God save us from any more of dubya's "evangelical christians!" I don't think the country can survive any more of this so-called christian leadership.

"The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed"

George Orwell, 1984

I think there's something written about specifically NOT considering someone's religious beliefs when choosing nominees for public office...

-T

In the Deus vult age of crusade, why are people surprised that our Fearless Leader wasn't joking when he said it would be a lot easier if THIS was a dictatorship and HE was the dictator???

The Pentagon's military recruiters are telling potential "cannon fodder" (high school students) in Philadelphia that they should enlist now, while they can still pick the type of job they want, "because there's a draft coming next year and then you'll have no choice," reports Dave Lindorff, author of "This Can't Be Happening." (http://www.thiscantbehappening.net)

The White House and the Pentagon meanwhile have consistently denied that there are any plans for a draft.

"So we're left with two alternatives: either the recruiters know something that the rest of us and our elected political leadership in Congress don't know, or there is no draft coming next year and the recruiters are using lies to scare young kids into signing on the dotted line," Lindorff continues.
--------------
I knew the "No Child Left Behind" BS had some kind of evil agenda. The fluffier the name of a bush program, the more hideous it actually is!

David, Are you saying that Judy Miller is a hack and has an agenda differant than the majority of writers at the New York Times?

It's the writers that makes the newspaper. Not the the newspaper that makes the writers. Huh?

MORE BULLSHIT FROM THE BUSHITS:

McCLELLAN: Well, why wouldn’t—

Terry Moran: Wait, wait, wait. What relevance does how a person prays have to the judicial philosophy?

McCLELLAN: Didn’t say that it did.

Terry Moran: So why are you peddling it?

McCLELLAN: It’s part of her background, Terry; it’s part of who she is.
_______________________
In their typical Orwellian approach, the bushits are saying:

"She's very religious -- but we aren't focused on her religion."

"She attends a very conservative, fundamentalist church -- why are YOU, the meddling media, daring to ask us about this?"

"Religion is very important to her -- why can't YOU just leave this issue alone?"

#6 Oh? Professor, I hope you're not teaching journalism.

Mr. David Corn,

Good post!

I guess if Mier was of a different religion she would not be qualified.

Thanks

Kirk

ATRA Annual Meeting Brings Together Key Legal Reform Leaders

Washington, DC, April 5, 2005

The American Tort Reform Association convened for its annual membership meeting on April 5th in Washington to review the organization’≥ annual report, elect a new Board of Directors, and discuss plans for 2005.

In the legislative meeting that followed, several major figures in the campaign for legal reform joined ATRA members to discuss the importance of the work being done by the organization. Keynote speaker Harriet Miers, Counsel to the President, was joined by ATRA President Tiger Joyce, American Justice Partnership Chairman Steve Hantler (DaimlerChrysler), National Association of Manufacturers President and former Michigan Governor John Engler; Cam Crawford, Executive Director, South Carolinians for Tort Reform; and ATRA’≥ General Counsel, Victor Schwartz, who is a partner of Shook Hardy & Bacon.

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

So she is the anti-lawyer lawyer?

capt

Anti NON CORPORATE LACKY, lawyer, lawyer, Capt!

These bastards want to eliminate any and all realistic chance for a wee-little person, (you and I) harmed by the actions of a BIG GIANT PERSON (the fictional "persons" that CORPORATIONS have become) from having any course of action to cause them to bother thinking about the safety of their products, the integrity of their actions or the promises they make to the consumer.

THAT's what she is...

-T

Bush Discredits Everything

Pentagon wants more spying powers

Pentagon wants more spying powers

Mazes

Too much crap going on to keep track of...

Trade Deficit Hits Third Highest Level
The nation's trade deficit rose 1.8 percent to $59.03 billion in August, the third highest in history, driven by higher oil prices.

eyes_open,
No kidding. It's like the towers of babylon are tumbling down.
I just finished watching Democracy Now. The last segment was on the bill past last Friday in the house benefitting big business.

Democrats Chant "Shame" in Congress After Bills Pass Benefiting Big Businesses

"The LA Times reported this week that lobbyists representing transportation, energy and other special interests dominated the panels advising the senators in crafting the legislation. Most of the lobbying firms are major campaign contributors and several have donated heavily to the campaigns of Landrieu and Vitter. The bill is estimated to cost $246 billion dollars and includes billions of dollars of business for clients of the lobbyists. The act has been criticized as a missed opportunity to begin creative and equitable reconstruction of the devastated region. Keith Ashdown of the non-partisan watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, said that the lobbyists were exploiting the catastrophe. "They are using Katrina to get funding they haven’¥ been able to get in the past. You want to help the region but the bill they put together has a lot of projects that aren’¥ needed. This is congressional looting at its worse.""
-------

Lobbyist swooped into the Louisiana area and are taking over the reconstruction. They are gutting the aid packages and stealing from the taxpayer (guess who that is).
Many Republicans voted for this bill so that they could go home and tell the constituency that they voted for a bill that would build refineries and lower cost of gas. But...the oil companies admit that no new refineries are to be build and the price of gas will not be going down.

...I wonder what the psychological effect will be when the Dow drops below 10,000 (maybe later today)?

Looks like a lot of people are opposed to Miers nomination.

Report: Cheney's office opposed Miers nomination to court

Veteran conservative columnist and pundit John Fund asserts in the Wall Street Journal today that the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to block the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, RAW STORY has learned.

"A last minute effort was made to block the choice of Ms. Miers, including the offices of Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales," Fund claims. "It fell on deaf ears."

"Indeed, even internal advice was shunned," Fund adds. White House Chief of Staff Andrew "Card is said to have shouted down objections to Ms. Miers at staff meetings. A senator attending the White House swearing-in of John Roberts four days before the Miers selection was announced was struck by how depressed White House staffers were during discussion of the next nominee. He says their reaction to him could have been characterized as, "Oh brother, you have no idea what's coming."

-----------

Three more years of this??? They aren't even functioning anymore.

Saladin, now this should REALLY piss you off! Who the f**k is this guy in bed with? Talk about low standards!
______________________________

Let This Leak Go

By Richard Cohen, The Washington Post

Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page A23,

"The best thing Patrick Fitzgerald could do for his country is get out of Washington, return to Chicago and prosecute some real criminals. As it is, all he has done so far is send Judith Miller of the New York Times to jail and repeatedly haul this or that administration high official before a grand jury, investigating a crime that probably wasn't one in the first place but that now, as is often the case, might have metastasized into some sort of coverup -- but, again, of nothing much. Go home, Pat."

Micki,
Richard is a desperate little boy stamping his feet. My son and I were talking about this situation yesterday and he just shook his head. We have industries built around this neocon group. What does Fox news do now? Die I hope. What does the MSM do now that everything they stood behind is false and corrupt? Look stupid and hire new reporters who...well let's see...hmmm report.
When is big business and Washington going to figure out that what is good for big business is a HEALTHY COUNTRY? We got gangrene.
I realize the wealthy think of their own interests first but how do you continue to take tax cuts and build more wealth when you know that the nation is beginning to fall to it's knees? Are they really so stupid as to believe that they will somehow be spared the blow if a depression hits? If I can't buy their freaking product what happens to their company?

Speaking of rat-bastards....

The WELL-HEELED and WELL CONNECTED get "special" WARNINGS

-T

Hajji, With our wonderful economy I think its time to start investing in Chinese language books and cd's.

Here's an afternoon cartoon. Get your milk and cookies.

G.O.P.S

------
Filmed on location.

How the "Business" Lobby Sells Out Small Businesses, Investors & America

If ever we needed proof that the special interest groups in Washington that purport to represent ordinary small businesses were frauds, we have it today thanks to the Christian Science Monitor. That newspaper published a piece about how "businesses" supposedly support the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court –†"businesses" meaning the heads of groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, not actual small businesses. The glowing support for Miers shows that these groups really don't care about the small businesses they say they represent –†they care about hard core Republican politics and helping huge businesses squeeze small business and ordinary citizens.

Here is the quote from U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donahue, one of the most infamously dishonest people in Washington:

"The president's nomination of Harriet Miers is a good pick for the US Supreme Court. She has a reputation of getting things done and her diverse experience at the state and federal levels will be essential in guiding the court on an array of business and other issues."

Really? Is that so? As I noted a few weeks back, Miers distinguishing "experience" in law was her tenure heading a major corporate law firm in Texas that was forced to repeatedly pay damages for "defrauding investors." That's right –†under Miers leadership, the firm wasn't just defending clients who ripped off small businesses and investors, the firm itself was apparently involved in the defrauding itself.

Yet this seems to be of no concern to the groups that piously portray themselves as lobbying on behalf of mom and pop businesses. That's because these groups are as corrupt as the elitists in the Republican Party now under multiple investigations. They don't represent their members –†they are front groups for huge corporations that have been putting the squeeze on just about everyone including small businesses for years. And they are trying to rig this Supreme Court nomination fight like they did the last one.

----------
Think of who some of the big businesses are.
Health Insurance Co., Oil Companies.
How do small businesses (mom and pop businesses as Bush would say), how do they survive with insurance rates, and taxes, and freight rates the way they are and will be in the future? How do small gas station owners survive with the oil companies screw them?
Small companies are the heart of America.

This article was sited in the story I just linked.
Emerging supporter of Harriet Miers: businesses
By Gail Russell Chaddock

"Business is getting involved for the first time because, in the last decade, we've had a litigation explosion in this country that is unmatched in the industrial world - $250 billion in annual tort costs, much of it paid by the business community," he adds. "There's a concern in having [justices] with an understanding of business and commercial law from a real-world perspective."

-----
On Democracy Now there was a segment on the bill passed by Republicans last Friday. Here is part of that bill.

"The bill would also limit the power of community or citizen groups because if they filed a lawsuit to challenge the location of a refinery they would be required to pay an oil company’≥ legal costs whether they win or lose the lawsuit."

Ah, theocracy. I have fought religious indoctrination all my life, warning people of the dangers of delusions, and now to combat radical Islamist terrorists, we have a radical Christian terrorist. What ever happened to turn the other cheek? Or do unto others...? Any redeeming features of these monotheistic religions has been deliberately ignored, leaving only the hatred and violence to guide them. Burn yer bibles and qurans people, because they create whacko nutjobs like Bush and Bin Laden.

Yikes!!!!!!

A Polling Free-Fall Among Blacks

"In what may turn out to be one of the biggest free-falls in the history of presidential polling, President Bush's job-approval rating among African Americans has dropped to 2 percent, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll."

-----
2%!!!!!!!2%!!!! I can not believe it.

This white house and the congress has proven to the nation how much they care about African Americans. Katrina gave the Blacks a loud and clear message. "Bush doesn't care about Black people."
And he doesn't care about Latinos and he doesn't care about the poor and he doesn't care about the middle class.
We are cannon fodder. We are consumers who need to consume. We are slaves who are paid wages that are basically nothing. We are the invisibles. We are the disappeared.

Saladin, now this should REALLY piss you off! Who the f**k is this guy in bed with? Talk about low standards!

Micki, I dunno if it pissed of Sal, but it sho'did me! I emailed this note to the writer. haha
===============================
Let This Leak Go??
Excuse me?? The investigation of the outing of Valerie Plame is getting very close to the real story, of how they lied and manipulated intelligence to generate support for Bush's War. Reports of in-fighting at the White House over this issue is another indication that your opinion (no real crime here) doesn't hold much water. Instead of being an apologist, you should be berating the NYTimes for not reporting their own complicity in this. But then, you probably agree with the piffle she wrote leading up the war. ugh!
Alan xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx, Texas

DAMN! Repugnicons seem to be Bludgeoning Themselves to Death on ALL political fronts!

-t

A soldier seeks war's end

David, what is the possibility that Senator Reid and other democrats gave the nod on the Mier's nomination knowing that Bush would only stir up more problems for himself? Create some more chaos ?

On Judith Miller.... many have questioned the NYT's credibility , they clearly demonstrated their inability to deal with the faulty reporting of JM in a timely and just fashion. All of the weaving and bobbing has only dug their lack of credibility and integrity hole much deeper.

Was that Sulzberger arm and arm with Judy after her release? They sure looked close and comfortable, as she drug her husband (like a dog) behind the two of them.

I just recently saw this on a t-shirt, I usually do not find things like this funny. But oh how times have changed. '" SO MANY RIGHT-WING CHRISTIANS...SO FEW LIONS"

Hajji,
Ernie just needs DeLay's pr firm. It's amazing what a big scary dog can do to change the minds of the voter.

DeLay Allies Resort to Attack Dog Politics

Kathleen,
I will not laugh. I will not laugh. I will not laugh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. I will not laugh.

Some people have a long history of KNOWING when they're being whipped. The white, middle class have no historical references. I'm thinking the sons and daughters of blue-collar lower middle class (as am I) have been quicker to catch on.

Being only 1 generation removed from the Company Coal Camps of Southeastern Kentucky, I've often wondered how anyone could NOT see the emergence of unfettered Corporate Facism that this country has embraced and nurtured for so long.

Who are the 2% of blacks (I'm sure the margin of error could easily erase that figure) who SUPPORT the Repugnicons? I'm betting they don't hang out at Unky's Shoeshine Parlor!

Kathleen,

That would've been a pretty smart move on the part of the Democratic Leadership....so I can't really take it seriously!

...I'd like to think differently, though.

-T

Paradox

Louis Tice of the Pacific Institute in Seattle, Washington offers a paradox, "You give up control in order to be in control." Confident leaders do not have to rule by controlling and punitive threats. He also discusses Erickson's book, "Eight Stages of Human Development" regarding leadership. Leadership starts at the top with basic trust. A dishonest leader cannot be an effective leader. Controlling and punitive threats will have consequences and there will be a backlash against such a leader. People will subtly undermine the leader and in the end the leader is not in control and he or she remains in a constant state of fear. A fearful leader is an unstable leader. Good examples of fearful and unstable leaders are Napoleon and Hitler. We must be vigilant of such leaders, be it in the United States or in the world.

Please pay careful attention to Bush's behavior. You do not have to be a licensed psychiatrist or a Ph.D. psychologist to know that Bush is a very sick person. His increased temper tantrums, his abusive language, his flying all over the country, and his apparent alcoholism and drug intake are signs that Bush is losing it. We have in the WH a very unstable beast who could snap at any minute. We must never forget this psycho's depraved indifference in the murdering of human beings. Pray hard for this demented and deranged amoeba!

Jeanne,

I've spent the past 10 years railing against the drug manufacturers marketing "prescription" medications directly to consumers. (ask your doctor if Celebrex is right for YOU!)

For someone who's indicted to pollute the legal process with paid advertisements and favorable propaganda goes light-years beyond anything the media has engaged in thus far.(arguably, of course) It is indicative of "Free Speech" today. If you can afford it, you've got it!

If you can't afford it...SHUT THE F*&k UP!

-T

What did the Vietnam war accomplish? What is this Iraq war accomplishing? My answer is dead bodies and maimed human beings. War is outmoded and it serves no purpose.

File under:

Coincidences don't just happen!

-Homer

This abortion of an "Executionitive Branch" has mastered media manipulation so effectively that now, the media has to hide their complicity and blind gullibility by keeping the truth suppressed going into the future.

For the MSM to TRULY turn on these bastards would require a cornucopia of Mea Culpa's that I don't think we're likely to see for a long time.

I only hope I'm wrong...I was once, you know...I mean I just got some "bad information"...yeah, that's it!

-T

Regarding: Did Bush realize what he was saying? Is he going to ask all potential judicial nominees to tell him their view of God and the derivation of rights? How is this fundamentalism--only believers need apply--different from that of America's enemies?

Many of us realize Bush and America's enemies are on the same side. More and more people are waking up and smelling the coffee (and it does not smell good).

Marshall,

Yeah, like somebody took "Shit or get off the pot" quite literally!

-T

Patrick Fitzgerald's investigations seem to be expanding and will not be completed by October 28, 2005 and Bush will not extent the investigations. A lotta hype for nothing!!!!!

Fitzgerald will write a book and make megabucks on it.

TELL your Congressman/woman to take a strong stand against bush's torture machine. Please consider signing this anti-torture petition which will be sent to your rep in Congress.

http://kennedy.bluestatedigital.com/

page/petition/antitorture

Alan! GO!

Hey didn't the repugs support the investigation into clintons white house bjs to the tune of 60 million and got nothing criminal out of it until he lied to congress or somebody and then his ass was in hot water, might work the same way here, just keep on poking the pig and something will turn up. Don't let up.

Here's the "DANGEROUS CRIMINALS" the Feds spend so much time and money going after!

____________

(AP) An Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for growing marijuana to treat his chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials, his lawyer says.

He then went five days with no medical treatment and only ibuprofen for the pain, attorney Douglas Hiatt said.

Steven W. Tuck, 38, was still fitted with the urinary catheter when he shuffled into federal court for a detention hearing Wednesday, Hiatt said.

"This is totally inhumane. He's been tortured for days for no reason," Hiatt said.

______________

What these people have done to Americans is so INSULTING - these people have LIED TO ALL OF US and why aren't we ALL up in arms about IMPEACHMENT? I can say that what former President Clinton did (lied for personal reasons)was very wrong; but he didn't send anyone to die because of that; and my husband tells me that even him would have lied if they had asked him about personal matters. America, please wake up and do something about it; call/write your congressmen and complain about it; Let's not just DO NOTHING!! I am so angry about these liers. America is in Terrible Shape; time to wake up.

Pro-Life Issues

I would like to share with you an article from the Catholic News Service. Personally, I see a schism in the Catholic Church that will grow and grow. Here is the letter to the editor by Ray Chappa.

One of the readers on September 9, 2005 wrote that trying to compare pre-emptive war, torture of prisoners, and reductions in Medicaid to 1,250,000 annual abortions is like comparing apples and oranges. I disagree. All those issues are pro-life issues, involving reverence human life. They all involve policies that result in the death of innocent people.

Is it the number of deaths that result from one of those policies that make it different? If so, think about it: Four thousand unborn lives were lost today to HIV/AIDS. Thirty thousand children died today because of hunger and disease.

My belief is: If you are pro-life, you are pro-life across the board. It is a consistent ethic of life, as the U.S. Catholic bishops call it and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin called it a seamless garment. St. Francis of Assisi would include all creation under the umbrella of pro-life, maintaining that reverence for life must embrace all living creatures, convinced that we are all one huge, interdependent organism that will sink or swim together. Such a perspective leads me to even include environmental issues as pro-life issues.

Correction! "Is it the number of deaths that result from one of those policies that make it different? If so, think about it: Four thousand unborn lives were lost today. Nine thousand lives were lost today to HIV/AIDS. Thirty thousand children died today because of hunger and disease."

Did anyboby else get the impression that the Bush Speech today with the troops was fake or staged?

Tell me that I did not just hear that!
Mr. Bush, Save the Drama for your Momma!
Can you dig it, Sucka?

Pro-Life Issues

bush says that he is pro-life but he sent American soldiers into Iraq for a wrong and an immoral war. Yes, my fellow Americans 2,207 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for the bush lies.

When we talk pro-life, we need to know the areas of pro-life and not our own mind set on what is pro-life or what bush, the brain, says is pro-life.

Here are some pro-life issues.
1. the unborn
2. pre-existing conditions - people with health problems
3. the uninsured or without health care
4. prescription drugs
5. the poor and the needy
6. victims of brutal violence
7. the homeless
8. elderly and the sick killed by indifference
9. capital punishment
10. pre-emptive strikes, like shock and awe bombings against helpless countries
11. social justice and its policies
12. Matthew 25:31-46
13. premature deaths from toxic emissions in the air and in our water that bush did by overturning the clean air and environmental standards

How would you rate the bush, the brain, on these pro-life issues?

Remember there are people who praise bush as pro-life but his lies have killed 2,207 American soldiers in Iraq for a wrong and an immoral war. Focus on the destruction of Iraq and what our tax dollars will be used on to rebuild Iraq. Our country and services are crumbling and we send out our tax dollars to rebuild other countries. The American Repugnants, American Nazis, and American Taliban love to outsource our tax dollars and our American jobs.

Steve Roberts, a commentator, was on the Diane Rehm show. He made a statement that I want to share with you. "The republicans remind him of a boy who kills his parents and when he goes to court, he pleads for mercy because he is an orphan."
The repugnants are working 24/7 on screwing you and me.

Read some great, great articles on antiwar.com and lewrockwell.com!

Booker T, I forgot to include the photo-ops that we need to be aware of because Bush is on the verge of a mental breakdown, a total mental breakdown of an insane amoeba.

To end abortions, or at least bring them down to an absolute minimum, unwanted pregnancies need to be prevented. If a person is truly pro-life, they would support sex-education that is NOT just based on abstinence.

As a former Catholic, I am all too familiar with the Catholic church's stand on contraceptives. It's idiotic. The use of contraceptives are one of surest way to prevent abortions. That includes the use of the morning after pill. The rythym method? Forget it. I am from a family of 10 children that way.

Bush's WH reminds me of the Looney Tunes comic strip!!! Once Bush steps outside the WH, he is the head of the Keystone Cops.

Maybe that should be Looney Toons? Anyways, it's an insane asylum inside the WH!!!

#37 I don't know how far fetched my thinking is. Why would the Democrats want to hand Bush the "get out of jail free card" that Saladin is often referring to in regard to Mier's nomination. They knew this would stir up problems.

#54 Booker T. Npr did a piece this evening on just how the "handlers" for Bush set the stage. go to the Npr site and listen to it. Sound proof.

Go read Ron Suskind's book about Secretary of the Treasury Paul ONeil's experience during the first administration. He says in the book that he was handed scripts before every cabinet meeting and press conferences, by the handlers.
Frightening times!

Booker T,

Almost everything Bush does is faked or staged!

kathleen, Paul O'Neill was on NPR a few months back and offered some excellent ideas that would save Social Security.

micki #20, The guys an idiot. I would love to hear Fitzgerald's reply!
goob, #27, I don't believe in radical Islamist terrorists, that's just WAY too convenient. I do believe in radical christian terrorists, they have been on the rampage since the days of Saladin.
Jeanne, #'s 28&29, bush is a notorious racist, I can't believe he even has a 2% approval rating among the African Americans.
Alan #30, it did piss me off, but maybe he thinks the time would be better spent pursuing pornography! I hear there is an FBI task force forming to save us from this imminent threat!

Do you, Cornposters, realize that we had a president with Alzheimer's who functioned better and more presidential than Bush, younger? It just verifies the fact that Bush, younger, is even more insane that I have given him credit. His scripted and staged photo-ops with the soldiers solidifies Bush, younger's insanity.

Molly Ivans

Making your pension disappear is a new corporate art form. There is, for example, the "wear away." The Star Tribune gives this example: Say you've been working for a company for 20 years, at the end of which you are entitled to a pension of $2,000 a month. BUT, your company decides to "revise" the plan and, lo, suddenly you have to have worked for 40 years to qualify for $2,000 a month.
--------------
Retirement in the good ole USofA!

Naked and helpless
Workers watch as pensions disappear

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 12 October 2005
By: Muhammad Abu Nasr on: 13.10.2005 [04:28 ]

Iaqis apprehend two Americans disguised as Arabs trying to detonate car bomb in a residential neighborhood of western Baghdad's al-Ghazaliyah district on Tuesday.
----------
First we have Brits disguised as Arabs, now Americans. Again I ask, who is provoking the civil war in Iraq, and, who benefits from it? This is SUCH BULLSHIT!

#64
Gerald,
Up until this very moment I had not thought of that. You're right. Ahhhh the good old days.

#54 Booker T - the first report on his encounter with 10 American and 1 Iraqi soldier ended by saying it was well rehearsed ahead of time, according to Don Gonyea of NPR at the White House. My reaction at the time "Right on Don, but you can't say that".

The later edition focused on the woman in charge of handling it for the pentagon and the fact that a plasma monitor in the oval office was used so reporters could see how clever the whole thing was. This report had the play by play with Dubya. The man was about 4 silver bullets past lunch.

Gerald, its an insane asylum insude an insane asylum inside an insane asylum.....

Bush is doing the press every day. He is in full campaign mode. 8 trips to the south since Katrina. Press in the rose garden, press in the press room, press on the today show, and press in the oval office.

Don't they realize that they have no credibility left? As in zero? 2% among blacks, 29% among the total population and 0% among thinking progressives and librarians. Everytime they go in front of the press they are hurting themselves and every repugant running for congress next year.

Saladin. This is why Bush wants to privatize social security, so they can finish bankrupting all the corporate pension plans.

Haaji or anyone, who did the lyrics - drawing a blank.

"Tax the rich
feed the poor
until there are no poor
no more"

Clapton?

NBC called out the WH on staging Bunnypants "Candid Conversation with the Troops" today!

Included statements about the vetted and staged "Town Meetings" and highly selective audience lists for campain stops!

Maybe, just maybe McMedia's thinking that PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP, in spite of their collusion!

Hajji, the media has to go where the money is as well. If the people are dumping them because of their lies, they better rethink their strategy!
geof01, I don't think this is bush's plan, he is too inept to make any kind of plan. The powers that be would love nothing better than to sink the entire middle class into poverty, just watch them in action. bush is just a willing, idiot puppet.

My daughter is at the University of Chicago at the Irving B Harris school of Public Policy. She wants to be the World Coordinator. I asked her if that was like the Imperial His Majesty. No way! That's the job that sees that it all gets done, that it happens.

She told me about the Pereto Efficient. I received my MBA last year and I must have slept through the discussion of this term. The following is from Wikipedia

"Pareto efficiency, or Pareto optimality, is a central theory in economics with broad applications in game theory, engineering and the social sciences. Given a set of alternative allocations and a set of individuals, a movement from one alternative allocation to another that can make at least one individual better off, without making any other individual worse off is called a Pareto improvement or Pareto optimization. An allocation of resources is Pareto efficient or Pareto optimal when no further Pareto improvements can be made.

The term is named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who used the concept in his studies of economic efficiency and income distribution.

If an economic system is Pareto efficient, then it is the case that no individual can be made better off without another being made worse off. It is commonly accepted that outcomes that are not Pareto efficient are to be avoided, and therefore Pareto efficiency is an important criterion for evaluating economic systems and political policies."

If, after Katrina, a half million people were made less well off, does that mean that others must benefit in proportion to reach the efficient of pereto optimal?

What if exclusion were taken out of the economic equation? Model every school in the South after the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and every University after Harvard or Oxford? Let every musician learn from Marselis. Let every sport be taught as if by the best pro.

There is no economic theory that education cannot achieve equality. There is only the exclusion that is a right taken by the "best" and witheld to others. Without this exclusion we are all elevated.

When someone wins the many states lotto and gets the 200 million dollar prize, do 200 million other folk get really, really po? It doesn't happen.

We fill up our cars every week, or more because someone has it set up for their economic advantage. When we switch to hydrogen it will still be the same. Can they make a car that gets charged up every 100,000 miles for next to nothing? I am sure thats possible, but them some richass has to go to work for a living.

I believe in Pereto Improvement, that there is a Pereto efficient is BS. We can all be millionairs given equality and non-exclusion. Given greed it wouldn't stay that way long, but it is possible.

More from "Boots on the face, boots on the ground...What's the difference" candid conversation today...
_______________
Lombardo told the president that she was in New York City on Nov. 11, 2001, when Bush attended an event recognizing soldiers for their recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero. She said the troops began the fight against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and were proud to continue it in Iraq.

"I thought you looked familiar," Bush said, and then joked: "I probably look familiar to you, too."

"Yes, you sure do sir", Lombardo said, "I just saw a picture of you in National Geograph...No, wait....that was a BABOON's ASS!"
______________

Ah, to live in my fantasy world!!!

-T

Ah, shit! What's next? The Presidential Medal of Freedom?
______________
SPJ to Give Judith Miller 'First Amendment' Award
The New York Times Co.
Judith Miller

By E&P Staff

Published: October 13, 2005 1:20 PM ET

NEW YORK New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to reveal her source to federal prosecutors investigating who leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent, will pick up a First Amendment Award at the 2005 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Convention & National Journalism Conference on Oct. 18 in Las Vegas.

According to a press release for the event, Miller will speak to participants and then join a panel discussion titled "The Reporter's Privilege Under Siege." Joining Miller on the panel are Associated Press reporter Josef Hebert, Patricia Hurtado of Newsday, and Bruce Sanford of Baker and Hostetler law firm.

The Society of Professional Journalists, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior, was founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi.

The convention opens Sunday.

The frog march has started. Just finished watching the press conference today with Scott, and then the scripted (nothing new) question and answer period between Bush and the soldiers, it was pitiful. The "melt down" is really under way. I actually felt sorry for some of the humiliating footage. (I am a recovering catholic.)

They are so "knee deep" in the Lies, that I actually felt sorry for the President and all of the humiliating footage. ( I am a recovering catholic, the compassion and empathy sometimes get in the way of righteous anger and justice).

HERE IS MY LIST FOR THE INDICTMENTS...

1. ARi Fleisher says "croak"
2. Lewis Libby says "croak"
3. Douglas Feith hopefully says "croak"
4. Karl Rove says "croak"
5. Dick Cheney hopefully, says "croak"
6. If Judith Miller does not say "croak", we need and "OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT" As the U.K. has to prosecute Journalist who knowingly pass on classified material.
WHAT DOES YOUR LIST LOOK LIKE?

Helen Thomas at today's "WH Obfuscation Orgy"...

_____________

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, the President recognizes that we are engaged in a global war on terrorism. And when you're engaged in a war, it's not always pleasant, and it's certainly a last resort. But when you engage in a war, you take the fight to the enemy, you go on the offense. And that's exactly what we are doing. We are fighting them there so that we don't have to fight them here. September 11th taught us --

Q It has nothing to do with -- Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you have a very different view of the war on terrorism, and I'm sure you're opposed to the broader war on terrorism. The President recognizes this requires a comprehensive strategy, and that this is a broad war, that it is not a law enforcement matter.

Terry.

Q On what basis do you say Helen is opposed to the broader war on terrorism?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, she certainly expressed her concerns about Afghanistan and Iraq and going into those two countries. I think I can go back and pull up her comments over the course of the past couple of years.

Q And speak for her, which is odd.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I said she may be, because certainly if you look at her comments over the course of the past couple of years, she's expressed her concerns --

Q I'm opposed to preemptive war, unprovoked preemptive war.
_______________

Helen is beautiful!
Maybe more than one WH "collabrespondent" will start backing her up, once in a while!

READ the WHOLE thing, if you can stomach it

-T

McCLELLAND: ...What's important is that the Iraqi people are going to the polls this weekend, and they're going to vote on a constitution in a free Iraq. Just three years ago, the Iraqi people were under a brutal, oppressive dictator, a dictator that killed thousands and thousands of people.

Q (Helen Thomas) How many have we killed?

MR. McCLELLAN: We've liberated 25 million, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Q How many have we killed?
__________

Where are the rest?

-T

The frog march has started. Just finished watching the press conference today with Scott, and then the scripted (nothing new) question and answer period between Bush and the soldiers, it was pitiful. The "melt down" is really under way.

They are so "knee deep" in the Lies, that I actually felt sorry for the President and all of the humiliating footage. ( I am a recovering catholic, the compassion and empathy sometimes get in the way of righteous anger and justice).

HERE IS MY LIST FOR THE INDICTMENTS...

1. ARi Fleisher says "croak"
2. Lewis Libby says "croak"
3. Douglas Feith hopefully says "croak"
4. Karl Rove says "croak"
5. Dick Cheney hopefully, says "croak"
6. If Judith Miller does not say "croak", we need and "OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT" As the U.K. has to prosecute Journalist who knowingly pass on classified material.

WHAT DOES YOUR LIST LOOK LIKE?

p.s. did a little editing noticed I put the catholic stuff in there twice...Oh that catholic stuff.

The frog march has started. Just finished watching the press conference today with Scott, and then the scripted (nothing new) question and answer period between Bush and the soldiers, it was pitiful. The "melt down" is really under way.

They are so "knee deep" in the Lies, that I actually felt sorry for the President and all of the humiliating footage. ( I am a recovering catholic, the compassion and empathy sometimes get in the way of righteous anger and justice).

HERE IS MY LIST FOR THE INDICTMENTS...

1. ARi Fleisher says "croak"
2. Lewis Libby says "croak"
3. Douglas Feith hopefully says "croak"
4. Karl Rove says "croak"
5. Dick Cheney hopefully, says "croak"
6. If Judith Miller does not say "croak", we need and "OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT" As the U.K. has to prosecute Journalist who knowingly pass on classified material.

WHAT DOES YOUR LIST LOOK LIKE?

p.s. did a little editing noticed I put the catholic stuff in there twice...Oh that catholic stuff.

Oh! It was a beautiful sight! I just saw Terry Moran's package of bush's scripted *conversation* with the troops in today's videoconference!

The bushits must be in a state of high dungeon tonight! Terry (I think I detected a bit of a satisfied smirk on HIS face) really socked it to 'em -- by reporting THE TRUTH! Showing exactly what happened!

ABC showed the female "puppet master" (from the Pentagon?) telling the hand-picked troops how to respond to bush's questions -- even to the point of telling one of the soldiers to, "take a breath" before you start talking so he'd look like he's talking to the president.

What goofballs! Whoever set up the equipment for this videoconference and let the "rehearsal" go out on the satellite without encryption must be TOAST! Or.......maybe they did it by design.

hahahahaha

Oh! It was a beautiful sight! I just saw Terry Moran's package of bush's scripted *conversation* with the troops in today's videoconference!

The bushits must be in a state of high dungeon tonight! Terry (I think I detected a bit of a satisfied smirk on HIS face) really socked it to 'em -- by reporting THE TRUTH! Showing exactly what happened!

ABC showed the female "puppet master" (from the Pentagon?) telling the hand-picked troops how to respond to bush's questions -- even to the point of telling one of the soldiers to, "take a breath" before you start talking so he'd look like he's talking to the president.

What goofballs! Whoever set up the equipment for this videoconference and let the "rehearsal" go out on the satellite without encryption must be TOAST! Or.......maybe they did it by design.

hahahahaha

I'm so slow. It was revealed what the proper name is for Dubya. I saw it in a capt post and in the article where he got it, which I don't remember. In any event, George Whistleass Bush has a pitch to it.

geof01 #71
It is term du jour. My husband is a programmer. He deals with language du jour. He learns it and it's obsolete. Some never work anyway.

HELEN THOMAS IS MY HERO! YOU GO GIRL!!!!Give them hell! I love that woman. She is soooo cool.

Ahhh, what do they call this? Alturistic?

Flu drug maker won't share patent
Roche rejects calls to allow production of generic versions

"Tamiflu, a pricey antiviral pill invented in a Bay Area lab and made in part from a spice used in Chinese cookery, has emerged as the world's first line of defense against bird flu should the deadly strain begin its feared spread among human beings.

As nations begin to stockpile the drug in anticipation of a flu pandemic, calls are mounting for countries to sidestep patents on the drug -- as Brazil first did for AIDS medications -- and make their own generic versions.

But Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche, which acquired rights to the drug from Gilead Sciences Inc. of Foster City in 1996, said Wednesday it had no intention of letting others make it.

"Roche ... fully intends to remain the sole manufacturer of Tamiflu,'' said company spokesman Terry Hurley.

The immediate problem is not the cost of Tamiflu, which runs about $60 for a 10-pill course of treatment, but a staggering gap between the sudden demand for it and the capacity of its sole manufacturer to produce it.

Although Roche has increased production of Tamiflu eightfold in the past two years, it will take $16 billion and 10 years to make enough of the drug for 20 percent of the world's population, said Klaus Stohr, director of the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Program, in comments to reporters in San Francisco last week.

"Something has to be done,'' said Ira Longini, an Emory University professor whose computer model of a potential avian flu pandemic shows that an outbreak could be snuffed out within a month by rushing antiviral drugs to the place where it started. "When you think of the potential damage a pandemic flu could do, and how little drug we have, the situation is quite absurd."

I forgot to put Ledeen and Hadley on my indictment list.

REMEMBER TO GIVE WHAT MONEY YOU CAN TO RED CROSS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE COLLECTING FOR THE EARTH QUAKE..our problems are small in comparison...except what these jokers can inflict upon other nations is very serious

Jeanne,

While Tamiflu does seem to help alleviate symptoms and speed up recovery from people who have contracted some forms of influenza, there is quite a bit of skepticism about the manufacturer's claims for prophilactic properties.

Rushing Tamiflu to affected areas might alleviate a lot of suffering and help survivability, there is quite a bit of doubt that it would affect transmission of the virus.

An effective (much more effective than the ones we're using now) vaccine coupled with an immediate distribution program that eclipses the efforts to erradicate polio and smallpox is what governments and NGOs need to be focused on now. (IF they really cared)

It is arguable that alleviating the symptoms of influenza with drugs like Tamiflu might actually INCREASE the spread of a virus, as people who feel sick are more likely to stay home than people who are well.

Solly, if you're lurkin' out there, maybe you could help shed some light! I hear so much conflicting info from my docs, but they're mostly just "Treat 'em and Street 'em" ER MD's...

-T

Et Tu, Murdoch

WOW! They even quote Paul Rieckhoff...
_______________
Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth (search), an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."
_____________

If Bush resigns, will Cheney STILL be running the show?

-T

Hajji,
Something tells me the nation will tell Cheney where to go and do it quickly. The guy is a toad and Rove is his bookend.
On the bird flu story...is the type of bird flu that is spreading the type that crosses easily to human beings? I read an article and posted it a few days back about this subject. The guy was very skeptical. He also said that the flu of 1918 (?) got a real start because of the soldiers in WWI and the trenches. And that the flu then was much more able to move on to humans.
Another thing about this story. The White house have a guy heading this department with the kind of credentials Michael Brown had. Why not give the job to somebody like Osterholm?

I was just on Crooks and Liars and saw the news show with Keith Obleman. He was reporting on the terror alerts and how they corresponded to bad news days for the White House.
Something that was not brought up but should be is the amount of tax dollars that is flushed down the toilet everytime one of those alerts gets posted. How much did NY City waste on the subway alert? Millions I'm sure. Overtime for all those cops?
Just a itty bitty little bomb scare at Mall of America in MN costs a ton of money. The NY City thing went on for days. It involved searches.
And all because why? Because the White House had a bad news day.

#67 Jeanne, I was not a Reagan fan but he had it over Bush, younger, in presidential stature.

#68 & 71 geof01, good posts!!!

#77 kathleen, what is a recovering Catholic?

Wow, I would love to see a dress made out of this. Can you imagine?
Paper view technology

Cheap, paper-thin TV screens that can be used in newspapers and magazines have been unveiled by German electronics giant Siemens.
The firm says the low production costs could see the magazine shelves in newsagents come alive with moving images vying for the customers' attention as they move along the aisle.

The new technology caused a sensation when it was first made public this week at the Plastics Electronics trade fair in Frankfurt.

Siemens spokesman Norbert Aschenbrenner claimed the new screens, which are literally paper thin, can do everything a regular TV screen or computer monitor can do, but cost a fraction of the price.

#91
Or a bunch of umbrellas. Cool. Artist get cracking.

Gerald,
When I heard people wanted to put Reagon on Mt. Rushmore I was furious. Why should somebody be rewarded and regarded as a hero when he destroyed the economy and had an administration involved in something like Iran Contra. I have no respect for the guy.

I think a recovery Catholic is somebody who survived Catholic School. You are very, very lucky to be able to feel your faith as strongly as you do. Many of my generation (I am 51) had to endure a warped mentality while in school. The school I went to had a pediphile for a priest. He was transferred. Many years later he was still baptizing children. I have a real issue with a church that protects it's priests who are monsters instead of supporting the victims.
But, Gerald, I absolutely respect and accept your devotion. We have Catholic Churches in our city that are very progressive and protective. In fact one church that I know of has been involved in the anti war movement from the beginning. I have great respect for that church.

#93 Jeanne, I have great respect for the Church that stands up for people, especially the poor. I have grave concern that our pensions are at risk of being abolished. Bush and corporations are working hard to INCREASE AMERICANS MISERY INDEX. I was talking to a friend and he said that it is brutal out there in corporate America. He feels that more and more Americans will feel severe pain and suffering. We are seeing only the tip of the iceberg.

Caring

I do not see any politician, Democrat or Republican, caring for the common person to promote the common good.

Caring

I do not see any politician, Democrat or Republican, caring for the common person to promote the common good.

And the MSM is surprised by the 2% ratings by Black Americans. I wager that before we're through with Bush his ratings among the nation at large will be in the teens. We all pay the price. I fear it will hit my age group the most because we don't have time to pick up the pieces before retirement. We are being eaten alive by the rich man's grab fest. The amount of money the wealthy have made in dividends alone during this time is gross. People are literally living off their dividends and the rest of us are scratching to make a living.
It's all lies. The tax cuts were a way to steal from the middle class and poor. The bills before congress for the last 5 years have been to help the rich and the big business owners. How Bush can justify those cuts is beyond me. What part of the bible did he read to get the message about helping the poor by cheating the poor?

online poll on AOL...

How would you rate President Bush's overall performance?
Poor 73%
Good 10%
Excellent 10%
Fair 7%

Do Bush's poll ratings signal long-term trouble for him?
Yes 75%
No 25%

Which issue do you believe has been the most damaging for him?
War in Iraq 69%
Hurricane Katrina 17%
Rising gas prices 14%

Total Votes: 267,256

Jeanne, I, too, have had some interesting experiences in Catholic grade school and High School. There was no sexual abusive cleric. Since my formal education in the Catholic schools, God has been very good to me. His presence has been with me many times. He has been my co-pilot on many, many occasions and I will not abandon Him.

Me neither.

American Soldiers

2,208 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush's evil lies.

Alan,
If I was a president with those poll numbers I'd be freaking out. Those numbers are, shall we say, volatile. The towns people are getting restless. They are recognizing that the snake oil they bought is worthless.

I need some sleep. It has been a long day of fasting and praying.

Three more years of this crapola? I don't think so.

Jeanne, Bush is more than freaking out. He has crossed over into insanity!!!

Sweet dreams Gerald. May they come from heaven.

Uranium fallout

Coverage of the Plame affair has been tainted by the press's cosy duet with the White House

Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday October 13, 2005
The Guardian

The Times has subordinated its news coverage to her legal defence, withholding reporting on what she has told the grand jury, though it promises a full account. Will it include her colleagues' recollections of how livid she was that the Times published Wilson's article?

Unlike in Watergate, which was largely advanced by the press, this scandal has unfolded despite much of the press corps' efforts to avoid, demean or restrain the story. Also, unlike in Watergate, major influences in the press have been aligned with their sources in the administration, not with the professionals in the government acting as whistleblowers. Bob Woodward, who has written two books describing events from the perspective of the Bush administration, supported the White House version of the Niger incident by charging in July 2004: "There were reasonable grounds to discredit Wilson."

Even as Bush's popularity has crumbled, leading journalists have kept cheerleading for Karl Rove, who is also implicated in the affair, arguing that he will rescue Bush. Some prominent writers have received lucrative advances to write books extolling Rove's genius. Those panegyrics may take unexpected twists in the late chapters. This week Rove is scheduled to testify before the grand jury for the fourth time.

Inside the west wing the lowering atmosphere of dread is like that of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum: "Down - steadily down it crept."

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

I have a hard time remembering what I had against Mr. Sidney Blumenthal, I find his articles a breath of fresh air. I LOVE the Poe reference!

capt

Since y'all were talking about flu earlier...

I think about he Y2K "bug" and the doomsday predictions that were going to cause all sorts of chaos. A gazillion dollars were spent upgrading software and computer networks and the meltdown never occurred. Was it because precautions were taken? Or was it because nothing was going to happen in the first place, but it was a terrific scare tactic that made lots of dough?

With H5N1, I think plans such as vaccines should be put in place, but we've been hearing about the IMMINENT outbreak of an avian flu pandemic since 1997. I wouldn't be surprised that as soon as there's an effective vaccine against H5N1, there will be a "mutated" version and a different vaccine will become necessary. (Hello! Phamaceutical profits!)

This is a time for international diplomacy and cooperation with other countries --something the busheviks are not good at. If avian flu hits a country that is on bush's "hit list," they are not going to tell us...

When all else fails, spread your legs, bend over, and kiss your sweet ass good-bye.

geof #68,

I didn't see anyone answer yet, but you were quoting "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After (Alvin Lee was the songwriter and guitarist) and it is actually:

"Tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more." [emphasis mine] Subtle difference, but there it is.

Capt,
What made the story stay in the public eye? I think it's the bloggers. Don't tread on me. Yahooooooo!

Micki,

There was a real "Y2K" bug. It was not so much a bug as poor data handling with regard to dates and date function on older model chips and in some older programs and systems.

There were some chips in working systems that failed to correctly recognize 1-1-2000. The date problem were corrected or systems upgraded. That is what they fixed and it was costly but necessary (in those systems that failed the test).

capt

We have brought torture and misery in the name of freedom

By Harold Pinter
who yesterday won the Nobel Prize for Literature
Published: 14 October 2005

The great poet Wilfred Owen articulated the tragedy, the horror - and indeed the pity - of war in a way no other poet has. Yet we have learnt nothing. Nearly 100 years after his death the world has become more savage, more brutal, more pitiless.

But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy.

What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.

An independent and totally objective account of the Iraqi civilian dead in the medical magazine The Lancet estimates that the figure approaches 100,000. But neither the US or the UK bother to count the Iraqi dead. As General Tommy Franks of US Central Command memorably said: "We don't do body counts".

We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos.

You may say at this point: what about the Iraqi elections? Well, President Bush himself answered this question when he said: "We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation". I had to read that statement twice before I realised that he was talking about Lebanon and Syria.

What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?

I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.

Adapted by Harold Pinter from a speech he delivered on winning the Wilfred Owen Award earlier this year

*****end of article*****

I posted the whole piece but you should click on the link and read a few cheers to Mr. Harold Pinter at the end bottom of the linked page.

capt

Micki
Y2K was a doomsday for programmers. They worked feverishly to fix a little glitch and then...pooff their jobs were eliminated. Goodbye. So long. And then somebody had the brilliant idea to ship all the jobs overseas to eliminate what few jobs were left. And I don't think it saved them all that much money. It was the bottom line for that quarter.

2003 was a blast in our household. My husband would consider a new career and then read how that career was going overseas. He consider a new career and then find out that job was being sent overseas. You just start wonder what the leadership wants it's citizens to do for a living. We can't all flip burgers, you know.

Thankfully he found another job in programming. He's been in the field since the '70' and he's very good at it.

TEN YEArS AFTER!

That takes me back! I knew I had heard it but could not connect those synapses!

Thanks Don

capt

from Geof at #68...
"Tax the rich
feed the poor
until there are no poor
no more"
=================
In case noone's replied, that's "I'd Love To Change The World" by Ten Years After
I think the words are this tho...

Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more?
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to youuu

Ten Years After - I'd Love To Change The World

Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more

I'd love to change the world
But i don't know what to do
So i'll leave it up to you

Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, monopoly

I'd love to change the world
But i don't know what to do
So i'll leave it up to you

World pollution, there's no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Them and us, stop the war

I'd love to change the world
But i don't know what to do
So i'll leave it up to you

~ Album: A Space In Time

This is one of the congratulatory notes next to the piece by Walter Pinter

"He has blown fresh air into the musty attic of conventional English literature by insisting that everything he does has a public and political dimension."

David Hare, PLAYWRIGHT

Wow, how would you like somebody to write that about you? "Insisting that everything has a public and political dimention." Wow.
Hopefully young journalists look at people like Harold Pinter and Helen Thomas for insiration. And stop considering it a PR job.

"Hopefully young journalists look at people like Harold Pinter and Helen Thomas for inspiration. And stop considering it a PR job"

That is the reason I am so pissed at the MSM and the type of tripe that has been put out since about '98 or '99.

We used to be the land of heavyweights, reporters and journalists that were unrelenting and the story was always about getting to a piece of the truth. These MSM SOB's know the difference, the old guys know what has been lost. It is shameful.

Our MSM in America (and a few other countries) is currently a joke, a parody SNL sketch of what "news" should never become. State sponsored propaganda as badly done as ever just more of it and a more complete control from corporate masters and by extension party politics.

Fair and balanced my left butt cheek.

CNN as serious news was very tongue in cheek, no?

capt

A lot of very pretty faces. Nothing more.
That's why I watch Democracy Now. Amy Goodman is just ferocious and that's what you have to be right now. You should go to her site and listen to the interview she had with Bill Clinton. He was soooo mad at her. And he called her. She didn't call him. He was only going to talk for 3 minutes and she get asking him questions he had to answer. In the long run, it was one of the best interviews he ever gave. I miss a president with brains. Bill Clinton is so articulate. I miss that.

nighty nite.

Fear and Loathing in Washinton D.C.

Lies and obfuscation, Suddenly the focus is on THE MAN BEHIND THE MIRROR, where IS old turd blossem anyway?

And Chaney is in the wind.

Republicans at odds, an insurrection in the West Wing? What next?

"send in the Clowns, there ought to be clowns..."

Don't bother, they're here.

The one good thing lately; in my view is that the MSM is as accountable now as the greedy war mongers for what they say and who they kiss up to.

Bush's and Rove's assumption that the American people were to stupid to see the man behind the curtain is now history.

We aint just watching the Bushies we are watching the MSM, some of us aint a bit happy and we have very good notes, just in case, of who said what to whom and when.

Bush Denies Staging Relief-Effort Photo Ops

By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- President Bush strapped on a tool belt today and pounded nails at a home-building project for Louisiana hurricane victims, as his administration announced new steps intended to improve the recovery effort.

Before starting his brief work shift, Bush verbally hammered critics who have accused him of staging politically motivated "photo ops" in the hurricane zone instead of staying in Washington and drafting a comprehensive recovery plan.

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

Now Bunnypants is trying to be the "habitat for humanity" guy? Maybe he is trying to steal Carters class act because of Jimmy's comment that Gore won in Florida in 2000?

Standing with a rubber prop hammer (for fear of another facial injury) and a hat and belt with some busy building guys hired as extras. I hear the sound-stage actually looked like he was really in the disaster zone. Almost as much fun as dressing up as a cowboy! WOO HOO!

" After hammering a few nails into a sheet of plywood, the Bushes chatted, signed autographs and posed for photos with Habitat volunteers."

This is not a photo op, now where are those photographers? HA!

capt

I miss a president with brains. Bill Clinton is so articulate. I miss that.

Me too Jeanne. He is known as a voracious reader. His staff had reports for him to read on current topics, and when he was done with them, he'd head off to research more about it on his own. *sigh* That doesen't compute with Doofus. Clinton also liked to do them 'town hall' meetings with the people. No notes, no cues, and he could answer and talk on any subject they brought up and know what the hell he was talking about. THAT's impressive!
Try to imagine what that would look like with this president. It wouldn't be pretty... but I bet it'd be funny-as-hell!!

But, to be fair, Bunnypants can read upside-down and backwards.

HA!

capt

yeah Capt, that was a joke. While he was dodging the 'hard questions', there wasn't shyt going on in the background. Then I noticed a steady (same speed, over and over) bang bang bang... in the background, but you could tell it was fake. You've seen framers. They'll hit a nail lightly the first time to get it started, then two big smacks to drive 'em in (good ones do, anyway... and those are 8 and 16-penny nails... big-uns). And each hit sounds a lil diff... not a steady drum of tap--tap--tap--tap...

Carter says Gore won 2000 election

John Byrne

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter delivered a shocker at an American University panel in Washington Monday: RAW STORY has learned he told the crowd he was certain Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election.

There is "no doubt in my mind that Gore won the election," the erstwhile President declared, saying the 2000 election process "failed abysmally."

He also snubbed the Supreme Court for getting involved, saying it was "highly partisan."

RAW STORY reviewed a video clip of the event late Wednesday. The comment came in response to a question from a student who asked Carter how he felt the last two elections were handled. You can listen to the audio here.

In the question and answer session of his talk intended to discuss the Baker-Carter commission report on election reform, he also savaged President Bush's handling of FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Carter founded FEMA in 1979.

When I founded FEMA "we put it together with three specific commitments," Carter remarked. "One, that it would be led [by] highly trained professionals in dealing with disasters. Secondly, that it would be completely independent and not under another agency that would submerge it. And third, that it would be adequately funded."

The former president said the key reason for creating the agency was to respond to governors who asked for a consolidation of the 16 bureaucracies previously responsible for emergency relief efforts. Carter said he hoped that the changes he ordered would have remained permanent, allowing for a more effective response to a hurricane now claiming upwards of 1000 lives.

Carter agreed with Bush on one point: "I think that now is the best time not to look back on blaming about Katrina, but to try to correct the defects that have evolved in recent years and make sure it is not repeated."

Originally published on Thursday September 22, 2005.

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

Notice the date? 9/22/05 and the MSM never touched the story. Years ago it would have started a movement in the media, now not even a yawn.

capt

Capt

It's a sad commentary indeed.

I really liked Carter. I thought he was an honest man, one with a morality that wen't beyond spin. D.C. ate him alive, but that's just beltway politics. He remains an honest man, one I will always listen to.

I think his Administration stood for honesty and ethics.

It was the last one that did.

Clinton...et all was smart. But smart and honest aint always the same, still in all, Ill take ANY Clinton rather than this "would be king".

Hurry up and wake up AMERICA. There is serious rot in the foundations of goverment.

As to the supreme court pick, good grief, can we at least expect a judge?

This woman sent seriously sent seventh grade notes to our fearless leader, can there be any doubt about her loyalty? I for one have none.

This chick will nuke Roe v Wade at the first opportunity. As promised. Signed sealed, delivered, she is his.

.

Capt

I run xp and every time I try to download SP2 I get system instability. My version is home.

Any thoughts?

Ive reformatted twice. Its not that funny anymnore. I have a Dell 4300. I run Norton 2005 and Zone Pro.

I have in the last week caught two sub sevens.

Zone is a light show after 11 pm.

Sp2 is likely having an issue with your "Norton '05", I assume your Norton is your firewall (Internet Security or NPF).

Check:

http://support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2

Drop me a line with a valid email address, I am happy to help if I can.

I installed XP-home but is was "current" and included the SP2, to get my Norton to work required a "removal" of the XP firewall service.

capt

Thatcher reveals her doubts over basis for Iraq war

By Andrew Grice
Published: 14 October 2005

Baroness Thatcher has criticised Tony Blair for taking Britain to war in Iraq on the basis of flawed evidence about Saddam Hussein's weapons. The former prime minister's embarrassing criticism emerged as Mr Blair was among the 670 guests who attended a party to mark her 80th birthday.

Although Lady Thatcher remains a strong supporter of the decision to topple Saddam by invading Iraq, it is the first time she has questioned the basis for the war. Yesterday's Washington Post reported that