Good morning Mr. Corn! It appears that we both keep a fairly regular daily routine!

I agree w/your questioning of the Enron situation, having lost some money speculating on it when its stock collapsed to $10/share. Conducted properly and without hyperboles, the outcome is good for the country and for capitalism.

WSJ, my main source of national/global issues, has two excellent articles this morning. One concerns "FISA vs. the Constitution", Page A14, that is relevant to us all. On the same page, there is a short article "Prejudice" that will open some eyes among the more intelligent of the Left!

Comment #124 by Pande @ 12:52 AM Today - Trust the (Iraqui) People

Your words: "...I'd like to extend an olive branch..."

How long did it last? did I get a chance to respond before your blast of Comment #145 less than 4 hours later?

I rest my case! You double standard, holier- than-thou Cornnut!

Corn People:

Per David:

Discuss (politely, as always) the above and more among yourselves.

NOTICE the word "above"? You want to post links, fine, make it fit the subject matter of David's "above" posting. When new/semi-regular visitors come, it is because of subject matter! If such readers are intersted further, they can follow relevant links! You don't need to paste in contents of link! Your comments should be limited to subject matter! Damn, you Cornuts take too much time to teach!

Mr. David Corn,

Come on now, we all know Bunnypants could not have pulled it off without the help and support of a lap-dog MSM.

The MSM have not fallen down on their job, they just do not do their job. When the NYT's holds stories for the Coward in Crawford for a year or years they are working for him, not us. The fact they still have subscribers that will but their worthless rag is perplexing.

Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

'Inversion' in Bond Rates Hits Stocks

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note drops to a level at or below those of shorter-term securities, in what may foreshadow an economic slump.

By Tom Petruno
Times Staff Writer

December 28, 2005

Blue-chip stocks on Tuesday suffered their steepest decline in two months, as falling long-term Treasury bond yields flashed a classic warning sign of a weaker economy ahead.

Holiday retail sales reports also left some investors unimpressed.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up a 50-point rally early in the day to end down 105.50 points, or 1%, at 10,777.77. It was the Dow's worst one-day slump since Oct. 27 and pushed the widely watched index back into the red for the year.

Broader gauges also were down sharply, dashing hopes for the traditional "Santa Claus rally" in the final week of the year.

What worried some investors and traders Tuesday was a relatively rare occurrence in the bond market: The yield, or interest rate, on the bellwether 10-year Treasury note declined to a level that equaled or was slightly below yields on shorter-term Treasury securities.

Normally, longer-term bonds pay more than shorter-term issues to compensate investors for the risk of tying up their money for an extended period.

When long- and short-term interest rates converge, it often is a sign that bond investors believe the economy will slow —†so they're locking in long-term yields in anticipation that rates overall soon will level off or even head lower.

"We should be worried" about the economy, said Michael Cheah, who manages $2 billion in bond assets at AIG SunAmerica Asset Management in Jersey City, N.J.

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

The indicator of inversion is the result of recession. The "news" and the "analysts" are soft-selling the numbers and back-peddling the facts.

capt

Enron and Bill Clinton
Charles R. Smith

Lovers of ex-President Bill Clinton will be overjoyed to find that Enron's top exec Ken Lay did not stay at the White House 11 times.

However, the bad news for those who still worship Mr. Clinton is that Enron not only donated $100,000 to Clinton's 1993 inauguration but, according to the records, also added an additional $25,000 to the Clinton 1993 celebrations.

The documented evidence shows that Enron did make it into the Clinton White House by special invitation. Senior Vice President Terrance H. Thorn had coffee with Bill Clinton on March 5, 1996.

Many of the other attendees of the Clinton White House coffee sessions also make up a long list of convicted criminals, arms dealers and bagmen for illegal DNC contributions.

For example, Wang Jun had coffee with Clinton in 1996. Wang is also the president of Poly Technologies, the largest arms trading firm owned by the People's Liberation Army. Poly Tech is currently banned from doing business in the United States after several of its top executives conspired to smuggle machine guns into the U.S. for sale to a major drug dealer –†who later turned out to be a Customs agent posing as a gangster.

Charlie "Yah Lin" Trie, who was later convicted of illegally passing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign, brought Wang into the White House. Trie also gave an additional $645,000 to the Democratic National Committee, and most of this money was from illegal foreign sources.

Trip to Russia

Enron's association with the Clinton White House comes even closer to home when you consider the many corporate foreign trade trips paid for by your tax dollars. In 1994, Enron's CEO Ken Lay surfaced on a list of attendees wishing to travel to Russia with Ron Brown.

One person who did make the trade trip to Russia was Roger Tamraz. Interpol then wanted Tamraz, a Lebanese oil financier, for embezzling nearly $80 million from a Middle Eastern bank. Tamraz, who made most of his money selling Libyan oil, would later give more than $300,000 to the DNC after having coffee with Bill Clinton in the White House.

Russia was not the only target of Enron wheeling-and-dealing with the Clinton administration. Enron execs traveled on a profitable trade trip to India with Ron Brown, landing a major contract for a power plant. The India power plant deal later fell apart with allegations of illegal payments and bribery.

Trip to Bosnia

Enron also traveled in 1997 to Bosnia with Commerce Secretary Kantor in hopes of landing a U.S. taxpayer-backed energy deal in the war-torn state. According to the Chicago Tribune, Enron made a $100,000 donation to the DNC just days prior to the trade mission to the former Yugoslav province. Commerce Department documents clearly note that Enron was interested in the "Zagreb" portion of the trip.

Even in the last days of Bill Clinton, Enron execs were on the go. Enron traveled to South Korea with Commerce Secretary William Daley in 1999. Daley would go on to run Vice President Al Gore's failed bid for the White House in 2000.

Trip to Indonesia

The most damning evidence linking Bill Clinton and Enron to corruption is the documentation that shows Enron received U.S. taxpayer monies in order to finance a corrupt deal with Indonesia.

P.T. East Java Power Corp., which was then 50.1 percent owned by Enron, wanted to conclude a deal for a 500 megawatt power plant in East Java, Indonesia. The 20-year deal was later signed by Enron with P.T. PLN Persero (PLN), Indonesia's state-owned electric utility, which agreed to purchase the power from the natural-gas-fired plant.

According to Enron, the natural gas for the project was to be provided by Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company. Commerce Department documents noted that Pertamina stalled the project with excessive demands for gas prices.

"Enron is now engaged with Pertamina over access to natural gas. These discussions may prove difficult," states a 1994 Commerce Department advocacy document.

"Enron is registered for OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) insurance," states the document, noting that the giant corporation obtained U.S. taxpayer-backed insurance if the Indonesian deal fell apart.

Ron Brown Letters for Enron

Ron Brown personally sought approval for the Enron electric power plants inside Indonesia. According to a personal letter directed to the Indonesian Minister for Trade and Industry, Brown endorsed two Enron deals for gas-fired power plants with the corrupt Suharto regime.

"Enron power, a world renowned private power developer, is in the final stages of negotiating two combined cycle, gas turbine power projects," wrote Brown in his 1995 letter.

"The first, a 500 MW plant in East Java, should bring commercial power generation by the end of 1997 if it can promptly negotiate a gas supply Memorandum of Understanding with Pertamina. The other project, a smaller plant in East Kalimantan, also awaits a gas supply agreement.

"I urge you to give full consideration to the proposals," concluded Brown to the Indonesian minister. In October 1995, Brown wrote another letter, this time to Hartarto Sastrosurarto, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Trade and Industry, pressing him to conclude the Enron power plant deals.

"I would like to bring to your attention a number of projects involving American companies which seem to be stalled, including several independent power projects. These projects include the Tarahan power project, which involves Southern Electric; the gas powered projects in East Java and East Kalimantan, which involves Enron," wrote Brown.

"Your support for prompt resolution of the remaining issues associated with each of these projects would be most appreciated," concluded Brown.

On Nov. 18, 1996, Enron CEO Ken Lay announced that the deal with Suharto was complete. According to Enron's public statement, the U.S.-led energy company had finally won the East Java Power project.

Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism

Yet the Enron success was clouded by allegations that the power plant deals were filled with kickbacks for the Suharto family. In October 1998, U.S. Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy wrote a diplomatic cable that he had recently met with Indonesian Director General of Electricity Endro Utomo Notodisoerjo.

"Commenting on corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), Endro said that in the past there was no separation between 'power' (not electric but former first family power) and business. 'All the IPP's (Independent Power Projects) have a relation with power, and it is still going on,' added Endro."

According to State Department documents, Enron signed on to a deal filled with "corruption, collusion and nepotism." One State Department cable included an entire section titled "Dealing with unwanted partners" that detailed corruption inside the two Enron power plants at East Kalimantan and East Java.

"Unocal executives told resources officer that the firm is close to reaching a deal with its partner, PT Nusamba (controlled by former President Soeharto crony Bob Hasan) to sever ties in two production sharing contracts (PSC) in East Kalimantan and East Java," notes the State Department cable.

Eventually, the Indonesian economy collapsed and Suharto was overthrown. The resulting economic mess forced Indonesia to default on its payments for the Enron power plants. The U.S. taxpayer using its insurance, however, paid off Enron. One such policy for Enron was obtained through the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency or MIGA.

"In June of this year, MIGA paid $15 million to Enron Java Power Co. for its investment in P.T. East Java Power Corporation in Indonesia," states the 2000 official public release from the World Bank.

"The venture was one of many suspended by the presidential decree of September 20, 1997, issued in response to the country's economic crisis," noted MIGA officials.

David, did you write about these connections, also?

CharlieD

I submit that Abramoff is only the tip of the lobbyist iceberg. The timidity of the Dems to persue the major issues facing us is most likely due to they themselves beholding to their own lobbyists as well. Abramoff narcing on his fellow leeches will no doubt occur, but why give the sucker a lesser charge to do so. He has not proven he is worth a single ounce of mercy from anyone except his God if he has one, which is highly doubfull.

"The law is king"

The notion of absolute executive power has a venerable history, but it lacks an American pedigree.

By Sidney Blumenthal

Dec. 22, 2005 | President Bush's explanations of why he is justified in ordering domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency have shifted with every news cycle. He has sent out Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bolster his justifications. (Rice averred that she was "not a lawyer" before repeating the talking points.) Bush personally tried to suppress disclosure by the New York Times, which had held the story for more than a year before breaking it, by summoning Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and editor Bill Keller to the Oval Office on Dec. 6.

Bush invokes national security, the war on terror, and Sept. 11 as though these phrases are enabling legislation. He has offered no sound legal basis for his evasion of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, his dismissal of Congress, and his abrogation of the Fourth Amendment. He has not presented any convincing reason why he decided not to seek warrants from the special FISA court set up for that purpose. One of the 11 members of the secret FISA court, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson, has quit in protest.

Bush claims to have briefed and received the approval of congressional leaders. But former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when Bush began his spying, said, "There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to ... begin unwarranted, illegal, and I think unconstitutional, eavesdropping on American citizens." After being informed of the president's actions in 2003, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, sent a handwritten note expressing his misgivings to Vice President Dick Cheney, who had briefed him. "Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues," he wrote. (Rockefeller's position on the Intelligence Committee kept him from making public what he knew.) The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, has announced his disquiet and is planning to hold hearings.

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

I swear, the more I read from Mr. Sidney Blumenthal, the more I like what he writes. He is no David Corn but he is pretty good.

capt

I, for one, appreciate the snippets of articles that many post as I do not usually have the time to follow all the links and read the articles in full. It is a convenient way to quickly peruse many diverse items and issues in one handy location.

It that feels otherwise is encouraged to endulge its self absorption elsewhere. If it does not put the lotion on, it will get the hose.

Lets see a show of hands from those that want the super troll to start his own blog since he's so displeased with the posters on this one.

Diplomacy, NeoCondi Style!

___________

NSA Spied on U.N. Diplomats in Push for Invasion of Iraq
by Norman Solomon

Despite all the news accounts and punditry since the New York Times published its Dec. 16 bombshell about the National Security Agency's domestic spying, the media coverage has made virtually no mention of the fact that the Bush administration used the NSA to spy on U.N. diplomats in New York before the invasion of Iraq.

That spying had nothing to do with protecting the United States from a terrorist attack. The entire purpose of the NSA surveillance was to help the White House gain leverage, by whatever means possible, for a resolution in the U.N. Security Council to green light an invasion. When that surveillance was exposed nearly three years ago, the mainstream U.S. media winked at Bush's illegal use of the NSA for his Iraq invasion agenda.
______________

I AM THE LAW!!!

....When that surveillance was exposed nearly three years ago, the mainstream U.S. media winked at Bush's illegal use of the NSA for his Iraq invasion agenda....

Worth repeating.

There is no reason to believe any of what you read in the mainstream. Editors/Owners burying stories for years, reporters raking in money to report "favorable" stories... There needs to be a declaration by the people of America that we'll not stand for such from our press.

The courts have ruled that there's nothing illegal about broadcasting/printing stories known to be lies, provided there's no liable or slander involved.

Do we change the laws to better hold media accountable? Is it better to just let MSM die in the fetid pool of filth that it has created for itself?

=T

"let MSM die in the fetid pool of filth that it has created for itself"

They are already dead to me, they just refuse to report about it.

HA!

capt

Good morning David and other Cornbloggers.

The Enron scandal is an abstract concept to most people on the ground, though it shades the portrait of big money and back room dealings.

Just to remind folks that Enron and others dealings affects people on the ground. When corporations like Enron go afoul what hits home are loss of jobs, investments (hope for a stable future), retirement plans and grant notes.

But scrutiny is limited by lack of transparancy. Is it just the risk we all take when swimming with the sharks?

Thanks for the opportunity to participate on your blog.

later,
th

Wiretap challenges threaten US terrorist cases

Defence lawyers in some of the biggest terrorism cases in the US plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.

The lawyers said they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the Government withheld critical information or misled judges and defence lawyers about how and why the men were targeted for investigation.

The expected legal challenges add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardise some of the Bush Administration's most important courtroom victories in terrorist cases, legal analysts say.

The question of whether the NSA program was used in criminal prosecutions and whether it improperly influenced them raises "fascinating and difficult questions", said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has studied terrorism prosecutions.

"It seems to me that it would be relevant to a person's case," Professor Tobias said.

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

Talk about giving aid and comfort to the enemy? Bunnypants has given the "terroristsssss" a "get-out-of-jail-free" by breaking the laws he swore to uphold and protect.

Time for impeachment.

capt

Katrina fund scam uncovered

WASHINGTON: Nearly 50 people have been indicted in connection with a scam that milked hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Red Cross program that gave cash to Hurricane Katrina victims, US federal authorities say.

Seventeen of the accused worked at the Red Cross claim centre in Bakersfield, California which handled calls from storm victims and authorised cash payments to them. The others charged are the workers' relatives and friends, prosecutors said last week. The scam came to light when Red Cross officials noticed a suspiciously high number of people were picking up Red Cross money at Western Union outlets near the Bakersfield centre, even though few evacuees were in the area.

Forty-nine people in the Bakersfield area have been indicted in the past three months for filing false claims with the centre and more are expected.

Meanwhile, mental health professionals say New Orleans appears to be experiencing a sharp increase in suicides in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with interviews and statistics suggesting the rate is now double or more the national and local averages.

At least seven people have killed themselves in the four months since the storm.

Stevenson Palfi, 53, a well-known local filmmaker in the area, was apparently the latest to take his own life.

Palfi's house had taken about three metres of water, and he was in despair over losing years of files and photographs. The aftermath of the storm pushed him "right off the cliff emotionally", said a friend, Mary Aldin.

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

The slugs and thugs take any opportunity to screw people over for fun and profit.

capt

Seems to me that "personal honor" has been cast off in favor of "personal wealth".

It's good to be King George

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

By Reg Henry

As I was saying to a fellow peasant just the other day, it is ironic that this country should rebel against one King George only to bow down before another monarch of the same name more than 200 years later.

That our own King George -- he of the House of Bush -- is truly of royal blood has become clear in recent days with the announcement that he has empowered the National Security Agency to spy on whomsoever and whatsoever it wishes under royal decree.

Happily for him if not his subjects, this cannot be challenged by the picky laws and constitutional concerns that rule us poor common folk. It cannot be challenged because he says so, which is the traditional way of kings.

Previously, before His Majesty assumed his sovereign powers, the president -- as he was then quaintly known -- had to go to a secret court if he wanted permission for his agents to snoop on enemies within the realm. The esteemed judges of this court would take out their official rubber stamp, and the matter would be handled satisfactorily for all concerned except for the knaves and scoundrels, hopefully not all of them Democrats.

Although a rubber stamp administered in secret was about the same covering for civil liberties as a lace pasty applied to an exotic dancer, the common people nevertheless rested easily, because a genuflection had been made to their beloved Constitution.

But kings do not bow down before anyone or anything. It is for us, the commoners, to prostrate ourselves before their highnesses. Thus did King George decree that it was too risky for the security of his kingdom to rely on a rubber stamp, which, after all, might wear out.

Moreover, it was insulting for his agents to be kept waiting while the judges came in from the golf course.

So he reasoned that, as he was fighting a war, one that conveniently for him was never going to end, he could do anything he liked because he was the king, or the commander in chief in the old manner of speaking. Laws, shmaws -- what were they to one so noble?

Now everything is changed. Faith-based policies have rediscovered the divine right of kings. I hope the royal court realizes that I am writing this in the groveling position like the uncouth but humble person that I am.

To show my fealty, I tug my forelock in the old ritual of subservience except that I haven't got a forelock, as a result of male pattern baldness, and therefore, as a substitute, I tug my back mullet-lock in all honor and obedience.

I pray King George for his gentle forbearance because he has said that even discussing his new royal powers may aid the enemy. Of course, the last thing I wish to do is aid the enemy. It's just that the old habit of free speech dies hard.

Now that King George has enthroned himself, it is only right that he assume the other trappings of monarchy. May I, his lowly and worthless servant, suggest a coat of arms? Perhaps a church built on the ruins of the wall of separation between church and state. Maybe lobbyists rampant on a field of money.

His Majesty also needs royal titles tailored to the American context. It is my honor to suggest the following, which I hope the NSA will record to my credit ...

Henceforth, throughout the land, let him be proclaimed as His Royal Texas-ship, Defender of the Faith, Interpreter of the Constitution, Protector of the SUVs, Guardian of the Malls, Warrior King, Scourge of the Liberals, Bane of the Activist Judges, His Most High Majesty and Most Excellent King George W. the First of Many.

We beseech you, your kingship, to institute a system of hereditary peerage based upon merit and loyalty (i.e., campaign contributions) so that we peasants will have someone to look up to other than the tawdry celebrities on TV. Sir Rush of Bloviation, Sir Karl of Spin, these will be names to conjure with in the future days of dynasty. Perhaps, as a goodwill gesture, you could name Bill Clinton as a knight of the garter belt.

Please, sire, forgive us our petulant Bush-bashing of former days before we realized you wore a crown. Spy on us as much as you want because we understand now that your knowledge of the Constitution is infinitely greater than our own.

Indeed, it is good to be the king, at least for the king.

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

The king has lied, long lie the king.

capt

Bush Elected President Of Iraq

BAGHDAD—In a vast outpouring of gratitude to the man they call "Our Great Savior From The West," the people of Iraq flooded the polls during yesterday's first free elections, voting overwhelmingly for President George W. Bush as their first democratically elected leader.

#4 Kirk or capt

You say: (I/Happy)....could not have pulled it off without the help and support of a lap-dog MSM.

Am working out of my office today & thought I checkup on your `rude' awakenings this morning!

Other than being a long-time Republican, I have no ties, now or in the past, to any political organizations. Mr. Corn is welcome to chat me up in private & then calm you paranoids.

You, on the other hand, plus at least half the "Regulars", outside of being Dems, are almost certainly connected with some Lefty organizations. I have NO doubt some of you are paid to spend the ungodly amount of time you (all) do on this site, cluttering it up!

One of the few things you are right about is that I am not your average "troll"! "Super troll" is what one of you calls me after cursing at her computer screen w/my every appearance. By the way, that made me laugh! Thanks!

The other thing ALL of you have it right (about yourself) is your "can't-change" snobbish way of underestimating all trolls; especially me, Happy. But, if that snobbish way....(music) if it makes you happy...Great... Do it privately. Here in this public forum, all that you show is to reinforce what Rushbo & Hannity stereotype all libs to be.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Depleted Uranium

by Kit Smith

The recent film Jarhead exposes many elements unique to the first war in the Persian Gulf: The dysfunctional dichotomy of a soldier being aggressively primed for a "war" in which he never gets to fight, the frustration of spending months waiting in the desert, the psychosis-inducing dilemma of an indoctrinated sniper never able to shoot his rifle, and— resultant from being drunk at Xmas in the desert heat—the wearing of only an AK47 and a strategically placed Santa hat. Some consequences of the Kuwaiti oil fields being lit aflame by retreating Iraqi soldiers are portrayed in the film. One thing not addressed in the film and only alluded to in the book is the use of depleted uranium and the seemingly resultant "Gulf War Syndrome."

Depleted Uranium (DU) is a waste product of the processes by which enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium, as used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons and to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. It is provided free of charge to defense contractors by nuclear power plants, eager to eschew the high costs of storing it in nuclear waste sites, a win-win situation for both industries. DU is a pyrophoric metal, meaning it combusts spontaneously when exposed to air, and it has a density nearly 1.7 times that of lead. This combination of density and flammability grants this material enormous value as armor-piercing ammunition. Heavy, flaming bullets and kinetic energy penetrators (rods of solid metal shot from guns)burn through the tanks somewhat like a blowtorch causing injury, damage and secondary fires. DU makes for great weapons. The often-overlooked downside of using such a metal is that it’s RADIOACTIVE.

It might seem obvious to the average citizen that radioactive =bad . That leaving behind fields full of these shells and shrapnel or the resultant dust might effectively destroy an ecosystem for generations to come. That, as stated by former U. S. nuclear weapons laboratory employee and international DU expert Leuren Moret, "Living in a radioactive environment with chronic exposure to low levels of in contaminated areas will slowly be destroyed. Genetic defects will be passed to future generations who will also be exposed to new sources of radiation from contaminated air, water and food. The depleted uranium dust will cycle through the environment and travel throughout larger regions, carried on the atmospheric dusts which travel around the earth."

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

Go to the linked page, the photo is worth the trip!

capt

P.S. to #20

All of you regular LEFTY Corn posters, except perhaps one or two, have earned that coveted "I---t" name that I usually reserve for my own family in fits of raving & ranting! Enjoy it!

Who the FiretrUCK is this new troll, coming to a blog that is a home for the ideological opposition and whining non-stop about how things are run? Pande, you gotta love how he derides your language but can't counter your debunking of his posts' content, and how he thinks just because his insults don't use vulgar words he is more civil.

Damn, you Cornuts take too much time to teach!

Then again, didn't one of the founding members of the DOT at one point claim he was here to teach us?...

side note....

when bush arrived in d.c. for his first inaugural...

he was flown into town on an enron jet...

Bush on the bottle (.WMV)

Drunk, sober or just a stupid lying jerk? Watch the video and you decide.

capt

PS - Bush used the Enron jet many times as did the other Taxes . . I mean Texas wannabe cowboy mafia. Birds of a feather. . .

#10
my hand is up for that one

#23 eyes_open

Are they open, really? How can anyone tell? David's blog requires no registration, does that mean anything to you? Is it possible that he wants to encourage intelligent multi-party discussions? You earn an instant "I---t" title!

By the way, a must see movie right now is Fun With Dick and Jane. It is of course a fictional comedy but it deals with the very real effects the corporate scandals have had on average families. The ending also ties the movie directly in with David Corn's post but I don't want to give it away.

a funny thing happened on the way to the anthrax investigation....

The FBI Anthrax Attacks Cover-Up

For the newcomers; the anthrax used in the letters was genetically identical to a strain maintained at US bioweapons labs at Fort Detrick. The anthrax used in the letters was also "weaponized", consistent with manufacture in a full level-four weapons laboratory. Such labs also have the hot-boxes needed to insert the anthrax into letters without exposing the perpetrator.

It should come as no surprise that the FBI, in its total focus on Stephen Hatfill, has totally ignored (or is covering up for) another suspect, one actually caught on the security systems entering the storage area where the anthrax used in the letters was kept, without proper authorization and AFTER being fired from his job at Fort Detrick over a racially motivated attack on an Egyptian co-worker. This suspect's name is Dr. Philip Zack, who has since relocated to Dugway Proving Grounds.

Bush's Secret Surveillance State

by Anthony Gregory

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ~ The Fourth Amendment

"[B]y the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires –†a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution." ~ President George W. Bush, April 20, 2004

The Bush administration appears to consider public knowledge of its illegal surveillance of American citizens to be more dangerous than the surveillance itself.

On December 16, 2005, the New York Times reported that President Bush has been secretly ordering the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens within the United States without first getting judicially issued warrants. Asked repeatedly about the controversy during an interview with Jim Lehrer on the day the story broke, Bush evaded the questions. He responded, "We don’¥ talk about sources and methods. Don’¥ talk about ongoing intelligence operations. I know there’≥ speculation. But it’≥ important for the American people to understand that we will do –†or I will use my powers to protect us, and I will do so under the law, and that’≥ important for our citizens to understand."

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

No wonder most conservatives have had enough of the Bush agenda, all but the most mindless blind followers.

capt

Eye's

Will take a matinee today!

Thanks for the recommendation.

capt

#10 & #26

What's matter? Super Troll is beating up on you and you gotta go get mommy?

Now either the FBI is very stupid, or they are protecting the real criminal. Why? It cannot be because the letters included with the anthrax, written to appear to be from Muslims, prove a plot to frame Muslims for terror attacks on the US, because this is equally true if Hatfill is the culprit. So, given the Israeli spies uncovered in the Pentagon (and elsewhere), Zack may well be protected because to expose him would expose that Israel also has their spies deep inside our nation's biological warfare laboratories. And as the anthrax letters prove, they are not shy about taking and using those materials for their own purposes.

Anyway the rain here today means I got outside work to do...so off to Eastern Kentucky...where when a man tells you he loves you like a sister...
...well, you get the idea.

Forecast for today...partly troll-droppings, more droppings this evening...droppings most of the night.

Fortunately I just put new wipers and troll-dropping tires on the Jeep, so I'm ready to roll!

-T

#34

Pity, all it takes is my ...troll-droppings, more droppings this evening...droppings most of the night. to get you libs all feeling self-pity!

Breakthrough may be close in anthrax probe

January 21, 2002 Posted: 9:40 PM EST (0240 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Investigators appear to be on the verge of cracking the genetic sequencing of the anthrax strain that has killed five Americans since the fall, a source close to the federal investigation said.

An announcement on the breakthrough could be made this week. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service have been trying to locate the person or group that began sending anthrax-laced letters through the mail in mid-September to Senate offices in Washington and media outlets in New York and Florida.

Two of the five people who died from inhalation anthrax were postal employees.

All the deaths were traced to the Ames strain of the bacteria, first isolated in Iowa and maintained by the U.S. Army since 1980 for testing purposes. The CIA also uses small amounts of the strain for research.

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

Seems pretty obvious to me.

capt

Hajji, where can you get those tires? The streets here in TX are always slick. Hopefully they aren't that expensive though. I drive an 88 Blazer S10 but I'm on the waiting list for an 06 Prius.

eyes,

I got mine at "Trolls Be Us'N Shit". They've got a great "Bushco's Roof, the Roof, the Roof is on FIRE sale!"

-T

Uber Happy has struck again. It's not hard to scroll past his posts since I need Pande's interpretation to figure out what they say.

As for Enron, it's nice that Happy can skip away...well...happy. He only lost a little money. There were many, many people who lost thousands of dollars they depended on for retirement. Enron was supposedly a stable, unwavering stock. It was a business involving energy. It was a stock investment analyst thought was a good pick and were touting it as a buy.
The financial ruin bled from there. People involved with Anderson had stock in the company they worked for. They lost the stock and were laid off. Nice.
And then there's the damage he did to California. I won't go into it because I don't know enough about it. I just know the damage was great. The people involved, including Dick Cheney need to go to prison. Preferably one that has a chain gang reform policy. Maybe we could have Dick help NO rebuild it's levee.

"Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character."

"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

#38 Hajji

...got mine at "Trolls Be Us'N Shit".

Thanks! You do agree that the Right is the entrepreneurs in this country, then?

You keep on baiting me! When time permits (you will see a lot this phrase), I intend to have fun w/you anti-trolls. If you get smart, if it is even possible, after what, losing 30 rounds, then I will watch more than comment. Occassionally, if I see an intelligent posting, I may come in and provide counterpoint! I absolutely HATE snobs who are apparently a dime-a-dozen here!

Eyes open,
My brother would be nodding in approval of your Prius choice. He has one and we hear about it all the time. He sent me several pictures by email. He calls the color, deep red wine.

Some may remember my little story, but I figure it's worth repeating. It was xmas eve, two years ago. I was in downtown Houston with some buddies. The city was empty. We decided to stop in front of the building of the recently collapsed Enron. In the alcove, piles of rags were huddled in front of the doors. Closer inspection revealed them to be homeless people shivering in the cold. For those who may not see the irony: one of the top ten corporations in the country, once a mountain of wealth (?) and power, and at the foot of the palace of this once-great economic empire slept the forgotten poor and destitute no one cared about. The difference between the money and means of the Enron executives who swindled, cheated, and coerced their millions and the (probably mentally-ill) powerlessness and undernourished poor is staggering.

"Primitive" cultures have natural wealth distribution mechanisms, built into the social structure. Two-thirds of all human speech is about other people, gossip. Well, in primitive cultures, people speak ill about those that are greedy and well of those who are generous as a means to promote wealth distribution. The Bushmen share meat and other foods, even if the hunter did not help kill the animal. But in larger societies, rich folks stay away from the poor folks, bypassing the gossip. In other cultures, prestige is gained by being generous and distributing wealth, which in turn grants people authority (limited though it may be). In our society, rich folks stay in gated communities, isolated, away from the gossip. Prestige is maintained, but not for a price... unless you consider all that money they spend on the bling bling - chromed Hummers, etc. So we end up with faceless corporations with reflective-windowed buildings, at the base of which sleep the victims of this unnatural and perverted economic system.

Empathy is an innate ability of all humans and social animals. A lizard does not express emotion because other lizards don't care what it is experiencing. We rely on emotional expressions to maintain group solidarity, to let others know how we are feeling, to have THEM experience what we are experiencing. Training someone to be dispassionate about the suffering of others is going against these natural and inherent tendencies. But this economic system we have that allows such great disparities between rich and poor is built on the idea that the condition of others is not our concern, that their lack of means is not our fault, but theirs. A corporation does think and feel like a human, it does not register the needs and feelings of humans, it cannot see that its activity often has a detrimental effect on society and the environment. I watched the trials of those crooks on TV, and was glad to see them brought to justice. A human without empathy is more of a lizard than a monkey. I will be glad again to hear another greedy villian has been brought to justice.

#39 Jeanne

A timeout! I believe you were the one w/the bad experience w/John Gibson while you were young back (or perhaps now) in Sacramento. I am sorry for your experience!

I passed Sacramento several times transiting to Lake Tahoe from San Jose, and visited the State Capitol and your city twice!

Israel Ex-commandos Training Kurds in North Iraq: Report

(IslamOnline.net) - Dozens of former Israeli commandos have been training Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq, supplying them with equipment worth millions of dollars, Yedioth Aharonot newspaper reported Thursday, December 1.
^^^^^^^^^^6
I can't help but wonder; who else is receiving Israeli training and equipment? why does mr. sneaky man sniper insurgent in Iraq have state of the art Israeli equipment? is it possible that the global war on terror is being perpetuated at both ends by the middle?
^^^^^^^^^^6
Juba the SNIPER may be Israeli

scroll down and watch targets being picked off thru the eyes of the sniper's rifle

Crooked books? We were keeping crooked books? It was all Skillings' fault!!!

Ken
ken@enron.gov

#44
Goob,
I loved the post.

One of our Docs owns a Ford f=350 diesel and a Prius. He drives about 50miles each way every work day.

I'll get about 25mph in the Jeep.

-'bout a $70 round trip.

-T

"founding members of the DOT at one point claim he was here to teach us?..."

All way too obvious.

Same piffle different day.

"The less their ability, the more their conceit." ~ Ahad HaAm

capt

Ken,
It will be ok. He He, yeah. Everything will be ok.

and I'm off!

Hajji,

We all know you are a little off? We do not hold it against you. (I hope the jeep gets 25 MPG and goes faster than 25 MPH)

HA!

capt

Re: #10...Count my hand. Others may just do the bump...bump de bump.

Re: #43....Nicely stated.

Later,
th

Don't Forget Your Hat Son!

James, so thats what flying monkeys look like with their masks off, de-dede-de, oh how we love the old one!

This is way off topic but interesting nevertheless. Operation Open Eyes Reality? You decide.

Jeanne, I ordered mine in black. The long wait time is very frustrating however. If I heard correctly there will be even fewer next year because Toyota will be focusing on the hybrid Camry.

columbine as the result of a psy-op - very interesting indeed - -
I can only say that if I had a handful of guns of various types they would be unregistered and stashed where no one would find them to take them away

Den, Interesting article, but the findings by forensic psychologists who studied Columbine make sense and are much more likely than a complicated psy-op. One of the two kids was a bona fide psychotic. It was a matter of when, not if, he would end up killing. The other was manic depressive, following the first. Home movies exist that are said to display these behaviors fairly clear.

Commentary

Human Trafficking

Debauchery and other evils

America has insatiable appetites for indentured servitude, slavery, and torture. America is an evil empire. America chooses to be separate from the International Criminal Court because to be part of the International Criminal Court would mean that America could be tried for crimes against humanity, murders, and war crimes. Since America in not part of the International Criminal Court, she can remain in denial for crimes against humanity, murders, and war crimes. America will never grow toward true greatness as long as she remains in denial.

Let's get Jesus back

Bill Moyers' speech was one of the best speeches I have ever read. It was a powerful speech. As I read his speech, I wrote notes to help me highlight his words. There are many powerful ideas and so I can only share what gave me important ideas and thoughts.

Let's get Jesus back!

There are different kinds of religious denominations but even each denomination has their difference. Religion is both healing and killing. Each denomination acts like sibling rivals for God's favors. Are we killing for the glory of God? We seem to be applying military principles to evangelism. We invade countries and we say we are carrying out spiritual battles for the souls of this nation and the world. Can killing human beings save your soul? Killing human beings in the name of God will not save our souls. We are fighting current wars in the name of Jesus (that is blasphemy). General Boykin has said, "Bush was appointed by God" (blasphemy).

William Penn, a Quaker, said, "To be furious in religion is to be furiously irreligious."

The healing side of religion must overcome the killing side of religion. There are two Americas today. Laws are passed that says leave no rich child behind! Yet, we have poverty among married couples and single parent families. We have to run harder to just stay even. We cannot keep running.

Rich Americans have hardened their attitude toward poor people and middle class persons. The American system is rigged against the poor and the middle class. The Commonwealth Foundation Center for the Renewal of American Democracy has documented research that working families and the poor are losing ground under economic pressures that deeply affect household stability, family dynamics, social mobility, political participation, and civic life. Private control is taking over land, water, natural resources, media, scientific discovery, medical breakthroughs, and politics. Money is changing America. People are pre-occupied with money and the quest for money. Money has democracy in a stranglehold and is suffocating it. Money influences Washington, D.C.

Learned Hand said, "If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment. Thou shall not ration justice." The rich do not have the right to buy more democracy than anyone else. Class war is going on from the rich upon the poor and the middle class (who has said that there is no class war). The rich are shredding the social safety nets. They want more and more control and wealth. Here is a fact. Most people will have to do with less so that big business can have more. Big business has built alliances with religious right and contrived a cultural war as a smokescreen to hide the economic plunder of the very people who enlisted as foot soldiers in the war.

William Buffet said, "There was a class war, my class won." Business wins for Bush. 50% of the tax cuts go to the 1% wealthiest Americans. Domestic social programs have been cut. The rich want to starve Americans into submission. America is home to the greatest inequality of wealth in the history of mankind. Government is being stripped of any power so the rich can be rewarded and the government's only function is to wage wars so the rich can get richer. Tax cuts will force cutbacks in Social Security. This may be the first class war in history where the victims will die laughing.

Our democracy is degenerating into a shell of itself in which the privileged and powerful sustain their own way of life at the expense of other and the United States becomes another Latin America with small crest of the rich at the top governing a nation of serfs.

Poor are getting poorer, the health care crisis worsens, wealth and media become more and more concentrated, and Christianity lost its voice. The religious right has drowned everyone else out. Jesus was hijacked. This Jesus was hijacked by the religious right and became the guardian of privilege instead a champion of the dispossessed. Hijacked and made into a militarist, hedonist, and lobbyist (blasphemy) seeking tax breaks and loopholes for the powerful, costly new weapon programs that do not work, and punitive public policies.

Let's get Jesus back!

We need a Jesus who inspired
1. Edward Rogers to crusade across New England for an eight hour work day
2. Frances William to rise up against the sweatshops
3. John Ryan to champion child labor laws, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage and decent housing for the poor, ten years before the New Deal
4. Dorothy Day to challenge the Church to march alongside auto workers, fishermen, textile workers, brewery workers, and marble cutters
5. E.B. McKinney and Owen Whitfield to challenge a Mississippi system that kept sharecroppers in servitude and debt
6. A Presbyterian minister Eugene Carson Blake to protest racial injustice in Baltimore
7. Martin Luther King to join the sanitation workers for decent wages in Memphis

Now comes the resurrection all over again. Our times cry out for a new politics of justice. We need faith that takes on corruption of both parties. We need a faith that challenges complacency at all power. Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple. We must drive them from the temples of democracy.

Let's get Jesus back!

But, let's do it in love!

Love gets thrown out casually these days. But the love I mean is the love described by Reinhold Neibuhr in his book of essays, Justice and Mercy, where he writes: "Basically love means being responsible, responsibility to our family, toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of history, toward the universe of mankind." Let us love our enemy, even as we resist his aggression. We cannot defeat terrorists if we become like them. We cannot stand up to the religious right if we imitate them.

Love is action, not sentiment. Who gave us the authority to change the meaning of the Church? How did we let creed override compassion? When the Church was young and fair, and the people passed by her doors, they did not comment on the difference or the doctrines. Those stern and taciturn pagans said of the Christians: "How they love another!" Peter said of the first Churches, "Above all things have unfailing love toward one another." Love covers a multitude of imperfections.

Glenn Tinder reminds us that "none are good but all are sacred." Life is not fair and it is never equal. The founders were speaking of powerful spiritual truth that is the heart of our hope for this country. They saw America as a great promise but America is a broken promise and we are here to do what we can to fix it. St. Augustine shows us how: "One loving soul sets another on fire." (Let us have loving souls so we can set America on fire with our love for each other.) To move beyond sentimentality, what begins in love must lead to justice. Your Call to Renewal is the fight of our lives. (More Christian blood will flow in the twenty-first century than the previous twenty centuries.)

Parentheses are my personal comments.

Consumer Confidence Soars in December
Wednesday December 28, 1:23 pm ET
By Eileen Alt Powell, AP Business Writer
Consumer Confidence Surges, Nearly Recovering From Beating From Katrina, Other Storms

As long as we are wondering everywhich way but loose!

I March

I march to the beat of a different drummer. There are some blog articles that really do not excite me. It is not that they are unimportant but I have a different focus. Here are some topics that are important to me:

1. rigged electronic voting machines
2. the hijacking of Jesus by the irreligious right
3. the conversion of Americans to bushianity
4. wrong and immoral wars
5. a wrong and immoral emperor for America
6. battles taking place for American souls
7. we are brothers and sisters in God

Come to me and I will protect you. Jesus of Nazareth

Re: #10

If anybody wonders about my vote, I wonder if they have read a post of mine! HA!

My better half, my cats and I have all hands, paws and a few creative appendages in the air - proudly!

HA!

capt

FYI! I have added Helen Thomas to my list of foxes. Helen is now one of fourteen foxes.

More Jobs and Better Pay in 2006

By Peter Coy
BusinessWeek Online

With a growing economy, increased production, and inflation easing, U.S. workers should enjoy the new year

#66 capt
You must be retarded! Do you want me to dig out David's comment on his view on ignoring `insignificant' personal attack? What's with you? You are like a little gnat. Round 31 and counting!

Consumer confidence plunges

Soaring energy prices, war fears, cold weather send key index to lowest in more than 9 years.

February 25, 2003: 6:42 PM EST
By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The confidence of U.S. consumers, whose spending fuels more than two-thirds of the nation's economy, crumbled to the lowest level in more than nine years in February, a research group said Tuesday.

Though the drop, which was far worse than economists expected, doesn't necessarily mean consumers will stop spending, it's a sign that the economy's recovery from a recession in 2001 is being seriously tested by unusual events, including war, terror fears and bad weather.

The Conference Board, a business research group based in New York, said its closely watched index of consumer confidence sank to 64 from a revised 78.8 in January. Economists, on average, had expected a reading of 77, according to Briefing.com.

It was the lowest reading for the index since October 1993. It was the fifth-largest one-month drop on record and the biggest one-month drop since the 17-point drop in September 2001, which followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"Lackluster job and financial markets, rising fuel costs, and the increasing threat of war and terrorism appear to have taken a toll on consumers," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.

The Conference Board's expectations index, which measures how consumers feel about the future, dropped to 65.6 from 81.1, while the present situation index fell to 61.6 from 75.3.

"This month's confidence readings paint a gloomy picture of current economic conditions, with no apparent rebound on the short-term horizon," Franco said.

On Wall Street, stock prices fell after the report but rebounded to end with modest gains. Treasury bond prices rose.

President Bush, addressing reporters Tuesday shortly after the report was released, pressed again for passage of his $1.3 trillion proposal for tax cuts and spending, which he says will help the economy.

"Our policies are aimed at encouraging investment and job creation, as well as consumer confidence and spending," the president said.

Democrats responded by saying the president's proposals don't do enough to stimulate the economy, while adding to budget deficits for the next several years. They pushed their own $136 billion plan, which relies more on short-term stimulus measures.

"Unless we address this with fiscal stimulus that will give us more confidence than we have today, these problems will compound," Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., told reporters.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes, the biggest sector of the housing market, jumped to a record annual rate of 6.09 million units in January from a 5.86 million-unit pace in December. Economists, on average, expected a 5-million-unit pace, according to Briefing.com.

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

Four months of consumer confidence does not bring us back to where we were more than ten years ago.

Kind of tempers the good news with a little reality check.

The bushbots can claim to have a great and growing economy but the numbers expose their lies and confusion.

When any number or comparison can be made to the Clinton administrations numbers - 22 milllion NEW jobs, 11,000 DJIA strong growth and stable numbers, then we can put a yellow happy face on the Bush un-economy, not before.

capt

USATODAY.com
Snowballs and the magic of compounding
Tuesday December 27, 11:01 pm ET

Q: I want to start investing, but I only have $500 to $1,000 to start with and can only invest about $100 a month. How much can that be worth in 30 years and what should I invest in?

You Cornesters can start here!

Dear David:
Just a brief request. For your own good, get the hell out of P. J. Media with all due dispatch.

RC

Markets closing soon! Gotta Go!

Let me share with you a personal experience. Our son was home for Christmas. He has now returned to his primary home in another state. He is more outspoken than the other sons.

He said when he was home, "Dad, you look a little pukey."

Little does he know how right he is. Events, such as Christmas wars, Bill Moyers speech, Let's get Jesus back, spying on Americans without warrants, etc., build up inside and their surfaces a torrent of puke that must escape through the mouth like a geyser escaping from the ground. Sometimes this puke experience is so bad that you feel the puke is escaping from the nostrils as well.

After wiping away the residue from your face, you take you index finger and place it up to the third digit in the nostrils to clear any residue that lingers inside the nose.

My son is right but I choose not to let him know how right he is.

Job created by US presidents

Take care of yourself Gerald.

#74
YIKES!!!

#10
I think it should be called 'The Manic Phase'.

I still believe certain people are sent to blogs such as this one to disrupt and antagonize posters. Why else would they be here? People generally do not stay where they are not wanted unless they have an agenda. Rather odd that one leaves and another takes their place. Current issue is very similar to baf, both so-called business owners referring to employees and both have the bully attitude. HMMMMMM

I agree Den. I think it's to change topics too. I know some are paid. My son knew a kid who was offered a job creating websites for a product that told how good the product was. The product has a consumer action against it. This guy was supposed to create it and then I think get a ton of hits on it so that when you went into google his site came up first. Anyway, the point is, people are paid to be dishonest. Uber Happy is too unreal to be real.

Gerald, You seem like an intelligent person please follow The Serenity Prayer which I believe is intended for those going through what you are. Take care!

Key Enron figure pleads guilty

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Enron Corp.'s former chief accountant, Richard Causey, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to securities fraud in exchange for a possible seven-year jail sentence for his role in the 2001 collapse of the power-trading giant.

Causey had been scheduled to face trial next month with former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, but now is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors against his former bosses as part of his plea bargain.

Causey pleaded guilty to count 19 of the superseding indictment in the case. In the indictment, counts 14 through 20 charge Causey and Skilling with securities fraud in relation to the filing of financial statements. Count 19 specifically deals with the filing of the company's quarterly report for the first quarter of 2001.

Whether he will testify in their trial is uncertain, but his deal with prosecutors calls for them to request a seven-prison sentence that could be reduced to five years if he cooperates fully....

...He said he would ask Lake to delay the trial for up to two months.

Attorneys following the case said Causey's turn was generally bad news for Skilling and Lay.

"Less rope is needed for two necks, as the government's noose tightens," former federal prosecutor Jacob Frenkel said. "The government always benefits from the addition of high-level insiders who would have been party to conversations with most senior executives."

Lawyer Jamie Wareham said Causey would make a good witness if called by prosecutors to testify.

"It's a bad development for Lay and Skilling in the main because Causey is a likable, chubby, hail-fellow-well-met kind of guy," said Wareham, global chairman of the litigation department at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker.

------------------
Not any better then horse thieves.

You may recall, Ms. Jeanne, the last one who insisted on "educating" all the "liberals" on this blog. Legend has it she lost her head. Literally.

Jeanne, There is a real problem with accountability on the web. People can pose as anybody and there is no way to prove or disprove anything. However regulars posting to a blog kinda get to know each other a bit, their quirks and personalities. When "Theres a stranger in town" it is quite difficult to acertain their motives. I think the motive here is quite plain, disrupt and denegrate others while hiding themselves from plain view. Exploitation of others is a disgusting trait. Pity his employees, if they exist at all.

#82
Tooooo funny.

#83
I pity the employer because it had been taken over by pod people. I think the employer is the Republican Party. It used to be a respectable party. It used to have merit. Now it's just a cesspool.

Must be one of the bobbers then.

Interesting thing about blogs is that you can be anyone you want to be. For instance I am a handsome millionaire with scads of money. Or I could be lying about that. Go figure.

Den #78

Happy is way to polite to be compared to me. I've been keeping my eye on you trolls, so watch out jughead. I have been away finishing up 2005 with a bang. Business is great! Thanks George!!

I have found that the sparring was fun for a few days but gets old after awhile because you trolls are so damn boring!! Same old hippocritical bullshit day in and day out.

I feel sorry for Capt, Jeanne, Robert S, Den, James Ha, Gerald & What the F__k for being sickly addicted to wasting their lives on a web site posting comments that they would'nt speak of in public because they know they would be ridiculed to death for these wacky lame brain thoughts.

But hey here's to 2006 being a great year to all of us in reality land.

The proof arrived, I rest my case.

Den 89

The pwoof awwived, I west my cwase.

Dumbass!!!!

No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority: Thomas Jefferson: American 3rd US President (1801-09).

=
He is not strong and powerful who throweth people down; but he is strong who witholdeth himself from anger: Muhammad

=
Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them: Muhammad

=
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace: Bible

=
Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.: Buddha - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

#74 capt, Bush wants all American jobs outscourced and all men and women in the military armed forces to fight his endless wars. Bush's performance has been pathetic for Americans.

#80 DEN, thank you for the Serenity Prayer! I have added it to my computer benchmark.

Former Chief Accountant for Enron Pleads Guilty to Fraud

By David Streitfeld
Times Staff Writer

3:07 PM PST, December 28, 2005

The chief accountant for Enron Corp. pleaded guilty today to securities fraud, part of a last-minute deal that secures his cooperation with government prosecutors in exchange for a lighter prison sentence.

Richard Causey's sudden about-face is a potential source of great trouble for the fallen energy company's top two executives, founder Kenneth L. Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling. Both were scheduled to go to trial Jan. 17 — as was Causey until his plea deal was announced in a Houston courtroom.

The trial of Enron's top executives, now delayed until Jan. 30 at the request of defense attorneys, is seen as a capstone to the series of prosecutions that followed the corporate scandals that rocked American business in the early years of the decade.

For more than a year, Causey's lawyers have been working with attorneys for Skilling and Lay on a joint defense against charges of fraud, conspiracy, lying to auditors and approving of misleading financial statements. Now Causey, 44, who is depicted in most accounts of Enron's downfall as a somewhat hapless sort who didn't orchestrate the fraud but did nothing to stop it, may be offering prosecutors a road map to his former colleagues' alleged misdeeds.

His plea deal calls for a seven-year sentence that would be reduced to five if he cooperates. In addition, Causey will hand over $1.25 million to the government.

"It's hard to believe they'd offer this generous a deal unless he could deliver the goods," said former prosector Kirby Behre.

Enron's collapse into bankruptcy in late 2001 deprived thousands of employees of their jobs and pensions, destroyed tens of billions of dollars in market value and pulled back the curtain on a dizzyingly complex fraud scheme.

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

This mean curtains for Kenny-boy and a few others. The deal must include allocution and that means names and dates.

(queue: Elton John Good Bye Yellow Brick Road)

capt

Lenders Target State Laws

An industry that makes home loans to people with poor credit wants uniform federal rules that could undo tougher consumer protections.

By Jonathan Peterson
Times Staff Writer

December 28, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. — A booming industry that makes home loans to people with fragile credit is lobbying Congress for nationwide rules that regulators and consumer advocates warn would roll back tougher state protections.

The debate comes as millions of Americans have taken out loans with higher fees and interest rates than the mortgages granted to people with solid credit. As these "sub-prime" loans have proliferated, so have complaints from borrowers who say they've been slammed by surprise fees and high-pressure salespeople.

More than two dozen states, led by North Carolina, have moved into a vacuum created by weak federal regulation, imposing their own laws targeting abusive practices. The industry's five biggest players are based in California, and one, Orange-based Ameriquest Mortgage Co., is nearing a $325-million settlement with 33 states over allegations of bait-and-switch tactics, inflated appraisals and other issues.

Amid increasing scrutiny of their operations, lenders have rallied behind a bill sponsored by Reps. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa.) that would impose uniform national rules on the industry, which last year issued $530 billion in higher-cost mortgages.

Supporters say the measure is needed to replace a hodgepodge of state and local lending laws. Some of those laws, lenders say, make it costlier to extend credit to higher-risk borrowers. In at least one case, a lender says it cannot offer North Carolina customers the lowest possible interest rate because of restrictions in state law.

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

These vultures prey on people with poor credit and they want to reduce consumer protection?

These are the lowest rat bastards in the lending industry and they make millions of dollars from thin air and they want to take away consumer protections? Just look at who they have in their corner Bob Ney of coingate?

capt

You're.. OK, Corn. But you're old enough where playing it coy- professionally speaking- makes you look silly.

New Domestic Spy polling numbers are very bad for Bush

Some right-wingers have been crowing over a new poll that shows:
Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 23% disagree.
I've got news for you. That's an abysmally low number for Bush.

Even I would probably approve of the NSA listening in on phone calls between suspected terrorists and "people living in the US" - notice the survey question didn't even say "Americans," it said "people living in the US," a description that would get EVEN MORE support for spying (i.e., people are more apt to approve NSA spying on foreigners in the US rather than US citizens in the US).

That number should have been in the 90 percentile and up, Americans who support the NSA eavesdropping on conversations with suspected terrorists. Yet it was only in the low 60s. Something's up.

And may I also add that the poll question has nothing to do with the current scandal. It says nothing about whether the administration should be able to break the law in doing such eavesdropping, nor whether the administration should be permitted to do such eavesdropping without having first obtained a court order. Again, each of those added facts would presumably lower the poll number considerably.

Again, that number should have been in the 90s. The fact that only 6 out of 10 Americans are willing to agree to such a broad question, to me, says that Bush is not on solid ground on this issue at all.
-------------------
I'm a liberal and people who know me know I'm a liberal. So I probably won't get a contrary answer to my questions. I don't know anyonw who seriously thinks detainees, including Padilla, should be locked up without a trial and due process. Should Bush and Co be allowed to spy? Not when it takes away the rights of an individual. How many cases have been destroyed because of this spying? How much lawyer - client priviledge has been violated. To me it's just creepy.

David,

Don't forget that Abramoff is an equal opportunity palm greaser. I am sure he can rat on just as many Dems as Reps. Why do you fail to mention that? Showing your bias?

Gerald,
I let events get me down a few months back. Big mistake. Why should I give my health up to the swine? Stay strong. Remember...Don't let the bast*&ds get you down.

On the up side of the news round up, the dealings of the right wing are now more in the open. Media is slowly figuring how to sort out a scent and stick with it.

The misdealings of Enron, the lies, deception and misuse of power of the administration are under more scrutiny. Congress seems to be rousing from the past grog, at least enough to start some investigations. It may be weak, but it is an improvement over a year ago.

Cheers, and thanks for hangin in there.
Later,
th

It isn't so much luck that gets george w. bush over the bumps in the road as it is stalling, more specifically stonewalling. If one stalls long enough, an intervening event occurs and the subject is changed...for instance, an unfolding scandal can take a backseat because the dynamics have changed.

Some may have forgotten that cheney's secret energy task force pre-dates 9/11‚Ñ¢ -- the bush administration began stonewalling Congress, GAO, and the media on the secret energy meetings prior to 9/11‚Ñ¢ then they got lucky when the subject was changed. After 9/11‚Ñ¢ it became almost unseemly for anyone to question the administration because we were "at war" -- the busheviks, in effect, trademarked 9/11‚Ñ¢ for their imperial purposes.

One reason for the glacial pace in getting Lay and Skilling to trial is that Enron, Abramoff, the secret warrantless spying, the busheviks's defiance of Congress's investigative authority, novel interpretations of executive privilege, disregard for the environment, unprecedented secrecy is all intertwined and part of a pattern. The busheviks/cheneyites needed to hide any incriminating information about their relationship with their heavy-hitter campaign contributors from the energy business and the corruption industry to help ensure reelection in '04.

They stalled and stonewalled to get past the 2004 presidential election, IMO. They will come up with other stalling tactics as the new year begins -- and they will use those "tactics" to keep secret as much information as they can leading up to the '06 midterms.

Bush seeks to link Jack Abramoff to Democrats

Despite Bush's views, the scandals in Washington have touched Republicans so far. In addition to the indictments of DeLay, Cunningham and a former White House official who represented tribes, Michael Scanlon, a former Republican aide to DeLay, pleaded guilty last month in a scheme to bribe another Republican congressman and defraud tribes out of tens of millions of dollars.

And the majority of Abramoff's money went to Republicans, not Democrats. According to a Washington Post analysis, Republican politicians and political action committees received 63.7 percent of the $5.3 million in contributions made by Abramoff's former tribal clients and associates from 1999 through 2004.

News reports also indicate the Department of Justice is looking at the actions of a half of dozen Republicans in the House and the Senate who accepted money from Abramoff, whose former aides went to work for Abramoff or whose spouses received work as a result of their connections to Abramoff.

Two top GOP operatives -- Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and Ralph Reed, a key Bush fundraiser -- took millions from Abramoff's tribes as well, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee's investigation has shown.

As the committee closes its probe and DOJ investigators sharpen their cases, Republicans like Bush have sought to bring Democrats into the picture. The first major target has been Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), who accepted $67,000 in donations from Abramoff's former clients.

Dorgan, the vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee and the top Democrat on the Interior Appropriations subcommittee that controls Indian funding, has lashed out at the campaign. "It's not surprising that from the sleazy world of those who defrauded the Indian tribes, we have seen bogus charges against those of us who are doing the investigating," Dorgan said last month at a press conference at the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Dorgan has since returned the money to four tribes who had hired Abramoff.

Some Republicans have turned their sights on Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the committee chairman who initiated the Abramoff probe. They have accused him of using the investigation to go after people who opposed him in the 2000 presidential primary against Bush. McCain has ridiculed the charges and has since said he expects "lots" of indictments of people who were involved.

The committee held five hearings on the matter, four of which were held with McCain as chairman and Dorgan as vice chairman. The first occurred under former chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), who was equally hard on Abramoff and his associates before retiring at the end of 2004.

"For 400 years, people have been cheating Indian tribes, so you're not the first one," Campbell told Scanlon at a November 17, 2004, hearing. "You're the problem, buddy, with what is happening to American Indians."
--------------------
Abrahmoff was in the business of making money. He was dishonest and unethical. He went to where the money was and he went to people who didn't care where the money came from. Very sleazy. Don't connect the Democrats to this snake unless they deserve it.

#97 -- early reports show the repugs got way more than the lion's share of the loot -- besides, who said anywhere that it was solely a Repug problem?

Not answering for David...just observing

Micki,
I can only imagine what books are going to be written in the coming years. I can't imagine the scandal that has yet to come out. I keep thinking we are seeing the tip of the iceberg and then something else comes up. That iceberg must be touching the ocean bottom.

The Constitutional crises of 2006
De facto dictatorship looms if America doesn't act now

Just today I was thinking how we're living in momentous times and how the survival of the U.S. will soon be determined one way or the other. Then I read Geov Parrish's latest article. He said it all.

December 15, 2005
Abramoff Was A Republican

Was Jack Abramoff "giving money to both political parties," as President Bush suggested yesterday? No.

The lobbyist himself was a Bush Pioneer and directly wrote more than 200K in checks from '92 to '05 to Republicans. Abramoff never gave a penny to Democrats or Democratic committees.

True -- he encouraged or "directed," as the Washington Post says, his clients to give generously to politicians of parties, which they did. And several associates who worked closely with Abramoff were, indeed, "equal money dispenser[s]" as Bush said.

But not Abramoff himself -- he gave personally only to Republicans.
++++++++++
The answer is to get the dirty $$$$ out of politics.

#70
I would put my $$, if I had any, in the oil companies if that is possible - they have made record profits of late

100 & 101

David just conveniently left out some names of Dems tied to Abramoff. I agree more Reps were beneficiaries of his "donations." Most lobbyists come with a particular political leaning but believe me, if they can see where money can be spent to their benefit, they will do so, no matter the political leaning of the politician.
I also wish to inject my personal opinion into this matter. All politicians are slime when it comes to fund raising. They will do, say and take money from anyone who can donate to their, cause, specifically, their own re-election. John McCain said it himself when arguing for McCain-Feingold, "We are all corrupted by the money in politics." I have yet to see one resignation of anyone for this confession of being corrupt. I at least will admit they are all corrupt. Others refuse to see the forest for the trees by saying, "It's not my person, it's all those others."

104

No doubt Abramoff is a rep. I was just merely pointing out that if all the dots are connected, there are just as many ties to Abramoff on the rep side as there on the dem side. David failed to mention this which gives me pause as to why he would even mention it in the first place. If DeLay is corrupt for his association with Abramoff, are not the others as well?

Money has always been involved in politics and will always remain so. I can overlook the sleeziness of the campaign and look to hold them accountable for the "taxpayers" money which they are entrusted with once they get elected. I made a comment to a family member who lived in Morgantown, WV in 2002 that Senator Byrd was looking might frail. He said that he met him at an event earlier and asked him about all the spending going on in Washington. He said that Byrd replied, "Sonny, we are all there to do that. I am there to make sure this state gets its' fair share." My response was that I don't doubt that is the reason they are there, I just want them all to fight over least amount of money to begin with.

That is where the real corruption lies.

Suspect gives deputy his license, then leaves crash scene, sheriff says

ASHBURN, Va. Running away from an accident scene after giving your license to police officers makes it pretty easy for them to find you. But that's just what authorities say a Loudoun County man did.

According to the sheriff's office, Richard Dumm was driving on Route Seven in Ashburn on Christmas night when his pickup rear-ended a Mazda stuck in the right lane with a flat tire. Of the four people in the Mazda, two were seriously hurt, while two others were treated and released.

But while firefighters and deputies were helping the injured, authorities say Dumm walked away. Of course, having his license, deputies knew where to find him. He was arrested at his home early yesterday on a charge of felony hit and run.
*********************
I think the last name of the perp says it all!

Is it possible that Pags has a semi-literate half-brother that goes by the name of Happy?

There is no such thing as democrat and republican criminals. Just criminals. Do you ask a murderer what party? Get real.

If the best you can do is try to deflect blame to others you have already lost. Because to do so is a tacit admission of guilt, no?

capt

110

Did I not say that they are all corrupt? David mentioned the few who happen to be reps without mentioning the few who are dems. Not me. I am being honest, David is not. Why oh why do you insist on posting to me?

Update: Lay, Skilling Trial Delayed After Causey Plea

NEW YORK - Update: Earlier Wednesday, we reported that Richard Causey, the former chief accounting officer at Enron, had copped a plea: The ex-exec pleaded guilty to securities fraud--avoiding the prongs of conspiracy, insider trading, lying to auditors and money laundering, the other charges that loomed.

And more dramatically, the ex-CAO will assist the law in its prosecution of his former bosses, ex-Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and ex-CEO and Enron (otc: ECSPQ - news - people ) founder, Kenneth Lay.

Now, the same day but a new development: The judge granted a defense request to delay the trial's start for two weeks, until Jan. 30.

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

Would Enron investors be any more or less screwed if Kenny Boy and pals were Democrats? What kind of a defense is that?

So all of the crook currently under indictment are not Democrats or ex-presidents. That does not mitigate their crimes or less the impact on their victims.

capt

David is dishonest and you, the troll, are just being honest!

HA! ROTFLMFAO

WHAT A LOSER!

capt

112

Did I not say that they are all corrupt? David mentioned the few who happen to be reps without mentioning the few who are dems. Not me. I am being honest, David is not. Why oh why do you insist on posting to me?

Again!

Thanks, I needed a good chuckle!

Are you as sure of David's dishonesty as you are sure he is a founding member of NAMBLA?

Shall we revisit your previous honest posts?

SROTFLMFAOAAI!

HA!

capt

Posting to me again?

By surrendering our liberties, we hand victory to terrorists

The authorization of domestic spying without warrants amounts to nothing less than a surrender of our civil liberty, the precise thing that guarantees our freedom and makes us so different from those enemies of freedom from whom the Bush administration is so determined to protect us.

Expanding the power of federal agents to pry into private lives suggests that we have already surrendered in the war on terror. If we willingly sacrifice the privacy, civil liberties and individual rights that are the heart of our Constitution, have we not handed victory to the terrorists? If the terrorists have caused us to be so frightened and cowed that we are willing to summarily dispense with the rudiments of our freedom, we have effectively capitulated to our enemies.

In keeping with the system of checks and balances devised to prevent any branch of government - particularly an executive seeking to assume the trappings of a monarch - from acting in derogation of the rights of the people, the showing of probable cause to a court of competent jurisdiction was established in the Fourth Amendment as the fundamental protection of individual liberty.

The administration has seen fit to unilaterally and fundamentally change that system to one in which the executive alone decides who is secure in his or her personal liberty. It has the remarkable effect of a constitutional amendment accomplished in secret. Essentially, an "except for the following circumstances" clause has been added to the Fourth Amendment, with government agents free to fill in the blanks as to what circumstances might apply.

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

Bush hands a victory to our enemies[sic] every time he commits another crime. Bush is too stupid or senile to see it. As are his supporters on all counts.

capt

I post to whom I please, does that bug ya?

Then read past you jerk!

HA!

capt

Again?

Cannot read past? Well, just never try to put yourself up as an honest person, I would never want anybody to get confused or fall for your blantant and redundant, repetitive lies.

You are a proven liar and practiced prevaricator. You are in need of some mental health help, get some. You will be a better person for it.

I am still praying for you and your family.

See, you will like it better if you just read past!

capt

"AGAIN?"

Yes, and every single time you want to call somebody dishonest I will point to YOUR reputation. If anybody does not remember what you have posted I will be happy to go back, collect a few prime posts. Would you like me to do so?

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." ~ Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

See a reputation is based on what you have already done. Your personal history. If you cannot face the truth about yourself you are not a honest person.

Like it or not, you sleep in the bed you make.

capt

Again?

I wasn't posting to you when I mentioned the word dishonest. Why are you posting to me re same? I am not calling David a liar, only saying that if one is corrupt by association they all are regardless of party. If you mention a few, you should mention all. Why doth thee protest my questioning of David so vigorously? I think David is certainly capable of defending himself.

Otherwise, feel free to do what you want.

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. " ~ Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin (1973) "Personal Conduct"

So you are just calling David a liar? So it is okay that you are a liar?

I do not need your permission for anythihg I do or do not do.

You are a slug that cannot face your personal history. Not my problem loser, that is all yours and you have my permission to get real any time you choose.

Have I ever addressed you by name? All of your reactionary bullshit is a reflection in your mirror not mine.

You have to ask yourself why the truth bugs ya?

Odd if you were an honest man or honest troll, eh?

capt

123

I will not say "again?" because you weren't referring to me you were referring to yourself.

Like a rapist that claims to respect women, you are juxaposed against yourself if you try to talk about being honest.

I will nail you every time you peddle such piffle.

If you do not like it, just do not make such a BS statement.

capt

President Bush’s Illegal Spying Is, First and Foremost, an Affront to the Rule of Law - Not Just Civil Liberties

Felon-in-Chief: The Bush team is hoping that Democrats will go after the president’s illegal wiretapping as an abuse of civil liberties, rather than as a flagrant violation of a United States law - in this case, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Attacking the president’s violation of FISA purely as an affront to civil liberties helps the Bush regime because they can easily contort this position - with the media’s help - into "Democrats prefer civil rights for terrorists over national security."

Certainly, the wiretapping of U.S. citizens without a warrant paves the way for unchecked abuse of power. Who knows whether Bush operatives have eavesdropped on their political enemies, including Democratic and Republican members of Congress.

Leaving all that aside, however, the damage the president has done to our democracy is very simple:

President Bush broke the law.

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

Another perspective on the Felon and thief.

capt

Truth never bugs me nor has it ever. Would you allow David to answer for his post or are you now his official mouthpiece? Must have received that most sought after personal e-mail you had been whining about, or did you? Tell the truth?

You can post whatever you like, whatever floats your boat. I will nail you every time you make an outrageous or false statement. If you do not like it, do not post such BS.

Enough said.

Like David is dishonest and you are the paradigm of honesty!

ROTFALMAO! It is the gift that keeps on giving.

My little gift from the troll! Merry Xmas all over again!

HA!

capt

PS - it would not be so funny if it were not so ridiculous. HA!

Quit it, you are making my sides ache! Tears are running down my cheeks. Better than the best comedian on comedy central. Jon Stewart watch out!

HA!

capt

Again?

ONE MORE TIME WITH CARE!

******************
Hi there Tommy Hodges, Greenville South Carolina. AKA Hajji. Do you really think it was a sin form me to be posting on a site other than my real name? How about you "Hajji?" And how about you Captain Kirk? Are you really Captain Jerk or are we just supposed to guess. My name is Tim Hodges and you can read all about me and my family at www.tytandan.com. You Liberal pukes are pathetic and have no humor at all.

Regarding the link to NAMBLA. David Corn is a founding member as is still a member to this day. I was just assuming that most Cornbots were also members. I wasn't trying to recruit, just providing a quick link to your favorite site.

Both of you claim I am a coward postiing on this pathetic site under an assumed name.Who the hell is Hajji and Capt? You both are spineless liberals! Just in case you missed it Tommy Hodges of Greenville South Carolina, my name is Tim Hodges of Flatwoods, KY. My website is http://www.tytandan.com. I live and work in Greenup County, KY. My wife is Maria, my sons are Tyler, Tanner, Daniel and Mark. Did you really think I had something to hide{other than the fact that I am related to you} or were you just blowing the liberal stalk of the month. Apparently, David Corn's is your favorite.

Get some humor. David is my favorite Liberal. Even though he is a member of NAMBLA.

Posted by: Tim Hodges at August 19, 2005 11:03 PM

***********************

You stand by your words you truth teller you!

HA!

You are almost too pathetic to be funny, almost but not quite.

Again? I have more - every one of your BS posts are available. Use a search engine. Read what you have posted before you try to claim the honesty high-ground.

capt

"David Corn is a founding member as is still a member to this day."

I do believe honesty is the best policy, just not one you can claim as yours.

You are a psycho, I pray for you and your family.

capt

108 was dumm(b)

This is dumber!

Judge Sees Man Drinking After DWI Sentence
Mo. Judge Catches Man Drinking an Hour After DWI Sentencing The Associated Press

JACKSON, Mo. - A judge who caught a man consuming alcohol an hour after sentencing him for drunken driving ordered the man into rehabilitation on Tuesday.

Jacob Vandeven, 27, of Whitewater, entered a guilty plea before Judge William Syler on Dec. 5 to a reduced charge of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated for causing an accident with injuries.

Vandeven had been charged with a felony after the Nov. 20, 2004, accident, but with his plea was given a six-month suspended sentence and two years probation, according to court records.

The judge went to lunch at a restaurant and bar close to the courthouse less than an hour later. Syler spotted Vandeven drinking, a violation of his probation. A standard provision of probation in drunken driving cases is that the defendant refrain from drinking alcohol, avoid bars and not be around people who are drinking. On Tuesday, the bar tab receipt was offered as evidence. The receipt showed Vandeven and his party ordered two beers, two Long Island iced teas and a margarita, assistant Cape Girardeau prosecutor Jack Koester said. Koester said the exact number of people with Vandeven was unclear, but it appeared he was in the restaurant with one or two other people.

Vandeven has been in the Cape Girardeau County Jail since he was arrested Dec. 6. Syler ordered Vandeven to remain in custody until a space opens at a nearby treatment center.

The judge said Vandeven must complete a 30-day inpatient alcohol program. Vandeven must then return to the county jail and appear back in court on Jan. 30. Depending on how well the man does at the treatment center, the judge could restore his probation or impose the jail sentence of up to six months.

Vandeven's attorney, Malcolm Montgomery, told Syler that Vandeven had a drinking problem and was willing to go into treatment.

"I have never had a client so audaciously violate a judge's order that quickly after being placed on probation," Montgomery said.
*******************
Nuff said!

132

And I am supposed to worry about Bush & the NSA? Good work Crap! David must be very proud of you. I could care less. Your fellow Cornposters complaining about wasted bandwith will appreciate your efforts.

It is the truth, no wonder you do not get it.

*sigh*

capt

133

Psycho?

This coming from the same person who insists that I am baf, miku et al? I offered you $100.00 and permission for David's webmaster to release my IP address to prove I wasn't, yet you didn't take me up on it. Ok, Capt, put up or shut up. You are really becoming a waste of bandwith.

P.S.

I never said I didn't read comments on David's site. But, I recall you saying several times that you do not read comments of or post to trolls. Talk about honesty! Or am I not a troll?

I would regurgitate your comments re trolls but, alas, my NSA membership dues haven't been paid.

Hajji & capt (from the last thread):

I logged off last night after asking for veteran charity references; thanks for the suggestions.

By the way, just for the record, I'm really not stupid or lazy...well, maybe lazy, but anyway, I was just looking for ideas outside the envelope. The reality is that Hajji is right; the most obvious & best place I could offer my humble service is to the VA hospital.

Again, thanks!

I have told you before, not that it matters, you get more consideration than a regular troll because you are the cousin of a friend of mine. A good man.

Too bad you refuse to take advantage of that fact and just come clean.

Your loss not mine.

capt

I forgive, I just never forget. Sorry I have memory cells.

capt

139

Hajji is a good man indeed!

I am a troll!

Now admit, I am not baf, miku, et al. If I was, Hajji would be the first to know.

Truce?

140

Nothing at all wrong about having memory cells.
The more I age, the more I seem to find they are not as abundant as they were in my youth. What were you talking about in your 140 post? Nevermind!

I'm not saying any of this would have made a difference in the final tally of the close 2004 election. But had all this hit prior to E Day, the Rove machine might have encountered a few inconvenient speedbumps.

Somebody suggested that Dave was being coy, and I guess this a statement that contains a coy-like substance. Call me a cynic, but I'm here to tell you it wouldn't have made a GODdamn bit of difference. I think Bush would've "won" the election in '04 even if they caught him with a dead goat or a live boy.

(By the way, I didn't mis-spell girl; I just think goat is more appropriate.)

2006: The Year the Chickenhawks Will Go Home to Roost

by Cindy Sheehan

Since hot, hot Camp Casey in August, some amazing grass roots actions have taken place all over the country. People are starting to speak up and Congress has begun to take action against the criminal and neo-Fascist regime that tried to take over America.

From Camp Casey to Katrina to use of chemical weaponry and extraordinary rendition to illegally spying on American citizens without due process, Bushco has miserably failed our country and the world. We as Americans said "enough is enough." We sacrificed a lot when we showed up in DC and other cities around the country in the hundreds of thousands to protest against and show that we withdraw any consent to be governed by murderous thugs. We started to peacefully, but forcefully resist the notion that this government has any right to govern us when they have betrayed their offices and their sacred trusts as "defenders" of the Constitution so horribly.

This was also the year that we also began to hold such Republicans in Democratic clothing like: Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden, and Diane Feinstein (list is my no means all inclusive) accountable for their support of what George is doing in Iraq. When we as Democrats elect our leaders we expect them to reject and loudly repudiate the murderous and corrupt policies of this administration: not support and defend them.

There are Camp Caseys in front of Hillary's and Chuck Schumer's offices in Long Island every Friday, as well as one in front of Diane Feinstein's Los Angeles office on Fridays, also. There has been a Camp Casey in front of Kay Bailey Hutchinson's office in Dallas since August. Several protestors have been arrested in Dallas exercising their First Amendment rights. We need to let these warmongers, as well as the Republican warmongers, know that we mean business when we say "bring them home now." Set up Camp Caseys in front of your Senator's or Congress person's office if they support George in his wars of aggression.

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

Talk about equal opportunity for both D’s and R’s!

Cindy Sheehan ROCKS! You go GIRL!

capt

Don,

Reminds me of the last time I went to church. The preacher asked the congregation "Who here have heard of the Holy Ghost?" We all raised our hands. He then asked, "Who here have seen the Holy Ghost?" Several of us raised our hand. He then asked, "Who here have spoken to the Holy Ghost?" A few of us raised our hand. He then asked, "Who here has made love to the Holy Ghost?" I was the only one to raise my hand. The preacher said "Brother Hodges, I want you to come forward." I made my way from the back of the church. The preacher turned me toward the congregation and said, "I want you to tell these fine people how you made love to the Holy Ghost!"My reply was "Ghost? I thought you said Goat!"

"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Seinfield

I forgive you, have forgiven you for all of your outrageous lies and un-earned insults. I forgave your melt downs, your name calling, your ongoing stupidity.

I will never forget a single word of it.

I am sure you do not understand. Study it, become the best person you can be, that is who you are.

Never claim that other trolls are or were worse and never claim to be honest and you will never hear a word from me. Make a claim that you are an honest man and I will prove you are not. Not until you embrace who you are under all of your phantom handles and fake names.

You might kid some of the people some of the time but most of us here have read your beads.

Live with it or post as Bill or baf or Dude or Milo, as Tim, TimL or any other handle but TRH or Tom Hodges. Making claims of honesty or even making hints like you have some kind of credibility on this blog as those handles and I will bust you each and every time.

Done deal. I will NEVER let you have a pass because you made your bed here pal. Now you cannot act like it does not matter, it does.

capt

Oh yeah, nevermind yourself!

HA!

capt

Um that would be Tim Hodges!

#103

Carol...hey thanks for bringing this article to our attention. These words from Geov Parrish sent chills up my spine:

"...A Boston Globe story last Friday speculated, and a follow-up piece in Saturday's New York Times essentially (and without any mention of possible illegality) confirmed, that the NSA surveillance has operated by creating search terms and using computers to monitor the foreign calls not just of suspected Al-Qaeda operatives (as the White House has claimed), but all Americans' international calls, e-mails, and faxes, and some domestic communications as well -- spying on literally millions upon millions of people. If particular terms are a match, the taped calls are automatically culled and referred to a human ear for follow-up.

If true, this would certainly explain why Bush did not use the secret FISA courts to obtain warrants; no court would countenance surveillance upon countless millions of Americans. It matters little whether the spying is done by computer or by human; humans still have to select the search terms and target the individuals. Done in secret, with no accountability except to a highly politicized White House, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to prevent Bush and his cronies from using the NSA to spy upon anyone they want to.

One wonders how this might have affected the 2004 presidential campaign, for example..."
+++++++++
David writes above: I'm not saying any of this would have made a difference in the final tally of the close 2004 election.

Well, David, if what the NYT reports about the widespread spying on millions of Americans is true, bush would have lost the '04 election!

We haven't seen the worst of it yet. Stay tuned.

145

Beastiality is sinful in the eyes of the Lord. Nor is it funny. It is because of goat-f**kers like you that I have to keep the eyes of my kids hidden.

"I'm not saying any of this would have made a difference in the final tally of the close 2004 election."

I so totally agree. The only thing that could have changed the numbers were the ES&S and Diebold hackers working for the Bush crime family.

Nothing, not even more citizens voting for the opposition were going to change the outcome.

The black boxes are fixed. Not one of the manufacturers can prove they were not. The proof is always in the pudding.

Just sayin'

capt

Think:

2006 = GOP super-majority.

Watch how fast it happens. The only question is what then?

I think the neocrazies will try it. They will be (as they have been) ready for ANY civil unrest or protests.

They have nothing to lose but power and that is why they will do it. You do not attain power just to surrender it because of some "goddamned piece of paper" or because the "little people" call foul.

capt

Still not willing to take me up on the offer to prove it. You are a paranoid psycho who sees shadows lerking behind every poster. How pathetic your life must be. Try extracting your upper torso from the innards of David's body and you may see the light. David is as partisan as partisan's can be but he does not make false accusations where he cannot prove it. Yet you continue to do so. So live in your little fantasy world all you want. You make fun of people who just nod and say amen to all Bush says, which I do not do, but if David were to ever become President you would be his Rove.

Dear David,

Please do send this month's check on saving bandwith from Capt's copy & post articles and proverbial amen. I kept him tied up for the evening just for fun. He is entertaining every now and then. I'll maybe check in next year. Don't count on it. He is afterall, a very dishonest person. What with posting to trolls and insisting that he scrolls past them. Then, he insists on me being who I am not when I know who I am and have offered to have it proven.

Capt:

Post all my previous posts, please! I noticed that in your previous NSA regurgitation, there was none from baf, miku et al? Are you admitting that I am not them? Truth?

150

It was a joke Don. You mentioned Goat in you post, not me.

TRH, could we get a list of Dems that received money directly from Abramoff?

You can start by looking here and here.

Thanks.

Nostradamus, I'm home. And I have lots of goodies for you, my little turdblossom.

#151 capt...well, maybe you and David are right.

But, I would like to believe, that if it had been a known FACT that the bush administration was spying on millions of Americans, that MILLIONS OF AMERICANS would have given him a big enough FUCK YOU at the polls in '04 that even Diebold and
ES&S would not have been able to cook the books, and get away with it.

Just saying...

PS capt, TRH isn't worth your time. just saying about that, too...

Pande,

There are none, only those who are associated with Abramoff. My only point was that David failed to mention that there were monies received by many members of both parties either directly from Abramoff or indirectly. Correct me if I am wrong, but rarely is there just an "independent lobbyist." They work in conjunction with one another within an organization and put their money where the most bang for the buck will be had. I know of no personal associations that Abramoff has with any democrat but there are associates of his who he urged to contribute to Dems for various reasons. See micki's previous post.

CharlieD, baf, TRH: Thanks for piping in!

Makes for a livelier site and NOT just always the Regulars. This applies to most blog sites, Right, Left... I read Right blogs but don't generally read the fan Comments; why bother? On Real issues, way too many in this mostly-Grey world, I always spend some time on the Left blogs.

Where Derrick and others went? Off on vacation, away from the fricking Internet? Damn it, any topic, it just goes on and on and on... Blog site readership will peak out soon! Staring at a LCD panel strains my eyes more and more.

#71 Retired Catholic
You asked David to get out of Pajamas Media for his own good. I like to hear your take on why he should? About a week ago, didn't he state he was NOT ready to throw in the towel?

#79 #83 DEN, Jeanne
Collective paranoia! In your DNAs. Raised some good reasons why the NSA/FBI should be able to use Gigantica Computers to sift through all of this rubbish (w/any foreign ties). ~3 have changed your names and I have added descriptive suffixes to mine. Are our intelligence agencies supposed to get approval for each new or varied names? I can email thousands of addresses and only 1 or 2 are Real (terrorists), what is our country to do?

You think we (baf: you sound like me b/f wife) were sent here? I can't say for others, but no one sent me. Your own arrogance and snickers to my first Happy greeting led to my `Regular' Guest appearances.

You paranoid Lefties need to give David some credit. He is having fun watching all this! I believe he's got a good sense of smell. Did't he write a major expose about somebody?

David, after 2008, I will read your book. By then, there won't be quite the volume of similar stuff everywhere the Left is today.

#85 Jeanne
Your comment on the Dem Party, not the GOP! Wasn't it Dem Zell Miller who said the current Dem party is spineless farce. Ron Reagan & Phil Graham switching to the GOP? Any major GOP figure switched to Dem recently? Jefford doesn't count!

You party abandoned its loyal black constituents and allowed false leaders like Jackson, Farrakhan, Schumer to keep telling blacks they can't compete and gotta have handouts! What kind of support did Bill Cosby get?

#105 James Ha
Correct! I took a course in college on oil economics and have owned oil stocks for decades. One reason I beat the broad market handily this year! Blame for high prices do not lie within our borders. I can spend hours on this but don't want to; complex subject with a cartel.

#108 TRH
Richard Dumm really broke up the tension (or self-hyped up BS) nicely!

#109 golucky
Which `born-again' may you be? Must be ashamed of your previous name & postings? Round #32 and counting!

Baf, you are so right as to boredom! I love to chat about forward-looking stuff, when time allows! Backward stuff? Plenty of people that must be getting high Living in the Past (Jethro Tull, I think). Me, ONLY IF somebody pays me or I'm going to write a major book$$

#158 "What kind of support did Bill Cosby get?"

Brock, for chrissakes, STFU about Cosby will ya? Get some new material...you're recycling your tired old BS from arianna's site.

You are so transparent. I wish you'd finally get a REAL job and get that girl you claim is your girlfriend to marry you who you're "saving yourself" for.

156

Back at ya!

When you write that Mr. Corn leaves out Dems' names for a reason, you seem to imply that he is covering for them, hiding their guilt or complicity. If this is what you mean, just say so. I suspect that that's what Capt was getting at -- your suspicion of Mr. Corn's motives.

You seem to be making a case for the fact that the Dems broke the law, too. If you are, why not make it? We would all greatly appreciate it.

Pande: Well said. To the point. Thanks.

Pande,

My main point was to say they are all sleezy when it comes to fundraising. For David to not name Abramoff's association with others than he mentioned, directly or indirectly, reveals a bias. I admit that they all do it. Why not just admit it upfront and then condone it? Or is it only not permissible for one party to do it and not the other? Delay should not be immune from his association with Abramoff but should others be?

Capt,

Forgot to mention Happy, Happy at night, CharlieD.

Kirk, are you willing to admit the truth? If not, take me up on my bet. I have $100.00 to lose, you have nothing, but your honor.

Sorry, why bother. You have none!

Tim,
The problem I have with your argument is that if Abrahmoff was best buddies with the Democrats instead of the Republicans you wouldn't be making this fuss. You wouldn't be demanding that there are some Republicans that got money from Abrahmoff. Quit trying to tarnish people who were no way involved with Abramoff. Whether they are perfect or not doesn't matter. They weren't involved with Abramoff.

#103, I stick with my prediction. There will be no 2008 presidential election.

#152, capt is right!

Cindy Sheehan is one of my foxes and I wish her well but the demise of American democracy is upon us.

Come to me and I will protect you. Jesus of Nazareth

Jeanne,

Not directly, but at the direction of. If I am the head of a major corporation and I want something favorable to my company in Congress, I place my money where it can best be accomplished. That often includes politicians of both parties. David knows there are associations with between Abramoff and his associates and the Dems yet he only mentions Reps. Why? I thik they are all sleezy, many people think they are all sleezy, yet David only mentions reps? What is even funnier than that is that David mentions Grover Nordquist and Ralph Reed in his post. Last I checked, they are not politicians. Why mention them at all? Or should we bring up George Soros?

#163 TRH pontificates: "For David to not name Abramoff's association with others than (sic) he mentioned, directly or indirectly, reveals a bias."

David, matter-of-factly, mentioned a few names that are well-established as being involved in this matter...so? That does not reveal a bias. TRH, perhaps you should familiarize yourself with the definition of "bias" before you charge others with being guilty of "revealing" it.

Regarding your charge of "directly or indirectly," I cannot fathom what you mean.

#167 TRH, you should also familiarize yourself with the definition of POLITICIAN.

Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist are most certainly politicians, not elected politicians, but politicinas nevertheless.

They make it their business to be involved in the "science" and "art" of government because they are actively engaged in influencing the conduct and business of how our government is operated -- but, they do it without the benefit of election by the people or in the open.

It just galls me when a proven liar tries to act all truthful.

It insults my intelligence.

That is all.

capt

#151 was tongue in cheek.

You ought to know that!

capt

#169
Most people don't know who they are and how much influence they have. Talk about sleaze. That's them.

"Are you admitting that I am not them? Truth?"

Who knows except you? Get some help.

capt

Europeans criticize U.S. sanctions as potential risk to Iran talks

By Dan Bilefsky and David E. Sanger The New York Times, International Herald Tribune

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2005


New U.S. sanctions against nine foreign companies accused of aiding Iran's weapons programs could signal a harder line toward Tehran by the Bush administration and could hinder diplomatic efforts by Europe to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, EU officials and analysts said Wednesday.

The companies include six in China, two in India, and an Austrian arms manufacturer.

Reacting to the sanctions, which apply to Steyr-Mannlicher of Austria, over its sales of armor-piercing rifles with scopes to Iran, the Austrian government on Wednesday defended the company and questioned the sense of the U.S. move long after the deal was completed.

The sanctions, announced Tuesday by the State Department, are part of a complex effort to cut off the flow of technology to Iran that could aid its weapons programs while pressing China and Russia to threaten action against Tehran at the UN Security Council.

EU officials said an increase in U.S. pressure on Iran could complicate the diplomatic efforts of the Union, which is trying to end the nuclear standoff with Iran while also acting as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.

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

There is nothing Iran can do to stop the advancing aggression by our government. Nothing we can do about it either except we do have to try.

Nothing short of impeachment will change our course.

capt

Anti-Imperialists Beware – Bush Is Reading Again

The Reader-in-Chief is at it again, and anti-imperialists around the world have reason to be concerned.

According to the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush has taken two books with him to Texas for his holiday reading, which he will presumably indulge between his favorite ranch pursuits – clearing brush and biking.

The first is about his most admired role model, Theodore Roosevelt, the other on the wonders being achieved by U.S. soldiers around the world.

The choices are not unimportant. Indeed, Bush is known to read so little – both for official business and for diversion – and to be so impressed by the few books he does read that it is imperative for people who are paid to know what's happening in Washington to find out what's on the president's nightstand when he turns out the light.

As the U.S. was gearing up for war in Iraq in the summer of 2002, for example, reporters noticed that Bush had tucked under his arm a rather scholarly – and hence unlikely – book, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, a book by Eliot Cohen, a neoconservative military historian and friend of then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

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

Oh-oh! If they are claiming Bunnypants is reading we know they making it up. If they say that they will say anything.

capt

Nostradamus, you got off to a sour and idiotic start. By the way, if you call your family members idiots, and call folks on this blog idiots, what difference doest it make if you spell it out or use dashes (i---t)? Why is your "What the F***" any more acceptable than when I labeled you a "motherfucker" (Other than the appelation applies to you)? Obviously more of your thin-skinned whiny-ass bitchiness.

You quote Mr. Corn:
"Discuss (politely, as always) the above, and more among yourselves."

Then you make an absolute jackass (sorry, dumbf***),

You say,
"NOTICE the word "above"? You want to post links, fine, make it fit the subject matter of David's "above" posting....Your comments should be limited to subject matter! Damn, you Cornuts take too much time to teach!"

Take a remedial course in Reading; then you might be able to avoid making a total doofus of yourself. The "and more" that Mr. Corn inserts in his admonition means that we need not limit ourselves to a single topic. It's so sad that you can't understand the simplest assertions.

Nostradamus, I see a serious asswhoopin' in your immediate future. Check it out as I lay it down.

"Why is Bush being accused for lying on WMD?"

The evidence is ample and his defense ("oops, those CIA folks lied to me") just doesn't wash.

Then you said,
"Saddam wanted everyone to think he still had it for his own ego trip and amazingly, the whole Western Intelligence apparatus, plus the Russians, believed it!"

both of the above were posted by: Happy at December 26, 2005 06:06 PM

Well, to begin with. The international community suspected that Saddam was hiding his WMD and wanted to verify this fact. They called for more inspections and Chimpy cut them off. The fact that we were led to war on "suspicions" and not FACTS reflects poorly on President Cheney and his cabal of chickenhawks and Oil Barons.

As Wes Clark said, "intelligence estimates are never accurate, they are never going to be accurate, and I think policymakers bear responsibility for what use they make of intelligence."

He cautioned the Cheney Administration about eating the elephant one bite at a time, tying up loose ends and using wisdom in their decisions.

In the end, he was right about the war and about Iraqi democracy: "We've got to do a lot less crowing about the sunrise."

And the reactionary goobers who called for war turned out to be a group of simpletons. Sober Conservatives agree that Chimpy pissed away the Republican Revolution with his war of choice.

The 20,000 or so brave Americans who's lives have been torn apart by the war and the tens of thousands of Iraqis who've been killed know why Chimpy's lies about WMD matter.

Even Liberal birdbrains like Pat Buchanan could have told you way back when that bringing Democracy to a region that wasn't ready for it (and was more committed to Islam than Liberal reform) was a HUGE mistake. Our brave troops didn't sign up to turn Iraq into a Muslim Theocracy.

This is some funny stuff:
"As for impeachment, I can't wait; bring it!"
Posted by: Happy at December 26, 2005 09:03 PM

"Why don't we start a round of discussions on the pros and cons of initiating Impeachment of Bush?"
Posted by: Happy at December 26, 2005 09:15 PM

The sad thing is that your party has no interest in upholding the Constitution or the laws of the land. Discussions of impeachment are a joke, much like most of your rants.

I enjoyed this one though:
"Rush is an entertainer and for talking 3 hours per day, 5 days per week, it is remarkable how few `slip ups' he has."

For those who can stomach his idiocy, Media Matters has a rundown of almost 300 factual misstatements that he has made. There are dozens of other sites that have more. The Governmental Accountability Office could hire a team of 200 drones working 24 hours a day to track all of the lies that are concocted by the Bureau of Rush's Ass (as opposed to REAL facts) and their work would never be done.

Nostradamus whines,
"But is it too much to ask the Left leadership to dial back the hyperboles?"

You guys are such crabby bitches. You can dish it out, but you can't take it.

Pandemoniac gasps at the incivility that his eyes behold,
"What the F*** (excuse my French) does `unwinnable war' contribute?"

It contributes more than a group of congenital liars who send poor people to kill and be killed so that their friends (Cheneyburton, Oil Barons) can get rich.

"Imagine your son in Iraq hears that! Bush may or may not be partially or wholly what you think, history will judge him."

Ask Hajji how he feels, his kids are in the armed forces.

But there you go again, refusing to hold Chimpy responsible for the choices that he makes. Acountability and Responsibility are two words entirely missing from the lexicon of the Right.

"He is what we have and so far, the American people is (sic) standing by him."

Pick a poll, any poll, that shows that to be true; and I can pick four polls that show the opposite. Chimpy is the worst Preznit ever.

TRH, "My main point was to say they are all sleezy when it comes to fundraising."

The issue isn't sleazy dealings. It's about breaking the law. It's like the difference between joking about fucking a goat and actually having sex with a goat. Right about now, the GOP is trying to unfuck the goat.

Waxed 'em and taxed 'em!

Nobody does it better!

capt

I say indict any politician that breaks the law. Just a coincidence all the indictments are for GOPhers. Who knows, there might be a landslide of indictments for Democrats. One might be tempted to assume as the Reich wingnut neocons are running all of the government the Democrats would be cooked. I find it more than curious that they are not.

Time will tell but even if every Democrat is caught with funky money it will not mitigate the current crimes that are all up and in the GOP exclusively at this point in time. It is just the truth.

capt

Last one for tonight. I'm all caught up on Nostradamus' nuttiness; but he is the best example of the gift that just keeps on giving:

He sheepishly admits,
"Pande
You might well be the best here, compassionate, intelligent, and all-that-good-stuff."

And you left off funny. Most folks around here just think I'm the class clown. A mean class clown.

"But your style negates everything."

Typical Republican. You can dish it out, but you wet your pants when someone returns the favor. I have three words for you, Nostradamus (by way of President Cheney): Go Fuck Yerself.

"My comments are meant to sting, no question! "

Your spelling is so atrocious, I'm positive you meant to write "stink." That would be infinitely more accurate.

"You want to spend your time rebutting me civilly (sic), when time permits (time is money and I make no bones about that)! "
"You know nothing about me and what I contribute to this society!"

All that anyone knows about anyone else is what is evidenced by their speech and actions. Your writing style screams "cowardly Republican Liar."

"I agree w/your questioning of the Enron situation"

Wow. Let's just call you Mr. Obvious.

"WSJ, my main source of national/global issues"

Barron's is the WSJ's little brother, ain't it? Did ya' catch that little ditty about how they thought Congress should look into impeaching W(uss)? Crazy bastards.

"Comment #124 by Pande @ 12:52 AM Today - Trust the (Iraqui) (sic) People"

Pandemoniac sez: "...I'd like to extend an olive branch..."

Nostradamus sez: "How long did it last? did I get a chance to respond before your blast of Comment #145 less than 4 hours later?"

You mean the olive branch crusted over with Dove poop? It's called sarcasm. Look into it.

"I rest my case! You double standard, holier- than-thou Cornnut!"

See? You did it again. That should read "funnier-than-thou."

"Other than being a long-time Republican, I have no ties, now or in the past, to any political organizations."

Typical Republican. Won't stand up for the public policy of the Cheney Administration.

Nostradamus dons his tinfoil hat:
"You, on the other hand, plus at least half the "Regulars", outside of being Dems, are almost certainly connected with some Lefty organizations. I have NO doubt some of you are paid to spend the ungodly amount of time you (all) do on this site, cluttering it up!"

Wow. You have cluttered up this site with over FIFTY posts in the last few days. Pot --> Kettle.

"One of the few things you are right about is that I am not your average 'troll'!"

I owe you an apology, dude. I misunderestimated you. BAF is WAY smarter than you. No, wait. I guess that means I owe BAF an apology. From the bottom of my Texican heart, baf, I'm Sorry.

"Here in this public forum, all that you show is to reinforce what Rushbo & Hannity stereotype all libs to be."

What talk you talk, Yoda? All that you show is to reinforce what Morons say.

"You do agree that the Right is the entrepreneurs in this country, then?"

From the AMerican Heritage Dictionary:
entrepreneur SYLLABICATION: en·tre·pre·neur
NOUN: A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

No. That doesn't sound like a Republican. When it comes to Big Business, corporate welfare is all the rage. And when things don't work out, they look to Uncle Sam to bail them out (cf GM, the airline industry, etc.)

"Consumer Confidence Soars in December"

"Poverty rises under both Bush Administrations"

"As long as we are wondering everywhich (sic) way but loose!"

Uh, WTF? Somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away, Yoda is smiling.

"More Jobs and Better Pay in 2006"

By Peter Coy
BusinessWeek Online

"With a growing economy, increased production, and inflation easing, U.S. workers should enjoy the new year."

Give it till February. Chimpy will find a way to piss away the promise of an economic recovery. That is the one thing that he excels at: turning diamonds to bric-a-brac.

"USATODAY.com
Snowballs and the magic of compounding"

Oh, JOY. Rapture. Tomorrow, you'll tell us about the wonder and magic of moving pictures. I, for one, can't wait.

"Q: I want to start investing, but I only have $500 to $1,000 to start with and can only invest about $100 a month. How much can that be worth in 30 years and what should I invest in?"

At the rate that the Cheney Administration is destroying the economy, it should be worth a kick in the ass. See the fine print for details.

"Raised some good reasons why the NSA/FBI should be able to use Gigantica Computers to sift through all of this rubbish (w/any foreign ties). .... I can email thousands of addresses and only 1 or 2 are Real (terrorists), what is our country to do?"

Yes, and it can be done legally. Too bad Chimpy chose to break the law. Data mining was effective and legal during the Clinton Administration (cf. Able Danger). Able Danger ID'd a couple of the 911 shitheads. Too bad Chimpy's folks shut Able Danger down before the bad guys got nabbed. Why'd they do that? If we had a principled majority party, we'd have the answer to that question. Instead, we have Republicans. Thus, we are left in the dark (again!).

"Wasn't it Dem Zell Miller who said the current Dem party is spineless farce."

Check out the fighting Dems. 30 or so Iraq vets running for Congress in '06 as Dems. 2 Reds. Sad. See my earlier link on chickenhawks in the Republican ranks.

"Ron Reagan & Phil Graham switching to the GOP? Any major GOP figure switched to Dem recently? Jefford doesn't count!"

Remember, thieves hit banks because . . . that's where the money's at. Crooks will naturally gravitate towards the Republican party because that's where all the dirty money is. Natch.

"You (sic) party abandoned its loyal black constituents ...."

The Grand Ol' Lynching Party went from 12% favorability amongst black folks to 2% favorability under Chimpy. Remember what Kanye West sez: George Bush doesn't care about black people.

"I took a course in college on oil economics and have owned oil stocks for decades. One reason I beat the broad market handily this year! Blame for high prices do not lie within our borders."

Wonderful. Then you can explain to us how Big Oil made higher profits while refining less product. My brother is a chemical engineer for a major European refining company. Once the crude gets refined, the companies trade and profit from the product they produce. Did you ever explain to us about the Iranian bourse? Did you give us the rundown on it's basis in Euros vs Dollars? Did you ever explain why the fed has ceased to publish M3 numbers? Didn't think so. You are full of poopy, Nostradamus. Warm, smelly, poop.

"Where Derrick and others went? Off on vacation, away from the fricking Internet? Damn it, any topic, it just goes on and on and on... Blog site readership will peak out soon! Staring at a LCD panel strains my eyes more and more."

BITCH. BITCH. BITCH. WHINE. WHINE. WHINE.

As I said before, dude:
Cowards like you come and go on this blog. I know you won't respond because you are too weak, pathetic and foolish. In the end, the fact that you hide behind your facade of civility while making some of the most socially reprehensible statements about the poor and defenseless in America shows the difference between Liberals and Reactionaries. Liberals don't need to use the word "compassionate" to fool people into thinking that they give a shit about them.

I'll be back to taunt you whenever you return; and it won't get any nicer. Dumbass.

Pande,

I think you forgot psycho but that would be overkill.

capt

Somebody suggested that Dave was being coy, and I guess this a statement that contains a coy-like substance. Call me a cynic, but I'm here to tell you it wouldn't have made a GODdamn bit of difference. I think Bush would've "won" the election in '04 even if they caught him with a dead goat or a live boy.!

I still believe certain people are sent to blogs such as this one to disrupt and antagonize posters. Why else would they be here? People generally do not stay where they are not wanted unless they have an agenda. Rather odd that one leaves and another takes their place. Current issue is very similar to baf, both so-called business owners referring to employees and both have the bully attitude.

Empathy is an innate ability of all humans and social animals. A lizard does not express emotion because other lizards don't care what it is experiencing. We rely on emotional expressions to maintain group solidarity, to let others know how we are feeling, to have THEM experience what we are experiencing. Training someone to be dispassionate about the suffering of others is going against these natural and inherent tendencies. But this economic system we have that allows such great disparities between rich and poor is built on the idea that the condition of others is not our concern, that their lack of means is not our fault, but theirs. A corporation does think and feel like a human, it does not register the needs and feelings of humans, it cannot see that its activity often has a detrimental effect on society and the environment. I watched the trials of those crooks on TV, and was glad to see them brought to justice. A human without empathy is more of a lizard than a monkey. I will be glad again to hear another greedy villian has been brought to justice.