Idiots

These politicians are idiots:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/29/intel.leaks.ap/index.html

Last week is was a non-binding resolution on whether you like Americaand now this piece of grandstanding. Every person in the world knows that Every Single bank transaction inthe US over $10K is reported to the FEDs. This is a well known abuse ofpower, but it's been going on a long time.

Do you REALLY think thatterrorists don't know their financial transactions are being watched?The US government has been talking about it for years. So, instead of doing any real Business these idiots are going wastermore time grandstanding, whle this country has real problems. Insteadof actually doing anything to prevent terrorist attacks (searchingshipping containers anyone?) they are going to blame a newspaper. Whatcrap.

This is shameful.

More failure

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13361343/

Why no comments about this most egregious example of failed Bush foreign diplomacy. While Bush et al are in a pissing match over who gets to sit at the table, NK is off building more nukes AND developing missile technology that will reach America. Makes it seem like offering to sit down with them at the table and giving them some oil and food would have been a small price to pay for our safety. Remember, NK is holding the cards, they have NOTHING to lose.

So far Bush is 0 for 3 on the Axis of Evil. Let’s hope they learn something from their failed efforts with NK when dealing with Iran, but I doubt it. After all, there are Mexicans mowing lawns in California and boys kissing in Massachusetts that must be dealt with.

Double Standard

Every time Michelle Wie or Anika Sorenstam fails to make a cut in a men's pro tournament it is some sort of proof that woman can't play on the men's tour. Well, if those few examples make that so, what does it mean when the world's best golfer can't make the cut? Does that mean he doesn't belong on the tour?

Thought so, now shut up.

Music

Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" is going to be a HUGE hit.

Still can't get enough of DCFC.

Can NOT wait for the Shins new CD...October release?

And I'm going to admit it...I am into Kelly Clarkson. I'm not proud...no I AM Proud. The songs I've heard rock..."walkaway" come on. Just don't tell my brother.

History will judge harshly

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13181735/

In 20 years, Americans will look back in disgust at this effort, just like we do today when we look back on when Southern states used their own laws to encourage and legally protect discrimination. Even "conservatives" will look back and deny they were ever homophobic.

Fortunately for us in America all the real problems have been solved, so we can focus on the real issue …boys kissing.

Now that this clown has fixed everything else

Now, that everything is peaceful in the Middle East, the budget is balanced and every child has enough food and health care, it's now time to spend our time stopping from boys kissing.

Of course, considering that Bush has been pissing on the Constitution since the day he took office, I wouldn't expect him to realize that the Constitution was put in place to limit the powers of the Federal Government. it is truly sickening that this hypocritical criminal is going to use the Constitution to try to raise his poll numbers.

When will the impeachment begin for this fool?

and God told me that tornadoes will hit the middle of the country

What a crackpot.

The Guard rescues Bush again...? Probably not

Against it before they were for it. Six months ago Secy. Chertoff said using National Guard on the border would be "horribly over-expensive and very difficult."


I know the Bush WH is a master in foreign policy, exemplified daily with events like N. Korea and Iran developing nukes, Iraq, Afghanistan falling back into Taliban control, trade issues with everyone from the UK and Canada to Venezuela, and of course Hamas being freely elected, but let’s just imagine the political repercussions of an 18 year old kid in a US military uniform shooting a Mexican citizen on the border of Texas or Arizona.

Why the drama? She's unelectable

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12762092/

Hilary is NEVER going to be elected President. you think the conservatives turned out for Bush II, they'll turn out in RECORD numbers to vote against Hilary...I don't care who is running.

As for Murdoch, yes he's Conservative, but he'll do anything to make a buck. And for years Conservativism has been very lucrative, as Hilary moves to the right he can move to the left and still make money.

If Hilary is the Dems best hope in 2008, you might want to get used to having a Republican in the WH until 2012

it's like changing the artwork in your house when it's got 4 feet of water on the floor

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/19/mcclellan/index.html

Every single time you watched McClellan it simply reminded you he was NO Ari Fleischer. But, I’m sure that changing the messenger is going to turn this corrupt, amoral administration into a virtuous one. Not that getting rid of the incompetent Sec of Defense or the corrupt VP would accomplish anything…

I guess you wouldn't have to deal with an insurgency

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060418/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_dc_18

This is the incredible irony that the Bushies have provided while destroying the GOP and America’s standing in the world. Like in Iraq where War is Peace and every terrorist bomb over there is good in our war on terrorism. Bush would use Nukes to make the world safe from Nukes.

You can’t make this shit up.

sixth general calls for Rummy to go home

The following is response to a Bushie friend of mine who claimed that any general who criticizes the Sec of Def is incompetent, he's also called the Democrat partisans, haters of America..you know typical Bushie bullshit

Showing exactly what you know. You don’t make General in the US Military by being incompetent, after all it’s not the Bush administration.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-13-rumsfeld-generals_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

"We need a new secretary of Defense," retired major general Charles Swannack, former commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, said on CNN. He said Rumsfeld had micromanaged the war.

Retired major general John Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 agreed.

Marine lieutenant general Greg Newbold, the former Pentagon top operations officer, who called Iraq an "unnecessary war" in a Time magazine column this week.
• Major general Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training Iraqi troops in 2003 and 2004, wrote last month in The New York Times that Rumsfeld is "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically."
• Army major general John Riggs, who told The Washington Post that his former colleagues in the military believe Rumsfeld and his close aides "should be cleared out."
• Marine general Anthony Zinni, the former command of U.S. Central Command and a longtime critic, said Rumsfeld should retire.
Despite Bush's support, such criticism could be enough to help force out Rumsfeld, said Loren Thompson, a military expert at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia think tank.
"It is so uncommon for senior military officers in the United States to criticize civilian leaders that it has to make an impression on the White House and Congress," Thompson said.

Another day, another lie exposed

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

It's been so long

It's been so long and no word from me. DeLay quits, the continued incompetence of the Bush WH, the GOP abandoning the Bush ship as fast as they can. The all of the sudden critical issue of illegal immigration (I guess the GOP needs something other than supporting Bush, destroying America's economy with staggering debt, criminal behavior and the Iraq civil war to run on in November) is huge.

But this latest hypocrisy and possible treason is too much.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/07/whitehouse.leak/index.html

He didn't flip flop? How precious is that. Let's ignore that leaking classified information should put every one of the amoral idiots in prison for decades, but the issue for him is whether he flip-flopped. Of course he didn't, when he said People who leak classified information should go to jail, he wasn't talking about him. The man thinks he's King, can you imagine if Henry VIII thought the rules he made applied to him? Do you think any amoral dictator beleives the rules apply to them. Come on...this man and adminstration is pathological.

If I was a Republican or more importantly a COnservative I'd be abandoning this immoral criminal ship as fast as I could (see Fukuyama and Bartlett's books in recent weeks).

trashing a man's legacy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/ap_en_mu/obit_owens

yahoo and EVERYONE else is going to say that Buck was the Hee Haw host which completely diminishes his contributions to country music. The man had so many hits, the Beatles loved him, and these obits are going to make him seem like a joke.

I weep with you today Dwight.

No wonder France didn't go along

No wonder France didn’t go along. They knew the truth.

France awaits the NeoCons apology.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11927856/


But on that very trip, there was also a secret contact made. The contact was brokered by the French intelligence service, sources say. Intelligence sources say that in a New York hotel room, CIA officers met with an intermediary who represented Sabri. All discussions between Sabri and the CIA were conducted through a "cutout," or third party. Through the intermediary, intelligence sources say, the CIA paid Sabri more than $100,000 in what was, essentially, "good-faith money." And for his part, Sabri, again through the intermediary, relayed information about Saddam’s actual capabilities.
…

For example, consider biological weapons, a key concern before the war. The CIA said Saddam had an "active" program for "R&D, production and weaponization" for biological agents such as anthrax. Intelligence sources say Sabri indicated Saddam had no significant, active biological weapons program. Sabri was right. After the war, it became clear that there was no program.
Another key issue was the nuclear question: How far away was Saddam from having a bomb? The CIA said if Saddam obtained enriched uranium, he could build a nuclear bomb in "several months to a year." Sabri said Saddam desperately wanted a bomb, but would need much more time than that. Sabri was more accurate.

A worse scenario than I imagined before

This is a disastrous outcome that I really hadn’t envisioned.

The prevention of a Sunni-Shia civil war should now be America's foremost priority in Iraq. Such a war might not only suck in Iraq's immediate neighbours, pitting Saudi-backed Sunnis against Iran-backed Shias.

Imagine if Iraq, instead of being the jumping off point for “democracy” in the middle east, was actually the Sarajevo (killing of Archduke Ferdinand) for a horrible regional war amongst the countries in the area.


From this article in the Economist:

SOMETIMES after people peer into an abyss, they have the sense to step back. For
the moment, however, Iraqis are continuing their march of folly. The bombing
last week of the Shias' revered Askariya mosque in the city of Samarra unleashed
the most intense sectarian violence since the American invasion and the toppling
of Saddam Hussein nearly three years ago. What began as a Sunni-dominated
insurgency against the occupiers is now beginning to look increasingly like a
civil war between Iraqis themselves. This is no doubt exactly what the mosque's
attackers were hoping for. Such a war would plunge Iraq deeper into mayhem and
mark the definitive failure of George Bush's vaunted “freedom” project in the
Middle East, not just in the eyes of Arabs but in those of Americans, too. In
the aftermath of the new violence, one poll showed Mr Bush's approval rating at
34%, the lowest of his presidency.

A schism not just in Iraq, but
also in Islam The prevention of a Sunni-Shia civil war should now be America's
foremost priority in Iraq. Such a war might not only suck in Iraq's immediate
neighbours, pitting Saudi-backed Sunnis against Iran-backed Shias. It might have
effects even further afield, along the Sunni-Shia fault-line that runs through
Islam as a whole (see article). At this point, however, it is no longer in the
power of the Americans alone to prevent such a catastrophe. It is primarily a
job for Iraqis themselves. And it is not so much a military job as a political
one. The Shia majority that came out on top in January's general election needs
urgently to show that it is willing to share real power with the parties that
represent the Sunni minority.

Until now, two menacing factors have
worked against this. First, most Sunni Arabs, who have run Iraq since its
creation nearly 90 years ago, seem bizarrely loth to admit that they number
barely a fifth of the population—and cannot see why they should not continue to
run the show. Hence their endorsement of the insurgents, even while electing
representatives to parliament. Second, the newly dominant Shia Arabs, with 60%
of the people, seem increasingly loth to grant the Sunnis a fair share in
government, especially since they seem unable or unwilling to stop insurgents
from carrying out sectarian outrages such as bombing the shrine. Many Shias now
think they simply can and must bash the Sunnis into submission—and may better be
able to do so once the ring-holding Americans and their allies go. Worse still,
the Shias are divided among themselves, with three of their parties competing
bitterly within the ruling alliance. After the shrine's bombing, many prominent
Shias actually blamed America for the deed. With so deep a reluctance to embrace
compromise or reason, what possible hope for the future?
Optimistic as it may
seem in the circumstances, the events surrounding the bombing of the shrine may
hasten the much-needed first big step towards forestalling all-out civil war:
the formation of a unity government embracing all the main ethnic and religious
factions. Though the new constitution gives the recently renominated prime
minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a couple more months to forge a ruling coalition,
he should speed things up before sectarian hatreds overtake the country. It is
vital that at least the four—and preferably the five—leading alliances in
parliament (the Islamist Shia list to which Dr Jaafari belongs, the Kurds, the
main Sunni Islamist group and the non-sectarian secularists led by Iyad Allawi,
a Shia who has Sunni partners) team up in a government. It is equally vital that
key ministries—defence, interior and finance, among others—be shared out, with
Sunnis getting serious ones, and that ministers are prevented from packing them,
as before, with cronies. And the Shias should respond to the urgings of
America's ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, that the present interior minister, a
Shia who is said to have allowed sectarian death squads to operate out of his
ministry, be sacked.
Once in place, it is no less essential that a unity
government amends the new constitution. Much of the constitution is sound, and
it was duly approved in a national referendum. All the same, it has become
increasingly vital to reassure the Sunnis both that their provinces will get a
fair share of future oil revenues and that a Shia “super-region” will not emerge
in the south and so break Iraq up. The hardest task of a new government will be
to disband militias and reintegrate them into genuinely national forces. So far,
most of the Iraqis recruited into the new Iraqi army have been Shia, and their
loyalty to the idea of a multi-confessional state is at best uncertain.
For
the Shia leadership, making compromises such as these will require a supreme
effort of self-control. Having been long oppressed, Iraq's Shias feel that they
are gathering strength and are owed their place in the sun. The insurgents have
sorely provoked them, striking mercilessly at their homes, markets and holy
places. Until recently, influential politicians and clergy, especially the
Shias' Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had succeeded, as outrage followed
atrocity, in restraining the hotheads from wholesale communal revenge. But their
words are now being less dutifully heeded.

America in the middle It
would be wrong to say that the insurgents are beating the Americans on the
battlefield. But they don't have to. The insurgents win merely by making Iraq
ungovernable. The occupying forces and their Iraqi allies have been losing fewer
men than before. But they are no longer the main targets. The Americans and
their allies must not stay indefinitely: virtually all Iraqis long for them to
go. Yet most of Iraq's elected leaders, struggling to build a coalition, agree
that an American rush for the exit would, at this stage, still be likelier to
provoke a descent into all-out civil war than prevent it.
The greater the
sectarian mayhem, the happier the insurgents. Only when the sour Sunni minority
is properly represented in a new government is there the faintest chance of
persuading enough of the insurgents and their supporters that they have a stake
in the new order. Dr Jaafari and his Shia friends have no time to lose. They
must compromise, and fast, or risk being left with only the rump of what was
once Iraq.

Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

Weren't we hostages to middle eastern oil production 3 days ago?

The man hasn't vetoed ANYTHING, not a spending bill, not anything and now he's threatening to veto ANY bill that forbids Arab interests from running our Ocean Ports. One of the very governments that 2 days ago, who were "holding us hostage" with our oil dependence, now they are going to protect our most sensitive places of entry.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/21/port.security/index.html

Usualy Bush speech full of distortion and fear

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11465801/

Bush continues to imply that these unstable governments in the middle east are we get all of our oil from. When the VAST majority of our oil comes from North America. Below is a chart of Imports, let’s not forget that the US produces 40% of it’s own oil. So which unstable Middle East country are we overly dependant on?

Typical use of fear to distort the truth from the Bushies…good thing those crazy bastards are rioting over cartoons makes you worried about your oil when it has almost NO IMPACT on US oil supplies.

Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries)(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Dec-05 Nov-05 YTD 2005 Dec-04 Jan - Dec 2004
CANADA 1,892 1,776 1,642 1,556 1,616
MEXICO 1,707 1,658 1,550 1,552 1,598
SAUDI ARABIA 1,438 1,267 1,438 1,449 1,495
VENEZUELA 1,183 1,009 1,231 1,379 1,297
NIGERIA 1,174 1,163 1,060 1,006 1,078
ANGOLA 425 641 450 306 306
IRAQ 390 572 520 626 655
ECUADOR 340 264 276 261 232
KUWAIT 268 273 215 205 241
ALGERIA 212 265 228 199 215
BRAZIL 159 65 94 0 51
GABON 139 66 127 233 142
COLOMBIA 135 281 156 135 142
NORWAY 66 103 119 63 143
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 62 70 62 22 49

LAME

I saw the headline/hyperlink that said “first photo of Bush and Abramoff”. So, I clicked you can imagine my disappointment with the lameness of calling this a photo of the two of them. I do believe that Bush and he were good buddies and as usual Bush abandons his friends when they no longer provide any utility or they get into trouble (see Kenny Lay), but this is dumb

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1158908,00.html?cnn=yes

In response the biggest Bushie i know

He sent me this link and attempted to call me out as some lover of Iranian nuke development:

From: Names Deleted to protect the ignorant
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 21:19
To: Me and some other friends
Subject: How about you guys?
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/821b8e1c-8f47-11da-b430-0000779e2340.html
Or do you support letting them have nukes? Where do you stand? There's no room
for nuance. It's one or the other

.
Here is my response, in typical fashion because it's so damn easy the Bushies attempt to be cute provides the opening to point out that this is Bush's mess:

Geez, if Bush had not blown his military wad on Iraq, he might actually be in a
position to do something other than ask the Russians to take the lead. (funny
despots working with despots).

As I've told you a thousand times, Iran has a HUGE secular pro-west faction. The WORST THING Bush could do would be to invade or some other military dumb shit. It would turn those friendly to us, against us.

But, hey that Bush foreign policy is working wonders in the
middle east isn't it? Since Bush took over, two radical groups have been
democratically elected in the region, in Iran and now you've got Hamas running
Palestine.

And like I said before the Iraq debacle, if they have nukes or WMD, Israel will take care of it. Especially now, since Bush's foreign policy incompetence put Hamas in power, which will give rise to Netanyahu in Israel and that crazy bastard's going to bomb everyone.

Looks like Bush blew it. AGAIN

Oh, yeah and Osama Bin Laden is still alive, while the Taliban controls
most of Afghanistan. Well played George.

May be time to raise the terror level.

Remember when Republicans used to talk about Fiscal Responsibility

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/26/news/economy/cbo.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit will hit $337 billion this year, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, according to a source familiar with the forecast.
The forecast does not include a potential $80 billion to $100 billion in additional funds the Bush administration might request to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or more money that likely will be needed this year for Gulf Coast hurricane rebuilding.

More Bush incompetence

Bush implements a “new and improved” prescription drug plan supposed to help seniors get their meds and the opposite happens.

Is there anything this administration doesn’t screw up? Anything? …Anything at all?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/nyregion/14drugs.html

Pathetic

LedDale

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/news/story?id=2287645&campaign=rss
&source=ESPNHeadlines


If LenDale White did not play on the same team with Bush and Lienhart more people would be talking about awesome he is. He had 26 TDs this year, led the nation, which makes his season the quietest for a scoring leader that I remember.

He averaged over 5 yds/carry for his career and with 541 carries in 3 years he NEVER lost a fumble (according to his stats on ESPN). I'd take him in the top 3.

Bush is costing this guy money. I love me some Reggie, but LenDale totally got overshadowed.

can any member of the GOP stay within the law?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060110.wterminator0110/BNStory/International/

First is was smoking Cuban Cigars (something a lot of people who rant about hating Cuba seem to do) and now he can't even obey the laws he's taken an oath to uphold. Shameful.

Typical of the GOP of George Bush though.

Incompetent AND a common criminal

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060110.wterminator0110/BNStory/International/

First is was smoking Cuban Cigars (something a lot of people who rant about hating Cuba seem to do) and now he can’t even obey the laws he’s taken an oath to uphold. Shameful. Typical of the GOP of George Bush though.

ah, duh?

I would think anyone who has read the Constitution would know that you can't survielle people without a warrant. ANd in case you weren't sure, you could look at the FISA law that was enacted because Mr. Nixon was apparently unclear on the COnstituion so Congress future presidents.

And considering that FISA warrants are more or less a rubber stamp when requested (99%+ approvals within hours), Bush's excuses for his criminal actions just don't pass the smell test.

This is an old one

I meant to post this some week's ago, but apparently it didn't post: So, here it is


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10530417/from/RS.3/

This is pathetic. He could barely care about outing a secret agent and blowing every contact that she's ever had, putting dozens of peoples lives in jeopardy, but he's going to get uppity about his own breaking of the law when it is exposed. It's not even like it's hard to get a warrant under the FISA rules. In fact 99%+ of all secret warrants are granted in a matter of hours. So, his justifications for breaking the law are simply lies.

Additionally, to pretend like people don't know that their conservations can be tapped is ridiculous, the secret warrants are well-known. It's the lack of oversight (which has led to abuses) that is shameful and it will join the Alien and Sedition Acts and Wilson's despotic stifling of free speech as a low point in American Presidential abuses.

So good to be back

It would appear that the corruption and depravity that is the current incarnation of the GOP is going to see the light of day. While I'm no Republican, here's to hoping that the GOP is taken away from the amoral Bushies and returned to moderates or even true Conservatives (think Goldwater)

Impeachable?

This is clearly unconstitutional and illegal. When will the impeachment begin?

Oh dear loard

Now, I hate the BCS bullshit as much as anyone...really I do. It's the sport, competition in the world where 118 teams compete for 5 months and then they have a two-team one game playoff to determine the champion. Never mind that 4 or 5 teams could all be undefeated and obviously have never met each other, but only two play for the title.

BUT, the Federal government should keep it's nose out of it, because if there is one body more inept and incompetent that the NCAA, especially when they deal with Div 1-A Football, it must be Congress.

sure they clap

Has Bush spoke to a Non-military crowd in the past 3 months? I guess when only 37% of America thinks you don't suck, speaking to an audience that has orders to applaud all your lies, name-calling and rhetorical talking points is a good idea.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/30/us.iraq/index.html


AND CB, still waiting for your response to my thorough destruction of your bragging about Bush's impact on the Dow. You're probably doing some research, eh? I suggest you go back to Herbert Hoover for historical parallels.

a multi part series: Why I wouldn't want to be a child in Florida

In my continuing series "I'd hate to be a kid in Florida" comes the
latest:


http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/29/vodka.baby.ap/index.html

I LOVE the Parlimentary system

Such immediate accountability and 6 week election cycles. Awesome


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051129/ts_nm/politics_can_dc

College Football wrap up

I don't blog much about college football although Im a huge fan. In fact, I'm a season ticket holder for the Ducks. But here's some comments:

Reggie Bush should win the Heisman. WHy? because he should have won it last year. Matt Leinhart wasn't even the best player on his team last year let alone in the country. But the DAC screwed up and gave it to Matt. NOw they screwed themselves b/c Leinhart his having an even better year this year and is more deserving than last year, but come on ...if you asked any college coach in the country who'd they LOVE to have on their team, I'd bet 90% would say Bush. Leinhart's good, even great, but Bush is magical. After you ask the coaches, ask the linebackers and cornerbacks what player they would NOT want running at them in the open field...again Bush would win that one.

Sorry Vince, next year

What's the difference between the "Fighting Irish" and the "Fighting Illini". YOu may say nothing, both are names of college sports teams that either denigrate or honor an entire people. But there is a difference, one of those names belongs to Notre Dame. So, they do what they want. They get special TV contracts, an extra 7 spots in every football poll that comes out weekly, they even get a special deal with the BCS. BUT they aren't not held to the same standard when it comes to names that honor/denigrate an entire people. Don't expect the NCAA to be forcing the priests at Notre Dame to be shedding their name anytime soon.

Finally, Please Fiesta Bowl comittee, take the Ducks...

According to Fox News

This one goes along with how George W. Bush has failed his base in almost every single way to this point (fiscally responsible, bringing integrity to the office, a humble superpower etc.): According to the Fox News Report I saw a few hours ago, the illegal Immigrant population is up 30% since 2000. 30% talk about a failure. And this is while we are supposedly protecting ourselves from terrorists and yet we now have 30% MORE illegal immigrants since Bush took over…that’s pathetic.

How the Bushies can support this guy who has delivered NOTHING (except that $300 rebate check a few years ago) on what he promised shows how far zealotry can allow people to depart from reality.

Why don't Cheney and the right wing zealots question HER patriotism?

Nice piece by John Powers

T.O.s suspension upheld, come on you were surprised...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10182233/from/RS.3/

GOP strategy: disparage true heroes then lie about saying it...pathetic

Daily there is evidence that America is really sick of the GOP attack machine

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10169562/from/RS.2/

So, in this case, calling a decorated veteran a coward and attributing those words FALSELY to someone else shows how classless and immoral many in this party really are.

if they were decorated American vets, Cheney could call them "cowards"

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/22/iraq.conference.ap/index.html

Latest Church news

No Gays Allowed

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/22/vatican.gays.ap/index.html

Pedophiles...well that might be ok
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176294,00.html

Even the vatican thinks American zealots are out of line with that "intellegent design" mythology
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176050,00.html
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms,

Will the entire GOP end up in jail?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/21/politics/21cnd-scanlon.html

I guess if you engage in criminal activity long enough, you'll get caught.

Draft Dodger tones down rhetoric

Must be the calling war heroes "cowards" by people who are draft dodgers isn't polling well.
Regardless, America knows that Vice President Deferment must have a lot of balls to call a decorated, wounded vet's patriotism into question and are sick of these draft dodgers names.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/21/cheney/index.html

A friend sent me the following article with the subject line:

Glad to see God will now be part of the FDA approval board

My hope is that the zealots keep pushing their agenda b/c they are eventually going to piss of the majority of Americans that BELIEVE in science and technology, and even though they believe in God and attend church they understand the place of religion in their lives. They understand that while God may give them strength, it was science that gave them pills to lower their cholesterol and give them boners.

And a question for Pat Robertson, where exactly in the Bible is the concept of Intelligent Design? His defense of that mythology as coming from God seems pretty heretical to me.

Freedom on the march...again

We replaced one horrible dictator with another. Good job...all for the cost of 2000 American lives and a few hundred billion dollars.

"I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating -- one or two cases were
paralyzed, and some cases of skin peeled off various parts of the body," the
official, Hussein Kamal, told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/15/iraq.main/index.html


"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Do you think more lying is going to help these numbers?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/14/bush.poll/index.html

"We have a proud record of accomplishment and a positive agenda for the future,"
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Wednesday. "We look forward to continuing to talk about it. I mean, you can get caught up in polls; we
don't. Polls are snapshots in time."

They don't get caught up in polls? That's a lie, otherwise the WH wouldn't be trying to change eveyone's mind about how the adminstration lied about Iraq and sending everyone back to ethics class. A vicious cycle that lying. Lying about how you don't care if people call you a liar just makes more people think you're a liar.

Why does Bush hate veterans?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/12/dems.radio.ap/index.html


I guess maybe if he took his own "military service" seriously he would take seriously the great Americans that served their country honorably.

Jesse turns his sights elsewhere, now that all racial and economic injustice has been fixed

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/football/nfl/11/13/owens.jackson.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

Thanks Jesse, for protecting the interests of one of the highest paid athletes in America from the evil, evil NFL that made him a multi-millionaire. I didn't know that racial and economic injustice had been solved so that you could now devote your time to helping out millionaire assholes.

(I love TO on the field, but you don't try to start fights in the media with your QB, especially the one that has thrown you 20 TDs in a year and a half, even worse to start a fight with a guy you really don't have problem with...McNabb's didn't negotiate your deal with the Eagles YOU DID. Don't worry TO, you can ruin another franchise next year)

As for Jesse, shut up. Defending spoiled multimillionaires is beneath you, or least it used to be.

Bush Lies

Bush is going to challenge the critics of the war and those who say he misled America about the intelligence, but he's going to say he got BAD intelligence (like incompetence in his departments is some sort of excuse). I hope he keeps going on in it b/c more and more evidence of his lies will come out.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/10/iraq.intel/index.html

Spies at the White House

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9978481/

Another campaign?

This time to repair is image as a liar:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/08/Bush.retaliates/index.html

That Social Security road show turned out so well they decided to give it another shot.

George Bush: has done more damage to the GOP than Dems have in 35 years

George Couldn't deliver the Virginia Gov mansion and he didn't help in NJ:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9972632/


Arnie was never competent to be governor, he's done nothing that Gray Davis wouldn't have done (he borrowed more money), hasn't accomplished anything, it's too bad Californian's took this long to realize their error:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20051109/cm_huffpost/010373;_ylt=A86.I1gpXXJDj7AApCr9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

Proving America still accepts science of religous hokum:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9973228/


Bush's coattails extend across the Atlantic:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/09/security.britain.law/index.html

Rice to meet with Iranian spy...

Why is the Sec of State meeting with an Iranian spy and liar in Washington? This man should be in prison, not dining with the administration.

Shameful

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/07/chalabi.us.reut/index.html

God helping to sort out the hypocrites?

When the House voted in early September for a $1.4 billion relief bill for victims of Hurricane Katrina, Rep. John Hostettler (Ind.) was one of 11 Republicans to oppose it.

Yesterday, the congressman, who is facing a tight race next year, and several other Indiana members asked President Bush for money to help victims of another natural disaster -- the tornado that ripped through many areas in his 8th District [...]

More Bush incompetence/lies/disinformation/etc proven

And more Bush errors on Iraq:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1106intelligence06.html

WASHINGTON - In February 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency questioned the
reliability of an al-Qaida operative whose claims became the basis of Bush
administration claims that terrorists had been trained in chemical and
biological weapons in Iraq, according declassified material released by Sen.
Carl Levin, D-Mich.

I wonder, considering the incompetence of this administration, how they even FOUND Iraq.

Arnie more like Bush every day

Right down the the private audience for those who give him money:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-arnold06.html

A Schwarzenegger aide told the ''Bulworth'' star he was not on the guest list
and did not have the appropriate wristband to get inside.
''You have to have a wristband to listen to the governor?'' Bening asked. ''He represents all of us, right?

''

Shameful and Unamerican

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/06/congress.detainees.ap/index.html

Of course, you can always justify torture by “protecting national interests and security”. It’s how Stalin justified the gulags and every two bit despot justifies torture, they are always “enemies of the state” and the torturer is just trying to protect their country. I NEVER thought I’d hear Americans doing the same rationalization. But this is the era of Bush, an era of amorality, pathological secrecy, lying and lack of ethics…torture is just the logical next step.

You’re either for torture or against it. It’s either wrong or it’s not.

Makes me sick.

No WMD and Saddam would have left Iraq...

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2005/10/30/1284645-sun.html

Boy, the Bushies really wanted this war didn’t they?

Bush's Watergate

From the Independent in UK.

Sleaze, leaks and an indictment add up to the worst presidential crisis
since Nixon. And it will get worse. The White House has lost one key man but the
whole chain of command may be engulfed by a scandal slowly revealing the lies
that led to war.

I wish I could get this deal

You get fired, lie to Congress and you keep your job, but without the responsibility or accountability. All so you can share your expertise, expertise you were so sorely lacking that it got you fired.

Is this what they taught you in your MBA program? Keep the incompetents on the payroll so they can share their incompetence? Doesn't seen very MBA-like to me, but then again this idiocy happens every day with this crew.

Apparently, Brownie's influence is still being felt in disasters (so I guess they are getting their money's worth as Brown shares his incompetence with others), even if Jeb plays the team player and takes a bullet for his incompetent brother.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9823799/

Jeb Bush accepts blame for slow aid efforts

A victory for the people rebuilding New Orleans

What a tragedy for Bechtel and other Bushie supporters, they have to pay prevailing wage to the very people who were left homeless and unemployed by the Bushie’s incompetence and lack of foresight in fixing the levees BEFORE the storm. Especially since the contracts they awarded were no bid and no oversight, the ability to screw employees doing the work was just a Bushie Bonus. Shameful.

Not a defeat for Bushies, but a victory of for the people of the Gulf Coast.

They won! Rep. George Miller (D-CA) played a pivotal role in organizing
cosponsors for a bill to overturn the president's Gulf Coast Wage Cut. Later, he
found a way to force a vote on the legislation. Unwilling to face that prospect,
today the White House caved in and revoked the wage cut on their own.

She taught us a small act could change the world

Lying is one thing, being dumb is another

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9805923/
Frist didn't think these letters would come to light?

Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as "totally blind," regularly
informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his
holdings, according to the documents.

In January 2003, after winning election as majority
leader, Frist was asked on CNBC whether his HCA holdings made it difficult for him to push for changes in Medicare, a federal health program for seniors that added to the hospital company's revenue.

'I have no control'

"I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust," Frist replied. "So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock." He added that the trust was "totally blind. I have no control."

MY FAVORITE PART:
"He [Frist] could have been more exact in his comments," said Bob Stevenson, spokesman for Frist

"he could have been more exact"????, yeah could have told the truth. He was very exact in his comments. "I have no control" is VERY EXACT. It's absolute and it turns out it was an ABOLUTE LIE.
Shameful.

The UN helping Bush with some convenient timing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,13031,1598038,00.html

The Bushies are going to get all indignant about this and try to pretend like they care in a pathetic attempt to make America forget about the criminal actions of Rove, Libby, Frist, DeLay and dozens of others and the general incompetence of this administration. Let's invade Syria, third times the charm.

Was the UN convened when the US assassinated Ngo Dinh Diem? I can't remember? Or any number or Latin American rulers? Again, just askin.


BREAKING NEWS President Bush calls for United Nations to convene after
"deeply disturbing" report implicates Syrian officials in assassination.

More recruiting material for the terrorists

I know the Bushies love this stuff, but so does bin Laden. Makes his recruitment efforts so easy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9755213/


I took a Business Ethics class a while back. One of the things it suggests is to foresee your actions and think if you'd want your mother or grandmother to read about in the newspaper.

Obviously war is a different environment, but I'd suggest a wartime version to that. As a US soldier, you should ask if you'd want your actions to appear as the lead on Al-Jazeera or on the cover of Crazy Terrorist Daily, knowing specifically that any explanation or context will be absent.

Just a thought. I know war is hell, but if this is a war on terrorism, the goal should be eliminating terrorism, not creating more terrorists.

Hearts and Minds people.

It's never there fault

"I'm not a hurricane expert," Chertoff said several times in responding to criticisms from members of a special House panel set up to investigate the dismal federal response to Katrina, which killed more than 1,200 people, flooded New Orleans and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands.

Will he say the same thing when there is a terrorist attack?

More amoral actions by the GOP

Haliburton and the president's lobbyist friends get no bid/no oversight contracts in Iraq and New Orleans

…but we’re going to let old people freeze to death this winter.

Seems like a pretty amoral way to start displaying fiscal responsibility

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9765654/

What exactly would Jesus do?

I wonder how many homes the Alaskan Pork Bride to nowhere would provide heat for?

DeLay Arrest Warrant

http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/2005/10/arrest-warrant.html

The blame game continues as long as it's the Bushies covering their own asses

Will he say the same thing when there is a terrorist attack? I"m not a terrorism expert?

Take some accountability you spineless sissy.

"I'm not a hurricane expert," Chertoff said several times in responding to
criticisms from members of a special House panel set up to investigate the
dismal federal response to Katrina, which killed more than 1,200 people,
flooded New Orleans and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands.

While you were out

A friend of mine was married a couple of weekends ago. Upon he return he asked if Bush was still on the ropes. I assured him that everything had been fixed while he was gone:

Oh no, it’s all sorted out.

He’s got an exit strategy for Iraq and fired Rumsfeld for his overseeing of the erosion of America’s moral authority in the world
He caught bin Laden
He fired Rove and Libby for committing treason
He withdrew Harriet Miers nomination and nominated someone whose qualifications extend beyond “he knows her heart”
He’s fixed the economy, FEMA and the budget
He’s eliminated pork from the budget
Everyone has healthcare
He fixed global warming and the endangered species act.
Provided money to AIDS that he promised for Africa

And a bunch of other little things. He’s had a busy week.

Somehow he managed to fit in a completely scripted “impromptu” conversation with some soldiers in Iraq and despite a videotape of the soldiers being told what to say and how to say it, Scotty M denied that it was scripted. PRICELESS

Everything in NOT "surreal"

From the land of overused and MISUSED words comes "surreal". For the past few years it seems like EVERY time something happens to somebody it's "surreal". Well, NO IT"S NOT. Everything can't be surreal so stop saying it. You don't sound smart, you sound like an idiot to anyone with half a brain.

From Penn Jillette

A quote from Penn that appeared in Time Out New York (as quoted in Playboy)

“It’s so weird that these theists, these cranks are so anti-science yet so
willing to reap the benefits. They’re so willing to give everything to God
but not willing to suffer polio”

Will...again

Last week, Will pointed out the Bush is not and hasn't been a Conservative since he took office. This week, Will puts another nail in the coffin of the fake form of Conservativism that the Bushie's and their ilk have been peddling for the past 6 years. I've been telling some of you that you aren't really Conservatives. As you don't believe me, maybe George Will is a more acceptable bearer of the truth for you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9629463/site/newsweek/

In 1987 Reagan vetoed a transportation bill because it contained 152 earmarks-pork-costing $1.4 billion. The bill President Bush signed contained 6,371, costing $24 billion. The total cost of the bill-$286 billion-is more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than the combined costs of the Marshall Plan and the interstate highway system.

More proof that they lie about EVERYTHING

They have an inability to tell the truth about ANYTHING.

Read the article and then read this:


On Oct: 12th:
Scott McClellan was asked whether the teleconference the president had with troops in Tikrit was scripted. Here's what he said ...
QUESTION: How were they selected, and are their comments to the president pre-screened, any questions or anything...
MCCLELLAN: No.
QUESTION: Not at all?
MCCLELLAN: This is a back-and-forth.

The US government is such a joke

Shame on Canada, Shame on the US government for pursuing a sick pot grower.

The war on drugs is over idiots...and drugs won. Now get your shit together and spend your resources fighting terrorism and fixing Iraq...and the budget and New Orleans and etc etc. Then you can move on to the real important stuff like kidnapping sick pot growers and stopping boys from kissing.

Shameful

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/13/patient.arrest.ap/index.html

Pathetic Pandering

Bush keeps saying that he doesn’t have a litmus test for SC Justice, yet when his evangelical base starts griping he has to admit that he has one litmus test that is completely irrelevant to the job. Especially, when he and his Bushie minions keep talking about how Judges should put their personal opinions aside and interpret the Constitution in it’s original form. We all know they really mean impose Bush’s drastically misguided version of a Christian Theocracy and not the Constitution, how else do you square it’s continued trampling of State’s democratic process through exceedingly lame expansions of the Interstate Commerce Clause to invoke Federal Authority where NONE existed 10 years ago, let alone when the framers got together.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/12/miers.religion/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush suggested Wednesday that Harriet Miers'
evangelical Christian beliefs were part of the reason he nominated her to the
Supreme Court. But later a White House spokesman said her religion played no
role in her selection.

"People are interested to know why I picked Harriet
Miers," Bush told reporters at the White House. "They want to know Harriet
Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they
form opinions."

"Part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion," Bush said
during Oval Office comments with visiting Polish President Aleksander
Kwasniewski. "Part of it has to do with the fact that she was a pioneer woman
and a trailblazer in the law in Texas."

The right wing media fails again

And the Bushies got all riled about this, despite it being WHOLLY IRRELEVANT to their irrational fear of boys kissing:

On an Illinois radio show I did last week -- available on our website or at this
link -- one anti-gay caller characteristically avoided offering a reason why
the government should continue excluding same-sex couples from marriage and, as
usual, went to the "slippery slope" diversion of "polygamy." As new proof that
the sky was falling, the caller said that the Netherlands, which has ended the
exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, has now also allowed a trio of man
and two women to wed. Before yet another right-wing scare tactic gathers
traction, please note that this claim -- that the Netherlands registered a
multi-partner "civil union" -- is untrue.

Following the radio interview, we looked into the caller's claim and found an erroneous September 27 report in something called the Brussels Journal -- www.brusselsjournal.com -- misusing the term "civil union" and talking about something "registered by a notary." Once we checked this with a leading Dutch expert who follows legal developments in family law, we learned that the only legally relevant thing that happened was that three people, with the help of a notary, signed a private cohabitation contract -- and did not enter into any kind of legal state-recognized union. Such personal agreements are not registered, and do not have legal implications for third parties. In both these respects, as well with regard to the state's imprimatur, a personal agreement or contract is different from both marriage and registered partnership. (And civil union, as such, is not a legal status in the
Netherlands).

Again, this was a private arrangement among three people, not a
marriage or partnership or union. According to our Dutch expert, there is no law
in the Netherlands (nor in most other countries) that limits the number of
parties who can among themselves make a personal agreement or cohabitation
contract. Dutch law does not regulate cohabitation contracts as such. Some Dutch
laws (for example in the fields of tax and social security), however, attach
certain legal consequences to the de facto cohabitation of two people (whether
or not these cohabitants have signed a cohabitation contract), but never to the
de facto cohabitation of three or more people. With respect to de facto (i.e.
unregistered) cohabitation there has not been any recent change in Dutch law.

Do I hear 37?

Bush approval dips below 40 percent
NBC-WSJ poll shows only 28 percent believe U.S. headed in right direction

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9672058/

I'd like to know about the disconnect between the 39% who approve of the President and the 28% who think we're headed in the right direction. Who are the 11% who think we're headed in the wrong direction, but still approve of the President? Doesn't the President steer the ship?

"public intoxication" in New Orleans?

Back to the cops who gang up to beat on old men.

If cops arrested everyone in NO who was publically intoxicated, wouldn't they have to arrest EVERYONE?

Why America hates Unions

Here is the union's response to a group of white officers beating on an old man who was immobilized with his head against a wall:

The head of the New Orleans police union said the officers told him they
had acted appropriately.

"They feel they were justified in their actions and they were using the amount of force necessary to overcome the situation," Lt. David Benelli told WDSU in New Orleans.

Now, I have a Master's Degree in Labor Relations and I once thought Unions were a noble cause. that was until I worked part time at the Post Office. Unions basically seem to exist today to give multi-millionaires bigger salaries and defend racist and incompetent cops. They also defend incompetent employees. I saw it at the Post Office, the only people to need the union were the ones who did the least work and the most bitching.

Unions had their day, but when the Union defends beating an old man without question it proves how truly irrelevant they are to defending the rights of the DECENT working man and woman who don't act inappropriately.

In Other FOotball news

Just got home from Sun Devil stadium where I watched my Ducks defeat the ASU Sun Devils. First game I've seen this year, since I moved from OR to AZ and had to sell all of my tickets.

Terrence Whitehead ends up with the Double Triple (100 yds rushing and 100 yd recieving)...a beautiful night for football in Tempe, even better for those of us in green.

Defense wins football games

My son's flag football team (2-0) was playing another undefeated team today. Most of the game his team was a mess, but with 44 seconds left the game was tied 12-12. My son lines up in linebacker spot and their QB drops back. He throws. Ball goes up, into a group of 4 boys. My son jumps a little bit higher and at full stride he intercepts the ball. He never breaks stride as he alludes the entire team to run 3/4 the length of the field for what turns out to be the game winning touchdown.

Sweet

Al Hamilton...spinning in his grave

I guess Alexander Hamilton never presumed we'd have an utterly shameless president

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers,

"The Appointing Power of the President," No. 76 To what purpose
then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of
their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation.
It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and
would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State
prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to
popularity. . . . He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the
most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than
that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of
being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the
necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments
of his pleasure.

Let’s not forget that the Imperial Presidency we see today is not what the framers envisioned. So, Al and his pals would likely be quite shocked at today’s goings on.

This is not so much what we’ve seen in our lifetimes, but remember Congress is designed to be the superior body.
The Senate’s consent is required on major appointments
Congress can remove a President or a Supreme Court Justice, not vice versa
Congress controls the purse
Congress declares war

Congress over the years has allowed the Executive to act in ways not envisioned by the framers and Bush is just the best example of why that’s bad for America.

Those pesky states

I'm making the assumption that the Bushies (who still claim some Conservative street cred despite the fact that they have less Conservativism in them than Barry Goldwater had in his pinkie) , support the Federal Government's dramatic usurpation of state powers to dictate to the people of Oregon on an issue they have TWICE voted for directly. If my assumption is correct, please tell me how that opinion squares with your rantings of about the State's democratic rights about banning gay marriage.

I suppose they are hoping for a little judicial activism here, right. Dictatorship of the judiciary and all that...

Right to Die

"The John Roberts Court will hear its first high-profile
arguments today, when the justices take up a case involving doctor-assisted
suicide. Oregon law allows terminally ill people to take lethal drugs to end
their lives. But the Bush administration has tried to override this law by
threatening to prosecute doctors involved in such cases. The Supreme Court
should make it clear that Oregon can allow doctor-assisted suicide," The New
York Times reports. In Cato's friend of the court brief http://www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/gonzales-oregon.pdf
,
co-author Mark Moller, a Cato senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues
that the federal government must respect the special role of states as
laboratories of experiment in our constitutional framework.

George Will calls out the President on Conservativism

This would appear to be the nail in the coffin that was the Bush Presidency. Will has called out Bush on Conservativism, something I've said for years. Will joins the chorus of other real Conservatives, who still believe in smaller government and state's rights. But will is more mainstream than Pat Buchanan and I think this represents the true end of the President's effectiveness within his own party.

More Proof of the President's Lame Duckness

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9601116/

As I said earlier today after reading George Will call out the President is NOT a Conservative, that this presidency is over.

Connecticut: democracy inaction

Democracy in action. As such those Bushies who keep complaining that the courts should stay out of this and let the legislatures decide will wholly support this:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051002-11084100-bc-us-gayunions.xml

In today's "GOP without ethics" feature

In today's GOP Lack of Ethics news:

Frist admits his lack of ethics.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/26/frist.stocksale.ap/index.html

"I had no information about HCA or its performance that was not publicly
available when I directed the trustees to sell the stock," Frist said, referring
to the sale by administrators of his blind trusts.

For those of you playing at home, if you have a blind trust, you wouldn't even know what was in it, let alone be able to direct the trustees to do anything with it's contents.

And when your brother is the director of the company in question and you sell the stock a couple of weeks before it tanks, along with all of the other insiders (who should probably be investigated to for insider trading), it seems pretty clear that you're a criminal.

But for now, I'll just call him unethical. The criminal charge will come in time, well it would if the Bushies don't make the Feds stop investigating him.

This should make every American sick

How many times do we have to hear this before some people accept that this is systemic and that Rumsfeld should have been fired 2 years ago?

How many times does the Bushies have to hear this before they accept this isn’t just 4 or 5 sick individuals?

How many times does the hypocrisy that we are fighting to save these people from Taliban’s/Saddam’s torture rooms while we have our own torture rooms have to be proven before America wakes the hell up? The Arab world sure as hell sees it.

This should make everyone who loves America and what we used to stand for before Bush came to power sick. Anyone who defends it is no better the Saddam apologists. Torture is torture and it IS worse when America engages in it, especially when we are supposed to be protecting the world from the tortures.

We have met the torturer, and he is us.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1108972,00.html?cnn=yes

Tip of the immoral crooked iceberg

Watergate unfolded slowly too.

Let's hope, for America's sake, this be the removal of the first thread that shows how utterly corrupt this administration and the top of the GOP leadership is? Bush has NO political capital left and just like with Watergate, it could be the Republicans that do the unraveling (Chuck Hagel on line 1).

One hopes that those members of the GOP with Integrity (or at least a will for political survival) will step up and finally admit to what they've seen all along.

The Rovian/Delay model of patronage, bribery, character assignation and incompetence is crumbling, for the sake of America...Cue patriotic theme music (preferably Ray Charles doing America the Beautiful).

Former White House Official Arrested
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed
at 7:24 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former Bush administration official was arrested
Monday on charges he made false statements and obstructed a federal
investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court
documents and government officials.

David Safavian, then-chief of staff of the General Services
Administration and a former Abramoff lobbying associate, concealed from federal
investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with GSA when Safavian
joined him on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002, according to an FBI affidavit and
the officials.

Old thoughts

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/13/katrina.impact/index.html

I might as well say "I take responsibility". In the real world, if you're responsible for something you suffer the consequences of your failures. Unless Bush resigns or takes a pay cut, his "responsibility" is meaningless.

He expects to get a pass because he SAYS he's responsible, but nothing more.
Accountability, something this WH was going to restore and it's done nothing but hand out medals and contracts to cronies that fail in their duty to America.

If he's responsible...Impeach him. That's RESPONSIBILITY.

Oops...again...again

For a family that keeps telling me how to best live my life and raise my kids, you’d think the progeny of George H.W. Bush would get their own damn house in order before they preach to me about it.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/16/jeb.bush.son.arrest.ap/index.html

Are there any of Jeb or George’s kids that HAVEN'T been arrested?

More suffering caused by Bush

So much for helping the poor.

The president’s friends get No bid NO LIMIT contracts for the death and destruction that his incompetence caused and he has the sickening nerve to screw the very people that will do the rebuilding, those that need it most. It’s shameful, especially when you understand that the contracts awarded in this disaster are valued at WHATEVER the contractor bills to the Feds…NO LIMITS. Every dollar saved by under paying workers go right into Dick Cheney’s pocket.

Sickening, but typical for this incompetent lame excuse for a President

09/12/2005Bush Suspends Prevailing-Wage Law in Katrina Zone

The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federal contractors to pay the prevailing or
average pay in the region, has been suspended in the Hurricane Katrina-damaged
areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi by President Bush.
In a
letter to Congress, Bush said he has the power to suspend the law because of the
national emergency caused by the hurricane. "I have found that the conditions
caused by Hurricane Katrina constitute a 'national emergency,' " he wrote.
He went on to justify the decision by claiming that Davis-Bacon--enacted in
1931, amid the Great Depression--increases construction costs. Suspending it, he
said, "will result in greater assistance to these devastated communities and
will permit the employment of thousands of additional individuals."
The
Washington Post reports that Bush's action "infuriated labor leaders and their
Democratic supporters in Congress, who said it will lower wages and make it
harder for union contractors to win bids."
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney
denounced the Bush announcement as "outrageous."
"Employers are all too
eager to exploit workers," he said. "This is no time to make that easier. What a
double tragedy it would be to allow the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to
depress living standards even further."
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
noted that the Davis-Bacon Act was signed into law at "a time when scurrilous
employers were taking advantage of the desperation of American workers to care
for their families. At that time, and for more than 70 years since then, the
federal government has demanded that when taxpayer money is spent, workers
should be paid a livable wage.
"But today," she continued, " the Bush
Administration demonstrated the latest example of its anti-worker agenda, with
an executive order rescinding the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act for areas
hit by Hurricane Katrina. That means that as workers return to their lives and
livelihoods on the Gulf Coast, the Bush Administration wants to use federal
money to exploit them by paying less than the prevailing
wage."

Arizona violating anti-immigrant law by helping Katrina victims...oops

A lesson in why representative democracy may be better than every Tom, Dick and Harry with a bankroll and an agenda writing laws.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0912ruelas12.html

Last week, the state of Arizona started giving out welfare money to people who
can't prove their citizenship. It was a show of goodwill to victims of Hurricane
Katrina. It's also a clear violation of a recently passed state
law.

...

Unfortunately, under the new state law, that is not good
enough. Meaning a portion of the aid being distributed is technically illegal.
The state employees could be found guilty of misdemeanors. Someone could halt
the state's "Operation Good Neighbor" by filing a civil court case.

...

The law is clear. Each state agency or local government must verify the identity and immigration status of everyone who applies for benefits. The law also states it "shall be enforced without regard to race, religion, gender, ethnicity or national origin."There is no provision for emergencies. There is no provision for compassion.

Disgusting

Bush cuts money to prevent the tragedy, more people die because of his inaction, yet his friends still get rich. He’s like Richard Daly, without the competence, but with dictatorial powers.

Makes me sick.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9282533/

Entourage

In case you still didn't know. Entourage is the best show on TV, hopefully you caught it before the season finale, but I'm sure HBO will be bringing out the DVDs soon.

Ari Gold is the best character in years.

So, "Let's hug it out, bitch"

COWARD

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9247775/

He can’t even keep his promises or stand up for what he believes in. Typical unprincipled GOP pantywaist.

With regard to "God's Wrath" or the hypocrisy and blashamy of the "Christian Right"

I know everyone has read about last week that the anti-abortion group Columbia Christians for Life claimed that Katrina is God's punishment for America's tolerance of abortion rights as well as the general sinful nature of the people of New Orleans. So, a question for the religious folks.

If Christ died for our sins, why did these people die for other people's sins? Did Christ die for the sins of a select few? Or are the dead in NO, who died for the sins of others, martyrs or messiahs?




And I’ll pose another question.

If you say that God is killing people for their sins, or in an entirely different scenario, the sins of others…and God being omnipotent would know that innocent people would die if he sent a hurricane, doesn’t that pretty much show a complete disavowal of Christianity in general.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t pretty much the main part of the New Testament (which makes Christians Christians) that a)God gave his only begotten son and b)that son died for our sins. To say that God is killing people for their sins pretty much denies that Christ died for them, no?

A friend of mine recently made the point earlier that the god who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, was replaced in the NT, by the aforementioned (John 3:16). Couldn’t it be said that the people who made these statements don’t believe in the NT and therefore, can’t be called “Christians”?

New Orleans

Haven't blogged on this, but I've sent a bunch of emails to friends. Don't really have much to add that hasn't been said. Bush failures, complete disconnect from reality (especially the reality of poverty in America...see his mother comments on how the people in the Astrodome are really better off now anyway), the Far Right's wrath of God crap. (if Jesus died for our sins why would God kill innocent people for the sins of others? Would that not make them like Jesus?).

On and on it goes.

But the Daily Show nailed it tonight when Ed Helms "reported" that Bush planed to build a dam in Arkansas so that "we could fight the flood waters over there, rather than over here". Summing up brilliantly the disaster that is the Bush administration and it's unexperienced political cronies that get rewarded with FEMA jobs for being a good fundraiser.

despicable.