Morning Open Thread
Chat away...
Comments (69) «
By next month, when President Obama, does not part the sea, has not closed "club Gitmo", because there is no place to put the rag heads, pushes for cuts in medicare and other programs, The liberals will all be screaming.
It sould be fun to watch.
A message From Minnesota where it is quite cold: This is for all you people out there from non-cold climates, who are heading to DC for the inauguration and very probably don't own cold weather appropriate clothes. Look for "Grabber" hand warmers or "Hot Hands" which you can find at sporting goods places like REI. They are little packets that warm up when exposed to air that you can put in your mittens (forget about gloves your fingers will freeze), or perhaps clutch them in your gloved hands shoved into your coat pockets. They can be like little hot potatoes. There are also toe warmers and liners that you can put in your shoes. Believe me it will make a huge difference in your comfort, or if it gets quite cold there, keep you from frostbite. Frostbite isn't a friendly little nip - it is very painful and possibly dangerous. So go prepared and have a wonderful time on that momentous day.
i was just listening to rush. he is pathetic and hilarious. he is pissed that obama had dinner with b. kristol and g. will but not rush...he says the other wing nuts have gone over to the "reaganism is over" side and only he and a handful of other lunatics are true believers anymore, he would have dinner with obama if obama asked him to but he doesn't think he will. not to worry rush i am sure any day obama will invite you and ann coulter to the white house...hahahahahahahaha
The Republicans in Oklahoma are insulting about the Democrats. Received an e-mail yesterday that was talking about the way the Democrats spend money on Social Programs. It is almost laughful if they didn't believe it and were just trying to put a cloud over our joy in the way so many Democrats won seats and Govenorships. Hope they don't fight us like they have in the past. They try to keep our Presidents busy defending themselves so they may have lean terms. Clinton has been the only President in my time that was able to get a lot done and face impeachment, and many times to testify. That is one good thing we learned from Bush, just ignore supenias.
Gregg: Why does anyone allow their opinion to be determined by a college drop out, drug addict who has little formal education and has known success in only one area - spewing hate on the airwaves. He acts as if he is the ultimate authority on everything and is so insecure that he can not accept even the smallest correction when he is wrong. Why anyone would ever want to listen to anything that gas-bag, blow-hard had to say is beyond me. Is it any wonder that President Obama has no interest in him. At least G. Will and B. Kristol state their opinions with some intelligence and are able to speak in complete sentences!
And another middle-east peace agreement is put in jeopardy. Palestine has long been the 'rallying cry' for Muslims throughout the world and now what is happening in Gaza may actually be escalating into other areas. I pray that the Egypt/Israel Peace accord that President Carter helped to negotiate all those years ago stays solid. It may end up the only 'safe' border Israel has. What a sad situation.
Israel Hit by Second Round of Rockets From Lebanon
Wednesday 14 January 2009
by: Jeffrey Fleishman and Sebastian Rotella, The Los Angeles Times
The were no injuries or damage, the Israeli military says. But there is worry that militants are maneuvering to open a new front in the fighting.
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem - Rockets from Lebanon smashed into northern Israel today, provoking a counterattack by Israeli artillery units and sending civilians running for bomb shelters.
It was the second such attack in less than a week. Although the Israeli military said the rockets injured no one and damaged nothing, they revived concerns that militants might try to open a new front to distract Israel from its war on Gaza.
There was no claim of responsibility for the rockets, which landed near the town of Kiryat Shemona. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, had denied involvement in the earlier attack.
In Gaza, the Israeli military said its warplanes and helicopter gunships hit at least 60 targets early today, including more than 30 weapons-smuggling tunnels from Egypt.
A broad coalition of Israeli human-rights groups today decried the toll the fighting has taken on Gaza's civilians and suggested war crimes could be involved.
The fighting has weakened the military power of Hamas, and its political leadership is divided over plans for a possible cease-fire. But an Israeli intelligence official said Tuesday that the radical group remained dangerous, with 15,000 fighters, tunnels and a sophisticated arsenal of rockets and antitank weapons.
As I pondered this economic disaster last night I was awoken by restless thought. I began to ponder the the events of our current economic state and connect them to the application of anti federalist paper number 1 posted in the Boston Gazette in 1787 by the founding fathers. The author is unknown because they used pseudo names ( pen names) for they feared the federalist then as many do now. However, we do know the author was from the Commonwealth (State) of Massachusetts. You can substitute your own state to get the full effect.
I have cut and pasted some highlights below which I thought where interesting.
Does this remind you of the initial push to pass the economic stimulus package.
Be advised these papers reflect a struggle against oppression by the federalist. Where we trace its origins to the beginning of human existence.
http://www.wepin.com/articles/afp/afp01.html
Enjoy, the author is a great writer. It fun the read
Antifederalist No. 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION: A DANGEROUS PLAN OF BENEFIT ONLY TO THE "ARISTOCRATICK COMBINATION"
From The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, November 26, 1787
1.The hideous daemon of Aristocracy has hitherto had so much influence as to bar the channels of investigation, preclude the people from inquiry and extinguish every spark of liberal information of its qualities.
2.Those furious zealots who are for cramming it down the throats of the people, without allowing them either time or opportunity to scan or weigh it in the balance of their understandings, bear the same marks in their features as those who have been long wishing to erect an aristocracy in THIS COMMONWEALTH [of Massachusetts].
3. They have strived to overawe or seduce printers to stifle and obstruct a free discussion, and have endeavored to hasten it to a decision before the people can duty reflect upon its properties
4. I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire.
5. These violent partisans are for having the people gulp down the gilded pill blindfolded, whole, and without any qualification whatever. These consist generally, of the NOBLE order of Cincinnatis ( Soldiers), holders of public securities ( Stock Brokers), men of great wealth and expectations of public office, B[an]k[er]s and L[aw]y[er]s: these with their train of dependents form the Aristocratick combination.
federalism is the ARISTOCRATICK COMBINATION
By next month, when President Obama, does not part the sea, has not closed "club Gitmo", because there is no place to put the rag heads, pushes for cuts in medicare and other programs, The liberals will all be screaming.
It sould be fun to watch.
by the AZ idjit !!!
Well, you keep your fingers and toes crossed REALLY hard, and Maybe, just maybe, if your luck holds, another 4000 US boys may get to die in this lie of an occupation, Your own SS and Medicare will get cut or cost you one of your fat arms and legs, this joblessness will extend to your own litter, the few dollars you have in savings will continue to drop until you have nothing left, and the US is bankrupt!
That IS your dream, isn't it? By no means should you try and unite and hope that Obama pulls us out of this mess, like Clinton did, from 8 years of Republican screw ups!!!!! No way should you ever admit that your 2 votes for Bush Helped to put this blood and poverty and poor world image on your own hands. Your hate is stronger than your love of country. You just keep it up, fool.
Hello fine dems.
I see some losers are still on hoping for the failure of America under Obama's leadership. Like everyone else, I always knew their allegiance was to their political party and not their country. How else could they support Bush/Cheney while watching their fellow countrymen suffer?
THE official in charge of the military commission process at Guantanamo Bay has become the first senior Bush Administration figure to publicly admit that a detainee was tortured.
Judge Susan Crawford, who was in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees — beginning with Australian David Hicks — to trial, has concluded that the US military tortured a Saudi Arabian who allegedly planned to take part in the September 11, 2001, attacks.
She said Mohammed al-Qahtani was interrogated with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, public nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition".
"We tortured Qahtani," Judge Crawford said in her first interview since her appointment by Defence Secretary Robert Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case (for prosecution)."
http://crooksandliars.com/silentpatriot/penatgon-official-admits-911-suspect
ttp://www.truthout.org/011409A
6
marymac_memphis on January 14, 2009 at 02:13 PM
Im not sure if we ever get the real story on this Gaza issue.
However, If the Hamas are just shooting rockets because they wake up one day a decide "Hey lets shoot a rocket at Isreal" then anything the Isrealites do is justified.
On the other hand, if the Isrealites are doing something unseen that would spark such action then its a different story.
Hmmmm. A troll finally figured out that democracy takes time, huh? Perhaps you could send a letter to this late learner:
Vice President Cheney predicted Iraq will be a self-governing democracy by the time he leaves office.
Tick-tock, Darth. Tick-tock.
I'd like to thank the
Congressmen from Florida ( The Honorable Bill Nelson)
and the Congressmen from Oregon (The Honorable Peter Defazio) for there vote on the economic stimulus package.
I believe it was defining moment
hey Blue,
These unpatriotic, anti American trolls are just panting,sweating, hoping Obama fails! They would rather see that happen, than watch him un-do everything Bush and the Repugs did to this country and to us.
One of the first things obama will do, is sign for Gitmo to be closed. the MECHANICS of it all will take up to a year. That is common knowledge. But sometimes it takes a wee bit longer for the easily misled and manipulated to get that.
They have all been in a real ugly angrier than usual mood since November 4th ! Shrill as little girls. I smile when I think how much it is eating them up! heeheehee
Yep Pam. I pity them cuz I know that those who hate that much are merely turning their self-hatred outward. The only people they attract as friends are those who are also suffering from selfhatred.
It's not a life I would wish on my worst enemy.
I took the liberty to cut and paste from, The Honorable Peter Defazio, Congressmen from Oregon’s web site.
http://www.democrats.org/a/2009/01/morning_open_th_166.php
“DeFazio has refused to accept congressional pay raises while the government is deficit spending, and has linked his pay to Social Security cost-of-living adjustments.”
I believe it speaks for itself
Bossman: The animosity between the Palestineans and Israelis goes back to the creation of Israel after the 2nd World War and the animosity between Arab and Jew pretty much started with the dawn of time, so to speak.
Israel controls all of the borders into the Gaza strip and controls water, electricity, sewage, food and medical supplies and basically everything. The people in Gaza are stuffed in there like sardines and without warning their water and utilities are cut off, they are not allowed to come or go - even through the south border with Egypt. Israel keeps taking more and more homes from the people who already have too few.
On the flip side of that, the Palestinians have publically stated that they want Israel, and all Jews for that matter, wiped from the face of the earth. Israel keeps the borders closed,in some part, to protect themselves (somewhat) from suicide bomber and other attacks. They refuse to let in just any shipments because small arms and bomb making materials are often hidden in medical and food shipments and they don't have enough people to inspect perishables before they expire.
President Carter and others from around the globe have negotiated temporary agreements but just about the time they actually have an agreement, one militant group or another siezes power in Gaza and the agreement with the group that used to be in power, isn't worth the paper that it is printed upon.
Further,the Fatah government (the one before they elected Hamas) was so corrupt that you would not believe. They openly solicited and accepted bribes because they seemed to consider it part of their salary and their right. They did little, if anything, to actually help and support those in Gaza while Hamas - a terrorist organization - smuggled in food and medical supplies and put armed guards in the streets to ensure safe traffic for the regular people. Is it any wonder that when offered a choice between Fatah and Hamas, they chose the terrorists. Now they are unfortunately paying the price for choosing Hamas as Hamas has - reportedly - hidden in schools, hospitals, mosques and any place else they think the Israeli's wouldn't bomb.
The Israeli's have bombed anyway and now over 1,000 people are dead and less than 1/3 of those are actually Hamas.
A large portion of what is happening right now is because of the 'hard-line' stances made by the current administration and broken promises of recognizing Palestine as an independant state as well as the forcing of elections when the people of Gaza were forced to choose between criminals and terrorists.
17
BlueinIdaho on January 14, 2009 at 04:02 PM
Wow, Chimpy made a similar boast about the West Bank on 1/10/08! They must have both gotten the same memo. You know, their permanent Mid East peace. That worked about as well as their "permanent" Pug majority, didn't it?
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- President Bush met with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank on Thursday, predicting that a Middle East peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office in 2009.
Even Larry Kudlow, which is a true Republican, one of the most starch Regan Pugs that i know of wishes Obama well. And had supper with Obama yesterday!! He wishes Obama we'll in his endeavors.
Unlike hate filled folks like Hannity, and Coulter, and LimpNuts, and Trolls. That hopes that the sky falls. These folks don't love America, they just love being hateful, and failed policies.
Ignore them!!!!!!!!
Hello good lookin, what you got cookin?
I'm talking to you MaryMac!!!!!!
Happy, Happy "New Year"to you to MaryMac, and at least, 65 more to come.
Only 6 more days until we get a real President.
I can't wait!
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!!!!!!!!
Bossman:
This article on truthout is, IMHO, a good overview. It is, like my explanation above, very much an over-simplification but it hits the highlights and gives you an idea of both sides of the issue.
Eyeless in Gaza, Hell-Bent for Iran
Tuesday 13 January 2009
by: Steve Weissman, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Blue, roseZ attended that forum with Franken vs Coulter. She asked me if I wanted to go, but I had something else that night. I Love Franken. Have bought his books and watched him for years.
One time in an airport, I sat down in the Chicago terminal to wait for my plane. I glanced across from me, and there was a soldier of some kind, reading an Ann Coulter book. My face must have shown how disgusted I was at his choice, because he lowered it to his lap and had the grace to look embarassed. I figure he did not have any money for a Real book, and they give Coulter books out for free.
MaryMac, the south is getting warmer every year, we have have 70 plus weather here, all winter, however were going to have a cold front here, for a few days now. Hell are flowers are in full bloom. But will bite the dust in the next few days. How is the weather in your part of the country. Global warming is for real, and will migrate north slowly and surely.
Here's a good gift for yourself, your relatives, or for that favorite Republican obnoxious friend!
Obama Pint Drinking Glass: Drink One to the Next President (16 oz.) Special January 14-15.
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
A great way to toast the dawn of hope and the end of eight long years of nightmarish incompetence, greed, and evil.
Belly up to the bar with this Obama pint glass. Beer never tasted so good.
This is custom designed by BuzzFlash.com for our readers. A brew pub glass with the taste of victory.
"Fashioned after the glassware found in the pubs of England, this pint glass is a crowd pleaser!" (16 oz.)
For BuzzFlash Obama gear, go to Everything Obama on BuzzFlash.com
Sally don't know shit about global warming, since he lives in one of the coldest states in the country, just like my oldest daughter. But she has lived in both place unlike Sally, and is not near as ignorant about it. That state would be Minnesota.
EL PASO (El Paso Times)- Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.
"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."
The U.S. Joint Forces Command, based in Norfolk, Va., is one of the Defense Departments combat commands that includes members of the different military service branches, active and reserves, as well as civilian and contract employees. One of its key roles is to help transform the U.S. military's capabilities.
In the foreword, Marine Gen. J.N. Mattis, the USJFC commander, said "Predictions about the future are always risky ... Regardless, if we do not try to forecast the future, there is no doubt that we will be caught off guard as we strive to protect this experiment in democracy that we call America."...
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11444354?_requestid=7807903
Why doesn't this surprise me? This is yet another reason why we need to wall off the southern border and drastically increase security there. The GOP failed to recognize the threat from Mexico as they were blinded with greed from the potential for cheap labor. Let's hope we Democrats recognize this threat as opposed to be blinded with our proverbial bleeding hearts.
marymac_memphis on January 14, 2009 at 04:51 PM
Well, since we are in Afghanistan why don’t we cut some turf out and give it to Palestine.
Problem solved
Hi Pam, Happy New Year to you and yours, especially to those Grands!
Bob i spent 2 years in El Paso, in 1964, and 1965, in the Us. Army i guess it has not changed much! I doubt that the senoritas have changed either.
Chassie:
It is very cold here and getting colder; however, a week ago we had to turn on the AirCond. in the car it was so hot - over 75. It does that here, one day it's in the 60s and 12 hours later it's in the 30s. Myself and everyone else that I know is suffering from sinusitis and infections. It's supposed to get down to 17 either tonight or tomorrow but then warm up by Friday or Saturday. It's crazy
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11444354?_requestid=7807903
Why doesn't this surprise me? This is yet another reason why we need to wall off the southern border and drastically increase security there. The GOP failed to recognize the threat from Mexico as they were blinded with greed from the potential for cheap labor. Let's hope we Democrats recognize this threat as opposed to be blinded with our proverbial bleeding hearts.
36
BobVADemocratHawk on January 14, 2009 at 05:26 PM
The reason why they allow the aliens to enter the US is to pay for the war debt. That’s why Bush gave them all social security numbers. It works as follows:
The Federal Government gives you a SS number, and calculates that in your life time you will produce X amount of dollars in tax revenue from the time you are born until you are 65. They take all these SS numbers and pool them together into a bundle. Then they borrower off the potential income tax revenue or forecast income tax revenue.
Now in order to pay for the war debt the feds had to increase the number of social security numbers.
Remember look for the money and follow the money and you will find the answer.
MaryMac, Let me just clarify that it is not "Palestianians" who hate israel. It is the various terrorist sects whom got voted into office there. But Hamas is there, because a scheme that the US and Israel tried to create to get rid of Fatah, backfired and they got Hamas instead. Now they wish they had Fatah back, and wish they had not poisoned Arafat.
One of Obama's biggest challenges will be to craft diplomatic solutions that do not have unintended consequences. Good intentions go only so far in the Middle East, and today's battles often can be traced to choices made by the Israeli government or the Bush administration that ended up backfiring.
In the 1980s, for instance, the Israeli government decided to weaken the secular Fatah movement headed by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat by promoting the rise of Islamic parties as a counterweight, on the theory that Islamic groups would not have the same nationalistic impulses.
So Fatah's social networks were dismantled by the Israeli government, but it went easy on Islamic charitable networks. This decision fueled the rise of Hamas as a political force, with its network of health clinics and social services that far exceeded the abilities of the often-corrupt Fatah movement.
"There's no question there was a degree of blowback," Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and the author of "The Much Too Promised Land."
Israel now wants to make a peace deal with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president who heads Fatah but has no control over Gaza. So one of the Israeli aims in Gaza today is to weaken Hamas enough that it no longer can be a political rival to Fatah in Gaza -- precisely the opposite of what Israel hoped to achieve decades ago with its efforts to encourage the rise of Islamic groups.
"This is not like a regime-change operation, but at the end of the day, the restoration of the Palestinian Authority back to Gaza should be on the agenda as a whole," said Jeremy Issacharoff, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Similarly, the Bush administration encouraged Israel to withdraw from Gaza and demolish its settlements there, arguing that it was a step forward on peace. But, as a condition, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 demanded a letter from President Bush in which the United States conceded two critical peace issues on settlements and refugees to Israel. The Israeli government later cited the letter as giving implicit permission to continue some settlement expansion during peace talks brokered late in the Bush administration, undermining those efforts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010602868.html
President Obama, Jimmy Carter's second term.
For those of you not old enough, or those so old they have loss of memory like Pammy, stay tuned.
You will hear a lot of what Obama is going to do, he will just never seem to get it done, look at the liberal controlled congress over the last two years.
(Jerusalem Post) - The Navy is closely tracking an Iranian ship that has attempted several times to breach the naval blockade imposed on Gaza and transport humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.On Tuesday, the boat docked in Port Said, Egypt, but the Egyptians refused to allow it to unload its cargo and at midnight Wednesday the boat tried sailing into Gaza.
A Navy Sa'ar 4.5-class missile ship intercepted the Iranian boat and transmitted a clear message on Channel 16 - the international communication line for ships - that it would not allow the boat to dock in Gaza.
On Wednesday morning, when it was 30 miles off the Gaza coast, the Iranian boat again tried to move toward the Strip, and the Navy again intercepted it. It then returned to el-Arish, Egypt, and two Egyptian boats prevented it from docking there.
Since that time, the boat has been sitting 30 miles off the coast of Gaza and is being closely tracked by the Israeli navy. Israel and the Egyptians have been coordinating all activity regarding the Iranian boat...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231917085424&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Let the ship offload at an Israeli dock and the Israelis can distribute the alleged humanitarian aid to the civilians. Quite frankly, I do not believe that humanitarian aid is the only thing the Iranians are trying to deliver. Everyone knows that Hamas and Hezbollah are unofficial arms of the Iranian military. They need to be eradicated before they make good on their threat to destroy Israel unless Secretary-designate Clinton can pull a diplomatic rabbit out of her hat.
Anybody, that cares about there 401K, and or Ira, and or any kind of a brokerage acct., needs to write there congress men or women, and demand that the SEC. Reinstate the Uptick rule, that worked since the great depression that was done away with under the Chimp's administration.
And get rid of the mark to market rule. And last but certainly not least get rid of the Pro Ultra Short ETF funds. Cramer profiled this on his show last night, and again i say that Obama screwed up by not appointing Jim Cramer as SEC Chairman. He would of been the best SEC Chairman, in are live times, and made it a level playing field, for every one from the bottom to the top.
bossman on January 14, 2009 at 05:26 PM
Dude!!! Afghanistan is like a wasteland - little besides opium poppies will grow there - it's practically a desert for the most part. Gaza, on the coast of the Med. Sea, is like the Riveria, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Further, they don't want to move, they want Israel to cease to exist and they occupy all of the land that is currently Israel. Conversely, Israel feels the same about them. Not to mention the fact that the Afgani population might object and then we have another war. Bad, bad idea!
I was very happy to hear Hillary Clinton talk about how she will work on World Wide Women's rights. Sec. Rice never really cared about this, because as a puppet for Bush Women, Minorities, Gays, the elderly, children are all relegated to the back of the bus.
OBAMA: I don't think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens. If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.
==================
Hey Pammy,
I don't think Obama likes your rag head friends ether.
Well----looks like our new President and the Democratic Congress should not face the obstruction they had to face the last 2 years!
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may be the most powerful Republican in federal government, but he will have to work hard to herd his party's dwindled caucus during President-elect Barack Obama's congressional honeymoon phase.
The Kentucky Republican, who has used filibusters to block legislation he deems unfavorable, may have to fight to keep moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania from joining Democrats on such key votes as the proposed $1 trillion economic stimulus package, environmental protection measures, broadening health care coverage and stem cell research.
Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has also broken with party ranks on campaign finance reform and immigration
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59482.html
should be fun to watch the Rabid Right wingers stomping their feet over their Repug leaders going along with the Dems ! :)
President Obama will end the 15-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that has prevented homosexual and bisexual men and women from serving openly within the U.S. military, a spokesman for the president-elect said.
Obama said during the campaign that he opposed the policy, but since his election in November he has made statements that have been interpreted as backpedaling. On Friday, however, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, responding on the transition team's Web site to a Michigan resident who asked if the new administration planned to get rid of the policy, said:
"You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it's 'Yes.' "
The little-noticed response, made in a video posted on change.gov, made barely a ripple outside blogs focused on the gay community, but that's not surprising, said those who have been pushing to overturn the ban. Not only was Obama's position expected, they said, but support for reviewing or repealing the policy has grown markedly in recent years, including some from unexpected quarters
Pam - I stand corrected, it is the Palestianian terrorist organizations that hate and want to wipe Israel from the earth; however, with the embargo of food and medical supplies and the current attacks - it may (though I pray that it has not) have degenerated down to all of the Palestianian people hating Israel.
Both sides are right about some things and both sides are wrong! It is a terrible situation. Were it not for the brilliant work of President Jimmy Carter and his negotiation of the Israel/Egypt peace accord (that still stands after what? 30 years!) Israel would not have one single stable boarder. Amazing!
The whole thing makes the best case in the world for separation of Church and State!
Thanks so much Pam, and back at ya! You and I are not getting any younger. I just hope that I can live until 2016, to see the next Democratic President elected, then i will be able to go peacefully! However if a pug would be elected in 2016 that would renew my life, and i would just have to live a few more years.
Bob, I believe that this article is right on the mark! Israel is merely making this matter worse. Like bush, they refuse to sit down and talk. They merely make more enemies, like the US did in Iraq. The Right is wrong in Israel, too.
Why Does Israel Continue to Cut It's Own Throat?
The Israeli made film Waltz With Bashir won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film last night. An ironic counterpoint to what is going on in the "Holy" Land right now. The fact that there is a strong anti-war movement in Israel does offer hope. But alas, the right-wing hardliners arein control. And they seem determined to make the idiocies of the Bush Administration look positively progressive in comparison.
In response to rockets being launched into Israel (although there is ample evidence that in fact Israel provoked a good deal of what is happening) the government ordered widespread bombing runs followed by massive ground incursions.
Perhaps if it was just that a strong reaction could be seen as credible. But there's the messy little side note of widespread civilian casualties. Why is Israel using so much force and intentionally targeting civilians? Why is it that fully one-third of the Palestinian deaths have been children?
Apart from the sheer horror of the fact that we still live in a world where children are killed in the name of war, there is the impractical reality which comes from the waging of a war that cannot be won.
Every dead child has relatives, neighbors, friends, classmates. And every one of them has a personal reason to hate the military and the country responsible. The only possible way to even hope to overcome something that strong is to maintain a large and very expensive occupation, and that doesn't work forever.
The Israeli government seems determined to wipe out Hamas as a viable organization. Many moderate Arab countries aren't opposed to that. Dealing with Islamic fundamentalism themselves, they wouldn't miss Hamas for a minute. What Israel is doing, however, will not only allow Hamas to stay in power, but in all likelihood make the group stronger.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1380521/why_does_israel_continue_to_cut_its.html?cat=9
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's official news agency says the country has signed a $1.76 billion deal with China to develop the North Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran near the Iraq border. The IRNA report says the deal was signed Wednesday between the National Iranian Oil Company and the China National Petroleum Corp.Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari says the field has an estimated 6 billion barrels of crude oil and will produce 75,000 barrels of oil per day for 25 years.
In December 2007, China's biggest refiner, Sinopec, signed a $2 billion agreement with Iran to develop another Iranian oil field, the Yadavaran.
The deals illustrate China's strong business ties with Iran despite U.S. pressure over the Iranian nuclear program.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
If China wants to do business with Iran then they should have their most favored nation status revoked. It’s well past time to remind China that they need us far more than we need them.
Well I see pammy and Robert are trying to tie up the blog posting Gibberish, under multible names , BBL.
Chassie, I plan on being around for many more Presidential Elections. Both my parents and grandparents and their siblings all lived very long lives. I shall keep things stirred up for many years to come, for you and for me ! :)
We need to quit worrying about Israel, and start worrying about are own, soldiers in the 2 wars that we got going on. Why are you folks worried more about them, being Israel, and Palestine, then are own?
This is wrong, put your priorities where they should be right here at home.
And we need to quit subsidizing Israel, just what makes them special any way?
We are off to a great start in this new Congress session. Everyone , including Republican politicians, happy at Obama coming in.
"WASHINGTON – Making a down payment on President-elect Barack Obama's promise of universal health coverage, the House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to expand government-sponsored insurance to 4 million more children in working families with income too high to qualify for Medicaid.
Between 300,000 and 600,000 of the new enrollees could be non-citizen children of legal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years, a sticking point for some Senate Republicans who also will consider a similar bill.
Obama said he hoped the Senate acts with the "same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am president."
"In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens," he said.
Forty Republicans joined Democrats in passing the bill 289-139. Congress passed similar legislation in 2007 but it was vetoed both times by departing President George W. Bush.
The bill would raise the federal excise tax on cigarettes by 61 cents to $1 a pack to pay for the $32.3 billion cost of expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program for the next 4 1/2 years. Other tobacco products would experience a comparable tax increase.
51PamB on January 14, 2009 at 06:07 PM
All i can say is go girl go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
54PamB on January 14, 2009 at 06:10 PM
I wish that they would raize the taxes, on a pack of cigaretts to $100.00 a pack then maybe everyone would quit the habit.
Oh i know then it would be like illegal drugs, and black market. But hey it would still make it harder to puff smokes.
chassie on January 14, 2009 at 06:20 PM
Becareful what you wish for, Tobacco is a 'cash' crop and one of the few 'cash crops' left in the southeastern united states, although the majority of the tobacco grown in the SE is shipped to other countries. You would still be putting out of work a lot of good, decent people.
Oh i'm going to fix some Fish, but for you investers, if you want to make any money in the next year or two, invest in China, even though you hate it, thats the place that will recover first. FXI is the play. Check it out in a couple of years.
57marymac_memphis on January 14, 2009 at 06:23 PM
Sorry MaryMac, i disagree with ya, it would just be some farmers, that are flexible, that can grow cotton, or peanuts.
MaryMac, i don't want to seem mean, but i got some big tobacco farmers, less then a mile from my house. These farmers, also grow Cotton, Peanuts, Soybeans, Corn, Wheat, and Pecans. They got many alternatives to tobacco. Don't kid your self. If they wasn't a market for it they would quit growing it.
Good conversation on Gaza. The Israeli occupation explains the resistance over history from both the PLO and now Hamas. If you research it - you find that it is very humiliating for the Palestinians. Now - a fierce pride is behind these rocket launching Hamas people. The crisis is this: The IDF wants to save face defeating Hamas, while Hamas is holding out - the civilians are caught in between them. A truce must be met that includes Israel's end to occupation of Gaza.
We in the USA have been not given enough of the history on how Israel became a state in 1948, but it's most significant gains started in 1933, building off of the Balfour Agreement after WWI.
visit:http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v13/v13n4p29_Weber.html
Tobacco is a big crop here in CT, too. There are many, many Tobacco cigar leaf growers. Unfortunetly the teenagers will not do the summer work of picking, etc anymore, so they hire in crews that come from mostly Puerto Rico and Jamaica. they bed and board on the farms, and do all the work. Lot of money to be had in Tobacco. Why are the Cigarette company lobbyists so powerful otherwise.
I am not sorry I gave up smoking, but I miss it a lot. If I heard I had 6 months to live, first thing I would do is buy a carton of cigarettes!
guy down at the end of the street has emphysema real bad. Oxygen delivered every other day, etc. You see him out on the back porch, leaning on the railing, smoking his cigarettes. He will die with one in his hands probably. I can understand the hold it has on you.
Chassie:
It takes a lot for a farmer to re-tool and shift to a different crop; further, soil in certain areas may not be suitable. This is an expensive and sometimes time-consuming proposition and with banks as tight on money, the American Farmer needs all the help he/she can get. Taking away a cash crop at this moment in time in not financially prudent. Especially when it is one of our few top exports!
I can understand the hold it has on you.
62PamB on January 14, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Pam, that is the reason that i wish that they would raise the price to 100.00 a pack, cuz I'm a smoker, and have been smoking since i was 19 this is the biggest addictive drug that there is on this planet. I don't have the will power to quit, unless the price was so unreasonable, that i couldn't afford it. And it still would be a battle. I smoked pot, for a few years, and loved it and still do. I also drank way to much. I gave all that up but smokes is the worst addiction on this planet. You said that if you was given only 6 mos. to live you would buy a carton of smokes. I wouldn't I would buy some pot, and roll a bazooka of a joint as long as my property, and it is long. And i would puff on it until, i kicked the bucket.
Chassie:
I quit a year ago (Jan. 6) and it was the toughest thing I ever did. I did it by cutting down a little at a time and it took me the better part of two years to finally quit completely. I'm not suggesting this as a method of quitting because each person has to find what works best for him or her, I'm just saying that I tried for over a decade and that is what worked for me. Still, I'm like Pam. If I found out that I had 6 months to live, the first thing that I would do is go buy cigarettes!
63marymac_memphis on January 14, 2009 at 07:08 PM
Mary I appreciate your concern, belief me I've been some kind of a farmer all of my life. But these folks here in the SE. don't have to retool. They already got it. Believe me I live amongst them.
Congrats to Pam and MaryMac both, its not been so easy for me, i have thrown a carton out the window of my truck, only to stop at the next town to buy another pack. I know that i'm a addict. And can't help myself, i wish that i could, i've tryed it all patches, gum, ect. I'm a fucking addict and hate my self for it.
. He will die with one in his hands probably. I can understand the hold it has on you.
62PamB on January 14, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Pam this is the way that my Dad went back in 1982, the day before he was operated on, he was clutching a cigarette, in both hands, it took both hands to hold it, and he knew that it was the end. You would of thought that i could of learned a lesson from it, but not me cuz I'm a addict. He came from a family of 17 bothers and sisters, and 13 of them have died from cancer.
Maybe i got a death wish, not really i'm just a fucking addict.
Good night good Dems, I have occupied enough of your time, "Happy New Year" to everyone!
« Hide Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in,
.
Now you can comment.
(sign out - change name - manage account)
