A fool is my shepherd, I shall not think for myself. He assures me to breath foul air and to drink putrid waters is healthful. He maketh me to be bogged down in a quagmire. He leadth me down paths of extreme right for his friends enrichment.
Yea, though I walk through relatively safe streets, I do fear evil, though the threat level is orange. For thou has continually warned me to be villigant, and it scares me.
My assult rifle comforts me by my side in a SUV with a full tank of 95%. Though my deficit climbs ever higher, my table swells of junk food set before the presence of a big screen TV.
Surely paranoia and resentment will follow me all the days of my life, as I dwell in this empire of christian hypocrisy till I die unisured.
Congressional Budget Office's latest statistics show capital gains tax receipts are way up, by 45%!
The 2003 rate reduction resulted in an increase in capital gains realization: from $269 Billion in 2002 to a whopping $539 Billion in 2005. So, the capital gains tax liabilities (by taxpayers) have gone up from less than $50 Billion at the old 20% rate to a current estimate of $80 Billion at the lowered 15% rate!
Of course, IF rates are reduced even further, at some point, less tax revenues will be coming in, all things being equal. But it seems that the current 15% should certainly be allowed to continue indefinitely if not permanently!
As an avowed capitalist, all investors do not want onerous tax burdens to cloud our judgements of where to invest and promote our economy.
#1, I only hope for the truth to come out whether it will be Bush, Cheney, or Rice. The truth shall set us free. Can anyone remember a truthful statement from the WH?
#2, The oil, Bush to look like a man to his father, tell himself that he is not the Coward in Crawford, so his nutcracker mother can kiss the booboo, Lucifer's follower, a puppet of the irreligious right, his brain is fried from drugs, he's going insane?
#3, a true Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ, Jesus is my model for mercy, I need Him for my co-pilot, He is my strength, I need His shoulder to lean on!
flan, since none of those guys is actually in charge, impeach 'em all! Remember what clinton said, "once you finally make it to the office of president, you realize someone else is making the decisions." I'd like to pin down that "someone else", they are destroying this country, with the neocon puppet's full support.
Please click on and compare what this money could do for important programs. We are wasting away billions of dollars in a lost cause. We will never ever leave Iraq!!!!!
Gerald, did you see the estimate I posted? $100,000 a MINUTE! Of course that doesn't include the fringe benefit of the savings they get by wiping out several generations with DU poisoning.
Wasting this amount of money on silly war games to determine if our weaponry research is operating fully and to prove the punk from Crawford is a man is a grave sin and one that warrants the eternal wrath.
There is only one subject worthy of discussion, GO STEELERS!!!!!! The conservative Steelers are going to kick ass on those left wing nut, java drinkin Seahawks!!!
TRH, that statement was as nonsensical as his advice to me regarding conversations with my terrorist buddies overseas! If I would just knock it off, I wouldn't have to worry about the NSA! What an intellectual.
Cheney is going to be picked off by Fitzgerald. So are is staff. And Condi? She's obviously been in the thick of things. So what happens next?
We live in interesting times.
Your asking me to refrain? The one who has accused Capt of being a member of NAMBLA. I will say what I want. The Steeler owner is a conservative and most of the team is as well. Seattle is one of the most liberal communities in the NW, I would know I live here. As Porter would say-were going to hurt you fool!!
By the way, speaking of the Super Bowl, I went downtown last night to check out the brouhaha. Downtown Detroit hasn't looked this good in a long time. Despite a rainy and somewhat chilly night, there were people everywhere; it felt like I was in Chicago on a Saturday night. We had a few celebrity sightings: David Spade (who was being very friendly to people, the opposite of the snarky character he usually plays), Gilbert Gottfried (I know, "celebrity" is a stretch), and Bill Laimbeer. We had a nice dinner at a tapas joint called Small Plates, and then we danced in the rain as Mark Farner, formerly of Grand Funk, performed the classic Some Kind of Wonderful. A good time was had by all. I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, but on TV - it's gonna be crazy down there!
Great comeback LBH. By the way, who writes your material? You may want to reconsider because what you posted has nothing to do with sports or politics.
Wingnuts like to make art boring and safe.
Oooohhhh. Look at all the red balls in this room. The object is to see how people interact with them. Wow. Great art ---not.
Just to see Farner had to make it worthwhile. Some sports and media pundits pooh-pooh the Super Bowl sites but isn't it funny that the people pay no attention to them and manage to have a good time anyway?
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
"It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
"But Iraq has, have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers. And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
"We look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make, it would hope, put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't see." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 14, 2005
"Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those — changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be — or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the — like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate — the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those — if that growth is affected, it will help on the red." —George W. Bush, explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005
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So speaketh the King. I feel MUCH better now!
Tonight's revelations about Tony Blair and George Bush's White House meeting on January 31 2003 show that the prime minister was prepared to go to war in Iraq before he had tried to get a second UN resolution. Given that the attorney general and Foreign Office lawyers believed at this time that war would be illegal without one, the story throws further doubt on the legality of the conflict.
Below we set out the key diplomatic and political developments in the run up to the controversial March 2003 conflict.
Using the documents and the other established facts, hard for Bunnypants to claim he did not know there were no WMDÕs. Add the presidential humor[sic] of looking under his desk for WMDÕs and the picture is complete.
Bush lied, tens of thousands have died, for a lie and a liar.
Impeach the SOB's. Anything short of articles of impeachment would not be just.
Yeah, most of the pundits want the game to be in Miami or LA, of course. Super Bowl XIII didn't go well because the Silverdome is in the middle of nowhere, but Ford Field is smack dab in the middle of the action downtown. Everybody was indeed having a good time. I've already had several friends call me to go down again tonight, but I'm afraid these old bones can't party like they used to...
He discusses the memo and the loss of reporters from US fighting. And reporters who have been sent to prison. One guy was picked up and has been sitting in Guantanamo Bay for more than three years. Why? Because our government wants to know how Al Jazeera operates.
I'd like to see this guy on Meet the Press. I know why the US wants to get rid of this organization. They report the news.
flan, I truly think they are all just a bunch of peon frontmen. They are obviously dedicated to the complete ruination of our once great nation, but none of them, even put together, have the money or actual power to have accomplished what has happened in a mere 5 years. The power elite have the kind of influence that gets people like JFK assasinated, and ruins entire economies. Think central bankers and Federal Reserve and you will be getting warm. I base this opinion on months of research, and watching them in action.
I always say - as in all final playoff games, both teams should be proud and happy to be the best. Only one wins but if your team makes the playoffs they have nothing to be ashamed of.
I used to have an office in Livonia and one in Wheeling-Northbrook. I was smelling the rain.
Do you mean a company you used to work for had an office in Livonia or did you actually live there? What did you do? (You don't have to be specific, of course.)
It's also a coincidence that you mention Wheeling; I leave for a business trip to Chicagoland on Monday and one of my clients is in Wheeling!
I couldn't find the translation key on my keyboard regarding that funny looking thing you typed after Super Bowl in your last post so I will assume that was the 49'ers v. Bengals. People always make the best of the situation they are in, regardless of what the so-called experts tell them they should be "feeling." I'm glad you had a good time and hope you continue to do so. And, permit me to ask God to bless those old bones.
Here's another topic - Presidential '08 picks...I know we've discussed it recently but here's a great article by Fiengold - I would love it if Fiengold were elected President!
I worked for Mitsubishi Electric Sales America (no longer the name of the division) I was based in Cypress California. I was in Livonia and Wheeling-Northbrook two weeks (one week for each) of every month for a few years.
A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Basra when they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and unconscious.
On the opposite side of the road was an American Marine in similar but less serious state.
The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine what had happened.
The Marine reported, "I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed insurgent.
We saw each other and both took cover in the ditches along the road.
"I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein is a miserable, lowlife, scumbag, and he yelled back that Senator Ted Kennedy is a good-for-nothing, fat, drunk driving murderer.
So I said that Osama Bin Ladin dresses and acts like a frigid old, mean spirited nasty bitch!"
He retaliated by yelling, "Oh yeah? Well so does Hillary Clinton!"
"And, there we were, standing in the middle of the road shaking hands, when the truck hit us."
It was a joke! I am a life long Steeler fan and love to start a competitive fight. It's a guy thing that TRH and Don wouldn't get. Glad to see that you're a Steeler fan. At laest you got something right!!!
Way back when I was looking for something posted uhm...way back and found that somebody was posting hundreds of porno links (and NONE of them FREE!) at the end of some of the threads. I think the limited access to old threads has ended that, but obviously not the looney rantings of bizzare individuals.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention...future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis is a homeboy, as is former Wolverine linebacker Larry Tharpe, so that adds to the Steelers fandom around here.
Carol, I saw the end of that thread. I thought I was at the wrong site at first!
Capt, it's true that this is a global cabal, and they have been around a lot longer than rove or bush. clinton alluded to them, and so did nixon and a few others. As long as they control the leadership in the US and other powerful nations, it won't matter who the figurehead is. They will obey orders, or they will end up like JFK.
flan, do you know what was probably the deciding factor in the death of Kennedy? It is tied directly to the Federal Reserve and our economy, and who controls it.
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!": Alexander Hamilton
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"The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.": Charles-Louis De Secondat - (1689-1755) Baron de Montesquieu - Source: The Spirit of the Laws, 1748
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"A man's liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited.": Herbert Spencer - (1820-1903) British author, economist, philosopher - Source: The Principles of Ethics Bd. II, ed. T. Machan, Indianapolis 1978, S. 242-43
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"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." : Thomas Paine
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"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.": Mark Twain
Capt,
My husband is a ASA 400 guy. Still loves the work after all these years. I was very happy when he was able to find a stable job again in the field. It's where he belongs. He was one of the 1st generation of programmers in this area. Those people are the ones with the valuable experience. They are also very well rounded people because back then you sort of found your way into programming from another field - teaching, music, like that.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - An officer injured in an accident while helping escort President BushÕ³ motorcade today has been identified.
Bernalillo Police Sergeant Jerry Nixon was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital where he likely will be held overnight, according to Bernalillo town manager Les Swindle.
Swindle says Nixon had worked for the department for two years.
A Bernalillo County sheriffÕ³ spokeswoman says he suffered a broken nose, lacerations and bruises, but he was coherent and responsive at the scene.
Nixon suffered his injuries on Interstate 25 in Albuquerque.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press show an intense debate erupted during the Ford administration over the president's powers to eavesdrop without warrants. George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are cited... Developing...
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true." ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)
*****
I pity the homophobes, they are sad on so many levels.
Interesting. Allen Raymond, one of the guys at the center of the New Hampshire phone-jamming case, was sentenced today up in New Hampshire.
In court, his lawyer, John Durkin, said that when Raymond was executing the election tampering plot he "was acting at the behest of the state and federal Republican parties (italics included)."
The call came from the campaign committee run by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN). Jim Tobin, who's now appealing his conviction, was the guy who worked for Frist's committee, the NRSC.
Go Seahawks.
Thank you all for the entertainment. And, I think if Bush and Cheney get impeached, I hope, the House Speaker becomes the new President. President Boehner, comedians will have endless
jokes.
According to the old stereotype, the Republicans are the party of the rich, while the Democrats are the party of the "little guy." But now, according to demographic studies (subscription required), that is no longer the case. America's wealthy elite now tends to vote Democratic. So do the very poor. Republicans mainly occupy the middle income strata. Questions: Why is this? What do the very rich have in common with the very poor that would make them both liberals?
Third Time reporter, named in filings, says he has not testified in case
Moreover, the documents reveal that no formal damage assessment has been done with regard to how the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame affected the agencyÕs operations worldwide. They also hint that Vice President CheneyÕs former Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby may have outed Plame on the orders of his "superiors."
FitzgeraldÕs Jan. 23 letter was penned in response to a series of telephone conversations, letters, and motions filed by Libby, who was indicted for obstructing justice in the Plame investigation. Libby has sought to force the prosecutor to turn over more information about his case to bolster his defense.
In the letter, Fitzgerald notes that a third Time Magazine reporter Ð who now serves as SlateÕs chief political correspondent Ð had conversations with Administration officials about a trip conducted by PlameÕs husband to investigate claims that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium from Niger.
"We also advise you that we understand that reporter John Dickerson of Time magazine discussed the trip by Mr. Wilson with government officials at some time on July 11 or after, subsequent to Mr. Cooper learning about Mr. WilsonÕs wife," Fitzgerald writes. "Any conversations involving Mr. Dickerson likely took place in Africa and occurred after July 11."
Matt Cooper, also a Time reporter, testified that Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove had cautioned him to play down the Wilson trip. Wilson, an ardent Bush critic, said he found no evidence to support claims that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium in order to build a nuclear weapon. Such claims were a keystone in the AdministrationÕs efforts to convince the United States and Congress to support a pre-emptive war.
Interesting article, I am on the wrong side. All this time I have been a true believer of the Democratic Party, only to find out I should be a Republican. I am in between the $100,000 and $30,000 dollar mark. Did I miss this memo?
I noticed this was published in 2004, is there up to date information. I do not want to be Republican.
Another corrupt GOPher. Corruption is an equal opportunity crime. It seems very odd to me that there are not some indictments somewhere for some Democrats. It would be silly to think the Democrats are all clean as a whistle.(maybe there is one or two)
#70
People like that gravitate toward jobs with money. They grab what they can as fast as they can. They have no control.
The jobs in Iraq involved in reconstruction should have been handed to people like Joe Wilson and the Ray McGovern. Just your old fashion career people who looked upon the assignment as a job to accomplish doing the best they could. Their honor and position was more important than the power and money they would be working around.
Instead this administration just put cronies in place and let chips fall where they may.
In calling on Americans to stay the course in Iraq, George W. Bush cites a recent speech by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden as well as a captured letter attributed to his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. But the two al-Qaeda messages actually suggest the terrorist group holds distinctly different views about Iraq, one publicly and another privately.
Bin-LadenÕs audio-taped speech almost baits Americans to leave Iraq, offering a "truce" that would spare the United States further attacks if it departs with its tail between its legs. However, the so-called "Zawahiri letter" warns al-QaedaÕs lieutenants in Iraq about the dangers of a rapid U.S. pullout that could result in many foreign jihadists quitting the struggle.
The two conflicting positions Ð one released for public consumption and the other supposedly expressing frank internal worries Ð raise the possibility that bin-Laden actually is telling the United States to do the opposite of what he really wants done, knowing that his endorsement of one action will encourage its opposite.
Just as Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus tales begged his captors not to throw him into the briar patch Ð because he actually wanted to be released into the briar patch Ð bin-Laden could be pretending that he wants the United States to depart Iraq because he really wants U.S. troops to stay.
WASHINGTON - An intense debate erupted during the Ford administration over the president's powers to eavesdrop without warrants to gather foreign intelligence, according to newly disclosed government documents. George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are cited in the documents.
The roughly 200 pages of historic records obtained by The Associated Press reflect a remarkably similar dispute between the White House and Congress fully three decades before President Bush's acknowledgment he authorized wiretaps without warrants of some Americans in terrorism investigations.
"Yogi Bera was right: It's deja vu all over again," said Tom Blanton, executive director for the National Security Archives, a private research group that compiles collections of sensitive government documents. "It's the same debate."
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings begin Monday over Bush's authority to approve such wiretaps by the ultra-secretive National Security Agency without a judge's approval. A focus of the hearings is to determine whether the Bush administration's eavesdropping program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law with origins during Ford's presidency.
"We strongly believe it is unwise for the president to concede any lack of constitutional power to authorize electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes," wrote Robert Ingersoll, then-deputy secretary of state, in a 1976 memorandum to President Ford about the proposed bill on electronic surveillance.
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Why were these people allowed to continue in government?
Stein, who has an earlier federal fraud conviction, used the money stolen or paid by Bloom to buy a single-engine Cessna airplane, a top-of-the-line Porsche and other cars, grenade launchers, machine guns, diamond rings and other jewelry, and property in North Carolina, he said in his signed statement.
Stein said he helped steer more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies controlled by Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years. The contracts were for less than $500,000 each, the limit of Stein's authority as the top contracting official in Hillah, 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Projects won by Bloom's companies included a new police academy for Hillah and renovation of the public library in nearby Karbala. Bloom's Romanian-based companies are Global Business Group, GBG Holdings and GBG-Logistics Division, prosecutors have said.
Why were these people allowed to continue in government?
Is it the will of the people? I think not. Do you think a democrat will save us? Have you been reading the news? You know, the most clever part of this coup is that the people believe they voted for it. That is why we are doomed.
After bush's deep thoughts on our "addiction" to oil, a little perspective.
From: The Daily Reckoning
"The world produces & consumes about 84 million barrels of petroleum every
day. (Leave out natural gas, gas liquids, coal, coal oils, etc. We are
just talking oil from a hole in the ground.)
"There are 86,400 seconds in a day. So, each second of each day, the world
is consuming about 972 barrels of petroleum...each second...of every day.
"By comparison, the average stripper well in the United States produces
about five barrels of oil...per day. It takes almost two hundred days for
a U.S. stripper to produce the oil that the world uses up in one second.
Some of the stripper wells that Greg, Joel & I saw up in Titusville,
Pennsylvania, last November, are producing about one barrel of oil per
week. So, it takes a Titusville stripper (hey, catchy phrase) about 20
years to produce as much oil as the world uses in one second.
"OK, let's think big. There are some wells in the Saudi-Kuwait oil
production axis (at Ghawar & Burgan) that produce 10,000 barrels per day.
Damn good wells. Super wells. The entire production of one of these wells
gets burned up in about 10.25 seconds of your average world economic
activity. You would have to be almost an Olympics-caliber sprinter to be
able to run 100 meters in less time than it takes the world to burn up the
output of one of these super-wells.
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Peak oil. Fact or fiction?
Another thought, will the rape and pillage of ANWR save us? Is it worth the destruction for a few minutes worth of energy, assuming we don't sell it to Asia?
I used to believe that we had the know how and the scientists and the inventiveness to find the solutions to major problems. We found the cure to polio didn't we? We went to the moon.
Saladin 77
will the rape and pillage of ANWR save us? Is it worth
Answer:
YES, it is worth it.
There would be more oil for Americans.
Another positive:
We could hunt the Caribou. We could feed the poor with the meat, plus, with the leather, we could put shoes and coats on the feet and backs of America’s poor. All would be happy. There is absolutely no down side for Americans living today.
As for future generations, I feel we should consider their situation as much as our fore/ Great/Grandfathers considered of our situation. Each generation has a full enough plate dealing with their present, let alone being so egotistically presumptuous as to think they have a clue what the next generation will bring.
ATLANTA (AP) -- For a while, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed looked almost unstoppable in his bid for lieutenant governor of Georgia. Then he got tripped up by the Jack Abramoff scandal.
In recent months, it was reported that Reed's public relations and lobbying businesses received $4.2 million from his longtime friend Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight the opening of casinos that would compete with Abramoff's Indian tribe clients.
Now, Reed's little-known rival for the Republican nomination, fellow conservative Casey Cagle, is outpacing him in fundraising, and a recent poll shows Cagle could be as strong a candidate as Reed against a Democrat.
Reed has not been charged with a crime. But analysts say the boyish-looking, 44-year-old darling of the conservative movement and former adviser to GOP presidential campaigns appears to be in political trouble because of his ties to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption charges and admitted swindling his Indian clients.
CENTREVILLE, Ala. - Fires destroyed three rural Alabama churches and damaged two others in a string of suspected arsons overnight.
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Gee, I wonder what tipped them off?
Why Karl Rove will eventually fall before Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
By Elizabeth de la Vega
For Karl Rove, no news from the Plame case -- Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA agent -- is definitely not good news. Seismic activity is notoriously silent, so we may not be hearing any rumblings at the moment. But speaking as a former prosecutor, I believe it highly likely that, just below the surface, the worlds of Karl Rove and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, shifting like tectonic plates, are about to collide. As was true with Vice President Cheney's top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent as well as to the grand jury, Rove might not be charged with the leak itself. I am confident, however, that Rove will not leave this party empty-handed. He will, at the very least, almost certainly be charged with making false statements to an FBI agent. Here's why.
1. For starters, the evidence that Rove deliberately lied to the FBI is overwhelming.
It is now undisputed that Karl Rove spoke with at least two reporters about Valerie Wilson before Novak's now infamous article appeared: Novak himself (whom Rove has known for 30 years) and Time magazine's Matthew Cooper. Some details of the discussion with Cooper are in dispute, but there's no question that the two men discussed Valerie Wilson's identity as a CIA agent and the administration's claim that she had arranged her husband's trip to Niger. After the conversation, Rove sent an e-mail about it to then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Rove's aide Susan Ralston has reportedly testified that Rove told her not to log in the phone call, although that was the usual office procedure. On July 17, Cooper wrote an article in which he described conversations with two government officials who claimed Wilson's wife was a CIA agent and had arranged Wilson's trip to Africa. Cooper questioned whether the administration was declaring war on Wilson.
Between July 14 and October 8, when Rove was interviewed by the FBI, the Bush administration held approximately 30 press briefings in which the leak and/or the Iraq-Niger uranium allegations were discussed. There were hundreds of news articles and repeated calls for an investigation by congressmen, columnists, and the CIA....
....As has now been widely reported, when Karl Rove spoke to FBI agents, he specifically told them that he had not spoken to any reporters about Joseph Wilson's wife before Novak's article appeared.
Given the almost seamless press coverage of the leak during the preceding three months, the time and effort that the White House was devoting to the issue, as well as the intensifying focus on whether he himself had leaked the information, it is impossible to believe that, on October 8, Karl Rove -- known for his brilliance, attention to detail, and legendary memory -- did not remember those two conversations with reporters about Valerie Wilson. If Rove told the FBI agents otherwise, it was surely a deliberate lie.
According to reports, Rove then added that he had first heard about Valerie Wilson from a reporter, though he did not remember which reporter or when he heard it. He also said that he had enlisted the aid of the Republican National Committee and conservative news agencies among other groups to spread disparaging information about Joseph Wilson and his wife, but only after Novak's article appeared.
2. Rove's elaboration not only compounded his initial lie but also illuminated the world of politics that he has been incapable of leaving behind -- a world that collides head-on with the one Patrick Fitzgerald inhabits, where politics have no place and where laws, and the highest standards of public service, prevail.
....Over and over again, in that same press conference, Fitzgerald demonstrated his belief that if you sign onto a system that has certain rules, you have to follow those rules even if it might be personally advantageous to break them. Those who tuned in saw reporters repeatedly ask him about information he could not reveal without violating the rules of grand jury secrecy or prosecutorial ethics. He was asked, for example, whether other people might be charged. He declined to answer. He was asked to evaluate the strength of the case. He declined to answer. He acknowledged how frustrating his inability to answer undoubtedly was to the assembled media, but explained that he couldn't gather information according to the rules of grand jury secrecy -- which prohibit talking about people who were investigated but not charged with a crime -- and then afterwards reveal the information anyway because it was too "inconvenient" not to answer reporters' questions. ...
....Unlike Rove's former adversaries in the political world, however, Fitzgerald has both the time and investigative resources. When Fitzgerald was appointed special prosecutor, all the known facts on the outing of Valerie Wilson indicated that government officials had broken the rules, if not the law. It's no surprise then that Fitzgerald has pursued the matter vigorously; nor should it be a surprise that Rove's statement to the FBI on October 8 would have raised some obvious red flags and caused Fitzgerald to become skeptical. Rove deliberately omitted key information about conversations with reporters that he could not possibly have forgotten; he claimed to have heard classified government information only from a reporter -- despite the fact that he himself was one of the highest government officials in the nation; and then he admitted that he had no qualms about enlisting surrogates to betray government employees in order to achieve political gain.
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Poor Karl. Think of the stress.
I don't think Cheney will ever be president. But the part about the US population being divided is interesting because I have thought about that a lot. I think the more the blue states are required to pay for the red states and get nothing in return is going to finally cause serious problems with the unity of our country.
(APN) EXCLUSIVE: The number of Members of US Congress supporting US Rep. John ConyersÕ³ (D-MI) H. Res 635 has now jumped to 17, including Mr. Conyers. The US House bill would create a Select Committee to investigate the grounds for impeaching President Bush.
The two newest co-sponsors are US Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and James Oberstar (D-MN), who signed on yesterday, February 1, 2006. Just yesterday, Atlanta Progressive News exclusively reported that H. Res 635 had reflected 14 total co-sponsors at the time [not including Mr. Conyers in that number].
A total of 20 members of US Congress now support either a probe that could lead to BushÕ³ impeachment, BushÕ³ outright impeachment, or BushÕ³ resignation.
This is edging close to ten percent (10%) of the Democrats in the US House.
As of today, the 17 total co-sponsors of H. Res 635 are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
As reported yesterday, US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) withdrew her name, whereas she was listed as a cosponsor throughout January 2006, citing a clerical error for her name having been listed in the first place. LofgrenÕ³ Office told Atlanta Progressive News the Representative learned of her being listed as a co-sponsor after an article by APN issued January 01, 2006.
Meanwhile, US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said he would support impeaching Bush over the issue of domestic wiretapping in late December 2005. At the same time, US Reps. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Bobby Rush (D-IL) have called for Bush to step down by signing on to a "World CanÕ´ Wait" statement issued to Atlanta Progressive News.
Besides, I think his mom was a librarian at the UW, and everyone knows that people who lived off the taxpayers are all commies (unless, of course, they're Republicans, Republican cronies, contractors with Republican connections . . . you get the idea).
No, Paul Allen is definitely not one of what Bertrand Russell called the "stupid rich."
Capt: The two conflicting positions � one released for public consumption and the other supposedly expressing frank internal worries � raise the possibility that bin-Laden actually is telling the United States to do the opposite of what he really wants done, knowing that his endorsement of one action will encourage its opposite.
Sounds like they know how to play the petulant Jr. like a Stradivarius.
It took them 11 years to bring down the Soviet Union. The last thing they want is for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq now. They've got at least 8 more years of work to do.
Let's see. Not WMD. Certainly not AQ. Started to hear about democracy rising and the domino theory after the WMD was not found.
I think GWB wants to avenge his father (and get out from under his shadow). That's his reason and he's not much of a thinker beyond that.
The neo-cons want to take over the world. That's an ideological argument. And yes, there's a lot of money in oil right now.
Bottom line though, I think we're out there on an idea - the neocon idea.
Posted by: truthseeker
at February 4, 2006 12:37 AM
93
driller, you aren't serious, are you? You do realize that even if we keep every speck of oil they pump, it is only enough to last for roughly three years, and that is at current usage. It will take 7-8 years to ramp up to capacity, and by the time they are actually producing, what will our requirements be? This is the typical short-sightedness of the drill it now, to hell with the future attitude. Is it really presumptious to be concerned about what we leave our children and grandchildren as a legacy? My God, we are SO doomed, because that is how the powers that be operate.
"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
David Rockefeller, Memoirs, 2002
---------------
They aren't even trying to keep it a secret anymore.
Pags-Happy, guess what -- your reactionary pals have abandoned you. You are left with the dregs of the Grand Ol' Lynchin' Party (LBH - Little Boring Hemorrhoid) to catapult the propaganda.
I call Bullshit on your Capital Gains Tax nonsense. I don't know if you got it from the WSJ ("Tastes Great, More Filling," WSJ, February 3, 2006 -- subscr. req.) or some reactionary website's dumpster; but it's a big, steaming, fly-infested pile of LBH.
Happy crows: "The 2003 rate reduction resulted in an increase in capital gains realization: from $269 Billion in 2002 to a whopping $539 Billion in 2005. So, the capital gains tax liabilities (by taxpayers) have gone up from less than $50 Billion at the old 20% rate to a current estimate of $80 Billion at the lowered 15% rate!"
If you look at historical data from the CBO, you'll see that $269 Bil. in cap. g. realization in 2002 was down from realization in '97, '98, '99, and 2000. Even the "whopping $539 Bil." in realization is down from the numbers in '99 and the peak in 2000.
Furthermore, the $50 Bil. in c.g. tax liabilities in 2002 is lower than the c.g. tax liabilities in '96, '97, '98, '99, and 2000. The $80 Bil. in c.g. liabilities that you cite is still lower than the numbers for '98, '99 and 2000.
If you look at the Historical data of Revenues by source p.4 (careful it's one of those PDF bastards), you'll see that the progressive taxes of the 90s did nothing to diminish the ability of the Treasury to fill its coffers. Revenues were rising in those last years of the Clinton Presidency. The record 1 Trillion dollars in personal income tax revenues in 2000 helped to create the budget surplus (along with the earlier asskicking that Big Dawg gave the reds by vetoing the Paris Hilton tax and threatening to shut down the government if they didn't cut their bullshit spending).
The CBO recently released a study showing that trickle down doesn't work (unless the intended effect is to further enrich the megawealthy at the expense of the middle class and poor folks) and that we're on the wrong side of the Laffer curve when it comes to tax rates. I think their analysis is bourne out by the state of affairs in America today where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and by the fact that tax revenues increased in the late 90's with higher tax rates.
At the risk of sounding like Mr. Obvious (Bubblenose Bill), if you overlay a graph of market performance from '90 to the end of 2005 with a graph of the fluctuations in c.g. realization, receipts and liabilities, you'll get a near perfect match. The hills and valleys don't correlate with c. g. tax rates (or rather there is no inverse correlation -- taxes down receipts up).
Larry Kudlow tries to make the same lame argument that you and the WSJ make. All of the data cited are from 2000 to the present and don't accurately represent the full picture of progressive (under Clinton) vs. regressive (under Bush) tax rates. It's more than a little intellectually dishonest to use numbers in this manner.
You better hope that Bubblenose comes back or you will become my personal pet (whipping boy for the Grand Ol' Spending Party, if you will) until someone more annoying pops up.
In the meantime, I'm sure you'll enjoy this Broke-Back to the Future trailer (broadbanders enjoy, it is kinda funny). You might like to watch, King George the Clueless do his "I'm not a crook" routine.
For those of you who need your daily dose of Fitzgerald, there's the Plamegate ?age. I don't know if the Murray Waas article is on there or not, but I want to see this memo (if it really exists -- hasn't been flung down the memory hole by the Cheney Administration).
Posted by: Pandemoniac
at February 4, 2006 02:27 AM
96
I linked to this guy's column once before. Check out how he pushes back and calls for the rest of 'em to do their fkn job!
Froomkin on White House Briefing
In SundayÕs Washington Post, the paperÕs new ombudsman, Deborah Howell, writes that The PostÕs political reporters donÕt like my column. She states that the column is "highly opinionated and liberal" and concludes that it should no longer bear the name "White House Briefing," because the title may lead some readers to think it is the work of the paperÕs reporting staff. Such a belief, Post political editor John Harris told her, dilutes the credibility of the newspaper.
Regular readers know that my column is first and foremost a daily anthology of works by other journalists and bloggers. When my voice emerges, it is often to provide context for those writings and spot emerging themes. Sometimes I do some original reporting, and sometimes I share my insights. The omnipresent links make it easy for readers to assess my credibility.
There is undeniably a certain irreverence to the column. But I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. I believe that the president of the United States, no matter what his party, should be subject to the most intense journalistic scrutiny imaginable. And he should be able to easily withstand that scrutiny. I was prepared to take the same approach with John Kerry, had he become president.
This columnÕs advocacy is in defense of the publicÕs right to know what its leader is doing and why. To that end, it calls attention to times when reasonable, important questions are ducked; when disingenuous talking points are substituted for honest explanations; and when the president wonÕt confront his critics -- or their criticisms -- head on.
The journalists who cover Washington and the White House should be holding the president accountable. When they do, I bear witness to their work. And the answer is for more of them to do so -- not for me to be dismissed as highly opinionated and liberal because I do.
A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center
^^^^^^^^^^6
DIE WHITMAN!!
hey everybody, you know what those tremendous grey clouds of dust that billowed out from the WTC implosions were?
powdered concrete. somehow ALL of the concrete from both towers (and there was a veritable metric shitload of concrete in each tower) was rendered into powder/dust BEFORE IT EVEN HIT THE GROUND. think about THAT TimL.
any photography buffs out there? hmm? what about you, are you a photography enthusiast? how about photoshop tweekers? I know that you're out there and I know that you can see this. check this out - the official photos of the pentagon strike (911) have been analysed by an expert, and guess what? even the ones that are NOT obviously faked show that there was NO 757 THAT HIT THE DAMN PENTAGON :: PENTAGON PHOTOSTUDIES
the bushco administration with the help of the mcMedia has LIED to us about 911 for 4 1/2 YEARS NOW - where is the outrage?
When on 31-01-2006 US neocon 'front man' George Bush presented the usual pack of lies in his 'State of the Union' rant, he was applauded by the criminals in Congress. He is in the media selling the same abject lies, which are applauded by the warmongering collaborators in the US and it's colonies, with their inhumane bellicose policy of advocating war, now again against Iran.
THIS GLOBAL CENSORSHIP BY THE GROUP WHICH OWNS THE MAIN$TREAM MEDIA AND MOST OUTLETS, IS ALL ABOUT BRAINWASHING 'BY OMISSION' AND OTHER MALIGNANT MANIPULATION.
Generic Drugs Hit Backlog At FDA
No Plans to Expand Review Capabilities
____________________
The Bush administration has strongly advocated generics as a way to hold down health care costs, and the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mark B. McClellan, said in an interview this week that an ever-growing number of generics is essential to controlling the cost to the government and seniors of the new Medicare prescription drug program.
At a time when the use of low-cost generic drugs is being embraced as one of the few ways to rein in skyrocketing health care costs, the Food and Drug Administration has a backlog of more than 800 applications to bring new generic products to the market -- an all-time high.
As a result, experts say, fewer generic drugs will be available to consumers in the years ahead than the industry is ready and able to provide. The FDA, however, has told Congress that the office that reviews new generics needs no additional money, and the agency has no plans to hire more reviewers.
____________________
Journalists and politicians have been questioning the evidence used to make the case for war with Iraq. On the third anniversary of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's landmark speech to the United Nations, an administration insider who helped write it makes a startling claim: that he participated in a hoax. That insider, Lawrence Wilkerson, and former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix are among the voices in NOW's report into pre-war intelligence. Investigate some of the intelligence documents under discussion below.
The result of the research conducted by the Commission, which was established by Executive Order to assess pre-war intelligence, is also known as the Silberman Robb Report. The report's introduction states:
On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over.Among the pre-war intelligence analyzed in the report that gathered from the informant known as "Curveball." The report states:
One of the most painful errors, however, concerned Iraq's biological weapons programs. Virtually all of the Intelligence Community's information on Iraq's alleged mobile biological weapons facilities was supplied by a source, codenamed "Curveball," who was a fabricator. Read the section of Curveball.
Conclusion 1: Most of the major key judgments in the Intelligence Community's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction, either overstated, or were not supported by, the underlying intelligence reporting. A series of failures, particularly in analytic trade craft, led to the mischaracterization of the intelligence.
Kerr Report (PDF)This report, from July 2004, the third of three prepared by a group of intelligence experts led by Richard J. Kerr, a former deputy director of Central Intelligence, to examine the U.S. Intelligence Community's assessments in the months before the U.S. invasion.
In an ironic twist...the policy community was receptive to technical intelligence (the weapons program), where the analysis was wrong, but apparently paid little attention to intelligence on cultural and political issues (post-Saddam Iraq), where the analysis was right.
Uranium Memo
On January 18, 2006 Eric Lichtbau of THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on a 2002 document recently declassified by the State Department as a result of a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by Judicial Watch. The "high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was 'unlikely' because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles." The idea that Iraq was actively seeking uranium made it into President Bush's State of the Union address on January 28, 2003. The uranium claims were publicly questioned by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, who had been sent on a fact-finding mission to Niger in 2002. The subsequent leaking of Mr. Wilson's wife's identity as a CIA operative has now led to a criminal investigation.
The public scrutiny over pre-war intelligence has probably been greater in Britain. The limelight was hottest in the battle between Prime Minister Blair and the BBC over charges that the cabinet had "sexed up" the case for war. A public inquiry cleared Prime Minister Blair and his government of any deliberate attempt to deceive the British public over the threat from Iraq mentioned in the September 2002 dossier. Follow a timeline of the case.
According to THE ECONOMIST, "A related inquiry into intelligence failures, headed by Lord Butler, in July 2004 cleared the government of any deliberate attempt to mislead Parliament. But it did suggest that Mr Blair was prepared to exaggerate what turned out to be fairly thin evidence to bolster the case for a war." Read the report.
On May 1 2005, the British SUNDAY TIMES newspaper published the so-called Downing Street memo, dated July 23, 2002, after it was leaked by a former UK foreign policy aide. According to the BBC, "In the memo, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as saying Mr Bush had made up his mind to take military action even if the timing had not yet been decided. A second memo, published in June 2005, says UK ministers were told that they had no choice but to find a way to make the war in Iraq legal." Despite efforts by bloggers, the memos receive little attention in the U.S. press. Read the memo.
*****end of clip*****
If you have not seen it, you will want to watch this segment of NOW. A completely frank discussion with Larry Wilkerson.
The show really puts the kibosh on any notion that Busheney did not know they were lying.
WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency's secret domestic spying hasn't nabbed any Al Qaeda agents in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday.
Mueller told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agents get "a number of leads from the NSA," but he made it clear Osama Bin Laden's henchmen weren't at the end of the trail.
"I can say leads from that program have been valuable in identifying would-be terrorists in the United States, individuals who were providing material support to terrorists," Mueller testified.
His assessment of the controversial NSA snooping appeared to undercut a key claim by President Bush. As recently as Wednesday, Bush defended bypassing courts in domestic spying by insisting that "one of the people making the call has to be Al Qaeda, suspected Al Qaeda and/or affiliate."
The committee's chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), let slip that one disrupted plot involved Iyman Faris' scheme to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. "I think as to the number of lives that have been saved, it might have been how many were on the Brooklyn Bridge if it had blown up," Roberts said.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official later told the Daily News that the NSA program was used after Faris agreed to cooperate in the investigation but "that was not what initiated it."
*****end of clip*****
They have it wrong again. It does not matter one iota if illegal wiretaps lead to a criminal. In a nation of laws even law enforcement must obey the law and nobody is above the law - that would be putting ones self above the nation.
The writings attacked a town councilman, Patrick Cahill, and his wife and prompted Mr. Cahill to sue Mr. Schaeffer for defamation and ask the court to force the Internet service provider to disclose the identity of the author.
A Delaware Superior Court granted the request, but in October, the Delaware Supreme Court overruled the order, saying that the author could remain anonymous.
Chief Justice Myron Steele compared anonymous Internet speech to anonymous political pamphleteering, a practice the United States Supreme Court characterized in 1995 as "an honorable tradition of advocacy and dissent."
______________
When this one makes it to the Supremes for their reversal, LOOKOUT TROLLS!!!
I'm really new at this, so bear with me. I've been wondering about this data mining going on. How does the FBI find these suspected al-Qaida members unless they really are mining everyone's conversations to begin with? If they already know who's an al-Qaida member, they wouldn't need to do the data mining. Why not just directly tap into the conversations of those people they already suspect?
Secondly, I've heard 2 different views on the FISA court deal. I've heard that in a time of war (and just for argument's sake I'll concede that we are at war) the president either has up to 15 DAYS or 72 hours to go to the court to get the warrants AFTER the tapping has taken place. So why not just follow the law? Why bypass the law in any way when it's so simple to get what he wants legally?
I want to know who died and made the beady-eyed little bastard king, that's what I want to know!
Another leaked British memo ("everywhere you dig you find a body") reveals that Bush and Blair sat around on January 31, 2003, thinking up crazy schemes to provoke a war with Saddam since they didn't have any real casus belli.
What is worse, the memo confirms that our genius president knew about the dangers of messing with Iraq's internal stability and did it anyway.
The parade of leaked British memos that have gradually emerged paint an increasingly detailed picture of Bush and Blair as Machiavellian warmongers-- fully aware of the illegal character of their enterprise, cynical about the United Nations Security Council, and fully apprised of the profound dangers that might ensue, but determined to attack aggressively nevertheless, and to propagandize and to twist the truth until neither any longer knew where it lay.
*****end of clip*****
Well, the picture is clear to the literate public, the non-readers - not so much.
Jay, I posted an article yesterday that addressed that very question. It was from Lew Rockwell and was titled, "Probably Not A Terrorist Survelliance Program." Here was the explanation, in a nutshell, "The constitutional standard for issuing a warrant for a particular search involves "probable cause, supported by an oath or affirmation." If NSA searches don't involve probable cause, then they would be denied a warrant. And if they are tapping American's phone calls under this warrantless program, they are tapping the phones of people who, by definition, are probably not terrorists."
So, they are bypassing the warrant requirement because they know 99% of the spying is done without probable cause so they wouldn't be able to get a warrant. Why would they spy on peace groups and anti-war activists? Would they be able to convince a judge these people are suspected of talking to AL-CIADA on the phone? The article is linked on the previous thread at #130.
#101 capt, I watch NOW on PBS. Powell's speech before the U.N. prior to the Iraq war on WMDs has disgraced him and his legacy for the rest of American history. HE SOLD OUT THE U.S. SOLDIERS. He could have resigned if he had doubts about the information but he chose the coward's way. He is now a consultant. Is he now consulting on how to die?
All over the country, organized citizens are fighting to restrict the military's presence in schools. But having recruiters troll high school cafeterias is just one way the Pentagon inundates our youngsters with messages to "Go Army!"
Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has spent a half-million dollars a year creating a database it claims is "arguably the largest repository of 16-25 year-old youth data in the country, containing roughly 30 million records." In Pentagonese the database is part of the Joint Advertising, Marketing Research and Studies (JAMRS) project. Its purpose, along with additional millions spent on polling and marketing research, is to give the Pentagon's $4 billion annual recruiting budget maximum impact. And it has lit a fire under civil libertarians, privacy advocates and counter-recruiting activists across the nation.
-----------
The Pentagon is an equal opportunity destroyer. This article is especially important for parents of teens, you need to know what they are up to, and believe me, it's no good.
I was watching the headlines on Democracy Now yesterday and there was a segment on a Rumsfeld speech at the Press Club being interrupted by a protester. What was interesting was the number of people in the room (not all that many). Also the woman was able to do her whole statement before somebody kicked her out and then finally somebody yelled "Shut up." after she was out of the room. Kind of funny.
It was almost like an old 70's movie. The clip is at about 9:40 on the show.
More American soldiers are killed in the Middle East.
2,511 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.
Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. Henry Kissinger
G.K. Chesterton said, "Jesus speaks sanity to a world of lunatics."
Before you seek revenge, dig two graves. Confucius
Contamination
Linda Schrock Taylor says, "When God means to punish a nation, He deprives its rulers of wisdom."
Hitler Bush and the Nazi cabal will prowl the world seeking endless wars. With endless wars and depleted uranium the Nazi States of America will contaminate people, land, air, and water. In time our entire world will become contaminated through the use of depleted uranium in fighting our endless wars.
Saladin,
My daughter (16) has been trying to get off the recruiting mailing list. They still send her stuff. She's even been working under the advice of the ACLU and she's getting the mailings.
We are thinking they got a list from someplace outside of school.
Where?
I can't remember if someone already posted this, so here it is again. Linked by Lew Rockwell.
When an illegal war is launched every person killed and injured, every
piece of property destroyed, and all environmental damage, is a war crime.
A war without borders or limits is a perpetual war.
President George W. Bush and
Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld,
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
should be impeached for the following reasons and on the following counts.
Count 1: The Bush administration authorized a war of aggression against Iraq, unconnected to the Al Qaeda attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, committing a crime against the peace.
The U.N. definition
The United Nations has defined aggression:
Aggression is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this Definition.
In article two of the resolution the definition is expanded:
"The First use of armed force by a State in contravention of the Charter shall constitute prima facie evidence of an act of aggression."
The UN definition has two elements - for an act to be aggression it must be:
in contravention of the UN Charter, and
the first such use of force in a conflict
War of aggression is always wrong
The UN states that a war of aggression is a crime against international peace. Aggression gives rise to international responsibility....
-----------
They all, every last one, should be tossed in the dungeon.
Hajji,
Have said prayers and thoughts to everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan since it started. I have a friend whose one son came back and now the other is there. I had a close relative in Afghanistan and I am happy he's home.
Jeanne, if you read that article I posted, you will see where they get the list. It may be helpful in getting them off her back.
Hajji, my thoughts and prayers are with Spanky and all of you.
Weekend edition, Feb. 4-5, 2006, of lewrockwell.com also has several great articles to read. Enjoy the readings!
Hajji, I post to inform the posters of the soldiers being killed in a war of choice and of total lies. Nazi America will rue the day that she started the Iraq war!!!!!
I am saddened that once again the Democrats
have remained silent and resilient to the
high anus remarks of non veteran Republican attack dogs on American Democrats,not only veterans,but real heroes of our country.
I'm outraged and sickened with their blowhard idealism and arrogance about flag burning; turning their Christian cheeks all
the while tabloiding false and innuendo mockery
of citizens who fought on the frontlines and foxholes of our most dangerous miltary campaigns.
In the meantime these pansies were manipulating policies to overthrow and destroy the most prosperous and productive middle-class country in the hstory known.
"Pity this busy monster man-unkind"
Posted by: Patrissimo
at February 4, 2006 11:49 AM
122
New Details Revealed on C.I.A. Leak Case (Cheney the leaker?)
Source: NY Times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/p ... l?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Published: Feb 4, 2006
Author: David Johnston
Post Date: 2006-02-04 00:29:07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff told prosecutors that Mr. Cheney had informed him "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June 2003 about the identity of the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak case, according to a formerly secret legal opinion, parts of which were made public on Friday. The newly released pages were part of a legal opinion written in February 2005 by Judge David S. Tatel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. His opinion disclosed that the former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., acknowledged to prosecutors that he had heard directly from Mr. Cheney about the Central Intelligence Agency officer, Valerie Wilson, more than a month before her identity was first publicly disclosed on July 14, 2003, by a newspaper columnist.
"Nevertheless," Judge Tatel wrote, "Libby maintains that he was learning about Wilson's wife's identity for the first time when he spoke with NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert on July 10 or 11." Mr. Russert denied Mr. Libby's account. Ms. Wilson is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who has criticized the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
Over all, the new material amplified and provided new details on charges outlined in the October 2005 indictment against Mr. Libby. The indictment accused Mr. Libby of falsely telling investigators that he had first learned about Ms. Wilson from reporters, when he had, according to the charging document, learned of it from other government officials like Mr. Cheney.
---------------
Could this be what's behind the rumors that he is stepping down due to health problems?
#119 Saladin, I am interested to know about TCR News and the impeachment article. I am totally pissed at the 54% Catholics who voted for this scumbag, low life amoeba in 2004. Thank you for the news source!
A fuller understanding of human nature is such a competitive advantage to success in most all phases of Life!!
People tends to remember the good times better than the bad times but forgets that history (politics, fashion, investing maniac, you name it) almost always repeats itself.
The later part of the 1990s' was such a once-in-a-generation anomaly where anyone in the stock market made money and if they traded at all, instead of buy-and-hold till death, paid capital gains tax. It ws also a time of willy-nilly IPOs of dotcome-anything with gazillion stock options minting instant millionaires in the tech sector.
The few that hung onto real gains, like Happy who did have a positve year when it all ended in 2000, are among the best of the best.
Liberals will forever disavow the basic tenet that lower tax rates encourages work, innovation and risk-taking, the very foundation of this country. A key reason they are doomed to repeat repeated failures.
In 1985 Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame, the active ingredient in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by aspartame's clouded past, including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists, which confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors."
The FDA had actually banned aspartame based on this finding, only to have Searle Chairman Donald Rumsfeld (currently the Secretary of Defense) vow to "call in his markers," to get it approved.
On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in food sweetener, and Reagan's new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry's decision.
--------------
Very important info. for anyone who uses this toxic artificial sweetener.
Comments
Wow!!!!
I am the first person, so do I get to pick a topic?
If so, here's mine:
IMPEACHEMENT PROS AND CONS
PROS
Get's GW out of office and gets the truth out in the open of the crimes of this administration
CONS
Cheney would be Prez. If we got Cheney out of there too, would Condi become Prez? Which is worse?
Posted by: flan at February 3, 2006 03:26 PM
My question is...
Why are we REALLY in Iraq?
Bob
Posted by: Bob in North Dakota at February 3, 2006 03:31 PM
A fool is my shepherd, I shall not think for myself. He assures me to breath foul air and to drink putrid waters is healthful. He maketh me to be bogged down in a quagmire. He leadth me down paths of extreme right for his friends enrichment.
Yea, though I walk through relatively safe streets, I do fear evil, though the threat level is orange. For thou has continually warned me to be villigant, and it scares me.
My assult rifle comforts me by my side in a SUV with a full tank of 95%. Though my deficit climbs ever higher, my table swells of junk food set before the presence of a big screen TV.
Surely paranoia and resentment will follow me all the days of my life, as I dwell in this empire of christian hypocrisy till I die unisured.
Posted by: stanley Crawford at February 3, 2006 03:47 PM
Amen...and amen.
Posted by: Hajji at February 3, 2006 03:56 PM
Congressional Budget Office's latest statistics show capital gains tax receipts are way up, by 45%!
The 2003 rate reduction resulted in an increase in capital gains realization: from $269 Billion in 2002 to a whopping $539 Billion in 2005. So, the capital gains tax liabilities (by taxpayers) have gone up from less than $50 Billion at the old 20% rate to a current estimate of $80 Billion at the lowered 15% rate!
Of course, IF rates are reduced even further, at some point, less tax revenues will be coming in, all things being equal. But it seems that the current 15% should certainly be allowed to continue indefinitely if not permanently!
As an avowed capitalist, all investors do not want onerous tax burdens to cloud our judgements of where to invest and promote our economy.
Posted by: Happy's hot button subject at February 3, 2006 03:57 PM
#1, I only hope for the truth to come out whether it will be Bush, Cheney, or Rice. The truth shall set us free. Can anyone remember a truthful statement from the WH?
#2, The oil, Bush to look like a man to his father, tell himself that he is not the Coward in Crawford, so his nutcracker mother can kiss the booboo, Lucifer's follower, a puppet of the irreligious right, his brain is fried from drugs, he's going insane?
#3, a true Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ, Jesus is my model for mercy, I need Him for my co-pilot, He is my strength, I need His shoulder to lean on!
Posted by: Gerald at February 3, 2006 04:05 PM
flan, since none of those guys is actually in charge, impeach 'em all! Remember what clinton said, "once you finally make it to the office of president, you realize someone else is making the decisions." I'd like to pin down that "someone else", they are destroying this country, with the neocon puppet's full support.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 04:06 PM
Cost of the War
Please click on and compare what this money could do for important programs. We are wasting away billions of dollars in a lost cause. We will never ever leave Iraq!!!!!
Posted by: Gerald at February 3, 2006 04:14 PM
Free Market News Polls
Was President George Bush's state-of-the-union address successful enough for him to reclaim the majority support he enjoyed in his first term?
Yes 11%
No 89%
-----------
That sounds about right!
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 04:14 PM
Gerald, did you see the estimate I posted? $100,000 a MINUTE! Of course that doesn't include the fringe benefit of the savings they get by wiping out several generations with DU poisoning.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 04:17 PM
I clicked on world immunization. With that money we could have immunized EVERY CHILD in the world for 79 years!!!
Posted by: Gerald at February 3, 2006 04:17 PM
#10 Saladin, I must have missed it.
I clicked on hunger and we could have funded global anti-hunger for 9 years.
I wonder how much more patience will God have for our evil doings before His wrath is upon us?
Posted by: Gerald at February 3, 2006 04:24 PM
Wasting this amount of money on silly war games to determine if our weaponry research is operating fully and to prove the punk from Crawford is a man is a grave sin and one that warrants the eternal wrath.
Posted by: Gerald at February 3, 2006 04:29 PM
Gerald, I think His wrath is already here.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 04:29 PM
There is only one subject worthy of discussion, GO STEELERS!!!!!! The conservative Steelers are going to kick ass on those left wing nut, java drinkin Seahawks!!!
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 04:31 PM
LBH
Sports is the last place I want my politics. Please refrain.
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 04:40 PM
TRH, that statement was as nonsensical as his advice to me regarding conversations with my terrorist buddies overseas! If I would just knock it off, I wouldn't have to worry about the NSA! What an intellectual.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 04:43 PM
Wingnuts just love to politicize sports and art, don't they? Lame.
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 04:44 PM
Impeach Yes.
Cheney is going to be picked off by Fitzgerald. So are is staff. And Condi? She's obviously been in the thick of things. So what happens next?
We live in interesting times.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 04:48 PM
TRH
Your asking me to refrain? The one who has accused Capt of being a member of NAMBLA. I will say what I want. The Steeler owner is a conservative and most of the team is as well. Seattle is one of the most liberal communities in the NW, I would know I live here. As Porter would say-were going to hurt you fool!!
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 04:51 PM
By the way, speaking of the Super Bowl, I went downtown last night to check out the brouhaha. Downtown Detroit hasn't looked this good in a long time. Despite a rainy and somewhat chilly night, there were people everywhere; it felt like I was in Chicago on a Saturday night. We had a few celebrity sightings: David Spade (who was being very friendly to people, the opposite of the snarky character he usually plays), Gilbert Gottfried (I know, "celebrity" is a stretch), and Bill Laimbeer. We had a nice dinner at a tapas joint called Small Plates, and then we danced in the rain as Mark Farner, formerly of Grand Funk, performed the classic Some Kind of Wonderful. A good time was had by all. I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, but on TV - it's gonna be crazy down there!
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 04:54 PM
Great comeback LBH. By the way, who writes your material? You may want to reconsider because what you posted has nothing to do with sports or politics.
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 04:56 PM
Wingnuts like to make art boring and safe.
Oooohhhh. Look at all the red balls in this room. The object is to see how people interact with them. Wow. Great art ---not.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 04:57 PM
TRH
I have not accused anyone of being a member of NAMBLA so kiss off!!
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 04:58 PM
#7 Saladin - you think it's Rove?
Posted by: flan at February 3, 2006 04:59 PM
Don,
Just to see Farner had to make it worthwhile. Some sports and media pundits pooh-pooh the Super Bowl sites but isn't it funny that the people pay no attention to them and manage to have a good time anyway?
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 05:00 PM
LBH
I have, so kiss on!
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 05:00 PM
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
"It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
"But Iraq has, have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers. And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
"We look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make, it would hope, put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't see." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 14, 2005
"Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those — changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be — or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the — like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate — the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those — if that growth is affected, it will help on the red." —George W. Bush, explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005
------------
So speaketh the King. I feel MUCH better now!
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 05:01 PM
Timeline: the road to war in Iraq
Tonight's revelations about Tony Blair and George Bush's White House meeting on January 31 2003 show that the prime minister was prepared to go to war in Iraq before he had tried to get a second UN resolution. Given that the attorney general and Foreign Office lawyers believed at this time that war would be illegal without one, the story throws further doubt on the legality of the conflict.
Below we set out the key diplomatic and political developments in the run up to the controversial March 2003 conflict.
Full Timeline HERE
*****end of clip*****
Using the documents and the other established facts, hard for Bunnypants to claim he did not know there were no WMDÕs. Add the presidential humor[sic] of looking under his desk for WMDÕs and the picture is complete.
Bush lied, tens of thousands have died, for a lie and a liar.
Impeach the SOB's. Anything short of articles of impeachment would not be just.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:04 PM
TRH,
Yeah, most of the pundits want the game to be in Miami or LA, of course. Super Bowl XIII didn't go well because the Silverdome is in the middle of nowhere, but Ford Field is smack dab in the middle of the action downtown. Everybody was indeed having a good time. I've already had several friends call me to go down again tonight, but I'm afraid these old bones can't party like they used to...
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 05:07 PM
Another interesting development is Rumsfeld calling Chevez a Hitler. Maybe the administration is trying to shift the label.
BTW, Democracy Now was good today.
Democracy Now! in Dohaɦquot;Why Did You Want to Bomb Me Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair?": Al Jazeera Director Demands More Information on Secret Memo
He discusses the memo and the loss of reporters from US fighting. And reporters who have been sent to prison. One guy was picked up and has been sitting in Guantanamo Bay for more than three years. Why? Because our government wants to know how Al Jazeera operates.
I'd like to see this guy on Meet the Press. I know why the US wants to get rid of this organization. They report the news.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 05:07 PM
flan, I truly think they are all just a bunch of peon frontmen. They are obviously dedicated to the complete ruination of our once great nation, but none of them, even put together, have the money or actual power to have accomplished what has happened in a mere 5 years. The power elite have the kind of influence that gets people like JFK assasinated, and ruins entire economies. Think central bankers and Federal Reserve and you will be getting warm. I base this opinion on months of research, and watching them in action.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 05:08 PM
Don,
I always say - as in all final playoff games, both teams should be proud and happy to be the best. Only one wins but if your team makes the playoffs they have nothing to be ashamed of.
I used to have an office in Livonia and one in Wheeling-Northbrook. I was smelling the rain.
Thanks for sharing! Very cool indeed!
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:09 PM
LBH - so what if the players and managers are Red or Blue - WTF does that have to do with the game of football.
I am a Steelers fan but I am a liberal, what difference does it make?
Posted by: flan at February 3, 2006 05:10 PM
capt,
Do you mean a company you used to work for had an office in Livonia or did you actually live there? What did you do? (You don't have to be specific, of course.)
It's also a coincidence that you mention Wheeling; I leave for a business trip to Chicagoland on Monday and one of my clients is in Wheeling!
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 05:12 PM
"but none of them, even put together, have the money or actual power to have accomplished what has happened in a mere 5 years."
And - I would add - This neo-fascism is not just here in the US. I read it in the papers from all over the globe. The "powers that be" are global.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:12 PM
Don
I couldn't find the translation key on my keyboard regarding that funny looking thing you typed after Super Bowl in your last post so I will assume that was the 49'ers v. Bengals. People always make the best of the situation they are in, regardless of what the so-called experts tell them they should be "feeling." I'm glad you had a good time and hope you continue to do so. And, permit me to ask God to bless those old bones.
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 05:15 PM
Don...you've got to go downtown again tonight...for ALL of us! We're counting on you! We PROMISE there'll be no hangover...REALLY! So go, ok?
oh...and go STEELERS! (nothing against Seattle or its team, but I've been waiting a LONG time for this!)
Posted by: Hajji at February 3, 2006 05:15 PM
Here's another topic - Presidential '08 picks...I know we've discussed it recently but here's a great article by Fiengold - I would love it if Fiengold were elected President!
Pre-1776 Mentality
by Senator Russ Feingold
Posted by: flan at February 3, 2006 05:16 PM
I worked for Mitsubishi Electric Sales America (no longer the name of the division) I was based in Cypress California. I was in Livonia and Wheeling-Northbrook two weeks (one week for each) of every month for a few years.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:16 PM
A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Basra when they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and unconscious.
On the opposite side of the road was an American Marine in similar but less serious state.
The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine what had happened.
The Marine reported, "I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed insurgent.
We saw each other and both took cover in the ditches along the road.
"I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein is a miserable, lowlife, scumbag, and he yelled back that Senator Ted Kennedy is a good-for-nothing, fat, drunk driving murderer.
So I said that Osama Bin Ladin dresses and acts like a frigid old, mean spirited nasty bitch!"
He retaliated by yelling, "Oh yeah? Well so does Hillary Clinton!"
"And, there we were, standing in the middle of the road shaking hands, when the truck hit us."
Posted by: Hiledy at February 3, 2006 05:17 PM
Um. add mainframe applications programmer IBM 3083/3090 under MVS/TSOE and site manager for satellite IBM system 34/36/38 sites emulating 5250 access.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:18 PM
flan
It was a joke! I am a life long Steeler fan and love to start a competitive fight. It's a guy thing that TRH and Don wouldn't get. Glad to see that you're a Steeler fan. At laest you got something right!!!
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 05:21 PM
Did anyone read the wacky crap at the end of the thread with 100 posts? Creepy.
Posted by: Carol at February 3, 2006 05:22 PM
Guy,
LBH is posting about your thing. Care to respond?
Posted by: TRH at February 3, 2006 05:25 PM
BuzzFlash Hypocrite of the week only has the audio this Friday? They must think everyone has broadband. Damn it!
Posted by: Carol at February 3, 2006 05:26 PM
Carol,
Way back when I was looking for something posted uhm...way back and found that somebody was posting hundreds of porno links (and NONE of them FREE!) at the end of some of the threads. I think the limited access to old threads has ended that, but obviously not the looney rantings of bizzare individuals.
Whaddyagonnado?
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 3, 2006 05:28 PM
Hajji -
You might guess that most Detroiters are rooting for the Steelers. Blue collar rust belt kinda folks.
Now, as for going back downtown...you've convinced me, but I gotta convince the missus. Wish me luck!
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 05:28 PM
'Course that could be said of the present, self included!
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 3, 2006 05:29 PM
capt -
How long ago was that? Were you in sales?
Just curious, my friend.
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 05:31 PM
Oh yeah, forgot to mention...future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis is a homeboy, as is former Wolverine linebacker Larry Tharpe, so that adds to the Steelers fandom around here.
Posted by: Don at February 3, 2006 05:33 PM
Carol, I saw the end of that thread. I thought I was at the wrong site at first!
Capt, it's true that this is a global cabal, and they have been around a lot longer than rove or bush. clinton alluded to them, and so did nixon and a few others. As long as they control the leadership in the US and other powerful nations, it won't matter who the figurehead is. They will obey orders, or they will end up like JFK.
flan, do you know what was probably the deciding factor in the death of Kennedy? It is tied directly to the Federal Reserve and our economy, and who controls it.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 05:44 PM
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!": Alexander Hamilton
=
"The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.": Charles-Louis De Secondat - (1689-1755) Baron de Montesquieu - Source: The Spirit of the Laws, 1748
=
"A man's liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited.": Herbert Spencer - (1820-1903) British author, economist, philosopher - Source: The Principles of Ethics Bd. II, ed. T. Machan, Indianapolis 1978, S. 242-43
=
"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." : Thomas Paine
=
"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.": Mark Twain
===
Thanks ICH Newsletter!
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:47 PM
Carol, 44
You are correct. The person who wrote the joke at 100 of the previous thread, has no idea what the heck is happening.
Any good comedy writer knows, real humor is based in fact, and there are no factual elements to that piece of work.
Everyone knows Osama Bin Ladin would never kidnap any of his loyal supporters, especially high level members of his propaganda wing here in America.
Posted by: Al at February 3, 2006 05:48 PM
Don,
You want me to talk to the missus?
Speaking of home-field advantage...I was worried that Bill Gates would buy up all the tix for the Seattle faithful!
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 3, 2006 05:56 PM
Don,
Drop me an email if you like.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 05:56 PM
Capt,
My husband is a ASA 400 guy. Still loves the work after all these years. I was very happy when he was able to find a stable job again in the field. It's where he belongs. He was one of the 1st generation of programmers in this area. Those people are the ones with the valuable experience. They are also very well rounded people because back then you sort of found your way into programming from another field - teaching, music, like that.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 05:57 PM
CRAP!!!
Troy Polamalu has been added to the Steelers injured list and is listed as probable to play Sunday. He tweaked his ankle in practice Thursday.
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 06:35 PM
Bush Visits Albuquerque - Nixon Crashes Motorcycle
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - An officer injured in an accident while helping escort President BushÕ³ motorcade today has been identified.
Bernalillo Police Sergeant Jerry Nixon was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital where he likely will be held overnight, according to Bernalillo town manager Les Swindle.
Swindle says Nixon had worked for the department for two years.
A Bernalillo County sheriffÕ³ spokeswoman says he suffered a broken nose, lacerations and bruises, but he was coherent and responsive at the scene.
Nixon suffered his injuries on Interstate 25 in Albuquerque.
*****end of clip*****
Okay, I made up the headline. The story is real.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 06:44 PM
Story developing on RAW STORY
Documents obtained by the Associated Press show an intense debate erupted during the Ford administration over the president's powers to eavesdrop without warrants. George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are cited... Developing...
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 06:47 PM
Look at the photo on this site. The tee shirt is the key.
White Anti-Gay Group to Protest King Funeral
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 06:54 PM
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true." ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)
*****
I pity the homophobes, they are sad on so many levels.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 07:05 PM
The owner of the Seattle team is a wingnut. Seattle may generally be liberal, but he isn't.
Posted by: Laura at February 3, 2006 07:13 PM
Talking Points Memo
Interesting. Allen Raymond, one of the guys at the center of the New Hampshire phone-jamming case, was sentenced today up in New Hampshire.
In court, his lawyer, John Durkin, said that when Raymond was executing the election tampering plot he "was acting at the behest of the state and federal Republican parties (italics included)."
The call came from the campaign committee run by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN). Jim Tobin, who's now appealing his conviction, was the guy who worked for Frist's committee, the NRSC.
This investigation ain't over.
*****end of clip*****
Of course it was done for the party.
Hard to call this a bi-partisan crime, eh?
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 07:23 PM
Laura 63
Most successful, rich people are republican wing nuts.
Posted by: LBH at February 3, 2006 07:32 PM
Go Seahawks.
Thank you all for the entertainment. And, I think if Bush and Cheney get impeached, I hope, the House Speaker becomes the new President. President Boehner, comedians will have endless
jokes.
Posted by: Joe13 at February 3, 2006 07:40 PM
Party of the rich and the poor
According to the old stereotype, the Republicans are the party of the rich, while the Democrats are the party of the "little guy." But now, according to demographic studies (subscription required), that is no longer the case. America's wealthy elite now tends to vote Democratic. So do the very poor. Republicans mainly occupy the middle income strata. Questions: Why is this? What do the very rich have in common with the very poor that would make them both liberals?
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Here are some data that puts to task the outdated thinking about party defining cast.
The WSJ quote in the linked article takes a swipe at lawyers and Hollywood.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 07:48 PM
Court filings shed more light on CIA leak investigation
Third Time reporter, named in filings, says he has not testified in case
Moreover, the documents reveal that no formal damage assessment has been done with regard to how the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame affected the agencyÕs operations worldwide. They also hint that Vice President CheneyÕs former Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby may have outed Plame on the orders of his "superiors."
FitzgeraldÕs Jan. 23 letter was penned in response to a series of telephone conversations, letters, and motions filed by Libby, who was indicted for obstructing justice in the Plame investigation. Libby has sought to force the prosecutor to turn over more information about his case to bolster his defense.
In the letter, Fitzgerald notes that a third Time Magazine reporter Ð who now serves as SlateÕs chief political correspondent Ð had conversations with Administration officials about a trip conducted by PlameÕs husband to investigate claims that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium from Niger.
"We also advise you that we understand that reporter John Dickerson of Time magazine discussed the trip by Mr. Wilson with government officials at some time on July 11 or after, subsequent to Mr. Cooper learning about Mr. WilsonÕs wife," Fitzgerald writes. "Any conversations involving Mr. Dickerson likely took place in Africa and occurred after July 11."
Matt Cooper, also a Time reporter, testified that Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove had cautioned him to play down the Wilson trip. Wilson, an ardent Bush critic, said he found no evidence to support claims that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium in order to build a nuclear weapon. Such claims were a keystone in the AdministrationÕs efforts to convince the United States and Congress to support a pre-emptive war.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Oh my, just when you thought is might just fade away? Libby to finger his boss? Hmmm - who would that be?
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 07:55 PM
Interesting article, I am on the wrong side. All this time I have been a true believer of the Democratic Party, only to find out I should be a Republican. I am in between the $100,000 and $30,000 dollar mark. Did I miss this memo?
I noticed this was published in 2004, is there up to date information. I do not want to be Republican.
Posted by: Joe13 at February 3, 2006 08:01 PM
US official admits Iraq aid theft
In the United States, a former official has admitted stealing millions of dollars meant for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Robert Stein held a senior position in the Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003.
In a Washington court, he admitted to stealing more than $2m (£1.12m) and taking bribes in return for contracts.
He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Robert Stein's story is one of extraordinary corruption and excess amid the ruins of Iraq.
He was in charge of overseeing money for the rebuilding of shattered infrastructure in south-central Iraq in 2003 and 2004.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Another corrupt GOPher. Corruption is an equal opportunity crime. It seems very odd to me that there are not some indictments somewhere for some Democrats. It would be silly to think the Democrats are all clean as a whistle.(maybe there is one or two)
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 08:05 PM
#70
People like that gravitate toward jobs with money. They grab what they can as fast as they can. They have no control.
The jobs in Iraq involved in reconstruction should have been handed to people like Joe Wilson and the Ray McGovern. Just your old fashion career people who looked upon the assignment as a job to accomplish doing the best they could. Their honor and position was more important than the power and money they would be working around.
Instead this administration just put cronies in place and let chips fall where they may.
I wonder who Stein went to school with?
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 08:17 PM
Osama's Briar Patch
In calling on Americans to stay the course in Iraq, George W. Bush cites a recent speech by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden as well as a captured letter attributed to his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. But the two al-Qaeda messages actually suggest the terrorist group holds distinctly different views about Iraq, one publicly and another privately.
Bin-LadenÕs audio-taped speech almost baits Americans to leave Iraq, offering a "truce" that would spare the United States further attacks if it departs with its tail between its legs. However, the so-called "Zawahiri letter" warns al-QaedaÕs lieutenants in Iraq about the dangers of a rapid U.S. pullout that could result in many foreign jihadists quitting the struggle.
The two conflicting positions Ð one released for public consumption and the other supposedly expressing frank internal worries Ð raise the possibility that bin-Laden actually is telling the United States to do the opposite of what he really wants done, knowing that his endorsement of one action will encourage its opposite.
Just as Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus tales begged his captors not to throw him into the briar patch Ð because he actually wanted to be released into the briar patch Ð bin-Laden could be pretending that he wants the United States to depart Iraq because he really wants U.S. troops to stay.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Pretty obvious but I have not heard many speak to the issue.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 08:19 PM
Docs: Similar Wiretap Debate 30 Years Ago
WASHINGTON - An intense debate erupted during the Ford administration over the president's powers to eavesdrop without warrants to gather foreign intelligence, according to newly disclosed government documents. George H.W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are cited in the documents.
The roughly 200 pages of historic records obtained by The Associated Press reflect a remarkably similar dispute between the White House and Congress fully three decades before President Bush's acknowledgment he authorized wiretaps without warrants of some Americans in terrorism investigations.
"Yogi Bera was right: It's deja vu all over again," said Tom Blanton, executive director for the National Security Archives, a private research group that compiles collections of sensitive government documents. "It's the same debate."
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings begin Monday over Bush's authority to approve such wiretaps by the ultra-secretive National Security Agency without a judge's approval. A focus of the hearings is to determine whether the Bush administration's eavesdropping program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law with origins during Ford's presidency.
"We strongly believe it is unwise for the president to concede any lack of constitutional power to authorize electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes," wrote Robert Ingersoll, then-deputy secretary of state, in a 1976 memorandum to President Ford about the proposed bill on electronic surveillance.
----------------
Why were these people allowed to continue in government?
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 08:26 PM
Ex-official agrees to guilty plea in Iraqi kickback scheme
Stein, who has an earlier federal fraud conviction, used the money stolen or paid by Bloom to buy a single-engine Cessna airplane, a top-of-the-line Porsche and other cars, grenade launchers, machine guns, diamond rings and other jewelry, and property in North Carolina, he said in his signed statement.
Stein said he helped steer more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies controlled by Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years. The contracts were for less than $500,000 each, the limit of Stein's authority as the top contracting official in Hillah, 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Projects won by Bloom's companies included a new police academy for Hillah and renovation of the public library in nearby Karbala. Bloom's Romanian-based companies are Global Business Group, GBG Holdings and GBG-Logistics Division, prosecutors have said.
More Here
*****end of clip*****
All is hooked up with Bloom and Romania. The guy is a convict? Read: global criminal enterprise.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 08:40 PM
Why were these people allowed to continue in government?
Is it the will of the people? I think not. Do you think a democrat will save us? Have you been reading the news? You know, the most clever part of this coup is that the people believe they voted for it. That is why we are doomed.
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 08:44 PM
After bush's deep thoughts on our "addiction" to oil, a little perspective.
From: The Daily Reckoning
"The world produces & consumes about 84 million barrels of petroleum every
day. (Leave out natural gas, gas liquids, coal, coal oils, etc. We are
just talking oil from a hole in the ground.)
"There are 86,400 seconds in a day. So, each second of each day, the world
is consuming about 972 barrels of petroleum...each second...of every day.
"By comparison, the average stripper well in the United States produces
about five barrels of oil...per day. It takes almost two hundred days for
a U.S. stripper to produce the oil that the world uses up in one second.
Some of the stripper wells that Greg, Joel & I saw up in Titusville,
Pennsylvania, last November, are producing about one barrel of oil per
week. So, it takes a Titusville stripper (hey, catchy phrase) about 20
years to produce as much oil as the world uses in one second.
"OK, let's think big. There are some wells in the Saudi-Kuwait oil
production axis (at Ghawar & Burgan) that produce 10,000 barrels per day.
Damn good wells. Super wells. The entire production of one of these wells
gets burned up in about 10.25 seconds of your average world economic
activity. You would have to be almost an Olympics-caliber sprinter to be
able to run 100 meters in less time than it takes the world to burn up the
output of one of these super-wells.
--------------
Peak oil. Fact or fiction?
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 08:55 PM
Another thought, will the rape and pillage of ANWR save us? Is it worth the destruction for a few minutes worth of energy, assuming we don't sell it to Asia?
Posted by: Saladin at February 3, 2006 08:57 PM
#76
Wow! We're in trouble.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 09:14 PM
"Peak oil. Fact or fiction?"
Either way we are writing our obituary if we do not change our ways.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 09:17 PM
I used to believe that we had the know how and the scientists and the inventiveness to find the solutions to major problems. We found the cure to polio didn't we? We went to the moon.
Are we still like that? I think so.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 09:32 PM
Saladin 77
will the rape and pillage of ANWR save us? Is it worth
Answer:
YES, it is worth it.
There would be more oil for Americans.
Another positive:
We could hunt the Caribou. We could feed the poor with the meat, plus, with the leather, we could put shoes and coats on the feet and backs of America’s poor. All would be happy. There is absolutely no down side for Americans living today.
As for future generations, I feel we should consider their situation as much as our fore/ Great/Grandfathers considered of our situation. Each generation has a full enough plate dealing with their present, let alone being so egotistically presumptuous as to think they have a clue what the next generation will bring.
Posted by: Driller at February 3, 2006 09:33 PM
Ralph Reed's First Try for Office Falters
ATLANTA (AP) -- For a while, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed looked almost unstoppable in his bid for lieutenant governor of Georgia. Then he got tripped up by the Jack Abramoff scandal.
In recent months, it was reported that Reed's public relations and lobbying businesses received $4.2 million from his longtime friend Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight the opening of casinos that would compete with Abramoff's Indian tribe clients.
Now, Reed's little-known rival for the Republican nomination, fellow conservative Casey Cagle, is outpacing him in fundraising, and a recent poll shows Cagle could be as strong a candidate as Reed against a Democrat.
Reed has not been charged with a crime. But analysts say the boyish-looking, 44-year-old darling of the conservative movement and former adviser to GOP presidential campaigns appears to be in political trouble because of his ties to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption charges and admitted swindling his Indian clients.
More Here
*****end of clip*****
There is a picture at the linked piece, is that Zell "from hell" Miller and does Ralph look like he could be related?
Make no mistake, Ralph is all up in it with Abramoff and the band of thugs. Getting waxed could not happen to a better Bunnypants sycophant.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 09:34 PM
I've never been interested in boyish looking men.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 09:55 PM
5 Ala. churches hit by fires; arson suspected
CENTREVILLE, Ala. - Fires destroyed three rural Alabama churches and damaged two others in a string of suspected arsons overnight.
----------
Gee, I wonder what tipped them off?
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 10:01 PM
When Two Worlds Collide
Why Karl Rove will eventually fall before Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
By Elizabeth de la Vega
For Karl Rove, no news from the Plame case -- Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA agent -- is definitely not good news. Seismic activity is notoriously silent, so we may not be hearing any rumblings at the moment. But speaking as a former prosecutor, I believe it highly likely that, just below the surface, the worlds of Karl Rove and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, shifting like tectonic plates, are about to collide. As was true with Vice President Cheney's top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent as well as to the grand jury, Rove might not be charged with the leak itself. I am confident, however, that Rove will not leave this party empty-handed. He will, at the very least, almost certainly be charged with making false statements to an FBI agent. Here's why.
1. For starters, the evidence that Rove deliberately lied to the FBI is overwhelming.
It is now undisputed that Karl Rove spoke with at least two reporters about Valerie Wilson before Novak's now infamous article appeared: Novak himself (whom Rove has known for 30 years) and Time magazine's Matthew Cooper. Some details of the discussion with Cooper are in dispute, but there's no question that the two men discussed Valerie Wilson's identity as a CIA agent and the administration's claim that she had arranged her husband's trip to Niger. After the conversation, Rove sent an e-mail about it to then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Rove's aide Susan Ralston has reportedly testified that Rove told her not to log in the phone call, although that was the usual office procedure. On July 17, Cooper wrote an article in which he described conversations with two government officials who claimed Wilson's wife was a CIA agent and had arranged Wilson's trip to Africa. Cooper questioned whether the administration was declaring war on Wilson.
Between July 14 and October 8, when Rove was interviewed by the FBI, the Bush administration held approximately 30 press briefings in which the leak and/or the Iraq-Niger uranium allegations were discussed. There were hundreds of news articles and repeated calls for an investigation by congressmen, columnists, and the CIA....
....As has now been widely reported, when Karl Rove spoke to FBI agents, he specifically told them that he had not spoken to any reporters about Joseph Wilson's wife before Novak's article appeared.
Given the almost seamless press coverage of the leak during the preceding three months, the time and effort that the White House was devoting to the issue, as well as the intensifying focus on whether he himself had leaked the information, it is impossible to believe that, on October 8, Karl Rove -- known for his brilliance, attention to detail, and legendary memory -- did not remember those two conversations with reporters about Valerie Wilson. If Rove told the FBI agents otherwise, it was surely a deliberate lie.
According to reports, Rove then added that he had first heard about Valerie Wilson from a reporter, though he did not remember which reporter or when he heard it. He also said that he had enlisted the aid of the Republican National Committee and conservative news agencies among other groups to spread disparaging information about Joseph Wilson and his wife, but only after Novak's article appeared.
2. Rove's elaboration not only compounded his initial lie but also illuminated the world of politics that he has been incapable of leaving behind -- a world that collides head-on with the one Patrick Fitzgerald inhabits, where politics have no place and where laws, and the highest standards of public service, prevail.
....Over and over again, in that same press conference, Fitzgerald demonstrated his belief that if you sign onto a system that has certain rules, you have to follow those rules even if it might be personally advantageous to break them. Those who tuned in saw reporters repeatedly ask him about information he could not reveal without violating the rules of grand jury secrecy or prosecutorial ethics. He was asked, for example, whether other people might be charged. He declined to answer. He was asked to evaluate the strength of the case. He declined to answer. He acknowledged how frustrating his inability to answer undoubtedly was to the assembled media, but explained that he couldn't gather information according to the rules of grand jury secrecy -- which prohibit talking about people who were investigated but not charged with a crime -- and then afterwards reveal the information anyway because it was too "inconvenient" not to answer reporters' questions. ...
....Unlike Rove's former adversaries in the political world, however, Fitzgerald has both the time and investigative resources. When Fitzgerald was appointed special prosecutor, all the known facts on the outing of Valerie Wilson indicated that government officials had broken the rules, if not the law. It's no surprise then that Fitzgerald has pursued the matter vigorously; nor should it be a surprise that Rove's statement to the FBI on October 8 would have raised some obvious red flags and caused Fitzgerald to become skeptical. Rove deliberately omitted key information about conversations with reporters that he could not possibly have forgotten; he claimed to have heard classified government information only from a reporter -- despite the fact that he himself was one of the highest government officials in the nation; and then he admitted that he had no qualms about enlisting surrogates to betray government employees in order to achieve political gain.
------------
Poor Karl. Think of the stress.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 10:22 PM
PROS
No war with Syria or Iran
Save 247 Billion in taxpayers dollars
Out of Iraq
CONS
impossible without democrat majority in House
cheney rules - all benefits are lost
devides US population like NEVER before
Posted by: Neil at February 3, 2006 10:43 PM
I don't think Cheney will ever be president. But the part about the US population being divided is interesting because I have thought about that a lot. I think the more the blue states are required to pay for the red states and get nothing in return is going to finally cause serious problems with the unity of our country.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 3, 2006 11:00 PM
17 US Reps Want Impeachment Probe
20 Now Support Impeachment, Resignation, or Probe
(APN) EXCLUSIVE: The number of Members of US Congress supporting US Rep. John ConyersÕ³ (D-MI) H. Res 635 has now jumped to 17, including Mr. Conyers. The US House bill would create a Select Committee to investigate the grounds for impeaching President Bush.
The two newest co-sponsors are US Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and James Oberstar (D-MN), who signed on yesterday, February 1, 2006. Just yesterday, Atlanta Progressive News exclusively reported that H. Res 635 had reflected 14 total co-sponsors at the time [not including Mr. Conyers in that number].
A total of 20 members of US Congress now support either a probe that could lead to BushÕ³ impeachment, BushÕ³ outright impeachment, or BushÕ³ resignation.
This is edging close to ten percent (10%) of the Democrats in the US House.
As of today, the 17 total co-sponsors of H. Res 635 are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
As reported yesterday, US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) withdrew her name, whereas she was listed as a cosponsor throughout January 2006, citing a clerical error for her name having been listed in the first place. LofgrenÕ³ Office told Atlanta Progressive News the Representative learned of her being listed as a co-sponsor after an article by APN issued January 01, 2006.
Meanwhile, US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said he would support impeaching Bush over the issue of domestic wiretapping in late December 2005. At the same time, US Reps. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Bobby Rush (D-IL) have called for Bush to step down by signing on to a "World CanÕ´ Wait" statement issued to Atlanta Progressive News.
Read more HERE
*****end of clip*****
I wonder how close the list of 25 for the filibuster correlates to the 20 for impeachment.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 11:05 PM
I guess comparing the senate to the house members would be no correlation at all, eh? HA!
capt
Posted by: capt at February 3, 2006 11:07 PM
At least from his campaign contributions, Paul Allen sure doesn't look like a wingnut.
Besides, I think his mom was a librarian at the UW, and everyone knows that people who lived off the taxpayers are all commies (unless, of course, they're Republicans, Republican cronies, contractors with Republican connections . . . you get the idea).
No, Paul Allen is definitely not one of what Bertrand Russell called the "stupid rich."
Posted by: Drewp at February 4, 2006 12:14 AM
Capt: The two conflicting positions � one released for public consumption and the other supposedly expressing frank internal worries � raise the possibility that bin-Laden actually is telling the United States to do the opposite of what he really wants done, knowing that his endorsement of one action will encourage its opposite.
Sounds like they know how to play the petulant Jr. like a Stradivarius.
It took them 11 years to bring down the Soviet Union. The last thing they want is for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq now. They've got at least 8 more years of work to do.
Posted by: Drewp at February 4, 2006 12:24 AM
Bob from ND has been asking why we're at war.
Let's see. Not WMD. Certainly not AQ. Started to hear about democracy rising and the domino theory after the WMD was not found.
I think GWB wants to avenge his father (and get out from under his shadow). That's his reason and he's not much of a thinker beyond that.
The neo-cons want to take over the world. That's an ideological argument. And yes, there's a lot of money in oil right now.
Bottom line though, I think we're out there on an idea - the neocon idea.
Posted by: truthseeker at February 4, 2006 12:37 AM
driller, you aren't serious, are you? You do realize that even if we keep every speck of oil they pump, it is only enough to last for roughly three years, and that is at current usage. It will take 7-8 years to ramp up to capacity, and by the time they are actually producing, what will our requirements be? This is the typical short-sightedness of the drill it now, to hell with the future attitude. Is it really presumptious to be concerned about what we leave our children and grandchildren as a legacy? My God, we are SO doomed, because that is how the powers that be operate.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 12:38 AM
"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
David Rockefeller, Memoirs, 2002
---------------
They aren't even trying to keep it a secret anymore.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 01:03 AM
Pags-Happy, guess what -- your reactionary pals have abandoned you. You are left with the dregs of the Grand Ol' Lynchin' Party (LBH - Little Boring Hemorrhoid) to catapult the propaganda.
I call Bullshit on your Capital Gains Tax nonsense. I don't know if you got it from the WSJ ("Tastes Great, More Filling," WSJ, February 3, 2006 -- subscr. req.) or some reactionary website's dumpster; but it's a big, steaming, fly-infested pile of LBH.
Happy crows:
"The 2003 rate reduction resulted in an increase in capital gains realization: from $269 Billion in 2002 to a whopping $539 Billion in 2005. So, the capital gains tax liabilities (by taxpayers) have gone up from less than $50 Billion at the old 20% rate to a current estimate of $80 Billion at the lowered 15% rate!"
If you look at historical data from the CBO, you'll see that $269 Bil. in cap. g. realization in 2002 was down from realization in '97, '98, '99, and 2000. Even the "whopping $539 Bil." in realization is down from the numbers in '99 and the peak in 2000.
Furthermore, the $50 Bil. in c.g. tax liabilities in 2002 is lower than the c.g. tax liabilities in '96, '97, '98, '99, and 2000. The $80 Bil. in c.g. liabilities that you cite is still lower than the numbers for '98, '99 and 2000.
If you look at the Historical data of Revenues by source p.4 (careful it's one of those PDF bastards), you'll see that the progressive taxes of the 90s did nothing to diminish the ability of the Treasury to fill its coffers. Revenues were rising in those last years of the Clinton Presidency. The record 1 Trillion dollars in personal income tax revenues in 2000 helped to create the budget surplus (along with the earlier asskicking that Big Dawg gave the reds by vetoing the Paris Hilton tax and threatening to shut down the government if they didn't cut their bullshit spending).
The CBO recently released a study showing that trickle down doesn't work (unless the intended effect is to further enrich the megawealthy at the expense of the middle class and poor folks) and that we're on the wrong side of the Laffer curve when it comes to tax rates. I think their analysis is bourne out by the state of affairs in America today where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and by the fact that tax revenues increased in the late 90's with higher tax rates.
At the risk of sounding like Mr. Obvious (Bubblenose Bill), if you overlay a graph of market performance from '90 to the end of 2005 with a graph of the fluctuations in c.g. realization, receipts and liabilities, you'll get a near perfect match. The hills and valleys don't correlate with c. g. tax rates (or rather there is no inverse correlation -- taxes down receipts up).
Larry Kudlow tries to make the same lame argument that you and the WSJ make. All of the data cited are from 2000 to the present and don't accurately represent the full picture of progressive (under Clinton) vs. regressive (under Bush) tax rates. It's more than a little intellectually dishonest to use numbers in this manner.
You better hope that Bubblenose comes back or you will become my personal pet (whipping boy for the Grand Ol' Spending Party, if you will) until someone more annoying pops up.
In the meantime, I'm sure you'll enjoy this Broke-Back to the Future trailer (broadbanders enjoy, it is kinda funny). You might like to watch, King George the Clueless do his "I'm not a crook" routine.
For those of you who need your daily dose of Fitzgerald, there's the Plamegate ?age. I don't know if the Murray Waas article is on there or not, but I want to see this memo (if it really exists -- hasn't been flung down the memory hole by the Cheney Administration).
Posted by: Pandemoniac at February 4, 2006 02:27 AM
I linked to this guy's column once before. Check out how he pushes back and calls for the rest of 'em to do their fkn job!
Froomkin (hella name, no?)
Froomkin on White House Briefing
In SundayÕs Washington Post, the paperÕs new ombudsman, Deborah Howell, writes that The PostÕs political reporters donÕt like my column. She states that the column is "highly opinionated and liberal" and concludes that it should no longer bear the name "White House Briefing," because the title may lead some readers to think it is the work of the paperÕs reporting staff. Such a belief, Post political editor John Harris told her, dilutes the credibility of the newspaper.
Regular readers know that my column is first and foremost a daily anthology of works by other journalists and bloggers. When my voice emerges, it is often to provide context for those writings and spot emerging themes. Sometimes I do some original reporting, and sometimes I share my insights. The omnipresent links make it easy for readers to assess my credibility.
There is undeniably a certain irreverence to the column. But I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. I believe that the president of the United States, no matter what his party, should be subject to the most intense journalistic scrutiny imaginable. And he should be able to easily withstand that scrutiny. I was prepared to take the same approach with John Kerry, had he become president.
This columnÕs advocacy is in defense of the publicÕs right to know what its leader is doing and why. To that end, it calls attention to times when reasonable, important questions are ducked; when disingenuous talking points are substituted for honest explanations; and when the president wonÕt confront his critics -- or their criticisms -- head on.
The journalists who cover Washington and the White House should be holding the president accountable. When they do, I bear witness to their work. And the answer is for more of them to do so -- not for me to be dismissed as highly opinionated and liberal because I do.
-- Dan Froomkin
Posted by: Alan at February 4, 2006 02:43 AM
A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center
^^^^^^^^^^6
DIE WHITMAN!!
hey everybody, you know what those tremendous grey clouds of dust that billowed out from the WTC implosions were?
powdered concrete. somehow ALL of the concrete from both towers (and there was a veritable metric shitload of concrete in each tower) was rendered into powder/dust BEFORE IT EVEN HIT THE GROUND. think about THAT TimL.
Posted by: James Ha at February 4, 2006 04:49 AM
any photography buffs out there? hmm? what about you, are you a photography enthusiast? how about photoshop tweekers? I know that you're out there and I know that you can see this. check this out - the official photos of the pentagon strike (911) have been analysed by an expert, and guess what? even the ones that are NOT obviously faked show that there was NO 757 THAT HIT THE DAMN PENTAGON :: PENTAGON PHOTOSTUDIES
the bushco administration with the help of the mcMedia has LIED to us about 911 for 4 1/2 YEARS NOW - where is the outrage?
Posted by: James Ha at February 4, 2006 05:06 AM
When on 31-01-2006 US neocon 'front man' George Bush presented the usual pack of lies in his 'State of the Union' rant, he was applauded by the criminals in Congress. He is in the media selling the same abject lies, which are applauded by the warmongering collaborators in the US and it's colonies, with their inhumane bellicose policy of advocating war, now again against Iran.
THIS GLOBAL CENSORSHIP BY THE GROUP WHICH OWNS THE MAIN$TREAM MEDIA AND MOST OUTLETS, IS ALL ABOUT BRAINWASHING 'BY OMISSION' AND OTHER MALIGNANT MANIPULATION.
mcMedia manipulation
Posted by: James Ha at February 4, 2006 05:24 AM
Generic Drugs Hit Backlog At FDA
No Plans to Expand Review Capabilities
____________________
The Bush administration has strongly advocated generics as a way to hold down health care costs, and the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mark B. McClellan, said in an interview this week that an ever-growing number of generics is essential to controlling the cost to the government and seniors of the new Medicare prescription drug program.
At a time when the use of low-cost generic drugs is being embraced as one of the few ways to rein in skyrocketing health care costs, the Food and Drug Administration has a backlog of more than 800 applications to bring new generic products to the market -- an all-time high.
As a result, experts say, fewer generic drugs will be available to consumers in the years ahead than the industry is ready and able to provide. The FDA, however, has told Congress that the office that reviews new generics needs no additional money, and the agency has no plans to hire more reviewers.
____________________
A lot of talkin'...VERY little walkin'!
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 4, 2006 07:13 AM
Iraq Pre-War Intelligence (PBS - NOW)
Documents and Debate
Journalists and politicians have been questioning the evidence used to make the case for war with Iraq. On the third anniversary of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's landmark speech to the United Nations, an administration insider who helped write it makes a startling claim: that he participated in a hoax. That insider, Lawrence Wilkerson, and former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix are among the voices in NOW's report into pre-war intelligence. Investigate some of the intelligence documents under discussion below.
Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction - Report to the President: March 31, 2005
The result of the research conducted by the Commission, which was established by Executive Order to assess pre-war intelligence, is also known as the Silberman Robb Report. The report's introduction states:
On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over.Among the pre-war intelligence analyzed in the report that gathered from the informant known as "Curveball." The report states:
One of the most painful errors, however, concerned Iraq's biological weapons programs. Virtually all of the Intelligence Community's information on Iraq's alleged mobile biological weapons facilities was supplied by a source, codenamed "Curveball," who was a fabricator. Read the section of Curveball.
Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMDThis report relays the findings of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Pre-War Intelligence Assessments on Iraq: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (PDF)
This July 2004 report's first conclusion reads:
Conclusion 1: Most of the major key judgments in the Intelligence Community's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction, either overstated, or were not supported by, the underlying intelligence reporting. A series of failures, particularly in analytic trade craft, led to the mischaracterization of the intelligence.
Kerr Report (PDF)This report, from July 2004, the third of three prepared by a group of intelligence experts led by Richard J. Kerr, a former deputy director of Central Intelligence, to examine the U.S. Intelligence Community's assessments in the months before the U.S. invasion.
In an ironic twist...the policy community was receptive to technical intelligence (the weapons program), where the analysis was wrong, but apparently paid little attention to intelligence on cultural and political issues (post-Saddam Iraq), where the analysis was right.
Uranium Memo
On January 18, 2006 Eric Lichtbau of THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on a 2002 document recently declassified by the State Department as a result of a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by Judicial Watch. The "high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was 'unlikely' because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles." The idea that Iraq was actively seeking uranium made it into President Bush's State of the Union address on January 28, 2003. The uranium claims were publicly questioned by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, who had been sent on a fact-finding mission to Niger in 2002. The subsequent leaking of Mr. Wilson's wife's identity as a CIA operative has now led to a criminal investigation.
Read the memo (PDF)
"2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim," Eric Lichtblau, THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 18, 2006
More on the CIA leak case
British Documents
The public scrutiny over pre-war intelligence has probably been greater in Britain. The limelight was hottest in the battle between Prime Minister Blair and the BBC over charges that the cabinet had "sexed up" the case for war. A public inquiry cleared Prime Minister Blair and his government of any deliberate attempt to deceive the British public over the threat from Iraq mentioned in the September 2002 dossier. Follow a timeline of the case.
According to THE ECONOMIST, "A related inquiry into intelligence failures, headed by Lord Butler, in July 2004 cleared the government of any deliberate attempt to mislead Parliament. But it did suggest that Mr Blair was prepared to exaggerate what turned out to be fairly thin evidence to bolster the case for a war." Read the report.
On May 1 2005, the British SUNDAY TIMES newspaper published the so-called Downing Street memo, dated July 23, 2002, after it was leaked by a former UK foreign policy aide. According to the BBC, "In the memo, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as saying Mr Bush had made up his mind to take military action even if the timing had not yet been decided. A second memo, published in June 2005, says UK ministers were told that they had no choice but to find a way to make the war in Iraq legal." Despite efforts by bloggers, the memos receive little attention in the U.S. press. Read the memo.
*****end of clip*****
If you have not seen it, you will want to watch this segment of NOW. A completely frank discussion with Larry Wilkerson.
The show really puts the kibosh on any notion that Busheney did not know they were lying.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 4, 2006 07:22 AM
Taps found clues, not Al Qaeda, FBI chief says
WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency's secret domestic spying hasn't nabbed any Al Qaeda agents in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday.
Mueller told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agents get "a number of leads from the NSA," but he made it clear Osama Bin Laden's henchmen weren't at the end of the trail.
"I can say leads from that program have been valuable in identifying would-be terrorists in the United States, individuals who were providing material support to terrorists," Mueller testified.
His assessment of the controversial NSA snooping appeared to undercut a key claim by President Bush. As recently as Wednesday, Bush defended bypassing courts in domestic spying by insisting that "one of the people making the call has to be Al Qaeda, suspected Al Qaeda and/or affiliate."
The committee's chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), let slip that one disrupted plot involved Iyman Faris' scheme to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. "I think as to the number of lives that have been saved, it might have been how many were on the Brooklyn Bridge if it had blown up," Roberts said.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official later told the Daily News that the NSA program was used after Faris agreed to cooperate in the investigation but "that was not what initiated it."
*****end of clip*****
They have it wrong again. It does not matter one iota if illegal wiretaps lead to a criminal. In a nation of laws even law enforcement must obey the law and nobody is above the law - that would be putting ones self above the nation.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 4, 2006 07:49 AM
Blogger at Center of Lawsuit Is Identified
___________________
The writings attacked a town councilman, Patrick Cahill, and his wife and prompted Mr. Cahill to sue Mr. Schaeffer for defamation and ask the court to force the Internet service provider to disclose the identity of the author.
A Delaware Superior Court granted the request, but in October, the Delaware Supreme Court overruled the order, saying that the author could remain anonymous.
Chief Justice Myron Steele compared anonymous Internet speech to anonymous political pamphleteering, a practice the United States Supreme Court characterized in 1995 as "an honorable tradition of advocacy and dissent."
______________
When this one makes it to the Supremes for their reversal, LOOKOUT TROLLS!!!
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 4, 2006 08:58 AM
#102
I'm really new at this, so bear with me. I've been wondering about this data mining going on. How does the FBI find these suspected al-Qaida members unless they really are mining everyone's conversations to begin with? If they already know who's an al-Qaida member, they wouldn't need to do the data mining. Why not just directly tap into the conversations of those people they already suspect?
Secondly, I've heard 2 different views on the FISA court deal. I've heard that in a time of war (and just for argument's sake I'll concede that we are at war) the president either has up to 15 DAYS or 72 hours to go to the court to get the warrants AFTER the tapping has taken place. So why not just follow the law? Why bypass the law in any way when it's so simple to get what he wants legally?
I want to know who died and made the beady-eyed little bastard king, that's what I want to know!
Posted by: jay at February 4, 2006 09:14 AM
Joe13 - Boehner is not the House Speaker - Hasert is.
Posted by: flan at February 4, 2006 09:33 AM
George "Gen. Jack Ripper" Bush
Another leaked British memo ("everywhere you dig you find a body") reveals that Bush and Blair sat around on January 31, 2003, thinking up crazy schemes to provoke a war with Saddam since they didn't have any real casus belli.
What is worse, the memo confirms that our genius president knew about the dangers of messing with Iraq's internal stability and did it anyway.
The parade of leaked British memos that have gradually emerged paint an increasingly detailed picture of Bush and Blair as Machiavellian warmongers-- fully aware of the illegal character of their enterprise, cynical about the United Nations Security Council, and fully apprised of the profound dangers that might ensue, but determined to attack aggressively nevertheless, and to propagandize and to twist the truth until neither any longer knew where it lay.
*****end of clip*****
Well, the picture is clear to the literate public, the non-readers - not so much.
capt
Posted by: capt at February 4, 2006 10:23 AM
Jay, I posted an article yesterday that addressed that very question. It was from Lew Rockwell and was titled, "Probably Not A Terrorist Survelliance Program." Here was the explanation, in a nutshell, "The constitutional standard for issuing a warrant for a particular search involves "probable cause, supported by an oath or affirmation." If NSA searches don't involve probable cause, then they would be denied a warrant. And if they are tapping American's phone calls under this warrantless program, they are tapping the phones of people who, by definition, are probably not terrorists."
So, they are bypassing the warrant requirement because they know 99% of the spying is done without probable cause so they wouldn't be able to get a warrant. Why would they spy on peace groups and anti-war activists? Would they be able to convince a judge these people are suspected of talking to AL-CIADA on the phone? The article is linked on the previous thread at #130.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 10:40 AM
#101 capt, I watch NOW on PBS. Powell's speech before the U.N. prior to the Iraq war on WMDs has disgraced him and his legacy for the rest of American history. HE SOLD OUT THE U.S. SOLDIERS. He could have resigned if he had doubts about the information but he chose the coward's way. He is now a consultant. Is he now consulting on how to die?
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 11:23 AM
Pentagon Database Leaves No Child Alone
All over the country, organized citizens are fighting to restrict the military's presence in schools. But having recruiters troll high school cafeterias is just one way the Pentagon inundates our youngsters with messages to "Go Army!"
Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has spent a half-million dollars a year creating a database it claims is "arguably the largest repository of 16-25 year-old youth data in the country, containing roughly 30 million records." In Pentagonese the database is part of the Joint Advertising, Marketing Research and Studies (JAMRS) project. Its purpose, along with additional millions spent on polling and marketing research, is to give the Pentagon's $4 billion annual recruiting budget maximum impact. And it has lit a fire under civil libertarians, privacy advocates and counter-recruiting activists across the nation.
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The Pentagon is an equal opportunity destroyer. This article is especially important for parents of teens, you need to know what they are up to, and believe me, it's no good.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 11:27 AM
Ffolks,
Got the news early this a.m. Spec.Spanky is now in northern Iraq.
If you would send positive energy, good thoughts, prayers, scatter chicken entrails or light a candle for his safety, we'd appreciate it!
-T
Posted by: Hajji at February 4, 2006 11:28 AM
I was watching the headlines on Democracy Now yesterday and there was a segment on a Rumsfeld speech at the Press Club being interrupted by a protester. What was interesting was the number of people in the room (not all that many). Also the woman was able to do her whole statement before somebody kicked her out and then finally somebody yelled "Shut up." after she was out of the room. Kind of funny.
It was almost like an old 70's movie. The clip is at about 9:40 on the show.
World Can't Wait Activist Interrupts Rumsfeld Speech
Posted by: Jeanne at February 4, 2006 11:29 AM
American Soldiers
More American soldiers are killed in the Middle East.
2,511 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.
Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. Henry Kissinger
G.K. Chesterton said, "Jesus speaks sanity to a world of lunatics."
Before you seek revenge, dig two graves. Confucius
Contamination
Linda Schrock Taylor says, "When God means to punish a nation, He deprives its rulers of wisdom."
Hitler Bush and the Nazi cabal will prowl the world seeking endless wars. With endless wars and depleted uranium the Nazi States of America will contaminate people, land, air, and water. In time our entire world will become contaminated through the use of depleted uranium in fighting our endless wars.
The Nazi States of America is an evil nation.
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 11:30 AM
Saladin,
My daughter (16) has been trying to get off the recruiting mailing list. They still send her stuff. She's even been working under the advice of the ACLU and she's getting the mailings.
We are thinking they got a list from someplace outside of school.
Where?
Posted by: Jeanne at February 4, 2006 11:32 AM
uhm, thanx, Gerald,
Posted by: Hajji at February 4, 2006 11:34 AM
Impeach President Bush
War of Aggression Indictment
I can't remember if someone already posted this, so here it is again. Linked by Lew Rockwell.
When an illegal war is launched every person killed and injured, every
piece of property destroyed, and all environmental damage, is a war crime.
A war without borders or limits is a perpetual war.
President George W. Bush and
Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld,
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
should be impeached for the following reasons and on the following counts.
Count 1: The Bush administration authorized a war of aggression against Iraq, unconnected to the Al Qaeda attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, committing a crime against the peace.
The U.N. definition
The United Nations has defined aggression:
Aggression is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this Definition.
In article two of the resolution the definition is expanded:
"The First use of armed force by a State in contravention of the Charter shall constitute prima facie evidence of an act of aggression."
The UN definition has two elements - for an act to be aggression it must be:
in contravention of the UN Charter, and
the first such use of force in a conflict
War of aggression is always wrong
The UN states that a war of aggression is a crime against international peace. Aggression gives rise to international responsibility....
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They all, every last one, should be tossed in the dungeon.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 11:35 AM
Hajji,
Have said prayers and thoughts to everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan since it started. I have a friend whose one son came back and now the other is there. I had a close relative in Afghanistan and I am happy he's home.
Posted by: Jeanne at February 4, 2006 11:36 AM
Jeanne, if you read that article I posted, you will see where they get the list. It may be helpful in getting them off her back.
Hajji, my thoughts and prayers are with Spanky and all of you.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 11:38 AM
antiwar.com has great articles for Feb. 4, 06. There are articles on hypocrisy, China, N. Korea, and Iraq to name several areas of interest.
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 11:40 AM
Gerald, you may be interested to know that the Article of Impeachment post above is from TCR (Traditional Catholic Reflections) News.
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 11:43 AM
Weekend edition, Feb. 4-5, 2006, of lewrockwell.com also has several great articles to read. Enjoy the readings!
Hajji, I post to inform the posters of the soldiers being killed in a war of choice and of total lies. Nazi America will rue the day that she started the Iraq war!!!!!
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 11:49 AM
I am saddened that once again the Democrats
have remained silent and resilient to the
high anus remarks of non veteran Republican attack dogs on American Democrats,not only veterans,but real heroes of our country.
I'm outraged and sickened with their blowhard idealism and arrogance about flag burning; turning their Christian cheeks all
the while tabloiding false and innuendo mockery
of citizens who fought on the frontlines and foxholes of our most dangerous miltary campaigns.
In the meantime these pansies were manipulating policies to overthrow and destroy the most prosperous and productive middle-class country in the hstory known.
"Pity this busy monster man-unkind"
Posted by: Patrissimo at February 4, 2006 11:49 AM
New Details Revealed on C.I.A. Leak Case (Cheney the leaker?)
Source: NY Times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/p ... l?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Published: Feb 4, 2006
Author: David Johnston
Post Date: 2006-02-04 00:29:07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff told prosecutors that Mr. Cheney had informed him "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June 2003 about the identity of the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak case, according to a formerly secret legal opinion, parts of which were made public on Friday. The newly released pages were part of a legal opinion written in February 2005 by Judge David S. Tatel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. His opinion disclosed that the former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., acknowledged to prosecutors that he had heard directly from Mr. Cheney about the Central Intelligence Agency officer, Valerie Wilson, more than a month before her identity was first publicly disclosed on July 14, 2003, by a newspaper columnist.
"Nevertheless," Judge Tatel wrote, "Libby maintains that he was learning about Wilson's wife's identity for the first time when he spoke with NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert on July 10 or 11." Mr. Russert denied Mr. Libby's account. Ms. Wilson is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who has criticized the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
Over all, the new material amplified and provided new details on charges outlined in the October 2005 indictment against Mr. Libby. The indictment accused Mr. Libby of falsely telling investigators that he had first learned about Ms. Wilson from reporters, when he had, according to the charging document, learned of it from other government officials like Mr. Cheney.
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Could this be what's behind the rumors that he is stepping down due to health problems?
Story Here
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 11:55 AM
#119 Saladin, I am interested to know about TCR News and the impeachment article. I am totally pissed at the 54% Catholics who voted for this scumbag, low life amoeba in 2004. Thank you for the news source!
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 11:57 AM
Gerald, I perused their Home page, they appear to be solidly against the Nazi bush regime. I was very happy to see that!
Posted by: Saladin at February 4, 2006 12:04 PM
Saladin, here is the article. I linked it with this website. Thank God for some sane Catholic organizations with some influence!
War Crimes
A great, great editorial!!!!!
Posted by: Gerald at February 4, 2006 12:13 PM
A fuller understanding of human nature is such a competitive advantage to success in most all phases of Life!!
People tends to remember the good times better than the bad times but forgets that history (politics, fashion, investing maniac, you name it) almost always repeats itself.
The later part of the 1990s' was such a once-in-a-generation anomaly where anyone in the stock market made money and if they traded at all, instead of buy-and-hold till death, paid capital gains tax. It ws also a time of willy-nilly IPOs of dotcome-anything with gazillion stock options minting instant millionaires in the tech sector.
The few that hung onto real gains, like Happy who did have a positve year when it all ended in 2000, are among the best of the best.
Liberals will forever disavow the basic tenet that lower tax rates encourages work, innovation and risk-taking, the very foundation of this country. A key reason they are doomed to repeat repeated failures.
Posted by: Happy finishes Sched. D at February 4, 2006 12:15 PM
How Aspartame Became Legal - The Timeline
In 1985 Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame, the active ingredient in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by aspartame's clouded past, including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists, which confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors."
The FDA had actually banned aspartame based on this finding, only to have Searle Chairman Donald Rumsfeld (currently the Secretary of Defense) vow to "call in his markers," to get it approved.
On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in food sweetener, and Reagan's new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry's decision.
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Very important info. for anyone who uses this toxic artificial sweetener.
Posted by: Saladin