(updated below - updated again with Secret Service confirmation)
As I documented at length this weekend, Michelle Malkin, John Hinderaker, Red State, David Horowitz and many others of that sort spent the weekend engaged in the most vicious and self-evidently misguided attacks on The New York Times based on a puff piece in this weekend's "Escapes" section. Because the article contained a photograph of Don Rumsfeld's vacation home, they insisted that this was reckless and even retaliatory-- i.e., done with the intent to enable Al Qaeda operatives and other assassins to murder Rumsfeld (as well as Dick Cheney), and that it was further evidence of the war being waged by the NYT and its employees on the Bush administration and the U.S.
For so many obvious reasons, based on easily obtainable information -- including the fact that multiple right-wing news outlets such as NewsMax and Fox and others had previously disclosed this same information months earlier, that this information is commonly reported about government leaders in both parties, and the fact that we always know where our top government officials live and spend their weekends because they have Secret Service protection -- these accusations were as false as they were hysterical.
If the moonbats Glen points to had one iota of credibility before, they have none now. I would add a few more names to the list. The truth does not matter to the Reich-wingnuts, never did and never will. *sigh*
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as "Osama's endorsement of John Kerry." But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.
This stunning CIA disclosure is tucked away in a brief passage near the end of Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine, which draws heavily from CIA insiders. Suskind wrote that the CIA analysts based their troubling assessment on classified information, but the analysts still puzzled over exactly why bin-Laden wanted Bush to stay in office.
According to Suskind's book, CIA analysts had spent years "parsing each expressed word of the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, [Ayman] Zawahiri. What they've learned over nearly a decade is that bin-Laden speaks only for strategic reasons.
"Their [the CIA's] assessments, at day's end, are a distillate of the kind of secret, internal conversations that the American public [was] not sanctioned to hear: strategic analysis. Today's conclusion: bin-Laden's message was clearly designed to assist the President's reelection.
"At the five o'clock meeting, [deputy CIA director] John McLaughlin opened the issue with the consensus view: bin-Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the President."
WASHINGTON, July 3 The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.
The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.
The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."
The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.
>Wouldn't "Captain America's" costume be a desecration of the Amurkun Flag?
I think it was Roy Blount, Jr, the humorist, who pointed out that in his small town, a woman bakes a flag cake every year for the town's 4th of July picnic. As he said, "Heaven help her if she burns the cake."
BTW...did Orrin Hatch ever say what he envisioned as a just penalty for flag burning? A felony with years behind bars? Death penalty? Just curious.
Hitler Bush used Osama bin Laden to the max and so the unit to capture him closes down. Bush has several tapes on bin Laden or the CIA operative and he brings them out for votes and ratings.
You're so kind to provide a new thread on a national holiday, especially for your low-bandwidth devotees.
Given the false choice of burning flags or burning burgers, I'm HAPPY TWO report, we'll be cooking corn dogs in the fryer. To hell with that friggun librul poly-unsaturated safflower oil. We'll be usin' good ole' american lard so stick that in your friggin lard-laden librul arteries.
You losers are going to nominate freedom-loving Hillary (whos husband got a blow job from the girl in the blue dress) I PREDICT she loses, you heard it here first. I am the shit and you are the losers. Have a happy 4th!!!!!
When I was covering the war in Iraq, we reporters would sometimes tune to Fox News and watch, mystified, as it purported to describe how Iraqis loved Americans. Such coverage (backed by delusional Journal editorials baffling to anyone who was actually in Iraq) misled conservatives about Iraq from the beginning. In retrospect, the real victims of Fox News weren't the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who believed it.
Burning the flag rubs against the grain for me but we should not have an amendment against the burning of the flag.
Soon all our flags will have to be burned and they will be replaced by flags with Nazi swastikas (spell). Maybe we should start burning the American flags now?
Hey, Spy! Can you even imagine what the test tube techies will be able to do with their meat incubators? What will replace the weenie in test-tube land?
Happy should try a Twinkie on a stick that is deep-fried-in-lard. He doesn't know shit from shinola, so he certainly won't be able to tell the difference between a Twinkie and a corndog.
++++
On another note, I just fired off a 4th of July greeting to my disappointing DEM rep, Rick Larsen. He just got back from his 3rd to trip to Iraq and says there's lots of progress...but wait...we need at least $17 billion more right away!
A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co., which is owned by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Twinkies measure 4" x 1" (10 cm x 2.5 cm) and are usually sold in packages of two. They have a shelf life of 25 days.
Take THAT you stupid friggin low life librul.
Oh yea, ever tried a deep-fried candy/snickers or not even tried it if you have/not then you know/dont' how good/bad it really is/isnt.
#5
What a joke. I hope this story makes it around. I want everybody to read it, analyze it, study it. I want it on every major station. I want the American people to know that our sworn enemy, who still taunts the Bush administration with tapes) doesn't warrent a CIA unit anymore. As Afghanistan becomes more and more dangerous we become less and less interested.
In my town, there is a burger dining spot (I use that word loosely) that is named "Burger Me."
A couple of weeks ago, the owner introduced a "Krisy Kreme Me" version of the standard hamburger -- only using a sliced KK doughnut in place of the traditional bun.
Well, Burger Me's owner is quite a PR aficionado -- he got a write-up in the local paper, was featured on Northwest Cable News (in WA, ID, OR -- and into lower BC).
The "Krispy Kreme Me" burger is selling...well, like hotcakes.
You are absolutely right about Afghanistan. It is out of control. I understand that the only safe area is Kabul. The rest may as well be the old Taliban regime.
Thomas Wolfe was wrong; you can go home again. I just returned from my local Fourth of July Parade. There were flags and decorated firetrucks, bicycles and convertibles in which rode the all the local dignitaries. The parade ended at a local church, where there was singing and dancing and hot dogs and soda.
It harkened back to a more innocent time. But it also made me realize how thankful and proud I am of the Founders of this great nation, men of wealth and power and stature who risked everything so that men might live free.
It made me thankful for all my ancestors who risked everything to come to this great land in search of a better life, two grandparents as recently as a generation ago.
It made me thankful for all the fighting men and women who have died to allow us to lead the lives we do. They are surely sitting at the right hand of the Lord in Paradise.
It made me thankful for all the opportunities I have had in this world, someone who started life in a one-bedroom apartment with two parents out of work, but parents who loved and guided and educated me. And friends and mentors who extended kindnesses to me beyond the cause.
For all its inherent and myriad problems, this is a grand country, a majestic republic. We are, most certainly, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights - life, liberty and the pursuit (not guarantee of) happiness. But while those are rights, they must be delicately balanced. One person's liberty is another person's oppression. One person's happiness is another person's tyranny.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters."
"There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious." ~ Bono (1960 - ), Oprah Winfrey Show, 2002
My wife and I had a perfect picnic this July 4th. It was a great picnic. Normally, my wife does not want to be with me when there is a group of people. As you will recall, I can be Mr. Inappropriate Times. However, I have been working hard to be Mr. Appropriate Times. On this day I tried really hard.
At the picnic there were several of my foxes. Teresa Whitewurst was there and she is a great conversationalist in talking about parenting skills. Arianna Huffington was there and she is great talking about her being a recovering Republican. Eleanor Clift was at the picnic and I recall her on several talk shows, the McGaughlin (spell) Group. She has to shout louder than the boys on the show in order have her say. Linda Schrock was also at the picnic and she talked at length about education. Karen Horst Cobb and Judith Moriarity would talk on Christianity. Maureen Dowd was also present and looking very lovely.
This was a great picnic. We had potato salad with some hardboiled eggs in between, broccoli, brautwurst (spell), and cold brewskies. We drank the brewskies from the bottle and in some cases from the can in honor of Molly who could not make the picnic. Katrina, Cindy, Helen, Karen Kwiatkowski, and Molly could not make the picnic because they were too tired from our perfect date.
Sister Joan was at a good sister's picnic in Erie, Pennsylvania. Devvy Kidd and Ann Wright were unable to attend the picnic. Naomi Klein was in England and probably writing an article for The Guardian. Nora Ephron was in Hollywood and probably working on a future film.
My wife gave me a compliment on the way home from the perfect picnic. She said that I gave a great effort to be Mr. Appropriate Times. Her compliment made me very happy.
At home she said that I spoiled the perfect day by reliving my college days. But, I just do not have the coordination.
I could not help myself because the timing and food were just right. A person had to try with the cold brewskies, broccoli, potato salad, and brautwurst (spell) in their system.
"Faced with elections that could cost them control of Congress, John A. Boehner, the House majority leader, acknowledged Thursday that Republican leaders are likely to reverse course and hold a vote on a proposed minimum wage increase." The House hasn't allowed a vote on the issue since 1997.
--------------------
1997. Thank you ladies and gentlemen of our congress. How many raises have you given yourself as you are served daily by many many poor people in the Washington DC area alone? You can't ignore the plight of those who have less than you because they serve you in restaurants. They are at the airports. They are selling you groceries. And many of them are POOR.
Not only that but by not increasing the minimum wage you force people to work two to three jobs. I know how much George Bush likes that. I just don't think the exhausted, overstressed worker is as excited as Bush about their multiple jobs.
If this little stretch of Republican majority has shown America anything it is that the true welfare queens are in the corporate world not in the projects.
Was I hearing things? I was just listening to CBS news 880 in the NYC market. The special ops unit hunting for Osama in Afganastan, was disbanded in December of 05? Has this been reported before, or was this just something else that should be kept secret(for our own good!) Happy 4th.
Britons tire of cruel, vulgar US: poll Sun Jul 2, 11:12 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.
The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.
The YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".
As Americans prepared to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.
A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.
With much of the worst criticism aimed at the US adminstration, the poll showed that 70 percent of Britons like Americans a lot or a little.
US President George W. Bush fared significantly worse, with just one percent rating him a "great leader" against 77 percent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.
More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.
US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24 percent saying they felt that the US military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.
A spokesman for the American embassy said that the poll's findings were contradicted by its own surveys.
"We question the judgment of anyone who asserts the world would be a better place with Saddam still terrorizing his own nation and threatening people well beyond Iraq's borders," the paper quoted the unnamed spokesman as saying.
"With respect to the poll's assertions about American society, we bear some of the blame for not successfully communicating America's extraordinary dynamism.
"But frankly, so do you (the British press)."
In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.
Gene Stone
07.03.2006
America: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
When I was a small child, my parents always dutifully took me to watch the local July 4th parade. Each year we stood patiently for an hour and watched a few dozen people march past: a few off-key bands, the members of the high school twirling squad who weren't at summer camp, the volunteer firemen, some well-meaning, awkwardly conceived floats.
Later we went to the shore to watch fireworks. We ate hotdogs and ice cream, and drank soda. Then we went to bed.
I asked my parents what July 4th meant. Their reply: It's the day we celebrate American independence. But what does that mean? Is it really the country's birthday? Why are we celebrating? They didn't elaborate.
I asked my next-door neighbors. They told me to ask my parents. I asked Oscar, the old man who lived down the street and who had served in both World Wars. He explained that America was a great, free, and democratic country, and that many people had fought and died to keep it that way. We should never take these freedoms for granted, he said; no other country offered what America gave to all its citizens.
When Oscar talked, even a nine year-old could feel the depth of his sincerity and the love he felt for the country.
As I grew older my love of the country also grew, but the expression of that love differed from Oscar's. College meant years protesting American involvement in Vietnam. Next followed protests for civil rights, and against Nixon, and then against Reagan, and for women's rights, and then against Bush, and then for gay rights; then protests against the next Bush, and then against the war in Iraq.
With all these protests came two realizations. One of these is that protests can be effective.
What if people hadn't protested the Vietnam War? What if no one had bothered to protest Watergate? Protests can change a country--for the better.
Go back further in time. What if blacks hadn't protested for their civil rights? What if women hadn't protested for their right to vote? What if workers hadn't protested for safety and fairness in the workplace?
Go back further. What if the American colonialists hadn't protested the tax on tea? What if no one had said anything about religious freedom?
Speaking of religion, go back still further; much of this country is Protestant. Although the word doesn't literally mean someone who protests, the term seems to have first been used to describe those who protested the attempt to forbid Lutheran teachings in the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, the word Protestant became synonymous with those who protested against the Roman Catholic Church.
If it weren't for protests, change might not happen. Change isn't always good, but for the most part, when people protest what's bad, they're trying to change it for the better. When they succeed, the country succeeds with them.
The other realization is that protest is a form of love for the country as profound as Oscar's. You don't protest unless you care deeply about something. The original Protestants cared about religion, the original American patriots cared about freedom, and everyone else who's protested has done so because their heart informed their actions. When protestors take to the streets to change the country, they do so because they care. Today is the country's birthday. What better way to show your love than to go out and protest something?
That Osama was helping Bush win the election is no great shakes. Afterall, he was on the CIA payroll at one time. Perhaps still is.
The closure of the office isn't surprising either, is it? And all this released just before the Fourth.
#9 Capt.
I totally envy you.
Here's my offering of an excellent, balanced Fourth of July essay by E.J. Dionne. He provides all dissenters and Democrates an surefire retort against any accusation of being unpatriotic.
[But] the progressive and the reformer have a problem with what passes for unadulterated patriotism. By nature, the reformer is bound to insist that the country, however glorious, is not a perfect place, that it is capable of doing wrong as well as right.
I have to go back and get the link, it didn't work.
#56
I couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Thank goodness we have the blogs in this country so that the people in other countries know we like Bush as much as they do.
Carey,
See...I don't know if we grasp the real conspiracy but these guys and people like James inch us closer to the truth. Did planes hit the towers? Yes. Did they cause the towers to come down? Yes. No. Maybe. Is there more to the story than Cheney wants us to know? Yes.
These scientist types just WON'T..LET...IT...GO..because the answers don't add up. Good, curious scientists see a problem with the results of an experiment and they get excited. They need to find the answer.
It will never go away until there are reasonable answers. And I don't mean structual answers. I mean deeper than that. I mean answers as to why the investigation was hampered, stopped, quelled. Why wasn't it all in the open? Why are there so many questions remaining? Even I, who, I admit shamefully, get bored with conspiracies, wonder why a roadblock was put up on the investigation.
What is it that the American public is not supposed to find out? That's what you guys need to find. I don't think it's what planes hit what building. I think it's a lot simpler than that. The conspiracy investigations have been left alone because they kept people busy. But know, I think, they're getting closer to the answers that they weren't supposed to find. What are those answers?
What may have begun with a couple of snorts has fast become a media-driven blizzard over whether, along with German cars and French handbags, another Western import is sweeping India - cocaine.
Call it the full-on yuppification of India's latte-swilling set.
"It's all linked with purchasing power," said Kiran Bedi, a police official who runs a drug treatment center. "Cocaine is expensive. You've got to have money for it, and now more people have money. It becomes a matter of keeping up with the Joneses."
Yesterday, Bob Herbert noted that the federal minimum wage's purchasing power has deteriorated by 20% over the last decade. After adjusting for inflation, the value of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.
House Republicans are apparently feeling the heat. They're repeatedly blocked consideration of an increase, but are now prepared to give the issue a floor vote.
With Democrats plotting to make the minimum wage a major issue in this fall's congressional races, House Republican leaders are conceding that they may have to yield to pressure for an increase to the federal standard, which has been frozen for nearly a decade.
Faced with elections that could cost them control of Congress, John A. Boehner, the House majority leader, acknowledged Thursday that Republican leaders are likely to reverse course and hold a vote on a proposed minimum wage increase. Though Boehner said it was a "cynical ploy" for Democrats to make it a campaign centerpiece, polls indicate that voters clearly favor an increase in the wage, and Boehner acknowledged that GOP leaders are "probably going to have to find some way to deal with it."
Keep in mind, Senate Republicans already helped reject an increase, and House Republicans will likely do the same.
But at least voters will have a chance to consider how every member of Congress - especially those who donÕ´ mind seeing their own taxpayer-financed salary go up - votes on a minimum-wage increase before the November elections.
------------------
1955. What a joke. And Boehner thinks it's a Democratic ploy. HELLO!! Look around you, you FOOL. Maybe, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have their eyes open and are seeing a NEED.
Norht Korea just fired its fourth short range missile. Grandiose displaysof seething jack offs all over the globe. Fox news is having a heyday.
Plans have changed for tonight...just opened the John Jameson, the champagne and the fancy tequila. Plenty of beer to last the week. Hunker down friends, we in for all kinds of fireworks.
(I have the sick feeling that Bushco's poll numbers are about to shoot up with the fireworks.)
Later,
th
#72
Here is some of the Gerald's post. I think it should be copy pasted so people don't miss the importance of it.
---------------
In any discussion of the war in Iraq and its consequences, it is obligatory for everyone to acknowledge the sacrifices required of the men and women who have been sent there. More than 2,500 of them have died and about 18,000 have been wounded. The rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among those who have returned has been estimated to be as high as 20 percent.
I was a soldier once in a war similar in many respects to this one. Like members of our current military, I was a volunteer. I remember that when I returned from Vietnam, I was struck by how little society knew or cared about what was happening there. I didn't expect anyone to understand or be grateful for what I had done because it was apparent to me that the nation had not benefited from my service. No one was any safer. Our freedoms were no more secure. I never felt that the lives of the Vietnamese had been materially improved by our efforts. Quite the contrary, our primary gifts to that small country had been death, destruction and a flourishing sex industry. I came away from the experience believing that the American lives I had seen lost were wasted sacrifices. We who had served had been betrayed. Why would I expect a grateful homecoming?
When I saw what the war in Vietnam was really like, I wrote to my wife in a "letter to be opened in the event of my death" that she was not to accept any medals and, above all, I was not to have a military funeral. I could not abide the prospect that my flag-draped coffin might serve as a justification for further bloodshed.
Now I see this pattern repeated. The difference from Vietnam is that we appear determined to reassure our troops of our continued support and gratitude.
------------------
Thank you Mr. Bush. I had hoped that such a war would not be repeated in my lifetime. You have made it possible with your warped mission.
#75
I think the Bush poll numbers are going to plummet. This is just further proof what freaking idiots he and his administration is. They get us tangled up in Iraq when they should have been dealing with N Korea. N Korea waited until it was obvious that the people of the US is sick of war and that our military was spent. They also waited until it was obvious that the US has lost it's super power status. I think that is obvious from the fiasco (in the eyes of the neocons anyway) at the WTO meeting.
It is my perceptual opinion that Madeleine Albright's statement is evil. Could she also be considered an evil person?
From the article Iraq's Dispensable Children -
On May 12, 1996, Clinton's Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes about the effects of U.S. sanctions against Iraq. "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
In a response that has now become notorious, Albright replied, "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today.'"
- Gabriela Mistral
To all Americans who, despite voluminous evidence to the contrary, continue to believe that they are supporting a war for democracy in Iraq, I would like to say, the way Iraq is headed it will have little use for democracy and freedom. We must find ways to stop the immoral, soulless, repugnant occupation if we want the children of Iraq to see any future at all.
#81
Gerald,
I don't know where she will find the courage to face her maker. The price was infinately too high. And the Bush adminstration has chosen to rachet up the price even higher. They have done it in my name. It makes me very angry.
"Go wave the flag--or burn it, while you still can."
I chose to wave it today. I am proud to be an American. Even knowing of this country's flaws. Maybe it's just knowing that without this country I could be living in Serbia, my wife in China.
As for the alternative, I'm waiting until it's a thought crime to burn the flag. I think then that I'll have the desire to burn it.
happy 2 - after filing my report i realized that i had revealed sensitive information that would have been better kept to myself. please accept my apology for any distress this has caused.
Even the homeless do not starve. Show me where someone who makes $5.15 an hour has ever starved to death. The minimum wage is politically arbitrary, not market driven. You want socialism, move to Europe.
Life must be easy for you, emmerson. Of course, I sense you are the type, like LHB, you know him, who likes to argue just to argue. You say foolish things, emmerson. You back nothing up. You never link. You, sir, are a waste of my time.
You claim that if you don't raise the minimum wage, people will starve. That is simply not the case and just a bleeding heart liberal illogical argument on your part, not mine.
emmerson, are you implying that you have utilized logic in the formulation of anything that you have yet said regarding anything at all? if so i would like to see an example of such if you please.
I haven't read many posts tonight, since I've been celebrating the 4th. To all you Cornbloggers, let's have a great year. I honestly think this is the time we'll take our country back. Everyone is sick of what's going on. We just have to start speaking the truth to everyone we talk to and elect liberal/progressive candidates to congress. I really love Feingold. My heart goes out to Cindy Sheehan and all those like her. Thank God for liberals or we would have never had the revolution to begin with. All the conservatives then just wanted to be a "patriot" and go along with King George. Thank God for Thomas Paine and a free press. A free media is essential to a democracy. Happy Fourth!
Apparently, he has received a thinly-veiled attack threat.
Carey, I only read your link till I found out what it was about. That story has been debunked for the longest, so it's nuttin' new. If someone was threatened about it, then that's wrong like a mo/fo. Discourse is key. If people would just ask, then they'd find the answers for all the wack theories that're out there. There's no need to threaten anybody about anything. You're link is about the '3rd plane', and I'll link you to the truth.
">it's a 12 page .pdf with more pictures and more links describing what you're really sesing
What is it that the American public is not supposed to find out? That's what you guys need to find. I don't think it's what planes hit what building. I think it's a lot simpler than that. The conspiracy investigations have been left alone because they kept people busy. But know, I think, they're getting closer to the answers that they weren't supposed to find. What are those answers?
whoaaa, not you too Jeanne!
It's really very simple. We've got an idiot president that didn't listen to the outgoing administration when he was told what was the foremost threat to America. He can't govern, can't do shyt, but he campaigns well. Ignored al Qaeda, and that's what has been COVERED UP since then. Wack people try to make into something way out there and worse, when it's really quite simple... look up "Occam's Razor".
I 'know' this guy from another blog and private emails. He hates bush as much as we do, so he's not an apologist. He's very smart and has put alotta time into this.
The last count - before their last pay raise - was eight (I am pretty sure) Eight times that congress have given themselves a "cost of living" increase. I guess some people think the cost of living only goes up for congreszs critters.
There was a proposed bill that would connect congressional pay raises with increases in the minimum wage - it was defeated by the Republicans.
I guess using the fake comparision - I did not see any congress critters starving before so they did not need a pay raise, eh?
Did you know at minimum wage a person can work full time AND still qualify for food stamps and medi-caid (see Walmart employees).
No reason for a wage increase as long as the government can make up the difference while the handful of Walmart "owners" makes $20 billion?
Neocons and not the sharpest knife in the silverware drawer. Mindless reactionaries that just spew. Why do you post to them? You encourage more not less, why?
Did you know at minimum wage a person can work full time AND still qualify for food stamps and medi-caid (see Walmart employees).
Capt, this guy I was working with was making twice minimum wage, and he was still getting food stamps. He had 3 daughters and a non-working wife from Guam (he's blond w/blue but was born there when his dad worked at the base... one of his kids had 6 toes and tendon probs in her right arm. We've paid for several of her operations. His wife is learning English pretty well now, but she still don't work. Tax day? He loves that. They return most of what he paid all year. He's the nicest guy you'd wanna meet, but still...
When Progressives shout "Incompetence!" it obscures the many conservative successes. The incompetence frame drastically misses the point, that the conservative vision is doing great harm to this country and the world. An understanding of this and an articulate progressive response is needed. Progressives know that government can and should have a positive role in our lives beyond simple, physical security. It had a positive impact during the progressive era, busting trusts, and establishing basic labor standards. It had a positive impact during the new deal, softening the blow of the depression by creating jobs and stimulating the economy. It had a positive role in advancing the civil rights movement, extending rights to previously disenfranchised groups. And the United States can have a positive role in world affairs without the use of its military and expressions of raw power. Progressives acknowledge that we are all in this together, with "we" meaning all people, across all spectrums of race, class, religion, sex, sexual preference and age. "We" also means across party lines, state lines and international borders.
The mantra of incompetence has been an unfortunate one. The incompetence frame assumes that there was a sound plan, and that the trouble has been in the execution. It turns public debate into a referendum on Bush's management capabilities, and deflects a critique of the impact of his guiding philosophy. It also leaves open the possibility that voters will opt for another radically conservative president in 2008, so long as he or she can manage better. Bush will not be running again, so thinking, talking and joking about him being incompetent offers no lessons to draw from his presidency.
Incompetence obscures the real issue. Bush's conservative philosophy is what has damaged this country and it is his philosophy of conservatism that must be rejected, whoever endorses it.
Conservatism itself is the villain that is harming our people, destroying our environment, and weakening our nation. Conservatives are undermining American values through legislation almost every day. This message applies to every conservative bill proposed to Congress. The issue that arises every day is which philosophy of governing should shape our country. It is the issue of our times. Unless conservative philosophy itself is discredited, Conservatives will continue their domination of public discourse, and with it, will continue their domination of politics.
Thinking anything this misadministration has done is incompetent is incompetent thinking.
To know why would Busheney be involved with an attack on our soil just ask "Qui Bono"?
It is beyond simple logic that Bush and his cronies have told the truth about ANYTHING especially 911, and obviously the "incompetent" call does not hold up either, so the truth is yours to find for yourself.
There are some asking questions and others claiming they KNOW the truth? We report you decide. (fair and balanced!)
The war party wanted war. They did not steal an election and hunker down to wait for a reason. They created the reason for war. That is what the war party does. Always has, always will.
BushÕs disasters Ñ Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit Ñ are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault.
The War Party has usually managed to maintain control of American foreign policy through its virtually ironclad grip on the political process. This has been achieved by its mastery of the two-party system that has enshrined the Democrats and the Republicans as the only two real options for American voters. Even when the American people opposed interventionism Ð as in the run-up to World War II, for one example Ð the pro-war elites manipulated the political process and made sure that the voters were presented with two warmongering candidates instead of just one. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, a carefully stage-managed delegate-selection process gypped Eugene McCarthy out of the Democratic presidential nomination. At the level of presidential politics, the system failed only once, in the case of George McGovern, and has worked since then with ruthless efficiency in making sure the people of the United States never get to vote on the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
This is how we get into wars, despite popular antiwar sentiment, and it is how we stay in them Ð regardless of the huge percentage of the American public who say our present occupation of Iraq is pointless. Yet there are signs the War Party's stranglehold over the leadership of at least one major party is beginning to fray. This unraveling is a response to the grassroots antiwar sentiment that is energizing a burgeoning number of Democratic Party activists Ð both old and new Ð forcing the moribund leadership to either come out against the occupation of Iraq or else join Sen. Joe Lieberman, the president's most stalwart supporter when it comes to the war. Indeed, Lieberman is more royalist than the king, attacking any idea of a drawdown in troops as impermissible, and even demanding an end to all discussion of withdrawal.
This last is what the Lieberman wing of Democrats has always been about: limiting debate, shutting down discussion, and policing the party's candidates and organizational structure at the precinct level to ensure that no challenge to interventionism and militarism arises from the grassroots. They are the last of the Scoop JacksonDemocrats, forerunners of today's neoconservatives, who were more warlike than many Republicans in the Cold War era, and always insisted that politics must stop at the water's edge, i.e., foreign policy must never be debated, and the grand bipartisan consensus in favor of global intervention must be allowed to continue unchallenged, forever.
I am angry because my government has been taken over by liars, thieves, thugs, deviants, and micromanagers. The propaganda it produces rivals that of the most fascist dictatorship.
I am angry that my government perceives my intelligence to be that of a jar of pickles incapable of making the smallest decision.
I am angry that my government takes it upon itself to shove its clucking nose into my pantry, medicine chest, bedroom, family room, doctor's office, workplace, and everywhere else it thinks I need guidance to keep me safe from myself.
I am angry that the will of the American people is ignored on every issue imaginable. If voting really mattered, it would have been outlawed long ago.
I am angry that I am called a conspiracy theorist because I dare to think on my own and question authority and its lies.
I am angry that the more I read about 9-11 the more it looks like an inside job that was allowed to happen, enabling the Patriot Act to be conveniently enacted into law with the ensuing "war on terrah" following closely on its heels.
I am angry that the evil puppets in power think laws are created for the peon masses and it is their right to ignore the ones that get in the way of their agenda.
I am angry that the media has sold its soul to the evil forces running the world.
I am angry that my "leaders" have taken to calling my country the "homeland." It reeks of socialism.
We will not recognize it as it rises. It will wear no black shirts here. It will probably have no marching songs. It will rise out of a congealing of a group of elements that exist here and that are the essential components of Fascism....
It will be at first decorous, humane, glowing with homely American sentiment. But a dictatorship cannot remain benevolent. To continue, it must become ruthless. When this stage is reached we shall see that appeal by radio, movies, and government-controlled newspapers to all the worst instincts and emotions of our people. The rough, the violent, the lawless men will come to the surface and into power. This is the terrifying prospect as we move along our present course.
Since the wage hit $5.15 an hour in 1997, members of Congress have seen their pay raised by $31,600, to $165,200 a year. An automatic cost-of-living adjustment will add $3,300 more to their paychecks next year, but Senate Democrats say they won't allow it or any pay increases until the minimum wage goes up.
``We've decided that the only way to catch the attention of the Republican majority in this Congress is to hit them where they live," said the Senate minority whip, Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. ``We hope that we will not only send a message to the Republican leadership in Congress about these hard-working families, but that the voters will send a message on November 7th that it's time for change."
At $5.15 an hour it would take over three years working full-time to make the amount congress has given themselves as a "cost of living" increase since 1997.
The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there have proposed and Republicans have blocked a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage. The debate fell along predictable lines.
"Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. He said a worker paid $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year, "almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three."
Kennedy also said lawmakers' annual pay has risen by roughly $30,000 since the last increase in the minimum wage.
"The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 "
So nine is the number of times and $31,600 is the amount. UGH!
We can blame the GOPhers for no minimum wage increase but BOTH parties are to blame for giving themselves a raise. A curse on both parties obscene arrogance.
Kennedy says "roughly $30,000" when I am sure he knows the number is $1,600 short. I am positive the minimum wager earners would love to get just the $1,600 a year increase. (about $0.76 an hour raise). If Kennedy was rounding he knows to round up not down, shame on him for minimizing the number. It shows that two grand is not a large enough number to count for these politicians. Jerks.
There really is no way of getting around it. Sen. Hillary Clinton may well be future presidential material. From Manhattan to Hollywood, Hillary Clinton is pocketing enormous amounts of cash for her reelection campaign. Yet, Hillary is facing what seems to be fierce opposition from within her own party, as well as from third parties here in New York. The main reason candidates have signed up to challenge Hillary is her position, er, non-position on the disgraceful "war on terror."
Hillary, in a letter to constituents last November, expressed her belief that the war in Iraq shouldn't be "open-ended" but was clear that she would never "pull out of Iraq immediately." She wrote that she wouldn't accept any timetable for withdrawal and won't even embrace a "redeployment" of U.S. troops along the lines of Rep. John Murtha.
#119
Capt,
You want to know what the biggest joke is? If you read books on Cuba you find that the only way people make it is by living together. Adult children can't leave home. The adult children that do leave, live with boyfriends and girlfriends with the parents blessing. That's the only way they can make it.
We are becoming Cuba the Bush enemy. Except they have much better health care and they know what to do in disasters.
#122
Since the Republicans are in the majority they voted in the pay raises also. I wonder what the numbers were for the Democrats that voted no on the pay raises. Of course the Republicans usually attach votes like that to bills that HAVE to pass.
Several good posts from Cornposters, must go out and about!
#83 Jeanne, Madeleine Albright must look upon her life and determine where she wants to be for all eternity. People who try to do good and avoid evil are destined for heaven. Her statement and actions as Sec. of State were not avoiding evil.
Several good posts from Cornposters, must go out and about!
#83 Jeanne, Madeleine Albright must look upon her life and determine where she wants to be for all eternity. People who try to do good and avoid evil are destined for heaven. Her statement and actions as Sec. of State were not avoiding evil.
Conventional wisdom, in effect, says Yes, criminal gangs have ruled in other nations from time to time, perhaps always, but it has never happened here and cannot happen here. Evidence to the contrary is bogus, I do not have to even look at it. For one thing, I vote. We are the worldÕs greatest duh-mocracy. In fact, I voted for Bush-Cheney (or that other skull-and-bones candidate from Yale, I forget). I am fully invested with the regime and IÕm not a criminal or traitor, so Bush-Cheney must not be either. After all, we the people are the government. Criminals and traitors do not look like us either, they look like Arabs, Germans, Japanese, Chinese.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Enron Corp. founder and chief executive Ken Lay, who was convicted in May for his role in the in the Houston-based company's downfall, died of a heart attack on Wednesday at his vacation home in Colorado.
"Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen," Lay family spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said in a statement.
Lay, 64, was awaiting sentencing later this year and was expected to face a lengthy prison term for his convictions in the Enron collapse.
Lay and former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of fraud and conspiracy for hiding the financial ruin at Enron, which collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001.
"If Kennedy was rounding he knows to round up not down, shame on him for minimizing the number."
Perhaps, Kennedy "rounded" to emphasize, not to de-emphasize. Teddy Kennedy may not satisfy everyone on all issues, but he has been one of the staunchest supporters of raising the minimum wage.
Here's PDF file with graphs. As I look at the info I see that when I worked at Micky D's in 1972 I was in essence making more money than the worker trying to raise a family now.
Spy! You are a very creative gumshoe. Stupid crooks and other scofflaws have faked their deaths to avoid something -- whether it's paying parking tickets, child support, or alimony. So, I suppose it's possible Lay could have faked his death to avoid spending the remainder of his life in prison.
But...why didn't he just wait for a presidential pardon?
The 2004 presidential contest between Democratic challenger Senator JohnKerry and the Republican incumbent, President Bush Jr., amounted toanother stolen election. This has been well documented by suchinvestigators as Rep. John Conyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Bob Fitrakis,Harvey Wasserman, Bev Harris, and others. Here is an overview of whatthey have reported, along with observations of my own.
Some 105 million citizens voted in 2000, but in 2004 the turnout climbedto at least 122 million. Pre-election surveys indicated that among therecord 16.8 million new voters Kerry was a heavy favorite, a fact thatwent largely unreported by the press. In addition, there were about twomillion progressives who had voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 who switchedto Kerry in 2004.
Yet the official 2004 tallies showed Bush with 62 million votes, about11.6 million more than he got in 2000. Meanwhile Kerry showed only eightmillion more votes than Gore received in 2000. To have achieved hisremarkable 2004 tally, Bush would needed to have kept all his 50.4million from 2000, plus a majority of the new voters, plus a large shareof the very liberal Nader defectors.
Nothing in the campaign and in the opinion polls suggest such a masscrossover. The numbers simply do not add up.
---------------
The article gives facts on this information. More rational on how the election was stolen in 2004.
NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. (Bankrate.com) -- A government program designed to track down terrorists and money launderers is frightening bank customers, frustrating financial institutions and inundating federal agencies with secret reports of dubious value.
It's called the Suspicious Activity Report, or SAR, and critics say it victimizes honest citizens who are conducting legitimate financial activities through legitimate banking channels, while generating a flood of useless paperwork and burdening financial institutions with billions of dollars in costs.
Experts predict nearly 1 million will be filed in 2006, a bit more than half by depository institutions, the rest by money-services businesses, casinos, card clubs and the securities and futures industries. Insurance companies had to begin filing in spring 2006, and mutual fund companies will have to establish anti-money-laundering programs and file SARs in fall 2006.
In total, 919,230 SARs were filed in 2005. You cannot find out if one has been filed on you; anyone revealing that information is breaking the law.
Baghdad, Iraq. The Central Command of the U.S. forces in Iraq disclosed that they finally had found a weapon of mass destruction that was hidden for years by Saddam Hussein's former Iraq administration.
A single missile, pictured below, was found in vacant auto repair garage in Baghdad last week by U.S. Special forces patrolling an industrial neighborhood in search of insurgents. Army ordinance experts later determined that the missile contained around a teaspoon of nerve gas.
Speaking for the President George Bush, Whitehouse spokesman Tony Snow stated that "We where confident that we would eventually find WMD in Iraq. And while it may have taken longer that we had expected, the patience and hard work of our armed forces is starting to pay off".
#139
After reading the full article that I posted above I can say with certainty that Bush is not my president.
I can also say that all those Americans who were stupid enough to vote him in....didn't. We Americans voted Bush out of office (an office he never really held).
"A secretary at his church and another secretary for his lead criminal lawyer, Michael Ramsey, on Monday both confirmed the death. Lay frequently vacationed in Colorado.
He has motive and he's been convicted of fraud before. The best predictor of behavior is past behavior.
$182 Million can buy whatever he needs to dissapear. No family member has spoken, If his body is cremeated without an autopsy. We'll know something is up.
If it works, Skilling and Fastow will DIE of heart attacks too.
Hope everyone had a happy 4th (4th birthday of our country as a police state)
Last night I held my trembling dog in my arms, waiting for the shelling outside to cease. It was very apparant that this is the evidence that the war on terror is nothing more than a phony ruse to take our money. If they can't stop firecrackers do they really think they could stop real terrorists?
Since 911 we have killed over 4 million americans with tobacco, car accidents and poor health care. Plus the blood of 100,000 Iraqis.
And now our acts of terror overseas have killed more Americans than 911. One can look at that as equalling the score, or doubling the score, depending on which side of the smoke and mirrors you stand on.
You know, all I ever read on this blog are whiny complainers. Honestly, you sound and read like a bunch of pouty second-graders. Don't you folks ever have anything positive to offer other than simplistic slogans and stale bromides?
Are you all such losers in life that this country has become hopeless for you? I weep for you and your despair. There is a great and grand and glorious world out there for those willing to suffer its slings and arrows. It is a world filled with excitement, with opportunity, with, yes, the chance of failure, but also the chance of great success. But you must cast off the truly debilitating shackles of your negativity. You have to get out from behind those computers screens and do something.
Remember, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right.
Dreams and Nightmares is a memorial to Iraqis who have lost their lives in the war and occupation. With photographs, names and personal stories, it conveys the unseen side of the war in Iraq the tragedy being experienced by everyday Iraqis. Careful estimates put Iraqi deaths at more than 100,000 most of them civilians.
Dreams and Nightmares VR Explore the exhibit in 360? virtual reality (VR).(This application requires Quicktime.)
In addition to municipal police and fireman in attendance at this year's Boston Pops and Fireworks on the Esplanade, the National Guard was on duty.
In addition to firing the canons during the 1812 Overture, the guard pulled duty not unlike city police; standing posts, observing the populace, guarding crowd control gates, directing people to entry and exit points. I did not observe any security checks.
I was not aware the National Guard's mission was to participate in policing large public events. In fact, I thought the army was specifically not authorized to be dispatched among the population for these purposes. They all seem like nice people. My concern is not with how they executed their mission. My concern is that they are used AT ALL for this type of mission. Does anyone have facts on this issue?
You know, all I ever read on this blog are whiny complainers. Honestly, you sound and read like a bunch of pouty second-graders. Don't you folks ever have anything positive to offer other than simplistic slogans and stale bromides?
Then why bother? Don't let the door hit you in the ass...
The president uses signing statements to decree which laws apply to him.
Why should anyone give Bush the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is obeying all of the laws that he has not yet publicly proclaimed a right to violate? New York University law professor David Golove told the Boston Globe, "Where you have a president who is willing to declare vast quantities of the legislation that is passed during his term unconstitutional, it implies that he also thinks a very significant amount of the other laws that were already on the books before he became president are also unconstitutional."
Americans may have to wait many years to learn what the rule of law meant in 2006. The truth may be suppressed until Bush's aides begin publishing their memoirs or until the Supreme Court has a change of mood and decides that the executive branch is not entitled to boundless secrecy. In the meantime, don't count on the legislative branch to right the balance: Bush has encountered almost no effective resistance in his own party to his power grabs. One Republican senator recently told author Elizabeth Drew: "We've got to hang with the president be
Comments
Mr. David Corn,
Go grill some bugers.
Happy Fourth!
Kirk
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 09:23 AM
What is left of Malkin, Hinderaker and Horowitz's credibility?
(updated below - updated again with Secret Service confirmation)
As I documented at length this weekend, Michelle Malkin, John Hinderaker, Red State, David Horowitz and many others of that sort spent the weekend engaged in the most vicious and self-evidently misguided attacks on The New York Times based on a puff piece in this weekend's "Escapes" section. Because the article contained a photograph of Don Rumsfeld's vacation home, they insisted that this was reckless and even retaliatory-- i.e., done with the intent to enable Al Qaeda operatives and other assassins to murder Rumsfeld (as well as Dick Cheney), and that it was further evidence of the war being waged by the NYT and its employees on the Bush administration and the U.S.
For so many obvious reasons, based on easily obtainable information -- including the fact that multiple right-wing news outlets such as NewsMax and Fox and others had previously disclosed this same information months earlier, that this information is commonly reported about government leaders in both parties, and the fact that we always know where our top government officials live and spend their weekends because they have Secret Service protection -- these accusations were as false as they were hysterical.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
If the moonbats Glen points to had one iota of credibility before, they have none now. I would add a few more names to the list. The truth does not matter to the Reich-wingnuts, never did and never will. *sigh*
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 09:32 AM
CIA: Osama Helped Bush in '04
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as "Osama's endorsement of John Kerry." But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.
This stunning CIA disclosure is tucked away in a brief passage near the end of Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine, which draws heavily from CIA insiders. Suskind wrote that the CIA analysts based their troubling assessment on classified information, but the analysts still puzzled over exactly why bin-Laden wanted Bush to stay in office.
According to Suskind's book, CIA analysts had spent years "parsing each expressed word of the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, [Ayman] Zawahiri. What they've learned over nearly a decade is that bin-Laden speaks only for strategic reasons.
"Their [the CIA's] assessments, at day's end, are a distillate of the kind of secret, internal conversations that the American public [was] not sanctioned to hear: strategic analysis. Today's conclusion: bin-Laden's message was clearly designed to assist the President's reelection.
"At the five o'clock meeting, [deputy CIA director] John McLaughlin opened the issue with the consensus view: bin-Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the President."
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Terrorists and Bush working together, hand in hand, mutually supportive and long time friends and business associates.
You can do the math on this one.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 09:55 AM
Wouldn't "Captain America's" costume be a desecration of the Amurkun Flag?
Pick YOUR favorite "desecration"!
Bush Desecrates Flag
Beach Bully Barbie
Peace Patch
Posted by: Hajji at July 4, 2006 10:07 AM
C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden
WASHINGTON, July 3 The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.
The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.
The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."
The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Kind of puts the icing on the cake, eh? It was and always will be "Attack Iraq no matter what" and was never a "war on terror."
Can it be more obvious? It really is "OBL who?" with Bush. Helping Bush get elected was the last they needed from OBL. Done deal.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 10:07 AM
#3 capt, was that Osama bin Laden or a CIA operative sending the video and message?
Alan, capt, and Bob in N.D., I posted comments from your post on the previous blog. The # is 103.
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 10:10 AM
Don't lie Corny. I bet you have a mold to make flag-shaped burgers and you burn them to a crisp. Ha ha. J/k. Happy 4th, you crazy bastard.
Posted by: SAM NY at July 4, 2006 10:15 AM
happy birthday america!
i got my flag all ready to wave - whee!
Posted by: spy on this! at July 4, 2006 10:20 AM
I am rolling with "flag" papers and I intend to burn each with care!
HA!
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 10:23 AM
Hajji wrote:
>Wouldn't "Captain America's" costume be a desecration of the Amurkun Flag?
I think it was Roy Blount, Jr, the humorist, who pointed out that in his small town, a woman bakes a flag cake every year for the town's 4th of July picnic. As he said, "Heaven help her if she burns the cake."
BTW...did Orrin Hatch ever say what he envisioned as a just penalty for flag burning? A felony with years behind bars? Death penalty? Just curious.
Bob
Posted by: Bob in North Dakota at July 4, 2006 10:29 AM
Hitler Bush used Osama bin Laden to the max and so the unit to capture him closes down. Bush has several tapes on bin Laden or the CIA operative and he brings them out for votes and ratings.
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 10:54 AM
David,
You're so kind to provide a new thread on a national holiday, especially for your low-bandwidth devotees.
Given the false choice of burning flags or burning burgers, I'm HAPPY TWO report, we'll be cooking corn dogs in the fryer. To hell with that friggun librul poly-unsaturated safflower oil. We'll be usin' good ole' american lard so stick that in your friggin lard-laden librul arteries.
You losers are going to nominate freedom-loving Hillary (whos husband got a blow job from the girl in the blue dress) I PREDICT she loses, you heard it here first. I am the shit and you are the losers. Have a happy 4th!!!!!
Posted by: Happy Two Report It's Corn Dogs at July 4, 2006 10:56 AM
For an object to be "desecrated" wouldn't it first have to have been CONSECRATED?
Is there some religious ritual involved in the sewing of flags?
-T
Posted by: Hajji at July 4, 2006 10:58 AM
Spark one up for me Capt and crank up some Little Feet on the nickelodeon.
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 4, 2006 11:05 AM
FOX News has done far more damage to conservatives than liberals
Excellent point from Kristoff at the NYT:
When I was covering the war in Iraq, we reporters would sometimes tune to Fox News and watch, mystified, as it purported to describe how Iraqis loved Americans. Such coverage (backed by delusional Journal editorials baffling to anyone who was actually in Iraq) misled conservatives about Iraq from the beginning. In retrospect, the real victims of Fox News weren't the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who believed it.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
It never fails, when any group starts to believe their own lies complete reality disconnect is at the door.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 11:05 AM
Burning the flag rubs against the grain for me but we should not have an amendment against the burning of the flag.
Soon all our flags will have to be burned and they will be replaced by flags with Nazi swastikas (spell). Maybe we should start burning the American flags now?
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:13 AM
How to Love Your Country
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:21 AM
Malkin, Powerline, RedState, FrontPage, NewsMax
Promote False Story
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 4, 2006 11:21 AM
Please read #17 it is a great article!
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:23 AM
The wiki history of the Corn Dog
Hey, Spy! Can you even imagine what the test tube techies will be able to do with their meat incubators? What will replace the weenie in test-tube land?
Happy should try a Twinkie on a stick that is deep-fried-in-lard. He doesn't know shit from shinola, so he certainly won't be able to tell the difference between a Twinkie and a corndog.
++++
On another note, I just fired off a 4th of July greeting to my disappointing DEM rep, Rick Larsen. He just got back from his 3rd to trip to Iraq and says there's lots of progress...but wait...we need at least $17 billion more right away!
Posted by: micki at July 4, 2006 11:29 AM
A corn dog is a hot dog coated in cornbread batter and deep fried in hot oil. Stupid frigun low life librul.
;)
Posted by: Happy Two Report It's Corn Dogs at July 4, 2006 11:38 AM
Put a soy burger on for me. (flame broiled)
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:39 AM
The Star-Spangled Bungle
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:40 AM
A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co., which is owned by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Twinkies measure 4" x 1" (10 cm x 2.5 cm) and are usually sold in packages of two. They have a shelf life of 25 days.
Take THAT you stupid friggin low life librul.
Oh yea, ever tried a deep-fried candy/snickers or not even tried it if you have/not then you know/dont' how good/bad it really is/isnt.
Posted by: Happy Two Report It's Corn Dogs at July 4, 2006 11:41 AM
#3
Capt,
So unbelievable yet it makes so much sense.
And thus concludes another episode of "As the World Tries to Survive the NeoCons and the Bush Administration".
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:43 AM
Oh yea, ever tried a deep-fried candy/snickers or not even tried it if you have/not then you know/dont' how good/bad it really is/isnt.
Any idea what he is/isn't talking about?
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 4, 2006 11:43 AM
At a campaign fundraiser in St. Louis last week, a supporter in the crowd shouted to bush, "Four more years."
Responded the president: "No more wife."
++++
Hmmmm. Maybe Laura has taken up residence at a DC hotel. Can't say that I'd blame her.
Posted by: micki at July 4, 2006 11:46 AM
A soldier's life falls apart
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:46 AM
#22 Jeanne! I love those flame-broiled soy burgers! Yum.
Posted by: micki at July 4, 2006 11:48 AM
#5
What a joke. I hope this story makes it around. I want everybody to read it, analyze it, study it. I want it on every major station. I want the American people to know that our sworn enemy, who still taunts the Bush administration with tapes) doesn't warrent a CIA unit anymore. As Afghanistan becomes more and more dangerous we become less and less interested.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:49 AM
This is a true story.
In my town, there is a burger dining spot (I use that word loosely) that is named "Burger Me."
A couple of weeks ago, the owner introduced a "Krisy Kreme Me" version of the standard hamburger -- only using a sliced KK doughnut in place of the traditional bun.
Well, Burger Me's owner is quite a PR aficionado -- he got a write-up in the local paper, was featured on Northwest Cable News (in WA, ID, OR -- and into lower BC).
The "Krispy Kreme Me" burger is selling...well, like hotcakes.
Oy! (Not soy!)
Posted by: micki at July 4, 2006 11:53 AM
#28
O'Reilly,
Happy 2 is Happy 1's evil twin. He's a lot more fun.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:55 AM
#27 micki, maybe Laura has come to the conclusion with most Americans and professionals that George W. Bush is a certifiable psycho.
#30 Jeanne, great post!!!
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 11:56 AM
#31
Micki,
Quit torturing me. I hate donuts. Capt, please don't tell me you think that sounds good. Yuk... blah...pitoooeee.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:58 AM
#5 and #30
You are absolutely right about Afghanistan. It is out of control. I understand that the only safe area is Kabul. The rest may as well be the old Taliban regime.
Posted by: Joe at July 4, 2006 12:03 PM
Free product development idea:
American flag rolling papers!
I'd be burning at least one flag a day.
Posted by: ripple at July 4, 2006 12:19 PM
Mmmmmmm maybe!
HA!
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 12:19 PM
wait a minute capt. where'd you get those flag papers?
I have some green that needs to participate in a free speech event.
Posted by: ripple at July 4, 2006 12:21 PM
Novelty rolling papers
*****
We have a local smoke shop named "Bud Stones" that sells a similar paper.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 12:35 PM
oh snap! the identity of happy 2 is revealed @ #21.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 4, 2006 01:16 PM
#20 - yuk! how about test-tube meat frosting?
Posted by: spy on this! at July 4, 2006 01:19 PM
Spy on this @ 40: Shhh. You are very good at spying. You should join the CIA.
Posted by: George Tenet at July 4, 2006 01:20 PM
#41 Spy! How 'bout a test-tube meat smoothie?
I'm leaving for the family picnic now. Ciao!
Or should I say, Chow?
Posted by: micki at July 4, 2006 01:22 PM
Fellow Americans,
Thomas Wolfe was wrong; you can go home again. I just returned from my local Fourth of July Parade. There were flags and decorated firetrucks, bicycles and convertibles in which rode the all the local dignitaries. The parade ended at a local church, where there was singing and dancing and hot dogs and soda.
It harkened back to a more innocent time. But it also made me realize how thankful and proud I am of the Founders of this great nation, men of wealth and power and stature who risked everything so that men might live free.
It made me thankful for all my ancestors who risked everything to come to this great land in search of a better life, two grandparents as recently as a generation ago.
It made me thankful for all the fighting men and women who have died to allow us to lead the lives we do. They are surely sitting at the right hand of the Lord in Paradise.
It made me thankful for all the opportunities I have had in this world, someone who started life in a one-bedroom apartment with two parents out of work, but parents who loved and guided and educated me. And friends and mentors who extended kindnesses to me beyond the cause.
For all its inherent and myriad problems, this is a grand country, a majestic republic. We are, most certainly, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights - life, liberty and the pursuit (not guarantee of) happiness. But while those are rights, they must be delicately balanced. One person's liberty is another person's oppression. One person's happiness is another person's tyranny.
Happy Birthday, America!!
Posted by: factchecker at July 4, 2006 01:38 PM
patriotic flag bikinis!
Posted by: spy on this! at July 4, 2006 02:29 PM
Here's a quote for ya...
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters."
Frederick Douglass
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 02:29 PM
Pirates role for Keith Richards
Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom have let slip that Rolling Stone Keith Richards is definitely to appear in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film.
They revealed the rocker would play a cameo role as the father of Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp.
Some observers have drawn comparisons between Depp's performance as the pirate and the 62-year-old guitarist.
Bloom, who admitted he was a fan of the Rolling Stones, said: "I can't wait to see him."
"Well - if he doesn't kill himself falling out of coconut trees. Very rock and roll."
Richards underwent brain surgery in May after reportedly falling out of a tree in Fiji.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
If there is any tree climbing I assume they will use a stunt double.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 02:32 PM
"There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious." ~ Bono (1960 - ), Oprah Winfrey Show, 2002
Posted by: capt at July 4, 2006 02:34 PM
The Perfect Picnic
Dear Cornposters:
My wife and I had a perfect picnic this July 4th. It was a great picnic. Normally, my wife does not want to be with me when there is a group of people. As you will recall, I can be Mr. Inappropriate Times. However, I have been working hard to be Mr. Appropriate Times. On this day I tried really hard.
At the picnic there were several of my foxes. Teresa Whitewurst was there and she is a great conversationalist in talking about parenting skills. Arianna Huffington was there and she is great talking about her being a recovering Republican. Eleanor Clift was at the picnic and I recall her on several talk shows, the McGaughlin (spell) Group. She has to shout louder than the boys on the show in order have her say. Linda Schrock was also at the picnic and she talked at length about education. Karen Horst Cobb and Judith Moriarity would talk on Christianity. Maureen Dowd was also present and looking very lovely.
This was a great picnic. We had potato salad with some hardboiled eggs in between, broccoli, brautwurst (spell), and cold brewskies. We drank the brewskies from the bottle and in some cases from the can in honor of Molly who could not make the picnic. Katrina, Cindy, Helen, Karen Kwiatkowski, and Molly could not make the picnic because they were too tired from our perfect date.
Sister Joan was at a good sister's picnic in Erie, Pennsylvania. Devvy Kidd and Ann Wright were unable to attend the picnic. Naomi Klein was in England and probably writing an article for The Guardian. Nora Ephron was in Hollywood and probably working on a future film.
My wife gave me a compliment on the way home from the perfect picnic. She said that I gave a great effort to be Mr. Appropriate Times. Her compliment made me very happy.
At home she said that I spoiled the perfect day by reliving my college days. But, I just do not have the coordination.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6304447980554417691
I could not help myself because the timing and food were just right. A person had to try with the cold brewskies, broccoli, potato salad, and brautwurst (spell) in their system.
Sincerely,
Gerald
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 02:43 PM
#47
Oh Capt,
They should have him (stunt double) climb a coconut tree and fall out. Can you imagine the gasps from the audiences?
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 02:51 PM
Gerald,
You do know how to lead someone down the garden path.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 03:01 PM
#51 Jeanne, even without coordination it was a great day for everyone/
My wife and I are off to an early sleep
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 03:18 PM
House vote on a minimum wage increase likely.
"Faced with elections that could cost them control of Congress, John A. Boehner, the House majority leader, acknowledged Thursday that Republican leaders are likely to reverse course and hold a vote on a proposed minimum wage increase." The House hasn't allowed a vote on the issue since 1997.
--------------------
1997. Thank you ladies and gentlemen of our congress. How many raises have you given yourself as you are served daily by many many poor people in the Washington DC area alone? You can't ignore the plight of those who have less than you because they serve you in restaurants. They are at the airports. They are selling you groceries. And many of them are POOR.
Not only that but by not increasing the minimum wage you force people to work two to three jobs. I know how much George Bush likes that. I just don't think the exhausted, overstressed worker is as excited as Bush about their multiple jobs.
If this little stretch of Republican majority has shown America anything it is that the true welfare queens are in the corporate world not in the projects.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 03:28 PM
Nobody posted about it, so I will.
Happy 4th of July flight for the Shuttle
Posted by: Alan at July 4, 2006 03:33 PM
Was I hearing things? I was just listening to CBS news 880 in the NYC market. The special ops unit hunting for Osama in Afganastan, was disbanded in December of 05? Has this been reported before, or was this just something else that should be kept secret(for our own good!) Happy 4th.
Posted by: Linda at July 4, 2006 03:51 PM
Friends Fading Fast
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 04:06 PM
Britons tire of cruel, vulgar US: poll Sun Jul 2, 11:12 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.
The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.
The YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".
As Americans prepared to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.
A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.
With much of the worst criticism aimed at the US adminstration, the poll showed that 70 percent of Britons like Americans a lot or a little.
US President George W. Bush fared significantly worse, with just one percent rating him a "great leader" against 77 percent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.
More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.
US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24 percent saying they felt that the US military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.
A spokesman for the American embassy said that the poll's findings were contradicted by its own surveys.
"We question the judgment of anyone who asserts the world would be a better place with Saddam still terrorizing his own nation and threatening people well beyond Iraq's borders," the paper quoted the unnamed spokesman as saying.
"With respect to the poll's assertions about American society, we bear some of the blame for not successfully communicating America's extraordinary dynamism.
"But frankly, so do you (the British press)."
In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 04:18 PM
Gene Stone
07.03.2006
America: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
When I was a small child, my parents always dutifully took me to watch the local July 4th parade. Each year we stood patiently for an hour and watched a few dozen people march past: a few off-key bands, the members of the high school twirling squad who weren't at summer camp, the volunteer firemen, some well-meaning, awkwardly conceived floats.
Later we went to the shore to watch fireworks. We ate hotdogs and ice cream, and drank soda. Then we went to bed.
I asked my parents what July 4th meant. Their reply: It's the day we celebrate American independence. But what does that mean? Is it really the country's birthday? Why are we celebrating? They didn't elaborate.
I asked my next-door neighbors. They told me to ask my parents. I asked Oscar, the old man who lived down the street and who had served in both World Wars. He explained that America was a great, free, and democratic country, and that many people had fought and died to keep it that way. We should never take these freedoms for granted, he said; no other country offered what America gave to all its citizens.
When Oscar talked, even a nine year-old could feel the depth of his sincerity and the love he felt for the country.
As I grew older my love of the country also grew, but the expression of that love differed from Oscar's. College meant years protesting American involvement in Vietnam. Next followed protests for civil rights, and against Nixon, and then against Reagan, and for women's rights, and then against Bush, and then for gay rights; then protests against the next Bush, and then against the war in Iraq.
With all these protests came two realizations. One of these is that protests can be effective.
What if people hadn't protested the Vietnam War? What if no one had bothered to protest Watergate? Protests can change a country--for the better.
Go back further in time. What if blacks hadn't protested for their civil rights? What if women hadn't protested for their right to vote? What if workers hadn't protested for safety and fairness in the workplace?
Go back further. What if the American colonialists hadn't protested the tax on tea? What if no one had said anything about religious freedom?
Speaking of religion, go back still further; much of this country is Protestant. Although the word doesn't literally mean someone who protests, the term seems to have first been used to describe those who protested the attempt to forbid Lutheran teachings in the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, the word Protestant became synonymous with those who protested against the Roman Catholic Church.
If it weren't for protests, change might not happen. Change isn't always good, but for the most part, when people protest what's bad, they're trying to change it for the better. When they succeed, the country succeeds with them.
The other realization is that protest is a form of love for the country as profound as Oscar's. You don't protest unless you care deeply about something. The original Protestants cared about religion, the original American patriots cared about freedom, and everyone else who's protested has done so because their heart informed their actions. When protestors take to the streets to change the country, they do so because they care. Today is the country's birthday. What better way to show your love than to go out and protest something?
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 04:26 PM
ABC Breaking: TWO NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST LAUNCHES DETECTED BY NORAD, ACCORDING TO PENTAGON SOURCE.
Posted by: Hajji at July 4, 2006 04:44 PM
#3 & #4 Capt
That Osama was helping Bush win the election is no great shakes. Afterall, he was on the CIA payroll at one time. Perhaps still is.
The closure of the office isn't surprising either, is it? And all this released just before the Fourth.
#9 Capt.
I totally envy you.
Here's my offering of an excellent, balanced Fourth of July essay by E.J. Dionne. He provides all dissenters and Democrates an surefire retort against any accusation of being unpatriotic.
[But] the progressive and the reformer have a problem with what passes for unadulterated patriotism. By nature, the reformer is bound to insist that the country, however glorious, is not a perfect place, that it is capable of doing wrong as well as right.
I have to go back and get the link, it didn't work.
Posted by: Carey at July 4, 2006 04:45 PM
#60 Carey's link
A Dissident's Holiday
Posted by: Carey at July 4, 2006 04:48 PM
#55
Linda,
The story is posted on #5. Yes we live in strange times.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 04:51 PM
#56
I couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Thank goodness we have the blogs in this country so that the people in other countries know we like Bush as much as they do.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 04:53 PM
Scholar for 9/11 Truth Under Attack
Apparently, he has received a thinly-veiled attack threat.
Posted by: Carey at July 4, 2006 05:00 PM
#64
Cheney.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 05:53 PM
Carey,
See...I don't know if we grasp the real conspiracy but these guys and people like James inch us closer to the truth. Did planes hit the towers? Yes. Did they cause the towers to come down? Yes. No. Maybe. Is there more to the story than Cheney wants us to know? Yes.
These scientist types just WON'T..LET...IT...GO..because the answers don't add up. Good, curious scientists see a problem with the results of an experiment and they get excited. They need to find the answer.
It will never go away until there are reasonable answers. And I don't mean structual answers. I mean deeper than that. I mean answers as to why the investigation was hampered, stopped, quelled. Why wasn't it all in the open? Why are there so many questions remaining? Even I, who, I admit shamefully, get bored with conspiracies, wonder why a roadblock was put up on the investigation.
What is it that the American public is not supposed to find out? That's what you guys need to find. I don't think it's what planes hit what building. I think it's a lot simpler than that. The conspiracy investigations have been left alone because they kept people busy. But know, I think, they're getting closer to the answers that they weren't supposed to find. What are those answers?
Munch on that.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 06:10 PM
Cocaine May Be New Status Symbol in India
What may have begun with a couple of snorts has fast become a media-driven blizzard over whether, along with German cars and French handbags, another Western import is sweeping India - cocaine.
Call it the full-on yuppification of India's latte-swilling set.
"It's all linked with purchasing power," said Kiran Bedi, a police official who runs a drug treatment center. "Cocaine is expensive. You've got to have money for it, and now more people have money. It becomes a matter of keeping up with the Joneses."
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 06:24 PM
The Bushite Regime
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 06:36 PM
Here's another post on the pitiful minimum wage. The leadership in this country should be ashamed.
Minimum Wage Increase to Get a Vote
Yesterday, Bob Herbert noted that the federal minimum wage's purchasing power has deteriorated by 20% over the last decade. After adjusting for inflation, the value of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.
House Republicans are apparently feeling the heat. They're repeatedly blocked consideration of an increase, but are now prepared to give the issue a floor vote.
With Democrats plotting to make the minimum wage a major issue in this fall's congressional races, House Republican leaders are conceding that they may have to yield to pressure for an increase to the federal standard, which has been frozen for nearly a decade.
Faced with elections that could cost them control of Congress, John A. Boehner, the House majority leader, acknowledged Thursday that Republican leaders are likely to reverse course and hold a vote on a proposed minimum wage increase. Though Boehner said it was a "cynical ploy" for Democrats to make it a campaign centerpiece, polls indicate that voters clearly favor an increase in the wage, and Boehner acknowledged that GOP leaders are "probably going to have to find some way to deal with it."
Keep in mind, Senate Republicans already helped reject an increase, and House Republicans will likely do the same.
But at least voters will have a chance to consider how every member of Congress - especially those who donÕ´ mind seeing their own taxpayer-financed salary go up - votes on a minimum-wage increase before the November elections.
------------------
1955. What a joke. And Boehner thinks it's a Democratic ploy. HELLO!! Look around you, you FOOL. Maybe, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have their eyes open and are seeing a NEED.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 06:37 PM
The Cowardice of the Coservative
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 06:39 PM
I trust you've awaken from your nap renewed, Gerald?
Good post at #68
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 06:42 PM
For What?
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 06:44 PM
#71 Jeanne, I am all aired out!
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 06:46 PM
Returning to Homelessness
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 06:50 PM
Norht Korea just fired its fourth short range missile. Grandiose displaysof seething jack offs all over the globe. Fox news is having a heyday.
Plans have changed for tonight...just opened the John Jameson, the champagne and the fancy tequila. Plenty of beer to last the week. Hunker down friends, we in for all kinds of fireworks.
(I have the sick feeling that Bushco's poll numbers are about to shoot up with the fireworks.)
Later,
th
Posted by: th at July 4, 2006 06:52 PM
Nukes and Double Standards
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 07:01 PM
#75 th, the poll numbers will sky rocket. It's tough to keep evil down.
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 07:04 PM
#72
Here is some of the Gerald's post. I think it should be copy pasted so people don't miss the importance of it.
---------------
In any discussion of the war in Iraq and its consequences, it is obligatory for everyone to acknowledge the sacrifices required of the men and women who have been sent there. More than 2,500 of them have died and about 18,000 have been wounded. The rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among those who have returned has been estimated to be as high as 20 percent.
I was a soldier once in a war similar in many respects to this one. Like members of our current military, I was a volunteer. I remember that when I returned from Vietnam, I was struck by how little society knew or cared about what was happening there. I didn't expect anyone to understand or be grateful for what I had done because it was apparent to me that the nation had not benefited from my service. No one was any safer. Our freedoms were no more secure. I never felt that the lives of the Vietnamese had been materially improved by our efforts. Quite the contrary, our primary gifts to that small country had been death, destruction and a flourishing sex industry. I came away from the experience believing that the American lives I had seen lost were wasted sacrifices. We who had served had been betrayed. Why would I expect a grateful homecoming?
When I saw what the war in Vietnam was really like, I wrote to my wife in a "letter to be opened in the event of my death" that she was not to accept any medals and, above all, I was not to have a military funeral. I could not abide the prospect that my flag-draped coffin might serve as a justification for further bloodshed.
Now I see this pattern repeated. The difference from Vietnam is that we appear determined to reassure our troops of our continued support and gratitude.
------------------
Thank you Mr. Bush. I had hoped that such a war would not be repeated in my lifetime. You have made it possible with your warped mission.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 07:06 PM
Iraq's Dispensable Children
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 07:10 PM
#75
I think the Bush poll numbers are going to plummet. This is just further proof what freaking idiots he and his administration is. They get us tangled up in Iraq when they should have been dealing with N Korea. N Korea waited until it was obvious that the people of the US is sick of war and that our military was spent. They also waited until it was obvious that the US has lost it's super power status. I think that is obvious from the fiasco (in the eyes of the neocons anyway) at the WTO meeting.
Good Leadership Mr. Commander in Chief!!!
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 07:13 PM
It is my perceptual opinion that Madeleine Albright's statement is evil. Could she also be considered an evil person?
From the article Iraq's Dispensable Children -
On May 12, 1996, Clinton's Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes about the effects of U.S. sanctions against Iraq. "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
In a response that has now become notorious, Albright replied, "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today.'"
- Gabriela Mistral
To all Americans who, despite voluminous evidence to the contrary, continue to believe that they are supporting a war for democracy in Iraq, I would like to say, the way Iraq is headed it will have little use for democracy and freedom. We must find ways to stop the immoral, soulless, repugnant occupation if we want the children of Iraq to see any future at all.
This piece originally appeared on Truthout.org.
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 07:25 PM
America's Moral Decline
Posted by: Gerald at July 4, 2006 07:30 PM
#81
Gerald,
I don't know where she will find the courage to face her maker. The price was infinately too high. And the Bush adminstration has chosen to rachet up the price even higher. They have done it in my name. It makes me very angry.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 07:35 PM
Pandemoniac, Capt, David Corn anyone.
This concerns the minimum wage vote by congress. The minimum wage has not been raised since 1997. It is at 1955 standards now.
My question is, how many times has the congress given itself a raise in that time.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 09:02 PM
Over 30 of 64 posts on this thread from capt/gerald. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 10:25 PM
Raise the minimum wage to $10.00 an hour. Watch how many jobs disappear because of that. The market should decide, not elected idiots in D.C.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 10:36 PM
Last two posts by emmerson. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 10:38 PM
Was in the local parade with my 5yo daughter. She thinks parades are to be in, not to go to.
The politicians were out in full force. Like ants at a picnic.
Hope everyone has/had a happy and safe Independence Day.
Posted by: RicK at July 4, 2006 10:46 PM
capt @ 1:
"Go grill some bugers."
How do you keep them from falling through the grate?
Posted by: RicK at July 4, 2006 10:48 PM
That is a question for "grater" minds than ours.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 10:57 PM
David Corn:
"Go wave the flag--or burn it, while you still can."
I chose to wave it today. I am proud to be an American. Even knowing of this country's flaws. Maybe it's just knowing that without this country I could be living in Serbia, my wife in China.
As for the alternative, I'm waiting until it's a thought crime to burn the flag. I think then that I'll have the desire to burn it.
Posted by: RicK at July 4, 2006 11:01 PM
Here is to a successful hunger strike for Cindy Sheehan. God knows she's sucked at everything else.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 11:02 PM
happy 2 - after filing my report i realized that i had revealed sensitive information that would have been better kept to myself. please accept my apology for any distress this has caused.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 4, 2006 11:12 PM
#93
Less sensitive than the White House leak however.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:20 PM
The neighbors just had a small neighborhood fireworks display for the kids. Just one burned finger from the sparklers. Fun...fun...fun.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:23 PM
Emmerson,
I'm a little confused. Are you saying that the people making minimum wage are supposed to starve rather than have a living wage?
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:24 PM
Even the homeless do not starve. Show me where someone who makes $5.15 an hour has ever starved to death. The minimum wage is politically arbitrary, not market driven. You want socialism, move to Europe.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 11:34 PM
Life must be easy for you, emmerson. Of course, I sense you are the type, like LHB, you know him, who likes to argue just to argue. You say foolish things, emmerson. You back nothing up. You never link. You, sir, are a waste of my time.
The end.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 4, 2006 11:44 PM
You claim that if you don't raise the minimum wage, people will starve. That is simply not the case and just a bleeding heart liberal illogical argument on your part, not mine.
Posted by: emmerson at July 4, 2006 11:54 PM
emmerson, are you implying that you have utilized logic in the formulation of anything that you have yet said regarding anything at all? if so i would like to see an example of such if you please.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 12:06 AM
Neville Brothers with John Hiatt
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 12:33 AM
fireworks wheee!
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 12:55 AM
I haven't read many posts tonight, since I've been celebrating the 4th. To all you Cornbloggers, let's have a great year. I honestly think this is the time we'll take our country back. Everyone is sick of what's going on. We just have to start speaking the truth to everyone we talk to and elect liberal/progressive candidates to congress. I really love Feingold. My heart goes out to Cindy Sheehan and all those like her. Thank God for liberals or we would have never had the revolution to begin with. All the conservatives then just wanted to be a "patriot" and go along with King George. Thank God for Thomas Paine and a free press. A free media is essential to a democracy. Happy Fourth!
Posted by: JUDY at July 5, 2006 01:00 AM
I agree Judy. Happy forth.
Spy on this, I could do that all night. Kinda addicting.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 01:07 AM
# 64...Scholar for 9/11 Truth Under Attack
Apparently, he has received a thinly-veiled attack threat.
Carey, I only read your link till I found out what it was about. That story has been debunked for the longest, so it's nuttin' new. If someone was threatened about it, then that's wrong like a mo/fo. Discourse is key. If people would just ask, then they'd find the answers for all the wack theories that're out there. There's no need to threaten anybody about anything. You're link is about the '3rd plane', and I'll link you to the truth.
">it's a 12 page .pdf with more pictures and more links describing what you're really sesing
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 01:28 AM
">try this (third plane b/s)
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 01:31 AM
dammmmit, I'ma try one more time...
ack! I'm reading it now, so I fkn know it works... so the prob is me linking it... *burp*
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 01:33 AM
What is it that the American public is not supposed to find out? That's what you guys need to find. I don't think it's what planes hit what building. I think it's a lot simpler than that. The conspiracy investigations have been left alone because they kept people busy. But know, I think, they're getting closer to the answers that they weren't supposed to find. What are those answers?
whoaaa, not you too Jeanne!
It's really very simple. We've got an idiot president that didn't listen to the outgoing administration when he was told what was the foremost threat to America. He can't govern, can't do shyt, but he campaigns well. Ignored al Qaeda, and that's what has been COVERED UP since then. Wack people try to make into something way out there and worse, when it's really quite simple... look up "Occam's Razor".
Better still, read this web site...
common sense
I 'know' this guy from another blog and private emails. He hates bush as much as we do, so he's not an apologist. He's very smart and has put alotta time into this.
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 01:51 AM
93 spy on this! a false-flag attack?
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 5, 2006 01:55 AM
108 - bla bla bla. and furthermore, bla.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 02:12 AM
Jeanne,
The last count - before their last pay raise - was eight (I am pretty sure) Eight times that congress have given themselves a "cost of living" increase. I guess some people think the cost of living only goes up for congreszs critters.
There was a proposed bill that would connect congressional pay raises with increases in the minimum wage - it was defeated by the Republicans.
I guess using the fake comparision - I did not see any congress critters starving before so they did not need a pay raise, eh?
Did you know at minimum wage a person can work full time AND still qualify for food stamps and medi-caid (see Walmart employees).
No reason for a wage increase as long as the government can make up the difference while the handful of Walmart "owners" makes $20 billion?
Neocons and not the sharpest knife in the silverware drawer. Mindless reactionaries that just spew. Why do you post to them? You encourage more not less, why?
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 02:16 AM
Did you know at minimum wage a person can work full time AND still qualify for food stamps and medi-caid (see Walmart employees).
Capt, this guy I was working with was making twice minimum wage, and he was still getting food stamps. He had 3 daughters and a non-working wife from Guam (he's blond w/blue but was born there when his dad worked at the base... one of his kids had 6 toes and tendon probs in her right arm. We've paid for several of her operations. His wife is learning English pretty well now, but she still don't work. Tax day? He loves that. They return most of what he paid all year. He's the nicest guy you'd wanna meet, but still...
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 02:26 AM
and i'll link you to the truth - ha.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 02:26 AM
Bush Is Not Incompetent
It's NOT Incompetence
When Progressives shout "Incompetence!" it obscures the many conservative successes. The incompetence frame drastically misses the point, that the conservative vision is doing great harm to this country and the world. An understanding of this and an articulate progressive response is needed. Progressives know that government can and should have a positive role in our lives beyond simple, physical security. It had a positive impact during the progressive era, busting trusts, and establishing basic labor standards. It had a positive impact during the new deal, softening the blow of the depression by creating jobs and stimulating the economy. It had a positive role in advancing the civil rights movement, extending rights to previously disenfranchised groups. And the United States can have a positive role in world affairs without the use of its military and expressions of raw power. Progressives acknowledge that we are all in this together, with "we" meaning all people, across all spectrums of race, class, religion, sex, sexual preference and age. "We" also means across party lines, state lines and international borders.
The mantra of incompetence has been an unfortunate one. The incompetence frame assumes that there was a sound plan, and that the trouble has been in the execution. It turns public debate into a referendum on Bush's management capabilities, and deflects a critique of the impact of his guiding philosophy. It also leaves open the possibility that voters will opt for another radically conservative president in 2008, so long as he or she can manage better. Bush will not be running again, so thinking, talking and joking about him being incompetent offers no lessons to draw from his presidency.
Incompetence obscures the real issue. Bush's conservative philosophy is what has damaged this country and it is his philosophy of conservatism that must be rejected, whoever endorses it.
Conservatism itself is the villain that is harming our people, destroying our environment, and weakening our nation. Conservatives are undermining American values through legislation almost every day. This message applies to every conservative bill proposed to Congress. The issue that arises every day is which philosophy of governing should shape our country. It is the issue of our times. Unless conservative philosophy itself is discredited, Conservatives will continue their domination of public discourse, and with it, will continue their domination of politics.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Thinking anything this misadministration has done is incompetent is incompetent thinking.
To know why would Busheney be involved with an attack on our soil just ask "Qui Bono"?
It is beyond simple logic that Bush and his cronies have told the truth about ANYTHING especially 911, and obviously the "incompetent" call does not hold up either, so the truth is yours to find for yourself.
There are some asking questions and others claiming they KNOW the truth? We report you decide. (fair and balanced!)
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 02:37 AM
The war party wanted war. They did not steal an election and hunker down to wait for a reason. They created the reason for war. That is what the war party does. Always has, always will.
Watch - (next post)
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 02:40 AM
BushÕs disasters Ñ Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit Ñ are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault.
yeah, he planned it that way, I gotcha
Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 02:41 AM
Taking Out Lieberman
Is the Democratic Party waking up?
The War Party has usually managed to maintain control of American foreign policy through its virtually ironclad grip on the political process. This has been achieved by its mastery of the two-party system that has enshrined the Democrats and the Republicans as the only two real options for American voters. Even when the American people opposed interventionism Ð as in the run-up to World War II, for one example Ð the pro-war elites manipulated the political process and made sure that the voters were presented with two warmongering candidates instead of just one. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, a carefully stage-managed delegate-selection process gypped Eugene McCarthy out of the Democratic presidential nomination. At the level of presidential politics, the system failed only once, in the case of George McGovern, and has worked since then with ruthless efficiency in making sure the people of the United States never get to vote on the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
This is how we get into wars, despite popular antiwar sentiment, and it is how we stay in them Ð regardless of the huge percentage of the American public who say our present occupation of Iraq is pointless. Yet there are signs the War Party's stranglehold over the leadership of at least one major party is beginning to fray. This unraveling is a response to the grassroots antiwar sentiment that is energizing a burgeoning number of Democratic Party activists Ð both old and new Ð forcing the moribund leadership to either come out against the occupation of Iraq or else join Sen. Joe Lieberman, the president's most stalwart supporter when it comes to the war. Indeed, Lieberman is more royalist than the king, attacking any idea of a drawdown in troops as impermissible, and even demanding an end to all discussion of withdrawal.
This last is what the Lieberman wing of Democrats has always been about: limiting debate, shutting down discussion, and policing the party's candidates and organizational structure at the precinct level to ensure that no challenge to interventionism and militarism arises from the grassroots. They are the last of the Scoop Jackson Democrats, forerunners of today's neoconservatives, who were more warlike than many Republicans in the Cold War era, and always insisted that politics must stop at the water's edge, i.e., foreign policy must never be debated, and the grand bipartisan consensus in favor of global intervention must be allowed to continue unchallenged, forever.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
A simpletons view (mine):
"Chase after truth like hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat-tails." ~ Clarence Darrow (1857 - 1938)
AND (in full measure)
"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it." ~ Andre Gide (1869 - 1951)
Only a fool claims to know the truth of a thing, the rest of us are still looking. Why would that bug anybody? (rhetorical)
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 02:55 AM
It just proves neocon are not just republicans.
That is a sad commentary.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 02:57 AM
I Am Angry
I am angry because my government has been taken over by liars, thieves, thugs, deviants, and micromanagers. The propaganda it produces rivals that of the most fascist dictatorship.
I am angry that my government perceives my intelligence to be that of a jar of pickles incapable of making the smallest decision.
I am angry that my government takes it upon itself to shove its clucking nose into my pantry, medicine chest, bedroom, family room, doctor's office, workplace, and everywhere else it thinks I need guidance to keep me safe from myself.
I am angry that the will of the American people is ignored on every issue imaginable. If voting really mattered, it would have been outlawed long ago.
I am angry that I am called a conspiracy theorist because I dare to think on my own and question authority and its lies.
I am angry that the more I read about 9-11 the more it looks like an inside job that was allowed to happen, enabling the Patriot Act to be conveniently enacted into law with the ensuing "war on terrah" following closely on its heels.
I am angry that the evil puppets in power think laws are created for the peon masses and it is their right to ignore the ones that get in the way of their agenda.
I am angry that the media has sold its soul to the evil forces running the world.
I am angry that my "leaders" have taken to calling my country the "homeland." It reeks of socialism.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
I am angry too for most of the same reasons.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 03:03 AM
It's Happening Here
We will not recognize it as it rises. It will wear no black shirts here. It will probably have no marching songs. It will rise out of a congealing of a group of elements that exist here and that are the essential components of Fascism....
It will be at first decorous, humane, glowing with homely American sentiment. But a dictatorship cannot remain benevolent. To continue, it must become ruthless. When this stage is reached we shall see that appeal by radio, movies, and government-controlled newspapers to all the worst instincts and emotions of our people. The rough, the violent, the lawless men will come to the surface and into power. This is the terrifying prospect as we move along our present course.
John T. Flynn, American Mercury,
February 1941
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
The accidental and incompetent dictatorship?
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 03:09 AM
House GOP leaders say vote on minimum wage now likely
Cite the pressure of Nov. elections
Since the wage hit $5.15 an hour in 1997, members of Congress have seen their pay raised by $31,600, to $165,200 a year. An automatic cost-of-living adjustment will add $3,300 more to their paychecks next year, but Senate Democrats say they won't allow it or any pay increases until the minimum wage goes up.
``We've decided that the only way to catch the attention of the Republican majority in this Congress is to hit them where they live," said the Senate minority whip, Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. ``We hope that we will not only send a message to the Republican leadership in Congress about these hard-working families, but that the voters will send a message on November 7th that it's time for change."
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
At $5.15 an hour it would take over three years working full-time to make the amount congress has given themselves as a "cost of living" increase since 1997.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 03:40 AM
GOP-run Senate kills minimum wage increase
The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there have proposed and Republicans have blocked a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage. The debate fell along predictable lines.
"Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. He said a worker paid $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year, "almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three."
Kennedy also said lawmakers' annual pay has risen by roughly $30,000 since the last increase in the minimum wage.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
"The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 "
So nine is the number of times and $31,600 is the amount. UGH!
We can blame the GOPhers for no minimum wage increase but BOTH parties are to blame for giving themselves a raise. A curse on both parties obscene arrogance.
Kennedy says "roughly $30,000" when I am sure he knows the number is $1,600 short. I am positive the minimum wager earners would love to get just the $1,600 a year increase. (about $0.76 an hour raise). If Kennedy was rounding he knows to round up not down, shame on him for minimizing the number. It shows that two grand is not a large enough number to count for these politicians. Jerks.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 03:52 AM
Hillary May Be Presidential Material, After All
On Iraq and Israel, she's a perfect neocon
There really is no way of getting around it. Sen. Hillary Clinton may well be future presidential material. From Manhattan to Hollywood, Hillary Clinton is pocketing enormous amounts of cash for her reelection campaign. Yet, Hillary is facing what seems to be fierce opposition from within her own party, as well as from third parties here in New York. The main reason candidates have signed up to challenge Hillary is her position, er, non-position on the disgraceful "war on terror."
Hillary, in a letter to constituents last November, expressed her belief that the war in Iraq shouldn't be "open-ended" but was clear that she would never "pull out of Iraq immediately." She wrote that she wouldn't accept any timetable for withdrawal and won't even embrace a "redeployment" of U.S. troops along the lines of Rep. John Murtha.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Case in point: DLC neocon.
"pocketing enormous amounts of cash"
Like cash is a measure of quality in a candidate? Clearly that would be quantity?
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 04:49 AM
#119
Capt,
You want to know what the biggest joke is? If you read books on Cuba you find that the only way people make it is by living together. Adult children can't leave home. The adult children that do leave, live with boyfriends and girlfriends with the parents blessing. That's the only way they can make it.
We are becoming Cuba the Bush enemy. Except they have much better health care and they know what to do in disasters.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 10:30 AM
#122
Since the Republicans are in the majority they voted in the pay raises also. I wonder what the numbers were for the Democrats that voted no on the pay raises. Of course the Republicans usually attach votes like that to bills that HAVE to pass.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 10:35 AM
So, Ken Lay died.
Not surprising.
Posted by: micki at July 5, 2006 10:44 AM
Several good posts from Cornposters, must go out and about!
#83 Jeanne, Madeleine Albright must look upon her life and determine where she wants to be for all eternity. People who try to do good and avoid evil are destined for heaven. Her statement and actions as Sec. of State were not avoiding evil.
Posted by: Gerald at July 5, 2006 10:46 AM
Several good posts from Cornposters, must go out and about!
#83 Jeanne, Madeleine Albright must look upon her life and determine where she wants to be for all eternity. People who try to do good and avoid evil are destined for heaven. Her statement and actions as Sec. of State were not avoiding evil.
Posted by: Gerald at July 5, 2006 10:47 AM
Conventional wisdom, in effect, says Yes, criminal gangs have ruled in other nations from time to time, perhaps always, but it has never happened here and cannot happen here. Evidence to the contrary is bogus, I do not have to even look at it. For one thing, I vote. We are the worldÕs greatest duh-mocracy. In fact, I voted for Bush-Cheney (or that other skull-and-bones candidate from Yale, I forget). I am fully invested with the regime and IÕm not a criminal or traitor, so Bush-Cheney must not be either. After all, we the people are the government. Criminals and traitors do not look like us either, they look like Arabs, Germans, Japanese, Chinese.
Morgan Reynolds: conspiracy and closed minds on 9/11
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 10:49 AM
Madeleine Albright's Albright Group works as lobbyists for bush 41's Carlyle Group.
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 10:52 AM
#126
He died?
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 10:52 AM
Here's some background reading on Congressional pay raises
Posted by: caroline at July 5, 2006 10:57 AM
Yup. Heart attack. Early this morning.
Posted by: micki at July 5, 2006 10:58 AM
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Enron Corp. founder and chief executive Ken Lay, who was convicted in May for his role in the in the Houston-based company's downfall, died of a heart attack on Wednesday at his vacation home in Colorado.
"Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen," Lay family spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said in a statement.
Lay, 64, was awaiting sentencing later this year and was expected to face a lengthy prison term for his convictions in the Enron collapse.
Lay and former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of fraud and conspiracy for hiding the financial ruin at Enron, which collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001.
Posted by: micki at July 5, 2006 11:04 AM
"If Kennedy was rounding he knows to round up not down, shame on him for minimizing the number."
Perhaps, Kennedy "rounded" to emphasize, not to de-emphasize. Teddy Kennedy may not satisfy everyone on all issues, but he has been one of the staunchest supporters of raising the minimum wage.
Posted by: micki at July 5, 2006 11:08 AM
Lay and ...... were convicted of fraud and conspiracy ......
i wonder if he frauded and conspired enough to fake his own death and quietly make his get-away?
Posted by: spy on this! at July 5, 2006 11:08 AM
Here's PDF file with graphs. As I look at the info I see that when I worked at Micky D's in 1972 I was in essence making more money than the worker trying to raise a family now.
Nice.
Buying Power of Minimum Wage at a 51 Year Low
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 11:21 AM
Spy! You are a very creative gumshoe. Stupid crooks and other scofflaws have faked their deaths to avoid something -- whether it's paying parking tickets, child support, or alimony. So, I suppose it's possible Lay could have faked his death to avoid spending the remainder of his life in prison.
But...why didn't he just wait for a presidential pardon?
Posted by: micki at July 5, 2006 11:32 AM
The Stolen Election of 2004
The 2004 presidential contest between Democratic challenger Senator JohnKerry and the Republican incumbent, President Bush Jr., amounted toanother stolen election. This has been well documented by suchinvestigators as Rep. John Conyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Bob Fitrakis,Harvey Wasserman, Bev Harris, and others. Here is an overview of whatthey have reported, along with observations of my own.
Some 105 million citizens voted in 2000, but in 2004 the turnout climbedto at least 122 million. Pre-election surveys indicated that among therecord 16.8 million new voters Kerry was a heavy favorite, a fact thatwent largely unreported by the press. In addition, there were about twomillion progressives who had voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 who switchedto Kerry in 2004.
Yet the official 2004 tallies showed Bush with 62 million votes, about11.6 million more than he got in 2000. Meanwhile Kerry showed only eightmillion more votes than Gore received in 2000. To have achieved hisremarkable 2004 tally, Bush would needed to have kept all his 50.4million from 2000, plus a majority of the new voters, plus a large shareof the very liberal Nader defectors.
Nothing in the campaign and in the opinion polls suggest such a masscrossover. The numbers simply do not add up.
---------------
The article gives facts on this information. More rational on how the election was stolen in 2004.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 11:32 AM
#138
Well, when he's lying in state at in Washington DC someone can check it out.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 11:34 AM
Is your bank spying on you?
NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. (Bankrate.com) -- A government program designed to track down terrorists and money launderers is frightening bank customers, frustrating financial institutions and inundating federal agencies with secret reports of dubious value.
It's called the Suspicious Activity Report, or SAR, and critics say it victimizes honest citizens who are conducting legitimate financial activities through legitimate banking channels, while generating a flood of useless paperwork and burdening financial institutions with billions of dollars in costs.
Experts predict nearly 1 million will be filed in 2006, a bit more than half by depository institutions, the rest by money-services businesses, casinos, card clubs and the securities and futures industries. Insurance companies had to begin filing in spring 2006, and mutual fund companies will have to establish anti-money-laundering programs and file SARs in fall 2006.
In total, 919,230 SARs were filed in 2005. You cannot find out if one has been filed on you; anyone revealing that information is breaking the law.
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
Had enough?
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 11:41 AM
WMD found in Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq. The Central Command of the U.S. forces in Iraq disclosed that they finally had found a weapon of mass destruction that was hidden for years by Saddam Hussein's former Iraq administration.
A single missile, pictured below, was found in vacant auto repair garage in Baghdad last week by U.S. Special forces patrolling an industrial neighborhood in search of insurgents. Army ordinance experts later determined that the missile contained around a teaspoon of nerve gas.
Speaking for the President George Bush, Whitehouse spokesman Tony Snow stated that "We where confident that we would eventually find WMD in Iraq. And while it may have taken longer that we had expected, the patience and hard work of our armed forces is starting to pay off".
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
A pretty funny satire site!
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 11:50 AM
#139
After reading the full article that I posted above I can say with certainty that Bush is not my president.
I can also say that all those Americans who were stupid enough to vote him in....didn't. We Americans voted Bush out of office (an office he never really held).
So this usurper in chief is now spying on us.
Posted by: Jeanne at July 5, 2006 11:55 AM
Jeanne,
100% right!
UGH!
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 12:00 PM
"Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, has died of a heart attack in Colorado. He was 64.
"A secretary at his church and another secretary for his lead criminal lawyer, Michael Ramsey, on Monday both confirmed the death. Lay frequently vacationed in Colorado.
He has motive and he's been convicted of fraud before. The best predictor of behavior is past behavior.
$182 Million can buy whatever he needs to dissapear. No family member has spoken, If his body is cremeated without an autopsy. We'll know something is up.
If it works, Skilling and Fastow will DIE of heart attacks too.
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 5, 2006 12:14 PM
No chance of Kenny Boy spilling the beans now.
Hope everyone had a happy 4th (4th birthday of our country as a police state)
Last night I held my trembling dog in my arms, waiting for the shelling outside to cease. It was very apparant that this is the evidence that the war on terror is nothing more than a phony ruse to take our money. If they can't stop firecrackers do they really think they could stop real terrorists?
Since 911 we have killed over 4 million americans with tobacco, car accidents and poor health care. Plus the blood of 100,000 Iraqis.
And now our acts of terror overseas have killed more Americans than 911. One can look at that as equalling the score, or doubling the score, depending on which side of the smoke and mirrors you stand on.
Posted by: geof01 at July 5, 2006 12:19 PM
You know, all I ever read on this blog are whiny complainers. Honestly, you sound and read like a bunch of pouty second-graders. Don't you folks ever have anything positive to offer other than simplistic slogans and stale bromides?
Are you all such losers in life that this country has become hopeless for you? I weep for you and your despair. There is a great and grand and glorious world out there for those willing to suffer its slings and arrows. It is a world filled with excitement, with opportunity, with, yes, the chance of failure, but also the chance of great success. But you must cast off the truly debilitating shackles of your negativity. You have to get out from behind those computers screens and do something.
Remember, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right.
Posted by: factchecker at July 5, 2006 12:23 PM
Dreams and Nightmares
Dreams and Nightmares is a memorial to Iraqis who have lost their lives in the war and occupation. With photographs, names and personal stories, it conveys the unseen side of the war in Iraq the tragedy being experienced by everyday Iraqis. Careful estimates put Iraqi deaths at more than 100,000 most of them civilians.
Dreams and Nightmares VR Explore the exhibit in 360? virtual reality (VR).(This application requires Quicktime.)
More HERE
*****end of clip*****
An interesting multimedia presentation.
capt
Posted by: capt at July 5, 2006 12:27 PM
In addition to municipal police and fireman in attendance at this year's Boston Pops and Fireworks on the Esplanade, the National Guard was on duty.
In addition to firing the canons during the 1812 Overture, the guard pulled duty not unlike city police; standing posts, observing the populace, guarding crowd control gates, directing people to entry and exit points. I did not observe any security checks.
I was not aware the National Guard's mission was to participate in policing large public events. In fact, I thought the army was specifically not authorized to be dispatched among the population for these purposes. They all seem like nice people. My concern is not with how they executed their mission. My concern is that they are used AT ALL for this type of mission. Does anyone have facts on this issue?
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 5, 2006 12:32 PM
You know, all I ever read on this blog are whiny complainers. Honestly, you sound and read like a bunch of pouty second-graders. Don't you folks ever have anything positive to offer other than simplistic slogans and stale bromides?
Then why bother? Don't let the door hit you in the ass...
Posted by: O'Reilly at July 5, 2006 12:34 PM
Power of the Pen
The president uses signing statements to decree which laws apply to him.
Why should anyone give Bush the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is obeying all of the laws that he has not yet publicly proclaimed a right to violate? New York University law professor David Golove told the Boston Globe, "Where you have a president who is willing to declare vast quantities of the legislation that is passed during his term unconstitutional, it implies that he also thinks a very significant amount of the other laws that were already on the books before he became president are also unconstitutional."
Americans may have to wait many years to learn what the rule of law meant in 2006. The truth may be suppressed until Bush's aides begin publishing their memoirs or until the Supreme Court has a change of mood and decides that the executive branch is not entitled to boundless secrecy. In the meantime, don't count on the legislative branch to right the balance: Bush has encountered almost no effective resistance in his own party to his power grabs. One Republican senator recently told author Elizabeth Drew: "We've got to hang with the president be