is now just a nebulous sound bite.
A "new" Democratic party is being "born/reborn" right now in Montana, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, southern MN and across the West and and Midwest.
Democrats will win "red" seats in all those states this cycle as the GOP sheds more and more rual voters. The old New Deal farmer/labor coalition is showing signs of rebirth.
Why you fight a war is irrevelant.
You have it pretty well nailed, sharp.
why would anyone vote for someone to run our government who doesn't believe in it?
***
The Republicans believe in power. Helping people is not on their radar. They help the wealthy and the coporate maintain their status. They use the military to advance the goals of the corporate masters. Their wars have nothing to do with protecting the people from "terrists".
Okay, I'm going to catch hell for this here, I just know it. But what the hell?
A lot of us in these red states are big-D Democrats and small-ell libertarians. We take every word of the Constitution seriosly, and in our way of thinking the real "ten commandments" are the Bill of Rights. We even like that second one.
Accept that, toss the gun control plank and have back in two election cycles in the west and midwest what was lost in the south in 1964.
Evening, Dems
From Billmon:
The Enemies of Truth
The corporate media have finally noticed that a very large, very rabid skunk is busy spraying its caustic stink all over the 2006 election campaign. Some journalists, like the Washington Post's Michael Grunwald, are even acknowledging -- oh-so-gently -- that the varmint has a name:
While negative campaigning is a tradition in American politics, this year's version in many races has an eccentric shade, filled with allegations of moral bankruptcy and sexual perversion . . The result has been a carnival of ugly, especially on the GOP side, where operatives are trying to counter what polls show is a hostile political environment by casting opponents as fatally flawed characters.
It's an improvement, at least, over the spin being put on the story at ABC News, where Mark Halperin is taking his promise to keep conservatives happy this November literally, and blaming the Democrats for ads they haven't run yet.
But no one in the corporate media, to my knowledge, has even come close to putting an accurate lead on the story -- which would look something like this:
did folks here see who is representing the jerk-off mercenary group that was responsible for the nightmare of fallujah? none other than our ol' buddy, ken starr
Posted by jefro on October 28, 2006 at 07:03 PM
Please post a link to that article. This is one that I'd love to find out more about. Ken Starr's performance has always struck me as more than a little crooked.
good evening Democrats
everyone have interesting reports on their activities for the day? looks like i'll be spending the remaining campaign time across the river helping Claire's campaign.
we will share some of our resources here. what i love about our little blue heaven, is that we go from county to county to fill in where the organization needs help. none of our operations are internet related, btw.
the subtle dueling trolls are back...love that banjo music. gregg, next time spitballs are acceptable. i'll bring martinis to saturday detention, in those little airline bottles i collect.
If you are an undecided voter, the choice is clear.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 07:06 PM
I like it!
rjsnj- see my 7:08 post
****
Missed that one jefro, the blog is quite active tonight.
Yeah, you might be real. Bush is a King wannabe. He's still not quite there but he's working at it.
Your comment about 21th century feudalism is right on target.
Kelly from Georgia - There is information on this site. I don't know enough about your local candidates to be of much help, but your local Dem organization should have info
Here's another - not trying to be negative, but I am sick to death of MSM. So, what else is new...
Peggy Noonan and the rotting pundit class
One of the more corrupt pundit phenomena is the way in which the most loyal and worshipful Bush followers, who spent the last five years praising the President and doing everything possible to enable his most radical policies, are now suddenly pretending to be so deeply dissatisfied with his rule. Now that the Bush movement is collapsing, they all want to pretend that they knew all along that things weren't going well and that the President was deeply flawed. Suddenly, they're not a part of any of it and bear no responsibility for it because, all along, they felt the President wasn't doing the right thing and, besides, he was never really loyal to their political beliefs
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/10/peggy-noonan-and-rotting-pundit-class.html#links
sandy- here is the article on starr representing blackwater- jeremy scahill deserves an award for his work tracking the scumbags that run this mercenary group:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061113/whitewater_to_blackwater
Hiya, Fade. I'll take one of those martinis now. I'm getting nervous - shades of 2000 and 2004.
Now that the Bush movement is collapsing, they all want to pretend that they knew all along that things weren't going well
Well yeah, but there was a buck to be made.
Suddenly, they're not a part of any of it and bear no responsibility for it because, all along, they felt the President wasn't doing the right thing
Bull.Shit. Accountability, along the lines of a Truman Committee needs to be the first order of business.
rj- didn't mean to suggest you had missed something, just thought your comment was related to what i posted subsequent to my earlier post
i have a friend who teaches medieval history at a university in texas, and he has talked for years about the rise of corporate feudalism in the modern era- i am more and more convinced that he is right about the connections between the two periods of history
Posted by coeur-de-fer on October 28, 2006 at 07:03 PM
Elemental but so true. Dosen't take an economist to understand this; only someone looking for a big advantage and with no scruples could espouse the voo doo economics of trickle down. It is such a scam.
Re: Posted by BobVADemHawk-Gore-Obama2008 on October 28, 2006 at 05:43 PM
Webb did not make the reception, but most of the people I spoke with think these he has effectively responded to those ads.
Blackwater must be a little concerned since there were some interesting developments for Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, said that in 13 oversight hearings on the war in Iraq the committee found more than $1 billion (euro790 million) in waste, fraud, abuse and what it called "shoddy work" by contractors.
"I'm convinced that this is the biggest waste, fraud and abuse in the history of this country," Dorgan said.
If the Democrats take control of the Senate, he said, they will launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence leading up to the war to wrongdoing by contractors.
HuffPo had the story on Ken Starr.
Sandy, go Cards! Congratulation
Accept that, toss the gun control plank and have back in two election cycles in the west and midwest what was lost in the south in 1964.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 07:13 PM
Welcome, BGRS
You've got a nice blog. Someone on Air America Radio stated that the National Rifle Association was the big winner this cycle. NOBODY is talking about gun control, except the reThug noise machine in a disingenuous way.
Personally, given what the Arbusto crime family has done under the direction of KKKarl, i'm inclined to suggest that we all prepare ourselves for the executive order issuing martial law.
rise of corporate feudalism in the modern era
****
jefro,
I believe that is what is occurring. Instead of "family clan emblems" we have corporate logos. It's getting to the point where they own everything and the mega-consolidation on a global scale is truly frightening. Have you noticed that even the telephone company is forming a mega-corporation once again? When the last time, the United States even attempted to have an anti-trust suit? Banks are now absolutely monstrous.
Yep, it's definitely new age feudalism. Instead of moats and castles we have gated mansions and lavish corporate headquarters surrounded by armed militia.
Good evening
Both the DEMS and REPS are actively and furiously courting the black vote which both parties know is crucial in many of the races throughout the country.
Thanks, Fade2Bluz. It's the best megaphone I've got.
toss the gun control plank and have back in two election cycles in the west and midwest what was lost in the south in 1964.
****
Keep the guns, we might need them when the fascists come knocking. That may be the only thing that saves America. Get real nervous if the GOP ever pushes for outlawing guns.
Posted by coeur-de-fer on October 28, 2006 at 07:03 PM Still not a good handle, but you get the idea.
:)
You're right, not a good handle.
There are fourt types of waste and rot in government:
1). Outright corruption.
2). Earmarks and catering to special interests.
3). Program waste due to inefficiencies
4). Ideological blindness.
A message that attacks government waste resonates with just about everyone. The current Democratic Party language of working toward our "common good" tacks in that direction.
But I would start any discussion of taxes by calling attention to rot in government with specific examples.
I'm a real live scientist. I know how to make ginpowder from guano and cast lead.
And I own 40 acres of timber that is off the grid.
Rove Protege Behind Racy Tennessee Ad
CBS
Thursday 26 October 2006
Nashville, Tenn. A protege of White House political guru Karl Rove produced the controversial Republican National Committee ad targeting Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr., that some have called racist, CBS News has learned.
The ad, in which a white woman with blonde hair and bare shoulders looks into the camera and whispers, "Harold, call me," and then winks, was produced by Scott Howell, the former political director for Rove's consulting firm in Texas.
The RNC ad doesn't mention that "Harold" is black, but the NAACP and others have complained the commercial makes an implicit appeal to deep-seated racial fears about black men and white women.
The race between Ford Jr. and Republican Bob Corker is among the most competitive and nasty U.S. Senate races in the nation. But it didn't just happen with a racially-charged ad from Republicans, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.
The Democrats struck first weeks ago by playing the class card in an add which states that Corker's "personal income grew by 40 percent to $11 million."
Howell is no stranger to controversy. He was media consultant for Sen. Saxby Chambliss when his campaign ran an ad showing a picture of then-Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who lost his legs in the Vietnam War, alongside Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
He also produced an ad for Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn that accused Democrat Brad Carson of being soft on welfare while showing two black hands counting cash.
Howell also worked for Republican Jerry Kilgore in last year's Virginia gubernatorial race when Kilgore ran an ad saying that Gov. Tim Kaine wouldn't have used the death penalty against Hitler.
Race was always an element of the Tennessee contest as Ford seeks to become the first black man elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction. The issue slammed into the public consciousness this week with the latest ad.
"I've not met any observer who didn't immediately say, 'Oh my gosh!' It was a race card," said Vanderbilt University professor John Geer, an expert on political attack ads.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706M.shtml
****
Incredible, the same slime are behind that awful poltical attack ad against Harold Ford.
I knew there was a reason I left the church.
For much of the past 25 years, a small group of Catholic intellectuals has worked to inject its radical religious ideas into the nation's politics. The leader of this theoconservative movement is Father Richard John Neuhaus. In the pages of his monthly magazine First Things, Neuhaus and his ideological allies set the theocon agenda on a range of policies. Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute argues that the American founders were orthodox religious believers who thought of the United States as a Christian nation -- and that American-style capitalism perfectly conforms to Catholic social teaching. Robert P. George of Princeton University insists that abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage (and perhaps even contraception and masturbation) should be outlawed. And George Weigel of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center uses Catholic just-war reasoning to justify neoconservative foreign policy. As the U.S. began to prepare for war in Iraq in 2002, the theocons set out to provide theological justification for the coming conflagration.
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 07:38 PM Get real nervous if the GOP ever pushes for outlawing guns.
:)
That's pretty much what Tester (D) in Montana said in the last debate. "With Washington DC passing stuff like the Patriot Act, we damn well better keep our guns."
I'm a real live scientist. I know how to make ginpowder from guano and cast lead.
****
nluegirl,
Not so loud! The Bushitas are listening.
Just kidding!
I changed my mind about gun control a long time ago. As long as people register their guns, learn how to use them and keep them away from minors, I say leave them alone.
The Bushitas scare me more than a person with a shotgun they use for hunting.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 07:41 PM Oops. I know how to make gunpowder, too.
I didn't know what to make of the ginpowder. I was wondering if I should call the cops. :)
I'd like you to understand the difference between the movement Osama bin Laden leads and the one Iraqi militias lead. This is important because it destroys almost immediately the notion that fighting Iraqis is fighting Osama's movement.
Osama fights to rid the Middle East of foreign influence. He has done this since learning that a less well equiped Afghan army could drive Russians out. They fight because they have decided that all foreign influence leads to social decay.
Iraqis fight to rid Iraq of foreign presense. Foreign influence, so long as it provides Iraq's leaders with something they desire, is wanted. They fight because they exist in a power void and he who fights best assumes the top position.
Terrorism is a tactic that both movements employ. There is no terrorist movement, just warriors who use terrorist tactics.
Out here in the middle, gun control means you can hit your target and control your emotions while doing so.
That's pretty much what Tester (D) in Montana said in the last debate. "With Washington DC passing stuff like the Patriot Act, we damn well better keep our guns."
****
dorsano,
I think Tester is absolutely right! Not only the Patriot Act but the MCA and now Bush has perverted the law so he can control the national guard. All the raving maniac has to do is to declare an "emergency".
Sunday NY Times
Democrats Push to Counter G.O.P. in Turnout Race
Howard Dean, the Democratic national chairman, said Friday that he was confident that a swell of enthusiasm among Democratic voters, combined with what he characterized as despondency among Republicans, would push Democrats to victory, an assessment that even some Republican strategists said they shared. But in an interview, Mr. Dean said that Republicans continued to have a clear superiority in identifying voters they can persuade to vote for their candidates and then getting them to cast ballots.
“I think we’ve closed the gap, but I don’t think we are there yet,” Mr. Dean said. “It’s going to take some time. I think we could match them in 2008, if everything goes right, in voter turnout.”
Posted by jefro on October 28, 2006 at 07:21 PM
Thanks for the link - This is something to watch. It will be interesting to see what happens if court hears the case.
There is so much going on here I'm having trouble keeping up - re media - Elizabeth Edwards was on Hardball and got Chris to admit he has republican leanings (as if that would suprise anyone)
I can only hope to live long enough to see someone held accountable for the money going down the drain in Iraq. Maybe the Chinese will demand an accounting before the next loan.
As if things are bad enough, the Ford ad has Canada upset for a line Canada can take care of North Korea they aren't busy. What moron came up with that line? Do any of these people google anything other than maps? Maybe if they did they would know Canadian soldiers are dying in Afghanistan.
All the flap about Webb's books - Did GW or Karl read? Heard they were having a contest to see who could read the most books.
Terrorism is a tactic that both movements employ. There is no terrorist movement, just warriors who use terrorist tactics.
And that 5-15,000 better get busy if they want to kill us all. I'm not going to behead myself, you know. (Not more than once, anyway. But think of the ratings!)
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 07:50 PM I think Tester is absolutely right!
He was kidding on the square. He was responding to the Republican candidate who claimed that he was going to take guns away from the ranchers in MT.
Terrorism is a tactic that both movements employ. There is no terrorist movement, just warriors who use terrorist tactics.
****
marine,
You nailed it! Bush has made the false argument that there must be a terrorist movement, Islamo Facism?, because they use terrorist tactics. That is patently absurd. Resistance groups commonly use such tactics. Even nation states resorted to using terror tactics such as the Japanese suicide bombers in WWII.
Golly, I was joking when I said if Bush was re-elected I wanted a gun for my birthday. Now y'all are telling me, I have to get my husband to show me how to use his.
Sure hope I can hit my target and control my emotions.
hate to argue with you Blue Girl, but until we stop having kids bringing guns to school and shooting other kids and the Principal, etc, I still say there has to be some type of control. Columbine proved that guns purchased from gun shows should never happen.
also, until someone can explain WHY anyone needs armor piercing bullets, and Tommy guns, I will continue to say they should be banned.
It always amazes me that the TOP lobbyist money is from those like NRA and the Drug Companies. What do they want to buy SOOOO badly? Obviously stuff that helps their bottom line a thousand times over..
Posted by dixiehen on October 28, 2006 at 07:50 PM What moron came up with that line?
He posts on the blog. Don't you recognize him?
Maher Arar is the Canadian citizen who, based on what a Canadian judge found to be unsubstantiated accusations that he was a terrorist, was detained in New York City by the U.S. government and then renditioned to Syria in 2002, where he says he was tortured for 10 months. He was finally released and was allowed to return to Canada, where a commission that examined the conditions under which he was detained concluded that “there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada.
Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who is barred from entering the United States, delivered his acceptance speech for the Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award in a pre-recorded videotape. This is a transcript of his speech, which was viewed at the award ceremony hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies on Oct. 18, 2006 in Washington, DC.
Islamo Facism
I wish these morons would check an actual effing dictionary and find out what fascism actually, you know, means.
Fascism is a statist concept, a merging of corporate and government interests. That describes the United States better than it describes al Qae'da, a stateless group of religious fundamentalists.
Posted by PamB on October 28, 2006 at 08:01 PM
We're talkin about language and how it conveys message Ms. Feisty, Pammy. :)
Maher Arar is the Canadian citizen who, based on what a Canadian judge found to be unsubstantiated accusations that he was a terrorist,
****
This is truly a terrible story. In fact, over 90% of the people that have been detained post 9/11 for "terrorism" were released - never charged with any sort of crime. In fact, it's already been proven that vigilantes in Pakistan were making false claims just to collect bounties!
How does that help our country? It's not at all just and in the end will bite us in the rear when other nations retaliate against our troops.
Thanks dorsano I needed a good laugh
cyn - Maher Arar tried to file law suit in this country but was denied. He has law suit pending in Canada.
Never hate to argue with anyone. Sacred cows make the best burgers.
Lets enforce the laws we have on the books.
And control the damned hand-guns. Close the gun-show loophole for handguns.
And educate! I went to school in a rural area in the 70's, after my dad retired. We took hunter safety courses in fourth, fifth-eighth grade. The high-school boys parked their pick-ups by the gym door and every damned one had a loaded shotgun and a loaded .22 in the gunrack. If it was deer season, they probably had a .270. too.
We never had an incident and everyone knew the fundamentals of gun safety.
Fascism is a statist concept, a merging of corporate and government interests.
****
bluegirl,
It would be completely contradictory for an Islamic theocracy to merge the corporate and government. If you examine the Islamic theocracies, they tend to be anti-corporate.
The focus on Islam as the motivating factor behind terrorist attacks has only fueled recruitment in a region that is 80% Muslim. When building an army recruiters use belief as a means by which to motivate persons to join the fight. Those who attacked us on September 11, 2001 were Muslim, but that was not what motivated them. What motivated those men was the destruction of culture that they had seen in life. Manipulative men with a thurst for power motivated those men.
Do you know where their finances came from? Do you realize that many of them came from people who have no problem dealing with foreigners? Osama may himself be being manipulated by these men who live in luxury while he lives in caves. These men worship only power.
Bluegirl - I think they have to invent words because GW can't pronounce half the english words correctly
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 08:05 PM I wish these morons would check an actual effing dictionary and find out what fascism actually, you know, means.
They know what it means. They need a scapegoat. They can't come right out and declare war on Islam but they can put the two words together and let the listener use whatever latent xenephobia exists to make the connection.
That's the why the race in MN-CD6 is so important. Keith Ellison (D) is a black Muslim. The GOP is trying to paint him as an angry, black, anti-semetic, male who supports terrorists.
His race is more a race against (and refutation of) the GOP politics of hate than anything else.
If that sort of politics can't be defeated in MN, the country is truely going to hell.
Thats what I was saying, RJ - they sound like morons to the truly informed.
By the way, the term "Islamo Fascists" was invented by the neoconservatives. I am not 100% sure but I think it came from Frank Gaffney. I heard Newt Gingrich use it many times as well as World War III (or is it IV). That is yet another paradigm adopted by the neoconservatives. They claim we are fighting WWIII (some say IV - the cold war was WWIII).
Sorry, that should have read, "Manipulative men with a thurst for power used that motivation to their own advantage."
Schwarzenegger tricks voters
with campaign fundraising shell game AGAIN!
Arnold Schwarzenegger evidently has sent out press releases that are supposed to serve as honest disclosure of his campaign fundraising, but take a closer look, because he's playing a shell game on the people of California.
Once again Ahnilld is side-stepping California's FAIR POLITICAL PRACTICES law which addresses disclosure of contributors and puts limits on how much contributors can donate. Voters in California can look and see during an election who is contributing to candidates' campaigns, and thereby get an idea of who the candidates' financial constituents are; voters may extrapolate how the candidates will behave if elected and how big donors might expect payback in the form of favorable votes, etc. Schwarzenegger bypassed this full-disclosure in 2003 and is bypassing it again.
nora's diary :: ::
STEP ONE in Ahnilld's Shell Game is donating to himself. In fact, the recent news states that Ahnilld has proudly contributed $21 million to his own election campaigns since he first ran in 2003. (Oh, should you be proud of Ahnilld? Should you applaud the way he is footing his own bill, paying his own way, carrying his own load? No! He's just a scammer!) Voters may erroneously assume Ahnilld is a personally committed guy who is not beholding to big donors! But it's just a pose -- just like all those oiled body poses Ahnilld did in his muscleman contest days! And by giving to himself, Schwarzenegger may avoid telling who is donating in greater quantities than they could ever donate as part of a campaign since limits are put on individual campaign donation size. What a scammer Schwarzenegger is!
STEP TWO in Ahnilld's Shell Game is getting paid back AFTER the election. Whether it is a loan to himself that is picked up or a tricky bit of bookkeeping through his own or another's PAC, Ahnilld will get back his money. Unfortunately, the voters will already have cast their votes WITHOUT EVER KNOWING who was footing Ahnilld's campaign bill! Of course, it's too late for voters to change their minds when they finally find out who Schwarznegger's Deep Pockets Friends are -- IF they ever DO find out! What a SCAM!
Especially foul -- and indicative of Schwarzenegger's cowardice -- is his continued portrayal of his 2003 campaign as self-funded, when by now all those who picked up his tab after the 2003 gubernatorial election should be CLEARLY disclosed to voters BY SCHWARZENEGGER HIMSELF. But Ahnilld obviously doesn't want voters to know his real campaign funding base of donors! Schwarzenegger is still pretending in these current announcements that he alone funded his first campaign. He's dishonest!
Ahnilld may think his audacity in pulling the same scam again is boldness; nope. His audacity is the punk-style insolence of a criminal. And Schwarzenegger's insolence is an insult to democracy and Californians' stated desire via the Fair Political Practices rules to have honest and full disclosure of campaign funding in California.
Arnold Schwarzenegger should be ashamed, but I doubt that he could feel that; criminals often cannot feel shame. (And he didn't seem to show any shame when he was sexually harrassing his employees in a serial fashion.)
Those who run crooked campaigns are crooked politicians and they make crooked elected officials. Schwarzenegger is a dishonest person who doesn't deserve public office.
Pam,
My stomach is in knots since you mentioned the Courant endorsement. I'm so sorry.
This is what they've done by moving the center to the left. They are pure, unadulterated evil. Joe is disgusting and I hope you guys get a miracle.
Don't give up!
I didn't know what to make of the ginpowder. I was wondering if I should call the cops. :)
Posted by dorsano on October 28, 2006 at 07:46 PM
dors, I think you take some bottled water, an olive and a fancy little glass and make a martini.
they sound like morons to the truly informed.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 08:18 PM
it is our national SHAME to put an estimate on that group--the truly informed
time for drinking liberally...the best place to build a grassroots campaign is still your local bar
amen to gregg's top of the thread message. peace
Marine - We know who financed Bin Laden against the russians, and who supported Sadam against the Iraqis. Are you suggesting these are the same people supporting the terrorists today?
Posted by fade2bluz on October 28, 2006 at 08:21 PM did you lick envelopes this morning?
I prepared GOTV lit drop packets for state races in two precints in my Senate Districts. They were short a car so I did one of the routes. Then I did a route in the other 1/2 of the district for two other state races.
Then I picked up the stuff I need for the GOTV event at my house Halloween night for my precinct.
You should run for Senate District chair in my district, Fade.
hello michael! your words always bring me joy [wrapped in rage, just the way i like it]
pleasure to see you
Sorry, my fingers are faster than my brain tonight - I meant supported Sadam against Iranians
Posted by steady-as-she-goes on October 28, 2006 at 08:24 PM dors, I think you take some bottled water, an olive and a fancy little glass and make a martini.
Sounds too Republican for me. I still think I should call the cops. :)
Many different movements are at work and receive funding from many different sources, there is no centralized control mechanism. All that these financiers have in common is that each desires power of his own part of the region. Many fight for control of the same piece of property. Their warriors are, for the most part, obvivious of the game being played at the highest levels.
{{fade}}
Thanks. I won't EVER give up! As a very wise friend from the blog told me, we have already won. That not only did we humiliate Lieberman by tossing him out of the Party, but
he can continue to belittle the Democrats and the party, but he will come across as a Republican .
We have shown Politicians that they have to have accountability----and have to answer to the grassroots, and the road to any office including the WH is thru us!
So I will be disappointed if Lamont should lose, but I will know our Message will resonate with all of them!
(thank you Dors, my good friend.)
dors,
my son's costume might inspire you. he will wear a kilt that i made for him, with a contraption he designed made from stuffed pantyhose... that will be part of the illusion that he's wearing his kilt proud. that's my boy...
enjoy your party! and thank you for all that you do. you will help to make sure that those politics won't win in Minnesota, and i thank you for it. you are appreciated.
So I will be disappointed if Lamont should lose, but I will know our Message will resonate with all of them!
****
pam,
I agree. We sent a message to the DINO's. Shape up or one day you may be shipped out!
{{{Pam}}}
your friend was absolutely correct! this good thing will grow. it's just the beginning
{{{Cyn}}}
it's wonderful to see you here with more frequency. i love all the action here, again. looking forward to your morning lineup
Posted by PamB on October 28, 2006 at 08:36 PM
You've seen Wes's ad for Lamont I'm sure. I posted it above. It's very well done.
He, Kerry and Edwards have stepped up and taken a clear stand and if the Lamont campaign had called on Feingold and some others earlier, they likely would have come too.
They should have asked the big dog's wife to come just to get her on record.
Like I said, Pam - democracy isn't perfect and things don't always turn out the way we think they should if that certainty should ever keeping us from trying to make a difference, we've lost.
the road to the White House in 2008 now runs through Lamont supporters. So you've already won.
And I'll thank you again.
Obama when asked about his youth "Yeah I inhaled. That was the point."
Now that's refreshing.
and rj, and Lizzybeth, both of you helped so much in the Primary battle for lamont, along with all of the rest of you who send donations, etc.
We here in CT appreciate your help, believe me.
You are all part of this movement.
gonna head out. there are some door to doors tomorrow, and if the weather is good, will be a part of them.
Have a good evening, Good dems!
Egypt has deployed at least 3,000 extra security forces near the border with the Gaza strip, according to officials.
The move comes a day after an Israeli newspaper reported that the Israeli government planned to attack the border region with precision-guided rockets.
Maariv reported Israeli troops would try to destroy tunnels allegedly used by Palestinian militants to smuggle arms from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.
Egypt says the possible Israeli mission could threaten 20,000 of its civilians.
The men from the police's central security force will join a 750 border guards already deployed in the area known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
'Smart' bombs
An Egyptian official told Reuters news agency in Cairo that reinforcements were requested after the Israeli report and over "fears of Palestinian militants breaching the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt".
The Israeli newspaper reported on Friday that precision-guided weapons would be used to penetrate underground and destroy the tunnel network that Israel says honeycombs the area, which is 11km (6.5 miles) long and about 100m (330ft) wide.
The decision to use "smart" bombs may be a substitute to reoccupying the region, the newspaper said.
Israel says it has been unable to control weapons smuggling into Gaza since it withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip last year.
Israel says huge amounts of munitions have been smuggled into Gaza via the tunnels. However, little evidence has been presented to support the use of such weaponry by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Here we go again
Posted by fade2bluz on October 28, 2006 at 08:38 PM make sure that those politics won't win in Minnesota, and i thank you for it.
Well I'm a bit concerned about a bunch of things actually.
We have a strong grass roots network here which is probably different than some of the other states in the 50 state strategy.
The DNC has been here and helped with organizers and updating the voter databases.
But there is a big disconnect bewteen the party at the state level and the party at the Senate District and precinct levels.
It looks to me like our Senate District chair has dropped the ball. We are doing GOTV in the district but we've had to try and coordinate from the bottom up.
Some believe that we must maintain a permanent presense inside the Middle East if we are to stop terrorist attacks from being carried out against the United States. In reality, those attacks have escalated at a rate equal to our ever increasing presense. Those who drive this failing approach have major control issues.
and rj, and Lizzybeth, both of you helped so much in the Primary battle for lamont, along with all of the rest of you who send donations, etc.
***
pam,
I would do all again without hesitation!
Have a good night.
So I will be disappointed if Lamont should lose, but I will know our Message will resonate with all of them!
Posted by PamB on October 28, 2006 at 08:36 PM
Your message will be that your message didn't resonate.
there are now photos in circulation of corker's kid at college enjoying herself that may be a bitof a problem with the right wing nuts. they can be seen at jesus general
Those who drive this failing approach have major control issues.
****
marine,
This is why I oppose building permanent bases in Iraq. It's a continuation of the failed policy that started with leaving a permanent base in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War.
I think Howie Dean is going to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail after this election. Throwing all that money away in Kansas and Wyoming with his goofey 50 state strategy and all.
Frosty, I answered you on the "Clinton ;oathed the military dodge. Here is the Permalink.
Your message will be that your message didn't resonate.
****
Frosty - you are a cockroach. You sit there in the dark waiting to post your crap.
You have no ideas to contribute. You are just an idiotic troll.
Get lost jerk, it's you that doesn't resonate.
Frosty, I answered you on the "Clinton ;oathed the military dodge. Here is the Permalink.
****
bluegirl,
Frosty isn't looking for answers, he's looking to cause people pain. That's the nature of mean spirited trolls such as him. He knows that he is posting crap and it calculated to get people angry.
You can debate him if you want but you'll quickly discover that he isn't here to debate just troll this blog. He's been doing it a long time and under dozen's of names as he has been banned from this blog a number of times.
Kansas will be purple in two election cycles. Ever heard of Kathleen Sebelius? How about Dennis Moore? Paul Morrison? Nancy Boyda is within striking distance of Jim Ryun, and two months ago she was written off. Now she might win on the coattails of other Democrats in red Kansas.
Howard Dean is looking like a savant to us in the middle. Because of his 50-state strategy we had candidates in every race and we were set to capitalize when the wheels came off your bus. (Thanks for that, by the way.)
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has endorsed Bryan Kennedy over Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner. They have been supporting Sensenbrenner for a looooong time, so this is a great sign! (so was the polling that showed Sensenbrenner under 50%!)
After reading the endorsement, you may want to donate to Bryan Kennedy's campaign.
Here is the endorsement:
billelliottjr's diary :: ::
Editorial: It's time to send the congressman home
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Oct. 28, 2006
http://www.jsonline.com/...
Two years ago, we recommended Jim Sensenbrenner for another term representing Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District. Today, we simply cannot. Sensenbrenner has been wrong on too much, from an immigration policy that puts him at odds with much of his own party and the business community to failure to exert meaningful oversight over White House domestic spying policies.
We recommend his opponent, Democrat Bryan Kennedy. He will be a competent, thoughtful congressman who can restore a sense of dignity and balance to the 5th District. It's time for that after years of folly from Sensenbrenner.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/28/204037/19
It doesn't get any more Repugnant than Sense-less-Brenner.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 09:04 PM
Well, the military will vote for Republicans 65% - 35% in this election just like they always do.
I don't answer him to convince him. I refute him more for us. And to remind him he's nothing. At Political Animal we have several like him. We deflate them to pass around the ammo.
Jim Webb Wows Us at Annandale, VA Rally, with Pics
by hcc in VA
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 05:37:35 PM PDT
Before an overflow crowd at Poe Middle School in Annandale, VA, this afternoon, Jim Webb spoke forcefully and eloquently. I hope you get the "flavor" of the event from these
photos
This northern Virginia rally included the three congressional candidates: Judy Feder (VA-10), running against 13 term incumbent Frank Wolf, Andy Hurst (VA-11), running against long time incumbent Tom Davis, and Congressman Jim Moran, running against someone so nondescript that I don't know his/her name.
The introducers were almost Presidential candidate Mark Warner and current governor Tim Kaine. See below for more...
It began long before that, rjsnj. The Russians and English began fighting over the region in 1813 because they believed the Ottomans were in decline. Before that, the Knights Templar learned that maintaining grasp of the regions holy sites was not possible even with the great wealth amassed by those who traded in Olive Oil, which was quite the commodity at the time.
It does not pay to involve ourselves in the politcal struggles of the region. If we stick to trading with those who are willing to trade with us, then we leave them to fight these battles amongst themselves. They will fight for control of resources and control of their society, which is what they do when they engage us for trying to exercise control over these things.
Nancy Boyda is within striking distance of Jim Ryun,
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 09:12 PM
The New York Times reports in tomorrows edition that Jim Ryun is not threatened by Nancy Boyda.
Good Evening Fellow Bloggers,
Boy do I miss you guys, but I am happy about working towards a victory for John Hall.
Latest News!
I refute him more for us. And to remind him he's nothing.
****
We all know that Frosty is a complete zero. But, debate away if you like. It sometimes is good for a few laughs.
I don't answer him to convince him. I refute him more for us. And to remind him he's nothing. At Political Animal we have several like him. We deflate them to pass around the ammo.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 09:14 PM
Yeah, good luck gilie.
GW wants to change focus from Iraq to economy. Oh, that's a bright move only if he stays with his "have more" group.
Why doesn't someone ask him if he knows how much a loaf of bread costs?
His folly in Iraq is costing more than just lives of the military. Budgets are being cut for other programs, education, health care, social security. What is he going to tell the voters when they try to contact their local social security office to find it closed for two weeks so the agency can stay within his budget - go to Iraq that's where the money has gone.
Boy do I miss you guys, but I am happy about working towards a victory for John Hall.
****
Hi Lizzy,
That's great. The Big Dawg is on the way. Kick them Pugs in the behind.
I thought conservatives thought the NYTimes was a worthless rag? Now you are quoting it?
Martial law...hmm...very interesting.That will be nothing compared to the great consumer revolt of 2006.With our economy entirely dependant on the "resilient consumer" a strike by all of us on non-essential consumer goods could bring this economy to it's knees within a few months.Imagine a Walmart or shopping mall as a ghost town.Container ships unable to unload for a lack of customers,stacking up off the coast.The chinese demanding payment,threatening nuclear attack.The government can't make us buy anything we don't want.The credit card companies can't make us borrow.Screw protesting in the streets,we already have corporate america by the balls.Shut them down,force a new depression.If a carjacker is going to kill you anyway,why not crash the car? If this next election is stolen,then just stop buying!Spread the word! Consumer strike,no more holiday shopping!We'll make martial law a joke.They'll be needing all the troops they can muster just for food relief! Think about it folks,it's about taking back america.It's a fair election or no more economy,period!
And not a word about the dearth of officers - just a lame "the military will vote..."
Why can't this CinC fill the offecer ranks? Any idea why?
GW wants to change focus from Iraq to economy.
****
Losing issue for the GOOPERS. Iraq is their worst issue. The next worst is the economy!
He doesn't need to convince the "have mores". They are already his base and they are quite small in numbers.
frosty is such a loyal piece of cowpoop- go frosty, gooooooo frooostiieee (chimpy said)
girlie
***
yes Sally / Sally*Sally, we know that's what you are.
Frosty the Cow Pie has a bit of an identity crisis. That may be why he/she is so hostile ...
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 09:14 PM
It's true, BlueGirl. They need to be refuted. Whenever you leave refuse lying around too long it goes rancid.
You don't seem the type to take it personal. Good for you.
The New York Times is worse than a worthless rag, it's a pro terrorist, Antie American, rag. That is why you all like it and I can quote it here.
Frank Rich Devastates GOP having soldiers die to save majority
by AlisaR
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 05:31:49 PM PDT
Frank Rich has a thoughtful, and well reasoned analysis of the current situation in tomorrow's "Dying to Save the G.O.P. Congress." Rich looks at how
the war is a calamity by [Bush's] definitions as well. The American command's call for a mere 3,000 more Iraqi troops to help defend Baghdad has gone unanswered... When Iraqis do stand up, violence goes up. And when American and British troops stand down, murderous sectarian militias, some of them allied with that "unity" government, fill the vacuum, taking over entire cities like Amara and Balad in broad daylight. As for those "difficult decisions"
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43576/
Posted by Cyn_NY on October 28, 2006 at 07:41 PM
Neuhaus and Weigel are false prophets that Jesus warned his followers about. Which of these two have any works like Jesus had that would show us that they are holy and not common sinners? http://religiousleft.bmgbiz.net/
i found this earlier while thinking about the chimp's status as duke of the corporate duchy- have yet to read the whole thing, but some might find it interesting
The New York Times is worse than a worthless rag
****
Hey Frosty, you resemble that remark.
Diary in need of some love here
If you've ever told me "Blackwell will steal it"...
(Contains imporant action item.)
America is getting f****d by the neocons and anyone who votes repug is a total f*****g ahole and is too selfish to even give a damn about the rest of us. king goerge the first took us into a depression. He didn't finish the job. His ahole son and the ahole congress is going to ruin us. They certainly can't blame Bill Clinton for this one. He had the decency to balance the budget.
America is going down the tubes
Posted by PeppermintLizzy on October 28, 2006 at 09:19 PM Good Evening Fellow Bloggers
Good evening, Lizzy. Nice to see you.
frosty is such a loyal piece of cowpoop-
****
The chimp could take a dump on the White House lawn and old Frosty would collect it. It would be hos favorite piece of art.
I am pretty sure that West Point and Annapolis are graduating officers at record pace.
FRANK RICH Must Read Smackdown: Dying to Save the G.O.P.
by Maccabee
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 05:26:43 PM PDT
Frank Rich know why men and women are dying in Iraq. It has little to do with empowering a government in the mideast. It's about staying in power in the midwest.
IF you happened to be up around dawn on Tuesday, you could witness the death rattle of our adventure in Iraq live on CNN. Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the American commander, were making new promises from the bunker of the Green Zone, inspiring about as much confidence as Jackie Gleason and Art Carney hatching a get-rich-quick scheme to sell a kitchen gadget on "The Honeymooners."
"Success in Iraq is possible and can be achieved on a realistic timetable," said Mr. Khalilzad. Iraq can be "in a very good place in 12 months," said General Casey. Even a child could see how much was wrong with this picture.
****
Even more Frank Rich:
Newsflash: It isn't anti-American (not Auntie American) to be a fan of Civil Liberties. Quite the opposite, in fact.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/29/EDGU9GJG6S1.DTL
Politicians, of course, claim they want an "ownership society" -- while aggressively helping corporate executives undermine the rights and privileges that make ownership so attractive. They are, in short, helping disenfranchise owners from their property, meaning an even greater chance that citizen investors will be bilked in the future.
let's try again
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/29/EDGU9GJG6S1.DTL
From Frank Rich:
Our troops are held hostage by the White House's political imperatives as much as they are by the violence. Desperate to maintain the election-year P.R. ruse that an undefined "victory" is still within reach, Mr. Bush went so far at Wednesday's press conference as to say that "absolutely, we're winning" in Iraq. He explained his rationale to George Stephanopoulos last weekend, when he asserted that the number of casualties was the enemy's definition of success or failure, not his. "I define success or failure as to whether or not the Iraqis will be able to defend themselves,"...As we've learned from Operation Together Forward, when Iraqis do stand up, violence goes up. And when American and British troops stand down, murderous sectarian militias, some of them allied with that "unity" government, fill the vacuum, taking over entire cities like Amara and Balad in broad daylight. As for those "difficult decisions" Mr. Bush regards as so essential, the Iraqi government's policy is cut and run. Mr. Maliki is not cracking down on rampaging militias but running interference for their kingpin, Moktada al-Sadr. Mr. Maliki treats this radical anti-American Shiite cleric, his political ally, with far more deference than he shows the American president.
****
Bush and the Republican rubber stamps are total disgraces.
I see Johnedwrd is back from another day at the saloon talking to Republicans.
Well, I'm sure the academies are right on pace, since they have a much higher application rate than they can accept. That is a given. That is also not the point. Very few officers on balance are academy grads.
The fact remains that the Army is missing 3000 officers and the Reserves are short 11,000 Lt.'s and Captains and nobody is beign turned down from OCS.
Why can't this president fill the officer ranks when the last one had waiting lists for OCS?
Hey Dors,
Why didn't you warn me about these longs hours?? We are on the last long push...sure hope it works.
I see we still have "those" regulars, rjsnj
RE: neocon koolade
very soon now the pugs will be quoting the immortal final words of Socrates: "I DRANK WHAT?"
gooooo frostiiieeeee- cause we looove him- he's one of us (chimpy said)
Well, this is exciting but I have more baby seals to club before those skinners get here.
His ahole son and the ahole congress is going to ruin us. They certainly can't blame Bill Clinton for this one. He had the decency to balance the budget.
****
john,
They can't blame Clinton for any of it.
9/11 was Bush's fault
The recession was Bush's fault.
The jobless recovery was Bush's fault.
The disaster in Iraq is Bush;s fault.
The bankrupt government is Bush's fault.
The rise of a militant Iranian government is Bush's fault.
The failure to respond to Katrina was Bush's fault.
I could go on and on but I don't need to. I will add that Bush had plenty of help in each of these abysmal failures from the Republican rubber stamps in Congress.
Watch a Vet Defend our Country and kick a bunch of asses.
When George Allen and his campaign took some small excerpts from my novels, and not only criticized them, but used them to question my ethics, my professional writing career, and my character, that's a line that should never be crossed. You can disagree with my politics, but don't question my faith, and don't question my character....
It's good to see that I have driven jefro nuts too. I guess I am the only dose of the truth most of you all get.
Well, this is exciting but I have more baby seals to club before those skinners get here.
****
Hey Frosty, I hear that it's open season on stupid right wing trolls. Better be careful out there, less you get club-ed. We wouldn't want to lose our resident troll ... well then again.
Is "clubbing baby seals" analogous to "I got nothing"?
I guess I am the only dose of the truth most of you all get.
****
You are good for a laugh ... at you of course!
Every bit of crap the repugs are slinging at the Democrats in the congressional race is exactly what they will do.
chimp was pompously saying that the Democrats would take away their child deduction. At the same time it is reported that congress wants to eliminate our mortgage deduction. Who is going to raise taxes? Everything ahole bush has done has cost states and cities. We are paying for it now. This is a tax increase. Yet that ahole keeps spouting lies like "the Democrats will raise your taxes."
My local repug running for congress is saying that her Democratic opponent will do away with Social Security and Medicare. EXCUSE ME!!!!
Who is the ahole liar? The repugs of course. People that vote for these fools are fools themselves.
Posted by dorsano on October 28, 2006 at 09:44 PM
Webb is toast, watch him try and explain writing kiddy porn to a very conservative electorate.
found frostymaccowpie's photo on a blog about reagan and bush.
frosty should stay away from those baby seals, beastiality is illegal in most states, but, it seems to have a fixation for them. Oh well, we are good Dems so live and let live.
Posted by PeppermintLizzy on October 28, 2006 at 09:39 PM We are on the last long push...sure hope it works.
Thanks for all you're doing, Lizzy. You saw my note to Pam I hope.
George Washington lost just about every battle he fought but he somehow managed to win the war.
Not that I'm hoping we follow his example to the letter. Just that it turns out the same. :)
found frostymaccowpie's photo on a blog about reagan and bush.
****
Tee, Hee, Hee ... now that is Frosty!
Posted by ER on October 28, 2006 at 09:26 PM
Where do I sign up?
Renee - what's happened with the challenge on Strickland being registered to vote? I was visiting mother in Ohio when story originally broke, but haven't had any updates
Johnedwrd - while I agree with you, I try to hold out hope that help is on the way.
jefro- my mother taught me actions speak louder than words - too bad some other mother's didn't teach their children the same thing.
Posted by Veneita on October 28, 2006 at 09:48 PM
Hey, Veneita. I hope all is well. In ten days, things will even better.
My local repug running for congress is saying that her Democratic opponent will do away with Social Security
****
John,
They are getting desparate. I heard the Pugs lie before but this is so extreme that's it's laughable. Of course, always be careful of voters that don't follow politics closely. The best way to debunk this crap is letters to the editor.
frosty should stay away from those baby seals
****
Sure glad that the Repukes can claim Frosty as one of their own.
NY Times Endorses Lamont Over Lieberman
by DemFromCT
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:50:09 PM PDT
The NY Times tomorrow will endorse Ned Lamont for CT-Sen, following up on its earlier pivotal endorsement in the primary.
The fatal problem with Mr. Lieberman's candidacy is not that he was wrong about the invasion, but that he has not shown any capacity to grow and change. Suggesting that getting rid of Donald Rumsfeld might be a good idea is hardly a breakthrough at a time when the secretary of defense's supporters are pretty much limited to the president and members of the Rumsfeld family.
Mr. Lieberman has changed his tone but not his underlying conviction that he has been right all along. He and Mr. Bush are still on the very same page, encouraging the American people to believe that there is a happy ending for American involvement in Iraq, and that all it takes is the perseverance to keep marching toward the end of the rainbow.
Ned Lamont has run a far less polished campaign than Mr. Lieberman, but the more we see of him, the more impressed we are by his intelligence and his growing sophistication about the issues facing the nation. He is very much in the Connecticut mold of basically moderate, principled politicians, and his willingness to take on Mr. Lieberman when no one else dared to do it showed real courage and conviction. He would make a good senator. More important, he has the capacity to continually become a better one. We endorse Ned Lamont for Senate.
VA-Sen: Webb Responds to Allen Smears: "The fish rots from the head down"
by GregP
Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:25:11 PM PDT
(From the diaries -- georgia10)
You probably won't be surprised that Jim Webb came out swinging today, in the wake of the Allen campaign's attempts to smear him by taking a few quotes from his books out of context.
The venue was the get out the vote kickoff rally which was held today in Annandale -- and extremely well attended. If the enthusiasm there was any indicator, we're going to win this, with the last couple of percentage points earned by the hard work of thousands of volunteers.
I haven't transcribed the entire speech, but I wanted to post the video, which I hope you will share widely via the "share" button on YouTube and by linking to it from other blogs and comments. If every Virginia voter could see this speech, Jim Webb would win this election hands down. I'm going to post some key quotes here, but do watch the video.
frosty, for some real porn check out
scooter libby's pedophelia and beastiality
What about lynne cheney's The Sisters
and let's not forget billo
What about lynne cheney's The Sisters
****
The American West where men were men and women were property. That's Lynne Cheney's book! These Republicans are real sickos.
I won't even go into the filth in the sccoter's book.
Webb's books are recommended reading in the Marine Corps and are commonly used in history classes on Vietnam.
Who is this idiot Allen trying to kid? Not only is he incapable of writing a book, he is incapable of reading one.
Oh, are lynn Cheney and skooter Libby running for Senator in Virginia too? Or is it just Webb who has to worry about the kiddy porn that he wrote?
..... if you want to find accountability for this, remember that the fish rots from the head down.
...our government should no longer be in the hands of a group of unprincimpled, small minded, power hungry, character assassins...
Jim Webb!
Yeah man, this guy rocks. Allen is toast.
Is GW or Karl the fish head?
****
GW, Karl and Allen - it's a mutant three headed Republican fish.
Okay, VA folks. This what I recommend. Write a lte to your newspapers about Webb's dynamite response to Allen's slander.
Video can be found here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/28/205313/02
The best way to debunk Republican crap is to get the word out. Believe it or not, people read LTE's even more than the columns.
Or is it just Webb who has to worry about the kiddy porn that he wrote?
****
Frosty - you are a total ahole. Do you love this blog so much that you can't break away? Or are you afraid of the liberals out there clubbing Repuke wusses like you over the head.
dorsano, I hope that in 10 days we are blowing this blog up in celebration. I dare not get too excited. karl rove has been down to georgia
Maybe we should work on paraphrasing these into a song for the next 10 days.
karl rove went down to ? he was looking for an election to steal
he was in a bind because he was way behind and he was willing to make a deal . . .
When Rove told NPR that "you have your math, but i have the math: was he really saying that the Diebold has been cast?
Posted by rjsnj on October 28, 2006 at 10:04 PM
I watched the Webb video and I too, wish every voter in Virginia would watch it. Jim Webb is a very inspirational personality and without a doubt, will become a great Senator. I wish that I lived in Virginia so that I could vote for Jim Webb for the U.S. Senate.
better watchit,frosty; boogy man gonna gitcha
Posted by piesmasherator on October 28, 2006 at 10:25 PM
****
piesmasherator ... that's too funny. LOL
BBL.
Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 28, 2006 at 10:26 PM
Lets not forget that the pugs have the "internets", "the google" and now they have "the math". Do they live on a different planet than we do?
Posted by Veneita on October 28, 2006 at 10:22 PM Maybe we should work on paraphrasing these into a song for the next 10 days.
I've had a Tim McGraw song in mind for GW for some time now, as he spends his last two years in Washington DC.
Make this old town new again
Color other than blue again
I'd have something to do again
Instead of thinking of you again (Pelosi)
But the people I know and the
Places I go
Remind me of you (Pelosi)
Oh, won't somebody come around
And make this old town new
When you look at G Allen, really look, he is an empty suit. Just goes to show that even folks amoung the gentry can be fools. If you have spent any time around Charlottsville you know there are more snobs than acorns under an oak there. They may know how to raise fine horses but lose their mind when selecting a politician. John Warner not much better than Allen.
When Ike was President we had the Berlin Airlift which saved Berlin. Posted by FrostyMacCowpie
Gawd, these Republicans lie like dogs. There's nothing they will tell the truth about.
The Berlin Airlift from its beginning in 1948 until its termination in 1949.
A blatant example of hyprocrisy:
Bill Frist (R) Tennessee stayed in the Senate just long enough to push through legislation favorable to HMOs, pharmaceutical co's, and malpractice. He is now going back to his family's private hospitals to rake in the bounty from his legislative efforts at the expence of the working class. I am outraged.
Posted by gregg on October 28, 2006 at 12:33 PM canvas, phone bank, light candles...
I buried a statue of St. Joseph upside down in front of my house just in case I need to sell it. :)
I can't remember when we had a better supply of great Democratic candidates. This is in stark contrast to the losers running on the repug ticket.
everyone is taking a turn playing the impotent bush like a cheap guitar:
Aide: Iraqi Leader Using U.S. AngstAide Says Iraqi Prime Minister Using American Displeasure Over War to Own Advantage
By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGHDAD, Iraq Oct 28, 2006 (AP)— After a hastily arranged video conference with George Bush, Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that the U.S. president promised to move swiftly to turn over full control of the Iraqi army to the Baghdad government. A close aide to Nouri al-Maliki said later the prime minister was intentionally playing on U.S. voter displeasure with the war to strengthen his hand with Washington.
angst
Posted by Domingo on October 28, 2006 at 10:50 PM Gawd, these Republicans lie like dogs.
They spread BS as if it had no consequence - just like they dump CO2 into the atomosphere as if it had no consequence - just like they run up record debt levels as if it had no consequence - just like the abuse the U.S. Military as if it had no consequence.
Hello all you good dems. It is good to see everyone so fired up.
Dorsano - remember the talking fish that were all the craze a few years back - maybe we can reprogram one and call it the fish-head-in-chief.
It could repeat quote - I never said stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course. Only Laura Barney and I are stuck in Iraq
You know, of this moron's name was George Walker, instead of George Walker Bush, he'd never be this country's president.
The Complete Bushisms
"You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war President. No President wants to be a war President, but I am one."—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006
"This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates; these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th."—Referring to the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006.
"One has a stronger hand when there's more people playing your same cards."—Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2006
"You're one of the outstanding leaders in a very important part of the world. I want to thank you for strategizing our discussions."—Meeting with the prime minister of Malaysia, New York, Sept. 18, 2006
"The goals of this country is to enhance prosperity and peace."—Speaking at the White House Conference on Global Literacy, New York, Sept. 18, 2006
"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."—Interview with CBS News, Washington D.C., Sept. 6, 2006
more...
climate change, the joke that will keep the world laughing for ever and ever and ever:
Last Updated: Saturday, 28 October 2006, 23:44 GMT 00:44 UK
Climate change 'hitting Africa'
Climate change is already affecting people across Africa and will wipe out efforts to tackle poverty there unless urgent action is taken, a report says.
Droughts are getting worse and climate uncertainty is growing, the research from a coalition of UK aid agencies and environmental groups says.
Climate change is an "unprecedented" threat to food security, it says.
It calls for a "climate-proof" model of development and massive emissions cuts to avoid "possibly cataclysmic change".
The report, Up In Smoke 2, updates previous research from the organisations - Oxfam, the New Economics Foundation and the Working Group on Climate Change and Development, an umbrella group of aid and green groups.
It says that although climates across Africa have always been erratic, scientific research and the experience of the contributing groups "indicates new and dangerous extremes".
Arid or semi-arid areas in northern, western, eastern and parts of southern Africa are becoming drier, while equatorial Africa and other parts of southern Africa are getting wetter, the report says.
The continent is, on average, 0.5C warmer than it was 100 years ago, but temperatures have risen much higher in some areas - such as a part of Kenya which has become 3.5C hotter in the past 20 years, the agencies report.
Andrew Simms, from the New Economics Foundation, said: "Global warming is set to make many of the problems which Africa already deals with, much, much worse," he said.
"In the last year alone, 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have faced food crisis.
"Global warming means that that many dry areas are going to get drier and wet areas are going to get wetter. They are going to be caught between the devil of drought and the deep blue seas of floods."
He added that the "great tragedy" was that Africa had played virtually no role in global warming, a problem he said was caused by economic activity of the rich, industrial countries.
today its those brown people over there, but tomorrow it will be us all
Posted by gregg on October 28, 2006 at 10:56 PM
Time for me to split, Mister Schanzola. I hope all is well in that regard.
cya
Posted by dorsano on October 28, 2006 at 10:57 PM
chimp himself said that some future president will take care of everything. All members of the bush family are a bunch of losers.
Posted by Domingo on October 28, 2006 at 10:50 PM
Welcome, to history revised 101 - instructor frosty maccowpie
Typical publican dishonesty:
Letterman said it perfectly last night to O'Lielley..."You're putting words in my mouth, just like you put artificial facts in your head."
feel like i went from a single barrel to a four barrel carborateur dors...
As Elections Near, Dueling With Dollars
Party Operatives Try To Influence Races
By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 29, 2006; Page A01
John Lapp, a 35-year-old Democratic strategist in charge of spending $60 million to defeat Republicans, had reason to feel aggressive. Internal party polls late last week showed 30 GOP House incumbents tied or behind. Armed with that information, Lapp approved a series of television ads attacking Rep. Jim Ryun, a Republican from a conservative corner of Kansas who suddenly looked a lot more vulnerable than before.
A few blocks away on Capitol Hill, Carl Forti, with a similar budget to protect the GOP majority, was playing defense. His own polls showed a growing number of House Republicans in serious trouble. Forti, 34, had little choice but to buy ads to protect suddenly at-risk Reps. Charles Bass (N.H.) and John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr. (N.Y.).
as the city sleeps
bluegirlredstate, check out this u-tube piece at the top of the atrios blog:
faker
Poll: Senate Race in Virginia About Even
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/15/AR2006101500255.html
I watched the video of Webb countering Allen's stupid attacks where Allen used excerpts from Webb's books. Very effective counter by Webb. Webb and his campaign have got it right. Take the ridiculous smear ads by the republicans and use them to expose the republicans for what they are; liars trying to confuse the public rather than deal with the issues. Allen's smear is going to cost him big if Webb's response gets air time (and I think it will). After people see Webb's response, only the fools (like Frosty) will back Allen.
Posted by dixiehen on October 28, 2006 at 10:58 PM remember the talking fish that were all the craze a few years back - maybe we can reprogram one and call it the fish-head-in-chief.
Great idea. Perfect for Comedy Central. First a little bit on Webb's response to Allen's desperation and then THE STAY THE COURSE FISH.
I LOVE IT!!! :)
Esme: still thinking of you and family. Hope all is well!
{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Big Hugs }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
To Esme, and all the hard working DNC blog Campaign workers. You know who you are and I thank you!
Oh please - everyone who can - help out Nancy Boyda in the KS-02. That is the seat that was held for many years by Jim Slattery, who is a moderate Dem. He left the seat in 1994 and Ryun slid in in 1996. he is way to the right of his constituents. He is so far to the right that it is safe to assume that nearly every voter who is going to break his way has already decided. Nancy is within the margin of error and the undecideds are likely to go for Boyda by more than half. If I was at the track, I'd bet the dark horse here. I just have a feeling. She has run a totally grassroots campaign. No DCCC funds at all, at least not the last time I checked.
The Johnson County Sun has broken with 56 years of tradition and endorsed a slate of Democrats. This is significant on more than one level.
Color Kansas purple. We can make it blue by 2010, if we play our cards right.
G'night Darlin' - pleasant dreams of Democratic victory celebrations on two Tuesdays hence.
I wonder what caused that climate change in Africa that turned a jungle (rain forest for the wine & cheese crowd) into the Sahara Desert. It was probably 2nd hand smoke.
Top Ten Structural Reasons Democrats are not likely to capture either the House or Senate in 2006 and why 2008 may not be much better.
- By Jack Beatty, On Point Analyst.
http://www.onpointradio.org/features/2006/midterm.asp
Some Republicans are obviously in denial.
I guess we will see in 9 days...
Africa never contributed anything to global warming? What about all those wildebeasts and water bufalos and elephants and such breathing out carbon dioxide and farting methane. Those animals must be destroyed or we are all doomed.
lesson. the media will now start to talk about an improvement in bush's chances...i know, i know he is not running for election but this year's elections are about nothing but bush. earlier tonite newsweek had its latest poll numbers out showing bush's approval rocketing from 33 to 37% and so on and the story was titled "too little too late?"
later this evening the headline has been changed to "making gains"...same exact data, same exact story with stuff in it like....
"And while 61 percent of Americans are still dissatisfied with the direction of the country, that compares to 67 percent who were dissatisfied in two NEWSWEEK polls earlier this month. The ranks of the satisfied have grown, if not swelled, from 25 percent to 31 percent."
so the media will try to hype this as a horse race with old bushie coming into the stretch looking good but it is all just an effort to keep themselves in the game selling advertising while the election is really looking like a blow out...
soooooo...keep canvasing, keep phoning, keep doing what alot of us have been doing since kerry got beat....pound on bush until the votes are in and then start pounding on him and the rest of his cretins for ever and ever until they have been banished from earth.
Do you understand the difference between the long and short carbon cycles? That is where you start understanding the impact of CO2 on the planet.
GW - "...when I put my hand on the Bible, when I put my hand on the Bible, that day when they swear us in, when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not—to uphold the laws of the land."—Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 27, 2000
Freudian slip?
see ya gregg- you are so right about the msm- what will be entertaining is that i don't think it is going to matter a wit what they say about chimpy's imprvoving numbers- the country is fed up with them all and finally ready for change- what is ironic is that they finally did themselves in under the weight of their hypocrisy combined with the election of a complete fraud for president
so the media will try to hype this as a horse race with old bushie coming into the stretch looking good but it is all just an effort to keep themselves in the game selling advertising while the election is really looking like a blow out...
soooooo...keep canvasing, keep phoning, keep doing what alot of us have been doing since kerry got beat....pound on bush until the votes are in and then start pounding on him and the rest of his cretins for ever and ever until they have been banished from earth.
Posted by gregg on October 28, 2006 at 11:32 PM
Amen - it ain't over til the fat lady sings.
I sure hope that's me signing Happy Days Are Here Again
Well, I have 32 rough-draft term papers to read this weekend. See ya tomorrow.
Good night Gregg, and I am gone also.
Don't forget to turn your clocks back!
how to build a fraud:
portray son of one of america's most influential families as a down-home texan
berate media as "liberal" until they stop asking tough questions
take advantage of reporters' tendency to not check the facts
mask reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures
push false stories from right-wing media into mainstream media
extol the virtues of workers while systematically pushing an anti-labor agenda
propose a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy, but sell them as a boon to ordinary americans
disguise destructive initiatives with friendly sounding names
befriend media with "genuine guy" routine
keep the public from accessing information
maintain message discipline at all times
question patriotism of anyone who disagrees
repeat above until it all seems true
paul waldman- "Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You"
Climate change is already affecting people across Africa and will wipe out efforts to tackle poverty there unless urgent action is taken, a report says. Droughts are becoming more frequent, the report says. Full story:
Iraq Body Count: War dead figures
The number of civilians reported to have been killed during the Iraq war and subsequent military presence is being recorded by the campaign group Iraq Body Count. Read more:
NATO's supreme allied commander of Europe apologized Saturday for the deaths of civilians in heavy fighting with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan earlier this week. Full story:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/28/afghanistan-nato.html
What's a nation to do? Ground the commander in chief for the rest of his term and take away his car keys?
Bush - or rather Karl Rove - wants Iraq to be the defining debate in upcoming elections. They are gambling on it. They figure they can pull off the tried-and-true Republican song and dance one more time: They scare the country and marginalize those who challenge war in Iraq as left-wing moonbats who don't understand the true nature of the terrorist threat.
Bring it on, Mr. President.
The presidential rationale for staying in Iraq is the same old, same old. People know it and are weary of it.....
''We're not going to leave Iraq before the job is done, and we'll complete the mission in Iraq. I can't tell you exactly when it's going to be done,'' Bush said at his news conference.
Nor can the president tell us how.
When it comes to Iraq, Bush, the rebel with a lost cause, continues to defy one thing above all: logic.
Ned Lamont Gets Help From Obama
By Andrew Miga
The Associated Press
what's a nation to do? the boston globe writers ask- what this nation has always done- elect a new congress, investigate his ass and let this country and the world see this administration and its party for the frauds, cheats, liars and traitors that they are
INDEPTH: AFGHANISTAN
Canada in Afghanistan
CBC News Online
Taliban plan to fight through winter to throttle Kabul.
Militia fighters are operating just an hour's drive from the capital's suburbs, confident of undermining Western support for the war.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934251,00.html
Iraq’s bloody October heralds military, political changes. By Thomas E. Ricks and Peter Baker
W to US: Go Cheney Yourself
At his press conference today, President Bush rallied his remaining base -- those scattered cult members who can always be counted on to agree with whatever he says. To all other Americans, his message is: It's my way, or the die-way.
If you missed the broadcast, here's the gist of it:
I'm the decider.
Except for deciding how many troops we have in Iraq, in which case, General Casey is the decider.
Except for deciding what benchmarks the Iraqis have to meet, in which case, Prime Minister al-Maliki is the decider.
Except for deciding what "getting the job done" in Iraq means, in which case, Muqtada al-Sadr and Osama Bin Laden are the deciders.
Except for deciding if it's "stay the course," or "strategy for victory," in which case Karl is the decider.
I'm looking forward to the Baker-Hamilton report. If it agrees with my strategy for victory and getting the job done, I will read it. I call this attitude "flexibility."
There's a big difference between timetables and "timetables." When I talk about them, they're good. When Democrats talk about them, what they're saying is, the terrorists should have a caliphate from Spain to Indonesia.
Some people in Washington say we're not at war. Those people are enabling cold-blooded killers. I do not question these people's patriotism, just their IQ. I will not say who they are.
If I personally did not believe that we will achieve victory in Iraq, then I would not keep your loved ones in Iraq. So the thing I want you to remember as you go to the polls is that whether American kids die in Iraq or come home to America depends totally and completely on what I, George W. Bush, personally believe.
Taxes! Taxes! Democrats are going to raise your taxes!
Yahoo
Show Me the Dirty Parts
Unfortunately for Allen, the attack on Webb provides an irresistible opportunity to revisit the history of Republican soft porn. As Lauren Collins pointed out in The New Yorker, citing a Spy Magazine piece from 1988, bluestockings have always been good at being blue.
There's the scene in Scooter Libby's 1996 novel, The Apprentice, in which the author has little girls coupling with a bear to train for prostitution, and men fucking a dead deer. There's Lynne Cheney's 1981 novel, Sisters, whose lesbian heroines show more than Janet Jackson did. The Collins piece reminds us of dirty parts from noted Republican litterateurs like William Safire ("[She] finally came to him in the bed and shouted 'Arragghrrorwr!' in his ear, bit his neck, plunged her head between his legs and devoured him"), William Buckley ("I'd rather do this with you than play cards"), G. Gordon Liddy ("T'sa Li froze, her lips still enclosing Rand's glans . . ."), John Ehrlichman (" 'It felt like a little tongue' ") and Bill O'Reilly ("Okay, Shannon Michaels, off with those pants").
Huffington Post
what about the loofah scene, you can't forget the loofah scene
"babs, babs, it's the egg man, it's the egg man"
i'm outta here- happy blogging
Ken Mehlman Demeans Gays, Rush Limbaugh Ridicules Parkinsons, RNC Goes Racist and Ann Coulter Calls 9-11 Widows Harpies
If you are fed up with this garbage, go to actblue and do something about it.
The sick thing about George W. Bush is that unlike like any President who has ever come before him he has injected vomit, hate, and slander into the heart of our democracy and has put under attack the very character of the
American people.
What George W. Bush has done, is nothing less than a direct attack on the very notion that America is a melting pot, he strikes at the core of who we are as a country, and he demeans the soul of what we stand for as a people.
Rush Limbaugh goes on the airwaves and demeans a courageous actor with sick, demented and vile physical ridicule of his Parkinsons disease. Is there anything these people will not stoop to?
Ken Mehlman humiliates himself on George W. Bush's behalf by using the money of major oil companies to buy ads that play on hatred toward gays.
This is like the Marlboro Man attacking the smokers. Do gay Republicans in the dark of night feel any shame and humiliation that they are playing the politics of hate against others who have the same preference as them?
The great triumph of George W. Bush is not merely that he demeans the character of our country by playing the politics of hate, but that he bullies and intimidates and motivates those in his party who are punch drunk for power or frightened silly by fear to try to humiliate not only others, but to humiliate themselves.
Brave men and women died with their bodies buried in ditches and their corpses resting in bombed out churches who gave their lives for the right to vote, but George W. Bush inspires an African American Secretary of State in Ohio to try to strip the right to vote away from African Americans deserving of his trust.
America is a land of tolerance and dignity but George W. Bush inspires gay Republicans to participate in the demeaning of gay Americans to play the politics of intolerance in the name of Christ.
Ann Coulter, the trailer park trash of American politics following the tactics of the trailer park trash of the American presidency slanders, ridicules and demeans even the widows of 9-11 heroes and the president who promised to bring honor and integrity to Washington lacked the honor and integrity to tell her to stop.
more...
Good night fellow dems. Keep up the good fight. The future of our country is at stake. We can and will get back on the right course. History will see these Republicans and their foolish leader for what they are; utter failures in every aspect of government.
The ends do not justify the means, but the results should be how we determine if our elected officials are successful. The results of this administration have been horrible.
I realize that lunacy is the standard fare here but lateley I detect that you all have gone raving bonkers mad.
I suspect that you are beginning to detect the smell of defeat in the air.
Me too, it is beginning to look like the Republicans are going to pull this election out. Webb's kiddy porn pretty much puts a lock on the Senate for the Republicans so quality judges will be ensured.
In the House the Dems will probably need 25 seats to control the speakership. They need 15 for a majority but there is already 1 guy from Mississippi who didn't vote for Pelosi last time and won't this time either. And the new candidates are pretty conservative - a good percentage of them won't vote for Pelosi either. The Dems can't run a more conservative Speaker because that would piss off the liberals. If the Dems can't get a clear majority, pick up 25 seats, then Hastert will remain the speaker.
Just a few thoughts......
Strolling through the posts, it's interesting reading the well wishes and effort that has been placed behind the DEM candidates, statewide and nationally. There's as much enthusiam for getting DEM candidates to a win as there is to get rid of the Bush administration.
The public wants change, no way around it. They are weary of a war that seems to have no end and no gain for anyone, they're tired of counting change in their pockets instead of bills, they're put out because they have no control over energy costs that can run as high as a vehicle payment, they no longer have trust or faith in government or an administration that has a new scandal each week.
Each political party has stated what they can and will do for the American public and the country. The REPS want to stay the course or at least pretend they are pursuing something different when they actually aren't. The DEMS who knew 6 years ago that the GOP wasn't on the level about anything could only sit back and watch the REPS in their glory, shot themselves in the foot and take their opportunity. Now each party is saying vote with us, we can do what's right for America and no ethnic group, religious base or voter circle is being recruited more than African-Americans.
The DEMS have been basically saying come back or continue to stick with us because we can do what is best for the country and therefore you. They have made great strides to apologize for taking our vote for granted for so many years. Where as the REPS have adopted the tactic of insulting blacks with ignorant and racist ads on one hand while asking us to come with them because they're the party of Lincoln on the other. Someone needs to tell them to get rid of that slogan because it's well known and documented that Lincoln had absolutely no use for the slaves and used emancipation as a political tactic only while proclaiming what to do with the "negro problem".
This all comes around to one important point - the black vote is crucial this year of 2006. It can tip the scales for either party. Can you imagine if the over 200,000 convicted felons here in the State of Florida had their voting rights restored what the outcomes would be with a large disportionate amount of that 200,000 being African-American? And this is why the GOP in 1999-2000 devised this ploy that took large numbers of registered DEMS off the voter rolls.
African-Americans will probably vote in large numbers with the DEMS though there will be black REP candidates that will siphon off some of that vote. By and large though the DEMS will get that black vote if for no other reason than the racist ads being run by the REPS.
But DEMS let's hope you don't forget us again and just take our vote for granted just because it's there.
It's a good thing that daylight savings time ends tonight. I think that extra hour of daylight is what is causing global warming.
Someone needs to tell them to get rid of that slogan because it's well known and documented that Lincoln had absolutely no use for the slaves
Posted by J on October 29, 2006 at 01:26 AM
Well of course Lincoln had no use for the slaves - he lived in a free state. Duh
If Barak Obama can take voters away from LieBerman for Lamont, that certainly would be something. Keep us posted.
Oh oh, Steele and Caadin are now tied in Maryland - it's a tossup. If Steele wins, and I think he will, The Dems will have no chance of taking the Senate. But they really didn't anyway, not since Webb, in Virginia, has been an exposed as a kiddy porn author.
Hoppin' super great article by DAVID LAZARUS in the Oct. 25, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle (business section only alas) -- and it debunks Bush's self-assessed sunshine and flowers economic claims!
Excerpts below:
"Since Septem 2004, average hourly wages have increased 6.8 percent and consumer prices have climbed 7 percent, according to the Labor Department. This means real wages over the period have declined 0.2 percent."
"In other words, and contrary to the president's sunny appraisal of U.S. workers fortunes, many people's paychecks in reality are continuing to fall behind the cost of living."
" 'Since 2003, there's been an ongoing decline in real wages,' said Arindrajit Dube, an economist at UC Berkeley's Institute of Industrial Relations. 'There may have been increases in wages in nominal terms, but paychecks aren't keeping up with inflation.' "
"According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, wages and salaries have grown by an average annual rate of 2 percent, adjusted for inflation, since 2001. Over that same period, average corporate profits have soared each year by 13.7 percent."
End excerpt.
HEY. If Bush won't talk about REALITY, WE should. Practice saying the words:
INFLATION. COST OF LIVING INCREASING. What great economy? Maybe the economy is great if you're a Bush crony, or an OIL Company executive.
It's t0o bad too, Webb might have been a good Senator were it not for his involvement in Kiddy Porn.
North Korea's nuclear test and UN sanctions have brought relations between the U.S. and North Korea to their lowest point since President Bush took office.
Yet it was only little more than a year ago that for one brief moment hopes were kindled for a diplomatic settlement of the nuclear dispute. At the six-party talks on September 19, 2005, a statement of principles on nuclear disarmament was signed between the U.S. and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK the formal name for North Korea).
The Bush Administration, however, viewed its signature on the agreement as only a tactical delay. During negotiations it had firmly rejected the statement, and was brought around only when the Chinese delegation warned that it would announce that the U.S. was to blame were the six-party talks were to collapse.
The ink was barely dry on the document when the U.S. immediately violated one of its main points. Although the U.S. was required under the agreement to begin normalizing relations with North Korea, on literally the very next day it announced the imposition of sanctions on North Korean accounts held in the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia, ostensibly because they were being used to circulate counterfeit currency.
Whether there was any substance to the accusation or not has yet to be shown, but there are at least some grounds for skepticism. German counterfeit expert Klaus Bender believes that since U.S. currency is printed on specially made paper in Massachusetts, using ink based on a secret chemical formula, "it is unimaginable" that anyone other than Americans "could come by these materials."
The printing machines that North Korea obtained three decades ago, Bender says, are "outdated and not able to produce the USD supernote, a high tech product." He strongly implied that the CIA could be the source of the counterfeit currency as it "runs a secret printing facility equipped with the sophisticated technology which is required for the production of the notes." That the CIA has the capacity to print money does not prove that it has done so. It would, however, have a motive, and the source has not been traced. Wherever the counterfeit supernotes came from, the Bush Administration was ardently using the issue as a pretext to take action against North Korea.
Despite that, Bender reports, "the opinion of experts" is that the U.S. allegation against North Korea "is not tenable." (1)
Confrontation is surely what the Bush Administration wants, viewing it as an opportunity for further punishment of the DPRK.
Since demolishing the 1994 Agreed Framework, the Bush Administration has gone on to do everything in its power to worsen tensions.
"The U.S. never intended to honor the Agreed Framework and did not fully fulfill any of its provisions," points out Alexander Zhebin of Russia's Institute of the Far East. "The U.S. would love to place a bursting boiler at Russia's doorstep. Americans would sit back and watch it explode on TV, and let Russians, Chinese and Koreans sort out the consequences."
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/14048699.html
Bush is determined to start another war, this time in Asia Pacific.
How many more wars do the American people need/want?
Is it not time that Bush was impeached?
Good News this morning from Northern Indiana:
The Ft. Wayne Gazette, the second largest newspaper in Indiana and a Republican owned newspaper has just endorsed Dr. Tom Hayhurst, Congressional candidate (D) for Indiana's 3rd District! It has become a neck and neck race.
A few weeks ago, the Democratic Party had written this race off - it is now up for grabs!
sally:"Oh oh, Steele and Caadin are now tied in Maryland - it's a tossup."
reality:Maryland Senate Race Washington Post 10/22 - 10/26 1003 LV Steele (R) 43% , Cardin (D) 54% Cardin +11.0%
i'm really gonna miss the non-reality based community...NOT!
clever line from a piece at slate
a web site i usually hate:
"Fox's disease can only take your body. Limbaugh's can take your soul."
This thread is too long. Been thinking some more about Webb and Allen and read the New Yorker profile on the race. That's such a volatile scene that some of the coverage is already passe'.
Anyway, here's my current take:
The Leader versus the Bully
The choice voters in the Virginia US Senate race have been given this year is between a leader and a bully. Leadership provides direction from a knowledge base; the bully gives orders to swell his own ego. And because ego swells in direct proportion to other egos being lessened, the bully's leadership has an overall negative effect.
Perhaps because I'm a Democrat, the Republicans' attraction to leadership has been a bit of a puzzlement. I really think that public officials should be taking direction from the people, rather than telling everyone what to do. However, I have come to appreciate that when actions have to be taken, somebody has to decide on a course of action and it's not efficient, and not even possible, for everyone to have a vote. Which, of course, is why we have representative democracy.
Republicans seem to have another reason for wanting leaders. Or rather, people who vote for Republicans do so because they are attracted to the notion that they need not be bothered with the nitty-gritty of social organization. And that's fine, as long as the leaders being selected actually know what it is that needs to be done and are capable of doing it. The problem with the current batch is that too many of them have no skill beyond bullying the electorate into casting a ballot in hopes that the bullying will be directed elsewhere.
The current junior Senator from Virginia, George Felix Allen, seems to be a good example of the bullying type. Some of his supporters may not even realize that they've been sucked into a web of shared antagonisms against whoever happens to be outside the immediate social group that needs to be coerced to do the bully's bidding.
That, I would argue is why people have been coming out of the woodwork to attest that Allen's bullying persona is nothing new. They have suddenly realized that in participating in the antagonism towards black people, women, liberals or whatever, they were really being bullied into behavior that didn't make them better, or even feel good. Because that's the thing about such mindless, stereotypical antagonism--it joins the participants in an association by guilt. The knowledge that there's no basis for their antagonism makes them ashamed and shame makes them impotent to act. Which is, of course, the point. The bully's goal is to control and keep people from acting on their own. And that's what George Felix Allen is about.
Of course, since he's not held elected office, we don't know what kind of leader Jim Webb will be. On the other hand, he's been in positions where others depended on his knowledge and has performed well. He's not a bully. Indeed, when he didn't get his way as Secretary of the Navy, he resigned, rather than following directives he perceived to be poorly conceived. History, when it is finally written as it happened, will probably prove him right. Not just about the importance of a nation bounded by two oceans and a sea relying on its navy for national security, but about the futility of trying to dominate another hemisphere from military bases in hostile lands.
Much has been made of Eisenhower's warning about the military/industrial complex. But I think we misunderstood what he meant. Most people seem to have assumed that he was referring to the preponderance of military hardware in our industrial output not being a good thing--i.e. too many guns and not enough butter. What he really recognized, I'm now inclined to think, was the temptation to use military assets to support and enforce industrial and commercial enterprise around the globe. That is, instead of relying on fair competition and trade for the resources and markets Americans might want to engage with, they would take the easy way out and enforce compliance, not unlike the gunboat diplomacy of old.
Which is exactly what we see happening in regards to Iraq and Iran. Under the guise of false claims of aggressive intent, the US military is being used to open markets and control natural resources--not just the oil in Iraq, but the agricultural lands and the water in the rivers and the ores (uranium included) in the mountains. In Iran, on the other hand, the threat of the use of force is being used to promote a new nuclear fuels cartel, not unlike the old oil cartel that was broken when the oil fields of the Middle East were nationalized. None of which actually promotes or protects America's national security. Quite the opposite.
Which, of course, is to be expected when you have bullies at the helm of the nation. Their egos demand that the consequences of their rule be negative for the majority of their subjects. On the other hand, since the bully has no expertise other than the art of intimidation, taking direction from a small coterie of equally self-interested toadies comes naturally. These relationships not only make it easy to evade responsibility, but minimize the need for action--important because, above all else, the bully is a lazy human being.
When someone tells you that making decisions is hard work, you just know he doesn't have a clue. And when he tells you that he's making "hard decisions" you just know that what's coming down the pike is going to be hard for someone else.
Just like when a parent beats a child and claims "this hurts me more than you," the relationship between the bully and his victims is abusive.
Good morning fellow Dems.
I just registered and this is my first post. I just wanted to say hello.
We are entering our second week of early voting here in Florida. Unfortuntately, I haven't been able to get to the polls yet, but I will before the 7th. (Well, that's the price I pay for being an at-home dad.) :)
My voting strategy is pretty easy - I just go down the list and vote for everyone that has a (D) next to their name! :) Heck, I don't even need to look at the name!
I am pretty confident that the Dems will take control of at least the House. But, it makes me a little uneasy to hear the righties saying how confident THEY are at keeping control. Considering the 2000 and 2004 elections, if they're correct, then something MUST be wrong with the voting process. I am not excatly crying conspiracy, but, you have to admit, something would smell pretty fishy. Especially since every poll indicates otherwise.
Well, I am glad to be here and hope I can contribute a little here and there. It is certainly nice to be in friendly territory. :)
Mark
well put monica. thank you. there is so much talk these days about school age bullies we forget about the one's that wear buisness suits and send out young off to die.
Morning, Dems. Sunday morning talk from Kos:
This Week:
Michael J. Fox
Outgoing Majority Leader John Boehner's farewell interview.
Attempting to leverage Halloween, fashion masquerade Sarah Jessica Parker discusses how Halloween candy can actually fund UNICEF activities (I gotta see this - it sounds as bad bush's social security scheme).
Roundtable: EJ Dionne, Will, and the husband and wife team of Jay Carney and Claire Shipman.
Face the Nation: Incoming Majority Leader Jack Murtha.
Outgoing failure Duncan Hunter.
A profile in courage: Chairman Howard Dean.
Updating his resume: future ex-gooper Chairman Ken "agent smith" Mehlman.
CNN: General Paul Eaton body slams Dumsfeld.
Election scorecard with Amy Walter (Oye), Jeff Greenfield and Norm Ornstein.
Charles Rangel vs wacko Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Judy Miller's collaborator, Michael Gordon, sells his revisionist paperback book.
Biden and Lugar.
MTP: Maryland Senate debate: Ben Cardin (D-MD) versus Gooper Stooge Michael Steele. Recently, Steele was caught wearing a "Donkey" costume. There are legions who are embarrassed to be Republican, but that takes da cake.
C-SPAN: Q&A with Tavis Smiley
Loser News: Senator Man on Dog (Gooooooodbye !! - Hands waving with middle finger extended)
Matinee idol Harold Ford
Chuckie Schumer and Liddy Dole
monica
great post - that's the problem, making decisions is hard work for someone who has never done it. I am so glad Webb came out swinging.
Good morning, Monica and Gregg
Welcome, Mark! Love that jazz name.
Monica, excellent post. It should be posted all over the internet. You have an uncanny way of wading thru the bullshit and getting right to the root of the problem.
Welcome to friendly territory, Mark
We share your concerns. I try to be optimistic. I don't know what the situation is in Florida, but in Ohio both parties have teams of attorneys on stand by. Sure hope we come off so clean and clear Rove will not be able to tie up any election in court.
I admire you for being an at home dad.
cyn- remember Rove's Halloween costume in 2004 (hunter's jacket and cap) maybe this year he'll strip, wear a wig and ask Harold to call him.
thanks for the Sunday line up
Thanks for the kind words.
I forgot one point I wanted to make in response to the New Yorker article. The author made reference to Webb's response to the often asked question why red state people have voted against their own economic interest. Webb said that (in so many words) it's not economics but "culture" and, in a sense he's right. How some people live is more important to some people than what they have. And that's an admirable thing. Indeed, I'd argue that most Americans are not particularly acquisitive and they don't mind if other people are. It's when they are deprived of the basics that they start to mind.
But, when it comes to voting for Republicans, they weren't making an economic decision, even though Republicans keep talking about cutting taxes; they thought they were voting for a government that would leave them alone. Even though they might have been suspicious about this claim, since the politicians were clearly aiming NOT to leave other people (homosexuals, women, children, alliens, etc) alone, they might well have thought that given limited time and resources, they wouldn't be bothered. But, what they've now discovered, we hope, is that it was all a grand deception.
Smaller government is meddling with the minutiae of (all) our daily lives and leaving the catastrophes to us.
Hey, dixie, that is funny! Thankfully, we can keep our sense of humor in this midterm election, which helps immensely.
Monica, that is an excellent point. Also, I have noticed in my very economically depressed area that some of the "money" folks are republican. I call them the "I got miners", as their theory is I've made my money and no matter why you are struggling, go make your own money. They don't believe in anything but themselves and acquiring the lastest fad items. Trouble is, they are not really "money" people as defined by this administration and I know for a fact they are feeling the pinch of the economy. I am very curious to know how these people will vote in this election but I haven't gotten up the nerve to ask them yet.
Know your enemies
In 1994, a group called the Business Council of Alabama hired Rove to help run a slate of Republican candidates for the state supreme court. No Republican had been elected to that court in more than a century. The campaign by the Republicans was unprecedented in the state, which had previously only seen low-key contests. After the election, a court battle over absentee and other ballots followed that lasted more than 11 months. It ended when a federal appeals court judge ruled that disputed absentee ballots could not be counted, and ordered the Alabama Secretary of State to certify the Republican candidate for Chief Justice, Perry Hooper, as the winner. An appeal to the Supreme Court by the Democratic candidate was turned down within a few days, making the ruling final. Hooper won by 262 votes.
Another candidate, Harold See, ran against Mark Kennedy, an incumbent Democratic justice and the son-in-law of George Wallace. The race included charges that Kennedy was mingling campaign funds with those of a nonprofit children's foundation he was involved with. A former Rove staffer reported that some within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile.[17] Kennedy won by less than one percentage point.
this is the shortened verion - more info www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green
There is no central command of terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic used by many independent groups in the Middle East. All fight for their own reasons, sometimes against one another. Because their is no central command of terrorism, we must focus our attention on those groups who threaten the United States specifically.
If we choose to continue to refer to our enemies as simply terrorists, then we will never develop the understanding of them that will allow us to defeat or to otherwise subdue them. We will instead be left running around like chickens with our heads cut off as we despirately attempt to destroy a movement that does not exist. This is where the president has gone wrong.
Recognize your true enemies. Do not confuse them with their tactics or their ethnicity. Do not attack their ethnicity especially, because doing so will only lead to increased interest in their movement by people of that ethnicity and thus greater recruitment. Many Americans are confused and need despirately to learn these lessons.
I am moderately disheartened by the "you're with us or you're against us" tone of most posts. Where have we heard that before, and did we agree with it when he said it? "wacko" Ros-Lehtinen, "Gooper Stooge" Steele, "leader v. bully", Maher as the intellectual voice of the Party? Surely we can do better than this.
We are the Party of ideas, they are the name-callers (and they are very good at it). When we descend to that level, it's hard for us to chastise Allen.
Kelly from Georgia - There is information on this site. I don't know enough about your local candidates to be of much help, but your local Dem organization should have info
Posted by dixiehen on October 28, 2006 at 07:18 PM
They asked me to look for information. Our local party is mostly older people who don't get on the internet. They are wanting a positive ad about getting out the vote, the importance of voting. We live in a highly democratic area, but most don't vote.
If anyone has any places I could look for a great get out the vote ad I'd appreciate it. I've got the Democratic vision card and we're going to put that in the paper, we just need some positive get out the vote messages.
latest polls from realclearpolitics. its a right wing site but good poll resource:
Washington Senate Race Rasmussen 10/26 - 10/26 500 LV McGavick (R) 42% , Cantwell (D) 54% Cantwell +12.0%
Missouri Senate Race Research 2000 10/23 - 10/26 800 LV Talent (R) 47% , McCaskill (D) 47% Tie
New Jersey Senate Race Research 2000 10/23 - 10/25 600 LV Kean (R) 42% , Menendez (D) 48% Menendez +6.0%
Maryland Governor Race Washington Post 10/22 - 10/26 1003 LV Ehrlich (R) 45% , OMalley (D) 55% OMalley +10.0%
Maryland Senate Race Washington Post 10/22 - 10/26 1003 LV Steele (R) 43% , Cardin (D) 54% Cardin +11.0%
good morning, Democrats
good to see you sniffing out the poll data with all four cylindars, gregg...feeling all right?
{{{Lizzy}}} was here last night! and we've got a five hunnert comment open thread...
gay porn? check out josh marshall
time to do my sunday "yell at the t.v." with my mom...oye
bring back the fairness doctrine
{{{essie}}}
Kelly, not sure if this is what you have in mind but the DDC has some help here:
http://www.democracydata.com/Gotv/gotv-landing.htm?gclid=CNmmuva2nogCFSVtFQodZyJUbg
Hey hey, good morning,
"We're too busy singing, to put anybody down"
-? monkey house
Where are all the kids, who have the highest stakes in the violence? Where is the protest musics?
Have most been mesmerized and prozaced into complacent authoritarians?
There was supposed to be a big peace protest in SF yesterday. Do we just keep playin Dylan's masters of war to well-fed scared folks?
Frosted Cow Pies:
I realize that lunacy is the standard fare here but lateley I detect that you all have gone raving bonkers mad.
****
I figured that this coward Frosted Cow Pies would post after announcing that he is gone.
Frosty, you are a cockroach, a troll and a coward.
You stand for nothing except carrying water for the Pugies.
Africa never contributed anything to global warming? What about all those wildebeasts and water bufalos and elephants and such breathing out carbon dioxide and farting methane.
****
Frosty, what about you? Everytime you open your right wing troll yap, you contribute to pollution.
Frosty, you are merely proving what a moron you are ... keep it up jerk. Exhibit A for why Pugies should not govern.
But they really didn't anyway, not since Webb, in Virginia, has been an exposed as a kiddy porn author.
****
Frosty, you drank the koolaid you dumb troll. Allen has exposed himself has a liar and a fraud. There is no "kiddy porn" in Webb's books.
Do you think the Marine Corps would be using them as references if there was? Your man Allen is a loser and Steele is going down as well (last poll was a freak - like you Frosty).
I suspect that you are beginning to detect the smell of defeat in the air.
****
No Frosty, what we smell is you - a bunch of crap.
Evans-Novak 10/25, 21 House and 4 Senate.
Charlie Cook 10/24:
In the House, Republicans are most likely to see a net loss of 20 to 35 seats, and with it their majority. In the Senate, the GOP could lose at least four, but a five- or six-seat loss is more likely. A six-seat change tips the chamber into Democratic hands.
Stu Rothenberg 10/24
Current Rothenberg Political Report projection: Democratic gain of 18-28 seats, with the caveat that larger gains surely are possible. Current Rothenberg Political Report projection: Democratic gains of 4-7 seats.
Larry Sabato 10/26:
As we take a snapshot of the electoral landscape from the perspective of twelve days out, our best guess is that Democrats are on track to net 21 to 26 seats in the House, 4 to 6 seats in the Senate
Sabato bonus:
Democrats have grown so accustomed to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this century that a plethora are haunted by the expectation a Bush-Rove-Mehlman "trick" will thwart a Democratic "treat" in the days leading up to Election Day.
****
Looks positive to me. Of course, asinine trolls such as Frosty will be in here constantly saying how close it is. I don't think people are going to turn out for the Pugies this time around. Their negativity and lies are turning people off.
"I've lived in the real world, and represented the real world in my writing. I saw its ugliness while George Allen was hanging out on a dude ranch."
Jim Webb
Chris Matthews called Felix Allen a DIRTBALL!
Tee, Hee, Hee.
It's very clear to me that the Republicans are trying to drag this election into the gutter, The reason is that they can't debate the issues. Their record is simply awful.
The Republicans covered up for a pedophile and won't take responsibility for it. They can't protect children and they can't govern a nation.
Allen will pay a price with vets for his slanderous attacks on Webb as will all of the Pugies. The indications are from voters that I talked to that they are disgusted with slime tactics. They don't mind hearing negatives about the record but these slander attacks have worn thin with them.
In order to destroy the Republican hold on power you must approach the issue of Terrorism intelligently. This is why I want you all to teach as many as you can the flawed logic behind a war on terror, a tactic used by seperate radical groups, and the common sense behind an approach that challenges the groups themselves.
It is also important that everyone understands that insulting Islam will only lead to greater recruitment for violent groups who operate in a part of the world that is more than 80% Muslim in ethnicity. We want to develop a relationship with these people so that we may resolve our differences peacefully, and we can't do that so long as many of us attack their faith.
Teach these things:
Terrorism is a tactic, not a movement
81% of the Middle East, including most of our allies, are Islamic
Webb gets two major endorsements (VA-Sen)
by teacherken
Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 04:06:00 AM PDT
With nine days to go before the election, newspaper endorsements will not come fast and furious. I found three today in Virginia papers, breaking 2-1 in Webb's favor, with even the one endorsement of Allen being quite critical of him. In this posting I will explore all three editorials, and make a few additional remarks of my own. I invite you to come along for the read.
teacherken's diary :: ::
In the Tidewater region, The Hampton Roads Daily Press endorsement is entitled
For Jim Webb: At war and less secure, Virginians should vote for change
. Here's the key part of this editorial, itwill be featured for two days running. As the editorial notes:
Today and Monday we'll explain why we think change is so necessary, why voters should turn to Democrat Webb and turn out incumbent George Allen. We'll focus on the war and national security today, because that is the preeminent issue in this election. Other issues will be addressed on Monday. But the nub of it is this: Allen and the Republican majority of which he is a part have had their chance, and we're not better off for it - not in terms of national security or fiscal soundness, and certainly not in terms of political health. Webb offers the best opportunity for new and better directions.
. As far the war in Iraq, the editorial focuses on one word:
American troops caught between the competing forces. How did we manage that?
A single word suffices: incompetence. Not military incompetence. The troops have done all they've been asked to do and far more. We're talking about political incompetence.
It is that incompetence that Allen has sought to not only defend, but extend - though he has begun to change his tune. With the election drawing near, Allen put his arm around fellow Republican Sen. John Warner, a far more temperate and independent thinker on Iraq (and most subjects). Allen's blind "stay-the-course" rhetoric has been replaced with "mistakes have been made, and our progress has been far too slow."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/29/760/87749
****
allen's support is fading fast. That's why he resorted to a stupid gutter attack distorting Webb's character buy cherry picking lines from a novel out of context. Give me a freakin break@!
Webb's book on USMC reading list
by calipygian
Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 06:03:41 AM PDT
Found this interesting piece on AmericaBlog this morning. It seems that some of the passages that Felix says is inappropriate for children and demeans women is entirely appropriate, and in fact recommended reading for the United States Marine Corps. Check it out on the flip:
calipygian's diary :: ::
Face of Battle, The
Written By Keegan, John
Feeding Mars
Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Present
Written By Lynn, John A. (Editor)
Field Artillery
Written By Field Artillery
Field Artillery and Firepower
Written By Bailey, J.B.
Fields of Battle
The Wars for North America
Written By Keegan, John
Fields of Fire
The Classic Novel of the Vietnam War
Written By Webb, James
Fire in the Streets: The Battle for Hue, Tet 1968
Written By Hammel, Eric
First to Fight
An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps
Written By Krulak, Victor
Flags of Our Fathers
Heroes of Iwo Jima
Written By Bradley, James
Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat
Written By Hughes, Wayne P.
There it is among "Flags of our Fathers", the classic text "Fleet Tactics" and the uber-respected John Keegan.
In fact, it is specifically assigned to Corporals up for Sergeant
****
Senator Macaca Allen has nothing, is nothing and is going to lose. He went down the same sleaze road that Kilgore tried to follow and lost.
Issue in Brief: Inaccurate Purges of the Voter Rolls
Summary
* Ill-conceived state policies concerning new statewide voter registration databases are driving eligible voters off of the rolls, through no fault of their own.
* Purging based on database matching can be unreliable.
* Purges can also be discriminatory.
* Purging requires matching standards appropriate for the task – and adequate procedural safeguards in addition to matching.
* Legitimate voters also deserve common-sense technological protection.
http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/dem_vr_castout_3.html
This is a big issue. Are all states making these purges now and what access to this information is available?
I read the HAVA act and its commission's 2005 statement. The funding and purchase of the machines before they could be certified to new standards, and not funding and delaying the certifications set up the questionable and suspect system in effect for the November elections.
The confusion and certification by the old standards created this fine mess, that can be easily manipulated discreetly and almost legally.
Also in the report was that over 16 million voters had been purged between 2002 and 2004 by enforcement of the older standards.
I don't know the numbers for 2004-2006.
A golden opportuniny for the Re-public-ans
The Mark Foley scandal has given the social conservatives who control the Republican Party a golden opportunity to place their agenda front and center for national consumption. With Foley soon to be released from an alcohol rehab program, one of the leaders of the Party -- say, Bill Bennett (oops, gambling addiction) or Rush Limbaugh (oops, drug abuse) or Newt Gingrich (oops, infidelity and twice divorced) or Tom DeLay (oops, indicted for campaign finance abuse and money laundering) -- should now step forward and mentor Foley, one of their own, by persuading him to enroll in Exodus, the organization touted by the religious right as capable of facilitating changes in sexual orientation through conversion to Christianity. The Republicans will then have their perfect poster boy: reformed alcoholic, ex-gay, born-again Christian, credentials which should escort this eligible bachelor to the front of the line for marriage to the preacher's daughter. And who better to continue the crusade against gay marriage and protecting minors from predators? What a Karl Rovian coup. Pardon my skepticism, but better the preacher's daughter than mine.
Pam suggested I write the Hartford Courant about Joe Loserman . . . My Letter:
Dear Editor:
The Hartford Courant endorsed Joe Lieberman, a candidate who was clearly rejected by Connecticut voters. Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat. Democrats have disowned him.
Joe Lieberman is not an Independent. He is a George W. Bush lackey.
Connecticut voters rejected Joe Lieberman because he consistently voted to support George W. Bush and Bush's failed war of aggression against Iraq. George W. Bush has the blood of 3,000 American boys and girls on his hands. So does Joe Lieberman.
By supporting Joe Lieberman, the Courant made a false and mistaken attempt to perpetuate this failed war. Joe Lieberman also has blood on his hands -- the blood of our troops. Today, so does the Hartford Courant.
Hypocrisy means pretending to have beliefs that one does not truly possess; the Courant is morally responsible for its endorsements. This endorsement is reprehensible and will reflect on the Courant as long as Joe Lieberman remains a player in this country’s politics.
Sincerely yours,
Good mornign, everyone.
essie, hang in there. Our thoughts are with your Pretty Bird.
Hilde, just as long as they don't enroll Foley in Jesus Camp with all those kids.
But knowing how competency-challenged this current crop of Republicans are, they will probably give him a job at the White House so he can hang out with the dry drunk.
hilde, nice concept. may i suggest newt and some of the others also start attending "promise keepers" and cheney perhaps join george castanza and james spader at their rage-a-holics meetings...
Moronic Political Ads
Political ads of the insane asylum mentality,
Finger pointing demanding one’s allegiance,
Using fear and intimidation to nail Americans
With a dooms day scenario of changing parties.
Using hate tactics of the sixties to alienate races
Bringing back Jim Crow feeling dividing America,
Using the race tag on a Tennessee Senator’s race
With a winking white woman in despicable shame.
Oh, political Republican Party of segregated views,
Your religion is segregation in wealthy audiences.
Where one must be whitewashed with obedience
That a master race is in the White House Plantation.
While a Democratic Party is not better defending us,
As the middle class is attacked into total oblivion,
Where the streets of our great nation are ignored
From Katrina Jackson Square Cathedral promises.
Oh, the shame of moronic political ads attacking us!
Taxes! Taxes! Democrats are going to raise your taxes!
Posted by Domingo on October 29, 2006 at 12:35 AM
Will, this is an issue that we can turn to our favor in even own at this juncture in the campaign. Dean did a good job this morning turning the debate to why the oil companies got such big tax cuts when their profits were so colossal.
If terror and taxes are their big points, why have they handled both of them so badly? Going into Iraq hastily when they suspected it was unnecessary is worse than irresponsible. They've weakened our military for a chance to war profiteer. How craven is that?
These guys don't do anything right and only act then when someone like Halliburton, Paris Hilton, or the oil companies can benefit from it.
Michael J. Fox is so articulate on George S this morning.
He's talking about hiding symptoms...and giving up hope. The Republicans want him to shut up and die in secret without a fight for a cure. He refuses to no longer to be drawn into a debate where he sees none.
Either we throw out those cells and ignore the suffering or we are going to try to heal the sick. That is where the issue now rests.
"It's like getting into a fight with a bully, you only get hurt." He won't do it anymore. Take that, Biff (Limbaugh).
And Limbaugh refused to be interviewed by George S. Who is the bully here? In many ways that is the same situation the American public is dealing with on all issues with the Reublicans. Are they governing or are they bullying to get their way?
later.
George Wills....please feel insecure. You well off media divas live in a castle. Come out with the peasants and see how good the ecomony.
Appropose of nothing, it's just a head-scratcher"
I wish I could turn to the soldiers on that ship, and I wish they could hear me. Stay in the military, there's a new commander-in-chief coming. --George W. Bush
Mornin' (hey, it's moring for me) fellow Democrats. I fired up my computer to find that on my random "Chimp in Chief" quote generator.
From what I can ascertain, the webmaster here wants the title of this blog to accurately describe the true mental, spiritual and emotional state of the majority of the democratic party that represents our country today. So sad.
Insight is a gift from our Creator. The true enemy of this world will never allow such Wisdom to guide those who are presently in its grip. All the answers to Humanities conflicts are already written in each of your own Hearts. The enemy has had centuries to distort and confuse even those who appear to be the most Faithful to the Truth. The power it now possesses will not be overcome unless it is first, recognized, and then reclaimed. This battle is not just about placing the “right” candidate in some official office; this is a personal fight for every one of you that must begin in your own Heart, in your own personal space. There is no other way to defeat this enemy. Its power is collective.
It begins with Forgiveness and ends with Unconditional Love for All.
Please, I beg you…try it. Take a risk for Humanity.
With Love for All of You,
Lee A. Kozsey Jr.
Good morning Dems. Good to see you all hard at work spreading the word.
Noble aspirations, but can we try it after we win an election or two?
I don't mean to dismiss your sincere ethical position, it's just how far do you really think that will go toward swaying the electorate?
We are in a knifefight, and the soul of the nation is at stake. I'm not just bringing a gun, I'm sniping from the rooftops.
I get a kick out of fools that come in here and claim that we have to "play nice" because otherwise we are as bad as the republicans. Elections are not nice; have really never been nice. When we visited the Lincoln museum in Springfield they had political ads from that era. Those ads made todays ads look tame. So give 'em hell Democrats. Hold nothing back. Elected officials should not be measured by what kind of campaign they run, but rather by how they govern. And if dems don't fight fire with fire, they will not get that chance.
It begins with Forgiveness and ends with Unconditional Love for All
Good idea. Just as soon as we settle some scores
I have to leave for a while. Have a good day Democrats. Keep up the good fight. Eight days to go (after today).
I'm a daughter of the land of Truman and Twain. I enjoy a good snap-fight. I get that taste of blood in my mouth as I close in for the kill and everything. This political season is the one I have been waiting for my entire adult life (I missed voting in the 1980 general by five weeks) and I am loving it. Hell yes, take the gloves off and get your knuckles bloody. You think the R's got us into this mess by playing nice? No, they fought like hell while we played nice, and the entire country got screwed.
I'm willing to fight for my country. And the revolution is coming. How you want it? Ballots? Or bullets?
Well, I have to hop off for a bit. My husband seems to think he has rights to the internet too.
I saw this as I was leaving and had to come back and share it.
On their attacks, I would like to say two things. First, the novels that the Allen camp attacks include Fields of Fire, which has been called the classic novel of the Vietnam War and was for years required reading on college campuses nationwide in classes relating to the illumination of war. They include, The Emperor’s General, which has been called a masterpiece of literature and was called by that raving liberal George F. Will, “This compelling, fascinating exercise of historical fiction proves, again, that Jim Webb is as fine a novelist as he was a Marine. Enough said;” and they include Born Fighting, which has been called brilliant and the most important ethnography of our time. Perhaps the Allen camp should learn to read books before they begin burning them.
Second, let me say one more time to George Allen and his lapdog assassins. Senator, you have not earned the right to question Jim Webb’s wartime experiences, from the ugliness of combat to the ugliness of what happens to civilians in nations ravaged by war. Senator, Jim Webb wrote of things he witnessed. They may have been ugly, but we should learn from their ugliness about the consequences of our votes and actions before we send men and women into war.
Blue Girl, you sound like someone I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with, if and when we Americans take to the Streets!!!
KATHY_IN _IN
You GO girl! One vote at a time, one seat at a time, we will do this ! We all applaud your Efforts in taking back our Country!
And this made me ROFLMAO!
The New York Times is worse than a worthless rag, it's a pro terrorist, Antie American, rag.
Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 28, 2006 at 09:29 PM
Is that the same as Uncle-no patriot? Because this clown is no Patriot nor American. He is reciting the SAME old jokes that weren't funny the very first time, about seals, and smells on internet, etc. In love with jacque, because she is the only one who acknowledges him? ( Miss OHIO?
Wow!, now that would be a compliment coming from a normal human on here)
And cowpiesmasher, don't scare this ole POS anymore than he already is. He sits now with his old rifle across his lap in that trailer parked in the woods!
Cincinnati Enquirer embarasses itself again by damning Republican candidate while endorsing her (same pathetic endorsement they gave to Blackwell- he's scum, but we're endorsing him anyway):
"Let's face it. Schmidt has had a tendency to step in it."
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061029/EDIT01/610290337/1090
What even more comical is that they endorse her on the same day they run this lead story about how she is trying to arrange for nuclear waste from around the globe to be stored at an old facility in southern ohio- the part that they missed in their endorsement is that nobody should be surprised by this as jean schmidt has a long history of being little more than a shill for corporate america regardless of how those same corporations might mistreat her own constituents in the process:
"All I can tell you is that when it became known that she supports this, every Jean Schmidt yard sign in the county went down overnight," said Geoffrey Sea, a writer whose home abuts the Piketon plant. (she sure knows how to step in it alright)
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061029/NEWS01/610290398
hello truthseekers--blowback is a beeotch:
The new Taliban, a rough alliance of Islamist zealots, teenagers seeking adventure, disgruntled villagers led by tribal elders alienated from the government, drug dealers and smugglers - is no longer the parochial, traditional militia that seized Kabul almost exactly 10 years ago and was ousted by the American-led coalition in 2001. Tactics, ideology, equipment and organisation have all moved on. The use of suicide bombings, roadside bombs and targeted assassinations of those cooperating with Western forces are methods copied from Iraqi insurgents.
'They can't engage in big groups so... they've moved on to these targeted assassinations,' said Naimatullah Khan, deputy chief of the local council in southern Kandahar province, who has seen several colleagues killed. More than 70 suicide bombings, four times as many as last year, have together killed scores of civilians. In 2001 the tactic was almost unknown among Afghans. French intelligence sources say militants are heading to Afghanistan rather than Iraq.
The Taliban are now exploiting modern propaganda such as recruitment videos and mass-produced DVDs and CDs. This has been copied from international terrorist operators such as Osama bin Laden, thought to be hiding either in the eastern zones along the Afghan border with Pakistan or in the heavily wooded northern province of Kunar where there is continued skirmishing between US troops and militants. Civilian deaths - such as the 50 reported during Nato operations last week near Kandahar - are eagerly exploited for propaganda.
The Taliban remain a local phenomenon and are not believed to be in close liaison with the Saudi-born bin Laden or his Egyptian-born associate Ayman al-Zawahiri. 'It is more an ad hoc co-operation between the Arabs and some of the major figures in the broad Taliban movement, especially in the east,' said a French intelligence source. Those fighting British troops in Helmand province are thought to be linked to major clerics and traffickers in Pakistan.
The old "Boner" thinks Rummy's great! Can you believe it?
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/29/boehner-rumsfeld/
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Let me just ask one more question on this. Your own senators, I said Mike DeWine, thinks Rumsfeld has to go. Do you agree?"
BOEHNER:" I think Donald Rumsfeld is the best thing that’s happened to the Pentagon in 25 years. This Pentagon and our military needs a transformation and I think Donald Rumsfeld is the only man in America who knows where the bodies are buried at the Pentagon, has enough experience to help transform that institution. Let’s not take the problems in Iraq, the tough fight that we’re in there and blame it on anyone."
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What a load of NeoCon Crap!!!
afternoon dems- happy time change day- sun is still shining here in sw ohio- lunch with family and yard work is calling and this thread is way too long- at least it looks like my post might have made it onto the current thread- have a great day folks
Posted by Chicago on October 29, 2006 at 12:22 PM
Priceless! Thanks for sharing that before you left-and nice to see you. Governor Rod will be raising the minimum wage to $7.50. I'm delighted to see that, and Judy calls the move "politics". I call it policy.
boner has to go- he's next on the list here in sw ohio for worst representative designation- another corporate shill and nothing more- handing out tobacco money on the floor of congress during a smoking bill debate should have sealed his fate as a sycophant of corporate power (just like mean jean "i never met a company i didn't like" schmidt)- they are embarassments to congress and the people of ohio
Posted by Huronjohn on October 29, 2006 at 12:29 PM
i saw it and was laughing at the t.v. today, instead of my usual screaming and yelling. i only watch the Sunday morning shows, as penance for my sins.
John Hagee was sandwiched in between and he managed to pronounce any church that appoints homosexuals as bishops or deacons as satanic. the bobbleheads in the HUGE audience (i could say congregation, but didn't) just agreed like the fearful little sheep that they are.
which leads me to my final and probably unpopular statement that we who continue to think that violence will SOLVE our problems are just as bobbleheaded. look at Afghanistan.
they are embarassments to congress and the people of ohio
Posted by jefro on October 29, 2006 at 12:36 PM
morning, jef
they are embarassments to the rest of us in the reality based community, as well. however, they are good for a laugh, if one is into black comedy. i thought i was going to cry i laughed so hard at him this morning.
jean and her NASCAR outfit when she was booed off the floor are one of those images i'll never forget. horrifying, yet can't help but laugh
Sorry about the length here, I couldn't compress it into a sound bite. I am concerned about our lack of focus, of identity. I mentioned in a previous blog that I feel that we no longer fit the old labels and that they aren't useful. Many of the Parties positions no longer fit the old definition of "liberal" or even "left". Now I read the Agenda, and I see several references to our dedication to "working families". True, we still support the concepts behind unionization, such as assuring worker safety and a realistic wage. But where are the unemployed? The retired? The disabled? The self-employed? This is an enormous section of the population. Because of the "Free Trade" programs we have supported in the past we now have many fewer working families. And very few of those are in the old fortress of the Democratic Party, manufacturing. By encouraging manufacturing to move overseas, the Republicans very efficiently undermined the base of the Democratic party. (Didn't think of that as the driving force behind NAFTA, didja?)
So I don't see anything in these six points that will define us. Ethics? That's a matter of attitude. There is no way you can establish enough rules to assure ethics. The one thing that would help control ethics is to outlaw limits on debate. Keep everything open. This is how the Framers of the Constitution meant to maintain honesty and accountability, through open debate. Spotlighting any attempt by any organ of government to limit debate (and thereby checks and balances) will reverse many if not most of the damage the Vulcans have done.
Security? Our greatest enemy is within. The Framers knew that. They knew that free debate will expose all threats to our way of life. We are a strong enough nation to handle any external threat. We led the fight for a Department of Homeland Security? I hope not! What a fascist tool! It didn't eliminate inefficiency, but it did cut back severely on oversight. Very poorly planned, exceedingly poorly executed.
Economic prosperity- invest in our industrial infrastructure, not Asia's. Their economies are strong enough to prosper when we do. That's the kind of trickle down economics we need to practice.
Health care? Medicare part D is a group of private insurance plans wherein our Federal govt is absorbing the cost of sales and promotion and providing a collection service for the premiums. It is NOT a part of the Medicare program. It is PRIVATE insurance! A good example of the result of allowing corporate entities to resolve social and societal problems for us.
Environment. Enforce the laws on the books. Respect existing treaty obligations. Do not allow U.S.corporations to escape U.S. scrutiny and control by moving operations overseas.
And finally, EDUCATION. the major failing of our children's education today is that they are not taught how to communicate. They can't spell, they can't organize their thoughts into sentences. They can't communicate their thoughts in english, even though it's their only language. No wonder we can't escape communication by sound bite. (I'm sure you know who I have in mind here. He doesn't even know that he doesn't speak in complete sentences.) No child left behind? Most of them don't even know which direction to point when asked to locate Washington, D.C.
There are some glaring grammatical errors in my last post (above). Can anyone point them out?
They can't spell, they can't organize their thoughts into sentences. They can't communicate their thoughts in english, even though it's their only language.
Like you say, our President has the same problem unless he has a script in front of him. It's no wonder that he will not talk to the North Koreans or the Iranians
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