it's all just part of the war on arabs - whoever is in charge of bushco provokes arabs into a fury and even goes so far as to commit atrocities incl 9/11 and framing the arabs for it for the sole purpose of exacting revenge on strategically placed arab locations just as whoever is in charge of israel does the same on their arab neighbors. everybody says oh israeli zionists are in charge of the u.s.!
more likely that israel is just a strategically located outpost for whoever is in charge of bushco and israel in the war on arabs.
----
Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors wanting to examine its underground nuclear site in an apparent violation - Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader said Tehran will pursue nuclear technology despite...

moron iranians are playing right along with the war on arabs script.
----
At Press Conference, Bush Stays the Course

of course! he plays the leading role. the cowboy hero oil man! james dean would be proud.
damned voodoo redskins! stealing our cattle!

Staying the course of course!
- bushco '08

so what side are we on?
the sure winner for whom we must look the other way in order to support? go team!
or the evil other guys who are maniacally attacking us over here?

David: "....Bush...is still claiming that Saddam was something of a WMD threat....."

Many places we can nitpick here and there but since WMD was central to the Iraq War v.2003, I'll limit my time investment to just this one issue!

More than just "claiming", Bush believed, to this day, as do quite a number of us (at least the 30%+ in his `approval' column) that Saddam posed a WMD threat!

Imagine: A known (brutal) killer on parole moves into your neighborhood! He continue to flaunt `malice' and plays games w/his parole officers! You suspect he has more bodies and powerful weapon and weapons shop in his basement and he has declared you are his enemy! What's your `strategy' if you are the judge and jury?

David, extend yourself, give us your strategy for the situation we face in Iraq?

David Corn comes back rested from his vacation to give another terrific blog.

My wife heard the Liar on NPR and she said that he just does not sound well. Something must be wrong. Yes, something is wrong. His stupidity is catching up with him. He has tried to outrun it but he can't outrun his stupidity forever.

#173 Erling, from the previous blog! If the Nazi trolls are slow in responding, it may be due to the slow mail service. The playbooks may not have arrived.

I did not listen to the Liar's press conference. I have a problem with his speech and language development skills or his lack of skills.

#1

What does Iran have to do with a war on Arabs?

He may be the liar-in-chief, but he's also the decider-in-chief. Of course, as David points out, the decider or liar or whatever is the appropriate moniker for the guy (at this moment) is totally screwed up, not just in his (non)policies but in his speech patterns. Tactics, strategies, goals, objectives, whatever. It makes no difference to the King of the White House. I just wish he'd stop wearing that leather fighter pilot's jacket at those cheap photo ops he performs every now and then at some military post. He certainly didn't earn the right to wear one, being an AWOL jet jockey himself.

george washington and assoc handed out smallpox laden blankets to the indians in a gesture of goodwill in retaliation for them having attacked us over here. WMD
though of course george bush and assoc wouldn't dream of doing such a thing. DU is WMD
monkey see monkey do

If you go to the smirking chimp, you will see the half face of a chimp and the half face of Bush. The similarities are strikingly vivid.

The Smirking Chimp is one of the best websites for information.

Mr. David Corn,

Great post! Bush is unable to admit his mistakes. That would take some good character. He will "Stay the course" to prove he was right or "Stay the course" until it is someone else's problem. No matter how many of our troops are killed or injured, no matter how many women and children, no matter what - "Stay the course" because to do anything else is an admission of his failure and THAT is not going to happen.

Two hundred or two million - the numbers do not matter to Bush. "Stay the course" because the ship of state sinking fast is just the "cut and runners" take on his spectacular success!

What a guy, eh?

Thanks for all of your work

Kirk

And Joe S. has to devote an entire show to the question-"Is Bush an Idiot?" I have friends
who are idiots and this clown is giving them
a bad name! jeff

"Imagine: A known (brutal) killer on parole moves into your neighborhood! He continue to flaunt `malice' and plays games w/his parole officers! You suspect he has more bodies and powerful weapon and weapons shop in his basement and he has declared you are his enemy! What's your `strategy' if you are the judge and jury?"

You find out if you can get the police to search his house to see if he has weapons(re: inspections). Let's say that there are 10 people living in the house with him, do you shoot a missile into the house before determining whether he actually is a threat to the community? Is it our policy to start a war whenever we feel threatened? With that attitude and our technology, the human race is doomed to extintion for sure.

#8 Why let facts get in the way of a good rant?

The myth about British or Americans (depending on which version of the myth one hears) in colonial America distributing smallpox-infected blankets among the American Indians in order to massacre them. This story first appeared at the beginning of the political correctness movement, as an example of White males supposedly oppressing other ethnic groups. However, there are too many inconsistencies in this story for it to be credible. Viruses were not discovered until 1898. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was believed that diseases were spread by "bad air", or maybe by acts of God against sinners. In view of this, it is unclear why the colonists would think that a blanket would be an efficient way to spread the disease. Also, if the colonists were in possession of smallpox-covered blankets, why wouldn't the colonists get wiped out from smallpox as well? This story, which becomes more elaborate as time goes on, has the aura of a disinformation campaign.

Indeed, the original Trent diary on which this rumor is based says absolutely nothing about giving Indians smallpox. On the contrary, Trent wrote:

... [the Indians] returned and said they would hold fast of the Chain of friendship. Out of our regard to them we gave them two Blankets and an Handkerchief out of the Small Pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect.
Interpreting this as evidence of germ warfare seems to be a strained interpretation at best. On the contrary, given the widespread existence of smallpox hospitals in that time, it is far more reasonable to interpret it as a gesture of friendship, misguided to be sure in retrospect with what we know today.

Israeli vampires thirst for more blood

The bloody nose Israel received in south Lebanon has not shaken its leaders' confidence in their restless militarism. If anything, their humiliation has given them cause to pursue their adventures more vigorously in an attempt to reassert the myth of Israeli invincibility, to distract domestic attention from Israel's defeat at the hands of Hezbollah, and to prove the Israeli army's continuing usefulness to its generous American benefactor.

FOUND: bro.tex!

Strategy? Remember back last year when bush (all choked up with emotion and compassion) told young midshipman (and the country) about his strategy for winning in Iraq? Yeah, that strategy -- the 35-page document, "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," claimed that the administration will win the war on three fronts -- (1) training Iraqi security forces; (2) establishing a democracy; and (3) rebuilding and economic development in areas of Iraq cleared of insurgents.

1, 2, and 3 have clearly not been accomplished. I think bush's words today indicate he is trying to pass the buck to the military. "Not my table," says the C-i-C when it's obvious he is a failure. Next, he'll probably be looking for a new crop of generals cuz the current crop just weren't "flexible" enough.

Gotta blame someone.

What Does Israel Want? More blood, yes

If the two Israeli soldiers could be rescued, then so could Olmert's government – but it is more than just internal Israeli politics that is driving the IDF. As I pointed out last week, we were warned by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who admitted "The war isn't over yet." Indeed, if the Israelis have their way, it has barely begun: they are now shifting their focus to a full-fledged effort to embroil Damascus in the conflict, and I wouldn't rule out air strikes on Syrian territory before all this is over.

Lebanon is just the pawn in the game to carry out more wars!

David, thanks for keeping on top of the thread length, I'm sure the dial ups were rejoicing the new threads, gets a wee bit long with the re-load page and wait scenario.

Bro.tex!

Where the heck have you been?

Glad to hear something from you.

capt

Judge drops Padilla terror charge

Prosecutors told to choose between two remaining counts

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A federal judge in Miami on Monday dismissed the lead terror count against Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen once identified as a "dirty bomb" suspect and detained as an "enemy combatant."

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said in a written opinion that the charge -- conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and main persons in a foreign country" -- duplicated other counts in an federal grand jury indictment handed down last year.

"An indictment is multiplicitous when it charges a single offense multiple times, in separate counts," Cooke wrote. As charged, she added, the indictment exposes Padilla and his codefendants to multiple punishments for a single crime.

The indictment, Cooke noted, "alleges one and only one conspiracy" and that the same facts are "realleged in each of the consecutive counts."

Cooke also ruled that the second count against Padilla and his co-defendants was "duplicitous" -- charging them with the same offense under two sections of federal law. She ordered the government to choose one of the two counts, which provide for different penalties, by Friday.

The two remaining counts are conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists.

Padilla has pleaded not guilty to the indictment, and a trial is scheduled early next year.

More HERE

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

Not an insignificant development.

capt

Diplomats: Iran Refuses U.N. Inspectors

By GEORGE JAHN

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors wanting to examine its underground nuclear site in an apparent violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, diplomats and U.N. officials said Monday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the information, told The Associated Press that Iran's unprecedented refusal to allow access to the facility at Natanz could seriously hamper international efforts to ensure that Tehran is not trying to make nuclear weapons.

The revelation came on the eve of Iran's self-imposed Aug. 22 deadline to respond to a Western incentives package for it to roll back its disputed nuclear program. The United Nations has given Tehran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment.

This does not bode well if they are trying to convince the world community of their intent of the non-lethal, practical use of nuclear power.

Raises those flags and gives the neo-conartists a reason to blast em into oblivion.

iranians are not arabs!
an iranian gentleman is very adamant that i not equate him with an iraqi. i will be more careful next time when a honduran gentleman insists to me that he is not a venezuelan as we are getting them over there in venezuela before they get us over here. damn all the terrorists!

Actually, the association of clothing, bedding and especially hankerchiefs with the spread of infectious disease was widely known prior to the isolation of any particular virus.

Innoculation with live pox was becoming de rigeur even in the middle of reign of Catherine the great. Later, a much less dangerous method of using "cow pox" came about when it was noted that "milk-maids" seemed resistant to contracting smallpox and had a much lower mortality rate when they did contract it.

_______________

So far as the strategy of using such infected blankets and things...

"...Fact is, on at least one occasion a high-ranking European considered infecting the Indians with smallpox as a tactic of war. I'm talking about Lord Jeffrey Amherst, commander of British forces in North America during the French and Indian War (1756-'63). Amherst and a subordinate discussed, apparently seriously, sending infected blankets to hostile tribes. What's more, we've got the documents to prove it, thanks to the enterprising research of Peter d'Errico, legal studies professor at the University of Massachusetts at (fittingly) Amherst. D'Errico slogged through hundreds of reels of microfilmed correspondence looking for the smoking gun, and he found it.

The exchange took place during Pontiac's Rebellion, which broke out after the war, in 1763. Forces led by Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawa who had been allied with the French, laid siege to the English at Fort Pitt.

According to historian Francis Parkman, Amherst first raised the possibility of giving the Indians infected blankets in a letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet, who would lead reinforcements to Fort Pitt. No copy of this letter has come to light, but we do know that Bouquet discussed the matter in a postscript to a letter to Amherst on July 13, 1763:

P.S. I will try to inocculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.

On July 16 Amherst replied, also in a postscript:

P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.

On July 26 Bouquet wrote back:

I received yesterday your Excellency's letters of 16th with their Inclosures. The signal for Indian Messengers, and all your directions will be observed.

We don't know if Bouquet actually put the plan into effect, or if so with what result. We do know that a supply of smallpox-infected blankets was available, since the disease had broken out at Fort Pitt some weeks previously. We also know that the following spring smallpox was reported to be raging among the Indians in the vicinity...

STRAIGHT DOPE

The Bush who cried wolf too often?

Oh, one more thing about bush's Iraq mess he helped create.

Don't the Iraqi Sunnis and Shia want a timetable for U.S. troops to pull out? We hear an anti-occupation parliament is developing in Iraq -- so does that mean the busheviks will try their original plan and insert yet another dictatorship in the Middle East in Iraq? One that will take its cues from Washington -- just like the other M.E. dictatorships which are supported by the U.S. government.

MESS-o-crapola!
   

Iran: The Next War

This article is a six page or part article. There will definitely be war with Iran. The more information we have about the war with Iran, the more we can debate another disaster before our eyes.

Let us take a few moments to remember Jesus' words, "Love one another, as I have loved you."

Let us grow up and be more mature and say, "no more wars."

No mature and sane person chooses war over peace!

Vengeance will not get us into heaven but humility will! "Unless you are like little children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Jesus of Nazareth

WHITEY HAS THE STICK!
the lesson that civilization has learned in 2006 years.

Alan from previous thread. #92
My lawyer friend is FASTTTTT.

For Counter-Worriers (like me) on Global Warming:

Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for 100 years: study
Aug 21 3:18 PM US/Eastern

Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, according to a Danish study, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming.
Danish researchers from Aarhus University studied glaciers on Disko island, in western Greenland in the Atlantic, from the end of the 19th century until the present day.

"This study, which covers 247 of 350 glaciers on Disko, is the most comprehensive ever conducted on the movements of Greenland's glaciers," glaciologist Jacob Clement Yde, who carried out the study with Niels Tvis Knudsen, told AFP.

Using maps from the 19th century and current satellite observations, the scientists were able to conclude that "70 percent of the glaciers have been shrinking regularly since the end of the 1880s at a rate of around eight meters per year," Yde said.

"We studied 95 percent of the area covered by glaciers in Disko and everything indicates that our results are also valid for the glaciers along the coasts of the rest of Greenland," he said.

The biggest reduction was observed between 1964 and 1985.

"A three-to-four degree increase of the temperature on Greenland from 1920 to 1930, and the increase recorded since 1995 has sped up the ice melt," he said.

The effect of the rising temperatures in the 1920s and 1930s was "visible dozens of years later, and that of the 1990s will be (visible) in 10 or 20 years," Yde said, adding that he expected Greenland's glaciers to melt even faster in the future.

The shrinking of the glaciers since the 19th century is "the result of the atmosphere's natural warming, following volcanic eruptions for example and greenhouse gases, created by human activities, which have aggravated the situation further," he said.

The study also showed new results on galloping glaciers, the name given to glaciers that surge very quickly for a few years, up to 50 meters a day, before advancing more slowly at a rate of 20 meters per year," he said.

"We have identified, thanks to new analyses of aerials photographs and satellite images, almost four times more galloping glaciers, or 75 compared to just 20 in previous estimates," he said.

The two authors of the study were to present their results on Monday at a conference in Cambridge, England on the impact of global warming on glaciers.

CT-SEN: Lamont To Get UAW Endorsement?

Ned Lamont is poised to receive the coveted endorsement of the United Auto Workers, a source familiar with talks between the two camps tells me. The endorsement could be announced as early as tomorrow at a big event being planned for the occasion, the source says, and a press advisory could go out as early as tomorrow morning. The support of the group -- which remained neutral in the primary -- could give Lamont an organizational and political boost at a time when Lieberman is leading in polls and is building support among GOP voters.

While nothing is certain until there's a public announcement, and anything could happen between now and tomorrow, the source tells me that he thinks it's a "done deal," adding that Lamont looked to be getting the endorsement because of "Lieberman's positions on trade and health care -- he refuses to support universal health care and enabled Bush's right-wing judges." More coming.

More HERE

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

Another interesting development. This could be very bad news for the Indy candidate.

capt

Bush said....
Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize.
-------------
So what does that statement say? Bush has the authority to go after anyone he deems as a threat? He can go after countries he sees as threats. He can go after journalists he sees as threats. He can go after groups of people he sees as threats.
So where does it stop?

How Washington Goaded Israel

Ironically, political action committees sponsored by liberal groups such as MoveOn.org, Peace Action, and Act for Change continue to support the election or re-election of Congressional candidates who have voiced support for Washington's proxy war against Lebanon despite massive Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, its serving as a trial run for a U.S. war against Iran, and its being against Israel's legitimate self-interests. And, unfortunately, on the other extreme, some of the more outspoken elements that have opposed America's proxy war against Lebanon frankly do not have Israel's best interest in mind.

As a result, without a dramatic increase in protests by those who see Washington's cynical use of Israel as bad for virtually everyone, there is little chance this dangerous and immoral policy can be reversed.

We must break the silence of our murdering ways; we must be outraged at the slaughter of our brothers and sisters in God.

According to the Boston Globe, defense weapons development price tag was projected at $1.6 trillion in June '06, up from $790 billion in Sep '01. Pork o'Plenty!

HI'YA! Been workin'like a gov't mule,as usual. Our union is meeting pretty often and gittin' it together for contract talks next month,so hopefully we can get some more $ and benefits.
The neighborhood kids are back-to-school,so I get some computer time again.
HAJJI #23: Thanks for the post. Hip-Hop rapper Rass Kass mentioned this subject on his "Soul On Ice" album back in the late '90's. CAPT: Always a pleasure to rap with you, my man. Pops is o.k. and doin'the usual.

Vote '06. Purge the bastards!!

A Climate Repair Manual

Global warming is a reality. Innovation in energy technology and policy are sorely needed if we are to cope

Explorers attempted and mostly failed over the centuries to establish a pathway from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the icebound North, a quest often punctuated by starvation and scurvy. Yet within just 40 years, and maybe many fewer, an ascending thermometer will likely mean that the maritime dream of Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook will turn into an actual route of commerce that competes with the Panama Canal.

The term "glacial change" has taken on a meaning opposite to its common usage. Yet in reality, Arctic shipping lanes would count as one of the more benign effects of accelerated climate change. The repercussions of melting glaciers, disruptions in the Gulf Stream and record heat waves edge toward the apocalyptic: floods, pestilence, hurricanes, droughts--even itchier cases of poison ivy. Month after month, reports mount of the deleterious effects of rising carbon levels. One recent study chronicled threats to coral and other marine organisms, another a big upswing in major wildfires in the western U.S. that have resulted because of warming.

The debate on global warming is over. Present levels of carbon dioxide--nearing 400 parts per million (ppm) in the earth's atmosphere--are higher than they have been at any time in the past 650,000 years and could easily surpass 500 ppm by the year 2050 without radical intervention.

More HERE

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

"Uncertainties about the extent and pace of warming will undoubtedly persist. But the consequences of inaction could be worse than the feared economic damage that has bred overcaution. If we wait for an ice cap to vanish, it will simply be too late."

capt

The stupidity will never end. Hezbelloh's true mission is social service!!! Israel's true mission is to be the Light to the World!!!

In Israel's Interest?

In the years prior to Israel's July 12 bombing of Lebanese cities, Hezbollah had become less and less of a threat. It had not killed any Israeli civilians for more than a decade (with the exception of one accidental fatality in 2003 caused by an anti-aircraft missile fired at an Israeli plane that violated Lebanese airspace). Investigations by the Congressional Research Service, the State Department, and independent think tanks failed to identify any major act of terrorism by Hezbollah for over a dozen years.

Prior to the attack, Hezbollah's militia had dwindled to about 1000 men under arms—¥his number tripled after July 12 when reserves were called up—°nd a national dialogue was going on between Hezbollah and the government of pro-Western prime minister Fuad Siniora regarding disarmament. The majority of Lebanese opposed Hezbollah, both its reactionary fundamentalist social agenda as well as its insistence on maintaining an armed presence independent of the country's elected government. Thanks to the U.S.-backed Israeli attacks on Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, however, support for Hezbollah, according to polls, has grown to more than 80%, even within the Sunni Muslim and Christian communities.

Even Richard Armitage, a leading hawk and deputy secretary of state under President Bush during his first term, noted that "[T]he only thing that the bombing has achieved so far is to unite the population against the Israelis."

The above paragraphs are real eye openers.

Claim of 'Hobbit' Species Discounted

Skeletal remains said to be that of a new "hobbit" species in 2004 do not represent a new species as then claimed, but some of the ancestors of modern human pygmies who live on the island today, according to an international scientific team.

The remains were found in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia. They show signs of microcephaly, a condition in which the head and brain are much smaller than average for the person's age and gender.

"Our work documents the real dimensions of human variation here," says Dr. Robert B. Eckhardt, professor of developmental genetics and evolutionary morphology, department of kinesiology, Penn State. He notes that "LB1

The skeleton, dubbed LB1, "looks different if researchers think in terms of European characteristics because it samples a population that is not European, but Australomelanesian, and further because it is a developmentally abnormal individual, being microcephalic," said Robert Eckhardt, professor of developmental genetics and evolutionary morphology at Penn State.

The new analysis, done by several researchers, demonstrates that claims of a new species "Homo floresiensis" and commonly called hobbits are incorrect.

The results are published today in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More HERE

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

I never thought they were hobbits - I thought right off Oompa Loompa's!

capt

David: Stop repeating the crap the president is saying!It's all shit and should not be repeated!We keep hearing the same thing over and over.The media should grow some balls, and really go after this goverment!We could do better with people off the street.Big problem you people in the media have sold your souls to this gov't ,just as our elected reps have!You all need to look in the mirror and see what the working slugs see!

Some of the nationalities in the state of Iraq:

Southwest: Arab
West: Kurd
North: Varied caucasian
Rest of country (most of it) east of Zagros Mts.: Persian

Most of those who travel to Europe are Persians and identify themselves as such, rather than Iranians, AFAIK.

More than just "claiming", Bush believed, to this day, as do quite a number of us (at least the 30%+ in his `approval' column) that Saddam posed a WMD threat!

I'm not sure I understand quite what you mean because of your difficulty with the English language, but are you equating belief with fact?

So if I believe that a winged Angelina Jolie will fly me off to a land of sunshine where the rivers flow with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and pizza grows on trees, it will happen, right?

I know this may come as a surprise to someone like you, but believing something doesn't make it so.

If walk around the farm long enough, you don't smell the shit on your boots.

August 21, 2006 at 13:44:17

"Caught on Tape, The Fix is In!"

by Joan Brunwasser

http://www.opednews.com

Caught On Tape, The Fix Is In

Aug 21: Philadelphia, PA -- Caught On Tape, The Fix Is In is a new online video about America's flawed voting process by freelance journalist Lynn Landes, producer of EcoTalk.org. In this 13-minute video Landes strongly urges all political candidates to not concede their races until they or their supporters have verified election results through the collection of voter affidavits or signed statements in some or all precincts. She calls these efforts, "Parallel Elections".

The video begins with a now-infamous clip of Congressman Peter King (NY-R) on the White House lawn just before the 2004 presidential election. "The election is over. We won." (Reporter's voice, "How do you know that?") "It's all over, but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting," King boasts.

Also featured are some fascinating clips of an examination of the Danaher voting system by Pennsylvania state officials in November of 2004. In one clip a company representative admits that, in their computer program, every candidate's name must have a party identifier next to it. Landes notes that this feature enables the company to skew election results across-the-board in favor of one party over the other before the machines ever leave the factory floor.

Landes cautions viewers not to jump to conclusions, "Most voting machine companies have close ties to the Republican Party and most voting machine irregularities appear to favor Republicans, but I must emphasize, that is not always the case. Even in Republican and Democratic primaries, where the race is between members of the same party, voting machines are exhibiting suspicious irregularities. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and the Green Party's measured response to the gravity of this situation makes one wonder."

The film warns viewers that election officials and voting machine companies can easily manipulate votes and not get caught. They accomplish this through the use of the secret ballot, voting machines, and absentee or early voting.

"It wasn't always this way," she notes.

In the first half of our nation's history, Landes points out, elections in America were open and observable. It was only after the Civil War, as the right to vote expanded to African Americans, that the voting process itself began to recede from public view and meaningful oversight. It started with absentee voting by the military in the 1870's, the use of secret ballots in the 1880's, and voting by machine in the 1890's. Today, approximately 30% of all voting is conducted early or by absentee, 95% of all votes are processed by machines, and 100% of all ballots are secret and anonymous. Landes proposes th at these voting methods be rescinded and banned.

To view video see: http://www.ecotalk.org/votingsecurity.htm

I was at the Oriental Museum at the University of Chicago Friday with my daughters. There was history of Iraq dating back 7,000 years. The entire universe according to Dubya is only 60 years old.

Then we walked in the rain and saw snakes on a plane.

How ironic that Rockefeller used part of his oil money and our governments oil influence to catalog one of the best museums on the ancient middle east.

Now we just shock and awe.

Electronic Voting Attitudes

This article is a must read!

Thanks for the new thread David Corn.

Did you really think Bush would say anything other than "Stay The Course"?, and "Wire tapping helps me to listen to 'them alkeeda types' or 'el -kayda', you know, 'them bad arabs'. Did you actually expect him to come out and offer a logical and cogent statement?
David, if you really thought otherwise, would you please elaborate why you might feel that way?

I worry about ya sometimes, but thanks anyway.

Cheers,
th

On TomDispatch today, guest Michael Schwartz writes compellingly and knowledgably about Iraq. Highly recommended (after reading the quotes from Bush in David Corn's piece today...)

Rove trying to pass Bush off as a kinder gentler pathological liar/killer...

Today as I drove from Dayton Ohio to Athens I listened to the press conference. I begin to worry when Bush begins to sound reasonable to me. His tone and demeanor have changed so much over the years that at moments I forget the facts.

Under the Bush administration's watch 9/11, LIES LIES AND MORE LIES ABOUT WMD'S,illegal invasion of Iraq, torture, torture, torture, tens of thousands dead, record breaking oil profits, high gas prices, rape of Iraqi children, Enron, Delay, Abramoff, slow response to Katrina, absolutely no one held accountable for false pre-war intelligence, children left behind, etc etc.

I knew the old Bush would come through during the press conference, it did not take long before he was lying though his teeth.

When...THE PRESIDENT said: Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize....Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

Bush is truely a patholigical liar. Even though Rove is trying to pass him off as a kinder gentler patholigical liar

### Congressman Strickland (running for Governor) kicked Ohio's Secretary of State Blackwells ( the Republicon running)ass in a debate today.

Are Corn folks involved in races in their own states? I sure hope so.

Gerald, there is NO substitue for pencil and paper! Computers introduce too many variables which the neo-conartists are using to their advantage.

Missing? an effective way to eliminate touch screen machines from the voting booth. Pointing to the machines vulnerabilities and publishing theat fact in the MSM is a start.

The only good voting machine is one that is out of order and unuseable.

Hey Bro Tex!

Keep the Brotherhood strong!

-T

#42 geofo1..thanks for the information about the museum show in Chicago having to do with Iraq's history. Moved my middle daughter (26) to Chicago this summer, I will let her know.

Iraq's history is undergoing some "creative destruction" according to the Micheal Ledeen/Rove/Bush administration strategies.
To hell with these killers.

DDDon:

Am I getting to you? Can't say that I'm displeased! Did you hear Ford's going to cut back even more than last week's announcement! My condolences to you & your Motor City Daisies!

Fire Away!

That's my boy, Hapless...cheering on the loss of American jobs!

Quite the dick, aren't you? I'd love to take you into a bar on Schaefer or Van Dyke and have you breathlessly repeat your excitement over the declining auto industry.

Juan Cole today cites a poll, stating that 90% of Iraqis want Americans out.

But then Bush doesn't read, does he?

#51 Don good idea.

Then we walked in the rain and saw snakes on a plane. -
geof01

Last I heard planes had air conditioners and snakes were cold-blooded...somebody wake these mutherfuckin' snakes up...

god is a woman! (kate bush)
no! the devil is a woman! (ann coulter)
god is in the details! (moonlight sonata)

no!
god is a bullet.
- jeanette napolitano

Adapting to global warming --- As pointed out, humans evolved and survived during quite dramatic episodes of rapid climate change, the most dramatic being the last glacial maximum. Yes, approximately 500,000 people, hunter-gathers all, did so.

But 6.5 billion people require drinking water, already in short supply, food, etc. The predictions of the climatologists are not just 'warmer', but burstier weather, upsetting argricultural practices, increased ranges for pests and deseases, etc., etc.

After reading Jared Diamond's "Collapse", in which at least three of the collapses were due to abrupt climate change, and two others to other forms of environmental degradation, I feel the future is likely to grow ever grimer, for everyone.

Do not delude yourself, those who doubt...

Re #55: Engineers claim that the devil is in the details. But then, what do engineers know?

51
That's my boy, Hapless...cheering on the loss of American jobs!

Posted by: Don at August 21, 2006 06:55 PM
===============================================
You deliberately twisted my first post on Ford's problems and I let you `slide' w/it! Whatever!

I don't know a soul in Detroit and you will have to be your troubled city's stand-in.....Sad, It's no wonder American Auto industry is in trouble if Detroiters are like you!

on The Northwest Passage.

I heard that Canada is taking action to secure control over the opening shipping lanes that will, as the ice recedes, offer an alternate Atlantic-Pacific shipping corridor.

I wonder what effect, if any, this might have on the speed of cargo transfer. While it might be true that a year-round ice-free route is many years off, one rarely gets to imagine the impact of Canada's northern coast as a developable region.

Just a thought while cuttin' grass...

-T

#23

Nice work and very true. I appologise for the confusion that my earlier post may have created. I was only trying to show that Washingotn did not do it. Haste makes waste.

In Bill Kristol's latest article at the National Review Kristol labels Democrats who voted for (D) Ted Lamont instead of (I)(D) Liebermann "The Bugs Bunny Democrats".

I guess that would make Bill Kristol the Elmer Fudd of the Republican's (who wants Democracy spread at the end of a barrel of a gun) and the right wing radicals in control of the Bush administration's foreign policy the Wile D. Coyote's of the Republican party.

This group seems committed to driving our nation over the cliff. Beep! Beep!

Kristol seems to have forgotten that Bugs Bunny earned his right to defend himself against Elmer Fudd and Wile D. Coyote. Bugs Bunny always won!

They're all carrot and no stick.
by William Kristol
08/21/2006, Volume 011, Issue 46

We should work diplomatically and aggressively to give them reasons why they [the Iranians] don't need to build a bomb, to give them incentives. . . . I'd like to use carrots as well as sticks to see if we can change the nature of the debate.

--Ned Lamont, April 25, 2006

Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary was a triumph for the European wing of the Democratic party. So it's fitting that Lamont is pro-carrot. It was impossible to go to Europe during Bush's first term without getting a lecture about the utility of carrots, the futility of sticks, and the Bush administration's regrettable neglect of the former and unfortunate proclivity for the latter. So Lamont is an appropriate spokesman for what one might call the Bugs Bunny caucus that now dominates the Democratic party.

Lieberman is fighting that dominance by not conceding his seat to Lamont--but others are rushing to ingratiate themselves to the new powers that be in their party. Former Clinton U.N. ambassador and hopeful Democratic secretary of state Richard Holbrooke--something of a Liebermanite in the past--tried to get right with the Bugs Bunny-ites in a Washington Post op-ed two days after Lamont's victory. His point? More diplomacy. In particular, we need "sustained high-level diplomacy" with Syria and Iran.

Faster Please! Put Micheal Ledeen the Creative Destruction Kingpin behind bars, FASTER PLEASE. Before he is successful at convincing this administration to kill more innocent people in Iran and Syria.

National Review
August 14, 2006,
The Real War ...
…Øne more time.

By Michael Ledeen
Watching the war in Lebanon and listening to the debate about it, is just like watching the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its attendant debate. Israelis are demanding the resignation of Olmert, just as Americans are demanding the head of Bush. Israeli military experts, real and self-proclaimed, are explaining how the Lebanon war could have been won, if only the ground campaign had started earlier, or had been more ambitious. American strategists of varying competence are explaining how the Iraq war could have been won, if only there were more boots on the ground, or if only a different strategy had been employed, or if only the Baathist army had been kept intact.

I think it’≥ nonsense. Both campaigns and both debates suffer from the same narrow focus, the same failure of strategic vision, the same obsession with a single campaign in a single place, when the war itself —†the real war —†is far wider. Our leaders and our pundits are fighting single battles, and, since their strategies are not designed to win the real war, they are doomed to fail. The failure of strategic vision is not unique to politicians, or pundits, or military strategists; it seems common to them all. It is extremely rare to hear an authoritative voice addressing the real war.

The terror masters in Syria and Iran are waging a regional war against us, running from Afghanistan and Iraq to, Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon. Alongside the ground war in the Middle East, they are conducting fifth-column operations against us from Europe to India and on to Indonesia, Australia, and the United States; the plot just dismantled in Great Britain provides the latest evidence.

At National Review

Nothing like a little PBS for spongin' up some factoids!

"Shhhhhhhh, be vewy vewy quiet; I'm hunting wabbits, ehehehehehehe." said Elmer Fudd and Bill Kristol

The Need to Defend Our New Northwest Passage

Hajji and others -- this is an interesting article regarding the Northwest Passage -- from The Tyee, in Vancouver, BC. The Tyee is an independent alternative daily newspaper in British Columbia; since we're neighbors, many in my town read this paper, too.

When will bush put Canada on its invasion list?! Prophetic headline? Bush Invades The World

Olmert wonders "when will you folks get it? Do as we say not as we do. That ceasefire applies to Hezbollah not Israel".

Israeli warplanes roar over Lebanon
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 21, 8:37 AM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes roared over Lebanon's northern Mediterranean coast and along its border with
Syria on Monday, after the Lebanese defense minister warned rogue Palestinian rocket teams against attacking
Israel and provoking retaliation that could unravel an already shaky cease-fire.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel should not be permitted to contribute troops to an international peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. That would eliminate Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh —†among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force.

Olmert also ruled out peace talks with Syria as long as it supports "terror organizations." Earlier Monday, a top government official suggested it was time to resume talks with Syria despite its support for Hezbollah.

#65

A very good piece, but as it points out very clearly, there is no need to invade as Canada can do nothing to stop anyone who wants to go through. Dooh!!! We disbanded our military just a bit too early. The Korean Ice Breakers look a whole lot like catcher processors to me. Anyone who has been to Northern Canada will look a little askance at the claim that this would be a good way to move drugs or people into Canada. Ya you would technically be in Canada but you would be a long road less way from any people.

Drying up the Okanagan

This article reminded me of the time recently I went to a small museum on the Semihamoo Spit which is not too far from where I live. To get there, one passes by a "gated-community" (gated from whom?!) that hugs a HUGE emerald green golf course, with man-made ponds to make the golfers' task more interesting.

Anyhoo...at every "gated-gate," there was a reminder to the homeowners to use water wisely because of the summer heat, lack of rain, low reserves, etc. Many lawn spinklers were missing their targets and spraying the driveways leading up to the 3 and 4 car garages.

Go figure.

#67 Yeah -- no roads to no where and the Alcan isn't exactly easy street.

An aside -- about Alaska, not Canada -- I wonder how many people from the Lower 48 realize that there are no roads into Alaska's state capital, Juneau.

#69

As a result Jeneau has the lowest bank robbery stats in the country!

Breaking News at JTA

Dozens of Israeli reservists marched to Jerusalem demanding the Israeli prime minister’≥ resignation because of his management of the war.

Think David called this a while back.

By MATT APUZZO and JOHN SOLOMON

Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON — Then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003, the same time the reporter has testified an administration official talked to him about CIA employee Valerie Plame.

Armitage's official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show a one-hour meeting marked "private appointment" with Woodward on June 13, 2003.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has investigated whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed Plame's identity as a one-time CIA covert operative to punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for criticizing the administration's march to war with Iraq.

When contacted at home Monday night, Woodward declined to discuss his meeting with Armitage or the identity of his source in the CIA leak case. Instead, he referred to his statement last year that he had a "casual and offhand" discussion about Plame with an unidentified administration official in mid-June 2003.

A person familiar with the information prosecutors have gathered, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the material remains sealed, said Woodward's meeting with the confidential source was June 13, 2003.

The calendar released to the AP is the first confirmation that Woodward and Armitage met during the key time in the CIA leak case that was the focus of Fitzgerald's probe.

The identity of Woodward's source remains one of the big mysteries in the case because the Post reporter is the first member of the news media known to have discussed Plame's CIA employment with an administration official.

Woodward's former Post editor, Ben Bradlee, has speculated publicly that Armitage was the reporter's "likely source."

And defense attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the lone administration official charged in the CIA leak case, also have suggested Armitage could have been Woodward's source when they unsuccessfully tried to persuade a court to order the release of State Department documents.

Fitzgerald's office declined comment Monday. Reached at his home in Virginia, Armitage said he could not discuss his cooperation with Fitzgerald's office, the meeting with Woodward or any details of the case.

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, faces trial in January on charges he lied to authorities about conversations he had with reporters about Plame.

Libby's lawyer, William Jeffress, said Monday that Armitage's calendar only bolsters the defense's argument that information about the State Department official's role in the CIA leak affair should be released.

"I would hope that the facts on that would come out," Jeffress said. "We have asked for information as to Woodward's source in discovery but that has been denied."

Woodward's current boss, Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., said Monday, "We are not going to disclose the identity of a confidential source."

Woodward has said he received a written release from his confidentiality obligation to the source and was even asked by his source to tell prosecutors about their conversation. But he has refused to publicly identify the person.

Woodward has said Plame came up incidentally during an interview he was conducting for a book he wrote on the Iraq war. He said the source told him that Plame was a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and no evidence has emerged in public that Woodward's source actually knew she had been a covert agent. Fitzgerald has signaled there are no plans - beyond the Libby indictment - to prosecute any other officials for releasing Plame's identity.

Armitage's calendar also shows that a week before Woodward's meeting with Armitage, the deputy secretary of state met for 15 minutes with Libby.

That meeting occurred as State officials were about to prepare a report outlining how Plame's husband was sent to Niger before the Iraq war to check unverified intelligence that Iraq was seeking nuclear materials from Africa.

Wilson reported back to the Bush administration that he was unable to verify the claim, but the administration continued to use the information to bolster its argument for war. Wilson has cited the decision to rely on the bad intelligence in his criticisms of the administration.

Two people familiar with the meeting, however, said the Libby-Armitage meeting dealt with issues involving Pakistan and said the subject of the CIA leak case wasn't raised. Both spoke only on condition of anonymity because some information about the meeting remains classified.

Here’s a look at the rhetoric being pushed by neocons to scare the American people into supporting military action:

- “What is the significance of Aug. 22? […] This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.” [Bernard Lewis op-ed, Wall Street Journal, 8/8/06]

- “We all hope and pray that August 22 is not the day Ahmadinejad has chosen to launch the apocalypse, but there is little doubt in the White House and at the CIA that the Iranian leader is feverishly trying to build, buy, or steal nuclear weapons, and that he will quite likely use them once he has them.” [Joel Rosenberg, National Review, 8/10/06]

- “Will [Ahmadinejad] attempt to make good on these threats this year on the anniversary of the Miraj [August 22], illuminating the night sky over Jerusalem? Will Western powers heed Farid Ghadry’s words and move to stop Iran before it is too late?” [Front Page Magazine, 7/27/06]

- “It’s an important symbolic day for jihadists. And I’m curious to see what happens on Tuesday. [Ahmadinejad] may just say no or he may do something a little more dramatic, launch a missile or something, to show that - Iranian defiance of what looks like an impotent West.” [Bill Kristol, Fox News Sunday, 8/20/06]

- “‘The only thing we can know is that the date was not chosen by accident,’ said Robert Spencer, Director of Jihadwatch.org and an adjunct fellow at the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank. ‘It does seem very likely, very probable, that he has something major in mind, whether only a major announcement or a major attack, we will soon see.’” [The Blotter, ABC News, 8/21/06]

It’s worth noting that a bipartisan group military experts believe there are no good military options against Iran.

I thought the French were going to lead this little goat rodeo? Hmmm bad memories of Bosnia? Wonder who they want to come in and fix the problem? Funny that they could not stop the killing of Muslims in their backyard and now they want to avoid the problem again. Ms. Rice needs to find a new job.

PARIS, Aug. 20 — The shaky, United Nations-brokered cease-fire in Lebanon suffered another blow on Sunday when the European countries that had been called upon to provide the backbone of a peacekeeping force delayed a decision on committing troops until the mission is more clearly defined.

Their reservations postponed any action on the force at least until Wednesday, when the European Union will take up the issue.

Haunted by their experiences in Bosnia in the 1990’s, when their forces were unable to stop widespread ethnic killing, European governments are insisting upon clarifying the chain of command and rules of engagement before plunging into the even greater complexities of the Middle East.

“In the past, when peacekeeping missions were not properly defined, we’ve seen major failures,’’ a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, Agnès Romatet-Espagne, said Sunday. “There are the bad memories of Bosnia. This time we want the answers beforehand, so we don’t come to the problems when they have happened.’’

In addition, a senior French official said, “Italy, Spain and Finland have raised the same questions as France has.” Following the usual diplomatic practice, the official asked not to be identified. A spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry said Spain was willing to send troops, “but the rules have to be clarified and agreed on.”

Some countries, like Australia, which has placed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, have flatly refused to commit troops. “We have no intention of making any significant contribution,” said a senior Australian government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “We don’t have any confidence in it. It is not going to have the mandate to disarm Hezbollah.”

I watched some of the press conference. I don't think that a whole bottle of anti-depressants could counteract its effect on me. He, like Johnson and Nixon before him, is in total denial of reality.

Is America able to bring about our stated ends in Iraq? That is the pertinent question. The answer is no. The political soil of Iraq cannot bring forth democracy....not when its own citizens blow up each other, sit on rooftops and play sniper on unarmed worshipers of another faith, not when all factions are practicing ethnic cleansing, where the un-safest place to live is in an mixed-ethnicity neighborhood, where government corruption is rampant, and THE F*CKING PARLIAMENT CAN'T EVEN PASS A SINGLE LAW. We cannot bring forth the "freedom agenda" in Iraq. The entire notion is fantasy.

Bob

Have folks seen this clip of Keith Olbermans at Truthout having to do with politicizing terror. This one is a must see.

Would someone be so kind to link this for me I would greatly appreciate it. At Truthout

Keith Olbermann | Terror and Politics in America
Keith Olbermann does a stunning job of laying out a five year history of Bush administration Terror Alerts that came at moments when the administration may have wanted to change the subject.

North Dakota Bob. How many times did Bush say that we can not leave until the "job is done". Yet he will never/ever define "done" He is a madman.

Kathleen, glad you're back! Aug. 22nd? I thought doomsday was 6-6-06?

Neocons Always Have a "Plan B"
It turns out that Israel Defense Force Chief of Staff Dan Halutz dumped a lot of stock within a few hours of the "kidnapping" of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah. He even left an urgent meeting because of the crisis to do it.

NeoCons Are Busy Covering Their Asse(t)s
Israeli press reports about the Israeli Defense Force's Chief of Staff dumping stocks just before war broke out served as a reminder that the very leaders who demand that citizens trust them to do what is best for the country are often busy covering their asse(t)s in case their policies don't work out so well. In the case of Dan Halutz, the man in charge of Israel's war against Hezbollah and Lebanon, the Israeli general was so confident in his own war plans that he felt it prudent to dump his entire portfolio of stocks as his colleagues were meeting to give the go ahead for war.

There's a long tradition of tyrants and despots who stashed money and bought villas outside the borders of the country they were terrorizing. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, who looted and strong-armed the Philippines for decades, had their Hawaii getaway. Idi Amin, the butcher of Uganda, was never tried and imprisoned for his crimes against his people, but instead spent 20 years living luxuriously in Saudi Arabia. Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier hasn't gone to prison yet either, though his wealthy playboy lifestyle in French Cote d'Azur seems to have been ended by a rancorous and expensive divorce.

But the United States is no banana republic. Surely its leaders, especially those who send other Americans off to war, would never contemplate profiting personally from their decisions or evading responsiblity for their mistakes. Well, think again. America's neocon leaders have been busy covering their asse(t)s in case their policies of endless war and raping the American economy produce too much blowback.

Learn who's doing what after the break.

NeoCon Continental

For all the contempt that the NeoCons shower upon "Old Europe," they sure seem to find it a good place to invest and even live. Vice-President Cheney likes to tout how great the American economy is, but he and his wife Lynne don't have much confidence in the dollar. Kiplinger Reports took a close look at the Cheney's financial disclosure report recently, and found that the Second Couple is betting against the U. S. economy. The biggest chunk of their estimated $96 million in change is bet on a fund that specializes in predominately European bonds and had only 6% of its assets in dollar-based investments when Kiplinger took a look. (Warren Buffett , no NeoCon, but known for his financial acumen, is doing the same.)

How nice for them. If the Vice-President's relentless push for a new war against Iran succeeds, and oil prices skyrocket to two or three times the previous record, with a resulting collapse of the dollar, it won't be the Cheneys who suffer...
==============
Happy investment strategies!

Shelter from the storm

#42
Geof01
We went to that museum last year with my daughters Girl Scout troop. We did a trip to Chicago. One parent on the trip kept shaking her head at all the artifacts that were stolen from those cultures. She was right.

I can't imagine that anyone in this country would be too happy if Saddam walked into our country and took stuff out of the Smithsonian. Carted off the Lincoln Memorial.

#51
Or take him down to the Ford Plant in St. Paul. I'm sure those people would love to hear what you have to say Happy. There's nothing like having the rug ripped out from under your life. It does great things to the whole family.

Kathleen,
Here you go the Oberman link.

Terror and Politics in America

Thanks Saladin. Spent the last 10 days visiting older relatives. Five hours with an uncle who worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base for 40 years. He had attended MIT in Mass. and had been drafted by the Army and quickly joined the airforce.

He spent 40 years as an engineer working on the refueling of f/16s mid air and other assorted war machine technology. He hates this war, and these efforts to use pre-emptive unilateral aggression as a strategy.

Funny how your mind changes about people in your family as you get older. One of my cousins ( who has been the head of the Quaker American Friends in Dayton for 37 years) and I stood outside of Wright Patterson protesting the Vietnam War as 5 of our relatives went into design killing machines. Four of those very same relatives all in their late seventies early eighties were completely against the illegal invasion of Iraq.

He also hates to think about dying when this country is leaning over a cliff and is directly responsible for tens of thousands dying.

He is working on the Strickland campaign. There is going to be a tidal wave for the Democrats in Ohio if the machines are working fairly.

Jeanne-

When are the Ford folks going to realize that foreign owned plants are expanding in the US? The UAW and Ford and GM management killed those jobs. Supply and demand. Build cars that people want and guess what? You have a job. US car companies and US airlines have a lot in common.

Thanks Jeanne! That Olberman piece is so worth watching.

Neoconservatives Predict The Apocalypse Starts Tomorrow

For months, neoconservatives have been pushing for regime change in Iran. In their latest effort to beat the war drums and undermine diplomacy, they are attaching great significance to August 22 - the date Iran said it would respond to an incentives package from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

August 22 is a day "some Shiite sects believe...could correspond to the end of the world." That's enough for neoconservatives to conclude Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have "chosen to launch the apocalypse" tomorrow.

----------
We'll miss the World Series.

Kathleen-

Do you believe that the police in the US should carry weapons?

80
....One parent on the trip kept shaking her head at all the artifacts that were stolen from those cultures.....

I can't imagine that anyone in this country would be too happy if Saddam walked into our country and took stuff out of the Smithsonian...

Posted by: Jeanne at August 21, 2006 10:26 PM
================================================
Jeanne, why do you so despise the US and by extension, the West! I am no archeologist but I don't `Blame America/West First'!

The much more advanced West took an interest, scientific & cultureal, in the ancient civilazations & artifacts of the Asia, Mid-East, Central/South America, etc....And they mounted what must have been grueling and costly expeditions across the oceans to meticulously unearth such artifacts...Stealing? I would imagine not and that some kind of exchange took place to gain the local's permission to conduct these Digs!

I have been a lifelong reader of the National Geographic and I know that the locals throughout their respective histories, are often the first ones to stumble upon or unearth some significant finds. And what do they do? They take (without taking care in doing so), what is of value, gold, silver, gemstones, etc. and severely damage or otherwise disturb the remaining artifiacts.

Without the West's insatiable sense of discovery and adventure, the pyramids of Egypt would probably have been totally stripped of anything worth studying; had the West not gotten there!

The museums of the West have certainly returned some artifacts and perhaps could do more.

And your analogy of Saddam robbing the Smithsonian as something equivalent to the very deliberate & scientific archeological digs conducted by thousands of educated anthropologists/archeologists, is in poor taste!

#84
The "Ford folks" just go to work everyday. They don't have a lot of say about the auto production. I agree that Ford leadership needs to get its ass into the 21st Century. We would have been so much better off with a president like Gore who would have taken progressive ideas and gotten the car companies growing. The car companies would have been less concerned with the bottom line and the stockholders and more concerned with innovation.

I watched the MSM for the last two days it was disgusting completely focused on the JonBenet case. Showing the same clips over and over again. My 80 year old parents were completely disgusted. When will the MSM get it..they are going to continue to lose viewers.

Yesterday, a federal judge in Michigan issued “a sweeping rebuke of the once-secret domestic-surveillance effort the White House authorized following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.” The ruling was “a significant blow to Bush’s attempts to expand presidential powers,” but you wouldn’t know that by watching last evening’s network newscasts.

All three major TV networks led their evening news with stories on JonBenet Ramsey’s death and the comments made by arrested teacher John Mark Karr. The networks offered multiple segments and numerous expert analyses to provide in-depth coverage on the legal case. The NSA decision received only a passing mention from two of the newscasts, while ABC devoted a full segment to it.

Still, ABC devoted twice as much time to Ramsey as it did to the NSA story. More egregiously, CBS offered seven times as much airtime to Ramsey as it did to the NSA story, while NBC devoted 15 times more airtime. Below is a comparison of the allocation of time made by each network:

NETWORK RAMSEY SEGMENT NSA SEGMENT
NBC 7:39 0:27
CBS 3:23 0:25
ABC 4:03 2:00

#88
Happy wrote...
The much more advanced West took an interest, scientific & cultureal, in the ancient civilazations & artifacts of the Asia, Mid-East, Central/South America, etc
--------
That says it all. Since when are we more advanced? We are just arrogant enough to think we're more advanced.

Bush remains lost in Iraq, with the rest of the country (and the world) held hostage by the mistakes and miscalculations he will not concede.

Posted by David Corn at August 21, 2006 03:28 PM

#89

Why have the foreign companies, operating in the same US, with American workers, been so successful? Could it have anything to do with the UAW? Granted the management sucks but I have never had anything but problems with the two Ford products that I owned. Nice design, but the workmanship was a freaking joke. If they go to work and get a paycheck, then how about making sure that the wires don’t looked like they were installed by a drunken monkey? That is not a design or management issue, that is pure laziness.

#90

At least that pervert has a small chance of being convicted of murder. The NSA case has no hope of being upheld.

Some of you do not realize that Toyota has set up several plants in the US. The latest being in San Antonio, TX set to open later this year! A shitload of auto jobs in the MidWest have moved to the South, but you guys know that!

Accoutability, your very favorite word, for the problems of the US auto industry lie with both Managment and Labor. This past spring, I kept abreast of the negotiations between Delphi, its unions and GM (Delphi's ex-parent). WSJ covered it extensively and well. Those readings crystallized what most of us had known, more or less, for decades. It was really sad to read the many points in time where Management and Labor should have, and could have, joined hand instead of being selfish AND short-sighted! It seems, we humans just don't learn without massive pain!

History, not always the `pretty' ones, repeats itself more than it should!

89
.....The car companies would have been less concerned with the bottom line and the stockholders...
Posted by: Jeanne at August 21, 2006 11:03 PM
==============================================
Your prototype of a car company is one fast going out of business! Do a Google search on Renault when it was majority owned by the French government! Find out how it was saved!

With Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, etc... available as alternate investments, why would anybody, other than a government, invest in a car company that has as its primary goal, of providing high-paying jobs and not profit?

Do none of you own stocks or funds through 401(k)? If you do and yet harbor these rabid anti-capitalist thoughts, YOU are doing a huge disservice to your own financial future! Go learn, you all have the time!

50 DDDon: Am I getting to you? Can't say that I'm displeased! Did you hear Ford's going to cut back even more than last week's announcement! My condolences to you & your Motor City Daisies!Fire Away!

Posted by: Happy but no Daisies at August 21, 2006

51 That's my boy, Hapless...cheering on the loss of American jobs! Quite the dick, aren't you? I'd love to take you into a bar on Schaefer or Van Dyke and have you breathlessly repeat your excitement over the declining auto industry.

Posted by: Don at August 21, 2006 06:55 PM

Douchebag Hapless took a bath on auto stocks so he feels entitled to some mean-spirited calousness toward the american auto worker.

#83 Four of those very same relatives all in their late seventies early eighties were completely against the illegal invasion of Iraq.

They were in the Vietnam war? That's kinda old, but maybe there's an explanation that I'm missing. Perhaps they were orchestrating the war? Old men making war for young men to fight and all that....

Most of the people I know who were in the war are not nearly that that age.

Yes Micki you did miss something "Funny how your mind changes about people in your family as you get older. One of my cousins ( who has been the head of the Quaker American Friends in Dayton for 37 years) and I stood outside of Wright Patterson protesting the Vietnam War as 5 of our relatives went into design killing machines." That's right Micki 5 uncles "designing killing machines". Four of these uncles have very different perspectives after Vietnam( one of them is dead.) Four uncles served in WWII. If you are still having a problem understanding let me know.

Later

97
...Douchebag Hapless took a bath on auto stocks so he feels entitled to some mean-spirited calousness toward the american auto worker.

Posted by: jlc through the looking glass at August 21, 2006 11:39 PM
=============================================
Wrong! I bought GM, my very first auto stock, at $20 in spring! Go look where it's at today!

You pay attention, you might learn a thing or two!

Goodnight all! Let's hope tomorrow is a better $ day!

About this JonBenet distraction.

I am sick and tired of people pissing and moaning about the amount of coverage devoted to this story. Yeah, it's way too much coverage because it doesn't warrant but an inside page mention, but how the f**k do you know it's too much coverage? You know, BECAUSE YOU ARE WATCHING THE CABLE "NEWS" CHANNELS and you think you're watching the "news." Turn that crap off. Don't watch it. Don't help boost their ratings. It's not news. It's infotainment at best.

Okay, since Kathleen brought up this distracting topic again, I'll say something that bothered me about this case 10 years ago -- her parents were the ones who CALLED news conferences. Talk about grandstanding. They could have kept their mouths shut. But, no. They sought attention. The cable news channels camped on their doorstep, taking the bait, looking for "news." They chose to "defend" themselves in the media -- well, they were feeding the frenzy. They must have had a really bad PR consultant -- imagine even wanting a "consultant" in this case. But they did. Sick.

What a bunch of bullshit. The poor (rich) little girl was brutally murdered. Some horrible person did it. But if "we, the people" -- THE CONSUMERS -- of news would look deeper and ignore the fluff and the so-called "news" that has no effect on our individual lives, this crapola would die.

#99 No need to get testy, Kathleen. I asked a reasonable question. I mentioned on a previous thread, late last week, about my uncles who were in WWII -- one killed, one injured...well, nevermind, there were others.. We are a family against war -- except for one black sheep, who actually was stationed at Wright Patterson at one point.

You don't need to explain anything to me. But thanks for the offer.

MP.5.youaremighty.com

...I stood outside of Wright Patterson protesting the Vietnam War as 5 of our relatives went into design killing machines." That's right Micki 5 uncles "designing killing machines".

Well, if you had said, "went in to design..." it would have a clearer meaning.

I guess I'm just too particular about clarity. Silly me.

mammoth oysters attack!

Posted by: Happy bragging at August 21, 2006

Here's to hoping you stocks tank and margin calls cause you to take a second mortgage on your home. . . you can't handle the debt service, your mortgage is forclosed, they take your home and you loose your internet service. When that happens, drop us line.

102 doesn't sound like micki to me. sounds like troll feces.

Happy, When are you going to learn to compose a sentence that conveys a complete and coherent thought not four or five unintelligible fragments?

American Soldiers

2,938 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

18,500+ American soldiers have been maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.

55,000+ of the 140,000 American soldiers are suffering from PTSD. Stress disorder has increased and the percentage is now around 40%.

Over 350,000+ Iraqis have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared shock and awe bombings on March 19, 2003.

Contamination from depleted uranium may have affected 125,000+ American soldiers and several million Iraqis.

I will try to share with you a money figure for our war and occupation in Iraq. Our government taps into different bottomless money wells for wars and it is difficult to always know the correct amount of money that is being spent. Money figures will probably change from time to time. By 2010 we will have spent in Iraq $1.2 trillion. We will be in Iraq for at least 50 years and the money figure that is mentioned is $8 to 10 trillion. We will probably never leave Iraq, especially with 14 permanent bases in Iraq and of the 14 permanent bases 4 are mega military bases. Iraq will have access to a bottomless money well.

BUSH IS A UNITER! HE HAS UNITED THE TERRORISTS AROUND THE WORLD TO MAKE NAZI AMERICA, ENEMY NUMBER ONE! Are you feeling more safe and secure with Bush in the WH and Cheney as his chief hatchet man overseeing Nazi America and her citizens?

Our military men and women are used as cannon fodder for a terrorist Nazi American government.

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, AND NEITHER DO WE. George W. Bush, August 5, 2005

Rigged elections doom American democracy. American soldiers are being killed and maimed TO PROMOTE A NAZI AMERICAN STATE.

Henry Kissinger says that military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. Does this mean our American soldiers are only cannon fodder to be mu