Morning, Ah, Er, Um, I Mean, Open Thread?
Here's a topic for your discussion this Monday morning:
Even Governor Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina) agrees that John McCain is a third Bush term on the economy. From CNN Late Edition with host, Wolf Blitzer on Sunday:
BLITZER: Are there any significant economic differences between what the Bush administration has put forward over these many years as opposed to now what John McCain supports?SANFORD: Um, yeah. For instance, take, you know, take, for instance, the issue of -- I'm drawing a blank, and I hate it when I do that, particularly on television. Take, for instance the contrast on NAFTA. I mean, I think that the bigger issue is credibility in where one is coming from, are they consistent where they come from.
Huffington Post noted that Blitzer called out Gov. Sanford on his initial answer of NAFTA:
Sanford finally came up with an answer -- McCain has opposed earmarks while President Bush hasn't -- but Blitzer twisted the knife a bit further, following up on Sanford's initial mention of NAFTA. "He's a huge supporter of free trade, John McCain, the Bush administration supports free trade. I don't see a big difference."
Comments (105) «
Talk about the ultimate deceit, the ultimate lack of family values, the ultimate, hypocrites and utter assholes, senators craig and vitter have reintroduced the "marriage amendment". They want us to outlaw gay marriage.
Do you believe these two assholes. They spew family values but they are the ultimate hypocrites. What drives assholes like this?
I see nothing has changed. So many regulars are no longer heard from because it is so frustrating to try to use this blog. I was absent for almost the entire winter which I spent in the hospital and I looked forward to catching up on all that I had been missing. Each day my enthusiasm wanes a little more with the ineptness of this site. I truly hope all this will soon be overcome.
where does mccain stand on the "marriage amendment". He certainly doesn't respect marriage either. He dumped his first wife for his second. Is another wife in the wings? He may want a younger model.
craig was arrested in an airport restroom and vitter was using prostitutes in Washington. What more do we need to know? All three of these morons do not represent family values in any form or fashion.
We have too damn many fucking hypocrites in Washington already and we don't need more.
What is wrong with this site? Preview sent me all over the neighborhood and I had to start from scratch (bookmark) to get back here.
Sorry to hear that you were in the hospital, frances. Hope you are feeling better.
Yup, this blog is frustrating as hell. I hope they get around to fixing it.
Republicans are loser.
They don'[t give a damn about America or Americans.
Here are some articles about events leading up to the Great Republican Depression of 1929 where 7 million Americans starved to death. Is this Nazi Germany or what?
The repukes have never supported out troops. Unemployed veterans finally had to march on Washington in 1932 to get just compensation for their participation in WWI.
The repukes ruled Washington throughout the 1920's bringing us in addition to the great depression but they brought us (family values) Prohibition.
Repukes have long history of screwing up everything they touch.
Events are shaping up almost exactly like they did in the 1920's for the Great Republican Depression of 1929.
Check it out by googling a timeline for the Great Depression of 1929 and the events that led up to the ultimate collapse.
Free Essays on Economic Weakness Of The 1920'S
Yeah Johne,
Vitter wasn't "just" using prostitutes, they called him "diaper dan". Family values from sh*tter vitter, and toe tapping craig.
We are being taken down just like we took down Russia. I'll bet the Russians are rolling on the floor laughing at bush and cheney. Their economy now has about a 6% growth rate and it is a shining example of what can be done without greedy republicans and corporations in power.
In fact, Putin fired the SOB billionaire that ran Russia's oil industry and nationalized it. He apparently doesn't take kindly to trickle down economics like our dumb-shit, greedy neocons.
More power to him.
Morning Cate and Frances,
We are having a great summer in NM with some rain almost every day. It's just great. It was a little hot in the beginning of June but since the end of June we have had our summer monsoon. Last year we had nothing. the high desert is greening up and we are enjoying our pincushion cactuses (sp?). They are all in blossom. We have quail, jackrabbits and hummingbirds everywhere and of course the ever present coyote.
Talk about the ultimate deceit, the ultimate lack of family values, the ultimate, hypocrites and utter assholes, senators craig and vitter have reintroduced the "marriage amendment". They want us to outlaw gay marriage.
Do you believe these two assholes. They spew family values but they are the ultimate hypocrites. What drives assholes like this?
why don't the Repugs DEMAND that the oil companies start with the land they already have approved for drilling?????? If they get the Alaska and offshore approvals, will they just sit there too??????? WTF is wrong with these oil companies?
"The American people are saying loud and clear -- there is no ambiguity about it -- they want us to do something about it, and they understand the laws of supply and demand," McConnell said last week. He said he was negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) in an effort to find common ground.
Top Senate Democrats this week said compromise was possible, but House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) issued a release saying that there are already 68 million acres of public lands and waters open for drilling. The area is equal, he said, to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and about two-thirds of Maryland, combined.
The debate over offshore drilling has been muddied by a variety of claims about how much oil and gas might lie under the sea, what it would take to get hold of it and what the impact would be.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/13/AR2008071302052.html
Hey Johne it sounds beautiful by you. I'm in IL and it is a great day. Skies are blue. I'll be heading off soon. Got some running to do.
I am beginning to detest the so-called Americans who got us into this mess. It all started with nixon then progressively got worse under raygun and the bush twins.
I detest the Americans who support these greedy fools.
I detest what they have done to our values and our citizens in the name of religion.
I detest what they have done to our Constitution.
I detest what they have done to our standing in the world. We are no longer the shining beacon of freedom. What a laugh.
I detest the greed of the average republican. I've got mine and piss on everyone else unless they are rich too.
I detest the lack of health care in this country. My fellow citizens are told to get a second job and start a savings account for their health care.
I detest them all.
McCain lost five U.S. Navy aircraft
(Well, one wasn't his fault.)
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_mccain_lost_five_u.htm
Why do we hear nothing about this on the MSM? Not only that, he can't remember from one speech to the next what his positions are and yet Obama gets blasted on all sides if he amends his position. As situations change, ideas must also change. If not, you have George W Bush with his stuck in the mud position on Iraq.
note, frances, that he also was one of the very lowest students during military flight school!
And they are trying to make this bumpkin lousy pilot some kind of a hero because he did not know how to fly????? Beats me !
What a pain. The carpet cleaners will be here in about an hour. I have boxed up hundreds of books and glassware items to make it easier for them.
It's going to be a busy day.
Have you all seen this yet?
Obama Camp Slams Satirical ‘New Yorker’ Magazine Cover
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/14/obama-camp-slams-satirical-new-yorker-magazine-cover/
Hooray!! This seems to be working better. Now, if we could only get rid of the third graders with their bathroom humor and return to adult conversations. that would be great.!!!
Who in the hell is this Sally person and why in the hell is he on this discussion site? I thought this was a place to debate poilicy and issues as related to our presidential candiate but whoever he/she is seems intent on attacking other persons on her. Isn't this site moderated?
hmmmmm.......
oceans getting warmer? sure sounds like global warmin, not cooling to me!!!!!!!
Hurricane Season Getting Longer Andrea Thompson
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com
Hurricane seasons have been getting longer over the past century and the big storms are coming earlier, LiveScience has learned. The trend has been particularly noticeable since 1995, some climate scientists say.
Further, the area of warm water able to support hurricanes is growing larger over time. The Atlantic Ocean is becoming more hurricane friendly, scientists say, and the shift is likely due to global warming.
"There has been an increase in the seasonal length over the last century," Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, told LiveScience. "It's pretty striking."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080714/sc_livescience/hurricaneseasongettinglonger
warren,
sally is a sick old man in the woods of MN, who's posts were once sent to a psychiatrist friend of one of our bloggers, who said this is a very disturbed narcisstic paranoid individual,
he once disappeared for 6 months while he was being treated. it did not work !!
I am trying to re-locate the yahoo article frm this morning, that said polls of Americans all said McBush was 'too old' to be President. 72 years old is way too old. Anybody want an old man like this with his finger on the red button? Not hardly!!
you think this is going to wipe out 8 years of Republicans absolutely destroying this country, the Constitution, human rights, second recession, etc?????
Bush to hasten Iraq troop withdrawal in bid to help McCain win White House
Thanks for the cleanup DNC crew. Just like they never existed ! We win again!!!!
Nine American soldiers died yesterday, in “the worst against Americans in Afghanistan in three years.” The killings “illustrated the growing threat of Taliban militants and their associates, who in recent months have made Afghanistan a far deadlier war zone for American-led forces than Iraq.”
another failure of this Bush/Cheney/Mcain administration !!!! Make sure your Repug relatives and friends understand it is because Bush pulled too many of our boys out of there, for his illegal invasion of Iraq!!
Yahoo has a lot of them listed, but probably not the one you're looking for.
Too old to be president
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=McCain+too+old+to+be+president&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
As the Pentagon mounts a new effort to buy $35 billion in aerial refueling tankers, the controversy engulfing the competition could haunt John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that the Pentagon will accept new proposals for the competition. It will also make changes to reflect flaws found by the Government Accountability Office in the way the Air Force originally chose Northrop Grumman to make the tankers.
The GAO’s recommendation and the path ahead for the contract will be discussed Thursday before the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. And along with those issues, the hearing could turn one of McCain’s great strengths — his efforts to tighten the Pentagon’s unwieldy acquisition system — into a never-ending headache, the type of uncontrollable problem that presidential campaigns dread
Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Pam, I am relative inept at this type of exchange and really can't comment on someone's mental health. Apparently you have had some dealings with this person previously and base you assessment of him on that history.
I just think that at this time is will watch the others post and maybe comment when I find something of interest to me.
Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 09:14 AM
I noticed that Big Oil was claiming they could match current US production for 10 years.
My question is; WHERE IS THAT OIL GOING???
How much of what is coming out of the ground in the US, particularly out of Alaska, is staying here, and NOT getting shipped overseas?
How much of Alaskan production is going to China, Japan and other Pacific rim nations? I have heard it is a large percentage, but I don't have any references. Anyone who might know, or know where to look speak up, it may prove to be a valuable talking point.
I do wonder how hot-to-trot the oil companies would be to get that oil if the production could only go to the US?
now isn't the weekly standard owned by the Krostol kreeps??
This is McCain being McCain. He clearly believes that bipartisanship is among the highest virtues of political life. But it also reflects the campaign's strategic attempt to position McCain as a centrist in order to win the votes of independents and even some Democrats.
There are risks to this strategy and the enthusiasm gap is chief among them. A Washington Post/ABC News poll last month found that nearly half of the liberals surveyed are enthusiastic about supporting Barack Obama, while only 13 percent of conservatives are enthusiastic about McCain. More generally, 91 percent of self-identified Obama supporters are "enthusiastic" about their candidate; 54 percent say they are "very enthusiastic." Seventy-three percent of such McCain supporters say they are "enthusiastic" about his candidacy, but only 17 percent say they are "very enthusiastic."
A USA Today/Gallup poll reported similar findings last week. That survey shows that while 67 percent of Barack Obama's supporters are "more excited than usual about voting" for their candidate, only 31 percent of John McCain's supporters can say the same thing. More troubling for the McCain campaign is that more than half of those who identified themselves as McCain backers--54 percent--say they are "less excited than usual" about their candidate.
It is not surprising that conservatives are not warming to a candidate who likes to talk about climate change and government subsidies for displaced workers. But this coldness is increasingly alarming to some McCain backers. They believe that all of McCain's efforts to win over Democrats and independents can only pay off if he is able to get conservatives to turn out to vote for him in November.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/320jlvio.asp
I was listening to NPR this weekend and the news host was discussing with a Middle East expert the recent news about Iraq's president Jalal Talabani wanting to set a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
The expert said that this was mostly a political move by Talabani to remind Washington that he's still there but he and the council do not want US withdrawal at this time.
The situation there is still much to volatile for US withdrawal and the current Iraq government to weak to withstand the resulting chaos.
here it is. itmay have been posted on the blog earlier. note: not all people in tucson are stupid!
For some, McCain is 'too old'
The Associated Press
So how old is John McCain? Six-packs, automatic transmissions and the American Express card were all introduced after he was born, not to mention computers which McCain admits he doesn't use.
McCain, himself, jokes that he's older than dirt. And while his age is being raised as a campaign issue, medical experts say voters shouldn't be concerned that, if elected, McCain would be the oldest man to assume the presidency, at 72.
Polls show the age question isn't going away, despite the Arizona senator's efforts to deflect it with self-deprecating humor, or disprove it by keeping a grueling schedule.
"Sure, people live to be 90, but you are not as sharp," said Virginia Bailey, 73, a retired administrative assistant who lives near Schenectady, N.Y., and is a Republican. "I'm not as sharp as I was ten years ago, and I'm sure (McCain) isn't either — even though he wouldn't admit it." McCain's senior-citizen status raises more concerns among voters than Sen. Barack Obama's relative youthfulness, a new AP-Yahoo News poll indicates. Twenty percent said "too old" describes McCain "very well," compared with 14 percent who felt strongly that Obama is "too young." Overall, 38 percent said "too old" describes McCain somewhat or very well, compared with 30 percent who worried that the Illinois Democrat, who turns 47 this summer, is too young.
Capitalizing on the concern, New York City graphics designer Joe Quint has launched an Internet site called thingsyoungerthanmccain.com. The age issue is "clearly a potential problem" for McCain, said independent pollster Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. "There is a larger issue of whether people will come to see him as old apart from his age," Kohut added. "Will they think of him as having old ideas?"
The main medical concern about McCain is not his age, but his history of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. If McCain is elected, Americans would have to get used to the idea of their president as a cancer survivor, closely followed by doctors for any sign of a recurrence.
1. Comment by Rex D.
Sorry but I'm not voting for a president that will be in depends and craping himself in the office.
It was a nice weekend here for the Folk Festival, not too hot, clear skies. Looks like the weather will continue for a while.
The snow on the Highland Mountains is mostly gone. Better than last year when it was all melted off by the end of May.
The roses are blooming, good timing for this weekend. The Rugosas are the only type of roses that do well up here, and there's a yellow rugosa hybrid that was developed in the 1920s that is all over Butte, I think it's called Agnes. All the older yards seem to have them. They like this climate, and tend to take over. I've got a thicket of them. I need to dig some of them up and put them over by the fence. Maybe this fall.
here is one of the several I have posted butte,
when I get rid of this colicky infant in my arms, I will find the rest
"In other words, if we simply held onto our own oil, the United States would have no oil interest in Iraq at all. And it would also negate any perceived need to disturb an irreplaceable wildlife refuge in the search for oil.
But the Commerce Department refused to provide the detail Wyden wants, saying it could only be released to a Congressional committee, not an individual representative. The agency also claims federal law forbids disclosure unless a finding is made that withholding the information contradicts national interests. That sounds like hogwash to me.
Wyden's request is of significant interest for two more reasons. First, it is likely that if oil drilling is approved in ANWR, much of that oil will be exported to Asia rather than sold in the U.S. Secondly, the more obvious reason is that every motorist and politician who can warm a chair is concerned about the nation's growing dependence on imported oil. It would seem to contradict our economic and political interests to worsen this imbalance by selling off our own supplies.
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/06/130522.php
The situation there is still much to volatile for US withdrawal and the current Iraq government to weak to withstand the resulting chaos.
Posted by WarrenCA on July 14, 2008 at 12:04 PM
here's the point, Warren.
The US lied and supposedly went in there to "free" the Iraqis. To have them hold elections to choose their own leaders. To bring democracy whether they wanted it or not.
NOW that Iraqi leaders are saying, get out, we will take care of ourselves, the US is holding out.
WHY?
They are frantically working on giving those no bid Oil deals to their buddies in the US ! They are frantically working to build permanent bases, despite what the Iraqis say, and before th US public understands what this really means!
So, the US should pull their asses the hell out of there. The surge was supposed to be some kind of miraculous sucess, wasn't it??? Then why are we staying if we were so sucessful??????????
don't be taken in by Republican propoganda! This bs ('situation too volitle, they can't make it on their own" is right out of the "Republican Handbook for Easily Swayed Minds"
Posted by WarrenCA on July 14, 2008 at 12:04 PM
When will it be ok to withdraw? 100 years? Or, are we waiting for a sign from above? Apparently, some are still waiting for the promised rose petals and chocolates, huh? I'm calling Bravo Sierra on that bit of tripe. America needs to get out NOW and let the resulting power struggle determine its leadership.
PS: F--k this site. Incompetence at the DNC is worse than anything I've seen in Bushworld.
Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 12:23 PM
"But the Commerce Department refused to provide the detail Wyden wants, saying it could only be released to a Congressional committee, not an individual representative. The agency also claims federal law forbids disclosure unless a finding is made that withholding the information contradicts national interests. That sounds like hogwash to me."
Yeah, that sounds like hogwash to me too.
If using our own oil resources that are currently being shipped out of country, to lessen our dependence on foreign oil isn't in our national interests, I'd like to know what is. Enriching oil billionaires by allowing them to wreck our economy to build their personal fortunes is not in our national interests. That's for durn sure.
Maybe it's time to nationalize our oil companies.
The Republicans have made a big leap out of the 20th century, that Bush/Cheny promised all right! all right. A big leap backwards, right into the nineteenth!
The machinations of the Republicans and Big Oil have the same stink of corruption that was tainting the air around the Capitol during the Credit Mobilier scandal involving the UP railroad, and the other scandals mainly involving the railroads of that time.(Isn't this oil crisis also largely about transportation?) It was an era when some of the pundits of that era who were touting monopolies as the only way to conduct business. Starting to sound familiar? The Great Depression was the legacy of the Big Business monopolies of that era of the Robber Barons, and the neo-cons have learned nothing from history.
It will be interesting to dig through the muck of this administration after they leave office, like those archeologists who dig through the outhouses and middens of our past trying to find the scraps and offal that will yield clues as to what was REALLY going on during the past eight years>
I hope that, once elected, Obama wastes no time appointing special prosecutors with really strong stomachs and staunch personal integrity!
Good afternoon fellow Democrats.
Obama \ Clinton 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html?hp
Obama's plan...
don't be taken in by Republican propoganda! This bs ('situation too volitle, they can't make it on their own" is right out of the "Republican Handbook for Easily Swayed Minds"
Posted by PamB
Actually, as I stated in my previous post, I heard this analysis in a piece on NPR this weekend. NPR isn't known for pushing the "Republican Handbook".
Regardless of how we got into Iraq, getting out is a whole different matter. I have heard people say that we should be out of there overnight, in a week, in a month or a year. The first three are impossible just from a logistics standpoint. Pulling out is not the mirror image of going in.
I see signs on vehicles, hand written with white
Paint of some sort, with what appears to updated totals of our dead soldiers as well as Iraqi men, women and children. It seems that deaths over there matter. So do we just pull the plug on Iraq and damn those left behind to their fates? No doubt there will be a mass murder of those on whatever losing side develops and no doubt the situation will disintegrate into a long bloody civil war with many lives lost.
Do we want that? I don’t think so, at least speaking for me I don’t. Blue also just asked me when, perhaps 100 years? I hope not. I do know that simply cutting and running will do nothing except cause countless deaths of innocents as well as deaths among combatants on both sides. Extricating our forces, regardless of who is our commander-in-chief, will be a huge task taking a great deal of time, money and planning.
The point of this interviewed Middle east expert was that the current Iraqi government is saying Yes, get the US out of Iraq but what they are really saying is No, but we want someone to keep us in the news so we stay viable.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The maker of the King of Beers has agreed to go to work for the Belgian brewer InBev SA. Anheuser Busch Cos. said early Monday it had agreed to a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from InBev, creating the world's largest brewer and heading off what was shaping up as an acrimonious fight for the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light beers. Inbev brands include Stella Artois, Beck's and Bass. The deal, which would also create the third-largest consumer product company, will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.The Anheuser-Busch board accepted the higher takeover offer Sunday night from Belgian-based brewer InBev SA, according to a joint press release. The deal is expected to close by year-end...
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91TO3BG2&show_article=1
I guess the GOP is having a fire sale of all of our nation's assets prior to their departure on 20JAN09. What's next? Is the Bush Adminstration going to put up American assets on E-Bay?
Omg. Did the Joe Cholla guy just post that he thinks the military are "a bunch of whiners"?
It looks like the republican strategy to win this campaign is "I know you are, but what am I".
Not only did McBush attempt to co-opt Obama's campaign slogan, but now that he is known worldwide as a flipflop artist of grand scale, his head-nodders are trying to paint Obama as the same ilk?
What a joke.
Just a few highlights of McBush's ubiquitous use of his signature double-flip: (always manages to stick the landing)
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/14/introducing-wrong-way-mccain/
US spells out Fannie-Freddie backstop plan Sunday July 13, 11:55 pm ET By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer Fed offers to lend to mortgage companies, Treasury plans possible equity investment
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced steps Sunday to shore up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose shares have plunged as losses from their mortgage holdings threatened their financial survival.The steps are also intended to send a signal to nervous investors worldwide that the government is prepared to take all necessary steps to prevent the credit market troubles that started last year from engulfing financial markets and further weakening the economy and housing markets.
The Fed said it granted the Federal Reserve Bank of New York authority to lend to the two companies "should such lending prove necessary." They would pay 2.25 percent for any borrowed funds -- the same rate given to commercial banks and big Wall Street firms.
The Fed said this should help the companies' ability to "promote the availability of home mortgage credit during a period of stress in financial markets."
Secretary Henry Paulson said the Treasury is seeking expedited authority from Congress to expand its current $2.25 billion line of credit to each company should they need to tap it and to make an equity investment in the companies -- if needed...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080713/mortgage_giants_crisis.html?.v=8
So let me see if I have this straight. The Fed is petitioning Congress to give the Fed authorization to buy up Freddie and Fannie stocks with our tax dollars. The same Administration whose financial policy has gotten us into this mess to begin with by devaluing the dollar to historic lows.
Let me put it another way. Would you want President Bush, and his cronies, to handle your portfolio considering the way he managed the nation's affairs over the past 7.5 years?
The Craig-Vitter Amendment
Senators Larry Craig and David Vitter are co-sponsors of S. J. Res. 43: "A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage." As ThinkProgress puts it:
If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
They're still haggling over the precise language. Vitter is pushing for "marriage shall consist only of the union of a man and his diaper." But Craig stalls.
Posted by JoeCholla on July 14, 2008 at 02:07 PM
And the rigid, one-dimensional approach of the Bush Adminstration has been such a stellar success? I want someone in that White House is isn't afraid of changing their mind. We Americans deserve better than the knuckle-dragging, money-worshipping, ignorant GOP policies of the last eight years. That is change. And that change will come from Senator Barack Hussein Obama, not McCain.
NAMPA — School officials in Nampa say they intend to use a new scanning machine to identify students buying school lunches.
The machine should be ready for secondary schools this fall and will replace the more traditional identification cards.
Nampa School District Spokeswoman Allison Westfall says the biometric scanner assigns a unique identification to each student's fingerprint.
I guess the GOP is having a fire sale of all of our nation's assets prior to their departure on 20JAN09. What's next? Is the Bush Adminstration going to put up American assets on E-Bay?
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08
Hello Bob. I don't drink Budwiser so I really could care less if they sell this swill factory off to the Belgiums but I do need to correct you on you finger pointing.
The Busch Family didn't want to sell but the stockholders did. The InBev corporation offered a lot of money for Bud and the stockholders, who really hold the power of corporations as was clearly demonstrated in this sale, wanted the offer.
Real men don't drink Bud anyway. So many microbreweries making superb beers these days you shouldn't concern yourself over the loss of a beer that was reformulated for teh least common demoninator.
What's your favorite brand? I prefer European beers mostly like Guinness for my Irish fix or just about anything German if it's dark. Stella Artois, the main brand of beer brewed by InBev is pretty damned good too.
Miller Beer - Blahhhhh
Pasbt - Ughhhhh
No one posts any reason to vote for Obama, poor Stinky, he can't even get support on the DNC blog.
Posted by JoeCholla
Stinky? Who is Stinky, Senator Obama? Where do you get that crap from?
Watch the video, but be careful and have a power-drink while doing so. All those changing positions and "straight talk" can wring the last bit of energy out of anyone.
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan.Nowhere mentioned in the accompanying 66-page handout were the additional $1.1 trillion of assets that New York-based Citigroup keeps off its books: trusts to sell mortgage-backed securities, financing vehicles to issue short-term debt and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, to repackage bonds.
Now, as Citigroup prepares to announce second-quarter results July 18, those off-balance-sheet assets, used by U.S. banks to expand lending without tying up capital, are casting a shadow over earnings. Since last September, at least $100 billion of assets have flooded back onto Citigroup's balance sheet, accompanied by more than $7 billion of losses.
``If you start adding up all the potential exposures, it's a huge number,'' said Sam Golden, a former ombudsman for the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency who now heads the financial-industry practice for restructuring adviser Alvarez & Marsal in Houston. ``The banks will say that it was disclosed. Investors are saying, `Yeah, but it was cryptic. We really didn't know what you were telling us.'''
U.S. banks already are reeling from more than $165 billion of writedowns and credit losses, so shareholders are wary of unknown obligations that might force them to take responsibility for additional troubled assets. The risks have become so obvious that accounting officials are proposing new rules -- some of which Citigroup opposes -- that would force many assets back onto balance sheets...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a1liVM3tG3aI&refer=home
The time is coming where we're going to have to enact legislation that will have criminals penalties for corporate officers who drive publicly traded companies into bankruptcy. These aristocratic fatcats are going to have a day of reckoning and it is coming soon. The American people will no longer stand for having their livelihoods mismanaged by a cabal of rich people who care nothing about the people who work for them and make it possible to have their exorbitant salaries and golden parachutes.
Transcript from a DNC Tech meeting circa May 2008:
Josh: Hey, how are we going to show DNC blog supporters our thanks for sticking with us during the hard times?
Michael: We could throw a 50-state “thank you” party.
Matt: Or, we could send out DNC and Obama stickers to everyone.
Josh: No, I was thinking something more substantial. Something they’ll likely never forget.
Matt: We could send them to the DNC convention…
Michael: Yeah! As VIPs or something like that!
Josh: How about this idea. Just at the time Obama clinches the nomination, we’ll make it near-impossible to use the blog….
Michael: Um, I don’t get it…
Matt: Yeah, how is that supposed to be thanking them?
Josh: Well, see, we “thank” them by screwing up the blog and then completely turn our backs on them when they ask “why”. We’ll tell them that we are trying to “improve” the blog experience, but in essence, we’ll be making it a train wreck.
Matt: Well….I get the part that they’ll “never forget” it…but…
Josh: It’s genius guys. The GOP has been doing this for years. They tell their supporters that they’re doing things in their best interests, when in actuality they’re screwing them. The GOP voters eat this stuff up! They love it! I thinks it’s worth a try.
Michael: Oh, ok, sure…it’s worth a try. Maybe we’ll save the bumperstickers for after the election?
WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive." The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands Monday, titled "The Politics of Fear" and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing traditional Muslim garbsandals, robe and turbanand his wife, Michelledressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulderstanding in the Oval Office.The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantel hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.
"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."...
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91TO85G0&show_article=1
This is much ado about nothing. Anyone not intelligent enough to recognize this for what it is, satire, is not intelligent enough to vote for a Democrat in the first place. I seriously doubt this magazine cover will swing one single vote. Let's move on to the imporatant issues facing us this election.
Jukebox John changes his tune every minute. There is a list of 61 McCain flip flops out there.
They were posted on this site a few days back.
McSame as Bush (only less consistent)
BOISE, IDAHO — When 16,000 Idahoans went to hear Sen. Barack Obama speak in Boise, the Illinois senator knew, for the first time, he could upset Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency, Obama Chief of Staff Jim Messina told Larry LaRocco Saturday.
Messina made the revelation on Boise radio’s 580 KIDO “AM Idaho Saturday.” LaRocco co-hosted the show, working as a journalist and announcer, in the 28th job in his “Working for the Senate” campaign. (www.laroccoforsenate.com)
LaRocco asked Messina, a 1988 Boise High School graduate, how Obama reacted to the huge crowd in Boise State University’s Taco Bell Arena.
Transcript:
LaRocco:
“Did he (Obama) talk to you about that, how he felt about it when he came to Idaho? And, was he just sort of blown away by that?”
Messina:
“… I said to him (Obama), ‘When did you know that you might take this primary? When did you know … you might pull the upset?’
“He said one of the defining moments was in Boise. Where for so long Democrats at the presidential level have ignored so called red states―we don’t use the red state name in this campaign because we believe we can compete everywhere.
“He said, ‘Jim you should’ve seen Boise.’ It was just unlike anything he’d seen up to that point.
“He said, ‘Right there, I knew that something is happening out there.”
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on July 14, 2008 at 02:55 PM
I disagree Bob...imagine that. :) Those people that you point to who are "not intelligent" to know what this piece is are the same voters who put Dubya in the WH. They lack intellectual curiosity and will only look at the cover and snicker. Then they'll hang it up in their home and send it around via email. It would be the same as showing McCain giving up all information to his captors in Vietnam all the while drawing up divorce plans for his injured wife and dreaming of marrying an heiress to a beer distributorship. Would that play well? LIkely not. If I had a subscription to that mag, I'd cancel it. We don't need that crap in the mix with the other crap coming from the GOP smear machine.
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Give 'em hell girl!
Today is the 45th day since we were told this blog was being repaired.
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 03:08 PM
I get where you're coming from, Blue, and you're absolutely correct to point out the abuse potential for such. Rather now then October though. Furthermore, the First Amendment has to be considered as well, as I'm sure you did. I still think it is primarily designed to show that the roughly 12% of the electorate that believes Sen. Obama (D-IL) is a Muslim are as dumb as a box of rocks.
So do we just pull the plug on Iraq and damn those left behind to their fates? No doubt there will be a mass murder of those on whatever losing side develops and no doubt the situation will disintegrate into a long bloody civil war with many lives lost.
I do know that simply cutting and running will do nothing except cause countless deaths of innocents as well as deaths among combatants on both sides. Extricating our forces, regardless of who is our commander-in-chief, will be a huge task taking a great deal of time, money and planning.
Posted by WarrenCA on July 14, 2008 at 01:29 PM
sheesh, Warren, you think anybody will NOTICE? What the hell is going on now.
The Iraqi leaders don't sound like they were saying "yeah, stick around" to me! They made it clear, get the hell out! You have destroyed and done enough damage here, just like you did in your own country,
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,236,604"
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
===
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America'sWar On Iraq 4,113http://icasualties.org/oif/
Bush lifts executive ban on offshore drilling By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago
so the little chimp in chief wants to play political games. He lifted a ban HIS FATHER put in place on drilling, so that now they can say it is strictly the Democrats who won't let us drill! Big freaken deal! When are they going to start drilling in those 68 MILLION acres they already got contracts for?
WASHINGTON - Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.
Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 03:37 PM
Cut and run? How about "gracefully leave while we still have a shred of dignity and decency"?
Posted by Cate on July 14, 2008 at 02:56 PM
Actually there is a certain consistency in McCain's inconsistency.
Every time he makes a statement in front of cameras any more somebody comes up with a tape of him saying exactly the opposite. It's like he's debating himself. ;-p
He who tries to please everyone, pleases no one.(I think that's a quote, but I don't remember who said it)
Posted by Butte on July 14, 2008 at 04:13 PM
I've been told that after he loses the election he's going to take his campaign on the road as a comedy routine with the inclusion of a sock puppet as his former "maverick" self.
Unfortunately, the only place yet to book him is a tiny comedy club in Czechoslovakia.
Posted by jimmyc451 on July 14, 2008 at 04:19 PM
Transcript from a DNC Tech meeting circa May 2008:
Josh: Hey, how are we going to show DNC blog supporters our thanks for sticking with us during the hard times?
Michael: We could throw a 50-state “thank you” party.
Matt: Or, we could send out DNC and Obama stickers to everyone.
Josh: No, I was thinking something more substantial. Something they’ll likely never forget.
Matt: We could send them to the DNC convention…
Michael: Yeah! As VIPs or something like that!
Josh: How about this idea. Just at the time Obama clinches the nomination, we’ll make it near-impossible to use the blog….
Michael: Um, I don’t get it…
Matt: Yeah, how is that supposed to be thanking them?
Josh: Well, see, we “thank” them by screwing up the blog and then completely turn our backs on them when they ask “why”. We’ll tell them that we are trying to “improve” the blog experience, but in essence, we’ll be making it a train wreck.
Matt: Well….I get the part that they’ll “never forget” it…but…
Josh: It’s genius guys. The GOP has been doing this for years. They tell their supporters that they’re doing things in their best interests, when in actuality they’re screwing them. The GOP voters eat this stuff up! They love it! I think it’s worth a try.
Michael: Oh, ok, sure…it’s worth a try. Maybe we’ll save the bumperstickers for after the election?
Cut and run? How about "gracefully leave while we still have a shred of dignity and decency"?
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 04:10 PM
Cut and run is another Republican Frame they developed to make the little men with no gonads get all hot and bothered that we want to leave Iraq!
The time to leave with any dignity is passed.
We shall leave with our tail between our legs!
How the Resistance Will Eventually Kick the Americans Out
One thing the United States doesn't get about guerrilla warfare: It's not over until the guerrillas win.
04/07/08 "AlterNet" --- It's very easy to see what's up in Iraq right now -- if you're willing to face it. The trouble is, most "experts" aren't willing. That has been the pattern right from the beginning. We didn't want to admit there even was an insurgency, and even now, nobody misses a chance to declare that "the surge worked," as if that translates to "we win, it's over, let's go home."
Fact number one about guerrilla wars: They're not over until the guerrillas win. Mao set out the guerrilla's viewpoint 80 years ago: "The enemy wants to fight a short war, but we simply will not let him." The longer the guerrillas stay in the game, the sicker the occupying army gets. Sooner or later, they'll go home -- because they can. It's that simple, and it works. So anyone who tells you it's over is just plain ignorant. That's one thing you can rule out instantly.
But people keep saying it. The most recent and ridiculous take is that "Moqtada al Sadr is renouncing violence." Talk about naive! What led these geniuses to that conclusion is that on June 13, Moqtada al Sadr, leader of the biggest and toughest Shia militia, the Mahdi Army, sent out a big announcement: "From now on, the resistance will be exclusively conducted by only one group. ... The weapons will be held exclusively by this group." In other words, he's switching from a big, sloppy, amateur force to a select group of professional guerrillas.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20237.htm
I'm convinced. I'll vote for "stinky" too. It sure beats, "Mcnasty", "Punk", "songbird" and any choice word McBush used for his lovely wife. Which reminds me, is he married to Cindy? Seems the records show he was still married to his first wife when he "tied the knot" with the ice queen.
Good afternoon, all.
This little jerk is going to veto a veto-proof Bill just so he can be a whining little asshole and stomp his feet for a bit.
The veto is given little chance to be sustained, but it's interesting to watch Bush go through the motions even when he "doesn't have the votes."Why tomorrow and not today? Because President Bush is a petulant, vindictive and childish dick, that's why:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had issued a temporary delay on physician pay cuts until July 15 to allow lawmakers more time to pass the legislation.Tomorrow's date, of course, is July 15. This way, Bush assures either that the bureaucrats have to go through an embarrassing scramble again, or that medical care providers actually get hurt by his veto crayon.
The "grown up" in charge, ladies and gentlemen. They can't get this asshole out of the White House fast enough.
(Highlight in original links to source)
Stinky has my vote, too! Compared to Pukey McBush, he is head and shoulders over him. I cannot wait till the debates, and hopefully the Town Hall meetings where Obama will tower over the dried up old man, and just that visual image will do it for us!
when he "tied the knot" with the ice queen.Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 05:03 PM
tell me, Blue, are all Republican women stepford wives? With that distant "don't bother me" look in their eyes? Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, Cindy McCain, even little Nancy Reagan trotting along behind their fellas like good little sheep.
She's just sooooo like us:
"Do you want to know how to lose 30 pounds? Help your husband run for president. I am standing here in a pair of pants that are two sizes too big." --Cindy McBush, Wisconsin 2008.
I bet that line went over like a fart in church.
I wonder if the McBush's Belgian Beer sell out will hurt his chances in Missouri...
Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 05:15 PM
Psssst, don't tell anyone. They're androids, Chinese made, of course, because the GOP does not believe in American jobs for American workers any more.
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 05:23 PM
Funny you should ask that just as I was looking at the link below.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Graphs/missouri.html
Hey Blue, any insight on ID Senate race between LaRocco (D-ID) and Risch (R-ID)?
MSNBC News Services updated 1 hour, 29 minutes ago
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges Monday against Sudan's president, accusing him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.The filing marked the first time prosecutors at the world's first permanent, global war crimes court have issued charges against a sitting head of state, but al-Bashir is unlikely to be sent to The Hague any time soon. Sudan rejects the court's jurisdiction, and senior Sudanese officials said the prosecutor was politically motivated to file the charges.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked a three-judge panel at the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir to prevent the slow deaths of some 2.5 million people forced from their homes in Darfur and still under attack from government-backed janjaweed militia...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25671505/
Duh, you think? Him and Mugabe should be frog-marched across the world stage. Then again, we could set back and wait for Africa to finish its post-colonial implosion. It's time for the entire African continent to tighten up or be just another chapter, or two, in the annals of history.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president said that even before its enemies "get their hands on the trigger" the country's military would "cut" them off, media said Sunday, in an escalating war of words that has stoked Middle East tension.The comments by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came a day after a senior Iranian official said Iran would strike Israel and U.S. bases in the region if the Islamic Republic was attacked over its disputed nuclear program.
U.S. leaders have not ruled out military options if diplomacy fails to assuage fears about Iran's nuclear activities, which Tehran says is only to produce electricity...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25659259/
You know, this little fart can talk a lot of crap for the third rate puppet that he is. Israel could wipe these evil bastards off of the map with the push of a button or two. Go ahead, Iran, keep screwing around with us and Israel. Talk is cheap.
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on July 14, 2008 at 05:52 PM
In just about any other state, a man with the experience, amiability and know-how of LaRocco would beat a candidate who is extremely secretive, vindictive, arrogant and exhibits what some people would call "shortman syndrome". But, this is Idaho....where we would elect a dolt like Bill Sali and forgive a hypocrite like Craig.
Risch refuses to debate with any of the candidates running, holds big-spender fundraisers in private and doesn't bother getting his message (any message) out to Idaho voters. All the Idahoans want to know out of their candidates is whether they have an R after their name on the ballot.
So, no insight more than any other political watcher out there. Just like always, the better candidate will lose.
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on July 14, 2008 at 06:32 PM
I don't get it Bob. Why can't Iran defend itself?
President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.
Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.
“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said.
Senator Barack Obama’s previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November’s US presidential election. “If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,” the Pentagon official added.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4322508.ece
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 06:37 PM
I see Iran as the agressor, not the defender. Iran has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and the U.S.. Iran has been aiding the Iraqi insurgency. IMHO, Iran is the proverbial bad guy. And until they change their rhetoric, I must continue to take them at their word and hold them in contempt.
tell me, Blue, are all Republican women stepford wives? With that distant "don't bother me" look in their eyes? Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, Cindy McCain, even little Nancy Reagan trotting along behind their fellas like good little sheep.Posted by PamB on July 14, 2008 at 05:15 PM
Hey Pam - I was thinking that just the other day. But if you really study Mrs. McCain(the 2nd one) you will notice that she sort of looks at him (from behind -always from behind) like he's going to turn around and pop her one in the face...ummm maybe she's had a few of these from him? Ya think?
sorry if there's double posting - I can't tell if it went through or not...
Posted by BlueinIdaho on July 14, 2008 at 06:35 PM
Thanks for the insight, Blue. I'm sure we all appreciate it.
Good night fellow Deomcrats. Keep the Faith and keep the faith. The Populist revolution has begun!
Today is the 45th day since we were told this blog was being repaired.
P.S. Though I must admit it did work better today than it has recently, barely that is.
There is a NEW OPEN THREAD. AND IT WORKS!!
(Kinda-sorta)
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