Sunday Open Thread
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Good Morning Good Dem's...an other good day to carry on the war against the Imperial Presidency!
Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 09:22 AM....You are sinking to new lows this morning starting with your screen name. Your actions and words do not demean us, but they do speak volumes for you inbred boorishness, lack of social skills and total lack of education.
Your actions and words do not demean us, but they do speak volumes for you inbred boorishness, lack of social skills and total lack of education.
Posted by goodfoe on December 23, 2007 at 09:30 AM
morning {JohnBoy}}
Has there EVER been any question about how low class this and the other trolls are? One understands exactly their lack of upbringing, and knows exactly the type of parents they had.
Sad, but that is why they are so filled with hatred !
Consumerism the newest religion, praise the cash register. Cut workers pay so the CEO can keep another 20 million dollar bonus. A 17 year young woman dies because a critically needed transplant is denied because the CEO needs another sailboat and possibly another summer vacation house. Construction workers here in Florida are selling their tools to stay afloat and fishing for food and just maybe sell a few fish or crabs to attempt to get their tools back if the big developers decide to hire Americans instead of illegal aliens. I doubt that will happen unless said workers accept a pay cut but hey the economy is grat for the haves and to hell with the have nothings. Praise the cash register and our savior CEO"S.
Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 09:38 AM....I don't need or want to know any more about you. Your posts here over the months have already told me more than I care to know...YUK!....
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 09:40 AM....
Merry Christmas my friend!
Hey you asshats! Try and pick up the pace today up shamming fruit flys.
Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 09:10 AM
Say what?
A good friend of mine is a brick mason, in the last year he has gone from working on 2 houses a week to maybe 2 a month. I install tile and have fortunatly been working more or less full time but on smaller jobs and remodels. Not a lot of remodeling includes block work he is working at Wal-Mart to pays bills and put food on the table at less than half the money. It's tough out here and the government does not care because we have no voice. None of us can afford to bribe, I mean contribute to politicans to actually be heard. If you're broke it's too bad the rich make the decisions we don't matter to them. Unless there is public financing in political campaigns the working class will continue to be ignored and marginalised so the rich can continue to get even richer at everyone's else expense.
Posted by wldj on December 23, 2007 at 10:08 AM
I worked for many years as brick mason in Florida out of the old local 3 in Tampa. Most of the masonry work down there at that time was concrete block, about 35-50 lbs each. After laying 400 concrete block in the wall in a day, I knnew that I had done a good man's day's work. Sorry to hear you are having such a rough time. Been there, done that!
Critics Say Labor Board Favors Business
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By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: December 14, 2007
Senate and House Democrats attacked the Republican-led National Labor Relations Board at a Congressional hearing on Thursday, saying its recent decisions had favored employers over workers.
The Democrats focused on 61 board decisions issued in September that, among other things, made it harder for unions to organize workers and harder for illegally fired employees to collect back pay.
“This board has undermined collective bargaining at every turn, putting the power of the law behind lawbreakers, not law victims,” said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
At the hearing, Wilma B. Liebman, a Democratic member of the five-member board, which oversees unionization rules for workers in private industry, repeatedly clashed with the board’s Republican chairman, Robert J. Battista.
“Virtually every recent policy choice by the board,” Ms. Liebman said, “impedes collective bargaining, creates obstacles to union representation or favors employer interests.”
Mr. Battista, whose term expires Sunday, took strong issue with the Democrats’ criticism.
“Notwithstanding the special interest group rhetoric we may be hearing about the N.L.R.B., the agency is carrying out its statutory mission,” said Mr. Battista, a labor lawyer from Detroit who represented many corporations.
.....Go figure a corporate lawyer hates unions and does everything possible to stop employeess from collective bargaining heads the Labor Relations Board. Another fox guarding the henhouse. We all know you have to keep wages as low as possible so the corporate CEO's can get bonuses of tens of millions of dollars. Health insurance for employees, screw that let them get sick, pensions,yeah right only the bosses need those unions, omg that's socialism, can't have that it would mean people get treated with respect and fair living wages. Money, power and greed is more important than workers rights and fair living wages according to our corporate run government.
Cyn...I just listened to James Taylor on CBS....one of my blessings is to have been able to listen to him through the years....GO EDWARDS!!!!!!!
Posted by goodfoe on December 23, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Tile is not exactly light either...I was in a plumbers and pipefitting union in Lauderdale 20 or so years ago but this is a "right to work" state which translates into a "right to screw the little guy"state in fact. But what do I know.
John Boy, I watched that, too! We must be around the same age. Go Edwards! :-)
Posted by Cyn_NY on December 23, 2007 at 10:55 AM
You are no where near as old as I am, but when I consider the alternative, I count my blessings. I just watched Huckabee, he's a very good speaker and handles questions well. He spoke about VAT which I have been writing about for years. Our guys better have good answers for this. I still believe that the Huckster will be the Reptile nominee.I think that Rudy will fold his tent and return to his evil business enterprises which will leave it wide open. I almost would rather see McCain as the Reptile nominee.
John Boy, I do not like Huckabee at all. He scares me, as does Rudy, but I agree that Rudy will self-destruct and slink away. Huckabee reminds me of Gomer on Mayberry, but with a sneaky religious, self-righteous side. He gives me the creeps.
Good morning, all.
If this isn't a sign of the times then what is? The financial pages of the local newspaper has an article today, not about making money, but holding on to it:
Here are some fianancial New Year's resolutions that are worth keeping
Andrew Leckev
New Year's financial resolutions are especially important when the economic future is a juggling act...
Here are New Year's financial resolutions for the coming year:
* Closely monitor your debt load.
* Keep track of your investment mix each quarter.
* View your home as a place you live.
* Take the concept of emergency funds to heart.
I predict Bush will start the New Year telling us that we have to reform Social Security...again. The Republicans have no idea how insulting that will be. Let him and McConnell bring it on.
Voters are ready for a fight.
Posted by Cyn_NY on December 23, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Cyn,
Huckabee gives Limbaugh and the Republican party leadership the creeps, too. I sense that they can slow him down, but they won't be able to stop him.
The rest of those in GOP field all have too many credibility problems to gain much momentum. Since they have scared off most of the Reagan Democrats and fiscal/civil libertarians with their Iraqi and economic incompetence, fundamentalists are now the only reliable base.
Huckabee has become the future and the pale of the Republican Party. Watch Kristol and the rest of the conservatives go after him on economics which will only help The Huckster soar on his populist message. This guy understands propoganda and has the communications skills to get the nomination.
The GOP has created a religious Frankenstein monster that they can't stop even with Limbaugh. They have finally reaped what they sowed.
Posted by goodfoe on December 23, 2007 at 11:07 AM
No, johnboy. We don't want McCain.
We can beat Huckabee because he's a fraud. John McCain may be many things, but he comes across as moderate and sincere.
Give me a true hypocrit to run against. Huckabee is trying to run as a liberal and it will be the kiss of death in the general. That's why George Will and the rest the conservatives are so upset.
Huckabee is running a Bush campaign in a year when voters are sick of being treated like fools for the past seven. Bring on the REAL Republican...the guy who is a religious huckster and can't be trusted.
Need to get baking. I'm going to put on my Dan Fogelberg CD and think of Christmases past and why they mean so much too me.
It's important to create memories that last and move us forward to new people and places...not live in the past.
bbl.
so the government responsibility is to help the rich is that it
Hi Sandy....have a nice day....I'll be in and out as I watch the NFL today....Later
Sandy, you hit the nail on the head. I finally understand why Huckabee is so abhorrence to me. He is running a Bush campaign. I didn't realize it until you pointed it out. You make some excellent points.
The GOP will split up their choices, ie the Fundies will all go for the Religious Huckabee, thinking he will save this country from all us immoral Dems, while the fear-ridden, impotent little men will all vote for big talking Rudy to save them from those awful terrorists who are going to show up at their door steps and hurt them!
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 09:12 AM
Pammy, you are not a tactician, and you have no idea what so ever what you are talking about. Stick to your steamed Rat casserole.
hi marshall macturd why are you so self rightious to make fun other people but we do it to you then it hate speach
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 07:58 AM
Magnets?!?! First it was those black helicopters, now its magnets. Get some help.
Cousin it is back, and the little retard seems to be upset, its using spell check.
Huckabee is running a Bush campaign in a year when voters are sick of being treated like fools for the past seven. Bring on the REAL Republican...the guy who is a religious huckster and can't be trusted.
Posted by SandyH on December 23, 2007 at 11:49 AM
Hi Sandy,
It will be amusing to watch and see if the Religious Righties will fall for it again----Bush lied to them about what he was going to do in 2000, and then again in 2004, and they are thinking of pinning their hopes on the Huckster?
Can they really be so stupid as to think a President can amend our Constitution all by himself , and overlook individual state laws? Their hatred of gays and abortion run very deep. They may take another chance ! HA !
Could it be?
"Cousin it"
Is this DR. Dean on drugs?
dusty, my friend,
ignore the droppings of the trolls.
they will all be gone in the morning ! Poof!
Like they were never here !
got to head back to the kitchen.
I am sick and tired of listening to Obama condeming Clinton especially about her vote prior to the start of the was in Iraq......I hope most of my fellow democrats have been reviewing all of their records in the Senate. I do believe that since Mr. Obama was not sworn in to the Senate until January 4, 2005, he could not really have stood up and voted against the vote Mrs. Clinton took years before, as far as voting, according to Senate records he has only voted in 4 of the past 40 votes that the Senate has had in the past 44 opportunities recently....good record, lets put some truth to those campaign words.
This Is the Sound of a Bubble Bursting
By PETER S. GOODMAN
Cape Coral, Fla.
TWO years ago, when Eric Feichthaler was elected mayor of this palm-fringed, middle-class city, he figured on spending a lot of time at ribbon-cuttings. Tens of thousands of people had moved here in recent years, turning musty flatlands into a grid of ranch homes painted in vibrant Sun Belt hues: lime green, apricot and canary yellow.
Mr. Feichthaler was keen to build a new high school. He hoped to widen roads and extend the reach of the sewage system, limiting pollution from leaky septic tanks. He wanted to add parks.
Now, most of his visions have shrunk. The real estate frenzy that once filled public coffers with property taxes has over the last two years given way to a devastating bust. Rather than christening new facilities, the mayor finds himself picking through the wreckage of speculative excess and broken dreams.
Last month, the city eliminated 18 building inspector jobs and 20 other positions within its Department of Community Development. They were no longer needed because construction has all but ceased. The city recently hired a landscaping company to cut overgrown lawns surrounding hundreds of abandoned homes.
“People are underwater on their houses, and they have just left,” Mr. Feichthaler says. “That road widening may have to wait. It will be difficult to construct the high school. We know there are needs, but we are going to have to wait a little bit.”
Waiting, scrimping, taking stock: This is the vernacular of the moment for a nation reckoning with the leftovers of a real estate boom gone sour. From the dense suburbs of northern Virginia to communities arrayed across former farmland in California, these are the days of pullback: with real estate values falling, local governments are cutting services, eliminating staff and shelving projects.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/business/23house.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
ima a it you dunb ass why do you think your better then me look at your in the mirror or forgot you break it your so ugly you dumb trool
In a Force for Iraqi Calm, Seeds of Conflict
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and DAMIEN CAVE
BAGHDAD — The thin teenage boy rushed up to the patrol of American soldiers walking through Dora, a shrapnel-scarred neighborhood of the capital, and lifted his shirt to show them a mass of red welts across his back.
He said he was a member of a local Sunni “Awakening” group, paid by the American military to patrol the district, but he said it was another Awakening group that beat him. “They took me while I was working,” he said, “and broke my badge and said, ‘You are from Al Qaeda.’”
The soldiers were unsure of what to do. The Awakening groups in just their area of southern Baghdad could not seem to get along: they fought over turf and, it turned out in this case, one group had warned the other that its members should not pay rent to Shiite “dogs.”
The Awakening movement, a predominantly Sunni Arab force recruited to fight Sunni Islamic extremists like Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, has become a great success story after its spread from Sunni tribes in Anbar Province to become an ad-hoc armed force of 65,000 to 80,000 across the country in less than a year. A linchpin of the American strategy to pacify Iraq, the movement has been widely credited with turning around the violence-scarred areas where the Sunni insurgency has been based.
But the beating that day was a stark example of how rivalries and sectarianism are still undermining the Americans’ plans. And in particular, the Awakening’s rapid expansion — the Americans say the force could reach 100,000 — is creating new concerns.
How, when thousands are joining each month, can spies and extremists be reliably weeded out? How can the men’s loyalty be maintained, given their tribal and sectarian ties, and in many cases their insurgent pasts? And crucially, how can the movement be sustained once the Americans turn over control to a Shiite-dominated government that has been wary, and sometimes hostile, toward the groups?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/world/middleeast/23awakening.html?hp
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The Shiite dominated Iraqi government already said
they would disband these "awakening councils" eventually. There is little this will become yet another source of conflict. We are no closer to an exit strategy post SPLURGE than before.
dusty, my friend,
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Notice how Pammy only calls the real wackos "friend"?
She called Benji, her "friend".
Seasons greetings mr. Cactus, I think of cousin "it" as being pammy´s little Frankenstein monster.
dusty, my friend,
ignore the droppings of the trolls.
they will all be gone in the morning ! Poof!
Like they were never here !
got to head back to the kitchen.
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Heel, Dusty, Heel! Good boy, now get back in your box.
harpo why are speeling expect you trool
Posted by dusty2006 on December 23, 2007 at 12:10 PM
What language is this anyway?
News Flash: WE'RE BROKE
by bonddad
Sun Dec 23, 2007 at 05:49:55 AM PST
The next president faces an unenviable task: namely, to fix the national fiscal position after 8 years of Republican mismanagement. If they don't make fixing this their top priority, then the US could have an incredibly difficult time when they leave office in either four or eight years.
* bonddad's diary :: ::
*
Let's start with an overview of the last six years. These figures are from the Bureau of Public Debt. They are the total amount of debt outstanding as of the end of the government's fiscal years.
09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86
Currently, the total national debt stands at $9,136,418,062,457.29
The Associated Press recently made this observation:
Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute.
What's that mean to you?
It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.
The most widely used calculation of national debt is the debt/GDP ratio.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/23/82042/203/362/425771
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These GOP jackasses have the nerve to demand more and more money for their Iraq occupation. What does it get us? 12 billion a month down the drain just so the GOP Chimps can claim they didn't "lose a war". Why did they go there in the first place? Every reason given to date has been a lie. Spending 12 billion per month on the occupation is a failure.
Merry Christmas to you MR McBurd.
(I think of cousin "it" as being pammy´s little Frankenstein monster.)
Could be, I don't think Robert is that smart.
BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol in Baghdad killed two civilians Sunday, as
Both police officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to the media.
To the north, gunmen shot and killed an Iraqi Army officer west of the city of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, police said. Lt. Col. Nayif Muhammed al-Shammari was shot as he drove his car. He was not in uniform at the time, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Also in Mosul Sunday, a parked car bomb targeting a passing police patrol killed a civilian and wounded five policemen, police said. In Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, one policeman was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as police were attempting to defuse it, police said.
Despite the attacks, Iraq has seen a clear improvement in security in recent months, with the U.S. military saying violence is down by about 60 percent.
The decrease in attacks has been partly attributed to the work of Sunni groups that used to fight Iraqi forces and the U.S. military, but have now turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and receive U.S. backing.
On Saturday, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi _ who is himself a Sunni _ said the groups will not be allowed to become a separate military force.
The statement was the Shiite-led government's most explicit declaration yet of its intent to eventually dismantle the groups backed and funded by the United States as a vital tool for reducing violence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071223/iraq/
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Later ...
Posted by **___ D____Cactus__ * on December 23, 2007 at 12:44 p.m.
But both of them must have a longing for fried bologne.
Fried bologna, eggs and beans.
Roberts Christmas dinner at the state hospital, he can hardly wait.
The Maid asked for a raise.
Pammy,The lady of the house was very upset about this and asked: "Now Maria, why do you want an increase?"
Maria: "Well Madam, there are three reasons why I want an increase. The first is that I iron better than you."
Pammy,Lady of the house: "Who said you iron better than me?"
Maria: "The Master said so."
Lady of the house: "Oh."
Maria: "The second reason is that I am a better cook than you."
Pammy,Lady of the house: "Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than I am?"
Maria: "The Master did."
Lady of the house: "Oh."
Maria: "My third reason is that I am a better lover than you."
Pammy,Lady of the house (very upset now): "Did the Master say so as well?"
Maria: "No Madam, the gardener did."
SHE GOT THE PAY RAISE..!
Posted by **___D____Cactus__* on December 23, 2007 at 12:54 PM
I´d sure hate to be in his padded cell a couple of hours after dinner.EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!
So the subhuman chimpanoid thinks, "There's 'a great expectation in the world' that the United States should 'take the lead' on issues". Well, given his historically dismal performance in this regard it shouldn't be at all difficult for any of our democratic candidates to not only live up to that expectation but to very easily exceed it. And rest assurd, we will greatly improve our nations standing in the eyes of the world, not by force and coercion, but by cooperation, compassion, and understanding. If by making such a statement the 'fool on the hill' thought he'd play the expectations game on the world stage, he blew it yet again.
It didn't get a lot of attention, but in mid-December, U.S. forces in Iraq discovered an al Qaeda torture center north of Baghdad. Muqdadiya is about 60 miles north of the capital. American soldiers found a blood-spattered room where chains still hung on the gory walls. A metal bed frame was still connected to an electric shock generator. The Americans also found bloody knives and swords. Outside, the bodies of 26 people were buried in common graves.
That al Qaeda has made rape, torture and murder its calling card in Iraq is not news. Michael Yon (michaelyon-online.com), among others, has reported the atrocities committed by al Qaeda in Iraq, and even the major media have at last come to acknowledge that Sunni leaders -- disgusted by the atrocities they have witnessed -- have teamed up with the Americans to defeat al Qaeda. It was Iraqi locals who pointed the U.S. patrol to the torture house in Muqdadiya.
Last May, according to The Smoking Gun website, U.S. troops unearthed an even more grisly site, an al Qaeda torture chamber in Baghdad itself. When they entered, the soldiers found an Iraqi man suspended from the ceiling by chains. The room contained torture implements including hammers, whips, meat cleavers and wire cutters as well as a crude torture manual, displaying various methods of inflicting unbearable pain. These included using a blowtorch on the skin, gouging out eyes, using an electric drill to cut through a hand, and many more.
It's useful to be reminded of what real torture looks like when the Democrats in Washington are working themselves into a characteristic froth about the CIA and the destroyed interrogation tapes. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., declared that for "the past six years, the Bush administration has run roughshod over our ideals and the rule of law." It reminded him of nothing so much as the "18-and-a-half-minute gap on the tapes of Richard Nixon." Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., smells "obstruction of justice."
So now we will have an inquiry into whether the CIA has violated the law by destroying tapes it was under no obligation to make in the first place; concerning an interrogation technique that at the very worst (according to most reliable reports) involved making three notorious terrorists think, for a few seconds, that they were drowning.
I have severe doubts as to whether waterboarding constitutes torture. But I am certain that the unceasing attention it receives and the eagerness of many Democrats to indict the Bush administration has done more damage to America's image than anything the CIA has done. I say this for two reasons:
1) When Democrats talk of coverup and torture, we know they're referring to waterboarding, but the world doesn't know that. People in the Middle East and elsewhere naturally assume that torture is torture -- the kind that al Qaeda was grimly practicing in Muqdadiya and elsewhere. And the more dark insinuations that issue from Capitol Hill and the New York Times, etc., the more certain the rest of the world is that we are doing similar things. I was recently invited, for example, by the Oxford Union in England to debate (for the affirmative) the proposition "Resolved: This House Would Torture to Save Lives." I declined but counter-offered on David Frum's advice to debate "Resolved: This House Believes Terrorists Deserve the Full Protection of the Geneva Conventions." I await their reply.
2) The unending controversy about waterboarding has completely obscured the reality of what is going on at Guantanamo, where inmates are gaining weight on the culturally sensitive diet, having surgeries to repair old injuries, reading their Korans and praying on the U.S.-supplied prayer mats, and conferring with their lawyers while troops of journalists, politicians and human rights activists parade by.
All of this comes against the backdrop of Iraq, where at long last the violence has been contained, al Qaeda is in retreat, and refugees are returning home. If present trends continue, Iraq will not be the failure and disaster for the United States our enemies were hoping for. Could it be that the Democrats too are disappointed, and are seeking in the CIA story another way to undermine the progress?
Paper gives 'anti-endorsement' to RomneyMILFORD, N.H. - The Concord Monitor broke with political tradition Sunday, telling readers in the state with the first presidential primary why they should not vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instead of whom they should support.
In a scathing anti-endorsement that called Romney a "disquieting figure," the New Hampshire newspaper's editorial board said he looks and acts like a presidential contender but "surely must be stopped" because he lacks the core philosophical beliefs to be a trustworthy president.
I think Romney is the most scary candidate running for President and it is not the fact that he is Mormon. His flip flops, and the way he compared himself to others rather than what he is inside. I feel the shell of a man who will do anything to get elected, never before have I heard such an I, I, I, I candidate comparing himself to JFK to Bush and that is too wide of an extreme.
Mike Huckabee another Bill Clinton?DAVENPORT, Iowa - To hear Mitt Romney tell it, Republican Mike Huckabee shares more with Democrat Bill Clinton than a hometown in Hope, Ark., and a stint as Arkansas governor.
Both men, Romney suggests, have left-leaning governing philosophies, particularly on taxes and spending.
"Governor Huckabee's record is more liberal than our nation needs right now," the former Massachusetts governor said in Iowa last week, seeking to link his GOP presidential rival to the former Democratic president who is loathed by many Republican loyalists.
The fact that Romney also compares himself as Bush best friend tips the scales on the weird side. He is siding with the Iraq War and keeping troops there no matter what. As President he would inhale Executive Privilege and expand it where I, I, I, I is a one man Romney rule. We need a "We the people" we, we, we, we President not a Royal buffoon who looks into the mirror and sees only himself. We need a leader that will serve this nation in time of war not a leader who used the Conscientious Objector status to avoid one.
The way Romney flails at people he perceives as threats will prove to be what kind of President he will be, combative as long as his family is save at home. He is another wantta be Republican cowboy let loose to destroy America's image even more.
I agree Romney needs some more anti-endorsements as being so wrong for America. The worst candidate to serve this nation of we's not I's.
So the subhuman chimpanoid thinks, "There's 'a great expectation in the world' that the United States should 'take the lead' on issues".
==================================================
boilerman, the right wing jackasses are trying to re-write history. They won't be able to do so. The damage has already been done and will take decades to amend.
Iraq is a abysmal failure. The human toll has been tremendous. Millions of Iraqi are still displaced and will never return. We are still bogged down in an endless occupation that costs the taxpayer 12 billion dollars per month. For what? All of the right wing's bullcrap about democracy and getting rid of dictators just doesn't stand up. This country made Hussein what he has by working with him against Iran. He was just another thug in a world filled with thuggish governments. Al Qaeda in Iraq ... there was no Al Qaeda there until Chimpy occupied the country. The Al Qaeda movement in Iraq is essentially home grown. There are very few foreign fighters. Meanwhile, Bin Laden and crew are still in Pakistan stirring up trouble.
Iraq isn't worth the lives and money spent. There is no way the right wing shills can ever make it otherwise. The American public still want us out of there. They don't want to see a permanent occupation.
The fact that Romney also compares himself as Bush best friend tips the scales on the weird side. He is siding with the Iraq War and keeping troops there no matter what.
===================================================
dlester, Ghouliani may be even worst than Romney on foreign policy. He has surrounded himself with an even kookier bunch of neocons than Bush. The Ghoul thinks Bush didn't go far enough and is itching to launch an attack on Iran ... probably other nations.
Besides the immorality of attacking a people for no reason, there is a complete disregard for what this warmongering is costing this nation. We just don't have the money to pour into war after war, occupation after occupation.
All of the GOP candidates are unacceptable.
Some thing isn't it, the little commies whine about Iraq?
They don't really care about ending the war for a noble cause, they demand America loses, they want this country not only to lose but to walk away in shame and dishonor.
Then the money, they think about all the money the greedy little asshats could be stealing from the taxpayers to support their selves. The little commie asshats want to live off the backs of everyone else and never have to work, or take responsibility for themselves or their off spring.
Posted by **___D____Cactus__* on December 23, 2007 at 01:44 PM
Exactly the way it is. cactus tells it like it is.
Good day,
permanent occupation.
Posted by rjsnj on December 23, 2007 at 01:25 PM
This is what is so amazing about the Iraq invasion and occupation. It was done openly by the US forces to get big bases for our permanent military presence built there.
In Chile, Indonesia, Argentina, etc. the US was behind the scenes of the state terrorism to change to the open market economy. Was done by proxy to get what businesses needed to set up bases and treaties and regimes.
This occupatiion the US forces are directly the ones taking prisoners and terrorizing the population to get the oil and base contracts.
Iraq they decided is the center of their efforts and the masks came off.
Charlie Wilson's War, the movie, started Friday. Anyone seen it yet? FayD?:
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Like TomN,
The only way he can justify his commie views is to start with the notion that America is evil.
This occupatiion the US forces are directly the ones taking prisoners and terrorizing the population to get the oil and base contracts.
Iraq they decided is the center of their efforts and the masks came off.
Posted by TomN on December 23, 2007 at 01:50 PM
Look moron, what gives you the nerve to accuse our troops of doing anything like that. You have just crapped on the head of every single one of our soldiers. Shame on you. I hope you have a heart attack in the middle of the street and 13 greyhound busses run over your ragged butt, then you should be hung up as a traitor.
100's thousands tortured, millions of casualties to open the markets to freeken trade and suppress socialist ideation. Confidence back now!:
Naomi Klein: From Think Tanks to Battle Tanks, “The Quest to Impose a Single World Market Has Casualties Now in the Millions”
*****
Now, I say this because this was one of those worlds that wasn’t chosen, one of those paths that wasn’t chosen. And I spent the past four years pulling these stolen and betrayed alternatives out of the dustbin of our recent history, because I think it matters. I think it matters that we had ideas all along, that there were always alternatives to the free market. And we need to retell our own history and understand that history, and we have to have all the shocks and all the losses, the loss of lives, in that story, because history didn’t end. There were alternatives. They were chosen, and then they were stolen. They were stolen by military coups. They were stolen by massacres. They stolen by trickery, by deception. They were stolen by terror.
We who say we believe in this other world need to know that we are not losers. We did not lose the battle of ideas. We were not outsmarted, and we were not out-argued. We lost because we were crushed. Sometimes we were crushed by army tanks, and sometimes we were crushed by think tanks. And by think tanks, I mean the people who are paid to think by the makers of tanks. Now, most effective we have seen is when the army tanks and the think tanks team up. The quest to impose a single world market has casualties now in the millions, from Chile then to Iraq today. These blueprints for another world were crushed and disappeared because they are popular and because, when tried, they work. They’re popular because they have the power to give millions of people lives with dignity, with the basics guaranteed. They are dangerous because they put real limits on the rich, who respond accordingly. Understanding this history, understanding that we never lost the battle of ideas, that we only lost a series of dirty wars, is key to building the confidence that we lack, to igniting the passionate intensity that we need.
www.democracynow.org/2007/8/15/naomi_klein_from_think_tanks_to
I do not understand why the media is not focusing on Barack's State Senate voting record. The media is picking Hillary apart but have failed to examine all his "Present" votes where he refued to vote on contentious issues but just used present.That really shows leadership doesn't it???
Wonder if he would just say "Present" when his Vice President wanted to drop the A Bomb!!! Where are you all on examining his record. He has none!!! Combine that with his drug use and ask is this the kind of person we want for our President. The Republicans will have a field day with him. Keep your coverage fair. If you are nitpicking all the scandals where no wrong doing was ever found about Hillary during the Clinton years then nitpick his record as well as his drug use. Cocaine is not a casual drug and is not easily discontinued. Hillary has withstood the test of toughness and intellegence that is needed for the Presidency. She exemplifies family values by not divorcing Bill after Monica. She & Bill for all their problems obviously care for each other & have a beautiful daughter that obviously loves & supports them. Wake up and give Barack the same examination that you are focusing on the other candidates. Chris42
Have you ever watched democracy Now? That old commie cow Amy Goodman is such a cheerful person, she always looks like someone just ran over her dog, right before she went on the air.
This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo
smells don't travel the internet, better throw your underpants away!
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 09:40 AM....
Merry Christmas my friend!
Posted by goodfoe on December 23, 2007 at 09:56 AM
Do you think PamB is a real person ??
No person could be that dopey and be real,
we just made her up ya dope, you don't have any friends.
Hey Dusty, how come your spelling and sentence structure fluctuates so radically from post to post.Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 02:16 PM
"it" was sitting on mama´s lap.
No shit Sherlock. BTW, what kind of faggot uses the term "underpants"?
Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 02:36 PM
Probably an "arschgeiger".
Puttin' on airs, Eh?
What the Hell is an "after-dinner appertief"?
apéritif (ä-pĕr'ĭ-tēf') pronunciation n.An alcoholic drink taken as an appetizer before a meal.
Trollie obviously has never been to anything classier than Old Country Buffet.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 02:46 PM
Hey DoPeyD, You must be pretty selective in the foodlines you visit. Whats an Aperitif in the Chicago lines, a plastic cup of warm water with a hairball floating in it?
I have NEVER heard any liberal saying not to close the borders, nor anyone was a racist who thought we should. Duh, do you ever read this blog? I think those borders need to be secured IMMEDIATELY and I am no racist. I think your hatred of Jews qualifies you as a racist.
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 07:58 AM
Why would you be floating in a cup of warm water, hairball? If so, I hope it is face down so people can avail themselves of the convenient new ashtray.
Posted by rjsnj at December 23, 2007 01:25 PM
Here's an excerpt from a book you might want to read if you haven't already..."How Corporations Hurt Us All- Saving Our Rights, Democracy, Institutions and Our Future."
Economic globalization is the most powerful engine of production, profit, and advanced technology that the world has ever known. The United States, which is the main driver of economic globalization, has become the richest and most powerful nation in world history with more millionaires and billionaires than ever before.Economic/corporate-driven globalization, as currently organized, is also a very high-risk, Utopian experiment unprecedented in human history. What’s called the Washington consensus or “neoliberal orthodoxy” - the deregulated, privatized, so-called “free” market economy - is really socialism for the rich; maintained by arbitrary international rules, agreements, and structures; enforced by the U.S. military and NATO; and responsible for widespread suffering, dislocation, and destruction throughout the world.
The good news is that worldwide opposition to corporate globalization is intensifying and that there are viable economic alternatives…..
BTW -- I'm pretty sure the skin-heads at NRO would love it.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 03:03 PM
Are you close to your next cardiac flop yet?
Obviously you have already experienced your latest brain meltdown. What's it to you, asshole?
Why would I be floating in a cup of warm water, with a hairball in my mouth? So everybody will know that I´ve been kissing Slickwilly´s butt.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 03:03 PM
You are one sick puppy.
The GOP will split up their choices, ie the Fundies will all go for the Religious Huckabee, thinking he will save this country from all us immoral Dems, while the fear-ridden, impotent little men will all vote for big talking Rudy to save them from those awful terrorists who are going to show up at their door steps and hurt them!
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 09:12 AM
The GOP will select the candidate whose turn it is. When it all settles down, John McCain will be the candidate. Not my first choice but neither was George Bush, Bob Dole or Bush II.
Here's an excerpt from a book you might want to read if you haven't already..."How Corporations Hurt Us All- Saving Our Rights, Democracy, Institutions and Our Future."
===================================================
Boilerman,
I haven't read it yet. Looks interesting as does Naomi Klein's book on Disaster Capitalism. The problem with globalization as currently practised is that it creates a few winners at the expense of many losers.
BAGHDAD — The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Sunday that recent successes such as reducing violence have created a new set of challenges for 2008 _ the most important being the return of refugees and the struggle for political reconciliation.
An equally significant factor, Ryan Crocker said, will be whether neighboring Iran uses its considerable influence among the Shiite majority to ease the strife that has torn this country apart _ or instead create further instability.
"The positive developments in the latter half of 2007 represent the challenges of 2008," Crocker told reporters in Baghdad. "There will be the ongoing challenges of reconciliation, and if there is a single overarching issue that will determine the future of this country that is it for me in one word."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071223/iraq/
================================================
But didn't the SPLURGE settle everything Mr. Ryan Crock-of_sh*t? I guess not ... the SPLURGE didn't settle a damn thing; it just created a new set of problems and now the right wing nuts admit it.
Over one thousand lawyers – including former Governor Mario Cuomo and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein – have signed onto the above statement demanding wide-ranging investigative hearings into unconstitutional and potentially criminal activity by the Bush administration.
In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and winner of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship, said: "The majority of lawyers in this country understand that the Bush administration has really gone off the page of constitutional rights and off the page of fundamental rights, and is willing to push the Congress to restore those rights." Ratner said he was "dismayed" that a Democratic majority has failed "to push on key illegalities… the torture program, and now the destruction of the tapes involving the torture program; the warrantless wiretapping, the denial of habeas corpus, the secret sites/rendition program, special trials, and of course what we now know is the firing of US Attorneys scandal…. The minimal that absolutely is needed to get us back on the page of law is to have serious investigative hearings that go up the chain of command and figure out who is responsible for what."
Posted by This_place_reeks_of_asshats_says_Harpo on December 23, 2007 at 03:36 PM
Turn the desert into a sheet of glass I say. save time and effort.
Christmas Eve:
*Seafood Soup
*Caesar Salad
*Spinach and Meat Lasagna
*Italian Sausage with Marinara Sauce over Vermicelli
Christmas Day:
*Waldorf Salad with Fresh Cranberries
*Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (stuffed with Crab Meat and / or Italian Sausage), with 3 Cheeses, Spinach, and Horseeradish
*Standing Crown Roast of Pork with Stuffing
*Spinach Souffle
*Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
*Home made Cranberry Sauce
*Assorted fruits and vegetasbles
Sorry, it's not your usual Crisco and Cheeto's "special treat" of which you have become so accustomed, so I guess you are not invited, asshole.
Bush's Royal Republican Economic segregation of class separation!
Economic segregation of class separation!
Shattered crystal ball in Royal exclusive rights,
Patriots reclaiming heritage living divine hope
Against a political profit religion - dividing US.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 03:44 PM
So thats how you spend your welfare checks. I say checks because I Imagine you are scamming just like Al"ratfaced"Gore, and his sicko butt buddy Michael Moore.
More good stuff...
from To Restore Democracy
First Abolish Corporate Personhood or Corporate Personhood - Warbucks' Got a Full Plate
There is little reason to worry that a coup will topple American democracy. The fear, to quote T.S. Eliot, is that American democracy might end "not with a bang but a whimper," the collective whimper of We the People when we come to understand, too late, that we have simply let our authority slip away, without noticing, in what amounts to a self-inflicted coup.
There is no shortage of people who, having discovered the little-known history of corporations in the United States, conclude that this has already happened. But our democracy is not dead until We the People have given up. Personhood and the WTO treaty do magnify the power of corporations, but the people still have the power of the vote, and the votes of citizens can still overrule the wishes of money. It will take creativity, determination, and discipline, but it remains possible to inspire the people who have given up on democracy to abandon their apathy and vote to renew the strength of government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Posted by **___D____Cactus__* on December 23, 2007 at 01:44 PM
So I ask so are you willing to go to Iraq and serve rotating tours of endless occupation, or will you and your family have Republican Bush and Romney immunity from serving in combat zones.
You call Americans commies "At Will" like you are the Judge of humanity and label in hate, where is the religion in that? What kind of religion gets joy at Christmas time to be a troll of destruction, when the joy of Christmas is when Jesus gave US hope.
So what religion are you? Are you afraid to say it to US here? I just may get on my Liberal knees as a Catholic and say, "Our Father who art in heaven give US the gift that unites in your love, not in a political religion of hate." Yes, bless you, I think you need a Christmas miracle!
In a Force for Iraqi Calm, Seeds of Conflict
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and DAMIEN CAVE
www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/world/middleeast/23awakening.html?hp
Posted by rjsnj on December 23, 2007 at 12:32 PM
rj,
What is so startling about this is how quickly Petraeus has been able to pay off 100,000 thugs and give them guns with which to torment others...and we are paying each one of these mercenaries $300 a month?
At first I thought the goal was to set up a Sunni army to use as a club against the Shiite government and make them hand over the oil fields. From what this article is telling us, Petraeus has set up a bunch of local gangs with no thought as to what they might do.
It's worse than a rival Sunni army. Just what Iraq needs...more young men running around without any direction picking on any civilian who crosses their path acting like some parody of Rambo.
Petraeus is suppose to be this smart counter-insurgency expert? He's acting more like a pimp.
And the timing couldn't be worse what with Syria and Jordan beginning to force those two million Sunni refugees to return home. What demented trap has Bush created for these poor people to walk into now?
By now Petraeus must know he's created a major blunder...if the MSM is beginning to figure it out. How long can he keep the lid on? Is he only concerned with holding on till the November election?
Good luck, General Petraeus. You took a bad situation and made it worse. And it's going to blow up in the Republican nominee's face.
Hi doo bee:
I am through what I can do today.
Christmas Eve Open House:
Appetizers: shrimp cocktail, cheese, cracker italian cold meat platter, nuts, christmas chochlates, chicken wings
Meat Table:
Standing Rib Roast, stuffed with garlic. served with horseradish sauce
Ham with maple syrup and brown sugar
sliced turkey breast
Buffet table,
Potato salad
Raspberry jello mold
Green Salad
Baked stuffed shrimp
Brocolli casserole
deviled eggs
Baked ziti
meatballs
rolls, olives, pickles,
Christmas Day:
leftovers ! :0
We are invited on Christmas day to our neighbors open house, but probably won't go.
My husband does not drink, and I very little, and they usually whoop it up big time !
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 03:44 PM
What time do you want us to show up? I'll bring the wine. If I wasn't going to my mother-in-law's house, I'd just have to find a way to get up there to Chicago.
I love Italian for Christmas. My sister-in-law always makes homemade raviolli every year on our side of the family. Beats baked ham or turkey.
btw, anybody watch screwball Ron Paul today on talk show?
He wants to do away with IRS, CIA, FBI, Education Dept, and god knows what else.
those libertarians should start their own country ! Just one big commune where no one has to pay taxes, and they all just kind of wander around this big dusty ranch with no roads, no electricity, nothing !
And boy are the right wing nutso all gonna have a fit if McCain gets in, and refuses to Torture or hold back court appearances for Prisoners rounded up! Wow, will that ever darken their days. That's if the old man lives past his 2nd year. Have you seen how he has aged just in this last 6 months?
Yummers, {{Pam}}. Deviled eggs is a MUST. I'm adding it to the menu right now. I think I have 6 or 8 eggs in the fridge now. Remember, you can't skimp on the horseradish. The shrimp cocktails are for Christmas Eve "Martini time" just like always.
I almost forgot about "Lobster Fest" last year when I ended up with a boat load of them and gave some as gifts. I guess this years bottles of wine will elicit the same reaction as Oprah's guests when they hear that they are getting a ...
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
DDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
(Actually, I think some of them would have rather gotten a car.)
Petraeus is suppose to be this smart counter-insurgency expert? He's acting more like a pimp.
Petraeus definetly Betrayed Us ! Another Bush boot licker !
She returns with a new mouse in da house!
And while perusing today's blog I am glad to see I have not missed much. Only endless rants from the sad little trolls.
Cyn thanks for posting those articles for me yesterday!!
ok now that I have a proper working mouse I have MUCH to catch up on and trash.
Feliz Navidad to my friends here & Happy Holidays & PEACE to Planet Earth!
WE'RE MARCHING TO A DEMOCRATIC VICTORY IN 08!!
Doo-Bee,
deviled eggs are a pain to make, but everyone likes them. One kid last year walked by me with his plate which had like 6 meatballs and 6 deviled eggs ! that was it.
Isn't it amusing, how the trolls still think there is some kind of noble cause going on in Iraq? And God forbid anyone should reprimand the troops or the mercenaries for rape and killing innocents---because these guys are the type that would be doing the same, if they had the guts to go over there! Rather they served in non-conflict times, but still strut like they did something for this country! HAHA
YUMMY!!!! DPD
How marvelous for you and yours.
I'm excited about serving venison roast. ;) My most wonderful carpenter killed the beast of the feast!
Garlic Mashed Potatoes with lots of sour cream & real butter
Creamed Corn Casserole with crushed cayenne from this years garden
Sweet potatoes baked with pecans & brown sugar
Peas & pearl onions
Fresh baked bread
Chocolate puddin' cradled by a shortbread crust topped with cool whip
Heading up to the owls nest to make merry with some friends.
Enjoy the evening, everyone.
and deviled eggs!
(angel eggs are made with avocado)
Now, I'm gonzo!
Ok, here's my Christmas Dinner
Shrimp Cocktail
Fresh fruit with Brie
Creamed onions
Baked mashed potatoes w/cream cheese/onions
Scalloped oysters
Mushroom stew
Roaster winter vegetables with fontina cheese
Rolls
Prime Rib
and
Shrimp cooked in white wine on toasted garlic bread with wilted baby spinach for the vegans
Petraeus definetly Betrayed Us ! Another Bush boot licker !
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 04:30 PM
How could Petraeus betray you? You were never on his side.
Posted by Cyn_NY on December 23, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Wow, that sounds so great a meal.
Mine is a budget gourmet stir fry rice and vegetables frozen meal upon a Florida solitary motel room.
Yet I was giving the miracle of long ago, where as a crippled young child I stood up and walked upon seeing a Christmas Tree. Today that Christmas Tree glows inside my heart, trying to make a Poet stand up proud that the miracle lies in believing in oneself against all possible odds. That one can be a Liberal patriot in America and still be blessed as an American under God's eyes seeing all His Children as being gifted with His miracles of Independence.
For even alone and in despair He will never give up on me being a patriot of heart. So in the only gift, I can use to bless you all, I will say this.
May the sunshine that radiates within the Holidays lift your feelings upon the heavens upon the gift that God has given this nation where His children are of equality and diversity where we can hold hands in a love, found in no other nation, so diverse in all races, religions, creeds, genders, and heartbeats where we can join together as "We the people." So on a Christmas table, may we have a prayer that love prevails over labels and Judges of hate, this Christmas day of miracles.
Poet, that's beautiful. Thank you. And if you lived closer, there would be a place for you at my table.
Posted by Cyn_NY on December 23, 2007 at 05:38 PM
You are in my heart, what better gift can I give, and your gift was most treasured words one could receive, straight from the heart of a living Christmas. Bless your family they are so lucky to share your miracle with them.
Posted by Cyn_NY on December 23, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Reminds me of a very elegant restaurant I was in in 1950 in Riverdale, NY in 1950. You New Yorkers know how to put out a great spread. Cheryl just came in and said she wants to take me out to Los Ramadas for chicken fajitas,....see you later!....GO EDWARDS!!!
John Boy, I LOVE chicken fajitas! In fact, I love all Mexican food. Living in the "sticks", there aren't really any good places to go to. However, if you ever get to NY again, check out Little Bear in Woodstock. Fan-tas-tic!
Have a great time and yes, GO EDWARDS!
this blog is a negative place of endless disparaging comments about people whose only real crimes are being on the wrong side of the political offense.
OMG , now I have heard everything ! What rock do these trolls live under? Today's Neo Cons are the most destructive party that has ever operated in the USA. They have thrown away our Civil liberties. They have turned surplus into deficit. They have thrown More government into our lives. They have destroyed the economy. They are the most corrupt in our time. There are more sexually perverted than ever in history. They have destroyed our dollar. They have ruined our reputation in the world.
Here are a few facts:
). FEDERAL SPENDING: since 1960 Republicans increased Federal Spending by 71% more than have Democrats
2). FEDERAL DEBT: since 1960 Republicans have increased the National debt by 100% more per year than have Democrats.
3). GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: since 1921, adjusted for inflation, Democrats outproduce Republicans by 43% . Starting in 1940 the Democratic advantage is 23% better.
4). REAL PER CAPITA INCOME: since 1960 Democrats have outperformed Republicans by 30%. (This is perhaps the most important economic statistic of all)
5). INFLATION: since 1960, Democrats outperform Republicans 3.13% to 3.89%
6). UNEMPLOYMENT: since 1960 it decreases in an average Democratic year by 0.3% to 5.33%, and increases in average Republican year by 1.1% to 6.38%.
7). JOB CREATION: from 1945 to 2003, Democrats produced 174,200 jobs per month, Republicans have only produced 60,600 per month. Every time a Democrat succeeds a Republican, job creation soars. Every time a Republican succeeds a Democrat job creation plummets. NO EXCEPTIONS!
8). DOW JONES AVERAGE: since 1921 the DOW has increased by 52% more under Democratic administrations
9). THE BOND MARKET: since 1940 the value of 10 year Treasury bonds rose 1.2% under Democrats and fell 0.5% under Republicans
SOURCES-Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute, Christian Science Monitor, "The Los Angles Times -Michael Kingsley-
WHY aren't you smart enough, to go along with the REAL Republicans who see this current group as total ruin of the GOP party? do you have so much hatred in you, you refuse to see the truth??? You are in the MINORITY, chump, you just won't admit it !
Survey: Conservatives' Anger With GOP May Be Devastating
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 06:38 PM
Your statistics are crap. As per usual.
So says Stevie, who NEVER posts crap.
HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA
O.K.
ALL NON-trolls:
Celebration meet up in 2009 in the middle of the COUNTRY!!
Bring a Pot-Luck meal to share.
Sorry, but my motives are NOT selfish, I just live near ORD and MDW.
But I DOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo love to travel, and would LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE to met y'all.
(Cash Bar)
What?? I'm not NUTS!!
So says Stevie, who NEVER posts crap.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 07:12 PM
Thank you.
3 Canadian soldiers injured in blast near Kandahar
Three Canadian soldiers were slightly injured in Afghanistan when a bomb exploded near their armoured vehicle while travelling north of Kandahar on Saturday. Two of the three are expected to return to duty after a brief rest, while the third remains under observation in hospital at Kandahar airfield, the CBC's James Cudmore said from Afghanistan on Sunday.
Full Story:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/12/23/kandahar-attack.html
Turkey 'in new Iraq air strikes'
Turkish warplanes have again bombed Kurdish rebels across the border in northern Iraq, Kurdish officials say.
Full Story:
DPD, I don't know if we can afford the gas, but we and Pam, Lizzybeth, gregg, et al, can always car pool. Hell, maybe we can charter a bus. Or, my son-in-law is a CXS engineer. We may be able to hop a train like the old days!
Would you be willing to meet a bunch of train hoppers carrying 2 or 3 day casseroles?
SOURCES-Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute, Christian Science Monitor, "The Los Angles Times -Michael Kingsley-
yeah, right! Crap ! Sorry it was not Man Coulter !
Doo Bee, I would LOVE to meet up with you and the other Regular bloggers ! Name the time and place, and me and my pot luck will be there.
blog ya tomorrow, Fine Dems !
December 23, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Savior or Saboteur?
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Once it was about Hillary, but now, of course, it’s about Bill.
Our ubiquitous ex-president is playing his favorite uxorious game, and it goes like this: Let’s create chaos and then get out of it together. You ride to my rescue or I ride to yours. We come within an inch of dying and then recapture the day by the skin of our teeth. While we’re killing ourselves, we blame everyone else. We’ll be heroes.
It worked for Bill and Hillary in ’92 and ’96. It didn’t work in the health care debacle. Will it work in Iowa and New Hampshire?
Just when I thought I was out, the Clintons pull me back into their conjugal psychodrama.
Inside the Bill gang and the Hillary gang, there is panic and perplexity. Is Bill a loyal spouse or a subconscious saboteur?
Should Hillaryland muzzle him? Give him a minder? Is he rusty? Or is he freelancing because he relishes his role as head of the party his wife is trying to take over?
“For the first time since the Marc Rich pardon,” said a friend of the Clintons, “Bill is seriously diminishing his personal standing with the people closest to him.”
Certainly Bill wants to repay Hill for those traumatic times when he had to hide behind her skirt. And certainly he feels that his legacy is tied to her. He suggests to Matt Bai in today’s Times Magazine that she can be F.D.R. to his Teddy Roosevelt, getting through the ideas that fell flat the first time.
Is Bill torn between resentment of being second fiddle and gratification that Hillary can be first banana only with his help? Their relationship has always been a co-dependence between his charm and her discipline. But what if, as some of her advisers suggest, she turned out to be a tougher leader, quicker to grasp foreign policy, less skittish about using military power and more inspirational abroad? What if she were to use his mistakes as a reverse blueprint, like W. did with his dad?
When Bill gets slit-eyed, red-faced and finger-wagging in defense of her, is he really defending himself, ego in full bloom, against aspersions that Obama and Edwards cast on Clintonian politics?
Maybe the Boy Who Can’t Help Himself is simply engaging in his usual patterns of humiliating Hillary and lighting an exploding cigar when things are going well.
“They’re not Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who had jealousy as the lifeblood of their marriage,” said one writer who has studied the pair. “The lifeblood of their marriage is crisis, coming to each other’s rescue.”
Bill is staying up late strategizing and recasting her message and speeches. But he’s off his game on the trail, making clumsy mistakes like his remark — bound to be shot down by Poppy Bush — that Hillary would send 41 and 42 around the world to restore prestige lost by 43.
Hillary advisers noted that when Bill was asked by a supporter in South Carolina what his wife’s No. 1 priority would be, he replied: C’est moi! “The first thing she intends to do is to send me ...” he began.
He got so agitated with Charlie Rose — ranting that reporters were “stenographers” for Obama — that his aides tried to stop the interview.
He also got in the way of her message with stretchers about opposing the Iraq war from the start, and — in a slap at Obama — deciding not to run in ’88 because he lacked experience. Truth is, he didn’t run for fear of bimbo eruptions.
While making a speech in Iowa, The Associated Press’s Ron Fournier reported, Bill used the word “I” 94 times in 10 minutes, while mentioning “Hillary” just seven times. At a London fund-raiser, one Hillaryite said, it took him nearly half an hour to mention her.
As the Arkansas journalist Max Brantley told the Billary biographer Sally Bedell Smith, “He’s always evangelizing for the church of Bill.”
It’s hard to feel sorry for Hillary because the very logic of her campaign leads right to Bill. When she speaks of her “experience,” she is referring not to the Senate but to the White House, thereby making her campaign a plebiscite on the ’90s.
Running this way, she is essentially asking people to like her if they liked him. Whether she knows it or not, this is a coattails strategy. It’s almost as if she’s offering herself to Clinton supporters as the solution to the problem of the 22nd Amendment.
Bill is a narcissist, but he’s also within his rights to think that she has invited him onstage. If she is his legacy, why should he muzzle himself? After all, you can’t ask Elvis to behave like Colonel Parker.
If voting for Obama is a roll of the dice, as Bill suggests, voting for Billary is a sure bet: an endless soap opera.
I'm off, too.
Dawnie, congrats on the new mouse. It was a pleasure to post your articles. :-)
See you on the flip side, Dems.
I'm not meaning that everybody should come to CHGO, I'm alluding to the fact that I can get almost ANYWHERE from here within a few hours.
Cincy with {{JEN}}?
STL with {{Paige, Fade, and Sandy}}? (O.K., Big Obama Hatin' Dog can drive there)...
Nashville, Memphis, ANYTHING within 2 or 3 hours flight time or drive time.
Oh, well.
We HAVE to win before we plan that. Nashville seems pretty copacetic, and I like it (FOR A WEEK AT A TIME, CALLIE) enough to go back again for the 4th time.
We'll chat.
P.S., NO TROLLS ALLOWED. (They will ALL be busy tapping their feet "somewhere" in MN.
SOURCES-Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute, Christian Science Monitor, "The Los Angles Times -Michael Kingsley-
yeah, right! Crap ! Sorry it was not Man Coulter !
Posted by PamB on December 23, 2007 at 07:33 PM
All reputable sources except the Los Angeles Times. But statistics can be twisted in any direction you want them to go until they end up looking like the meaningless crap you posted above.
P.S., NO TROLLS ALLOWED. (They will ALL be busy tapping their feet "somewhere" in MN.
Posted by DoPeyD on December 23, 2007 at 07:55 PM
O damn, you mean we can't even watch PamB spit up her food.
Well, MORON. The Los Angeles Times is OWNED by TRIBUNE!! Which FOUNDED the Pug Party.
Hardly a Left Leaning Paper.
IDIOT.
DoPeyD
Well, MORON. The Los Angeles Times is OWNED by TRIBUNE!! Which FOUNDED the Pug Party.
Hardly a Left Leaning Paper.
IDIOT.
Posted by DoPeyD on December 23, 2007 at 08:14 PM
Well dumbshit, what does that have to do with the price of rice in China?
The Naacp founded by Republicans and look at what a bunch of ass clowns they have turned into since the dropped their Republican ties.
Ther LA Times is a liberal rag no matter who owns it.
Hey, you know, its Christmas. Wouldn't it be great if these trolls would go post on their own site?
I also am with Dave-Fl-Dem, I'm sick of Obama and his supporters trashing not only Hillary but Edwards too. They also post on all editorials and endorsements and anywhere they can spew their hatred of Hillary or Edwards. Sometimes I wonder if these are true Obama supporters or just some reptiles masquerading as an Obama supporters! Probably a little of both.
I love what someone said this morning about the Huckster. Those reptiles get what they deserve! Rush can't even knock him out!! ha! ha!
I am just looking forward to getting the vote started. I am sick of the Democrats eating their own!
That's why I stay neutral on this forum. My guy won't make it, but a good showing will boost VP possibilities.
Knock it off with the "Horse Race" BULLSHIT and quit acting like a Pubic-man. Tell your story, give the plus factor and defend the minus factor and we will prevail.
The Pubic Party has NOTHING!
WHAT have ANY of these trolls offered other than butt / shit / diaper / ass "jokes"
They
HAVE
NOTHING!
(Other than a 2 year old's fascination with the poopies.)
(Other than a 2 year old's fascination with the poopies.)
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 23, 2007 at 08:48 PM
I don't find PamB's problem fascinating.
Can't stop talking shit OR talking ABOUT shit, now, can you?
For a SELF PROCLAIMED "MENSA" Member you sure are stupid.
I guess if the road sign says "Turn left" you wouldn't, out of "principal".
IDIOT.
Can't stop talking shit OR talking ABOUT shit, now, can you?
For a "MENSA" Member you sure are stupid.
I guess if the road sign says "Turn left" you wouldn't, out of "principal".
IDIOT.
Posted by DoPeyD on December 23, 2007 at 08:56 PM
You are the one who brought the topic up dumbest dumbass amongst dumbasses.
My Best Wishes to All Good Democrats tonight,...my thoughts are with you,...may you and your families prosper, ....may we again have representative government and freedom and liberty....John Boy....
Nope, Stevie. YOU took the 'On Line' version of the "Mensa" Test".
Next you will be claiming that you are the World's most viewed artist because you copied the picture of the pirate or the deer that you saw on a matchbook you found at a bar.<