Wednesday Open Thread
Chat away...
Comments (210) «
PamB...I may get flamed as being some sort of dumb ass, but I'm going ot voice my opinion anyway, I suspect that the suicide rate might be lower if the promise to our troops had been kept and many of them were not already on their second, third and even forth deployments to Iraq. I suspect that suicide rates might be lower if our troops were not cought up in a war between the Shia and the Sunnis and other factions, fighting an enemy that melts back into the civilian population, and witnessing the murder of innocent women and children....I know the suicide rate would be lower if our troops were not there in the first place....BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!
Just stopping by.
Posted by PamB on January 31, 2007 at 09:08 AM
Hi, Pam.
I was under the impression that the people of the Fertile Crescent have been writing laws and policing themselves for over 5,000 years. Isn’t Hammurabi’s Tablet of Laws was found? Why do we have to waste time and effort showing them how it’s done? They would do it themselves if we got out of the way.
All we hear from this administration is how the Iraqis don’t know how to do anything.
They don’t know how to fight and raise an army…but they organize and keep killing our soldiers. That they don’t know how to build utilities…but they sure know where the best place is to disable them with bombs. That they don’t know how to run a government….yet they have set up a system of corruption and bribery that rivals that of Delay’s. I could go on.
It’s time to face the fact that we are not keeping out troops over there to help the Iraqis. We are keeping them over there so Bush/Cheney and their Republican Party don’t have to admit failure…and to protect their investments.
sandy, excellent point. i am tired of hearing how the iraqi's just don't get it, are cowards, don't understand....etc. this is all just the bushies trying to get the monkey of incompetence off their backs and onto someone ( anyone ) else's.
my new governor is gonna be fun. a turd republican state senator was complaining about not getting more play in creating a new state ethics law. here is what eliot had for the pug:
...Spitzer's toughness showed through when people overheard him yell at Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco on the phone. Tedisco was upset that he wasn't involved in negotiations for a new state ethics law, so Spitzer said, "Listen, I'm a f---ing steamroller, and I'll roll over you and anybody else!"
let's get him in the ring with cheney and bush, they'll both go home with their jockstraps in their mouths.
I saw Biden on tv this am...looks and sounds good...like a viable candidate....I may be wrong about this but as far as I have heard Edwards is the only candidate to come out strongly to stop the funding for the war....lets stop the funding, turn this thing around on a dime, and get out,NOW!!..Iran has offered to go in and do the reconstruction...let them do it!...We have given this Iraqi government chance after chance to stand up and become a real government....they have failed because they don't want our "Democracy" as their government. So, lets get out and let them do what they want to do. This Iraqi government is already in bed with Iran and Syria...so what?.....any kind of organized government that functions will be better than what the Iraqis have now....all we are doing now is fighting, dying, and spending our money so that the Saudis don't have to spend theirs....John Boy....
very funny piece from the daily show on obama's terrorist upbringing:
HUGE!
Gregg, good post...I wish Spitzer was able to do something about health care.....we could sure use a tough man fighting for us on that issue,.....got to go get the "the brain dead old geezer's el cheapo breakfast".......You all have a great day!!!...Later........John Boy....
esmeralda, that is a wonderful site. i am fighting off this cold and will now sit here and page through these today. thank your friend.
I missed this yesterday. Apparently, the MSM did also.
U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghan wars lack equipment: poll
Tue Jan 30, 2007
WASASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lack of armored vehicles, weapons and other equipment is hampering missions of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon's watchdog agency said in a survey released on Tuesday.
Equipment shortages have been a near-constant issue since the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, with some soldiers using improvised armor to protect vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades and high-velocity rounds.
"Service members were not always equipped to effectively complete their missions," said a summary of the survey, based on interviews last year with some 1,100 troops by the Department of Defense's inspector-general.
Beyond armored vehicles, soldiers ran short of weapons operated by teams of troops, electronic countermeasure devices and communications gear, the summary said.
The full report remains classified. The summary did not say how widespread the problem was but described internal controls to ensure troops had the correct equipment as "not adequate."
Some soldiers resorted to borrowing and trading equipment with comrades to get what they needed, the survey found.
Among those suffering shortages were troops on missions they did not normally do -- such as training local security forces, reconstruction and bomb disposal -- which required equipment they did not usually have.
"Service members performed missions without the proper equipment, used informal procedures to obtain equipment and sustainment support, and canceled or postponed missions while waiting to receive equipment," the summary said. Continued...
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
//today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-01-31T002559Z_01_N30376801_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L1-RelatedNews-1
The italics are mine. So we are having a hard time training those Iraqi security forces? I wonder why?
Just how do you dispose of bombs without the right equipment?
“FREEDOM LOST”
by
Harvey R. Crook
30 April, 2001
It is with overwhelming sadness and a broken heart, that I put this pen to paper. To expound upon the most precious gift that a person has to give away. And that is exactly what we have done and continues to do.
As children, we were taught about the great feats of sacrifice that our forebears made in quest for freedom. The stories of Moses, Jesus, Paul, Paul Reeve, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Martin Luther King Jr., and so many others. The great wars that where fought for the cause of freedom; the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and so many more.
It brings us all to tears to visit the Vietnam memorial to see the names of so many that perished in the name of freedom. To visit Arlington Cemetery and see the stones of those that fought in the Civil, Revolutionary, or World Wars. Such the enormous price that has been paid for a right all beings should be born into. Freedom, something so simple, natural and as the word itself expresses, free. Yet, its cost has been so high, so enormous, and so hard to achieve or contain.
It makes one’s heart soar when it is achieved, so angry when it is lost, but nothing matches the sadness of giving it away. For it is though our arrogance, our selfishness, our laziness, and our ignorance, that we merely give this most precious right away.
Whether it is by allowing a few power seeking men controlling Washington D.C. To enact laws nibbling away at it, or Companies whittling at it with the treat of economics, or local authorities tarring at it in then name of prosperity, or persons chewing at it in the name of welfare, disability, or percussion.
I once wrote a paper for a physiology class, titled “What did Seymond Freud Leave Out”. It explained two other parts of a person’s personality that he failed to mention. But, there is also; or so I thought, the need that one has for freedom. Is it truly a need for freedom, or is it just a conception that has been so carefully and victoriously planted within us as a tool to lead patriotic warriors into battle for deceived plans of power of gain.
We have been manipulated and deceived in the name of freedom. Our economics and population have been regulated with it, and many of the greatest minds and leaders have been imprisoned or murdered in the fight for it.
Selfishness, apathy, and arrogance have corrupted all the tools we created to mold it, our government, our unions, our schools, our churches, and our society as a whole.
Myself a Vietnam veteran, now feels so ignorant at all the deception that I have experienced in my life and so broken hearted to see the world we have allowed to form around us.
To wake up and realize that freedom is a fading objective of mankind, truly breaks my heart. For once it was only a few that deceived, but now it has become us all!
We the People!
We the people want the government to respond to the following:
1. To conduct all branches of the government as representative of and by the people.
2. To end and stop the movement of the “New World Order” or by what ever new name they label it.
3. To develop real and fair trade with other countries and that incurred placing of tariffs if needed.
4. To stop illegal immigration and to immediately deport all caught illegals.
5. To only change the portion of the immigration law to strengthen and the law against hiring illegals and to aggressively enforce it.
6. To need gun control laws as they are.
7. To allow States their rights about marriage and civil unions as they see fit as per the constitution.
8. That when giving Congresses authority to go to war, limit it in time for reaffirming
9. To develop e a National health program that mirrors Canada’s.
10. To Cap political campaign finance.
11. To redeploy the troops in Iraq and allow Special Forces to do their job as trained to do.
If these responses are not met, then in the next election it will not be replacing republicans with democrats, but replacing incumbents!
Harvey R. Crook
11 Jan 2007
Victory or a Shot in the foot
We are at a turning point in the future of the Democratic Party and the future of our Country. We have just undergone an election that has turned around the balance of power in Washington, mainly because of the people’s frustration in the direction of government and the corruption taking place there.
The Democrats have a wonderful opportunity to change this nation’s direction in a way that has not been possible in 20 years. I pray that they have the ability to do so and not allow themselves to fall back into the trap of allowing a single issue to destroy this precious opportunity.
In the past, a single issue such as gun control or abortion, as history reveals was a shot in the foot for some of their past failures to maintain control and strength in the Congress. Not that they were not issues that needed to be challenge or changed, but that is was at the wrong time or trying to reach too much to soon.
I feel like that there is an opportunity here and now to do something really great for our Country. We are at a point where our Nation has been stretched financially and militarily as well as morally. There is an opportunity to change the face of the Country. One way this could be done is by taking on the task of relief of oil dependency. There are already several options on the table and most of them seem sound and good, but I am going to suggest an option that no ones seem to visualize.
A large part of our oil is used in transportation. So what can we do about this? Well, how about changing the transportation system in our Country. The technology is already here to build a high speed rail system. We need the system through out our Nation. We can build a high speed rail loop to cover the whole nation with an autovon highway next to it and at the same time to save money and labor to incorporate pipe lines and communication lines and power interchanges along with it.
We can build this system by putting our people back to work in this Country. There are millions that are without jobs but not on the records. You may see this by looking in all the projects across all of our cities. We are already paying these individuals, they are just not working. My recommendations are to put them to work. And there are a lot of people I our society that has looted the system by claiming to be unable to work. Do not misunderstand me, I realize that there are many that are legitimate in their disabilities, but a lot are not. I think that the whistle needs blowing on them and they should be put to work. I also believe that even though a person has a disability that in most circumstances, those individuals would rather be a productive part of society. So it is in this reasoning that I believe it is time to recreate a new WPA program and put America back to work and build the new transportation system of our future.
By doing this, we put America to work; we build a system of transportation that will greatly reduce the number of diesel burning trucks and trains off the road, and also reduce air travel that has almost gotten too much to control. Now oh, what about the people‘s job this will cost? Well it will create more jobs, higher paying jobs with good benefits.
This rail system should be under governmental control and ran by the transportation department like it was years ago when we had a good rail system in this country.
Now, what about the shot in the foot? Well that would be immigration policy. Giving amnesty or anything else you wish to call allowing the illegal’s to stay in the Country will be that shot in the foot, that will haul the opportunity to save our country. This country or its people cannot and will not except such a policy and to think that they will is policial suicide. If the Democrats do this, they will lose control in the next election without any doubt. I am a hard core democrat and always have been, but I pray my party will have the ability to see what this issue will do to them if the fail to act in the best interest of the country. This country or its system cannot withstand the strain illegal immigration is putting on It., and the people are not willing to suffer the cost of this policy. The only new laws needed on this issue are those penalizing those that hire them and those that aid illegal immigration. These penalties need to be very hard and strong, not only in fines, but also in jail time to those that knowingly or by lack of concern for policy break it.
Please Washington, wake up!
Harvey R. Crook
December 20, 2006
Victory or a Shot in the foot
We are at a turning point in the future of the Democratic Party and the future of our Country. We have just undergone an election that has turned around the balance of power in Washington, mainly because of the people’s frustration in the direction of government and the corruption taking place there.
The Democrats have a wonderful opportunity to change this nation’s direction in a way that has not been possible in 20 years. I pray that they have the ability to do so and not allow themselves to fall back into the trap of allowing a single issue to destroy this precious opportunity.
In the past, a single issue such as gun control or abortion, as history reveals was a shot in the foot for some of their past failures to maintain control and strength in the Congress. Not that they were not issues that needed to be challenge or changed, but that is was at the wrong time or trying to reach too much to soon.
I feel like that there is an opportunity here and now to do something really great for our Country. We are at a point where our Nation has been stretched financially and militarily as well as morally. There is an opportunity to change the face of the Country. One way this could be done is by taking on the task of relief of oil dependency. There are already several options on the table and most of them seem sound and good, but I am going to suggest an option that no ones seem to visualize.
A large part of our oil is used in transportation. So what can we do about this? Well, how about changing the transportation system in our Country. The technology is already here to build a high speed rail system. We need the system through out our Nation. We can build a high speed rail loop to cover the whole nation with an autovon highway next to it and at the same time to save money and labor to incorporate pipe lines and communication lines and power interchanges along with it.
We can build this system by putting our people back to work in this Country. There are millions that are without jobs but not on the records. You may see this by looking in all the projects across all of our cities. We are already paying these individuals, they are just not working. My recommendations are to put them to work. And there are a lot of people I our society that has looted the system by claiming to be unable to work. Do not misunderstand me, I realize that there are many that are legitimate in their disabilities, but a lot are not. I think that the whistle needs blowing on them and they should be put to work. I also believe that even though a person has a disability that in most circumstances, those individuals would rather be a productive part of society. So it is in this reasoning that I believe it is time to recreate a new WPA program and put America back to work and build the new transportation system of our future.
By doing this, we put America to work; we build a system of transportation that will greatly reduce the number of diesel burning trucks and trains off the road, and also reduce air travel that has almost gotten too much to control. Now oh, what about the people‘s job this will cost? Well it will create more jobs, higher paying jobs with good benefits.
This rail system should be under governmental control and ran by the transportation department like it was years ago when we had a good rail system in this country.
Now, what about the shot in the foot? Well that would be immigration policy. Giving amnesty or anything else you wish to call allowing the illegal’s to stay in the Country will be that shot in the foot, that will haul the opportunity to save our country. This country or its people cannot and will not except such a policy and to think that they will is policial suicide. If the Democrats do this, they will lose control in the next election without any doubt. I am a hard core democrat and always have been, but I pray my party will have the ability to see what this issue will do to them if the fail to act in the best interest of the country. This country or its system cannot withstand the strain illegal immigration is putting on It., and the people are not willing to suffer the cost of this policy. The only new laws needed on this issue are those penalizing those that hire them and those that aid illegal immigration. These penalties need to be very hard and strong, not only in fines, but also in jail time to those that knowingly or by lack of concern for policy break it.
Please Washington, wake up!
Harvey R. Crook
December 20, 2006
Heavy Hearted!
I sit today and watched a Congressional hearing held by Rep. Maxine Waters from California, on the War in Iraq. There were interviews and testimony from individuals that have reached the war and with veterans of the war,
As I sat and listened, it became very apparent to me the conspirer icy of the White House that started this war and the reasons behind it. I am a two time Vietnam veterans, and it brought back many feelings I had while I was involved in that conflict. I sat and cried, as I saw how those in powers have sacrificed this whole Country for the gains of a few of the rich and powerful. As myself and so many more have surrendered to go to war and fight for good and right and to be used by those of power, completely and totally breaks my heart.
When will we learn? When will we stop? When will we change? We must, we have and obligation to all that have fought and died to stop the ability of those that seek to use power so called of the people to do such things. The injustices that have taken place shall never be righted.
My heart is so heavy that it is very difficult for me to write this letter, but I felt compelled to do so. I will leave with an inscription I had placed on a lighter made from a brass 50 caliber shell casing while I served in Vietnam.
“To a peaceful ending or sooner, should the foolish and selfish, decide to call us home before it is over!”
Harvey R. Crook
28th January, 2007
I'd like to thank all those who referenced and posted the link to Chalmers Johnson. I found this quote from his article by another historian to be the most enlightenng:
In her book The Origins of Totalitarianism, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt offered the following summary of British imperialism and its fate:
"On the whole it was a failure because of the dichotomy between the nation-state's legal principles and the methods needed to oppress other people permanently. This failure was neither necessary nor due to ignorance or incompetence. British imperialists knew very well that 'administrative massacres' could keep India in bondage, but they also knew that public opinion at home would not stand for such measures. Imperialism could have been a success if the nation-state had been willing to pay the price, to commit suicide and transform itself into a tyranny. It is one of the glories of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, that she preferred to liquidate the empire."
And this analysis by Johnson of our present situation in the U.S. Congress:
Even in the present moment of congressional stirring, there seems to be a deep sense of helplessness. Various members of Congress have already attempted to explain how the one clear power they retain -- to cut off funds for a disastrous program -- is not one they are currently prepared to use.
We better hope that Russ Feingold prods them along. And a few of those in our party who are seeking our nomination like Biden and Obama take up the cause.
This is really not a time for feet dragging. If what Chambers predicts, from going back and looking at the history of both the Roman and British empires is right, our democratic form of government and our economy are on the brink of disaster. Another needless war in Iran would be the last nail in our coffin. Continuing the current conflict in Iraq futile.
The risk of waiting till we get back full power in 2009, is too risky. If it looks like we are going to tank either politically or economically, we really need to impeach both Cheney and Bush immediately. It may be the only way to keep our foreign creditors at bay in the event of Cheney bombing Iran.
I guess the question to Cheney is, "What price are you willing to make this nation and your grandchildren pay for your delusion that you can save a lost empire that never existed?"
Will he risk everything for one last chance to prove he was right? Will our Democratic leadership allow him to do it?
Posted by Crook on January 31, 2007 at 11:31 AM
Crook,
Well said. I think you said it better and explained it better than historians like Chambers Johnson have.
I refuse to give up or give in to dispair. Please don't think there isn't hope.
crook, i like alot of what you are writing. really like the stuff about the transportation system and while we might differ a bit on immigration i like the idea of punishing the employers and not the dishwashers or house cleaners. welcome and hope to see more of you.
crook and gregg,
If the British pulled back from the brink, so can we.
It's time for our leadership to note that there are those who haven't in the past agreed with us but are now reaching out to us.
We can't agree on everything, but we can agree on this: This country is on the worng course and it needs to be righted.
later.
What happens when you fight a protracted war in which you don't know who the enemy is.
THIS: In Florida this month we had a Iraq Marine kill himself and his wife. Fortunatly he took the baby to a neighbors house first!!!
The thoughts of not knowing who the enemy is can come home to haunt you.
I was wondering if anybody is keeping track of Millitary murder-suicides since this thing began.
During the Viet Nam conflict there was supposidly more troops who commited suicide when they came home than was killed in actual combat.
I think I'm correct on this not sure though?
Anybody know for sure?
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America
by Chris Hedges
More Views Hardcover
ISBN: 0743284437
Pub. Date: January 2007
I feel these are the Fasscists respnsible for most of the trouble we have in America.
Clemson probes party that mocked blacks
Wed Jan 31, 12:33 AM ET
CLEMSON, S.C. - Clemson University and the NAACP said Tuesday they are investigating an off-campus party held during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend that some considered offensive because white students drank malt liquor and at least one partygoer wore black face.
Pictures from the party were posted online, and Clemson officials learned of the Jan. 14 party this past weekend. The school is probing whether students were harassed or whether there was underage drinking.
Clemson President James Barker wrote in a letter to students and faculty that he was "appalled, angered and disappointed" by the party, which "appeared to mock and disparage African Americans."
"Many people have been offended and deeply hurt," he said.
The party organizers issued an unsigned letter of apology, saying, "We invited all races and types of peoples and never meant any racial harm."
"We want everyone to know how sorry we are, and that we are willing to do anything to make things right," the letter said...
This wasn't the only such racist party held on a campus. I posted information about another in Texas the other day ago.
If it was not an isolated case, it begs the question as to who was behind these offensive actions. If I was an enterprising young reporter, I'd do a little investigating.
Seems to me, I've seen similar activities sponsored by campus political groups trying to make a point about the "unfairness" of affirmative action. Now what was that organization?
Paula Zahn did a piece on this last night on CNN, where a conservative black pundit said that the irresponsible actions of young blacks brought these sterotypes upon themselves. So why were there college kids dressed up like Aunt Jemimah? I don't believe she is a hip hop legend or gang banger.
Audit: Millions in Iraq reconstruction aid wasted
Story Highlights• Quarterly audit paints a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration
• More than $36 million for armored vehicles, gear can't be accounted for
• Auditor said security remains the biggest challenge in Iraq.
Read the full story:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/31/iraq.waste.ap/index.html
Al-Maliki: Iraq won't be battleground for U.S., Iran. Iraq's prime minister said Wednesday he's sure Iran is behind some attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and he won't allow his country to be a battleground for the two nations.
Full Story:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/31/iraq.main/index.html
Gonzales to release spy program details
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's never been the case where we said we would never provide the access," Gonzales told reporters.
"We'd obviously be concerned about (how) the public disclosure may jeopardize the national security of our country," he said. "But we're working with the Congress to provide the information that it needs."
The documents held by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — including investigators' applications for permission to spy and judges' orders — will be given to some lawmakers as early as Wednesday.
Gonzales said the documents would not be released publicly. "We're talking about highly classified discussions about highly classified actions of the United States government," the attorney general said.
The records will be given to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt., and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., who two weeks ago lambasted Gonzales for refusing to turn over documents that even the FISA Court's presiding judge had no objection to releasing...
//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying
Funny how just a few days of testimony in the Libby trial has made the White House lawyers more open and ready to cooperate with a newly installed Democratic-controlled Congress that intends to take their oversight responsibility seriously.
I wonder what will happen when the trial moves over to cross examination of White House witness like Karl Rove about how they leaked information that was classified?
Bush Administration Accused of Doctoring Scientists' Reports on Climate Change
By Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian UK
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two parked car bombs struck simultaneously in separate areas in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding 15, police said.
Full Story:
Posted by DemocratKickingAss on January 31, 2007 at 12:43 PM
Asked about the role of Iran in Iraq, al-Maliki said he was confident that Iranian influence was behind attacks on U.S. forces. "It exists, and I assure you it exists," he said.
Iranian-U.S. tensions have been ratcheted up recently, with two U.S. officials theorizing about the possibility that Iran was involved in a January 20 attack that killed five U.S. soldiers.
Two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said Tuesday the Pentagon is investigating whether the attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives.
"People are looking at it seriously," one of the officials said, adding that the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation.
The second official said: "We believe it's possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained."
DKA,
And we are to believe Al-Maliki's assertion that all those attacks on our troops are the doing of Iran? He sure knows how to play both sides to the middle while keeping himself and his government from taking any responsibility.
If I was the head of a puppet government of an occupied country I might do the same...especially if that is the current propoganda coming out of the the White House who funds my existence.
If the Cheney wants us to believe that the Iranians are the problem in Iraq, why didn't he bring it up long before now?
Congress: Do something binding, cut funding...!
Posted by Olivia on January 31, 2007 at 11:37 AM
It's the only way to stop these maniacs from attacking Iran, too.
Mr. Crook...good writing,good job,stay with us,and thank you for your service to our country....
"We have told the Iranians and the Americans, 'We know that you have a problem with each other, but we are asking you, please solve your problems outside Iraq,' " Nuri al-Maliki old CNN.
Al-Maliki: Iraq...
In other words, we can move the war to Iranian soil on our journey back to Afghanistan and bin Laden/Taliban. Thanks, Nuri!! I think the Iraqi president knows that the only way Mr. Bush is going to leave Iraq is if he has another sandbox in which play his war games.
Economy grows 3.5 percent in 4th quarter
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON - The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump.
The fresh snapshot of business activity, released by the Commerce Department Wednesday, underscored the resilience of the economy; it has managed to keep on moving despite the ill effects of the residential real-estate bust and an ailing automotive sector.
The economy's performance in the October-to-December quarter, which followed two quarters of rather listless activity, exceeded analysts' forecasts for a 3 percent growth rate...
//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy
Happy days are here again? So everyone took out their credit card and spent more money than they had for Christmas and holiday presents.
Auto sales and houses aren't selling. That is where the long-term economy lies. Without a strong tech or industrial base, we are dependent on financial services and investment capital circulating around our nation to keep the economy going.
Without money in our pockets from paying off that credit card debt, how are consumers going to continue investing? We sure aren't going to be buying a lot of cars or houses.
Sandyh...When I sent out my book on health care to members of Congress, I got some responses, when I sent out my "PURGE THE SURGE" email, I got some respomses, but on the emails I sent out about Bush and "his arrack fleet" trying to prevoke Iran, I have recieved no acknowledgements....Are our Democratic leaders afraid to ask Bush what he's trying to do?......Who should I try to contact, Biden? Murtha?, Waxmsn?.....Any suggestions ....I feel like I'm preaching to the chior posting about this here....John Boy....
Pelosi also criticized the competence of Iraqi troops. She said that she did not believe the training effort had been serious, as the troops are still not ready. But, she added, after all that American troops have accomplished in Iraq — overthrowing Saddam, providing security for elections and a constitution and a new government — it is now an Iraqi responsibility to protect Iraqis.
Where the hell was that lard-azz Hastert for six years? One month after Nancy Pelosi becomes speaker of the House she conducts a fact finding mission for her own intel. All I can say is, what a difference between a real Speaker and a rubber stamping imbecile.
Speaker Pelosi Says
"Whatever the adequacy of their troops," she said, "it's their responsibility now to get the job done. And the longer we stay the more dangerous the situation, the more deaths to Americans, and the less stable the country."
harkin on cspan 3 is making a very sensible point that giving free flu shots to all americans is a good idea both financially and in terms of setting up the infrastructure to be able to respond to shots should a pandemic come.
thx Davidual....I needed to read Pelosi's comments.... we are starting to see real leadership in DC.....John Boy....Gotta leave for a bit....catch you on the flip side........
ok this was taped on 1/24. but it is the first i heard of it.
SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 01:26 PM
Sandy,
Think back to December 2000, just after Mr. Bush was handed the presidency by the Supreme Court, after saying that if we lived in a dictatorship this would be a lot easier; so long as I (Mr. Bush) was the dictator, Mr. Bush went on to negatively comment about the economy. Anybody that knows anything about the fickleness of the economy knows that if a federal official speaks negatively about the economy, then, the economy will tank. What was Mr. Bush's first priority upon taking office? Right, a tax cut!!
My point is, and sorry for the rambling, if the Government comes out and speaks the whole truth and nothing but the truth about today's economy they know full well such language will bring on a recession, or an out right depression.
Henceforth, the language about the wonderful economic world in which we reside.
S
This wasn't the only such racist party held on a campus. I posted information about another in Texas the other day ago.
If it was not an isolated case, it begs the question as to who was behind these offensive actions. If I was an enterprising young reporter, I'd do a little investigating.
Seems to me, I've seen similar activities sponsored by campus political groups trying to make a point about the "unfairness" of affirmative action. Now what was that organization?
Paula Zahn did a piece on this last night on CNN, where a conservative black pundit said that the irresponsible actions of young blacks brought these sterotypes upon themselves. So why were there college kids dressed up like Aunt Jemimah? I don't believe she is a hip hop legend or gang banger.
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 12:34 PM
SandyH, this type of activity has reached epidemic proportions and is very alarming! I remember the one at the Texas school that you posted last week. What is this sayng about the young minds that are going out into the working world with attitudes such as these?
as for the black conservative and his little ignorant statement, just pretend he doesn't exist.
But seriously there needs to be investigation to see if there is some connection or linkage in these terrible acts. Too many actions sound too similiar including the apologies from the different administrations at the universities.
The recently released 2007 federal poverty guideline highlights the severe and growing inadequacy of the minimum wage. Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker (40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) would earn $10,712 a year, falling nearly 40% below the $17,170 poverty level for a family of three. Even after factoring in the earned income tax credit, which was designed to bring low-wage workers up to the poverty line, this worker would still fall short of the poverty line.1
Minimum wage increasingly lags poverty line
Here's a good explanation for the need of the minimum wage to be increased soon. If you haven't done so already, write your congressperson!! Check out the graph at the link.
Conclusion
There is no sound rationale for the current efforts to offset the impact of an increase in the minimum wage. As a general matter, every budget decision entails a shift in resources somewhere in the economy. Obviously, most such decisions are not subjected to a compensation requirement. Moreover, any actual compensation disadvantages some third party. A tax cut to offset the impact of the minimum wage is ultimately paid for by future taxpayers. Finally, the bill contains tax increases that are uncompensated and must lay a burden on somebody, perhaps business owners who have also been negatively affected by the minimum wage increase.
That aside, the actual tax cuts proposed in SBWOA have no relevance to the impact of a minimum wage increase.
The only justifiable concern pertaining to a minimum wage increase is the elimination of some low-wage jobs. Available empirical evidence shows such an outcome is likely to be negligible (Bernstein 2007), and some research shows the surprising possibility of a positive effect on jobs. Concerns about poverty and rising income inequality in the United States support an increase in the minimum wage without the need to consider extraneous issues in tax policy.
Read the whole article from the economic policy institute!
Even Ben Bernanke admitted last summer (2006), "In the end, the price impact of an increase would be small in a $12 trillion economy."
I bid you adieux with one final comment. I am not decided about the best person for president in 2008, but it better be someone that has some insight to the pressures in Iraq. Because I doubt that the Bush Administration will be forth right with the next president's transition team. Kind of like the final onslaught to the constitution, and just before the pardons fly.
See ya!! bbl.
The Bush nightmare still has too much time, before the big party can begin. I will be celebrating, when we get the tyrant out of the White House, and rebuild our Constitution to where every one again has a voice that must command individual respect.
Had Bush been apart of the Constitional Committee of 1776, he would have favored royal government control policies with no checks and balances, where "At Will" the corporate elements in America would make slaves of its workers. We would have been like India, where castes were put in place structured like fraternities of wealth and power.
When Castro subcombs, Miami will have a Orange Bowl Party. When President Bush leaves office, we can have a Orange, Rose, Cotton, Sugar, and fill all the coledge stadiums to celebrate the new American President, who will rebuilt America and its view upon the world of public opinion.
It is time for the Democratic Party and Congress to issue its Iraq Report Card. We need a monthly report on how things are moving along and if things go wrong pull out all our troops or turn over to Iraq, the security of Babghad to Iraqi army.
I am not decided about the best person for president in 2008...
Posted by davidual on January 31, 2007 at 02:26 PM
I'll tell ya what, david...All I know is when I hear about one Dem attacking others, I'm done with that candidate right then and there. Like for instance, Biden is definitely on my no vote list.
Posted by dlesterpoet on January 31, 2007 at 02:44 PM
But haven't you heard? Bush is taking aim at those out-of-control CEOs now!
Bush: Link exec salaries to performance
Seriously, does he think we haven't noticed his six year absence on matters such as this?
J,
There was no coincidence in those parties happening. This idea was obviously being bandied around long before these geniuses staged their events. It was designed for those of a like mind and fostered by an organization.
The young people who participated are the same types who participated in those flip flop episodes during the 2004 campaign. We know who they are. They are obviously try to make themselves look cool in an attempt to recruit unwary college students away from home for the first time.
On the other side, it should give us hope that a large group of young people participated in a re-enactment of the freedom riders bus trips last week, which commemorated the historic voter registration activities in the South during the early 1960's.
The fact that the above mentioned party goers got caught doing something they thought was on the QT (as Libby likes to call it), means that these whiz kids aren't half as bright as their handlers would like to believe.
Now we are being blamed for 9/11 by a CSPAN sponsored author.
More than any other commercial, CSPAN is running a spot for a book called something like -how the liberals are culterally responsible for 9/11- I can not believe it! Blaming liberals, and not the blundering beauracuacy that watched over it, it a hack book of lies and misrepresentations. The author's name like D'soiuza. The title and author are not important.
What is important is that CSPAN is hyping this lying hate piece. More than any other book, they keep running commercials for it... all night and all day.
This is far-right-wing bias is very irresponsible of CSPAN.
Seriously, does he think we haven't noticed his six year absence on matters such as this?
Posted by GregL on January 31, 2007 at 03:04 PM
GregL,
It's just another photo opp as far as Bush is concerned. I'm surprised he didn't ride his Caterpiller into the stock exhange thinking he was still in Kansas or wherever.
Maybe this appearance will bring back memories of the last stock market plunge among those who still haven't recovered losses to their IRAs and 401Ks. And if it reminds them of the corporate abuses like those at Enron and Bush's social security privatization scam, that's all good and well with me.
They don't have such long memories. But most middle class Americans do.
You talking about "The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11" by Dinesh D'Souza?
Advertising dollars are advertising dollars...if Al Franken's publishers want to buyup all the time on C-SPAN, they are more than welcome to do so. Running ads for a book is not evidence of bias. It's evidence of commercialism.
Because I doubt that the Bush Administration will be forth right with the next president's transition team.
Posted by davidual on January 31, 2007 at 02:26 PM
davidual,
I don't think Cheney is plannng on any transition.
And we are to believe Al-Maliki's assertion that all those attacks on our troops are the doing of Iran? He sure knows how to play both sides to the middle while keeping himself and his government from taking any responsibility.
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 12:56 PM
*****
No, I don't believe it either. Maybe they did some but I don't believe it's nearly as much as what is being said. It's just being used as an excuse for Bush to start another war in my opinion.
Four US soldiers killed in Iraq
Four US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the US military reported on Wednesday amid further violence in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and beyond. At least 11 people were killed throughout the country, including two who died after a Baghdad bomb blast.
Read the full story:
This is the NY Observer, so be too sure:
"The New York Observer reports that Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., had this to say about fellow presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during a recent interview:
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy ... I mean, that's a storybook, man."
1. it sounds a tongue n cheek joke about how he's not experienced for President. I get it.
2. i suppose he's ignoring the cocaine thing to say "clean."
3. the article also misquotes Biden saying Hussain Obama has 4 years in the Senate, more than half his oath. The truth is he has served one-third his oath.
On Thursday, February 1st, 2007, moveon.org is aiming to send 1 million messages to Congress. They will deliver petition signatures from hundreds of thousands of Americans all over the nation who are opposed to escalation in Iraq. Then, we'll call our senators all day to let them know that the Senate has to oppose the president's plan to escalate the war and that we're counting on them to block it. To match you up with your senators, moveon will need a little information about you, then they will send you a reminder email when your shift comes up and we'll give you both your senators' local numbers as well as their numbers in Washington.
Click on link below:
It is time for the Democratic Party and Congress to issue its Iraq Report Card.
Posted by dlesterpoet on January 31, 2007 at 02:54 PM
dlesterpoet,
That's a catchy idea. I bet McCain wished he had thought of it first. What do benchmarks mean to the average person?
The White House could have their Dean of Student Shenanigans (Rove) fix the grades, so we all come away thinking that there have been some "great successes." Score one for Cheney.
It could be just as big a hit with parents as No Child Left Behind...only this could be called No Neocon Left Behind or No Re-Deployed Ever Leaving.
If Bush and Cheney are not stopped immediately by means of impeachment, they could readily set off World War III in the volatile Middle East and Central Asia.
by Prof. Francis Boyle
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BOY20070120&articleId=4528
Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate Bush in Plame Affair
By Jason Leopold and Marc Ash
t r u t h o u t | Report
Posted by GregL on January 31, 2007 at 03:20 PM
Wrong. Way wrong. It's not a payed commercial. It's a government funded station. It's run on tax-payer paid air time.
And the commercials are hyping the CSPAN segment on DD's book. So CSPAN is not just running commercials hyping this book of lies, they are running an entire segment on this unfair book for the "CSPAN book fair."
3. the article also misquotes Biden saying Hussain Obama has 4 years in the Senate, more than half his oath. The truth is he has served one-third his oath.
Posted by Power_of_Equality on January 31, 2007 at 03:30 PM
You dropped you disguise again.
O'Reilly Bashes Jan. 27 Anti-War Protests
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3840&Itemid=12
Wrong, POE, C-SPAN is NOT goverment funded:
C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Our mission is to provide public access to the political process. C-SPAN receives no government funding; operations are funded by fees paid by cable and satellite affiliates who carry C-SPAN programming.
Antarctic Ozone Layer 90 to 99 Percent Gone
A study releasedshows just how dramatic the ozone loss in the Antarctic has been over the past 20 years compared to the same phenomenon in the Arctic. Read more >
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/67/24719
Three United States senators sounded off on Monday about the slow pace of recovery from Hurricane Katrina at a hearing in the French Quarter, criticizing federal officials for perceived inequities in aid to Louisiana and for imposing rules that are halting government assistance. Read more >
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/us/30katrina.html?_r=1&ref=nationalspecial&oref=slogin
A federal judge in Mississippi has rejected a settlement by State Farm Insurance that was expected to provide several hundred million dollars to help policyholders rebuild homes destroyed by the storm.
Full Story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/business/27insure.html?ref=nationalspecial
Oh, and POE? C-SPAN does Book TV every weekend, and presents many different authors. One of the other coming up this weekend is "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" by Chris Hedges. I guess it is just that Dinash may be more of a draw than Chris. :shrug: Who knows?
I personally may watch this one:
On Sunday, February 4 at 12:30 am and at 3:00 pm and at 10:00 pm Book TV presents Debate on Religion and Reason with Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation," and Reza Aslan, "No god but God"
STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON CONGRESS’ CONSTITUTIONAL POWER TO END A WAR
Posted by DemocratKickingAss on January 31, 2007 at 03:36 PM
"OK," Wells said. "Let's start again. 'Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy ...' and then what's scratched through?" Wells asked Addington again, attempting to establish that Cheney had originally written that President Bush personally asked Libby to beat back Wilson's criticisms.
"T-h-i-s space P-r-e-s," Addington said, spelling out the words. "And then it's got a scratch-through."
"So it looks like 'this Pres.?'" Wells asked again.
"Yes sir," Addington said.
Thus, Cheney's notes would have read "not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy this Pres. asked to stick his head in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others." The words "this Pres." were crossed out and replaced with "that was," but are still clearly legible in the document.
DKA,
Interesting that Chris Matthews didn't pick up on this. He's been so enthralled with the trial to date. He's said he wants to get down to the real reason why we are in Iraq...but maybe not the real culprits behind the outting?
I can't wait to hear Rove's testimony. I wonder if there are any more written notes that need to be deciphered?
Out of Iraq Petition
End War Funding, Begin War Investigations
John McCain has done more than just embrace Bush's failed policy in Iraq. It's actually his plan to escalate the war. Watch the ad:
That war drum beat is getting pretty loud. It's time Biden and the others worried about that instead of a nomination that won't take place for over a year from now.
U.S.-Iran tensions may trigger war
By JIM KRANE and ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Citing Iranian involvement with Iraqi militias and Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the Bush administration has shifted to offense in its confrontation with Iran — building up the U.S. military in the Persian Gulf and promising more aggressive moves against Iranian operatives in
Iraq and Lebanon.
The behind-the-scenes struggle between the two nations could explode into open warfare over a single misstep, analysts and U.S. military officials warn...
bbl.
Posted by GregL on January 31, 2007 at 03:49 PM
The difference is the one on the Christian Right is fact, the one blaming liberals for 9-11 is fiction.
And thanks for correcting me. Now we both know the no one paid for the hack ads for DD. It was free media to push the lies.
Good afternoon.
This is really just a test - I'm blocked for some reason from posting from my home computer and have been banned from using the internet here at work... what a pain!
But I do lurk and read everynight - I'm with you guys all the way!
Keep on Rockn'
hi kathy. you are like our secret member who is hiding out in the amazon using solar power to check in once a day.
You dropped you disguise again.
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 03:37 PM
Oh, I see... say anything true, but not flattering about Hussain Obama, and I must be a troll. Because we all know saying something about someone who sticks up for Republicans on the ropes OVER SENIOR DEMOCRATS must be a troll??? LOL.
If I was Rep. Rush, and someone wanted to run against me, would they be a troll for saying the truth?
How about this t-shirt?
On the front "got coke?" and on the back "Obamanation"
I'm down.
so let me get this straight, the office of the vice president was run along the lines of a second tier fraternity house at clemson?
and bush figures the working class and middle class are going to line up behind him now that he has taken some sort of obscure swipe at corporate leadership thievery? ken lay must be laughing in his grave.
Good Afternoon, All!
This is how you deal with Fox propaganda. You marginalize them.
These are chilly days on Capitol Hill ... and on the campaign trail for Fox News journalists -- at least when they're anywhere near Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Sources tell The Sleuth that the Obama camp has "frozen out" Fox News reporters and producers in the wake of the network's major screw-up in running with the erroneous Obama-the-jihadist story reported by Insight magazine.
Right ON!! I've been saying this for years. Since FOX isn't a real news organization they should not be given press credentials!
Obama freezes out Fox
Just to keep you guys updated - here in northern Indiana. Our local county party is starting to attack the Hispanic vote. We are going to do a full court press inthe coming months to get as many as we can active in the party. I feel it might be the only way we can neutralize those crazies from the religious right in this area... well keep you all informed on how we do..
At our next monthly meeting, we are having a young man who is from Honduras (sp?) talk to us on what he had to do to get here and apply for citizenship.. it should be very interesting and I hope it will help those amoung us who don't understand the steps that a person has to take to become a citizen.
The difference is the one on the Christian Right is fact, the one blaming liberals for 9-11 is fiction.
And thanks for correcting me. Now we both know the no one paid for the hack ads for DD. It was free media to push the lies.
Posted by Power_of_Equality on January 31, 2007 at 04:24 PM
LOL! Ya realize that the right would say the opposite, POE. It really does depend on your perspective. I may not agree with their perspective, but I actually do understand it...sort of.
And no thanks necessary, I never realized there was no paid advertising on C-SPAN until I looked at their website. So we were both out in left field on that one.
What's with the attacks on Obama's middle name WHICH HE DIDN'T CHOOSE? Which candidate DO you work for?
Oh, I see you haven't commented on the article J posted earlier today.
Clinton pal Bobby Rush: I'm supporting Obama
( Yawn Stretch Blink Blink )
Hi Everyone,
So, Joe Biden said somerhing silly again? I ain't mad at him. I've said many times that Barack Obama is so fresh and so clean and that's what we need. Joe Biden, just doesn't know how to talk about racial issues withought sounding all wierd about it.
As far as his criticism of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards goes, I don't know what he said, but I'm sure I agree with whatever he said about Clinton.
;p
Posted by DPD on January 31, 2007 at 04:35 PM
I was just reading this. He's a smart guy. I would ignore those lying racist bastids too. Based on the comments I read in response to that story at the bottom, many people agree that Barack Obama doesn't have to talk to Fox News at all.
what would be beautiful would be if lots of other democrats and progressives started refusing to go on fox. join obama in his effort. those turds could be driven into the sea with such a boycott. what the hell the fairness doctrine was destroyed during that clown reagan's presidency so no one is obligated to cooperate with any news media at all. freeze out those hand maidens of the right, let them preach to themselves the pieces of shit. if obama accomplished nothing else in life than to drive those war mongering chickenhawks into the sea he would be a great hero of our time.
gregg,
Do many go on Faux? I only occassionaly get to see Chris Wallace's Sunday installment...my husband tricks me into seeing it. Liberman (IR) is usually their idea of a Democratic guest.
My teenage and 20 something sons only watch Comedy Central for their "news" coverage. I'm thinking they may be on to something there.
Why isn't Mary Matalin being called to testify at the Libby trial? She's been laying low of late. Wasn't she on that plane trip to Africa where all the White House and Vice Presidential staff discussed Plame and that internal memo?
I see it's the barackodrama show again.
Posted by clinton08 on January 31, 2007 at 05:35 PM
And to Kick it off, here's a cheer!
Whoo Hooo!
Barack ! Barack ! Barack! Barack !
If you're sick of the Liers
If Your tierd of their Drama
Get Over his Complextion
And Vote BARACK OBAMA!
Yeeeaaaaaaahhhhh OBAMA!
Whooo Hooo! (side leg kick)
Whoooooooooo Hoooooooooo! (pom pom's waving)
WE GOT A CLEAN RECORD ,
YES WE DO,
WE GOT A CLEAN RECORD,
HOW ABOUT YOU?
BRING THEM OUT,
BRING THEM OUT,
TROOOPS OUT!
BRING THEM OUT,
BRING THEM OUT,
TROOOPS OUT!
BRING THEM OUT,
BRING THEM OUT,
TROOOPS OUT!
WHOOO HOOOO!
(Pom Poms Waving, Legs kicking)
Lou Dobbs just reported that there is going to be another presentation of "evidence" by the Bush administration to prove Iran is fueling the insurgency in Iraq. So they are going to stage another snow job of bogus intel to the world.
I'm going to start making popcorn and stocking the frig with snacks now. This should be better than the half time show at the Super Bowl this weekend. No offense to Prince, but nobody does a wardrobe malfunction better than Cheney.
Who will be the next Colin Powell that ruins their career and reputation for the likes of Bush and Rumsfeld. (Why isn't this man out of the Pentagon and home shredding papers by himself instead of operating with a staff of eight on the military budget?)
Can we all curb our enthusiasm and loathing of certain candidates a little, please?
We need to use that energy to impeach someone.
Okay,
I'll lighten up a bit.
Here's a Funny Barack Obama Video
Check It Out!
ROFLMAO!
;p
Oh, no, Kathy. I loved her columns and books. She was such a gutsy smart woman. I will miss her so much.
Molly Ivins has died from complications of breast cancer. For those of you who worship a Deity, send up your prayers. As for me, I'm saddened that a bright shining light has been dimmed.
FOS,
Thank you for the video. I needed something to cheer me up. It seems like we have lost so many savvy political woman from Texas lately...all with a good sense of humor. I think Molly Ivins would have liked your video and so would Ann Richards.
I hope Chuck Conners (former Chicago Cub, and rumored to be a 1950's era gay porn star) aims his gun in the RIGHT direction.
Jane from FireDogLake has recently left the hospital for the third time, due to her continuing recurrences of breast cancer.
Since Obama admits to doing coke, he will never be a role model for kids. He's not clean.
Maybe that's why blacks like Clinton over Obama 2 to 1.
I heard he went around the State buying off his past rivals.
Let's hear about his Financial Avdiser days. Didn't go to good I suppose. Anybody check into this yet. Was this in the coke days?
Molly Ivans showed the way to be a righteous and responsible citizen. Let us follow her lead.
OK, what's wrong with this picture?
Fabricating War With Iran - False Flag Operations on the Cheap
Stray Thoughts from Don Alejandro
January 31, 2007
But no mainstream media seems to be examining the story around the kidnapping and killing of American soldiers in Karbala. To review: 9-12 "gunmen" driving American GMC Suburbans, wearing new American uniforms, waving American weapons, and speaking American English kidnapped and killed 5 Americans, then, inexplicably, abandoned 5 very expensive vehicles in a remote area without being apprehended by the Iraqi police who were "tailing" the vehicles at the time (were the "gunmen" airlifted out or what?). At the rate of about one GMC Suburban per kill, Iran must be prepared to spend a lot of money to drive US out of Iraq. GMC stock is surely on the rise at this news.
More likely is that the Karbala attack was a false flag operation on the cheap (with the Iraqi army providing valet service to retrieve the vehicles). Why bother with the expense and trouble of recruiting and training Iranians to attack us to provide an excuse for bombing Iran when you can simply hire a dozen sociopaths from one of the private security firms operating in Iraq to kill a few Americans in dramatic fashion - they already have all the right stuff and language skills to pretend to be American.
Seems like it would be easy enough to trace vehicle identification numbers to see who provided the new Suburbans (Ahmadinejad, Blackwater, CACI, Halliburton, Cheney's personal Iraqi fleet, etc.), but don't expect the mainstream media to ask any pertinent questions...
//www.spectrumz.com/z/alejandro/fabricating_war_iran.html
Just like that White House propaganda about a "messianic cult" that was suppose to be lying in wait to kill Shiite pilgrims, this whole thing smells to high heaven.
power there is a little dungeons and dragons game going on over at redstate and they need you to play. bye.
Posted by DPD on January 31, 2007 at 07:09 PM
We can always hope Cheney will invite him to go hunting.
Oh, the PAID OPERATIVE "concern troll" is back with more BS.
Just another full of crap worker bee who claims a hometown but is probably a SIU-Edwardsville Young Republican ( there are A LOT) if he even lives where he claims. He certainly has the Ped Rogers talking point down. (Ped is short for PEDOPHILE, which ALL Pubies ARE, as we know through basic GOOGLE SEARCHES is the SOP of these troll pervs.
What's the matter, couldn't get into Carbondale (the Number One Party School in 1980!!, or some such crapola).
SandyH,
Thank you,
Now that I have been able to quickly digest this whole Biden/obama drama that had flooded the Media while I slept, I have posted my feelings about it.
Please Read.
Ooops,
Let's try that again.
Biden/Obama
:)
Do you suppose Rummy is still at the Pentagon to command the Black Water Dudes? After all that IS a private army.
FOS,
Your link won't load. Could you please try again?
DPD,
Maybe he's still recovering from the racist MLK party he crashed/organized last week.
SandyH,
I noticed it immediatly and reposted. Try the second link.
I'm sad about Molly.
:(
Posted by FreedomOfSpeechForBarackObama2008 on January 31, 2007 at 07:34 PM
I was sort of thinking the same thing, but I wasn't one of those that comment was directed at...probably unintentionally.
I might feel differently if I was one of the three others who have run. I haven't heard what they have to say about it yet...only the constant drone of MSM scandal alert reporting.
Obama probably doesn't need any help from the other candidates with comments like this.
My favorite Molly Ivins quote:
• It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong.
You will be missed.
Another good one:
• The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.
Molly Ivins
Obama probably doesn't need any help from the other candidates with comments like this.
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 07:49 PM
No, but this particular type of attention gives Barack Obama a great opportunity to , with his response, address a different underlying question within the Black Community. This is actually, a good thing. You'll see. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's a good thing.
:)
Keith Olbermann is on. Are we seriously about to compare Bidens comment to the " Macaca " Comment ? Oh well, he's not my candidate any way.
:)
Thank you for that post, Fade.
FOS,
i remember molly and ann as young women. i lived in deep east texas inside my liberal yankee skin...not a comfortable place. there were two of three women who made texas a good place to be. the third is, of course, Barbara Jordan.
you young'uns don't worry about the "uterus" any more. these three have a lot to do with that. power is the best beauty treatment!
fade,
I thank you, too, for that. I'm going to share it with my mother-in-law who is probably in deep mourning as we speak. That photo of Molly at a better time will be enough to make her smile...I hope.
SandyH
I viewed the pics from the "Ghetto" party at Clemson on Smoking Gun. I was horrified! I have purposefully not linked them. By doing so would be encouraging and perpetuating the behavior of mocking and dispareging african-americans.
With the racist and bigoted behavior coming from such young and educated people those that feel this country and politics are on the progressive trail are only deluding themselves. Those same minds will be in the working world and all that it encompasses in just a few years with those same attitudes.
you young'uns don't worry about the "uterus" any more. these three have a lot to do with that. power is the best beauty treatment!
Posted by fade2bluz on January 31, 2007 at 08:16 PM
Oh, I know. I may be young enough to have never had to deal with the bullshet we , as women faced, but I'm old enough to know why I don't have to deal with the bullshet we as women faced. I am the most grateful beneficiary of the Women Rights Movement and these ladies, as well as many others, will always be my heros. I will always honor those who paved the way for me and I will never take that freedom for granted. I will also do all I can to make certain those coming after me in Gen X understand just how far we as women have come and not to give that up or take it lightly. Whether it's issues we face in Education, Voting Rights or Sexual Harrassment, there is a reason why we don't have to put up with mens bullshet and I want them to know who and why.
I hope that did'nt come off as too feminist, (LOL) but hey! I'd rather be "too free" than not free at all. Ya know?
Randi Rhodes had the following on her site. It looks as if both cheney and bush knew about the outing of the CIA operative. They have a handwritten note introduced into evidence, written by cheney proving it. bush was trying to protect KKKarl so they threw Libby under the bus.
IMPEACH AHOLE BUSH AND AHOLE CHENEY AND FIRE ROVE.
bush lied again
Posted by J on January 31, 2007 at 08:37 PM
College Republicans at it again? They suck.
How many more lies are we going to tolerate from this administration? Congress has to act NOW and impeach these horses asses.
Did you see where the repig congress left behind 9 of 11 spending bills they should have passed before October 1, 2006.
Consequently, the Democratic Congress has to pass not only these spending bills for 2006 but they must get on with the spending bills for 2007. This will cut into the time to pass other very important legislation.
The repigs were too busy trying to pass the marriage amendment, the abortion amendment, and the no-swearing amendment to bother about passing these bills which are needed to run the U.S. Government. They just stalled the passage using continuing resolutions.
Today they had the unmitigated gall to bitch because the Democrats won't allow them to add all their stupid riders. The freeking nerve of these bas***ds.
With the racist and bigoted behavior coming from such young and educated people those that feel this country and politics are on the progressive trail are only deluding themselves. Those same minds will be in the working world and all that it encompasses in just a few years with those same attitudes.
Posted by J on January 31, 2007 at 08:37 PM
Did you expect anything else from Southern White Repugs.
Sandyh -
Many elected Democrats and Republicans are eagerly attaching themselves to the same strategy for getting out of Iraq (when will we start hearing the "with honor" part, do you think?) That is, to blame the Iraqis for "not stepping up" to save the nascent democracy we "gave" to them, and it doesn't sound any better coming from Dems than it does from Republicans.
Any talk of "Stand down as they stand up," phased redeployments tied to so-called milestones being reached by the Iraqi government, etc. is nothing but a cowardly way of expatiating the guilt associated with voting for the authorization resolution...no matter what party that talk comes from.
In that one respect there is little difference between H. Clinton, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, George Bush and many, many other elected politicians of red and blue stripes. Eventually they'll all shrug and console each other with a mutual "Gee...we tried."
It's enough to make you want to puke.
Our invasion and occupation has put the Iraqi people in ruins. Their recovery won't start until we leave, and only then after the inevitable, ensuing mayhem has its chance to work itself out to whatever horrible conclusion that fate has in store for those poor people. In short, we fucked them over, and staying longer than we've already stayed will do NOTHING to un-fuck them. It will just cost us and them more lives, more money, more misery.
Maintaining this occupation under the illusion that we need to give them a chance to "step up" only compounds our sin with yet another self-serving lie in a long string of them.
Posted by J on January 31, 2007 at 08:37 PM
J,
Those young people have contempt for anyone that isn't one of their kind. The rich and priviledged think they have turned back the clock.
But no one said the civil rights movement ended...except the Republicans who think they can now openly exhibt their distain for others and get away with it.
These kids have been watching role models in positions of power for more than a decade now. It's not just people of color. It's anyone who works for a living and thinks they deserve more.
Posted by BaronScarpia on January 31, 2007 at 08:59 PM
Very well said.
I hope the rest of the world forgives us for not stopping this sooner. If Cheney gets his way and attacks Iran, too, they won't.
StateDept. backing off claims of Iranian invovlement in Karbala attack.
Who would a thought, more smoke and mirrors from the Chimp wimps Chronies!!!
I can't believe that most of the day the MSM talked about Biden's remark and worried about a bunch of promotional advertising boards....while the situation in Iraq just got worse.
bbl.
Journalist Sy Hersh has harsh words for Bush
Kat Schmidt
Posted: 1/30/07
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh closed out last week's symposium "The 'War on Terrorism': Where Do We Stand" with a scathing critique of President George W. Bush and his foreign policy in the Middle East.
"The fact of the matter is we have a government that will do what it wants to do for the next two years," he said. "The worst is yet to come. It's sort of like we're essentially powerless [and] just play it out."
One of the premier names in American investigative reporting, Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 1968 My Lai massacre and helped break the story about U.S. prison abuses at Abu Ghraib in 2004. He previously spoke about Iraq at Tufts in 2004 and about the Iran-Contra Affair in 1988.
On Friday, Hersh spoke at length about the administration's ambitions to cope with the threat of a nuclear Iran, drawing from his research for "The Iran Plans: Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb," published in the New Yorker on April 17, 2006.
He said that Bush and top aides have largely ignored the military intelligence presented to them on Iran's nuclear program.
Posted by fade2bluz on January 31, 2007 at 09:24 PM
Alls we need is enough Repugs on our side you realize this idiot is destroying their party and Impeach him and the Vice Chimp before its too late.
hmmmm that's like saying, "be careful" after your kid has taken a fall...
how do you know it's too late, until it's too late?
10 Days: Countdown To Obama 2008 ( All Story Books Have a Happy Ending)
Okay, so Joe Biden made some remarks about Barack Obama that had some unintended and comedic consequences, but that's Joe for ya. I've already expressed my opinion on that, but in taking part of what Joe stated, the part about " That's a Story Book Man " I got to thinking. It is a story book and don't story books have a happy ending?
Instead of, "they lived happily ever after" , I would love for this story to end with ...."and against all odds, he won the Democratic Primary and the General Election"
The End
I would love it as an American and as a Democrat, for this nation to elect a man who will unite the country , bring our troops home, deal with the real terrorists as opposed to creating them with misguided foreign policy, work with Congress to make life easier for all Americans and restore the global dignity that this great nation had lost and has been trying to regain for the last six years. I believe that Barack Obama , along with John Edwards are the perfect story book candidates who have the passion , understanding , patience and will to do just that. I believe these two are the epitome of the modern American Dream. I believe these two are the hope for our future.
I would love to be able to tell the story of how these two rescued the United States of America when it looked as though we were about to lose our status as the number one world power by getting us out of debt with China and taking us off our dependence for foreign oil. I would love to be able to recall how lives were saved because all Americans had access to affordable health care. I would love to tout how their policies eradicated poverty and vastly diminished global AIDS as well as other diseases. I would love to say they greatly improved the lifestyles of millions of Americans.
The great news is that this book has yet to be written. We, the People are the authors. It will be our choices that determine how this book ends. If enough of us pull together and make the right choice by electing Barack Obama and John Edwards in 2008, we can write this story and it can have a happy ending because all story books have a happy ending.
Bush: "I don't feel abandoned" on Iraq
By Steve Holland Wed Jan 31
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Wednesday "I don't feel abandoned" by fellow Republicans in Congress who are working with Democrats to protest his
Iraq policy with a congressional resolution.
In a television interview, Bush shrugged off criticism of his plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq and said he hoped lawmakers would give U.S. forces what they needed to get the job done...
//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070131/pl_nm/iraq_usa_dc
Oh, yes he does. And he was the one who didn't give our forces what they needed from the very beginning.
Interesting choice of words...abandoned. Where did he hear that and who said it? I wonder.
StateDept. backing off claims of Iranian invovlement in Karbala attack.
Posted by GOTV on January 31, 2007 at 09:10 PM
GOTV,
If this was the evidence they were going to show to the world as their proof that Iran is the real problem in Iraq, I can't wait to see what else they are going to present.
Nothing makes any sense that they say or do. I have a feeling that that now bi-partisan resolution is going to gain more Republican votes by next week....and Bush is really going to feel abandoned.
Where did he hear that and who said it? I wonder.
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 09:57 PM
let's hope it wasn't Barney...
Okay,
I'm out for a few hours while I make dinner and get ready for work. If it's slow, I will post later in the night as to cover up the troll comments so that you all don't have to worry about throwing up first thing in the morning. Only if I have time though.
C-Ya!
Peace OutI
:)
Posted by FreedomOfSpeechForBarackObama2008 on January 31, 2007 at 09:53 PM
FOS,
I hope that at least one of them ends up on the ticket... pereferably on the top. But it's really early in the game to be talking about story book endings.
I'm really worried about these incompetents trying to dig themselves out of the hole by bombing someone...anyone. With Chevez declaring himself a dictator today, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't lob one at him. It would be a great diversion for a later attack on Iran.
I found it a little odd hearing American media talking about how horrible Chevez is, when he's only doing what Cheney would like to do...suspend elections and rule by directive.
How many other South American dictators have we installed and continued to back throughout the years. It only seems like we resent those that we didn't have some part in putting into power.
I think Chevez has really over reached himself. He's giving his critics a platform to undermine him in the future. He had won every election to this point. Why did he stop now? Power corrupts?
Posted by fade2bluz on January 31, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Maybe it was Harvey?
I'm calling it a night, too. I want to finish a book. Have a good evening, everyone.
How many other South American dictators have we installed and continued to back throughout the years. It only seems like we resent those that we didn't have some part in putting into power.
I think Chevez has really over reached himself. He's giving his critics a platform to undermine him in the future. He had won every election to this point. Why did he stop now? Power corrupts?
Posted by SandyH on January 31, 2007 at 10:13 PM
Unfortunately the US made this monster and many more like him in South america. By interfereing in the political affairs of many of the Latin american nations for the benefit of profit and the chance to take their much coveted natural resources, most now lean heavily toward populist/leftist type governments that openly distain any rightwing policy and the United States.
Howdy,
Looks like it maybe a don't mess with the petrodollars thing again:
*****
Tehran already is on the administration's hit list, less for its nuclear aspirations than for its plans to open a euro-based international oil-trading market in early 2006. Iran's oil "bourse" would compete with the likes of New York's NYMEX and provide OPEC the opportunity to snub the greenback in favor of "petroeuros," a development the administration will avoid at all costs. So if the PSA model is adopted in Iraq, it would provide a clear precedent for implementing it in Iran too, and hand the administration another reason to start the next invasion.
www.commondreams.org/views05/1203-23.htm
( I think the date was meant to be 08.)
We should understand Hugo before we go calling him a monster. He protects business but will not allow the people to be exploited and he will not allow the natural resources (natural gas and oil) to be stolen. He sent Rockerfella a bill for millions of dollars of royalties not paid in years past and increased the rate of the royalty to be paid in the future to more realistically reflect the fair distribution of the wealth.
While he has declared a right to govern by decree for 18 months does not mean that he is trying to usurp the power of the people who just elected him in December...by 62 percent. He will be good for the people...business will just have to be fair. Watch!
TomN, I have posted the exact same thing you just posted for the last couple of years. Chavez is also selling oil for euros...and planning on going to the Iranian market. Thus the bad PR form DC.
Frosty, "that is shocking" is NOT a condolence. If you can't say something nice keep your f***ing pie hole closed.
Iraq expo 2007. For real?:
Massive Market Opportunities in Iraq and Jordan at Rebuild Iraq 2007
Seize Unique Investment Opportunities Offered by Iraq's $100 Billion Reconstruction Market, and Jordan's Development Boom
Iraq's reconstruction market is worth a stunning $100 billion - making it one of the biggest anywhere in the world - and is set to expand further, as yet more contracts are signed and projects drawn up. Frenzied construction activity surrounds hundreds of projects, worth billions of dollars, and spanning every single sector of Iraq's rebounding economy. Iraq's liberal, open markets - almost entirely free of restrictions - are helping fuel construction sector activity. Meanwhile, ever more leading manufacturers and suppliers from across the globe are seizing lucrative slices of Iraq's construction market, and in doing so are helping positively forge the future of the country. Benefits from Iraq's construction sector are set to increase further. The country's revenue generation potential - bolstered by abundant oil and other resources, as well as the long-term commitment of global donors to the reconstruction effort - is enormous. It can rival all other major regional economies.
www.rebuild-iraq-expo.com/
salute, It is very dangerous to be a democratically elected populist leader in the Southern Americas. Fortunately, for them, the US intelligence's wicked arms are grasping elsewhere, and they are also better on guard.
Maybe Molly can take up star tending or cloud design since she won't have any bad guys to write about where she's going. Really will miss her here...lots to do here.
You're right about it being dangerous to be democratically elected by the people, TomN. Until Robert Parry shed some light on what our "intelligenc people" were doing there; keeping the elitist in power a Chavez had little chance of survival.
Being flip and "cute" about the death of anyone is dispicable.
Surly you don't think you and your other cohorts are going to the same place Molly is! You need to read your Good Book, Steve; find out what you are preparing yourself for.
Posted by salutetheDems on January 31, 2007 at 10:46 PM
You misunderstood! I'm not personally calling him a monster, just what the media and US take him for.
after doing much research and reading about the US role in South america, latin american nations rightfully are sick of the US and their meddling and are now standing up to them and throwing them out of their countries.
Latin american nations must protect their natural resources from the US and all the other money mongerers of the world.
You're so right, J. I knew you had been doing a lot of research on S.A. and wondered why you would add to the MSM propaganda against Chavez. Sorry, I missunderstood your post.
i see sally is off it's meds tonite. too bad. last nite it was trying to convince bob that it was really a nice entity. now it is beating up on a woman who just died from cancer. what a fun troll. and last week it was talking about how we were all going to be sorry when we meet the almighty.
i am all for keeping folks with disorders in community placements when possible but in this case i think a nice long term care facility is called for.
A place where they deny the use of a keyboard, gregg? But Frosty* might become unstable.
And for the edification of the lost soul making obeisance to the greenback here,
Chance for a few scraps of alpha amid tight risk spreads
By John Dizard
The rapid tightening in risk spreads over the past few weeks has left portfolio managers in a bad way. There just isn't much discernable value out there. Now they're picking through the rubbish piles of junk bonds looking for scraps of yield they can take back to their hungry clients. If their situation gets any more pathetic, they'll have to recruit Bono to raise their year-end bonuses.
A lot of people were defensively positioned as the holiday season started, which I would have thought was a good plan. Except that everyone else did it. Then they frantically bought back risk. A Bank of America report says: "With the recent rally in credit spreads, relative value in the high-yield market has worsened considerably. Our long-term LGD valuation model now indicates the market is rich by 81 basis points."
Well, we may have one last idea, other than going short and waiting for an attack on Iran. The standard pricing models for credit default swaps may, in the case of some industries and issuers, understate the possible recoveries in the event of default. So, by leveraging up the riskiest slices of credit for industries in which recoveries are, you believe, going to be better than average, you may be able to find a tiny bit of alpha with which to pay the school fees.
The industry I have in mind is the US electric utility sector. Most of the time, utilities don't go bankrupt. But sometimes they do. Typically, they over-build plant at the wrong point in the cycle. Then the public and the regulators get angry. The utility management tries an ineffectual fix. The fix blows up. The public screams. The utility defaults. The public and politicians consider the attractions of life without air-conditioning. An even more expensive fix is put in place. All the defaulted debt is funded and paid back at par plus accrued.
Now look at one US utility under the supervision of a bankruptcy court, Entergy New Orleans. After the hurricane devastated the city, it had no choice but to file. The city has perhaps half its original population. Yet the utility bonds, which I liked in late 2005 in the 70s price range, are now selling in the mid to high 90s, as a percentage of face value. Someone else can own them here but consider this: the standard recovery rate assumed in credit default swap pricing is 40 per cent.
Here's the idea: using the credit default swap market, you sell protection, or go long, a basket of US utility names, using first-to-default baskets. That means, assuming you are doing this with a group of, say, five to 30 names, offering to pay back the counterparty par on the first default realised in the basket.
At the first default, the counterparty gets cash, you get the bonds put to you. As long as there is no default, you collect contracted payments over, say, a five-year period that will come to several hundred basis points over Libor, close to an equity-like return premium.
The mispricing that would be in your favour, if there was one, would be in the recovery rate. You have to be willing to bet that you will recover more than the standard 40 per cent rate calculated in the Bloomberg model, or with the recovery rate assumed in the CDS dealers' pricing.
As I explained above, you should be willing, on the basis of the utility industry's historical record, to take back defaulted utility bonds.
In this model-driven market, most risky assets are overpriced, but some are underpriced, because not enough people do actual credit analysis that is industry or company specific.
As a recent Morgan Stanley report on first-to-default baskets says: "The advantage of this market is that investors can customise maturity, and the amount of leverage they apply to a portfolio [through the size of the portfolio]. These FTD basket structures are relatively simple to understand when compared to tranches and other large basket products that get much more press . . . the leverage comes through the fact that the exposure is limited only to the first name in the portfolio to default, and no other, thus putting a cap on the absolute national exposure."
Morgan Stanley's credit strategists suggest industries other than US utilities where investors could use first-to-default baskets as a substitute for equities. Autos and auto component manufacturers, as well as telecommunications services companies, are considered more attractive as credits than straight equity investments.
Think of it this way: where there's not much in earnings growth but a higher-than-discounted level of stability in cash flows available to service debt, you could be better off leveraging credits than buying shares.
Of course, the risk is that someone can use a sharper pencil than the Bloomberg analytics package. As a credit strategist with a big dealer says: "I know some hedge funds had a great time with Wall Street last year on single-name CDSs. GMAC's recovery rate was really worth 60 cents, and they were able to buy it at 40 cents. Speaking for our firm, we are not using a 40 per cent recovery assumption on every name."
Such arbitrages among risky assets should, in theory, be quickly arbitraged away. They're not, though. As one credit trader says, "People live in silos. The credit people and the equity people don't talk enough to each other."
Easy? Simple? No. But there isn't much alpha out there for all the people on the rubbish heap, going forward, as they say.
www.ft.com/cms/s/f6a8ca62-b005-11db-94ab-0000779e2340.html
-fade, please splain the risk of such devious machinations.
adios
sally is so upset. even his little president is going on about climate change. all his heroes are abandoning him. and bush is praying he can hold back the tide on government regulation of emissions. even that fool on the 700 club was saying there is man made climate change but the market place should be allowed to take care of it. i am enjoying watching these assholes back pedal....BIG GOVERNMENT REGULATION is coming and they won't be able to stop it...only creationists like sally will be in their camp and most of the republicans have already learned that licking the feet of the wingnuts is the road to being ousted. the right lost alot more than the house and senate seats in november, they lost the respect of the american people and it isn't coming back....their big dynasty is crumbling and all the kings pimps and all the kings lackeys can't put the dynasty back together again. hahahahaha
they will let it use a keyboard but it won't be connected to anything.
It won't know the difference...stability assured. Till the Morrow
silly sally, hold on to your delusions, what else do you have to hold on to?
You are my hero, Molly. R.I.P.
You were a REAL TEXAN.
Thank you for everything.
Sen. Levin and Warner have reached a bi-partisan deal.
They "joined forces Wednesday, agreeing on a non-binding resolution that would oppose the plan (Bush's) and potentially embarrass the White House."
Can Obama be a role model for youth when he's done cocaine?
More like a role model for Courtney Love and rehabers. But that's okay, they need role models too. I just don't see middle America warming up to someone who's done coke, and cheering for President Obama. It's about as bad as President HUCKabee.
Why would someone with such a poor resume think they can lead the Democrats and "Free World?" I don't get it.
1. 2 of 6 years in the Senate, without any rousing speeches on any important issues,
2. no real accomplishments, no real track record to write home about,
3. no executive experience,
4. hardly any real experience.
5. Not the most clean background as a tea-toteller.
Too bad he seems to be passing on his chance to be a role model in the US Senate. He promised the State of Illinois he would represent the people, and now he's talking about walking away from that promise and OATH??? It's unthinkable. I would like to think that he's honest and a man of his word.
What would happen to his Senate seat? Would we need a special election to fill his seat? I would hope that Obama would prove that someone, besides Durbin, could represent Illinois well, especially after the defeat of Carol Mosley Braun.
Frosty,
No wonder you are so goofy. Look at your source. Coulter? She's more hateful than Charles Manson in a dress with a blonde wig.
And just why does Man Coulter have a bigger Adam's Apple than Arnold Schwartznagger? Could it be that Ann The Man has raging hormones from the tranny operation so she can be all masculine and impress Hannity and O'Reilly?
She's mad at the world because the Democrats are lovely people, and she's at war with herself. It's a fight to express the inner male rage?
It must not be easy to be stuck in a half man's half woman's body? What a poor tortured soul. She's so mad that what she says makes no sense. It's like she's on Rush's oxycodones. Is her hearing going too from all that stuff?
Next time you get together with her and Jeff Gannon, tell her that she should wear turtleneck sweaters because it so distracting to see her talk with Adam's Apple that looks like a frog is stuck in her throat.
I keep thinking she going say "Monica, rib-it, 9/11, rib-it, tax cuts, rib-bit, 9/11, rib-it, liberal's fault, rib-it. Clinton. ruff-ruff.
Good Morning Dem's....just some little bits and pieces this morning....Looks like Joe Biden shot himself in the foot big time yesterday with his Obama remarks....on the surface, it does not appear that he intended the remarks in a mean spirited way...but with the media play his remarks are getting, these remarks may dog him until he drops out...Will help Obama....Dick Morris writes that "hillary hijinks" are helping the Republican Party..he feels the best thing that could happen to the Republican partuy Is for Hillary to get the Democratic nomination...Morris states that nothing would energise the Republican base more than for Hillay to get the Democratic nomination for president.....
We need to quite screwing around with China and slap a 30% tarrif on all IMPORTED CHINESE GOODS....THE CHINESE CONTINUE WITH THEIR CURRENCY MANLIPULATIONS...CAUSES CHINESE GOODS TO BE ARTIFICIALLY LOW IN PRICE WHEN IMPORTED TO THIS COUNTRY AND CAUSES OUR GOODS TO BE ARTIFICIALLY HIGH IN PRICE WHEN IMPORTED TO CHINA WHICH HAS RESULTED IN A HUGH TRADE IMBALANCE.
This is the reason GM is building a hugh plant in China that will employ Chinese workers, not Americans in Detroit.....the Bush adninistration has resisted attempts by Congress to officially classify China as a currency manlipulator. Now that we have a Democratic Congress, we need to do this as well as slap the tarrif on all imported Chinese goods.....John Boy
Good Morning POE....every time I go by the book rack in the local supermarket and see Ann's picture, I always think the same thing, "That has got to be the uglist(sp?) white woman ever born." The fact that "she" might be a "he" never occured to me, so you raise a good question....Happy Days...We controll Congress!....John Boy....
Senate foes of Bush troop buildup join forces
POSTED: 2:48 a.m. EST, February 1, 2007
Snip:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two senators -- a Republican and a Democrat -- leading separate efforts to put Congress on record against President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq joined forces Wednesday, agreeing on a nonbinding resolution that would oppose the plan and potentially embarrass the White House.
Sens. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, and Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, had been sponsoring competing measures opposing Bush's strategy of sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to the war zone, with Warner's less harshly worded version attracting more Republican interest.
The new resolution would vow to protect funding for troops while keeping Warner's original language expressing the Senate's opposition to the buildup.
Levin replaced Warner as chairman of the Armed Services Committee when the Democrats took control of the Senate in January. Their resolution could well gain more support from members of both parties than their separate versions had been attracting.
It lacks Levin's language saying the troop increase is against the national interest, and it drops an earlier provision by Warner suggesting Senate support for some additional troops.
SOURCE
Usually we only have the run of the mill Republican trolls posting here. Now we have a "magician." That's terrific!
F'rinstance - only a magician can conjure up an act in which as many as six reporters, outside of government, can spontaneously, independently but simultaneously dream up the secret identity of a US spy, and then...all in unison mind you...track down the same group of 4-5 members of the Bush administration - inside of government - to give THEM information that NONE OF THEM HAD - that Mrs. Wilson was a spy...all within a few days!
Shazayam!
Bravo! Bravo!
Posted by goodfoe on February 1, 2007 at 07:10 AM
g'morning, goodfoe.
When I walk by the book section/store and see a conservative author, their books seem to end up in the back of the store/shelf. ;)
Good Morning Essi....hope you are feeling better....dancing in your jammies this morning?.....in order to get retail distribution, the publisher has to guarantee the retailers a buy back, I suspect a lot of copies of Coulter's book will be going back....too bad...not!!!...John Boy....
This head cold is hanging on. Not dancing, but blowing my nose.
I meant to post this yesterday, but got caught up in other activities.
House members get $132 a day to do nothing until Feb. 8
House members will be collecting $132 a day for expenses while doing little work on legislation until Feb. 8 because a routine rules suspension fell victim Tuesday to partisan acrimony.
In yet another sign that the House is off to a rocky start following a failed effort to dethrone Speaker Tom Craddick, the leadership was unable to get the necessary four-fifths vote needed to suspend a provision in the Constitution that prevents committees from hearing legislation during the first 30 days of a session and the full House from debating bills during the first 60 days.
Good Morning Gregg...you still snowed in?....the ice left us, just a cold rain now forcast to last forever...hurting my son who is in the landscaping business and my daughter who works for a road construction company....John Boy...
good morning goodfoe and esmeralda, fos and baron.
Posted by gregg on February 1, 2007 at 07:50 AM
Hi gregg,
Anither cold day. It's snowing too. Lightly though.
(brrrrrrrr)
I'm going home.
See yall in a little bit.
:)
I took this another way, when it named all the players. (Dreier)
Letter exposes Dingell
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) has written a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) voicing his objection to working with fellow chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to establish a new task force. The letter, which has been obtained by The Hill, directly contradicts claims Dingell made last week, when he said he was unaware that discussions on the task force were underway.
Essi....the Texas House, Senate and Surpreme Court are all under Republican contoll, bought and paid for by the same fat cat Republicans that rammed through their over reaching form of tort reform here in Texas...John Boy....
good morning to everyone.
Mayor asks Motznik to stop blog-slinging
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said yesterday that he asked his ally, City Councilman Jim Motznik, to refrain from future Web blog attacks on City Councilman William Peduto, a mayoral challenger.
"I don't think it's productive, and I don't think it's in the best interests of the residents," the mayor said of Mr. Motznik's blogging. "We certainly have very important issues that we need to discuss, and the blogosphere is not, in my opinion, the best avenue to do that."
Posted by goodfoe on February 1, 2007 at 08:03 AM
I know. ;) It's a shame the citizens there pay them to sit on their slackers.
I post news that's for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Here's one for Steve: (let me be the first to ask you for your support of this outstanding candidate! I mean the democrat, or course)
Franken reportedly in Minnesota Senate race
Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2008, challenging incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, a senior Democratic official said Wednesday.
Iran Sees Iraq as Major Al Qaeda Front... Why Don't Democrats?
Because it isn't true.
Next you'll be quoting from some post that says that the Vatican is harboring terrorists....or the Swiss...or the Martians.
Al Queda is just where Bush left them or should I say where Cheney let Bin Lauden get away. No ratinale leader would give al Queada quarter knowing it would subvert the national security of their own country.
Rumsfeld screwed the pooch. There isn't going to be any happy ending in Iraq.
And you can't blame other countries in the region that you don't like for the mistakes of those in the White House.
Tonight is our monthly meeting of the Democratic Club. I'll be sharing my experience of being a part of Congressman Space's swearing in. (I missed Jan. meeting due to being in DC. Speaking of Z, he is supposed to be on Colbert Report on Feb 7th ~ Better know a district)
I also have to work the room for this possible county commissioners position. (the commissioner in question wants to take a leave of absence/vaction to test the state job out first before deciding to leave the seat) I'm so stoked!
Enjoy the day, everyone.
this is a piece worth reading from Josh Marshall...here is a snip:
::I've always viewed the fears that the White House would try expand the war into Iran with a mix of deep skepticism, fascination and latent foreboding. Logically, it makes no sense on any number of counts. But the last half dozen years has taught us all that that's simply not a significant obstacle. There are any number of ridiculous gambits I was sure these guys wouldn't try before they did try them.::
::Think of it like this. He's a death row prisoner concocting a thousand-to-one plan to break out of prison. For him, those are good odds. The rest of us are doing three months for disorderly conduct. And he's trying to rope us into his harebrained scheme. Like I said, his interests are very different from ours.
Speak up. We're on the edge of the abyss.::
[as a Sy Hersch fan, i've been extremely agitated about this for a long time. we cannot stand by and allow this to happen. STOP HIM!]
this is a piece worth reading from Josh Marshall...here is a snip:
::I've always viewed the fears that the White House would try expand the war into Iran with a mix of deep skepticism, fascination and latent foreboding. Logically, it makes no sense on any number of counts. But the last half dozen years has taught us all that that's simply not a significant obstacle. There are any number of ridiculous gambits I was sure these guys wouldn't try before they did try them.::
::Think of it like this. He's a death row prisoner concocting a thousand-to-one plan to break out of prison. For him, those are good odds. The rest of us are doing three months for disorderly conduct. And he's trying to rope us into his harebrained scheme. Like I said, his interests are very different from ours.
Speak up. We're on the edge of the abyss.::
[as a Sy Hersch fan, i've been extremely agitated about this for a long time. we cannot stand by and allow this to happen. STOP HIM!]
good morning everyone
ladies, my stomach is churning...why are you so kind to that psychopath? i don't understand it.
later
Fade...good morning....I don't understand why our Democratic leadership is not challenging Bush on this build up....he soon will have 50 ships in the Gulf off the coast of Iran....he's making Europeans very nervous...there is more in their papers about this than in ours.....hope you have a great day....John Boy...
Question:
Does anybody know which bill this guy is talking about? I want to do some research. I have no idea which bill he's talking about in this 3 minuet video.
VIDEO (Cluster Bombs)
Okay,
Looks like everyone is gone. I'm going to sleep then. If someone wants to answer that question for me , I'll check later this afternoon.
Thank you in advance.
:)
A bill intoduced by Leahy regarding selling cluster bombs to Israel. These bombs were used by Israel on Lebanon. The unexploded portions look like soda cans and usually get picked up by kids. Then they explode.
Dems who voted against: Clinton, Biden and Leiberman.
Oops. Good morning dems. and that previous post should have been addressed to FOS. Sorry.
Cate
I am very concerned about this 50 ship build up in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran. I feel that Bush is trying to prevoke Iran into attscking our ships so that he will have justification to "counter attack" Iran in a last attempt to save his failed presidency in the false belief that the American people would rally behind him if he expands this war. I have sent emails to many of our Democratic leaders. They appear to be too busy running for president. No response at all. So, this morning I played my "trump" card, I emailed Senator Kennedy. He's not running for president and I asked him to speak for all of us and to challenge Bush on the build up of this attack fleet in the Persian Gulf. Bush, in his arragance could start WW 3 ...it will be interesting what kind of response we get from Senator Kennedy...If any of you want to help, please send emails to your Democratic representatives asking them to challenge Bush on this naval buid up in the Gulf. It looks like the buid up before the invasion of Iraq.......thx....John Boy....
Sandyh -
Yeah. Funny how this "worldwide war on terror (sic)" seems to be happening only in Iraq, especially since it wasn't happening there before we got there. And funny that al Qaeda managed to get in despite us having 320,000 feet on the ground in that country. And odd, too, that terrorist attacks attributed to al Qaeda have happned in Spain, England, the far east, despite the fact that they're "in Iraq."
I admit it. I don't get it, either.
I also don't get the rationale that we should be fighting them in Iraq or else they'll "follow us home." So much for the altruistic concerns by neo-cons for the poor Iraqis. They can't think much of their plight if we're content to make their country into a gigantic septic tank for terrorists so that we don't have to deal with it here. And we wonder why Americans are reviled around the world?
I also don't get the argument that the occupation of Iraq has made us feel safer at home. Heck, a few dozen, stupid cartoon advertisements hung up around Boston put the entire eastern half of Massachusetts into a fear frenzy. Guess they don't feel so safe, huh? Must be they don't feel the war against "terror" in Iraq is particularly effective in preventing "terror" at home.
Oh wait - they're mostly Democrats in Massachusetts, so of course they don't understand this war on terror thing, and besides, they're all a bunch of timid, America-hating, French-loving latte-drinking sissies.
Bin Laden doesn't have to lift another finger to achieve his objectives. He's got America spending two billion dollars a week fighting phantoms, much of the world despises us, and if we had to fight another war elsewhere on the planet, we wouldn't be able to do so.
Hey...didn't Bush mention something about that in the 2000 debates?
Posted by Cate on February 1, 2007 at 09:24 AM
That's what I was afraid of...
It sounds like those things create many modern land mines.
Where is the humanity? What happened to ethics and morals?
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