There was the usual chanting, singing, applauding, angry speech-making through dodgy crackling sound systems. There were the hand-drawn signs and glossy 'No War' placards bearing the names of political parties. There were the tables covered with Chomsky, Pilger and Che biographies and clipboards of anti-war, anti-bombs, anti-Bush petitions.
There were a spattering of ferals, a handful of professional agitators, a bushel of politically inspired uni students and a few dozen middle-aged to elderly people who wanted Cheney to "Go Home!" and to "Free David Hicks!"
The mostly peaceful protest next to Sydney's Town Hall earlier today, held four hours before US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Australia, certainly didn't seem to have the makings of Big Trouble.
And there wasn't Big Trouble. Far from it.
Until the MC told the crowd police had refused permission for them to march through the city and declared it was "up to youse" whether or not they wanted to defy the police and "March On!"
The police, by this time, were standing in double-strength lines between the crowd and George Street, filled with early evening commuter traffic.
A few cheers of defiance went up, and the police edged closer.
just finished reading sinclair's "it can't happen here" - very frightening.
Wolfowitz May Bring Bank Back to Iraq
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may appoint a new resident director for Iraq soon, a move that sources inside the Bank say could contradict the institution's policies on engagement in conflict-stricken areas and put his role in the 2003 U.S. invasion back into the limelight. The move by Wolfowitz, the former number two official at the Pentagon and a main architect of the U.S.-led war, likely means the Bank would release new loans to the occupied Arab nation, despite the deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in reconstruction efforts. "This is exactly what he shouldn't be doing and what the [World Bank] board was initially afraid that he would do, which is to use the financial resources of the World Bank to take some of the heat off the U.S. Treasury and U.S. policy," Bea Edwards of the Washington-based watchdog group Government Accountability Project told IPS.
sunshine, i don't think IM has to do with browsers. i'm using AIM (which i think is AOL, but don't know). a friend set me up with it, but i don't remember how i did it.
AP: Ex-Iowa Gov. Vilsack ending '08 bid By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
Democrat Tom Vilsack is abandoning his bid for the presidency after struggling against better-known, better-financed rivals, a senior campaign official told The Associated Press on Friday.
Vilsack left office in January and traveled through states holding early tests of strength. He had faced a tough challenge from rivals such as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and John Edwards, who have had more success raising money and attracting attention — even in Vilsack's home state of Iowa.
Vilsack was scheduled to make a formal announcement later in the day. The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the Democrat's statement.
Vilsack was the first Democrat to formally enter the 2008 race when he announced his candidacy in November. He conceded at the time that he faced a difficult race.
Trying to counter perceptions that as one of the least known of the prospective candidates he was too much of an underdog to succeed, Vilsack said in a campaign video: "I've never started a race that I've been expected to win, and I've never lost."
As governor of Iowa, Vilsack had carved out a reputation as a centrist balancing his state's budget and refusing to raise taxes, while emphasizing increased spending on such priorities as education, health care and higher wages. Until recently he chaired the Democratic Leadership Council, the party's signature centrist group.
Vilsack initially made the focus of his long-shot campaign a plan to end U.S dependence on foreign oil by promoting alternative energy sources.
"Energy security will revitalize rural America, re-establish our moral leadership on global warming and climate security, and eliminate our addiction to foreign oil," Vilsack, a prominent proponent of ethanol, biodiesel and wind power, said at the time.
More recently, Vilsack has been among the more aggressive Democratic candidates in his call to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, calling for Congress to cut off funding.
Please... check this out and pass it on to everyone you know:
Check out the video link. She's right. Teheran looks a lot like Salt Lake City.
From The Utah Amicus Blog:
I’ve been very concerned about the recent reporting on Iran. It so reminds me of the build up to the invasion of Iraq which led to the disastrous mess in which we are so entangled.
I have a family connection to Iraq. My aunt married a Persian many years ago, and my cousin, Mahan and I are very close – almost sisters. Around my home, you’ll find a number of beautiful Persian artifacts, as well as stories and books of poetry from Persia/Iran. At family reunions I have met a number of Mahan’s Persian relatives who are remarkable, witty, and warm people. Many of them were forced to flee Teheran, Iran due to our involvement in the coup that placed the Shah in power in 1953. (You may remember that the US had a hand in that, and look where that has led us.)
This short video LINK dropped in my email box yesterday. I clicked on the link and continued multitasking - had several windows open. When the music began I finished the current task and switched over. The first thing I saw was a city up against the mountains, which I assumed was Salt Lake. More images flashed - urban shots, cultural events, skiing, and soccer. Then, it became clear that I was not looking at photos of Salt Lake at all, I was looking at photos of Teheran. The similarities between the two are striking. Nothing spoke to me as powerfully as this video.
Iran being a completely different country than Iraq, and knowing this administration’s capacity to ignore facts, I decided to do some research and encourage you to do the same.
morning, GBC. did i read you're trying to end the human race? ; p
i called an iranian friend in osaka who had promised to help me find iranians to interview. he said he couldn't find anyone who would say yes. they're all afraid of both our government and theirs. *sigh*
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."
Oh, so America's foreign policy has been perceived as "weak" for the last, say, 40 years, and that perceived weakness is what brought about 9/11? What the hell!
off to bed now. have to leave in a few hours for shikoku island. i'm going to interview the 89-year-old father of a friend, a WWII vet who apparently still hates americans. this ought to be a barrel of laughs.
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."
Oh, so America's foreign policy has been perceived as "weak" for the last, say, 40 years, and that perceived weakness is what brought about 9/11? What the hell!
He doesn't know what he says. He trys to doubletalk to confuse people.
WASHINGTON - Breaking under a flood of public opposition to Divine Strake, the Pentagon announced Thursday that it would scrap plans to conduct the massive blast at the Nevada Test Site. Some 10,000 Utahns and Nevadans expressed fears that the detonation of 700 tons of explosives could spew debris into the air, carrying radiation left over from Cold War nuclear weapons tests at the test site. "I have become convinced that it's time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this type of large-scale test," Defense Threat Reduction Agency Director Dr. James A. Tegnelia said in a statement announcing the cancellation of the test. The agency said the decision was not a result of any information that indicated the test might harm workers or the public. Divine Strake touched a raw nerve with Utahns, still deeply distrustful of government assurances on testing at the Nevada Test Site. Thousands of Utahns suffered from cancer and other illnesses as a result of the radioactive fallout. The test was opposed by members of Utah's congressional delegation, the state Legislature, the governor, activists and others.
Cheney won’t back down on Pelosi Vice president says top Dem’s war stance playing into terrorists’ hands The Associated Press Updated: 8:04 a.m. CT Feb 23, 2007 SYDNEY, Australia - Vice President Dick Cheney refused Friday to take back his charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to President Bush’s Iraq war buildup is playing into the hands of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
“If you’re going to advocate a course of action that basically is withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, then you don’t get to just do the fun part of that, that says, ‘We’ll, we’re going to get out,’ and appeal to your constituents on that basis,” Cheney said.
The vice president had voiced the same criticism of Pelosi earlier this week during a visit to Japan, and the California Democrat accused the vice president of questioning her patriotism, saying she was going to call President Bush directly with her complaint.
“I hope the president will repudiate and distance himself from the vice president’s remarks,” Pelosi said. She ended up talking with White House chief of staff Josh Bolten instead of Bush.
'I questioned her judgment' The long-distance quarrel began in Tokyo, where Cheney earlier this week used an interview to criticize Pelosi and Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., over their plan to place restrictions on Bush’s request for an additional $93 billion for the Iraq war to make it difficult or impossible to send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq.
During Friday’s interview in Sydney, Cheney said, “I’m not sure what part of it is that Nancy disagreed with. She accused me of questioning her patriotism. I didn’t question her patriotism. I questioned her judgment.”
“You also have to be accountable for the results. What are the consequences of that? What happens if we withdraw from Iraq?,” he said. “And the point I made and I’ll make it again is that al-Qaida functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy, that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home. And my statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, that then we will validate the strategy of al-Qaida. I said it and I meant it.”
Cheney, whose policies have helped rebuild al Qaeda, continues over the top attacks
by Joe in DC · 2/23/2007 10:14:00 AM ET
Let's review:
1) Just this week, we learned that Al Qaeda is back; Bin Laden has reasserted his authority;
2) Last fall we learned that the nation's 16 intelligence agencies concluded that the Iraq war has hurt the U.S. efforts to fight terrorism while serving as a recruiting boon for jihadist terror networks;
3) The Iraq war is a monumental failure and there has never been a real plan from the Bush/Cheney Administration to get the U.S. out of the quagmire.
So, what does Dick Cheney do? Continues his irrational and hysterical attacks on the Speaker:
Vice President Dick Cheney refused Friday to take back his charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's opposition to President Bush's Iraq war buildup is playing into the hands of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
"If you're going to advocate a course of action that basically is withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, then you don't get to just do the fun part of that, that says, 'We'll, we're going to get out,' and appeal to your constituents on that basis," Cheney said.
Now, we know Dick Cheney will never admit he's wrong. They don't do that.
I have heard from several reliable sources that if the U.S. pulled out of Iraq, the Sunnis and Shias would both work to destroy al Qaeda in their country. If that's true, then the Bush/Cheney administration is actually playing in to the hands of al Qaeda. No surprise, Bush and Cheney have been played by al Qaeda for six years now.
Dick Cheney, the man who is accountable for nothing, is the person who will tell other countries what is "consistent" with a peaceful image in the world?
If you haven't spent a lot of time outside the United States recently, you may not been made aware in a painful, humiliating way of how grievously America's moral standing has suffered because of Guantanamo, Abu Grahib, and the general carnage in Iraq. It's hard in general to get non-Americans to listen to lectures about seemly behavior these days. It's hardest of all when the lectures come from the man who, to the rest of the world, personifies America's squandering of the qualities that made it special.
Dear Mr. Vice President: there may be valuable things you can do. But telling anyone else how to cultivate a peaceful image is not one of them. Go home, and shut up.
As I have traveled around the country, one line in my speeches always draws cheers: "The monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new dialogue has now begun." We have now entered the post-Religious Right era. Though religion has had a negative image in the last few decades, the years ahead may be shaped by a dynamic and more progressive faith that will make needed social change more possible.
In the churches, a combination of deeper compassion and better theology has moved many pastors and congregations away from the partisan politics of the Religious Right. In politics, we are beginning to see a leveling of the playing field between the two parties on religion and "moral values," and the media are finally beginning to cover the many and diverse voices of faith. These are all big changes in American life, and the rest of the world is taking notice.
Evangelicals — especially the new generation of pastors and young people — are deserting the Religious Right in droves. The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, engaging issues like poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur and the ethics of the war in Iraq. Catholics are returning to their social teaching; mainline Protestants are asserting their faith more aggressively; a new generation of young black and Latino pastors are putting the focus on social justice; a Jewish renewal movement and more moderate Islam are also growing; and a whole new denomination has emerged, which might be called the "spiritual but not religious."
Giuliani Limits Self To Events With 'Friendly Audiences' NY Times | RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA | February 23, 2007 10:06 AM
In a swing through South Carolina this week, Rudolph W. Giuliani chose to campaign at a fire house, which is a little like Derek Jeter meeting with Yankees fans -- a most unlikely forum for hostility, or even much skepticism.
Instead of the sometimes barbed give-and-take endured by the other candidates, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, fielded a few questions from the firefighters and police officers who gathered to hear him here. The questions, which began with comments like, "Being in your presence here is just unbelievable," stuck almost entirely to issues on which Mr. Giuliani is most comfortable, like airport security and border control.
Fox News' Repeated Attempts To Discredit Obama Brave New Films | Robert Greenwald | February 22, 2007 09:46 AM
Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films has released Fox Attacks Obama. The short video exposes Fox News' repeated attempts to discredit Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Watch here to see Fox anchors misrepresent Obama's education and the implications of his middle name, and focus on his smoking habit.
You have to watch this video. These Faux news people are brutal, nasty, asses. All of them.
"I'm going to keep running this for a while since the mainstream won't pick up on it and we all know how the republicans would be reacting if this were a dem: Remember how Republicans were saying the terrorists wanted Democrats to win the elections? Feds learn latest Afghani Taliban terror suspect is a Republican activist and regular GOP campaign donor"
Iran Tensions Help Push Oil Above $61 A Barrel AP | GEORGE JAHN | February 23, 2007 09:24 AM
Oil prices rose Friday, extending gains registered the previous day after a U.S. snapshot of energy inventories revealed a surprising drop in U.S. gasoline and heating oil supplies.
Tension between Western powers and Iran also boosted energy prices. The U.N. nuclear watchdog reported Thursday that Iran _ OPEC's No. 2 supplier _ is still refusing to end uranium enrichment, in defiance of the Security Council.
Pelosi seeks tougher oversight on ethics after discovering that Bush administration official was sharing a bed with an oil industry lobbyist. Literally 2-22 POAC
George Clooney has had plastic surgery. He had his eyes done and in an interview with Julia Roberts quipped..."It's important to look like you are awake!
UK-US in talks on missile defence The UK and US have held high level talks on the possibility of putting a "Son of Star Wars" missile defence system on British soil. Downing Street stressed talks were at an early stage. The US is thought to favour a site in eastern Europe.
Russia has said the system, which will destroy missiles launched at the US, will trigger an arms race.
Anti-war groups said UK involvement was "ill-conceived", and other critics said it could make Britain a target.
Rebuff denied
A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed that Prime Minister Tony Blair thought the discussions were a "good idea".
"We believe that it is an important step towards providing missile defence coverage for Europe," she said.
But hours later, US deputy chief of mission in London, David Johnson, seemed to rebuff these claims.
He told the BBC: "As we go forward there may be opportunities for us to talk to other countries about their needs.
I will enter my grave still trying to convince people (and myself) that their opinions are predominately the sum-total of their cultural influences and not sufficiently influenced by history and indisputable facts. --------------
I've had to bite my lip many times, Crank.
I was working for the Director of the park district about a year and a half ago and he was definately a winger. He received mail from the RNC, Frist, et al.
I had to be very careful what I said around him, but I truly wanted to say..."Open your damn eyes and see what is really happening here".
Tony Blair reportedly hired psychics to find Iraq WMDs. Newly declassified documents revealed that the Ministry of Defense spent £18,000 of taxpayers’ money in an experiment “to see if volunteers could ’see’ objects hidden inside an envelope. It is claimed the ministry hoped positive results would allow it to use psychics to ‘remotely view’ Bin Laden’s base and also to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
Cheney: ‘There Does Not Appear To Be A Consensus’ That Global Warming Is ‘Caused By Man’ In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded it was “very likely” — or more than 90 percent probable — that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.
Continuing the Bush administration’s long resistance to the science of global warming, Vice President Dick Cheney said today a consensus is lacking on whether global warming is caused by human activity. From an interview with ABC:
JONATHAN KARL: Where is the science on this? Is global warming a fact? And is it human activity that is causing global warming?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Those are the two key questions. I think there’s an emerging consensus that we do have global warming. You can look at the data on that, and I think clearly we’re in a period of warming. Where there does not appear to be a consensus, where it begins to break down, is the extent to which that’s part of a normal cycle versus the extent to which it’s caused by man, greenhouse gases, et cetera.
Cheney added later in the interview, “I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.” But he appears comfortable enough in his knowledge to suggest that the scientists are all wrong.
This man is like a bad penny! He keeps on coming back!!
Hero In Error’ Chalabi Makes Political Comeback To Lead Iraqi End Of Escalation Strategy The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Ahmed Chalabi, the darling of neoconservatives in the lead-up to the Iraq war, has been given a prominent position to oversee the implementation of the escalation strategy on the Iraqi end:
In his latest remarkable political reincarnation, onetime U.S. favorite Ahmed Chalabi has secured a position inside the Iraqi government that could help determine whether the Bush administration’s new push to secure Baghdad succeeds. …
Chalabi will serve as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign across the city. The position is meant to help Iraqis arrange reimbursement for damage to their cars and homes caused by the security sweeps in the hope of maintaining public support for the strategy.
Chalabi, who once famously said of his Iraq involvement, “we are heroes in error,” has had a sordid history with the United States. A review of Chalabi’s nefarious activities:
PENTAGON FUNDED CHALABI TO PROVIDE RATIONALE FOR WAR: The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency paid the INC $335,000 a month in the lead-up to the Iraq war to gather intelligence. In all, the Bush White House has given the INC at least $39 million over the past 5 years. [IPS, 5/23/04; New Yorker, 6/7/04]
Exclusive: Powell Rebuts Media Reports Claiming He Supports Escalation Yesterday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at Purdue University. Articles on the event by the Lafayette Indiana Journal and Courier and the Associated Press report that Powell “said he supported President Bush’s decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq”:
Carter Endorses Gore, Says Former Veep Can Win More Than Oscars February 23, 2007
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: In an exclusive interview with former President Jimmy Carter set to air on Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", Carter lavished praise on "(his) favorite Democrat) former Vice President Al Gore.
Carter told ABC News, "If Al should decide to run -- which I'm afraid he won't -- I would support Al Gore."
The former Democratic President asserted Gore could accomplish much more in the White House than he ever could as a private citizen, saying to Stephanopoulos, "His burning issue now is global warming and preventing it. He can do infinitely more to accomplish that goal as in the incumbent in the White House, than he can making even movies that get -- you know, that get Oscars."
"An Inconvenient Truth", a documentary based on a global warming lecture Gore has delivered around the world, is nominated for an Academy Award and the former Vice President will walk the red carpet at the Oscars this Sunday.
Jimmy Camp, a tattooed punk rocker with a history of drug abuse and theft, is one of California's most reliable Republican political operatives and expects to run Rudy Giuliani's California campaign. 2-23
The Bush administration has “demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.” In meetings with Israeli officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “was forceful in expressing Washington’s view on the matter”: “Don’t even think about it.”
“Iraq may be facing a deadly civil war, but the Iraqi government is initiating major, costly repairs to its diplomatic building in Washington and expanding its real estate holdings here.” The Iraqi government recently purchased a $5.8 million mansion complete with “heated floors…and spacious bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi.”
The character of Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor) was based on real-life moll Gay Orlova (gangster Lucky Luciano's girlfriend), allegedly executed by a German firing squad.
Here's the info on Wolfowitz that Jenise posted earlier but from Think Progress:
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may appoint a new resident director for Iraq. “This is exactly what he shouldn’t be doing and what the [Bank] board was initially afraid that he would do, which is to use the financial resources of the World Bank to take some of the heat off the U.S. Treasury and U.S. policy,” said Bea Edwards of the Government Accountability Project.
Weeks before Katrina I posted a quote from the film, Key Largo. I felt bad afterward. I still do. New Orleans was destroyed.
“Make a big wave, send it crashing down on us, destroy us all if need be, but punish him. Hear me! Hear me! Make a big wave, send it against us, take us all, but destroy him.” - James Temple, Lionel Barrymore - Key Largo.
Posted by: "NEWS CONSUMER" at August 19, 2005 02:27 AM
FDR put Bonus Army WWI veterans to work in Fl. building a railroad. The 800 vets were killed in the hurricane. Hemingway was down there and wrote about it.
An analysis of 2005 census figures found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty — a 32-year high. “A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.”
Michelle Malkin to co-host new Fox show. “Fox News Channel is testing another pilot on Sunday that will air following its experiment in news satire, ‘The ½ Hour News Hour.’ ‘It’s Out There,’ a half-hour of stories derived from blogs, will get a half-hour test run following Joel Surnow’s satirical take on news. [The show], fronted by conservative blogger-columnist Michele Malkin and former Clinton administration operative Kirsten Powers, will take on political and cultural issues enflaming the blogosphere.”
Iraq Veteran Shot In The Head Describes ‘Systemic’ Neglect At Military Hospitals » Yesterday, for the first time, the Army criticized the Washington Post for its investigation into the gross neglect of wounded U.S. veterans at Walter Reed’s outpatient facilities. Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, chief of the Army Medical Command, called the Post’s reporting “one-sided” and questioned whether it was “an accurate representation.”
Moreover, he claimed the Army had already “fixed all of those problems” discussed in the article. (Reporter Dana Milbank noted, “Kiley might have had a stronger case if men wearing Tyvek hazmat suits and gas masks hadn’t walked through the lobby…or if he hadn’t acknowledged, moments later, that the entire building would have to be closed for a complete renovation.”)
But last night on the PBS Newshour, Lt. Brady Van Engelen — a former Walter Reed outpatient who has personal experience with the hospital’s failed bureaucracy — confirmed the Post’s reporting, and said the problems with America’s military health care system go well beyond Walter Reed. Watch it:
Russia Could Go Ballistic on American Missile Defense By Scott Ritter, AlterNet Posted on February 23, 2007, Printed on February 23, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/48274/ In October 1986 what was supposed to be merely a preliminary meeting between the leaders of the world's two superpowers, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, turned into a historic summit that brought humankind to the brink of total nuclear disarmament. While the Reykjavik, Iceland, summit broke up without this dramatic disarmament threshold being crossed (the Americans and Soviets had reached a contingent agreement to eliminate all nuclear ballistic missiles within 10 years, but the deal fell apart when the United States insisted on being able to deploy its Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense system (SDI, or better known as "Star Wars").
While the world missed an opportunity to walk away from the nuclear abyss altogether, the meeting was not completely for naught. Little more than a year later, from the foundation of trust and respect forged in Reykjavik, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, completely eliminating two entire classes of nuclear missiles (intermediate and short range) and putting into play stringent on-site inspection verification protocols that forever transformed the way in which the world would view arms control and disarmament.
Truth is always stranger than fiction! 2/23/2007 04:09:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
- It's like you see a film and wonder what the hell was that about. Then you look into the film and it refers to newspaper articles. The more you look the bigger the can of worms.
States Are Running Out of Health Dollars By Shannon McCaffrey The Associated Press
Thursday 22 February 2007
Some states are warning that hundreds of thousands of poor children could lose their health insurance if Congress doesn't act soon to come through with more money for the program.
The situation is most severe in Georgia, where officials plan to stop enrolling kids in the state's PeachCare program starting March 11 because of a $131 million shortage.
The problem is that many states have nearly used up their annual federal subsidy for child health care, and it is not even midway through the fiscal year - a situation some are blaming on the formula by which the money is doled out by Washington. Congress has been unwilling so far to deliver more money.
The uncertainty is making it difficult for some states to draw up their new budgets, because they do not know how much they will ultimately get from Washington.
In the meantime, states are scrambling to protect youngsters.
In Iowa, which is looking at a $16 million shortfall by the end of the state's fiscal year in June, lawmakers are pushing for a $1 cigarette tax increase to pay for children's health care and related programs. Some states plan to shift some children to the Medicaid rolls, at least temporarily. Others say they will pour in additional state dollars.
An Associated Press survey found that at least 14 states could face a shortfall of children's health insurance funds before the next federal fiscal year begins in October.
Besides Georgia, the other states are Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Alaska.
Complaint against Bush billboard upheld By Sarah McDonald A complaint made against a Hell Pizza billboard featuring US President George Bush has been partially upheld by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board (ASCB).
The advertisement featured Mr Bush and the words "Hell. Too good for some evil bastards".
Objections were made to the use of slang in a public place, the alleged denigration of Mr Bush, and perceived blasphemy.
One of the complainants described the billboard as a vicious smear campaign against an openly Christian person.
But advertising agency Cinderella Ltd defended the billboard, saying that it tapped in to a growing sense of outrage about the invasion of Iraq.
The agency also said that use of the term "bastard" is widespread and can be considered a compliment.
The board ruled the choice of words was irresponsible, but the association with Mr Bush did not cause serious or widespread offence.
Gay marriage critic tried on lewdness By JEFF LATZKE, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 22, 9:43 PM ET
The lawyer for a former Baptist church leader who had spoken out against homosexuality said Thursday the minister has a constitutional right to solicit sex from an undercover policeman.
The Rev. Lonnie W. Latham had supported a resolution calling on gays and lesbians to reject their "sinful, destructive lifestyle" before his Jan. 3, 2006, arrest outside the Habana Inn in Oklahoma City.
Authorities say he asked the undercover policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex.
His attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.
"Now, my client's being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that's legal," Martin said.
Both sides agree there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a "legitimate governmental interest" in regulating offers of acts of lewdness.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief claiming that Latham's arrest also violated his right to free speech.
Before his arrest, Latham had spoken against same-sex marriage and in support of a Southern Baptist resolution that called upon gays and lesbians to reject their lifestyle.
Financial guru Suze Orman is gay by John in DC · 2/23/2007 02:45:00 PM ET Discuss this post here: Comments (232) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
She wishes she could marry her girlfriend. Wow. In an interview for The New York Times Magazine this coming Sunday, financial guru and TV host Suze Orman gets on Deborah Solomon's case for not looking out for her own money, partly because "you are a woman." This inspires Solomon to ask Orman if she is married.
Orman says she "has a relationship with life," so Solomon presses her, and Suze then reveals that her "life partner" is Kathy Travis and, "We're going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin."
Orman says they'd like to get married, and both "have millions of dollars in our name. It's killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa." Good for her. That was rather gutsy.
US troops arrested Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, on his return from Iran. There are conflicting reports on whether he has been released.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is the leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, the major bloc in parliament, and is enormously powerful and influential in Iraq. He also heads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and its Badr Corps paramilitary. He visited Bush in the White House on Dec. 4. If the arrest of his son was deliberate, it could be a significant break between the US and its Shiite allies in Iraq. If it was an accident, it was inexcusable stupidity.
It is also possible that the MEK terrorist organization, which Saddam had given a base in Iraq from which it could blow things up in Iran, is funneling disinformation to the US military. The MEK operatives are still in Iraq and their spies monitor the border, and I have a sense that they are trying to drive a wedge between the US and SCIRI. SCIRI has repeatedly called for their expulsion from the country.
My article, The British retreat from Iraq brings peril for U.S. Troops: Vice President Cheney says the British are leaving southern Iraq because things are going so well. In the real world, Basra is a mess is out in Salon.com
Excerpt:
' In reality, southern Iraq is a quagmire that has defeated all British efforts to impose order, and Blair was pressed by his military commanders to get out altogether -- and quickly. The departure has only been slowed, for the moment, by the pleas of Bush administration officials like Cheney. And far from the disingenuously upbeat prognosis offered by the vice president, the British withdrawal could spell severe trouble for both the Iraqi government and for U.S. troops in that country. '
Pelosi is proving she’s up to the jobBy Marianne Means In her first month as House speaker, Nancy Pelosi is demonstrating the spine and skill that prove she is no female lummox of the left.
Sorry, GOP, she's not just another nothingburger Dennis Hastert in a skirt.
Based on her performance, she is much smarter than her undistinguished Republican predecessor, who was little more than a superficially amiable front-man for the narrow-minded right-wingers who really ran the party.
She is more collegial, focused on getting serious things done. And heaven knows, she has far more in the way of personality, energy and collegial instincts to keep her diverse caucus moving.
Pelosi, 66, initially stumbled by endorsing an ally, Rep. John P. Murtha (D., Pa.), as majority leader. He lost that contest badly to Pelosi's deputy, centrist Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer.
But Pelosi had made an important point. She was loyal to her allies, she wasn't afraid to take chances and she meant to use her power. No sissy girly she. And Murtha remains an influential voice in the House as chairman of the subcommittee that oversees defense spending.
The move didn't visibly hurt her with her caucus, although those who underestimate women had a brief ha-ha.
Haynes Johnson received a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Civil Rights movement in 1965. His father, Malcolm Johnson received a Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for writing about (waterfront) organized crime. His grandfather was a lawer who defended Leo Frank in Georgia.
Obama: "When Dick Cheney Says It's A Good Thing, You Know That You've Probably Got Some Big Problems" Associated Press | February 23, 2007 06:18 PM
"Now if Tony Blair can understand that, than why can't George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?" Obama asked thousands of supporters who gathered in the rain to hear him. "In fact, Dick Cheney said this is all part of the plan (and) it was a good thing that Tony Blair was withdrawing, even as the administration is preparing to put 20,000 more of our young men and women in.
"Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we're in the last throes. I'm sure he forecast sun today," Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over the heads to keep dry. "When Dick Cheney says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems."
White House To Senate: Do Not Take Away Bush 'Decider' Status AP | DAVID ESPO | February 23, 2007 02:18 PM
The White House said Friday it would oppose any attempt by Senate Democrats to revoke the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq and leave U.S. troops with a limited mission as they prepare to withdraw.
The Bush administration argued that changes in the resolution were unnecessary even though it was drafted in the days when Saddam Hussein was in power and there was an assumption -- later proved false -- that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Still, the White House said that Democrats were in a state of confusion about Iraq.
toniD said... Lieberman ends speculation of switch to GOP Defeated in Democratic primary, senator calls self ‘a genuine independent’ 2/23/2007 06:17:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Things should start to turn around. It's going to take some time.
US rejects ban on cluster bombs AFP Published: Friday February 23, 2007
The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We ... take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," McCormack said.
Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo on Friday pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said.
"We, ourselves, have already taken a couple of other steps with regard to technical upgrades to cluster munitions, as well as looking very closely at the rules of engagement, how they are used," said McCormack.
"So it is something that over the course of the years we have looked at very closely. We have taken very seriously the international discussion with respect to the threat posed by unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians," he said.
Army refiles charges against soldier 1 hour, 47 minutes ago
The Army has refiled charges against a lieutenant who refused to serve in Iraq, about two weeks after his first court-martial was declared a mistrial.
First Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, who refused to deploy with his unit last June, faces the same allegations he initially faced — missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer — and could be sentenced to a dishonorable discharge and six years in prison if convicted. The Army has not set a date for a second court-martial.
"We're back to square one," Fort Lewis spokeswoman Leslie Kaye said Friday.
Watada's first trial began early this month but ended abruptly when the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, said he did not believe the soldier fully understood a pretrial agreement he signed admitting elements of the charges. As part of that agreement, the Army dropped two of the charges against him, lowering his potential sentence to four years.
Techno Ted's Wacky Site It's going to be a lot more difficult now for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to shirk his "Techno Ted" nickname (and techno-dunce reputation), what with the single weirdest message we've ever seen appearing on his campaign Web site.
Almost as freaky as his infamously disjointed "series-of-tubes" speech last year about the Internet (which briefly earned him the Most Lampooned Politician on the Web award), Stevens's reelection site asks visitors to enter a username and password and then -- as they unsuccessfully fumble for a password -- condemns them with a warning that begins:
"Through a series of highly sophisticated and complex algorithms, this system has determined that you are not presently authorized to use this system function. It could be that you simply mistyped a password, or, it could be that you are some sort of interplanetary alien-being that has no hands and, thus, cannot type." (See screenshot on 2nd page of this post.)
But wait, it gets even weirder:
"If I were a gambler, I would bet that a cat (an orange tabby named Sierra or Harley) somehow jumped onto your keyboard and forgot some of the more important pointers from those typing lessons you paid for. Based on the actual error encountered, I would guess that the feline in question simply forgot to place one or both paws on the appropriate home keys before starting. Then again, I suppose it could have been a keyboard error caused by some form of cosmic radiation; this would fit nicely with my interplanetary alien-being theory."
Um, senator? Are you OK? Have you decided not to run for reelection after all?
Stevens spokesman Aaron Saunders said he didn't know anything about the Web message and furthermore wouldn't comment anyway because of legal separations between Senate and campaign affairs.
Sunshine said... gonna lay down for a bit. knew i'd pay for crawling around on that garage floor, always shows up a coupla days later. 2/23/2007 03:45:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Worst thing - Upside down under the dash of an old car in the summer heat breathing in gas fumes.
168 comments:
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
So that's what that was..
2-alarm fire burns at Brooklyn junk yard
(Same thing happened a
couple of years ago.)
Morning NC :)
Got some sleep, not so spacey today.
Dick Cheney Down Under - Part 3
On The Inside Of A "Violent" Protest
Breaking Down The Numbers
Story And Photos By Darryl Mason
There was the usual chanting, singing, applauding, angry speech-making through dodgy crackling sound systems. There were the hand-drawn signs and glossy 'No War' placards bearing the names of political parties. There were the tables covered with Chomsky, Pilger and Che biographies and clipboards of anti-war, anti-bombs, anti-Bush petitions.
There were a spattering of ferals, a handful of professional agitators, a bushel of politically inspired uni students and a few dozen middle-aged to elderly people who wanted Cheney to "Go Home!" and to "Free David Hicks!"
The mostly peaceful protest next to Sydney's Town Hall earlier today, held four hours before US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Australia, certainly didn't seem to have the makings of Big Trouble.
And there wasn't Big Trouble. Far from it.
Until the MC told the crowd police had refused permission for them to march through the city and declared it was "up to youse" whether or not they wanted to defy the police and "March On!"
The police, by this time, were standing in double-strength lines between the crowd and George Street, filled with early evening commuter traffic.
A few cheers of defiance went up, and the police edged closer.
LINK
Sammy Cam
LINK
morning, tonid, NC
tonid, you're awake now and i'm getting sleepy.
just finished reading sinclair's "it can't happen here" - very frightening.
Wolfowitz May Bring Bank Back to Iraq
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may appoint a new
resident director for Iraq soon, a move that sources
inside the Bank say could contradict the institution's
policies on engagement in conflict-stricken areas and put
his role in the 2003 U.S. invasion back into the
limelight. The move by Wolfowitz, the former number two
official at the Pentagon and a main architect of the
U.S.-led war, likely means the Bank would release new
loans to the occupied Arab nation, despite the
deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of
massive corruption in reconstruction efforts. "This is
exactly what he shouldn't be doing and what the [World
Bank] board was initially afraid that he would do, which
is to use the financial resources of the World Bank to
take some of the heat off the U.S. Treasury and U.S.
policy," Bea Edwards of the Washington-based watchdog
group Government Accountability Project told IPS.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2919.shtml
Can I post this info on my blog Jenise? Hat tip to you of course!
oh, tonid, of course. no need to say anything at all. just trying to pay back a little tiny bit, realizing though we'll never be "even". ; )
(so does h/t mean hat tip, then?)
funny, i always thought joe conason was in his 30s...
I love his voice. Sounds like a teacher I had in High School that taught World History. Loved that class because I loved his voice.
I am going to post that Jenise. It's important for people to know that.
he does have a great voice.
i don't know how to IM - majorly confused.
re: wolfowitz. this commandeering of global institutions by the US pisses me off no end!
morning gang!
Morning Jim.
I know how to IM but I can't connect to the Sam Seder Show for some reason.
morning, sunshine.
tonid, i just did it on AIM by putting in samsedershow, no spaces in between and no @ anything
Ja was on sam's blog and gave him the link for here. He was asking about you Jim.
read it T! thanks for letting me know )
snow here this mornin! coupla inches is all.
may need to change browser for the IM?
Jenise said...
morning, sunshine.
tonid, i just did it on AIM by putting in samsedershow, no spaces in between and no @ anything
----
I'm a spaz today. Can't do it. Oh well.
Jenise, IM Sam about wolfowitz
i just did, tonid. sounds like he's looking it up...
Good, Jenise!! :)
sunshine, i don't think IM has to do with browsers. i'm using AIM (which i think is AOL, but don't know). a friend set me up with it, but i don't remember how i did it.
good calls with Sam.
like this ladies voice.
Sam has a very good show going today.
I wish he would have more like this.
AP: Ex-Iowa Gov. Vilsack ending '08 bid By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago
Democrat Tom Vilsack is abandoning his bid for the presidency after struggling against better-known, better-financed rivals, a senior campaign official told The Associated Press on Friday.
Vilsack left office in January and traveled through states holding early tests of strength. He had faced a tough challenge from rivals such as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and John Edwards, who have had more success raising money and attracting attention — even in Vilsack's home state of Iowa.
Vilsack was scheduled to make a formal announcement later in the day. The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the Democrat's statement.
Vilsack was the first Democrat to formally enter the 2008 race when he announced his candidacy in November. He conceded at the time that he faced a difficult race.
Trying to counter perceptions that as one of the least known of the prospective candidates he was too much of an underdog to succeed, Vilsack said in a campaign video: "I've never started a race that I've been expected to win, and I've never lost."
As governor of Iowa, Vilsack had carved out a reputation as a centrist balancing his state's budget and refusing to raise taxes, while emphasizing increased spending on such priorities as education, health care and higher wages. Until recently he chaired the Democratic Leadership Council, the party's signature centrist group.
Vilsack initially made the focus of his long-shot campaign a plan to end U.S dependence on foreign oil by promoting alternative energy sources.
"Energy security will revitalize rural America, re-establish our moral leadership on global warming and climate security, and eliminate our addiction to foreign oil," Vilsack, a prominent proponent of ethanol, biodiesel and wind power, said at the time.
More recently, Vilsack has been among the more aggressive Democratic candidates in his call to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, calling for Congress to cut off funding.
LINK
Wes Clark, said yesterday on the Ed Schultz show (I was in my car and could not get AAR), that he may still run for President.
Morning toniDeeeee and everyone!
Please... check this out and pass it on to everyone you know:
Check out the video link. She's right. Teheran looks a lot like Salt Lake City.
From The Utah Amicus Blog:
I’ve been very concerned about the recent reporting on Iran. It so reminds me of the build up to the invasion of Iraq which led to the disastrous mess in which we are so entangled.
I have a family connection to Iraq. My aunt married a Persian many years ago, and my cousin, Mahan and I are very close – almost sisters. Around my home, you’ll find a number of beautiful Persian artifacts, as well as stories and books of poetry from Persia/Iran. At family reunions I have met a number of Mahan’s Persian relatives who are remarkable, witty, and warm people. Many of them were forced to flee Teheran, Iran due to our involvement in the coup that placed the Shah in power in 1953. (You may remember that the US had a hand in that, and look where that has led us.)
This short video LINK dropped in my email box yesterday. I clicked on the link and continued multitasking - had several windows open. When the music began I finished the current task and switched over. The first thing I saw was a city up against the mountains, which I assumed was Salt Lake. More images flashed - urban shots, cultural events, skiing, and soccer. Then, it became clear that I was not looking at photos of Salt Lake at all, I was looking at photos of Teheran. The similarities between the two are striking. Nothing spoke to me as powerfully as this video.
Iran being a completely different country than Iraq, and knowing this administration’s capacity to ignore facts, I decided to do some research and encourage you to do the same.
http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2007/02/some-truths-about-iran.html
eya GBC!
mornin bud
Morning Charlie ;).
Good post!
Check this on my blog today:
LINK
sunshine, did you figure the IM out?
morning, GBC. did i read you're trying to end the human race? ; p
i called an iranian friend in osaka who had promised to help me find iranians to interview. he said he couldn't find anyone who would say yes. they're all afraid of both our government and theirs. *sigh*
Finally got IM to work!
hola Sunny!
Snowing like a son-of-a-bitch here today... I do believe a ski day, err, a "sick day" from work is soon in order. :)
hey jenise!
---did i read you're trying to end the human race? ; p---
Yep, that would be me.
I have "hetero-killer" tattoed on my... oh, nevermind.
I have "hetero-killer" tattoed on my... oh, nevermind.
Heh!
i need to IM?
hey toniDeeee,
from your post on Cheney, he says:
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."
Oh, so America's foreign policy has been perceived as "weak" for the last, say, 40 years, and that perceived weakness is what brought about 9/11? What the hell!
"---did i read you're trying to end the human race? ; p---
Yep, that would be me."
long as you have a goal, that's what my dad always says.
Damnit. Sammy Cam just went kaput.
It's back up, GBC. Might have to reload!
ya gbc
had to go to the standard stream
and then back to the sammy cam.
off to bed now. have to leave in a few hours for shikoku island. i'm going to interview the 89-year-old father of a friend, a WWII vet who apparently still hates americans. this ought to be a barrel of laughs.
have a great weekend, you guys.
you too, jenise :)
Take care Jenise!
GBC said...
hey toniDeeee,
from your post on Cheney, he says:
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."
Oh, so America's foreign policy has been perceived as "weak" for the last, say, 40 years, and that perceived weakness is what brought about 9/11? What the hell!
He doesn't know what he says. He trys to doubletalk to confuse people.
good luck with the interview.
Defense agency kills Divine Strake test explosion
WASHINGTON - Breaking under a flood of public opposition to Divine Strake, the Pentagon announced Thursday that it would scrap plans to conduct the massive blast at the Nevada Test Site.
Some 10,000 Utahns and Nevadans expressed fears that the detonation of 700 tons of explosives could spew debris into the air, carrying radiation left over from Cold War nuclear weapons tests at the test site.
"I have become convinced that it's time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this type of large-scale test," Defense Threat Reduction Agency Director Dr. James A. Tegnelia said in a statement announcing the cancellation of the test.
The agency said the decision was not a result of any information that indicated the test might harm workers or the public.
Divine Strake touched a raw nerve with Utahns, still deeply distrustful of government assurances on testing at the Nevada Test Site. Thousands of Utahns suffered from cancer and other illnesses as a result of the radioactive fallout. The test was opposed by members of Utah's congressional delegation, the state Legislature, the governor, activists and others.
LINK
Cheney won’t back down on Pelosi
Vice president says top Dem’s war stance playing into terrorists’ hands
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:04 a.m. CT Feb 23, 2007
SYDNEY, Australia - Vice President Dick Cheney refused Friday to take back his charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to President Bush’s Iraq war buildup is playing into the hands of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
“If you’re going to advocate a course of action that basically is withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, then you don’t get to just do the fun part of that, that says, ‘We’ll, we’re going to get out,’ and appeal to your constituents on that basis,” Cheney said.
The vice president had voiced the same criticism of Pelosi earlier this week during a visit to Japan, and the California Democrat accused the vice president of questioning her patriotism, saying she was going to call President Bush directly with her complaint.
“I hope the president will repudiate and distance himself from the vice president’s remarks,” Pelosi said. She ended up talking with White House chief of staff Josh Bolten instead of Bush.
'I questioned her judgment'
The long-distance quarrel began in Tokyo, where Cheney earlier this week used an interview to criticize Pelosi and Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., over their plan to place restrictions on Bush’s request for an additional $93 billion for the Iraq war to make it difficult or impossible to send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq.
During Friday’s interview in Sydney, Cheney said, “I’m not sure what part of it is that Nancy disagreed with. She accused me of questioning her patriotism. I didn’t question her patriotism. I questioned her judgment.”
“You also have to be accountable for the results. What are the consequences of that? What happens if we withdraw from Iraq?,” he said. “And the point I made and I’ll make it again is that al-Qaida functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy, that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home. And my statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, that then we will validate the strategy of al-Qaida. I said it and I meant it.”
LINK
Cheney, whose policies have helped rebuild al Qaeda, continues over the top attacks
by Joe in DC · 2/23/2007 10:14:00 AM ET
Let's review:
1) Just this week, we learned that Al Qaeda is back; Bin Laden has reasserted his authority;
2) Last fall we learned that the nation's 16 intelligence agencies concluded that the Iraq war has hurt the U.S. efforts to fight terrorism while serving as a recruiting boon for jihadist terror networks;
3) The Iraq war is a monumental failure and there has never been a real plan from the Bush/Cheney Administration to get the U.S. out of the quagmire.
So, what does Dick Cheney do? Continues his irrational and hysterical attacks on the Speaker:
Vice President Dick Cheney refused Friday to take back his charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's opposition to President Bush's Iraq war buildup is playing into the hands of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
"If you're going to advocate a course of action that basically is withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, then you don't get to just do the fun part of that, that says, 'We'll, we're going to get out,' and appeal to your constituents on that basis," Cheney said.
Now, we know Dick Cheney will never admit he's wrong. They don't do that.
I have heard from several reliable sources that if the U.S. pulled out of Iraq, the Sunnis and Shias would both work to destroy al Qaeda in their country. If that's true, then the Bush/Cheney administration is actually playing in to the hands of al Qaeda. No surprise, Bush and Cheney have been played by al Qaeda for six years now.
LINK
(snark)
eya snort!
a shingled VW
from MAT's site:
http://akamat.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/wooden-vw-beetle-car/
(I can't help but wonder if there wasn't enough space available to spell heterosexual in its entirety.)
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
That was good, crankie.
all you can do is cut em some slack crnkr and eddicate em.
if not u, who?
I'm back now. Just did my taxes and efiled em! Get a little money back anyway.
Phew! It's so nice to have a joke recognized as a joke.
~-~-~
Crank, your posts have always made me laugh. Well, the ones that are supposed to make me laugh, that is. ;-p
We all need to laugh at ourselves once in a while. It's healthy.
Needless to say, I don't bother to float John Waters references...
Maybe that's a good thing :)
try yoga
or Yoda
Dear Vice President Cheney: Shut Up
Dick Cheney, the man who is accountable for nothing, is the person who will tell other countries what is "consistent" with a peaceful image in the world?
If you haven't spent a lot of time outside the United States recently, you may not been made aware in a painful, humiliating way of how grievously America's moral standing has suffered because of Guantanamo, Abu Grahib, and the general carnage in Iraq. It's hard in general to get non-Americans to listen to lectures about seemly behavior these days. It's hardest of all when the lectures come from the man who, to the rest of the world, personifies America's squandering of the qualities that made it special.
Dear Mr. Vice President: there may be valuable things you can do. But telling anyone else how to cultivate a peaceful image is not one of them. Go home, and shut up.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-fallows/dear-vice-president-chene_b_41932.html
God I hope he's right.
The Religious Right's Era Is Over
By JIM WALLIS
As I have traveled around the country, one line in my speeches always draws cheers: "The monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new dialogue has now begun." We have now entered the post-Religious Right era. Though religion has had a negative image in the last few decades, the years ahead may be shaped by a dynamic and more progressive faith that will make needed social change more possible.
In the churches, a combination of deeper compassion and better theology has moved many pastors and congregations away from the partisan politics of the Religious Right. In politics, we are beginning to see a leveling of the playing field between the two parties on religion and "moral values," and the media are finally beginning to cover the many and diverse voices of faith. These are all big changes in American life, and the rest of the world is taking notice.
Evangelicals — especially the new generation of pastors and young people — are deserting the Religious Right in droves. The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, engaging issues like poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur and the ethics of the war in Iraq. Catholics are returning to their social teaching; mainline Protestants are asserting their faith more aggressively; a new generation of young black and Latino pastors are putting the focus on social justice; a Jewish renewal movement and more moderate Islam are also growing; and a whole new denomination has emerged, which might be called the "spiritual but not religious."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1590782,00.html?cnn=yes
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Cops and temperature putting crime on ice, NYPD reports
NYPD Blotter
Giuliani Limits Self To Events With 'Friendly Audiences'
NY Times | RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA | February 23, 2007 10:06 AM
In a swing through South Carolina this week, Rudolph W. Giuliani chose to campaign at a fire house, which is a little like Derek Jeter meeting with Yankees fans -- a most unlikely forum for hostility, or even much skepticism.
Instead of the sometimes barbed give-and-take endured by the other candidates, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, fielded a few questions from the firefighters and police officers who gathered to hear him here. The questions, which began with comments like, "Being in your presence here is just unbelievable," stuck almost entirely to issues on which Mr. Giuliani is most comfortable, like airport security and border control.
LINK
Took a page out of Bush's playbook!
I have the whole weekend off. Was looking forward to doing some needed shopping. Now I hear we are getting snow and wintery mix again.
Jeesh, enough already!!
Fox News' Repeated Attempts To Discredit Obama
Brave New Films | Robert Greenwald | February 22, 2007 09:46 AM
Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films has released Fox Attacks Obama. The short video exposes Fox News' repeated attempts to discredit Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Watch here to see Fox anchors misrepresent Obama's education and the implications of his middle name, and focus on his smoking habit.
You have to watch this video. These Faux news people are brutal, nasty, asses. All of them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/02/22/fox-news-repeated-attemp_n_41841.html
"I'm going to keep running this for a while since the mainstream won't pick up on it and we all know how the republicans would be reacting if this were a dem: Remember how Republicans were saying the terrorists wanted Democrats to win the elections? Feds learn latest Afghani Taliban terror suspect is a Republican activist and regular GOP campaign donor"
2-21 POAC
http://tinyurl.com/ysthvu
Iran Tensions Help Push Oil Above $61 A Barrel
AP | GEORGE JAHN | February 23, 2007 09:24 AM
Oil prices rose Friday, extending gains registered the previous day after a U.S. snapshot of energy inventories revealed a surprising drop in U.S. gasoline and heating oil supplies.
Tension between Western powers and Iran also boosted energy prices. The U.N. nuclear watchdog reported Thursday that Iran _ OPEC's No. 2 supplier _ is still refusing to end uranium enrichment, in defiance of the Security Council.
LINK
the "Joy of Slush"
my new book...
Pelosi seeks tougher oversight on ethics after discovering that Bush administration official was sharing a bed with an oil industry lobbyist. Literally 2-22 POAC
http://tinyurl.com/2gcsyd
George Clooney has had plastic surgery. He had his eyes done and in an interview with Julia Roberts quipped..."It's important to look like you are awake!
UK-US in talks on missile defence
The UK and US have held high level talks on the possibility of putting a "Son of Star Wars" missile defence system on British soil.
Downing Street stressed talks were at an early stage. The US is thought to favour a site in eastern Europe.
Russia has said the system, which will destroy missiles launched at the US, will trigger an arms race.
Anti-war groups said UK involvement was "ill-conceived", and other critics said it could make Britain a target.
Rebuff denied
A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed that Prime Minister Tony Blair thought the discussions were a "good idea".
"We believe that it is an important step towards providing missile defence coverage for Europe," she said.
But hours later, US deputy chief of mission in London, David Johnson, seemed to rebuff these claims.
He told the BBC: "As we go forward there may be opportunities for us to talk to other countries about their needs.
LINK
It's Friday ya Bastards!
{{{Bounce yer Boobies everybody!}}}
eya GBC!
(*)(*) (.)(.) (*)(*) (.)(.)!!!
Crank Bait said...
I will enter my grave still trying to convince people (and myself) that their opinions are predominately the sum-total of their cultural influences and not sufficiently influenced by history and indisputable facts.
--------------
I've had to bite my lip many times, Crank.
I was working for the Director of the park district about a year and a half ago and he was definately a winger. He received mail from the RNC, Frist, et al.
I had to be very careful what I said around him, but I truly wanted to say..."Open your damn eyes and see what is really happening here".
GBC said...
It's Friday ya Bastards!
{{{Bounce yer Boobies everybody!}}}
Heh! Love it!
(*)(*) (.)(.) (*)(*) (.)(.)!!!
~-~-
Hee! Good'un SJ!
tell ya gang,
nothing like swimming against this current to get yer dander up!
Tony Blair reportedly hired psychics to find Iraq WMDs. Newly declassified documents revealed that the Ministry of Defense spent £18,000 of taxpayers’ money in an experiment “to see if volunteers could ’see’ objects hidden inside an envelope. It is claimed the ministry hoped positive results would allow it to use psychics to ‘remotely view’ Bin Laden’s base and also to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
LINK
Cheney: ‘There Does Not Appear To Be A Consensus’ That Global Warming Is ‘Caused By Man’
In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded it was “very likely” — or more than 90 percent probable — that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.
Continuing the Bush administration’s long resistance to the science of global warming, Vice President Dick Cheney said today a consensus is lacking on whether global warming is caused by human activity. From an interview with ABC:
JONATHAN KARL: Where is the science on this? Is global warming a fact? And is it human activity that is causing global warming?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Those are the two key questions. I think there’s an emerging consensus that we do have global warming. You can look at the data on that, and I think clearly we’re in a period of warming. Where there does not appear to be a consensus, where it begins to break down, is the extent to which that’s part of a normal cycle versus the extent to which it’s caused by man, greenhouse gases, et cetera.
Cheney added later in the interview, “I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.” But he appears comfortable enough in his knowledge to suggest that the scientists are all wrong.
LINK
This man is like a bad penny! He keeps on coming back!!
Hero In Error’ Chalabi Makes Political Comeback To Lead Iraqi End Of Escalation Strategy
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Ahmed Chalabi, the darling of neoconservatives in the lead-up to the Iraq war, has been given a prominent position to oversee the implementation of the escalation strategy on the Iraqi end:
In his latest remarkable political reincarnation, onetime U.S. favorite Ahmed Chalabi has secured a position inside the Iraqi government that could help determine whether the Bush administration’s new push to secure Baghdad succeeds. …
Chalabi will serve as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign across the city. The position is meant to help Iraqis arrange reimbursement for damage to their cars and homes caused by the security sweeps in the hope of maintaining public support for the strategy.
Chalabi, who once famously said of his Iraq involvement, “we are heroes in error,” has had a sordid history with the United States. A review of Chalabi’s nefarious activities:
PENTAGON FUNDED CHALABI TO PROVIDE RATIONALE FOR WAR: The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency paid the INC $335,000 a month in the lead-up to the Iraq war to gather intelligence. In all, the Bush White House has given the INC at least $39 million over the past 5 years. [IPS, 5/23/04; New Yorker, 6/7/04]
LINK
Sam said a few things on his show today.
1. He wants to move his show close to where he lives...Hudson.
2. He said he couldn't afford his condo in NYC any more.
3. He has a grand plan for the blog when the new owners offically take over.
eya crnkr, heres where it's at.
http://tinyurl.com/ywm3a4
216 Million Americans Are Scientifically Illiterate (Part I)
The good news: America's science literacy rate is up from a pathetic 10 percent in 1988. The bad news: it's still only 28 percent.
Exclusive: Powell Rebuts Media Reports Claiming He Supports Escalation
Yesterday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at Purdue University. Articles on the event by the Lafayette Indiana Journal and Courier and the Associated Press report that Powell “said he supported President Bush’s decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq”:
LINK
ya T
sorta figgered that was the case.
why i have'nt called in to chew butt.
great posts girls & boys
Sam's put up a sustained effort with all the ups and downs we tried to ride herd on.
overall he's done a superb job, earned some respect and street cred too.
learned a lot and is still learning.
and that gives me hope.
not bad for a comic eh?
crank, see...
he's a dirty copper, see
(edward g. robinson, see)
aar frkoff mr counterswirl!
(does that mean all yer poopoo's are lefthanded?)
//not bad for a comic eh?//
you're dirty copper too, see
ha!
yer brother is no stranger to reality.
i just like to take it a step or two further.
//(does that mean all yer poopoo's are lefthanded?)//
nobody talks like that to johnny rocco, see
Part of being on top requires one to occasionally be the first off the cliff at the big stampede...
just dropped by for a quick hello, see
before the sleepers say, "johnny - ya gotta go back to sleep, see"
why you dirty rotten sleepers...
nobody talks to johnny rocco like that, see
you still up with enough energy to watch old gangster B&W's?
no wonder yer brains fried.
you need to watch sesame st for an hour a day to start to recover.
//you need to watch sesame st for an hour a day to start to recover.//
ahhh, a wise guy
Carter Endorses Gore, Says Former Veep Can Win More Than Oscars
February 23, 2007
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: In an exclusive interview with former President Jimmy Carter set to air on Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", Carter lavished praise on "(his) favorite Democrat) former Vice President Al Gore.
Carter told ABC News, "If Al should decide to run -- which I'm afraid he won't -- I would support Al Gore."
The former Democratic President asserted Gore could accomplish much more in the White House than he ever could as a private citizen, saying to Stephanopoulos, "His burning issue now is global warming and preventing it. He can do infinitely more to accomplish that goal as in the incumbent in the White House, than he can making even movies that get -- you know, that get Oscars."
"An Inconvenient Truth", a documentary based on a global warming lecture Gore has delivered around the world, is nominated for an Academy Award and the former Vice President will walk the red carpet at the Oscars this Sunday.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/02/carter_endorses.html
wisdom is overated
i'd like to try innocense again for a week or two.
post 102
a fine howdy doo!
//i'd like to try innocense again for a week or two.//
that new-age sensitive spaghetti marinara...
is gonna bring down the heat on us, see
there'll be dirty coppers swarming all over us, see
sheesh...
Jimmy Camp, a tattooed punk rocker with a history of drug abuse and theft, is one of California's most reliable Republican political operatives and expects to run Rudy Giuliani's California campaign. 2-23
http://tinyurl.com/ytu67v
nature has a way of thinning the herd
even when some of them think they're doing the thinning...
they ain't that much different from a mouthy 12 year old with a bad attitude.
they've just managed to get away with it longer
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Hey toniD, Jim.
eya NC
just clankin along here
think i got onosnorkel to laugh
i'm working on crnkr and then we're gonna double team T and tickle her til she threatens to not cook dinner.
//3. He has a grand plan for the blog when the new owners offically take over.//
heard this bullshit before...
i'd rather eat spaghetti marinana
and drink wine
I can tell it's casual friday!
nice touch, n.c.
playing "Moanin' Low"
Bad Train derailment in England. Slipped of the rails and down an embankment. Train was on the way from London to Glasgow Scotland. Per CNN
The Bush administration has “demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.” In meetings with Israeli officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “was forceful in expressing Washington’s view on the matter”: “Don’t even think about it.”
LINK
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Organized Crime Syndicates
“Iraq may be facing a deadly civil war, but the Iraqi government is initiating major, costly repairs to its diplomatic building in Washington and expanding its real estate holdings here.” The Iraqi government recently purchased a $5.8 million mansion complete with “heated floors…and spacious bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi.”
LINK
air-ono said...
nice touch, n.c.
playing "Moanin' Low"
2/23/2007 03:24:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
The character of Gaye Dawn
(Claire Trevor) was based on
real-life moll Gay Orlova
(gangster Lucky Luciano's girlfriend),
allegedly executed by a German firing squad.
//Condoleezza Rice “was forceful in expressing Washington’s view on the matter”: “Don’t even think about it.”//
does the shifty-eyed bitch still do it for you, CRANK!
Here's the info on Wolfowitz that Jenise posted earlier but from Think Progress:
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may appoint a new resident director for Iraq. “This is exactly what he shouldn’t be doing and what the [Bank] board was initially afraid that he would do, which is to use the financial resources of the World Bank to take some of the heat off the U.S. Treasury and U.S. policy,” said Bea Edwards of the Government Accountability Project.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36690
LOL!
cheers, n.c.
Moanin' low, my sweet man, I love him so
Though he's mean as can be
He's the kind of man needs the kind
Of a woman like me
*
a chanteuse who needs a stiff drink bad
"can i have my drink now johnny"
"no!"
(i'd liquor her liqueur hard)
what loss of the seperation of state and religion?
*
Attorney General Gonzales Deputizes 20 Million Right Leaning Christians
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48364/
best mosey along...
for a couple mo hours kip
//Attorney General Gonzales Deputizes 20 Million Right Leaning Christians//
fuck me
he needs a slappin'
air-ono said...
LOL!
cheers, n.c.
2/23/2007 03:32:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Weeks before Katrina I posted
a quote from the film, Key Largo.
I felt bad afterward. I still do.
New Orleans was destroyed.
“Make a big wave, send it crashing down on us,
destroy us all if need be, but punish him.
Hear me! Hear me! Make a big wave,
send it against us, take us all, but destroy him.” - James Temple, Lionel Barrymore - Key Largo.
Posted by: "NEWS CONSUMER" at August 19, 2005 02:27 AM
gonna lay down for a bit.
knew i'd pay for crawling around on that garage floor, always shows up a coupla days later.
love ya all!
//James Temple, Lionel Barrymore - Key Largo.//
aka, sunshine jim
: )
//gonna lay down for a bit.//
and when you do....
we'll steal your towells
p.s. an send 'em to the arabs to wear
don't ever say johnny rocco don't move with the times
air-ono said...
//James Temple, Lionel Barrymore - Key Largo.//
2/23/2007 03:45:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935
Key Largo Script
when that train pulled into Homestead.
Engineer backed his string of empty coaches into the danger zone . and the hurricane hit
Knocked those coaches right off the track.
Two hundred miles an hour, that wind blew.
A tidal wave * feet high went right across the Key.
Whole towns were wiped out
Miles and miles of track were ripped up. and washed away. Nothing was left.
More than * bodies were recovered after the storm.
And for months afterwards corpses were found in the mangrove swamps.
Posted by: "NEWS CONSUMER" at June 16, 2006 06:39 PM
ok, one more
otherwise i couldn't live with my self
//If she'd pack something-or-other with figs I'd follow her anywhere.//
he wants some more a that eastern mediterranean sea pussy
an he wants it bad
*
(ono of the lowlands)
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
FDR put Bonus Army WWI veterans
to work in Fl. building a
railroad. The 800 vets were
killed in the hurricane.
Hemingway was down there and
wrote about it.
//Key Largo Script//
cool...
i'll grab some dialogue
An analysis of 2005 census figures found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty — a 32-year high. “A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.”
LINK
Michelle Malkin to co-host new Fox show. “Fox News Channel is testing another pilot on Sunday that will air following its experiment in news satire, ‘The ½ Hour News Hour.’ ‘It’s Out There,’ a half-hour of stories derived from blogs, will get a half-hour test run following Joel Surnow’s satirical take on news. [The show], fronted by conservative blogger-columnist Michele Malkin and former Clinton administration operative Kirsten Powers, will take on political and cultural issues enflaming the blogosphere.”
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959996.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
air-ono said...
//Key Largo Script//
cool...
i'll grab some dialogue
2/23/2007 03:57:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Films often dramatize events
and base characters on real
people.
Iraq Veteran Shot In The Head Describes ‘Systemic’ Neglect At Military Hospitals »
Yesterday, for the first time, the Army criticized the Washington Post for its investigation into the gross neglect of wounded U.S. veterans at Walter Reed’s outpatient facilities. Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, chief of the Army Medical Command, called the Post’s reporting “one-sided” and questioned whether it was “an accurate representation.”
Moreover, he claimed the Army had already “fixed all of those problems” discussed in the article. (Reporter Dana Milbank noted, “Kiley might have had a stronger case if men wearing Tyvek hazmat suits and gas masks hadn’t walked through the lobby…or if he hadn’t acknowledged, moments later, that the entire building would have to be closed for a complete renovation.”)
But last night on the PBS Newshour, Lt. Brady Van Engelen — a former Walter Reed outpatient who has personal experience with the hospital’s failed bureaucracy — confirmed the Post’s reporting, and said the problems with America’s military health care system go well beyond Walter Reed. Watch it:
LINK
Sunshine said...
wisdom is overated
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Ignorance is bliss.
NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Films often dramatize events
and base characters on real
people.
--------------
Truth is always stranger than fiction!
"Wise One" John Coltrane Quartet 09:03
John Coltrane Quartet
John Coltrane (ts) McCoy Tyner (p)
Jimmy Garrison (b) Elvin Jones (d)
Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 27, 1964
Russia Could Go Ballistic on American Missile Defense
By Scott Ritter, AlterNet
Posted on February 23, 2007, Printed on February 23, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/48274/
In October 1986 what was supposed to be merely a preliminary meeting between the leaders of the world's two superpowers, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, turned into a historic summit that brought humankind to the brink of total nuclear disarmament. While the Reykjavik, Iceland, summit broke up without this dramatic disarmament threshold being crossed (the Americans and Soviets had reached a contingent agreement to eliminate all nuclear ballistic missiles within 10 years, but the deal fell apart when the United States insisted on being able to deploy its Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense system (SDI, or better known as "Star Wars").
While the world missed an opportunity to walk away from the nuclear abyss altogether, the meeting was not completely for naught. Little more than a year later, from the foundation of trust and respect forged in Reykjavik, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, completely eliminating two entire classes of nuclear missiles (intermediate and short range) and putting into play stringent on-site inspection verification protocols that forever transformed the way in which the world would view arms control and disarmament.
Truth is always stranger than fiction!
2/23/2007 04:09:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
- It's like you see a film
and wonder what the hell was
that about. Then you look into
the film and it refers to newspaper articles. The more
you look the bigger the can of
worms.
http://www.companysj.com/v204/waterfrontpriest.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Johnson
States Are Running Out of Health Dollars
By Shannon McCaffrey
The Associated Press
Thursday 22 February 2007
Some states are warning that hundreds of thousands of poor children could lose their health insurance if Congress doesn't act soon to come through with more money for the program.
The situation is most severe in Georgia, where officials plan to stop enrolling kids in the state's PeachCare program starting March 11 because of a $131 million shortage.
The problem is that many states have nearly used up their annual federal subsidy for child health care, and it is not even midway through the fiscal year - a situation some are blaming on the formula by which the money is doled out by Washington. Congress has been unwilling so far to deliver more money.
The uncertainty is making it difficult for some states to draw up their new budgets, because they do not know how much they will ultimately get from Washington.
In the meantime, states are scrambling to protect youngsters.
In Iowa, which is looking at a $16 million shortfall by the end of the state's fiscal year in June, lawmakers are pushing for a $1 cigarette tax increase to pay for children's health care and related programs. Some states plan to shift some children to the Medicaid rolls, at least temporarily. Others say they will pour in additional state dollars.
An Associated Press survey found that at least 14 states could face a shortfall of children's health insurance funds before the next federal fiscal year begins in October.
Besides Georgia, the other states are Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Alaska.
LINK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Waterfront
http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/waterfront.htm
"On The Waterfront" Leonard Bernstein 10:35
Complaint against Bush billboard upheld
By Sarah McDonald
A complaint made against a Hell Pizza billboard featuring US President George Bush has been partially upheld by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board (ASCB).
The advertisement featured Mr Bush and the words "Hell. Too good for some evil bastards".
Objections were made to the use of slang in a public place, the alleged denigration of Mr Bush, and perceived blasphemy.
One of the complainants described the billboard as a vicious smear campaign against an openly Christian person.
But advertising agency Cinderella Ltd defended the billboard, saying that it tapped in to a growing sense of outrage about the invasion of Iraq.
The agency also said that use of the term "bastard" is widespread and can be considered a compliment.
The board ruled the choice of words was irresponsible, but the association with Mr Bush did not cause serious or widespread offence.
LINK
And here's the picture of the billboard:
LINK
Oops.
2/23/2007 04:46:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
That was me.
Crank have you read my blog yet or do you go straight to the comments?
Gay marriage critic tried on lewdness By JEFF LATZKE, Associated Press Writer
Thu Feb 22, 9:43 PM ET
The lawyer for a former Baptist church leader who had spoken out against homosexuality said Thursday the minister has a constitutional right to solicit sex from an undercover policeman.
The Rev. Lonnie W. Latham had supported a resolution calling on gays and lesbians to reject their "sinful, destructive lifestyle" before his Jan. 3, 2006, arrest outside the Habana Inn in Oklahoma City.
Authorities say he asked the undercover policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex.
His attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.
"Now, my client's being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that's legal," Martin said.
Both sides agree there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a "legitimate governmental interest" in regulating offers of acts of lewdness.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief claiming that Latham's arrest also violated his right to free speech.
Before his arrest, Latham had spoken against same-sex marriage and in support of a Southern Baptist resolution that called upon gays and lesbians to reject their lifestyle.
LINK
Defense Secretary contradicts Army Surgeon General who contradictd top Army officials who contradicted the general in charge of Walter Reed
Financial guru Suze Orman is gay
by John in DC · 2/23/2007 02:45:00 PM ET
Discuss this post here: Comments (232) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
She wishes she could marry her girlfriend. Wow.
In an interview for The New York Times Magazine this coming Sunday, financial guru and TV host Suze Orman gets on Deborah Solomon's case for not looking out for her own money, partly because "you are a woman." This inspires Solomon to ask Orman if she is married.
Orman says she "has a relationship with life," so Solomon presses her, and Suze then reveals that her "life partner" is Kathy Travis and, "We're going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin."
Orman says they'd like to get married, and both "have millions of dollars in our name. It's killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa."
Good for her. That was rather gutsy.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/financial-guru-suze-orman-is-gay.html
Friday, February 23, 2007
Breaking News: US Arrests Ammar al-Hakim
US troops arrested Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, on his return from Iran. There are conflicting reports on whether he has been released.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is the leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, the major bloc in parliament, and is enormously powerful and influential in Iraq. He also heads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and its Badr Corps paramilitary. He visited Bush in the White House on Dec. 4. If the arrest of his son was deliberate, it could be a significant break between the US and its Shiite allies in Iraq. If it was an accident, it was inexcusable stupidity.
It is also possible that the MEK terrorist organization, which Saddam had given a base in Iraq from which it could blow things up in Iran, is funneling disinformation to the US military. The MEK operatives are still in Iraq and their spies monitor the border, and I have a sense that they are trying to drive a wedge between the US and SCIRI. SCIRI has repeatedly called for their expulsion from the country.
http://www.juancole.com/2007/02/breaking-news-us-arrests-ammar-al-hakim.html
Cole in Salon on British Troop Withdrawal
My article,
The British retreat from Iraq brings peril for U.S. Troops: Vice President Cheney says the British are leaving southern Iraq because things are going so well. In the real world, Basra is a mess is out in Salon.com
Excerpt:
' In reality, southern Iraq is a quagmire that has defeated all British efforts to impose order, and Blair was pressed by his military commanders to get out altogether -- and quickly. The departure has only been slowed, for the moment, by the pleas of Bush administration officials like Cheney. And far from the disingenuously upbeat prognosis offered by the vice president, the British withdrawal could spell severe trouble for both the Iraqi government and for U.S. troops in that country. '
Read the whole thing.
Pelosi is proving she’s up to the jobBy Marianne Means
In her first month as House speaker, Nancy Pelosi is demonstrating the spine and skill that prove she is no female lummox of the left.
Sorry, GOP, she's not just another nothingburger Dennis Hastert in a skirt.
Based on her performance, she is much smarter than her undistinguished Republican predecessor, who was little more than a superficially amiable front-man for the narrow-minded right-wingers who really ran the party.
She is more collegial, focused on getting serious things done. And heaven knows, she has far more in the way of personality, energy and collegial instincts to keep her diverse caucus moving.
Pelosi, 66, initially stumbled by endorsing an ally, Rep. John P. Murtha (D., Pa.), as majority leader. He lost that contest badly to Pelosi's deputy, centrist Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer.
But Pelosi had made an important point. She was loyal to her allies, she wasn't afraid to take chances and she meant to use her power. No sissy girly she. And Murtha remains an influential voice in the House as chairman of the subcommittee that oversees defense spending.
The move didn't visibly hurt her with her caucus, although those who underestimate women had a brief ha-ha.
LINK
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Hey toniD,
Haynes Johnson received a
Pulitzer Prize for reporting
on the Civil Rights movement
in 1965. His father, Malcolm
Johnson received a Pulitzer
Prize in 1949 for writing
about (waterfront) organized crime.
His grandfather was a lawer who
defended Leo Frank in Georgia.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Johnson/johnson-con1.html
Obama: "When Dick Cheney Says It's A Good Thing, You Know That You've Probably Got Some Big Problems"
Associated Press | February 23, 2007 06:18 PM
"Now if Tony Blair can understand that, than why can't George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?" Obama asked thousands of supporters who gathered in the rain to hear him. "In fact, Dick Cheney said this is all part of the plan (and) it was a good thing that Tony Blair was withdrawing, even as the administration is preparing to put 20,000 more of our young men and women in.
"Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we're in the last throes. I'm sure he forecast sun today," Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over the heads to keep dry. "When Dick Cheney says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems."
LINK
White House To Senate: Do Not Take Away Bush 'Decider' Status
AP | DAVID ESPO | February 23, 2007 02:18 PM
The White House said Friday it would oppose any attempt by Senate Democrats to revoke the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq and leave U.S. troops with a limited mission as they prepare to withdraw.
The Bush administration argued that changes in the resolution were unnecessary even though it was drafted in the days when Saddam Hussein was in power and there was an assumption -- later proved false -- that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Still, the White House said that Democrats were in a state of confusion about Iraq.
LINK
Lieberman ends speculation of switch to GOP
Defeated in Democratic primary, senator calls self ‘a genuine independent’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9898891/
Hi NC,
Sorry I didn't see you right away. I've been news hunting.
Lot's of stuff out there never made the MSM!
Hell. Too good for some evil bastards.
LOVE IT!
Charlie, are you still working?
toniD said...
Lieberman ends speculation of switch to GOP
Defeated in Democratic primary, senator calls self ‘a genuine independent’
2/23/2007 06:17:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Things should start to turn around.
It's going to take some time.
*
I've been news hunting.
.
- I know how that is.
You look up and people
are sleeping. :)
bbl -
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Ex-Party Boss in Brooklyn Guilty of Corruption
Making Dinner NC
bb in a bit
I should have bet money on you response Crank. I would have won.
"If she'd pack something-or-other with figs I'd follow her anywhere"
crnkr indulges in an fig newton of his imagination.
US rejects ban on cluster bombs AFP
Published: Friday February 23, 2007
The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We ... take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," McCormack said.
Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo on Friday pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said.
"We, ourselves, have already taken a couple of other steps with regard to technical upgrades to cluster munitions, as well as looking very closely at the rules of engagement, how they are used," said McCormack.
"So it is something that over the course of the years we have looked at very closely. We have taken very seriously the international discussion with respect to the threat posed by unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians," he said.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_rejects_ban_on_cluster_bombs_02232007.html
Did you have a nice nap Jim?
Army refiles charges against soldier 1 hour, 47 minutes ago
The Army has refiled charges against a lieutenant who refused to serve in Iraq, about two weeks after his first court-martial was declared a mistrial.
First Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, who refused to deploy with his unit last June, faces the same allegations he initially faced — missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer — and could be sentenced to a dishonorable discharge and six years in prison if convicted. The Army has not set a date for a second court-martial.
"We're back to square one," Fort Lewis spokeswoman Leslie Kaye said Friday.
Watada's first trial began early this month but ended abruptly when the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, said he did not believe the soldier fully understood a pretrial agreement he signed admitting elements of the charges. As part of that agreement, the Army dropped two of the charges against him, lowering his potential sentence to four years.
LINK
yupper T,
read myself to sleep with the first book of the hobbit trilogy.
just got back from a dogger walk.
one of those "step by step" adventures.
sore as a boil... totally gimped at the moment.
back to anti inflams and rush limbo's favorite drug , oxycontins
coupla more days of horizontal and i'll be back to nearly normal.
They don't give me oxy, I get Hydrocodone. It's a generic for Norco. But it takes the edge off the pain.
so looking at the good side it's a good time to catch up on my reading!
i'm going back to horizontal.
i'll poke in later.
Techno Ted's Wacky Site
It's going to be a lot more difficult now for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to shirk his "Techno Ted" nickname (and techno-dunce reputation), what with the single weirdest message we've ever seen appearing on his campaign Web site.
Almost as freaky as his infamously disjointed "series-of-tubes" speech last year about the Internet (which briefly earned him the Most Lampooned Politician on the Web award), Stevens's reelection site asks visitors to enter a username and password and then -- as they unsuccessfully fumble for a password -- condemns them with a warning that begins:
"Through a series of highly sophisticated and complex algorithms, this system has determined that you are not presently authorized to use this system function. It could be that you simply mistyped a password, or, it could be that you are some sort of interplanetary alien-being that has no hands and, thus, cannot type." (See screenshot on 2nd page of this post.)
But wait, it gets even weirder:
"If I were a gambler, I would bet that a cat (an orange tabby named Sierra or Harley) somehow jumped onto your keyboard and forgot some of the more important pointers from those typing lessons you paid for. Based on the actual error encountered, I would guess that the feline in question simply forgot to place one or both paws on the appropriate home keys before starting. Then again, I suppose it could have been a keyboard error caused by some form of cosmic radiation; this would fit nicely with my interplanetary alien-being theory."
Um, senator? Are you OK? Have you decided not to run for reelection after all?
Stevens spokesman Aaron Saunders said he didn't know anything about the Web message and furthermore wouldn't comment anyway because of legal separations between Senate and campaign affairs.
LINK
Sunshine said...
gonna lay down for a bit.
knew i'd pay for crawling
around on that garage floor,
always shows up a coupla days
later.
2/23/2007 03:45:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Worst thing -
Upside down under the dash of
an old car in the summer heat
breathing in gas fumes.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Rats Run Wild in KFC-Taco Bell in N.Y.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Tourist Kills Mugger With Bare Hands
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Hey Crank you out there?
Were going here now NC:
LINK
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