n

Mr. David Corn,

All of America should be crying for America. If it were only New Orleans.

Thanks

Kirk

All Karl Rove should be overseeing is his kidney stones.

The New York Daily News

Never mind those planned congressional hearings on the hows and whys of government incompetence in the attempt to cope with Hurricane Katrina.
There were not only logistical and bureaucratic troubles but, astonishingly for the Bush White House, political snafus. Maybe there's a simple explanation: Karl Rove's kidney stones.
Washington insiders have been buzzing that President Bush's guru-in-chief - often called "Bush's Brain" - has been suffering from the painful urinary-tract malady for the past couple of weeks, causing him to miss some key Katrina strategy sessions.
I'm told that the 54-year-old deputy White House chief of staff - who apparently was feeling well enough yesterday to travel outside the nation's capital - visited the hospital, possibly twice, to relieve his agony since Labor Day.
White House officials declined to speak on the record about Rove's kidney stones, due to the extreme delicacy of discussions about internal organs of top presidential advisers.
But the National Institutes of Health define a kidney stone as "a hard mass developed from crystals that separate from the urine and build up on the inner surfaces of the kidney. ... Usually, the first symptom of a kidney stone is extreme pain, which occurs when a stone acutely blocks the flow of urine. ... Sometimes nausea and vomiting occur. Later, pain may spread to the groin."
My esteemed colleague and Daily News Washington Bureau chief, Tom DeFrank, who has also suffered from the condition, yesterday told me: "The pain, depending on the size of the stone, goes from horrible to excruciating."
DeFrank added: "Karl may be a certified political genius, but there's no way he could be in a meeting dispensing advice to anybody. The only thing he could dispense would be low, pitiable moans."

Ahhhhhh. Are his kidney stones.

Published on Friday, September 16, 2005 by Katrina Relief: It's Iraq Deja vu All Over Again

by Arianna Huffington

Reacting to all the pricey promises the president made in his big Katrina speech, a senior House Republican official told the New York Times, "We are not sure he knows what he is getting into."

If that's true, Bush must have the worst memory since Guy Pearce in "Memento" because he's definitely been down this road before.

The coming attractions for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast play like a shot-by-shot remake of the mother of all disaster features, the reconstruction of Iraq.

Let's start with the rhetoric.

"We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes," the president pledged on Thursday. "We will do whatever it takes... we will stay there until the job is done," the president said of Iraq in November 2003. It wouldn't be a "Terminator" movie without "I'll be back," and it wouldn't be a massive mega-billion dollar Bush initiative without a vow to stay the course.

This rhetorical comparison extends to what the president didn't say -- namely, anything about the need for shared sacrifice. He didn't call for it after 9/11, he didn't call for it when we embarked on the war in Iraq, and he didn't call for it as we are embarking on the rebuilding of New Orleans. The closest he came was challenging "scout troops" to "get in touch with their counterparts" in the disaster area and "learn what they can do to help." Wonder if that was part of the Heritage Foundation's post-Katrina policy manifesto: Merit badges for corpse recovery and helping displaced evacuees across the street!

*****end of clip*****

Sliced, diced and minced by Arriana.

capt

keep up the pressure on who is in charge. no one else talks about the handouts & do nothings put in positions of overseeing rebuilding damage.
how much is halliburton making on this deal???

Can anybody decipher what Condi says in this article?
Rice says she 'listens' to al Qaeda like she read Marx; Says Bin Laden just 'single person'.
It sounds epic. It sounds important. Someone in the comment section of Raw Story said it sounds like Norm Crosby.
Sorry Dave, I strayed.

New Orleans is a feeding frenzy for the crony companies connected to Bush. There's no sincerity involved. We can pray. We can hope. But we will be disappointed because this administration is so greedy it can't back away from the money trough.
If I was Louisiana I would want Blackwater out of there so fast. Who wants mercenaries in their state? The whole reconstruction scene is grimy. It’≥ unseemly. It’≥ like the old lady vultures coming in to pick the pockets of the dead.
And where in the hell does boy wonder think the money is going to come from to pay for the "reconstruction" and fraud that we know the Halliburtons of the country are going to engage in? Next he'll be slashing Homeland Security and FEMA.

Jeanne, couldn't happen to a more deserving guy, and he's getting off lightly at that.

Katrina may have lowered public opinion of Bush, but it's turning into a cloud with a silver pocket lining for the crony crowd. I can almost see them salivating and rubbing their hands together gleefully. And who better to lead the lets-really-stick-it-to-them pack than Rove.

Carpetbaggers always thrive in disasters. This whole thing makes me sick.

'Ditch the US alliance'

Paul Kelly
September 17, 2005

FORMER Labor leader Mark Latham believed the US alliance should be ditched and called it "the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality".

The Latham Diaries reveal his in-principle support for the alliance during last year's election was completely insincere and driven by electoral politics.

Mr Latham mocks public support for the alliance and dismisses with contempt anybody who thinks it serves a purpose. The Diaries verify the judgment President George W. Bush made of Mr Latham - that his election would have put the alliance in serious jeopardy. "It's just another form of neo-colonialism," Mr Latham says of the alliance.

Writing after the election, Mr Latham says that he should go public and question the long-term need for the alliance, but laments that this "would turn the party upside down" and that "the Big Mac faction would go ballistic".

*****end of clip*****

Bush does not even have the support he claims to have from some of our "friends."

capt

Bush wants more power. I'm telling you he's getting ready for the protests.
Bush: Katrina Failure = gimme more power.
"Bush wants the power to order the military to arrest people in the US. Currently, the military is barred by the Posse Comitatus Act from arresting people in the US.

Protests can be declared "emergencies" for soldiers to arrest protestors."

Andrea,
I like to think the voodoo ladies from New Orleans put a curse on old Karl. Spread your magic ladies.

Very eloquently put at #8. I meant Rove and his kidney stones at #9, and may he have many more.

Maybe it was Marie Laveau. I think she was the great voodoo lady of NO. Maybe the ladies put one on Cheney too? Now keep workin that powerful magic ladies.

Mug shot. John Ellis Bush.
The msm is just not being kind to the Bush family anymore.

Ha Ha Ha Ha the right is soooo funny. Wizbang.
Perhaps the "reality based community" should join the "job based community" and wear a real dress shirt for once in their lives - you know the kind that doesn't have a button down collar...

Get it? "Job based community"? That is so funny.
Man pathetic.

And then there's the bit about Cheney's surgery and how the democratic underground is saying mean things. They even have pictures before the "proof disappears".
Oh my. Got caught red handed.
Brother.

That truly is a mug shot.

Whenever I think of bush and his cabal and the corruption and filth they are spreading, I have to shower 3 and 4 times a day.

Maybe this was the point

Please read this short blog. Is there anyone who cares about our American soldiers? Reflect closely on Kissinger's words!!! Kissinger is a slime ball!!!

Another Sad Day

I BLAME BUSH FOR THE DEAD!!!!!

BUSH IS PRO-WAR AND ANTI-TROOPS. I can see rejoicing in the West Wing of the White House. Bush says that war is a NOBLE CAUSE than why are his daughters at home and not in Iraq?

Casualties in Iraq lists that 2,129 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Bush’≥ evil lies and to keep the opium trade alive so the CIA and the Pentagon can have drugs flowing to pay for American terrorism in the USA and throughout the world. Police dogs, taser guns, and tear gas have been unleashed upon Americans for protesting against Bush’≥ policies. Bush and Cheney plan to stay in power forever. America is under martial law and a complete police state. We are no longer a nation with freedoms and rights.

YES, I BLAME BUSH FOR THE DEAD!!!!!

Nuke 'Em

That is our destiny to nuke everyone until our planet's population is 500 million people.

Go away, recruiter

Bush's policies treat our soldiers like cannon fodder!!!

David -- You should check out the wrap sheet on the third member of the Katrina reconstruction troika, Claude Allen:

Claude Allen is a black conservative who is a darling of the religious right . . . For many years he was a top aide to Jesse Helms . . . and didn't quit even when Jesse Helms opposed making Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. But more important, Claude Allen has a long record of subordinating public health to the agenda of the religious right. When he was Virginia's Commissioner of Health and Human Services under Republican governor Jim Gilmore, Allen opposed legislation that would provide health insurance to children because the legislation included giving state money to underage girls for abortions who had been victims of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual abuse. And when the legislation was passed despite Claude Allen's opposition to it, he pulled a deliberate slowdown in enrolling the children of Virginia into this program, and he admitted that the reason he had done so was because of the abortion issues.

Doug Ireland
Democracy Now interview
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/12/155235

Bush actually took a couple of "reporter" questions Friday at the WH w/Putin. Not a single question was asked about Rove running New Orleans? Here is the exchange, verbatim:

PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll take two questions a side, starting with Terry.

Q Mr. President, with billions of dollars flowing out of Washington for hurricane relief, some Republicans are worried that you're writing a blank check that will have to be paid by future generations. Who is going to have to pay for this recovery, and what's it going to do to the national debt?

PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all, for our citizens who haven't seen what I've seen -- you've seen what I've seen -- it's -- we lost a lot of life and a lot of property. I mean, the area destroyed by the storm is the size of Great Britain. And we've got whole towns just completely flattened, just wiped out. And one of our great cities, New Orleans, is -- a lot of it is underwater. And by "underwater," I mean water over the rooftops. And those homes will be destroyed. Thousands of people won't have homes. And so this is an enormous task to help the region start growing again.

One of the commitments that I made last night is for the federal government to fund a significant portion of the infrastructure repair and rebuilding; in other words, our bridges and our roads. Our schools, the water systems are ruined, the sewer system is ruined. And I meant that when I said we will do that. Part of the recovery is to make sure there's an infrastructure that works.

Yesterday in New Orleans, for example, the Mayor was so thrilled that a portion of New Orleans, the French Quarter, for example, has got lights and sewers -- you can't drink the water, but the sewer system works. In other words, he's beginning to see some life. And it just reminded me that as we can get the infrastructure up and running as quickly as possible, get the debris cleared, get the infrastructure up and running, then life will begin.

And so, you bet, it's going to cost money. But I'm confident we can handle it and I'm confident we can handle our other priorities. It's going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean we don't do -- we've got to maintain economic growth, and therefore we should not raise taxes. Working people have had to pay a tax, in essence, by higher gasoline prices. And we don't need to be taking more money out of their pocket. And as we spend the money, we got to make sure we spend it wisely. And so we're going to have inspectors general overseeing the expenditure of the money.

Our OMB will work with Congress to figure out where we need to offset when we need to offset, so that we can manage not only to maintain economic growth and vitality, but to be able to spend that which is necessary to help this region get back on its feet. So it's a big role for the federal government.

There's a big role for private sector. And that's why I call for economic growth zones, an economic enterprise zone. Look, there's not going to be any revenues coming out of that area for a while anyway, so we might as well give them good tax relief in order to get jobs there and investment there. It makes sense. The entrepreneurial spirit is what's going to help lift this part of the world up. So we've got a -- I started laying out the outlines of a plan, and it's one that we want to work with Congress on.

Q What will it cost?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, it's going to cost whatever it costs. We're going to be wise about the money we spend. I mean, you're -- we haven't totaled up all the bridges and highways, but I said we'll make a commitment to rebuild the infrastructure, and to help rebuild the infrastructure. We're also spending money on -- $2,000 a family to help these people get back on their feet. There's a variety of programs. The key question is to make sure the costs are wisely spent, and that we work with Congress to make sure that we are able to manage our budget in a wise way. And that is going to mean cutting other programs.

Do you want to call on somebody?

Q The Russian-U.S. relationship largely is based on your good personal relations. In year 2008, you both will cease to be Presidents. So have you laid any guarantees so that U.S.-Russia relationship could go on not worse than it does right now?

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a good question.

PRESIDENT PUTIN: Are they already firing us? We still want to work. (Laughter.) To be serious, well, I might say that guarantees of the positive development of the U.S.-Russia relations are based on the mutual interests to develop such relations between the two countries, with their steps, leaders can either help such an objective process of development, or be an impediment. We try to do whatever it takes to support this process. So far, we are responsible, and will continue to do so.

PRESIDENT BUSH: For example, we will leave behind some legacies -- the Moscow Treaty, which commits both countries to reducing our nuclear warheads; trade. In other words, as our countries and different companies begin to invest -- companies begin to invest in both countries, that leaves behind a legacy that will be hard for future governments to undo. There's kind of a strategic dialogue, we get in habits sometimes and the idea of setting a way for governments to talk to each other at different levels of government is a good legacy.

And so, we do have three more years, which I found out is a long period of time. And we'll be able to do more together that people -- that future governments will view as a way to move forward to keep the peace, and to be -- to deal with big issues in a complex world.

Steve.

Q Last night you said that greater federal involvement and troops may be required in future disasters. Could you elaborate on that a little bit? And were you able to convince President Putin on the need to send Iran to the Security Council? Sorry to do a two-part.

PRESIDENT BUSH: No, that's -- hit me with a two-part question.

First, on Iran, we agree that the Iranians should not have a nuclear weapon. That's important for people to understand. When you share the same goal, it means, as you work diplomatically, you're working toward that goal.

Secondly, I am confident that the world will see to it that Iran goes to the U.N. Security Council if it does not live up to its agreements. And when that referral will happen is a matter of diplomacy. And that's what we talked about. We talked about how to deal with this situation diplomatically.

The first part of the question was -- oh, was how to deal with disasters.

Q Federal involvement in disasters.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes. I don't want to prejudge the commission's -- what do they call it, the bipartisan commission that is set up in Congress. I don't want to prejudge their findings. But I do think they ought to seriously consider the fact that there are -- a storm, for example, of a certain category, which will require an overwhelming response by government that can only be provided by, say, the United States military through NORTHCOM, because of its ability to muster logistical -- logistics and supplies so quickly. And that's what I want Congress to consider. And I think it's very important that Congress consider this.

It's important for us to learn from the storm what could have been done better, for example, and apply that to other types of situations -- such as a pandemic. At the U.N. I talked about avian flu; we need to take it seriously. I talked to Vladimir about avian flu; I talked to other world leaders about the potential outbreak of avian flu: If avian flu were to hit this country, do we have the proper response mechanisms? Does the federal government have the authorities necessary to make certain decisions? And this storm will give us an opportunity to review all different types of circumstance to make sure that the President has the capacity to react. And that's what I was referring to. I wasn't drawing any conclusions; I was just suggesting that this be a matter of debate and discussion with the bipartisan commission that is going to be set up there, with Democrats and Republican senators and congressmen.

PRESIDENT PUTIN: With regards to the Iranian subject, I might as well say that the our position is very clear and understandable. We support all of the agreements on non-proliferation, which includes Iran and others, fully, and we've always, in this regard, been open with our partners, transparent completely. And yesterday in the meeting with the President of Iran, we directly told him so. And, of course, we are against the fact that Iran would become a nuclear power, and we'll continue to do so in future, under any circumstances.

Now, as regards as to how we can control the situation, there are many ways and means to do so. We wouldn't like our -- steps could bring us to a situation similar to that one in the Korean Peninsula. We're in touch with all the partners in the process with the European-3, with the U.S. We have understanding of what we need to do, and I hope that our activities will be coordinated and will bring positive results.

Once again, yesterday I heard from the Iranian leader a statement that Iran does not seek to acquire nuclear weapons. That's the first thing I wanted to share with you.

Now -- and if you allow me, today, this way or the other, still we'll come back -- and for quite a while, I guess, in future, too -- to the fact of this horrible catastrophe, which was passed on to the soil of the U.S., having to do with this Hurricane Katrine. If, George, you don't mind, I would come back to this first question, which relates to the fact that we are taking away money from the future generation pockets. In the Soviet Union, for many decades, we lived under the motto, we need to think about the future generation. But we never thought about the existing, current, present generations. And at the end of the day, we have destroyed the country, not thinking about the people living today.

Therefore, of course, yes, we need to spend money. There is no two ways about it. And I believe that both U.S. and we in Russia, and in other countries of the world, we've been analyzing, all of us, what has transpired, how the state and the bodies responded to the current events. Many of us will draw their conclusions as regards restructuring the activities of the relevant services and bodies of the state which ought to minimize the repercussions of such catastrophes.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Final question.

Q The question to Mr. President of the United States. Mr. President, while talking in the United Nations organization, you, probably conscientiously -- talking about the strive for the road to democracy -- mentioned such countries as Afghanistan, Iran, Georgia, Ukraine, and Iraq. Do you believe the situation politically in this country is similar?

And to you, Mr. President, since we're talking about it, what is your assessment, in Iraq and in Ukraine, please? Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Let me make sure I understand your question. Do I believe the country in -- the situation in our country is similar to their countries?

Q You spoke at the United Nations about the strive for democracy --

PRESIDENT BUSH: Right.

Q -- and you --

PRESIDENT BUSH: I remember that.

Q And you mentioned Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan -- just do you think the situation in these countries is similar?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Oh. Well, no, I think they're all different. I think, as a matter of fact, democracy tends to reflect the cultures and histories of each different country. I do think, though, they're bound by some common principles -- one that governments that are elected by the people tend to respond to the people; that they've got minority rights and rule of law. But they're all on different stages of the development of democracy.

Democracy just doesn't happen; it grows, it takes a while. It's the experience of our country. It's the experience of the Russian Federation. I mean, democracies take on the customs and habits of the particular people, and they mature. And so they're at different stages. I mean, clearly, Iraq is a struggling democracy. But one thing is for certain: the people have made their mind about what they want. They want democracy: 8.5 million Iraqis went to the polls, see, and they've got a constitution that's been written. It wasn't written under bayonet or under the barrel of a gun -- it was written by people from different factions of the society that have come together. And it will be voted on soon. And then there will be another election. So this is an emerging democracy and it's different from a more mature democracy.

Q Can I follow up?

PRESIDENT BUSH: No. (Laughter.) Got to keep order and discipline. Right, Steve?

PRESIDENT PUTIN: On the last question about Iraq and Ukraine -- on Iraq, we are aware of the situation in Iraq. Unfortunately, we are facing constant violence, and that relates to known factors having to do with the upcoming referendum on constitution there. I believe that if it will be possible to get constitution, this will be a good, strong step forward to achieve stability in that country.

In my opinion, it will be only possible if the main political forces, ethnic groups, will get a sense that it's their own constitution. If this document will be confirmed, agreed upon by the overwhelming segments of the population, if the current leadership makes a strong case and convinces population that this constitution is satisfactory to all, if it will maintain territorial integrity, will take into account the interests of major minority groups, then it will be a real step forward in settlement. And we hope very much that will occur.

Now, as regards Ukraine, well, what can be said here? The political crisis, as I said recently in Berlin, the situation is under control of the President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job. Thank you. Good job.

I wonder who he thinks did a "good job"...Putin or the lapdog WH press corps?

Yes, cry for New Orleans. And cry for all the people who are going to be *living* in Bushvilles all around this once vibrant nation.

Hoover is looking pretty good in comparison to bush. Gawd!

http://encarta.msn.com/

media_461558296_761584403_-1_1/Hoovervilles.html

A view of the shantytown in Seattle called "Hooverville" during the Great Depression.

The Smith Tower is in the background, which was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

Bushvilles are coming to a town near you!

Bushvilles are already in a town near you. I have noticed homeless numbers increase in my state. And very few of my daughters friends who have graduated from college can make it on their own. This isn't a healty economy and Bush says no taxes. He loves the idea of slashing more government speading. This Katrian "thing" is a windfall. It's another reason to cut government spending. Got to pay for the reconstruction. The guy never ever went without in his life. What does he know? He knows nothing.

They are trying to make Rove look like he is too good and valuable helping with Katrina to be indicted by Fitgerald.

Lets not forget these Nine impeachable offenses. They will be used again... Pontuff with the help of Rove... said they worked good the first time.
(1)"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." (Lie)

United Nations address, September 12, 2002

(2)"Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." (Lie)

(3)"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."
(Lie)
Radio address, October 5, 2002

(4)"The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons." (Lie)

(5)"We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas." (Lie)

(6)"We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States." (Lie)

(7)"The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" -- his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." (Lie)

Cincinnati, Ohio speech, October 7, 2002

(8)"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." (Lie)

State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003

(9)"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." (Lie)

Address to the nation, March 17, 2003

How do you answer a lie? Just tell another lie, shift position away from the first lie.
Neocons who post, where did Sadam hide those wmd? Most of you are Chickenhawks, so you should be well versed in hiding things? Like why you want fight this Noble war?

From Bush quoted on Friday (and typed by Leftbank, above): "You bet it's going to cost money. But I'm confident we can handle it."

But he won't say how much "it" is. He's confident we can handle it and provides us no basis for his confidence. We let him get away with this all the time. We shouldn't.

Or maybe he believes his declaration: "It's going to mean that we're going to have to cut unnecessary spending."

To which I would ask, what on earth have you been waiting for, Mr. President? You have yet to veto a bill. So why oh why have you authorized so much unnecessary spending in the first place?

hey, cool Billmon posted at #24.
Allot of us here read his blog too.

Dave,

I picked up a virus at the Raw Story. All are vulnerable.

I have run Norton Antivurs for 8 yrs, never had a problem.

In ridding my sytem of this, I uncovered a host of nasty cookies. Mostly generated from political sites. Getting rid of bad cookies was easy.

Im more vulnerable here.
And likely will post less often.

I should have known when the pics didn't show on the first click.

It is important to update your browser. Real important.

Its also important to understand that ANY intereactive software is dangerous.

It opens ports that may not yet be well protected.

Thanks Capt for the tutorial link. Love free education. Links have been messing with me. Its cause I resist html. Cause wait a minute, its obsolete.

Know what I mean? I spent probably 12 hrs. straight trying to find a way to get rid of this nasty worm. I danced my best dance, and still it persisted.

I was at a low eb. I had forgotten all the DOS commands I ever knew, beyond ipconfig, I felt brain dead.

I honestly couldn't remember how to boot to safe mode. I went to a chat I frequent, and a long time friend gave me the proper command.
It didn't cure my problem, but it DID ground me.

DOS is our friend.

F8 is safe mode.

Life's a beach..............

Dave
Think you were hacked again. Just my opinion.
You are a lightening rod. I know all about them, been one all my life.

Read the signs.

I got persistant cookies from every political blog, Yeah, I could get rid of these, but what does this tell you about freedom of speach?

I can't prove, but have NO doubt that the worm I got came from trying to open Abu Gareb pics at Raw Story. I don't blame Raw Story. But Im unlikely to click anything else there. I think blogging in general makes me more vulnerable.

Ill probably do this less.

It seems to me that Bush isn't stupid, he's just a theif that has found a perfect opportunity and person to do some looting.

Difficult

I find it difficult at times to stay on the topic of the website. I know that articles on Rove or the Plame case are important but I do not sense outrage in treasonous acts, rigged elections, cronyism, corruption, lies, greed, depraved indifference toward human life, etc.

Yet, Americans do exhibit outrage on a blow job. They are silent in other areas that have been mentioned. Maybe Americans are outraged on a blow job because they are not at the receiving or the giving end of a blow job. I do have a telephone number for Americans to call who will be able to have training on the receiving and the giving of blow jobs and Americans can also experience a screw job.

Here is the number to call 1-800-USA-ARMY!!!!!

Does anyone have a thought about how I might obtain a transcript from Laurence Fishburne's "New Orleans Chronicles" on PBS Telethon last night. I was busy with family stuff, but I heard an eloquent, seemingly brutally honest history of New Orleans coming from the radio.

I'd really like to read it in its entirety and reccommend it to everyone.

Ken Burns also did a small bit. Should also be great.

-T

Looking at the Mugshot of Jeb Bush's 'Git', I see a strong resemblance of another Bush "Chickenhawk" in the making, he even tries to set his mouth in the "Bush Sneer" that his Uncle Dumbya is so well known for. He likes to fight cops so much why is his Silver Spoon Butt not in Iraq? Too bad he was not treated like most average Americans are when resisting arrest a little cut on his chin would be the least of his worries. One thing for sure, the cop that had the audacity to arrest him is going to be in Deep Doo Doo. But then, the Bush family has ways of making records disappear.

Big news. Yahoo! is reporting that David Corn is to blame for famine in Uganda.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050917/ap_on_re_af/un_summit_mugabe_interview_1

Mildly off topic, but: for a funny Rush-bashing ditty. This is my first attempt to embed a link; cross your fingers.

My PC's memory is a little TOO good, but Cap and Sal (maybe others as well) had figured it out anyway. The Monster was getting a little TOO monstrous; I felt like Dr. Banner trying to keep the Hulk from coming out. I experimented with a number of new names, then the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in my home state of Arkansas (home of the last President who knew his @$$ from a hole in the ground!)inspired me to adopt "Ivory Bill Woodpecker", suggesting the mischievous-but-not-evil Woody. Speaking of new names: tomorrow, 9/19, be TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY, ARRRR! Visit for more details. Among the other features is a link to a "pirate name generator". I used it, and found that me pirate name be "RED ROGER KIDD"! ARRRR! MAY YER SAILS ALWAYS BE FULL AN' YER ENEMIES' POWDER ALWAYS BE WET! ARRRRR! Yer mate in the buccaneerin' industry, Red Roger Kidd, sailin' under the name of "Ivory Bill Woodpecker"! ARRRR!

Ignorance

St. Jerome said, "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." Bush, the neocons, and the kkkevangelicals are ignorant of the Scriptures and so they are ignorant of Christ. The Scriptures reveal God's love. Bush and his cabal reveal hatred, killing, torture, and wars.

Bush and his cabal have decreed the death of God and he and his group have set themselves up as judge and judges of what is good or evil. The primary good is life but Bush's domestic and foreign policies reveal Bush's evil ways.

God must be at the center of our life, not money, nuclear weapons, and Bush. God and man walk together in life and throughout history, past, present, and future.

Monster/IBW,

Had you "pegged" (sorry) a long time ago!

#36 hajji -- you might try this for info on getting a transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/previews/

lincolncenter_benefit/

Lincoln Center will make the broadcast feed available to other networks including BET, BET Jazz, VH1 Soul/Classics, and Link TV.

Oh right, ye scurvy spectral plutocratic swab, make fun o'me leg! If ye weren't a ghost, I'd keelhaul ye, arrrr!---Red Roger Kidd

I watched the news hours this morning. NO NEW TAXES. That's basically what I heard. We have to get the Gulf Coast up and running again because we owe it to them and the cities are important and the citizens can't be forgotten. But do not repeal of the tax cuts. There will be spending cuts. On what? In my state of MN, tax cuts and no new taxes have hurt our educational system, our transportation system, our cities, our system of justice. On and On. Our state is being damaged by the Republican machine. Can we get aid?

ARRR! I forgot, ye have to click on "Pirate Fun & Games" at talklikeapirate.com to find the pirate name generators! Too much rum, I guess!---Red Roger Kidd

Can somebody on this site explain this too me? It comes from Wizbang. The Left Unbuttoned over Bush.

There's already several hundred comments about whether or not President Bush's shirt is button properly in the picture above at Crooks and Liars.

Perhaps the "reality based community" should join the "job based community" and wear a real dress shirt for once in their lives - you know the kind that doesn't have a button down collar...

What does he mean by the "job based community"?

David, there seems to be no end to this rabbit hole we are sliding down. And no end to the damage from this administration. bush is completely unable to balance a checkbook, his policy seems to be, "whaddya mean I'm broke? I still have checks!"

Monster, I'm glad your're back, and I am sorry for the incident that drove you off.

Looks like Rove is afraid of his own hand. Rove Off the Record.

Make Room for Daddy

If one turd is not enough, we have more turds in the picture.

Make Room for Daddy

If one turd is not enough, we have more turds in the picture.

It amazes me that the Bush clan and their group worked for 8 years to destroy Clinton and now they use him for his speaking and persuasive powers. I think they also use him because they know he comes off as sincere. I think he is. I think Clinton does what he does for the good of mankind. Everybody sees his actions as politically based all the time and maybe his actions are but I think he is genuine in his concern for mankind. Bush on the other hand...

The Bush Family

Bush I was interviewed in December, 1992. "If the American people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."

Barbara Bush was interviewed on Good Morning America on March 18, 2003. "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that."

MY FELLOW AMERICANS I ASK YOU ARE BODY BAGS AND DEATHS IRRELEVANT? Gerald

There should be little doubt in anyone's mind where Bush II receives his sensitivity training toward human life. Gerald

David Corn mentions Barbara Bush's words in an article that the underprivileged are making out okay in the wake of Katrina. Every time she babbles Barbara Bush reveals her soulless sensitivity. What can we expect from an emperor whose mother shows lack of nurturing and sensitivity toward human beings.

Here is an example of a Bush II thinking process!!!

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush

The Nazi Family Code

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders, tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." Herman Goering or are these the words of Karl Rove?

The American Family

America is home to rigged elections, a shattered US Constitution, and damned souls.

Karl Rove says he and Joe Wilson go to the same church but Wilson attends the wacky mass. Rove and Wilson are Episcopalians. As a Catholic I attend the Liturgy of the Eucharist and there are no wacky masses. All masses reveal God's infinite love for us, Catholics and non-Catholics.

Frank Rich has a good column today. Sums things up nicely. Message: I Care About the Black Folks.

WHEN there's money on the line, cronies always come first in this White House, no matter how great the human suffering. After Katrina, the FEMA Web site directing charitable contributions prominently listed Operation Blessing, a Pat Robertson kitty that, according to I.R.S. documents obtained by ABC News, has given more than half of its yearly cash donations to Mr. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. If FEMA is that cavalier about charitable donations, imagine what it's doing with the $62 billion (so far) of taxpayers' money sent its way for Katrina relief. Actually, you don't have to imagine: we already know some of it was immediately siphoned into no-bid contracts with a major Republican donor, the Fluor Corporation, as well as with a client of the consultant Joe Allbaugh, the Bush 2000 campaign manager who ran FEMA for this White House until Brownie, Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate, was installed in his place.

#52 Jeanne, Clinton comes across more sincere because of his humble beginnings in Hope, Arkansas.

The Bushes were enamored with Hitler who was their role model. Bush Younger has spent his entire life trying to emulate Hitler.

The Bushes are Hitler's clones.

David, why don't you try to get on Judith Miller's VISITORS' LIST in the slammer?

Maybe you could pick up some useful intelligence from John Bolton after his visits with her.

Ms. Miller sure has an interesting guest list!

Welcome home Monster!

Things are not monstrous enough without you.

IBW is a cool bird, but nicer to have from the Id the Monster.

capt

Caroline,
That's an interesting thought.

#39 Monster, If I could only dance the polka, the song would give me double enjoyment.

Hurricane Hugo at the U.N.

By Mike Whitney

09/18/05 "ICH" -- -- "Practically no one in the United States knows that we've donated millions of dollars to the governorship of Louisiana, to the New Orleans Red Cross. We're now giving care to more than 5,000 victims, and now we're going to supply gasoline, freely in some cases, and with discounts in other cases, to the poorest of communities, starting with New Orleans and its surroundings... We've been helping. And we've been even rescuing people." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; "Nightline" with Ted Koppel, 9-16-05

Hugo Chavez's performance at the UN was greeted with the bucket-loads of bile that one expects from America's rightward-titling media. Washington Post hatchet-man Colum Lynch provided a typical summary of the speech by dismissing it as "a rant" from the Venezuelan "bad-boy". But, Lynch isn't alone in his hostility; the outpouring of venom came from all corners; appearing in many newspapers across the nation, invoking the hackneyed expressions of contempt for any foreign leader who rebuffs Washington or who follows redistributive economic policies.

In fact, the speech was a brilliant and impassioned analysis of the current state of the world and of the United Nations. Chavez noted that the original intention of the gathering had been "completely distorted" by the so-called reform process introduced by John Bolton. The reforms are entirely designed to transform the UN into a cats-paw for American power creating greater flexibility for Washington's preemptive wars and for dismantling the foundations of international law. They signal the demise of the UN as a legitimate forum for world development and an invitation for Bush and co. to act with even greater impunity.

*****end of clip*****

An interesting piece.

capt

Crooked Government Cops

Former Green Beret Comes Clean About Mafia-Like Hit On Military Officer Who Knew Too Much About Kennedy Assassination

Called 'Dangerous Dan' by his military buddies does an about face from being a Green Beret and military hitman to now fighting for Christ as a born again Christian. Once he found the Lord, the former Special Forces Lt. Col. says he no longer fears the assassins who have tried in the past to kill him for going public in a tell-all book.

10 Sep 2005

By Greg Szymanski

Lt. Col. Marvin is blunt about his feelings about President Bush and his cronies, saying he doesn't trust them and doesn't believe a word that comes out of their crooked mouths.

"I am anxious to get out my information because it relates to the oppression in America that is going on right now," he said about his boo, the introduction written by famous actress and singer Martha Raye.

Saying that America is no longer a defender of freedom but an invader of nations, he claims that America is now firmly in the hands of leaders and under the control of people who do not have America's best interests at heart.

"We are not a democracy any longer. I simply do not trust Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney," added Lt. Col. Marvin. "The entire gang of Skill and Bones are involved here and I fear they are trying to destroy our country right before our very eyes. We have no business being in Iraq. We went in their on Bush's lies and his doctored intelligence reports regarding weapons of mass destruction that never existed."

Lt. Col. Marvin said the only way to change Bush's evil direction, if it's not already too late, is to change the political system "from the bottom up," hopefully attracting honest people who will not sell out to the corporate interests controlling America today.

*****end of clip*****

Of course it has been said before, many times here on this board but an interesting piece just the same.

capt

Weldon: Atta Papers Destroyed on Orders

September 16 2005
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ

A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday.

The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa.

Weldon declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" —†as much as one-fourth of all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added.

A Senate Judiciary Committee aide said the witnesses for Wednesday hearing had not been finalized and could not confirm Weldon's comments.

Army Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a Pentagon spokesman, said officials have been "fact-finding in earnest for quite some time."

"We've interviewed 80 people involved with Able Danger, combed through hundreds of thousands of documents and millions of e-mails and have still found no documentation of Mohamed Atta," Swiergosz said.

He added that certain data had to be destroyed in accordance with existing regulations regarding "intelligence data on U.S. persons."

Weldon has said that Atta, the mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and three other hijackers were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger," which determined they could be members of an al-Qaida cell.

On Wednesday, former members of the Sept. 11 commission dismissed the "Able Danger" assertions. One commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said, "Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us."

Weldon responded angrily to Gorton's assertions.

"It's absolutely unbelievable that a commission would say this program just didn't exist," Weldon said Thursday.

Pentagon officials said this month they had found three more people who recall an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, have come forward to support Weldon's claims

*****end of clip*****

What will it take for people to just listen?

capt

Capt, I am finally home from my adventure, I am SO tired!! I never want to see another blue rock for the rest of my life!! Roughly 10 tons out of the ground in 1 week, sheesh! I missed the blog, but not all the bad news.

The DC SOBs

The Zarqawi story is interesting. The use of his name dies for a while when news that he is dead and has been dead for quite some time surfaces. Then the story dies and he resurfaces. And then the stories come out and we hear no news of Zarqawi. Zarqawi is back.
And so are the articles.

Zarqawi is dead, claims Baghdad imam
(AFP)

16 September 2005

PARIS - Al Qaeda’≥ leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, is dead but Washington continues to use him as a bogeyman to justify a prolonged military occupation, an Iraqi Shia cleric said in an interview published here on Friday.

Sheikh Jawad Al Kalesi, the imam of the al-Kazemiya mosque in Baghdad, told Le Monde newspaper: ҉ donմ think that Abu Musab Al Zarqawi exists as such. Heճ simply an invention by the occupiers to divide the people.ӊ
Kalesi claimed that Zarqawi was killed in the Kurdish northern region of Iraq at the beginning of the US-led war on the country as he was meeting with members of the Ansar Al-Islam group affiliated to Al Qaeda.

҈is family in Jordan even held a ceremony after his death. Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is therefore a ploy used by the Americans, an excuse to continue the occupation. Itճ a pretext so they donմ leave Iraq.ӊ
Kalesi made the comments to Le Monde as he passed through Paris after attending an inter-religious gathering in the eastern French city of Lyon organised by the Roman Catholic Sant’Ögidio Community,

Some Terrorists are OK

9/17/2005
Bush: We'll do for the Gulf Coast what we did for Iraq.
When Jerry Bremer arrived in Baghdad to take over as Iraq proconsul, he immediately set about rewriting the country's civil code in violation of international law for the benefit of US corporations, and dispensing pallet loads, literally, of cash looted from Iraqi's oil revenues. Now that president Bush has designated political assassin and ongoing national security threat Karl Rove as the new Gulf Coast proconsul, Bremer will soon look like a classic piker.

Even before word of Rove's new role oozed onto the pages of the New York Times, signs abounded that Bush had dropped the flag on another years-long season of corruption, greed, casual malice and graft, this time at home.

And not just any signs: flashing neon ones, such as no-bid reconstruction contracts going to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, and to clients of former Bush campaign manager and Michael Brown’≥'s FEMA predecessor, Joe Allbaugh. Such as the president's possibly illegal suspension of the law requiring federal contractors to pay employees the local prevailing wage. Such as Dick Cheney's decision to divert power company crews from providing electricity for hospitals to providing electricity for pipeline operators. Such as the administration's decision to bump federal credit card spending limits from $2,500 up to $250,000.

Such as the sometimes ghoulish Congressional attempts to transform the entire Gulf Coast into a giant laboratory for the social Darwinist agenda radical Republicans have mostly failed to inflict on the nation at large.

As Rove prepares to channel a deluge of federal money into the hands of the administration's cronies and political allies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, no longer guided by what in retrospect looks like an ultra-competent Michael Brown, continues to flail aimlessly, depriving hundreds of thousands of Katrina survivors the assistance they desperately need.

FEMA-contracted trucks filled with relief supplies are wandering the coast for all the world like diesel-powered ghost fleets while FEMA community relations personnel breeze through communities with no power and no phone service, distributing fliers advertising toll-free emergency numbers to the people trapped there and then moving on.
----------------

These devils will not rest until they have bankrupted us all and left us destitute.

A slippery slide down the hellhole

Spiritual Revolution

#67
Gerald,
Funny post. What is Bush going to do with the friendly neighborhood terrorist?

A Christian Nation Bombs

A must read article!!!!!!!!!!

Saladin,

Very good to hear from you! You have been missed!

capt

Saladin,
What is really heartbeaking is how hard it is for the young people trying to make it. My daughter and her friends have jobs and struggle to make it. Most don't have insurance. These are kids with college educations. They are not looking for big houses. They are trying to make it and still living with mom and dad.

Saladin,
What is really heartbeaking is how hard it is for the young people trying to make it. My daughter and her friends have jobs and struggle to make it. Most don't have insurance. These are kids with college educations. They are not looking for big houses. They are trying to make it and still living with mom and dad.

Ok, what the hell. What is that protect from malicious predator bit? I just posted twice because I was told to try again later.

Jeanne, Bush would probably shake his hand. Bush is the leading terrorist on this planet. He can't wait to nuke either Iran or Syria. Cheney has the preemptive nuclear attack plan and he and Bush can't wait to implement the plan.

The malicious posting is a way to prevent a computer program from posting multiple posts by making people wait one or two minutes between each post.

If you hit the post button twice (accidentally) you will get that message. Very standard fare.

It is not meant to accuse or condemn.

capt

Jeanne, I usually ignore the blog messages, just hit refresh and your post will probably be there. I have reached the conclusion that this administration is on a mission of rape and pillage, and every non-millionaire in the country will pay the price. Struggling to make ends meet is simply not something they are concerned with because they have never had to do it. They have always been thieving, lying thugs, raised by the same. They don't care about our country or us, they never have and they never will. We will go the way of Russia economically, and have to start over when the looting is done. We are so close to that iceberg.

Thank you Capt.
Too much caffine I guess.

This is what the vatican thinks of us.

Pope's Katrina envoy: 'Shameful' poverty in U.S.

Saturday, September 17, 2005; Posted: 8:17 p.m. EDT (00:17 GMT)

United States
Mississippi
Louisiana
New Orleans (Louisiana)
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI's envoy to the United States to bring aid for Hurricane Katrina's victims said Saturday that many of them have been struck by "shameful" poverty in "rich America."

The German-born Archbishop Paul Cordes, who heads the Vatican's charity organization, traveled to Louisiana and Mississippi last week to express the pontiff's solidarity with the victims as well as bring aid.

He said that Catholic Charities had allocated $6 million (euro4.9 million).

"Many were struck by ... poverty, at times shameful, in rich America," Cordes told Vatican Radio.

"I do not want to hide my personal fear -- that the superpower isolates itself and remains isolated even in dealing with the disaster," Cordes said. "In this dramatic emergency, the United States must not be abandoned."

Cordes spent four days touring Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana, and Biloxi, Mississippi.

"The weakness experienced by the United States faced with this catastrophe" serves to "destroy all of our beliefs about self-sufficiency," the Vatican official said. "Thus, for me, in the bad part of this event there is also the hope, for many citizens, of seeing that the world is greater than the United States," Cordes said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I GUESS SELECTING KARL ROVE AS THE HEAD OF RECONSTRUCTION IN NEW ORLEANS IS JUST AN IMMEDIATE EXAMPLE OF president bush ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SLOW RESPONSE TO KATRINA. THERE IS JUST NOTHING LIKE HAVING ONE OF THOSE "COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVES" LIKE kARL rove WHO HAS BEEN MORE THAN WILLING TO KICK AROUND GRIEVING WAR MOTHERS..KICK AROUND SOME GRIEVING EVACUEES FROM A STORM TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION,(what an effective strategy) although there have been some on the web who have brought up the possiblity that the appointment of karl rove is to put some distance between the bush adminstration and rove before the investigation of PATRICK FITZGERALD (HOPEFULLY) COMES STORMING DOWN ON THIS BAND OF CRIMINALS.

To feed and house the poor we would be called socialist or communist. Our founders and politicians made a choice to be capitalists and that can work when the people can keep the big money indulgences in check through regulation OF not by government.

Magically in the last couple of decades big business have been given a voice they should never have in our government. Corporations are treated as a citizen for tax purposes but are not given the rights of a citizen. They should have no vote in elections but now they have the only vote that politicians listen to and is summed up by the number of zeros.

That is true for all politicians as money has become the game and the people are to be taken for every dime they give up willingly. We are all tax slaves to causes we do not support. We even feed the corporations that are kind enough to make huge donations to politicians with a return on that investment in the form of tax breaks and credits. We (the USA) actually write checks to some companies that make billions in profit.

The real "big" multinational corporations cannot really be hurt by customer boycotts or organized labor or collective bargaining. They are rewarded for exploiting labor, goods and services (more profit so better for the bottom line).

Medical insurance, forty hour work week, paid leave, even a "living wage" are all things that have been enforced on business because taking care of employees was caring for a companies most important asset, the people. Business loves profit more than people so business is a sociopath and need to be tended to with great care and control.

When business controls the high offices we get greed and it becomes a race to bottom and the "winners" are the greediest bastards on the planet. It does not matter how they "win" they are driven by the prize that is the rudiment of "the ends justify the means."

The only thing that will change it is revolution. The new revolution will be different from the revolutions that have come before. It is the system that has betrayed us and we have surrendered most of our power to the institutions of a fascist government. The system has no feeling and no shame for taking our power nor will the system return our power. The system is not unlike a sci-fi novel about some soul-less force taking over the world.

How can we support a system that rewards the ones that can cheat, lie, steal, connive, etc. and promote those feckless leaders that are groomed for the throne? A system that can only concern itself with the "haves" and the "have mores" when we know we are not being represented nor even serviced in any way we would like.

"Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. " ~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950), 1946

"Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. " ~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950), 1984 Book 3, Chapter 3

capt

Bush Katrina Ratings Fall After Speech

September 18, 2005--Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans now say that President Bush has done a good or excellent job responding to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. That's down from 39% before his speech from New Orleans.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows that 41% give the President poor marks for handling the crisis, that's up 37% before the speech.

Fifty percent (50%) of Americans favor the main proposal from that speech--a federal commitment of $200 billion to help rebuild New Orleans. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are opposed and 23% are not sure.

The spending plan has not been well received by conservative voters--just 43% favor the huge federal commitment partisan while 37% are opposed. This is especially striking given how supportive the President's base has remained throughout his Administration.

The President's reconstruction plan is favored by 66% of liberal voters. Still, only 10% of liberals give the President a good or an excellent rating for handling the crisis.

*****end of clip*****

I want to know which 10% of "liberals" gives Bunnypants the time of day? OMG "good or excellent?" I think I might be sick.

capt

Capt, I've been catching up on the headlines and it seems to me there is nothing too evil for the psychos in charge to conjure up, no theft too bold, no lies too obvious, no actions too heartless. I feel like our country has sold it's soul to the devil in exchange for temporary gratification. And this was done without consideration of the price that would be required in the end. I think payment is almost due, and the devil always gets his due.

Capt, I've been catching up on the headlines and it seems to me there is nothing too evil for the psychos in charge to conjure up, no theft too bold, no lies too obvious, no actions too heartless. I feel like our country has sold it's soul to the devil in exchange for temporary gratification. And this was done without consideration of the price that would be required in the end. I think payment is almost due, and the devil always gets his due.

That was weird, I hit post only once but it showed up twice instantly. That's a first.

Maybe an echo echo?

HA!

Still a little buggy at times but seems to be working better than a few days ago.

capt

#81 kathleen, thank you for a good post!

#82 capt, another good post!

#83 capt, when the liberals back this thug, we are in deep, deep trouble.

Bush anticipates Rove's indictment. He will portray liberals as more interested in a witch hunt than in helping the victims of Katrina, and pardon Rove in the interests of the nation. The Republican congress will do nothing in response.

On the eighth day

May God help us from ourselves!!!

All people who want to be with God must persevere to the very end. Being God's disciple means that our job is never finished until He welcomes us home.

Voices of the Heart

Let us all regain our hearts in the USA!!!

Cut Foxtel-Fox link, urges Seven

By Elisabeth Sexton
September 19, 2005

"Community welfare" justifies a Federal Court order breaking up the ownership links between pay television operator Foxtel and program supplier Fox Sports, according to the Seven Network.

The aggrieved broadcaster also wants Justice Ronald Sackville to rewrite the rules under which major sporting bodies award pay TV broadcast rights.

The judge on Friday released a written submission from Seven outlining its claim that News Corp orchestrated a strategy which put Seven's pay TV program supplier, C7, out of business.

The heart of the case, which started last week, is Seven's complaint that News abused its market power - derived from half ownership of the National Rugby League, half ownership of C7's direct competitor in program supply, Fox Sports, and 25 per cent ownership of the Foxtel retail pay TV service.

"The existence of the common ownership structure and the experience of C7 will deter and prevent any potential competition in those markets and community welfare will be affected by the absence of competition," the submission says.

*****end of clip*****

I remember a time when companies taking unfair advantage was frowned upon here in the USA. Clearly nostalgia is not what it once was. *sigh*

capt

Well helloooo everybody! How are things on the Cornblog? I've enjoyed reading all of your posts over these last few days. All is well in San Antonio. We've got a slew of Louisianans that are slowly making themselves at home. Little Tigre is crawling, falling and bawling. He's cut a few teeth and is driving his sister batty.

Just wondering if anyone else caught Galloway ripping Christopher Hitchens on CSPAN? They spent most of the night cracking ad hominem without addressing the war proper. (Crikey. It's been so long, I forgot how to embed a link!) They both got in a few good body shots. Hitchens sprinkled his idiocy with lies (natch) but it wasn't all that bad. Galloway's summation was devastating. Hitchens never really measured up. I just wished Galloway didn't scream into the microphone so much. His screaching made Howard Dean look downright mealymouthed.

I also got to watch Bunny Greenhouse on CSPAN (they seem to have all the best shit lately). It's a shame she got screwed for telling the truth.

I'd like to thank Jeanne for the speechalist link. It was funny and painful to watch. I've long been a fan of the Bushisms; but I've always gotten them in print (which doesn't do Chimpy any justice). I thought I'd return the favor with the Dubyamovie. I posted that one a long time ago and had to scramble to find it. Someone went to a lot of trouble to put that together.

More funny: The wingnuts get the Fear (from The Liberal Avenger, via C&L). Malkin and friends report a SAM attack on a Passenger jet in the U.S.

When Hajji checks in, I'd like to get an update on this lady calling the NOLA survivors "yard apes." Is she for real, Haj? I thought the Reactionaries called us "porch monkeys."

On a more somber note, I hear the Reactionaries are trying to pin the Katrina debacle on the Tree Huggers. I guess Krazy Karl IS a genius. LOL

And when I read crap like this, "WTF" doesn't begin to express my dismay.

I have a new favorite blog. It's called Crooked Timber. If you like Billmon, you'll like Crooked Timber. They've got some real educated goons there cracking skulls and taunting the Reds. I came across them while reading up on Hitchens. They've got lots of funny stuff on the funky brit popinjay. If you like reading about the pointy-headed Bavarians, you'll like their guest bloggers. And as a 2nd gen. American, I don't buy all of this myth of America stuff, but I find the outsider's perspective interesting.

Gotta go, got a bowl of cookies and cream waiting on me.
Hasta Luego, amigos.

Islam bars Iran from having nuclear weapons: Iranian president

WASHINGTON (AFP) Sep 18, 2005

Islam bars Iran from having nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published on Sunday.

"Our religion prohibits us from having nuclear arms. Our religious leader has prohibited it from the point of view of religious law. It's a closed road. We don't even need it; we can guarantee our security in other ways," Ahmadinejad said in an intervew with the weekly Newsweek.

He added that at least 1,200 inspections had taken place in Iran to vet the country's nuclear programme and more than 1,030 documents had been handed to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

*****end of clip*****

Can we believe this guy? An interesting take on nuclear weapons and Islam. Makes me wonder what part of Christianity allowed for the use and development of nuclear weapons here.

capt

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ PREDICTS U.S. WILL GO INTO SYRIA

Zalmay Khalilzad was part of the UNOCAL working group that went before Congress in 1998 stating that a pipeline into the Caspian could not be built until the government of Afghanistan was replaced. The US started making plans to replace the government of Afghanistan and announced to other nations as early as March 2001 plans to invade Afghanistan in October 2001. The people of the US were not told of these plans, of course. We were being fed "All Gary Condit all the time" as a distraction. 9-11 happened EXACTLY when it was most needed to anger/frighten Americans into supporting the already-planned attack on Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai, another UNOCAL "consultant" was installed as the ruler of Afghanistan while Zalmay Khalilzad became the special US envoy to Afghanistan before assuming his current role as US ambassador to Iraq.

#94 Pandemoniac, thank uou for the name of a new website.

Bush is licking his chops at attacking Syria.

Bird brains

US Christian Right misfires again

Leader
Sunday September 18, 2005
The Observer

If ever the world needed reminding about the oddities of America's Christian Right, its espousal of the film March of the Penguins provides us with a perfect example. To the movement's intellectuals, this French nature documentary - with its images of birds blinded by blizzards but still battling to protect their young - affirms decent, traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child-rearing. Boys and girls have been urged to watch with notebooks to write down pious musings as they watch this life-affirming work. Penguin decency needs shouting about, it is argued. It shows us The Way.

But surely the penguin is only one of God's works. Earth also has Bonobo chimps, whose jaw-dropping sexual athleticism would make Hugh Hefner blush; well-fed cats that cruelly toy with their prey; and praying mantises that eat their spouses. How do we know that these creatures do not point The Way? We don't, therefore we should remember the words of the film company executive responsible for March of the Penguins: 'You know what? They're just birds.'

*****end of clip*****

Bonobo chimps might be a bit over the top but they are no less creatures of the earth for their open and uninhibited interaction.

capt

War is a narcotic.

War is a narcotic. War gives certain people a high. Bush is a drug addict who says he has recovered but the Iraq war is an addictive narcotic that gives bush his daily high. He says that he has recovered but you never recover from an addictive personality. The longer a war lasts the more power goes to the government.

We start hating through language and from language we start to want to kill people. War gives the addictive personality meaning. Bush cannot exist without war. The state begins to define our being. The state must control us in order for us to kill. We cannot look at another person as part of humanity. Friends do not want war. You must, in war, want to kill and a person cannot be a friend to a person whom he is out to kill. People become intoxicated in war toward killing. You lose yourself and your identity as a human person in war.

If you oppose war, you court physical violence to yourself by the nationalists who desire and crave killing and war. You need moral courage to oppose war in America, a land that is overrun by nationalists who want killing and war.

Human beings do not want to kill other human beings. bush and cheney are not human beings because they want to kill human beings. bush and cheney turned away from people who had empathy for us after 9/11. We had an opportunity to build friendships but we became racists.

The republican party possesses extremists who are doing great damage to our relations in the world. Once you become violent , you hang onto remain violent because you cannot behave any other way. Violence comes back to haunt a country. Our violence to other countries will come back to haunt us. We do not have the right to control other people.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT BUSH AND CHENEY ARE PLANNING A TERRORIST ATTACK INSIDE THE USA THROUGH A COVERT OPERATION WITH THE JACKALS (CIA) SO THEY CAN REMAIN IN CONTROL AND IN POWER FOREVER.

War is a narcotic.

War is a narcotic. War gives certain people a high. Bush is a drug addict who says he has recovered but the Iraq war is an addictive narcotic that gives bush his daily high. He says that he has recovered but you never recover from an addictive personality. The longer a war lasts the more power goes to the government.

We start hating through language and from language we start to want to kill people. War gives the addictive personality meaning. Bush cannot exist without war. The state begins to define our being. The state must control us in order for us to kill. We cannot look at another person as part of humanity. Friends do not want war. You must, in war, want to kill and a person cannot be a friend to a person whom he is out to kill. People become intoxicated in war toward killing. You lose yourself and your identity as a human person in war.

If you oppose war, you court physical violence to yourself by the nationalists who desire and crave killing and war. You need moral courage to oppose war in America, a land that is overrun by nationalists who want killing and war.

Human beings do not want to kill other human beings. bush and cheney are not human beings because they want to kill human beings. bush and cheney turned away from people who had empathy for us after 9/11. We had an opportunity to build friendships but we became racists.

The republican party possesses extremists who are doing great damage to our relations in the world. Once you become violent , you hang onto remain violent because you cannot behave any other way. Violence comes back to haunt a country. Our violence to other countries will come back to haunt us. We do not have the right to control other people.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT BUSH AND CHENEY ARE PLANNING A TERRORIST ATTACK INSIDE THE USA THROUGH A COVERT OPERATION WITH THE JACKALS (CIA) SO THEY CAN REMAIN IN CONTROL AND IN POWER FOREVER.

Chavez gets a cheer in the Bronx

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brought his unique political talents, and views, to the South Bronx.

BY PABLO BACHELET

pbachelet@herald.com

NEW YORK - Clad in dark slacks and his signature red shirt representing his ''Bolivarian revolution,'' Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his magnetic charisma to a South Bronx community gathering Saturday -- and the people loved it.

He kissed, hugged and mixed it up with gusto with a Dominican music band, almost as if he were courting voters.

His audience included representatives of faith-based groups and charter schools. They came intrigued that a president from another country would trek uptown, away from the wealth and power in Manhattan. And they got a firsthand taste of Chavez's talent for mingling with ordinary people, a trait that has made him wildly popular among Venezuela's poor.

''You'd better put in there that I got a kiss from Chavez,'' said Catherine Scott, a 59-year-old black Spanish teacher as she wiped tears from her eyes. ''I never even got a kiss from [President] Clinton,'' she added, laughing at her joke.

Fifteen organizations had set up tables in The Point Community Development Corp. on Garrison Avenue, displaying their work much like in a fifth-graders' exhibition. The event had been arranged by Rep. Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat who, a decade earlier, brought Cuban leader Fidel Castro to the Bronx.

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No doubt Hugo scares the hell out of our despot(s).

capt

State treasurer, former state treasurer arrested in corruption investigation

Last Update: 09/17/2005 2:15:33 PM
By: Todd Dukart

State treasurer Robert Vigil and former state treasurer Michael Montoya were arrested Friday morning as part of an FBI corruption investigation, a bureau spokesperson said.

FBI spokesman Bill Elwell says the arrests were part of a two-year FBI public corruption investigation codenamed "Midas Touch."

A federal indictment says the two men threatened investment adviser Kent Nelson, who was involved in investing state funds, in order to obtain nearly $700,000. It says Montoya received about $632,000 while Vigil received about $54,000.

Vigil faces two counts of racketeering and a count of interference with commerce. Montoya faces similar charges, including two counts of conspiracy.

Agents executed federal search warrants at the New Mexico State Treasurer’≥ office in Santa Fe and at both men’≥ residences.

"New Mexico deserves to have elected officials run their offices with integrity and without the corrosive stain of corruption or allegations," said U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

Both were released Friday on their own recognizance. Vigil was ordered to remain between Los Lunas and Albuquerque, while Montoya was ordered to remain between Las Vegas, N.M., and Albuquerque.

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A little of the "local" coverage that might not be on the national news but corruption and crimes by politicians are so commonplace they are seldom "news" worthy.

capt

YOU GO HUGO..BUT YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK...THIS GROUP LIKES TO TAKE OUT ANYONE WHO TRIES TO SPEAK THE TRUTH.......

This is off topic but does include mention of Rove. Sort of a human/animal interest story.

Best Friends magazine did an interview with Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. He and his wife live on a farm in Maryland and have rescued all kinds of farm animals. The gist of the interview was how to mount a successful grassroots campaign for animal welfare. Best Friends also added a disclaimer: While keen to gather expertise from all quarters on campaigning for kindness to animals, Best Friends is not involved in party politics. We also invited Karl Rove, Republican campaign expert, to join this discussion.Apparently Rove declined.

There was also a picture of Joe Trippi in a roomful of people. There's a close-up of the man standing next to him and I swear it's David Corn. The pic was courtesy of EPA photos.

Hugo, and a few others really shame the creeps we call politicians here. I hope his voice is never silenced. If my memory does not fail me it was the Brazilian ambassador that RAILED about world hunger right before Bush went before the UN to pitch his "with us or with the terrorist" crap.

Now the US is fighting against the idea of fighting hunger in favor of a war against a paper tiger that sits incarcerated waiting for trial?

AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! %^&$%^#$^-er's

capt

Bush’s Speech — Taking Responsibility by Being Irresponsible

What has made the President’s speech from New Orleans with a statue of Andrew Jackson hanging appropriately over his left shoulder so remarkable was not what he said — it was what he did not say.

Gone was the adminstration’s euphanism of "lesson’s learned" — finally, finally the President actually took responsibility for "mistakes made" and the slow federal response to Katrina. But in taking responsibility the President did so by pledging another round of reckless fiscal irresponsibility. In pledging programs and rebuilding efforts for the Gulf region with a total cost greater than what the nation is spending on the war in Iraq — the President made it clear that we would be once again going to the bank of China to borrow even more money. One has to wonder where has fiscal conservatism gone?

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I think Joe Trippi ROCKS!

You can catch me posting on his comment section from time to time.

capt

"Peoples of Egypt, you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion. Do not believe it! Reply that I have come to restore your rights!" (Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798)

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"Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. Your wealth has been stripped of you by unjust men... The people of Baghdad shall flourish under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws." (General F.S. Maude, commander of British forces in Iraq, 1917)

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If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law: Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849

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Thanks ICH newsletter~!

capt

During my almost 40 years of life after returning to this cuntry i was born in, budget cuts have ALWAYS meant less for school kids.

i STILL remember my favourite seventh grade teacher crying when she got the axe...and all the pogrammes i missed because i was born a year or two too late...and if i did not get a solid Jesuit education during my formative years in Jamaica, i'd probably be a delude Republiscum today.

What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn?

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 19 September 2005

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent.

"Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal."

The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq, as Washington s