VP's plane has minor electrical problem By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago
Vice President Dick Cheney's plane left Singapore on Sunday after a scheduled refueling stop and repairs to a minor mechanical problem experienced on an earlier flight from Sydney, officials said.
The plane was on the ground at Singapore's Paya Lebar Air Base for an hour and 40 minutes.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the electrical glitch was fixed while the plane was at the military base, although she could not elaborate on what the problem was. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with embassy policy.
Cheney did not leave the plane or meet any officials during his brief stop in the city-state.
Earlier, a White House spokeswoman said the plane, which left Sydney on Sunday morning, was "fine" and that the stop in Singapore was previously planned.
"There was an electrical problem involving a generator, but no safety issue," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said. "The plane is fine."
31 killed in attack near Baghdad college 5 minutes ago BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck Sunday outside a college campus in Baghdad, killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens as a string of other blasts and rocket attacks left bloodshed around the city.
Late Saturday, the US Air Force launched a series of bombing raids on southeast Baghdad. This is absolutely shameful, that the US is bombing from the air a civilian city that it militarily occupies. You can't possibly do that without killing innocent civilians, as at Ramadi the other day. It is a war crime. US citizens should protest and write their congressional representatives. It is also the worst possible counter-insurgency tactic anyone could ever have imagined. You bomb people, they hate you. The bombing appears to have knocked out what little electricity some parts of Baghdad were still getting.
C-Span's Washington Journal: 7:45am - Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report, Senior Editor; 8:30am - Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN); 9am - Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), Democratic Governors Association, Chairman; 9:30am - Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA), Republican Governors Association, Chairman.
Meet the Press (NBC): Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); Dan Balz, Maureen Dowd, Byron York and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
This Week (ABC): Former President Jimmy Carter; Condi Rice; Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, and George Will; and Patrick Dempsey.
Face the Nation (CBS): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; former Sen. John Edwards.
Late Edition (CNN): Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubies: Iraq’s national security adviser; Madeleine Albright: Former secretary of state; Henry Kissinger: Former secretary of state; Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas: Judiciary Committee, presidential candidate; Rep. Jane Harman, D-California: Homeland Security Committee; Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California: Armed Services Committee, presidential candidate.
Fox News Sunday: Condi Rice; Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Icy Roads PA).
Tomorrow night, Sunday, Feb 25, service members, including IVAW members, will be appearing on CBS's 60 Minutes at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Please take the time away from the Oscars to watch our troops tell Lara Logan why they are appealing to Congress for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
The Appeal for Redress is gaining new signatures everyday. Please watch the 60 Minutes coverage of this key initiative to give active duty servicemembers a voice in the growing resistance to the Iraq war. Please look online for more information at; http://www.appealforredress.org/ and http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/60minutes/main2505412.shtml
Sincerely, Kelly Dougherty Executive Director Iraq Veterans Against the War
Doing okay inspite of our terrible weather. Yesterday we had an ice storm and today the temp will reach 39 which means it will all melt and get slushy.
Yjr old man sounds cute. Must have a sense of humor!
tonid, he was quite adorable and has a great sense of humor. shikoku people are the latin of japan - quick to drink, quick to dance. i was apparently the second american ever to come to his house. the first was an american soldier during the occupation and he was demanding wheat and rice (the japanese had to feed the soldiers). he said "i like you much better than him. you're much friendlier - and nicer to look at."
this is the worse season for your arthritis, isn't it? how much longer till spring?
i haven't seen a computer or tv for two days now. has bush made more moves in that direction? i worry that he'll attack or provoke an attack thinking that once it's done it can't be undone...
Jenise, you can catch up on my main blog. Cheney has been beating the drum in Australia. I think part of his trip was to prepare Japan and Australia of their plans.
i have to admit to being confused about japan's stance on US war(s) since koizumi left. abe seems to be supportive, but his defense minister definitely isn't, and abe made a point of going to see 'an inconvenient truth' the night before cheney arrived. as much as i don't like/trust abe, he may stand up to the US a little more. i guess we'll have to wait and see...
i hope you get a break with the weather soon, that you get to enjoy a dry, warm spell for a while.
i'll be reading all those posts trying to catch up.
Our Ravingly Mad Big Dick If we can ever find the undisclosed hole under the rock that Dick Cheney crawled out of to preach his deranged ministry of malicious innuendo and destructive patriotism, some duty-minded soul in possession of an idle F-117 Nighthawk should drop a freshly minted, 5000-pound-laser-Guided Bomb Unit-28 on it -- or in it, or however the hell a bunker buster works -- to close it up for good. Geez, the man could have been breeding in there all this time. It could be lousy with genetically disturbed Little Dicks.
For sad to say, there's something seriously the matter with the Big one. This is hardly news to the free world, but the "something" has now risen to the level of white-coat, net-catching time. He left the traditional-sleaze field of partisan eye-gouging some time ago to enter a personal abyss of plain, simple hate -- irrational hate; irreparable, even delusional hate.
His latest rabidity began with the unbalanced frothing that Democratic alternatives to Americans being slaughtered in someone else's civil war(s) only "validate the al-Qaeda [sic] strategy" -- an intentional phrasing of intentional treason. Treason, mind you, committed by those seeking a way out of madness. It doesn't get more clinically bizarre than that.
To which the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, somewhat took offense, in response to which Big Dick said, "She accused me of questioning her patriotism. I didn't question her patriotism."
Mere Orwellian black-is-white, freedom-is-slavery rhetoric? Perhaps, but I think not. Much worse than that, his counterdefense reflected a certain, uncomprehending sincerity. Which is to say, he's living in a demented fog, a miasma of otherworldly detachment in which he's blind to what virtually everyone else sees clearly. Which is to say, he's nuts; that he's slipped into a kind of Strangelovian dementia from which he ain't coming out.
In US, record numbers are plunged into poverty The gulf between rich and poor in the United States is yawning wider than ever, and the number of extremely impoverished is at a three-decade high, a report out Saturday found.
Murtha: Cheney "Striking Out" Because He Has No Answers On Iraq The New York Times | ROBIN TONER | February 24, 2007 10:46 PM
As Democratic Congressional leaders escalate their challenge to the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, one of the most influential players will be that unlikely darling of the antiwar left, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Murtha's power comes not just from his role as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, in charge of the huge spending bill for the war that will advance in the House in March. It also derives from his close alliance with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and from his popularity, ever since he called for an end to the war in 2005, among the party's antiwar base -- at the grass-roots level, among liberal Internet communities, and in the House.
snip
For all of President Bush’s vows to pursue his policies in Iraq, Mr. Murtha argued, “They can’t continue this direction.
“They can say that, just like they said they weren’t going to fire Rumsfeld two weeks before the election,” he added, referring to the dismissal of Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary immediately after the election. “But in the end, you can’t sustain a war if you don’t have public support.”
Of Mr. Cheney’s remarks, Mr. Murtha said, “They’re striking out because they have no answers.”
The story on the dramatic growth of severe poverty was the other one I was going to ask you about. Good examples of why I'm going to have to come back and go over your archive for this month to catch up on what I've missed. Later, and thanks!
Dear Vice President Cheney: Shut Up 02.23.2007 James Fallows
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?
President Carter Rips Cheney Over Iraq: ‘His Batting Average Is Abysmally Low’ » Last week, Vice President Cheney attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) for supporting Iraq redeployment. He charged that their plan would “validate the al Qaeda strategy.”
Today, former President Jimmy Carter rejected Cheney’s charges, stating that calls for a change of policy in Iraq are “not playing into the hands of al Qaeda or the people who are causing violence and destruction over there.” He added, “If you go back and see what Vice President Cheney has said for the last three or four years concerning Iraq, his batting average is abysmally low. He hasn’t been right on hardly anything.” Watch it:
Crank Bait said... Speaking of the press, SNL opened with a satire of it.
The CNN news crawl across the bottom of the screen was sprinkled with some funny stuff but eventually became larger and larger until it was nothing more than ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!...
2/25/2007 10:26:00 AM
---------
I saw that last night. I loved it when they had the "Wolf Blitzer" character on the crawl!
so i guess i need to sit through the rest of kissinger now...i do like what albright just said about "this is an exceptional country, but exceptions should not be made for us."
okay, brownback just said that "iran has been the world's leading sponsor of terrorism" for the past several years. sorry, i can't take it. i'll look for sy hersch tomorrow on crooks and liars.
have a great day, tonid, crank bait. (nice to see you again, by the way)
sounds like lebanon is fucked. hello, iran-contra all over again. wow, negroponte as the voice of reason. we're really messed up.
(i left the room for the rest of brownback - listening to brownback and blitzer together makes my brain melt - and came back for hersh.)
i am grateful for seymour hersh and robert fisk, though. and the guy from the post upblog telling cheney to shut up and calling him out on his hypocricy.
time for bed. thanks for all the info, tonid. i'll be calling DC tomorrow.
A man died early this morning after he was stabbed on a Brooklyn subway platform.
The incident happened shortly after 3 a.m. at the New Lots Avenue stop on the L line in East New York.
Police say 20-year-old Gerlin Collando got into a fight with a group of people and was stabbed several times in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police say the suspects hopped on a train, which was held up by officers at the next station. Five people were arrested.
Video: Dowd jabs at 'Queen' Hillary David Edwards and Josh Catone Published: Sunday February 25, 2007
On Sunday morning's edition of NBC Meet the Press, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd talked about the recent tiff between Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). She told host Tim Russert that the words of media mogul David Geffen, which were the catalyst for the brush between the two presidential candidates, "gave voice to what a lot of Democratic donors and supporters had been secretly worried about... which is the fact that [Clinton is] polarizing, that she's calculating, that she's over scripted, and that her relationship with Bill could still cause problems." Geffen "broke the dam of nervousness" for Democrats, said Dowd.
Even on the eve of the Academy Awards in Hollywood, Obama and Clinton are the talk of the town, Dowd told Russert. "If we want a queen, maybe we want, Helen Mirren, not Hillary Clinton" she said.
The reason Geffen's remarks were so damaging to Clinton, said Dowd, was because Clinton's strategy is to "create an aura of inevitability based on her fundraising prowess." With that aura potentially damaged, Clinton has panicked about Obama and Hollywood, she said. Video here:
'Mercenaries' to fill Iraq troop gap BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR (bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com) MINISTERS are negotiating multi-million-pound contracts with private security firms to cover some of the gaps created by British troop withdrawals.
Days after Tony Blair revealed that he wanted to withdraw 1,600 soldiers from war-torn Basra within months, it has emerged that civil servants hope "mercenaries" can help fill the gap left behind.
Officials from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence will meet representatives from the private security industry within the next month to discuss "options" for increasing their business in Iraq in the coming years.
The UK government has already paid out almost £160m to private security companies (PSCs) since the invasion of Iraq, for a range of services, including the protection of British officials on duty and in transit in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But, despite expectations that the booming market for private security would go into decline following the bursting of the "Iraq bubble", firms have now been told to expect even more lucrative work during the "post-occupation phase".
A senior official from one of the biggest PSCs already operating in Iraq last night claimed firms had been told to expect increased business opportunities in areas such as personnel protection, highway security and the training of Iraqi police and soldiers.
"It is not entirely surprising that they recognise PSCs still have a value in Iraq," the source said. "But them wanting to meet us demonstrates that they have accepted just how valuable the industry can be.
"No one is saying PSCs can take over all the jobs of regular military, but the British forces have not been doing regular military work recently. If there is a need to protect people and supply routes and areas, there are a lot of specialised private-sector companies that can do that perfectly well."
Quaker Oats for fast pain relief... It's not for breakfast any more! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.
do i still get to add raisins, butter and brown sugar?
heres the whole wazoo on cheap cures and fixes:
Another one of these "Who Knew?"
this one for Shell,
Eliminate Cat ear mites.All it takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat's ear...Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.
Kills fleas instantly...Dawn dishwashing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Good-bye fleas.
Rainy day cure for dog odor ...Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.
Did You Know that drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately-- without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional "pain relievers."
Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.
Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.
Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.
Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.
Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-- even though the product was never been advertised for this use.
Honey remedy for skin blemishes! Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.
Listerine therapy for toenail fungus. Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.
Easy eyeglass protection... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.
Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer ... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.
Smart splinter remover. Just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.
Hunt's tomato paste boil cure ...cover the boil with Hunt's tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.
Balm for broken blisters... To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine. a powerful antiseptic.
Vinegar to heal bruises ... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.
For almost 20 years. You ask every falconer what falconry is and you'll get a different definition. Essentially we work with various raptors and train them to basically not fly away from us. You can't call it befriending; they're not pets. They're still wild animals. You just develop a trust relationship. And we go and fly these birds and watch what they do every day in the wild. What is that? Some call it hunting with trained raptors. But you know what? The bird gets food so why should I be called a hunter? I call it bird watching, but just a different level of bird watching.
Why do you do it?
I don't know why we do it. Falconers--we're all a bunch of nuts. I think every single one of us is born with a neuron that is not connected correctly, and this is how we stimulate that neuron. For me .. I distinctly remember reading Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George. The book was about the peregrine falcon featured in the movie "My Side of the Mountain." That peregrine falcon was the only thing I could think about for years and years. At that time, the peregrine falcon had basically been wiped out east of the Mississippi River, so all it could be was a dream. Then many years ago, I was at the right place at the wrong time, and I ran into someone who had a peregrine falcon and that was it. I could not do anything else. I had to do this. That is my disconnect."
It's snowing here again. We had an ice storm last night, got warm enough to melt the ice, now it's snowing. We've had almost every winter type weather here in the past 24 hours. At least the wind calmed down. Last night it was sleet and freezing rain blosing sideways from the wind. the snow's directionis north right now but on a slant, not completely at a 45 degree angle like it was last night.
Uncle...enough!!!! I've had enough of this weather!!
al-Sadr: Baghdad security plan is doomed By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 49 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia complained Sunday that bombs "continue to explode" in Baghdad and that U.S.-led security crackdown is doomed to fail, issuing a statement the same day a suicide attacker struck outside a college campus, killing at least 41 people.
Many Shiites believe that bombings have continued because the Shiite-led government bowed to American pressure and persuaded the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to take his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets.
AP IMPACT: Assistance rolls increase By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 25, 12:50 PM ET
The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid.
The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.
The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.
Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.
"If the goal of welfare reform was to get people off the welfare rolls, bravo," said Vivyan Adair, a former welfare recipient who is now an assistant professor of women's studies at Hamilton College in upstate New York. "If the goal was to reduce poverty and give people economic and job stability, it was not a success."
Proponents of the changes in welfare say programs that once discouraged work now offer support to people in low-paying jobs. They point to expanded eligibility rules for food stamps and Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, that enable people to keep getting benefits even after they start working.
"I don't have any problems with those programs growing, and indeed, they were intended to grow," said Ron Haskins, a former adviser to President Bush on welfare policy.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani falls ill By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - President Jalal Talabani is ill and has flown to neighboring Jordan for medical treatment, his office said Sunday, adding there was "no cause for worry."
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The 73-year-old president was unconscious when an ambulance rushed him to the hospital in his hometown of Sulaimaniyah, a doctor in the northern Kurdish city told The Associated Press.
"After his condition stabilized, the doctors advised him to go to Jordan for a complete checkup," the doctor said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Fake Scandal, Republican Edition Ed Morrissey and Kevin Hayden are right--this is a bullshit smear piece on Romney. Indeed, it seems to me straightforward religious bigotry. I mean, seriously, he had a relative with 5 wives during the McKinley administration? Another one gave sermons about polygamy in 1852? How could this possibly be relevant to anything? (Apparently, it's "a part of current events" because HBO has a show on the subject. Hmm, maybe Giuliani has some relatives who participated in some political assassinations in ancient Rome? That's even more cutting-edge!) Does anyone think he's going to have 3 more wives move into the White House if he gets elected? Ram a constitutional amendment legalizing polygamy through Congress? Should we start scrutinizing politicians to see if they had distant relatives who were involved in the Inquisition, or owned slaves, or opposed the signing of the Magna Carta? At least most silly "character" stories are ostensibly about the candidate, not their great-great-great grandparents.
Crank Bait said... "You mean like a poultice?" ------------------------------- Bait: "New studies reveal that arthritis affects hearing." toniD: "What?" Bait: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING."
I remember when Dr. Richard Green died. He was the Chancellor of the Board of Education in NYC. The fatal asthema attack he suffered came on the heels of a of a school shooting at Morris High School in the Bronx and the arrest of a a Bronx elementary-school principal Matthew Barnwell, charged with buying two vials of crack.
Crank Bait said... "You mean like a poultice?" ------------------------------- Bait: "New studies reveal that arthritis affects hearing." toniD: "What?" Bait: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING."
2/25/2007 03:30:00 PM
toniD, repeats: "What?" Bait, repeats: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING." toniD: "Don't talk so loud, I can hear you!"
Just one day after Gen. Colin L. Powell visited the Bronx school, a 16-year-old student showing off his pistol to a friend at Morris High was seriously wounded yesterday when the gun went off, the police and school officials said.
The student, Jason Thomas, of 756 Beck Street in the Morrisania section, was wounded in the neck and was in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital.
The shooting occurred at 1:20 P.M. in a stairwell at the school at East 166th Street and Boston Road. After being shot, Mr. Thomas told a school dean that his gun -- a .25-caliber pistol -- went off by accident when he handed it to a friend, a spokesman for the Board of Education, Robert Terte, said.
On Monday, General Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited his alma mater and urged students to avoid crime and to graduate.
Olbermann profiled on CBS By: John Amato @ 1:51 PM - PST CBS Sunday Morning did a profile on Keith Olbermann and Countdown today. The "Rummy Special Comment," was the # 2 political blog post (#3 overall) of 2006 via Nielsen BuzzMetrics.
Download (358) | Play (296) Download (116) | Play (69)
CBS:
If you firmly believe reporters never should share their personal views, Keith Olbmermann is definitely not the newsman for you. "Mr. Bush, the question is no longer, 'What are you thinking,' but rather, 'Are you thinking at all?'" he said in a now famous commentary. That diatribe against the president and the war in Iraq spiked the ratings of Olbermann's show, "Countdown." Its viewership is up 85 percent in the last year.
"Countdown" was flying beneath the ratings radar for several years until last August when a speech by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent Olbermann into a fury.
"He said, essentially, that anyone who was critical of the war on terror, or the war in Iraq, or, indeed, of the administration's policies, was equivalent to those who appeased Hitler in the '30s," he said. "I'm not a big fan of being called a Nazi appeaser, or even a parallel to a Nazi appeaser. I took that personally." …read on
Seymour Hersh: Negroponte–Iran Contra—Funds…Oh my! By: John Amato @ 10:18 AM - PST Sy Hersh tells us that the echos of Iran Contra weighed heavily in Negroponte's decision to resign his post and is claiming that Bush is funneling money without authorization or oversight that has ended up in the hands of Sunni jihadist groups.
Download (1858) | Play (1529) Download (1276) | Play (1045)
The President is taking his notion of executive privilege to the extreme—-running covert operations, using money that's not authorized by Congress…Negroponte is too ethical for Cheney…
Hersh: There has been some violence. So America, my country, without telling Congress, using funds not appropriated, I don't know where, by my sources believe much of the money obviously came from Iraq where there is all kinds of piles of loose money, pools of cash that could be used for covert operations.
All of this should be investigated by Congress, by the way, and I trust it will be. In my talking to membership — members there, they are very upset that they know nothing about this. And they have great many suspicions.
We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11, and we should be arresting these people rather than looking the other way…
He — that is one of the reasons, I was told. Negroponte also was not in tune with Cheney. There was a lot of complaints about him because he was seen as much of a stickler, too ethical for some of the operations the Pentagon wants to run. (full transcript below the fold)
Angelina Jolie To Join Council On Foreign Relations The New York Post | ANGELA MONTEFINISE and SUSAN EDELMAN | February 25, 2007 12:11 PM
The prestigious Council on Foreign Relations is about to get a jolt of sex appeal.
The exclusive, Manhattan-based foreign-policy group has decided to admit actress Angelina Jolie, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who has taken more than 30 trips worldwide to advocate for refugees, AIDS orphans and disaster victims.
ok here it is - btw. really thrilled for Angelina Jolie - looking forward to see AJ with Brad at the Oscars :)
---- bridge said...
Hi toniD,
what would we do without you? Thanks for letting us post all our imp. stuff ;)
Just made a print-out of the Hersh article, too. Scared just thinking about what he may have uncovered this time.
Better start reading cause today is Movie day and I have to get ready for the Red Carpet :)
Saw Little Miss Sunshine last night. Was fun, was v. entertaining? But worthy of Oscar?
Shells,
I hope you see this cause you must get The Illusionist! I think you will really enjoy it. Can't remember when I've last seen a movie like that - it had it all - was wonderful. Ed was so good. Perfect in the role.
"By March 1, 1992, Mayor Dinkins had announced a $28 million plan to improve school safety. The plan included the following elements:
Metal detectors will be used on all school days at Thomas Jefferson, Erasmus Hall, George W. Wingate, and Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn and James Monroe High School in the Bronx. These high schools have had high incidences of violence and weapons seizures."
BTW: Columbine High School massacre occurred April 20, 1999.
Woman bomber kills 41 at Baghdad college 24 minutes ago BAGHDAD, Iraq - A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge Sunday, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college whose main gate was left littered with blood-soaked student notebooks and papers amid the bodies.
Cheney arrives in Persian Gulf for talks Sun Feb 25, 1:01 PM ET DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Vice President Dick Cheney landed in the U.S.-allied Arab monarchy of Oman on Sunday and went directly to talks with its foreign minister, Omani government officials said.
100 comments:
from sam's alt-blog
Alice said...
Ok well Sam..I'll shut the door on the way out...this must be the end....
February 24, 2007 9:14 PM
?
?
?
i realise it's a quaint law that makes hoping for cheney to be assassinated a crime...
but is it ok to pray that he gets cancer and dies tomorrow,
after 24 hours of unbearable suffering
here's...
Dougie MacLean's "The Gael"
to shake your booty to
here's...
Gael dressing
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
You know how to whistle don't you?
"How Little We Know" 00:29
"Hong Kong Blues" Hoagy Carmichael 1942 02:11
"Am I Blue" Billie Holiday 1941 02:52
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
"Be Fair To Me" Billie Holiday 1951 02:43
VP's plane has minor electrical problem By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago
Vice President Dick Cheney's plane left Singapore on Sunday after a scheduled refueling stop and repairs to a minor mechanical problem experienced on an earlier flight from Sydney, officials said.
The plane was on the ground at Singapore's Paya Lebar Air Base for an hour and 40 minutes.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the electrical glitch was fixed while the plane was at the military base, although she could not elaborate on what the problem was. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with embassy policy.
Cheney did not leave the plane or meet any officials during his brief stop in the city-state.
Earlier, a White House spokeswoman said the plane, which left Sydney on Sunday morning, was "fine" and that the stop in Singapore was previously planned.
"There was an electrical problem involving a generator, but no safety issue," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said. "The plane is fine."
LINK
31 killed in attack near Baghdad college
5 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck Sunday outside a college campus in Baghdad, killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens as a string of other blasts and rocket attacks left bloodshed around the city.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
From Informed Comment:
Late Saturday, the US Air Force launched a series of bombing raids on southeast Baghdad. This is absolutely shameful, that the US is bombing from the air a civilian city that it militarily occupies. You can't possibly do that without killing innocent civilians, as at Ramadi the other day. It is a war crime. US citizens should protest and write their congressional representatives. It is also the worst possible counter-insurgency tactic anyone could ever have imagined. You bomb people, they hate you. The bombing appears to have knocked out what little electricity some parts of Baghdad were still getting.
Also from Professor Cole:
Nearly 10,000 Iraqis demonstrated in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Saturday against the US arrest of Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim the previous day. Smaller demonstrations were held in other southern Shiite cities, including Kut and Basra. This young cleric is the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament and an ally of the US.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called for the US military personnel who arrested Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim on Friday to be disciplined. He decried al-Hakim's treatment at US hands. Talabani, a Kurd, is typically a strong ally of the US.
Political toons of the day:
LINK
LINK
LINK
Morning WFC!
Thank goodness for Juan Cole. At least we get the truth of what is really happening.
Sunday talk shows:
C-Span's Washington Journal: 7:45am - Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report, Senior Editor; 8:30am - Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN); 9am - Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), Democratic Governors Association, Chairman; 9:30am - Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA), Republican Governors Association, Chairman.
Meet the Press (NBC): Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); Dan Balz, Maureen Dowd, Byron York and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
This Week (ABC): Former President Jimmy Carter; Condi Rice; Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, and George Will; and Patrick Dempsey.
Face the Nation (CBS): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; former Sen. John Edwards.
Late Edition (CNN): Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubies: Iraq’s national security adviser; Madeleine Albright: Former secretary of state; Henry Kissinger: Former secretary of state; Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas: Judiciary Committee, presidential candidate; Rep. Jane Harman, D-California: Homeland Security Committee; Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California: Armed Services Committee, presidential candidate.
Fox News Sunday: Condi Rice; Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Icy Roads PA).
Tomorrow night, Sunday, Feb 25, service members, including IVAW members, will be appearing on CBS's 60 Minutes at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Please take the time away from the Oscars to watch our troops tell Lara Logan why they are appealing to Congress for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
The Appeal for Redress is gaining new signatures everyday. Please watch the 60 Minutes coverage of this key initiative to give active duty servicemembers a voice in the growing resistance to the Iraq war. Please look online for more information at; http://www.appealforredress.org/ and http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/60minutes/main2505412.shtml
Sincerely,
Kelly Dougherty
Executive Director
Iraq Veterans Against the War
good morning, tonid.
how's your weekend going?
i just got back from shikoku interviewing the 89-year-old man who's asked me to be his girlfriend. i said i'd have to ask my husband if he'd mind ; )
Doing okay inspite of our terrible weather. Yesterday we had an ice storm and today the temp will reach 39 which means it will all melt and get slushy.
Yjr old man sounds cute. Must have a sense of humor!
I am worried Bush is going to attack Iran.
tonid, he was quite adorable and has a great sense of humor. shikoku people are the latin of japan - quick to drink, quick to dance. i was apparently the second american ever to come to his house. the first was an american soldier during the occupation and he was demanding wheat and rice (the japanese had to feed the soldiers). he said "i like you much better than him. you're much friendlier - and nicer to look at."
this is the worse season for your arthritis, isn't it? how much longer till spring?
i haven't seen a computer or tv for two days now. has bush made more moves in that direction? i worry that he'll attack or provoke an attack thinking that once it's done it can't be undone...
Jenise, you can catch up on my main blog. Cheney has been beating the drum in Australia. I think part of his trip was to prepare Japan and Australia of their plans.
Just go here:
http://abramoffjournal.blogspot.com/
Any high moisture bothers the arthritis. Spring, here, starts in April.
i have to admit to being confused about japan's stance on US war(s) since koizumi left. abe seems to be supportive, but his defense minister definitely isn't, and abe made a point of going to see 'an inconvenient truth' the night before cheney arrived. as much as i don't like/trust abe, he may stand up to the US a little more. i guess we'll have to wait and see...
i hope you get a break with the weather soon, that you get to enjoy a dry, warm spell for a while.
i'll be reading all those posts trying to catch up.
Thanks, Jenise. There is more on the last open thread also.
p m carpenter's commentary
Our Ravingly Mad Big Dick
If we can ever find the undisclosed hole under the rock that Dick Cheney crawled out of to preach his deranged ministry of malicious innuendo and destructive patriotism, some duty-minded soul in possession of an idle F-117 Nighthawk should drop a freshly minted, 5000-pound-laser-Guided Bomb Unit-28 on it -- or in it, or however the hell a bunker buster works -- to close it up for good. Geez, the man could have been breeding in there all this time. It could be lousy with genetically disturbed Little Dicks.
For sad to say, there's something seriously the matter with the Big one. This is hardly news to the free world, but the "something" has now risen to the level of white-coat, net-catching time. He left the traditional-sleaze field of partisan eye-gouging some time ago to enter a personal abyss of plain, simple hate -- irrational hate; irreparable, even delusional hate.
His latest rabidity began with the unbalanced frothing that Democratic alternatives to Americans being slaughtered in someone else's civil war(s) only "validate the al-Qaeda [sic] strategy" -- an intentional phrasing of intentional treason. Treason, mind you, committed by those seeking a way out of madness. It doesn't get more clinically bizarre than that.
To which the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, somewhat took offense, in response to which Big Dick said, "She accused me of questioning her patriotism. I didn't question her patriotism."
Mere Orwellian black-is-white, freedom-is-slavery rhetoric? Perhaps, but I think not. Much worse than that, his counterdefense reflected a certain, uncomprehending sincerity. Which is to say, he's living in a demented fog, a miasma of otherworldly detachment in which he's blind to what virtually everyone else sees clearly. Which is to say, he's nuts; that he's slipped into a kind of Strangelovian dementia from which he ain't coming out.
LINK
Hiya. Don't know if you've gotten to this yet, but, just in case, there's a new Sy Hersh piece at The New Yorker.
Hi Cat Chew,
I did and he confirms my worry about attacking Iran.
In US, record numbers
are plunged into poverty
The gulf between rich and poor in the United States is yawning wider than ever, and the number of extremely impoverished is at a three-decade high, a report out Saturday found.
LINK
Murtha: Cheney "Striking Out" Because He Has No Answers On Iraq
The New York Times | ROBIN TONER | February 24, 2007 10:46 PM
As Democratic Congressional leaders escalate their challenge to the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, one of the most influential players will be that unlikely darling of the antiwar left, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Murtha's power comes not just from his role as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, in charge of the huge spending bill for the war that will advance in the House in March. It also derives from his close alliance with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and from his popularity, ever since he called for an end to the war in 2005, among the party's antiwar base -- at the grass-roots level, among liberal Internet communities, and in the House.
snip
For all of President Bush’s vows to pursue his policies in Iraq, Mr. Murtha argued, “They can’t continue this direction.
“They can say that, just like they said they weren’t going to fire Rumsfeld two weeks before the election,” he added, referring to the dismissal of Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary immediately after the election. “But in the end, you can’t sustain a war if you don’t have public support.”
Of Mr. Cheney’s remarks, Mr. Murtha said, “They’re striking out because they have no answers.”
LINK
The story on the dramatic growth of severe poverty was the other one I was going to ask you about. Good examples of why I'm going to have to come back and go over your archive for this month to catch up on what I've missed. Later, and thanks!
Dear Vice President Cheney: Shut Up
02.23.2007 James Fallows
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?
LINK
President Carter Rips Cheney Over Iraq: ‘His Batting Average Is Abysmally Low’ »
Last week, Vice President Cheney attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) for supporting Iraq redeployment. He charged that their plan would “validate the al Qaeda strategy.”
Today, former President Jimmy Carter rejected Cheney’s charges, stating that calls for a change of policy in Iraq are “not playing into the hands of al Qaeda or the people who are causing violence and destruction over there.” He added, “If you go back and see what Vice President Cheney has said for the last three or four years concerning Iraq, his batting average is abysmally low. He hasn’t been right on hardly anything.” Watch it:
LINK
Crank Bait said...
Speaking of the press, SNL opened with a satire of it.
The CNN news crawl across the bottom of the screen was sprinkled with some funny stuff but eventually became larger and larger until it was nothing more than ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!ANNA!...
2/25/2007 10:26:00 AM
---------
I saw that last night. I loved it when they had the "Wolf Blitzer" character on the crawl!
Sy Hersh will be on Blitzer's show soon.
"Sy Hersh will be on Blitzer's show soon."
so i guess i need to sit through the rest of kissinger now...i do like what albright just said about "this is an exceptional country, but exceptions should not be made for us."
okay, brownback just said that "iran has been the world's leading sponsor of terrorism" for the past several years. sorry, i can't take it. i'll look for sy hersch tomorrow on crooks and liars.
have a great day, tonid, crank bait. (nice to see you again, by the way)
He's going on now Jenise.
Later Jenise!
sounds like lebanon is fucked. hello, iran-contra all over again. wow, negroponte as the voice of reason. we're really messed up.
(i left the room for the rest of brownback - listening to brownback and blitzer together makes my brain melt - and came back for hersh.)
i am grateful for seymour hersh and robert fisk, though. and the guy from the post upblog telling cheney to shut up and calling him out on his hypocricy.
time for bed. thanks for all the info, tonid. i'll be calling DC tomorrow.
I'm writing too! Later Jenise
morfternoon everyone.
interesting perspective at KOS
Why Politics and Purity Do Not Mix
by Lucius Vorenus
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/24/181221/891
eya crnkr
i live for the irony.
been cruising far and wide.
lots of brilliant thinking out there.
rising above the temper tantrums the question remains,
how do we harness this herd of cats to defend themselves?
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Five Arrested In Stabbing Death On Brooklyn Subway Platform
A man died early this morning after he was stabbed on a Brooklyn subway platform.
The incident happened shortly after 3 a.m. at the New Lots Avenue stop on the L line in East New York.
Police say 20-year-old Gerlin Collando got into a fight with a group of people and was stabbed several times in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police say the suspects hopped on a train, which was held up by officers at the next station. Five people were arrested.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Assault Rifle Scare in Brooklyn
Afternoon all!
Been cooking! Got tired of the news and put PBS on and they had an Italian Cooking show on.
Didn't make what they were showing, don't have all the ingredients, but I made my own thing.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Love and bullets in Queens
Video: Dowd jabs at 'Queen' Hillary David Edwards and Josh Catone
Published: Sunday February 25, 2007
On Sunday morning's edition of NBC Meet the Press, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd talked about the recent tiff between Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). She told host Tim Russert that the words of media mogul David Geffen, which were the catalyst for the brush between the two presidential candidates, "gave voice to what a lot of Democratic donors and supporters had been secretly worried about... which is the fact that [Clinton is] polarizing, that she's calculating, that she's over scripted, and that her relationship with Bill could still cause problems." Geffen "broke the dam of nervousness" for Democrats, said Dowd.
Even on the eve of the Academy Awards in Hollywood, Obama and Clinton are the talk of the town, Dowd told Russert. "If we want a queen, maybe we want, Helen Mirren, not Hillary Clinton" she said.
The reason Geffen's remarks were so damaging to Clinton, said Dowd, was because Clinton's strategy is to "create an aura of inevitability based on her fundraising prowess." With that aura potentially damaged, Clinton has panicked about Obama and Hollywood, she said. Video here:
LINK
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
SKETCH: Chinese New Year Stabbing Suspect
Sun 25 Feb 2007
'Mercenaries' to fill Iraq troop gap
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR (bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com)
MINISTERS are negotiating multi-million-pound contracts with private security firms to cover some of the gaps created by British troop withdrawals.
Days after Tony Blair revealed that he wanted to withdraw 1,600 soldiers from war-torn Basra within months, it has emerged that civil servants hope "mercenaries" can help fill the gap left behind.
Officials from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence will meet representatives from the private security industry within the next month to discuss "options" for increasing their business in Iraq in the coming years.
The UK government has already paid out almost £160m to private security companies (PSCs) since the invasion of Iraq, for a range of services, including the protection of British officials on duty and in transit in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But, despite expectations that the booming market for private security would go into decline following the bursting of the "Iraq bubble", firms have now been told to expect even more lucrative work during the "post-occupation phase".
A senior official from one of the biggest PSCs already operating in Iraq last night claimed firms had been told to expect increased business opportunities in areas such as personnel protection, highway security and the training of Iraqi police and soldiers.
"It is not entirely surprising that they recognise PSCs still have a value in Iraq," the source said. "But them wanting to meet us demonstrates that they have accepted just how valuable the industry can be.
"No one is saying PSCs can take over all the jobs of regular military, but the British forces have not been doing regular military work recently. If there is a need to protect people and supply routes and areas, there are a lot of specialised private-sector companies that can do that perfectly well."
LINK
eya T!
found a nice treatment for arthritis!
Quaker Oats for fast pain relief... It's not for breakfast any more! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.
eya NC
go to your window,
open it,
and yell as loud as you can:
I'm not taking this anymore!!!
you'll feel better, your neighbors will have a little gossip, and you'll startle the pidgeons and any parrots hanging around the building.
"there are a lot of specialised private-sector companies that can do that perfectly well."
at fifty times the cost, and we can use them at home later to shut up those %#@*#**$ left wing crybabies!
POAC has some dandy posters.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/never.jpg
do i still get to add raisins, butter and brown sugar?
heres the whole wazoo on cheap cures and fixes:
Another one of these "Who Knew?"
this one for Shell,
Eliminate Cat ear mites.All it takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat's ear...Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.
Kills fleas instantly...Dawn dishwashing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Good-bye fleas.
Rainy day cure for dog odor ...Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.
Did You Know that drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately-- without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional "pain relievers."
Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.
Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.
Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.
Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.
Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-- even though the product was never been advertised for this use.
Honey remedy for skin blemishes! Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.
Listerine therapy for toenail fungus. Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.
Easy eyeglass protection... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.
Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer ... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.
Smart splinter remover. Just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.
Hunt's tomato paste boil cure ...cover the boil with Hunt's tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.
Balm for broken blisters... To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine. a powerful antiseptic.
Vinegar to heal bruises ... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.
~~~~Balm for broken blisters... To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine. a powerful antiseptic.~~~
That's burns like hell, Jim
Soak your feet in White vinegar and water to keep away the nasty fungus.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Possibly this week ------>* :)
"That's burns like hell, Jim"
Huh?
personally, i prefer lacquer thinner.
a red tailed hawk
on a summer oregon rail fence
watching for dinner
ya crnkr!
first time you saw that?
we have quite a few "slope soaring" fans.
http://www.homebythesea.com/CapeBlancoSlopeSoaring.html
"How long have you been involved in falconry?
For almost 20 years. You ask every falconer what falconry is and you'll get a different definition. Essentially we work with various raptors and train them to basically not fly away from us. You can't call it befriending; they're not pets. They're still wild animals. You just develop a trust relationship. And we go and fly these birds and watch what they do every day in the wild. What is that? Some call it hunting with trained raptors. But you know what? The bird gets food so why should I be called a hunter? I call it bird watching, but just a different level of bird watching.
Why do you do it?
I don't know why we do it. Falconers--we're all a bunch of nuts. I think every single one of us is born with a neuron that is not connected correctly, and this is how we stimulate that neuron. For me .. I distinctly remember reading Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George. The book was about the peregrine falcon featured in the movie "My Side of the Mountain." That peregrine falcon was the only thing I could think about for years and years. At that time, the peregrine falcon had basically been wiped out east of the Mississippi River, so all it could be was a dream. Then many years ago, I was at the right place at the wrong time, and I ran into someone who had a peregrine falcon and that was it. I could not do anything else. I had to do this. That is my disconnect."
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Hey Jim,
Possibly this week... :)
falcons hit 250 MPH in a dive!
i love watching them!
i've known a few falconers in my time. fascinating people and even more fascinating birds.
my friend charlie lived in Tacwitz canyon, rescued bent and broken birds.
said the last one he cured and set free looked at him and said "thanks charlie" before it flew off.
love ya NC
whenever bud! my job is to get a smile out of you while yer in hell.
"take my raptor, please"
beautiful hunters.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/raptorforce/wallpaper2_small.jpg
It's snowing here again. We had an ice storm last night, got warm enough to melt the ice, now it's snowing. We've had almost every winter type weather here in the past 24 hours. At least the wind calmed down. Last night it was sleet and freezing rain blosing sideways from the wind. the snow's directionis north right now but on a slant, not completely at a 45 degree angle like it was last night.
Uncle...enough!!!! I've had enough of this weather!!
And Crank, b4 you get to my typos, I have hand and finger problems again. Swollen so I hit to keys at a time.
"I have hand and finger problems again. Swollen so I hit to keys at a time."
not to mention trying to keep that oatmeal off the keys...
Iraq's President Talabani has been taken ill and was flown to Jordan to be treated. Per CNN
snow gone here T,
only had a few inches, overcast today and a bit chilly.
doggers don't seem to mind a bit.
brunch coming up soon! wheres doc333? i thought she was great at catering the brunch crowd!
~~not to mention trying to keep that oatmeal off the keys... ~~
It's the fiber in the oatmeal that helps swelling, Jim.
My Doc is into holistic meds too and told me to eat alot of fiber. Oatmeal is good for your heart and also helps diabetics. Again, it's the fiber.
al-Sadr: Baghdad security plan is doomed By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
49 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia complained Sunday that bombs "continue to explode" in Baghdad and that U.S.-led security crackdown is doomed to fail, issuing a statement the same day a suicide attacker struck outside a college campus, killing at least 41 people.
Many Shiites believe that bombings have continued because the Shiite-led government bowed to American pressure and persuaded the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to take his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets.
LINK
AP IMPACT: Assistance rolls increase By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Feb 25, 12:50 PM ET
The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid.
The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.
The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.
Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.
"If the goal of welfare reform was to get people off the welfare rolls, bravo," said Vivyan Adair, a former welfare recipient who is now an assistant professor of women's studies at Hamilton College in upstate New York. "If the goal was to reduce poverty and give people economic and job stability, it was not a success."
Proponents of the changes in welfare say programs that once discouraged work now offer support to people in low-paying jobs. They point to expanded eligibility rules for food stamps and Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, that enable people to keep getting benefits even after they start working.
"I don't have any problems with those programs growing, and indeed, they were intended to grow," said Ron Haskins, a former adviser to President Bush on welfare policy.
LINK
no no no T!
put the oatmeal on your hands AS well as eating it!
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
In 1907, Jacob Riis remarried, and
with his new wife Mary Phillips,
moved to a farm in Barre, Massachusetts.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani falls ill By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Writer
44 minutes ago
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - President Jalal Talabani is ill and has flown to neighboring Jordan for medical treatment, his office said Sunday, adding there was "no cause for worry."
ADVERTISEMENT
The 73-year-old president was unconscious when an ambulance rushed him to the hospital in his hometown of Sulaimaniyah, a doctor in the northern Kurdish city told The Associated Press.
"After his condition stabilized, the doctors advised him to go to Jordan for a complete checkup," the doctor said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
LINK
Sunshine said...
no no no T!
put the oatmeal on your hands AS well as eating it!
You mean like a poultice?
yup
like a poultice!
wait til yer grandykids is around,
this will greatly enhance yer weirdness co-effecient.
Fake Scandal, Republican Edition
Ed Morrissey and Kevin Hayden are right--this is a bullshit smear piece on Romney. Indeed, it seems to me straightforward religious bigotry. I mean, seriously, he had a relative with 5 wives during the McKinley administration? Another one gave sermons about polygamy in 1852? How could this possibly be relevant to anything? (Apparently, it's "a part of current events" because HBO has a show on the subject. Hmm, maybe Giuliani has some relatives who participated in some political assassinations in ancient Rome? That's even more cutting-edge!) Does anyone think he's going to have 3 more wives move into the White House if he gets elected? Ram a constitutional amendment legalizing polygamy through Congress? Should we start scrutinizing politicians to see if they had distant relatives who were involved in the Inquisition, or owned slaves, or opposed the signing of the Magna Carta? At least most silly "character" stories are ostensibly about the candidate, not their great-great-great grandparents.
LINK
This is religious bigotry.
Crank Bait said...
"You mean like a poultice?"
-------------------------------
Bait: "New studies reveal that arthritis affects hearing."
toniD: "What?"
Bait: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING."
In this case, Crank, it is reading!
back in a bit,
helping a good friend
do starter motor surgery in
my immaculate, heated, and dry operating theater.
toniD said...
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani falls ill
2/25/2007 03:19:00 PM
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Stress.
Probably has a heart condition.
I remember when Dr. Richard Green
died. He was the Chancellor of the
Board of Education in NYC. The fatal
asthema attack he suffered came on
the heels of a of a school shooting at
Morris High School in the Bronx and
the arrest of a a Bronx elementary-school
principal Matthew Barnwell, charged with
buying two vials of crack.
Crank Bait said...
"You mean like a poultice?"
-------------------------------
Bait: "New studies reveal that arthritis affects hearing."
toniD: "What?"
Bait: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING."
2/25/2007 03:30:00 PM
toniD, repeats: "What?"
Bait, repeats: "I SAID, NEW STUDIES REVEAL THAT ARTHRITIS AFFECTS HEARING."
toniD: "Don't talk so loud, I can hear you!"
"NC" :)
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Oops.
Had my dates wrong.
Richard Green died before
the school shooting.
Youth Hurt in Shooting At Morris High School April 17, 1991
Just one day after Gen. Colin L. Powell visited the Bronx school, a 16-year-old student showing off his pistol to a friend at Morris High was seriously wounded yesterday when the gun went off, the police and school officials said.
The student, Jason Thomas, of 756 Beck Street in the Morrisania section, was wounded in the neck and was in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital.
The shooting occurred at 1:20 P.M. in a stairwell at the school at East 166th Street and Boston Road. After being shot, Mr. Thomas told a school dean that his gun -- a .25-caliber pistol -- went off by accident when he handed it to a friend, a spokesman for the Board of Education, Robert Terte, said.
On Monday, General Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited his alma mater and urged students to avoid crime and to graduate.
Olbermann profiled on CBS
By: John Amato @ 1:51 PM - PST
CBS Sunday Morning did a profile on Keith Olbermann and Countdown today. The "Rummy Special Comment," was the # 2 political blog post (#3 overall) of 2006 via Nielsen BuzzMetrics.
Download (358) | Play (296) Download (116) | Play (69)
CBS:
If you firmly believe reporters never should share their personal views, Keith Olbmermann is definitely not the newsman for you. "Mr. Bush, the question is no longer, 'What are you thinking,' but rather, 'Are you thinking at all?'" he said in a now famous commentary. That diatribe against the president and the war in Iraq spiked the ratings of Olbermann's show, "Countdown." Its viewership is up 85 percent in the last year.
"Countdown" was flying beneath the ratings radar for several years until last August when a speech by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent Olbermann into a fury.
"He said, essentially, that anyone who was critical of the war on terror, or the war in Iraq, or, indeed, of the administration's policies, was equivalent to those who appeased Hitler in the '30s," he said. "I'm not a big fan of being called a Nazi appeaser, or even a parallel to a Nazi appeaser. I took that personally." …read on
LINK
Seymour Hersh: Negroponte–Iran Contra—Funds…Oh my!
By: John Amato @ 10:18 AM - PST
Sy Hersh tells us that the echos of Iran Contra weighed heavily in Negroponte's decision to resign his post and is claiming that Bush is funneling money without authorization or oversight that has ended up in the hands of Sunni jihadist groups.
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The President is taking his notion of executive privilege to the extreme—-running covert operations, using money that's not authorized by Congress…Negroponte is too ethical for Cheney…
Hersh: There has been some violence. So America, my country, without telling Congress, using funds not appropriated, I don't know where, by my sources believe much of the money obviously came from Iraq where there is all kinds of piles of loose money, pools of cash that could be used for covert operations.
All of this should be investigated by Congress, by the way, and I trust it will be. In my talking to membership — members there, they are very upset that they know nothing about this. And they have great many suspicions.
We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11, and we should be arresting these people rather than looking the other way…
He — that is one of the reasons, I was told. Negroponte also was not in tune with Cheney. There was a lot of complaints about him because he was seen as much of a stickler, too ethical for some of the operations the Pentagon wants to run. (full transcript below the fold)
(Read the rest of this story…)
Angelina Jolie To Join Council On Foreign Relations
The New York Post | ANGELA MONTEFINISE and SUSAN EDELMAN | February 25, 2007 12:11 PM
The prestigious Council on Foreign Relations is about to get a jolt of sex appeal.
The exclusive, Manhattan-based foreign-policy group has decided to admit actress Angelina Jolie, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who has taken more than 30 trips worldwide to advocate for refugees, AIDS orphans and disaster victims.
More than just a pretty face
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/ghostsofabughraib/index.html
Now on HBO a powerful documentary
premiere was 2/22
The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib by Rory Kennedy who investigated it all - the abuse orders came from above and its still going on she said
guess nobody cares anymore
noticed that the latest court ruling was largely ignored
just wanted to remind you not to miss it - haven't seen it yet
P.S. just posted something on that special link - but can't find it anymore, what happened to it? - hope this works ;-)
bridge, are you talking about Sam's alt blog?
no, toniD, its on your blog somewhere - I still had a link bookmarked and saw a few posts from today so I made a comment -
you know what? I'll just post the comment again cause I saved it I think
ok here it is - btw. really thrilled for Angelina Jolie - looking forward to see AJ with Brad at the Oscars :)
----
bridge said...
Hi toniD,
what would we do without you? Thanks for letting us post all our imp. stuff ;)
Just made a print-out of the Hersh article, too. Scared just thinking about what he may have uncovered this time.
Better start reading cause today is Movie day and I have to get ready for the Red Carpet :)
Saw Little Miss Sunshine last night. Was fun, was v. entertaining? But worthy of Oscar?
Shells,
I hope you see this cause
you must get The Illusionist! I think you will really enjoy it. Can't remember when I've last seen a movie like that - it had it all - was wonderful. Ed was so good. Perfect in the role.
So much to do, so little time ;-)
byebye
2/25/2007 04:43:00 PM
You put it on the Army Times Thread. Maybe I should close that and give this link.
From firedoglake:
– Hey, kids! Looks like BushCo's been giving money to Osama! (But it's OK because he's a Sunni.)
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence
"By March 1, 1992, Mayor Dinkins
had announced a $28 million plan
to improve school safety. The plan
included the following elements:
Metal detectors will be used on all
school days at Thomas Jefferson,
Erasmus Hall, George W. Wingate,
and Samuel J. Tilden High School in
Brooklyn and James Monroe High
School in the Bronx. These high
schools have had high incidences
of violence and weapons seizures."
BTW: Columbine High School
massacre occurred April 20, 1999.
Woman bomber kills 41 at Baghdad college
24 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge Sunday, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college whose main gate was left littered with blood-soaked student notebooks and papers amid the bodies.
LINK
why are you down here
while i'm up there
oh, well...
while i'm down here
there's tons of news to read
Cheney arrives in Persian Gulf for talks
Sun Feb 25, 1:01 PM ET
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Vice President Dick Cheney landed in the U.S.-allied Arab monarchy of Oman on Sunday and went directly to talks with its foreign minister, Omani government officials said.
LINK
Happy Feet won an Oscar. That's the movie Faux News didn't like.
i don't give a good god-damn about the oscars...
except for what gg maybe wearing during the oscars
my bet is a low cut chicken-breasted dress covered in specks of blood
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Mob rat loses his hidey-hole
New thread up top
LINK
Is anyone here? Hellooooooo
:o(
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