Thursday, May 31, 2007

Memorial Day, Freedom and the Right Path



Memorial Day, Freedom and the Right Path
Guest Blog By Mike

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend, and I couldn't help thinking what Memorial Day meant to me as a child, as well as what it likely means today to both Children in America as well as children in other countries.

I think the main focus of Memorial Day is to honor the brave soldiers who gave their lives to protect our freedoms and liberties, I think the overwhelming majority of our country DOES honor and respect our soldiers and veterans, but I think Memorial day is also an occasion to remember the presidents who sent those soldiers to war -- and in some cases to their deaths. The majority were honorable men who sent our soldiers to war for honorable and legitimate reasons.

Unfortunately this president, George W Bush, has not; he has sent our soldiers to their deaths for a lie and caused much of the world to despise rather than respect our country and our soldiers. For that reason, although I greatly respect and honor our brave soldiers, (many of which are friends and co-workers of mine or relatives of the former) who are being sacrificed and used as cannon fodder for a self serving lie.....I choose to focus on our president since speaking out against a culture of corruption that CHOOSES to put our soldiers in harms way for no justifiable reason and with no finite plan for a solution is in my opinion one of the best ways to truly support our soldiers.

When I was a child, Memorial Day used to evoke images of both our brave soldiers who died to protect our freedom and liberties, as well as great presidents of the past who were great men, good men, wise men,respected by everyone; after much contemplation, I wondered how does the world look at Memorial Day now after 6 years of George W Bush's treasonous reign of evil.

Better yet how does the world look at America now?

America was always a bastion of goodness, a symbol of freedom, a land of opportunity, where hard work was rewarded.

What have we had under Bush's reign: we have become a world bully that attacks pre-emptively like a common street thug. We take what we want and do what is best for us without listening to other countries needs or wants. Diplomacy and peace have become a sign of weakness and a dirty word to the Bush Administration.

Obeying and defending the Constitution and protecting our cherished freedom and privacy has drawn scorn and derision from this Administration, freedom of speech is abhorred by the overwhelming majority of Republicans when it dissents from their talking points. They use fear and safety as talking points to destroy freedom, to undermine and destroy every bit of goodness that has been a symbol of our country and to seize more and more power and push their self serving agenda.

Our Country is slowly being transformed into an evil police state run by a cabal of megalomaniac dictators. The poor and middle class are losing more ground economically to the ultra-wealthy, good-paying middle class jobs are being outsourced overseas while the rich "robber barons" and white collar criminals manipulating the laws and our tax dollars to steal money from working class people become ever more rich and powerful — just as the "robber barons" like Jay Gould did in the Gilded Age.

What do kids think of now on Memorial Day? ("Hot dogs and hamburgers, says Lydia.") It's obvious they honor and respect our soldiers regardless of whether they believe in the soldiers mission, which is dictated by Bush and his cabal of Neo Con cronies, but I'm wondering when kids think of the Presidents behind the wars, do they think of good men like Lincoln and Washington, men they respect and aspire to emulate, or do kids today both in America and around the world associate it with evil men, Bush, Dick Cheney, Hitler etc.......

Hitler is the leader whom the Neo Cons have been emulating — from his rhetoric to instill fear in the masses, to discredit the opposition, to destroy freedom in the name of safety, to attack other countries preemptively, from his giving the masses a common enemy to fear and hate, and a patriotic cause to rally around etc...

I marvel at how in six short years the Republicans have turned Presidents Day into a dirty phrase, just as they have with America or the word Liberal, which are both symbols of freedom and goodness.........hopefully they have NOT done the same with Memorial Day which is a day to honor our dead soldiers, hopefully the world still honors and respects our soldiers as the overwhelming majority of our country does.

George W Bush NEEDS TO BE IMPEACHED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE before he can do anymore damage to this country or our soldiers.

But on a positive note, we can still turn things around. We need to work toward solutions instead of fear mongering and war mongering. We need to put aside partisanship and work together to create a better country and a better world, we need to put more effort into peace and diplomacy rather than war and hatred.

We have been on the the wrong path for most of the past three decades, we need to get on the right path, the last time we had Presidents work toward energy independence from the Middle East and diversification away from oil was in the 1970's and this is not, nor should it be a partisan issue. The ONLY two Presidents who did anything substantive to make us less dependent on foreign oil imports were Gerald Ford who mandated increased fuel economy in cars and Jimmy Carter, who promoted a variety of technologies to make us less dependent on Petroleum imports, Carter promoted solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas etc.....the sad thing is that the Presidents that followed did not emulate their forethought and long term thinking but instead fell victim to the group think and self serving interests of big oil. Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House to symbolize his commitment to energy independence and his successor Ronald Reagan subsequently had them ripped off after ascending to the White House.

We need a President who is smart, who thinks strategically and longer term, rather than what is best for him politically, or what is more palatable at the moment, or how to best save face. We need a President who is selfless and puts the good of the country and the good of the many over the good of the powerful few. We need a President who is wise, and has character and integrity and honesty and speaks truthfully rather than promoting self serving agenda's or demonizing and smearing his opponents, or using fear and half truths to influence and deceive the weak minded and fearful.

The Founding Fathers and the Great Presidents of the past normally thought of on Memorial Day, believed in freedom and justice for all so vehemently that they were willing to die for it, to get back on the RIGHT PATH and become that shining symbol of freedom and land of opportunity the world has always associated with America, "The Land Of The Free and Home of The Brave", we need stop being ruled by fear and hatred and start acting like we value freedom and bravery, we need to remember and honor the great and brilliant men who fought for our freedom and liberties and wrote that timeless ageless symbol and protector of freedom the US Constitution, we need to hold the Constitution and the sacred freedom it symbolizes above ANY President or Any enacted legislation. Any President or any Legislation that defies, challenges or contradicts the Constitution needs to be repealed or impeached ASAP.

Our Founding Father's and our first President fought for our freedom from a King named George who was deemed insane, Once again we have a man named George who deems himself a king that many claim is insane and is the enemy of democracy and freedom.

To get back on the Right Path, we need to focus on freedom rather than fear, peace rather than war. We need to work to make the world a better place for the next generation, we need to take care of the least among us and, put the good of the many over the good of the few powerful wealthy elite!

(This guest post is by Mike.)

173 comments:

  1. By Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News
    May 31, 2007
    A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Arapahoe County-based Jeppesen knowingly helped the Central Intelligence Agency fly terrorism suspects overseas to secret jails where the prisoners were tortured.

    And Bush says they don't torture.

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  2. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    Published: May 31, 2007
    Filed at 6:49 a.m. ET

    BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 50, police said. U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen in western Baghdad in an engagement that lasted several hours.

    Is the "surge" working yet?

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  3. THE WASHINGTON TIMES
    May 31, 2007

    BAGHDAD -- Once-flourishing middle-class families in Baghdad are now eating meat only sparingly, if at all, as violence across the city prevents people from working and farmers from delivering food to the capital's markets.
    Some women are eating less in order to give their food to their children, residents say, while others try to make meals for a family of five from a portion of meat that would barely make a single hamburger.

    Mothers eating less so their children will have food. Things are great in Iraq.

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  4. By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
    Wed May 30, 11:08 PM ET

    WASHINGTON - Violent crime kept climbing in 2006, a top FBI official said Wednesday, previewing a report detailing nationwide increases in murders, robberies and other felonies for a second straight year.

    The rising crime rate, in an FBI report expected next week, counters Justice Department attempts to tamp down violence by sending more funds to local police and studying U.S. cities for clues on how the increase began.

    Crime on the increase, This is Bush's America.

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  5. To get back on the right path means to get back on a sustainable one.

    A lot of people bemoan the 1970s, and yet.... we accomplished amazing things in regards to oil consumption. We're going to have to do it again, big time. Right now. For all of the slamming people have done of Presidents Ford and Carter over the years, they presided over a remarkable taming of the beast. And they didn't have to spill the blood of any soldiers to get it done.

    Driving SUVs is not a "personal choice" anymore when it means some kid is going to get shot to pieces in the Middle East. It's time that the selfish among us acknowledge this fact.

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  6. Hey Mike? If you ever run for office, let me know so I can vote for you!

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  7. Wow. Great post.

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  8. Mike, what can I say. If I didn't know it wasn't me, I would have thought i had written it. Excellent article.

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  9. Good article Mike. I like how you talked about what memorial day used to mean to you as a kid. It shines a light on where we are now by thinking about where we were then.

    Good stuff.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Thanks Candace and Ron and welcome to the Blog............Lydia is a brilliant writer and a champion of truth and is a tough act to follow as is Worf and Larry..........I'm happy to just be included in the same company as them!

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  12. TomCat said...
    Mike, what can I say. If I didn't know it wasn't me, I would have thought i had written it. Excellent article."

    Tomcat, as always we are on the same page, you are one of the most insightful people on this blog, i'm proud to share your views and principles of life, wish you had more time to spend here because you really add insight and substance to this blog and I value your perspective.

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  13. OBI WAN WORFEUS said...
    Good article Mike. I like how you talked about what memorial day used to mean to you as a kid. It shines a light on where we are now by thinking about where we were then."

    Thanks Worf, it really is sickening how far down the wrong path we have come and Bush and his Neo Con cronnies were instrumental in steering us down the wrong path.........i can only remain hopeful we will get back on the right path.

    Also, I think most kids have an inate sense of good and evil and right and wrong, and that was truly how I felt as a child and it sickens me that kids now have to wonder if our leaders are the good guys or the bad guys, as well as having to examine with an open mind how our country is actually perceived by the world and how that has changed as a result of GWB.

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  14. Jacq, it was not meant to be sarcastic, I meant to welcome you, Ron, Chuck, and Candace to the blog...........we all support the cause and provide insight in our own way, whether it is by posting lots of information and debating or supporting others and pointing out others comments that are outstanding and insightful that deserve attention........I'm glad you and the others are choosing spending more time here, and i'm sure Lydia feels that way as well.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Economic growth stalls in first quarter
    U.S. gross domestic product expanded at 0.6 percent pace, slowest since '02

    AP Updated: 7:01 a.m. MT May 31, 2007
    WASHINGTON - The economy nearly stalled in the first quarter with growth slowing to a pace of just 0.6 percent. That was the worst three-month showing in over four years.

    The new reading on the gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department Thursday, showed that economic growth in the January-through-March quarter was much weaker. Government statisticians slashed by more than half their first estimate of a 1.3 percent growth rate for the quarter.

    The main culprits for the downgrade: the bloated trade deficit and businesses cutting investment in supplies of the goods they hold in inventories.

    For nearly a year, the economy has been enduring a stretch of subpar economic growth due mostly to a sharp housing slump. That in turn has made some businesses act more cautiously in their spending and investing.

    The economy’s 0.6 percent growth rate in the opening quarter of this year marked a big loss of momentum from the 2.5 percent pace logged in the final quarter of last year.

    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke doesn’t believe the economy will slide into recession this year, nor do Bush administration officials. But ex-Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds at one in three.

    The first-quarter’s performance was the weakest since the final quarter of 2002, when the economy was recovering from a recession. At that time, GDP eked out a 0.2 percent growth rate. Economists were predicting the first-quarter performance this year would be downgraded, but not as much as it did. They were calling for a 0.8 percent growth rate pace.

    GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States. It is considered the best measure of the country’s economic fitness.

    In more encouraging economic news, the Labor Department reported that fewer people signed up for unemployment benefits last week. New filings dropped by 4,000 to 310,000. That suggests the employment climate is weathering well the economy’s sluggish spell.

    Many economists believe the first quarter will be the low point for this year. They expect growth will improve but still be sluggish.

    The National Association for Business Economics predicts the economy will expand at a 2.3 percent pace in the April-to-June quarter.

    In the first quarter, there was a larger trade deficit than first thought. That ended up shaving a full percentage point from the GDP. Businesses cut back on inventory investment as they tried to make sure unsold stocks of goods didn’t get out of whack with customer demand. That lopped off nearly a percentage point to first quarter GDP.

    Those were the biggest factors behind the government slicing its initial GDP estimate released a month ago by as much as it did.

    The sour housing market also restrained overall economic activity. Investment in home building was cut by 15.4 percent, on an annualized basis, in the first quarter. However, that wasn’t as deep a cut as the 17 percent annualized drop initally estimated. And, it wasn’t as severe as the 19.8 percent annualized drop seen in the final quarter of last year.

    Even so, there is no doubt that troubled housing market is one of the biggest problems for the economy. Although some businesses tightened the belt in the first quarter, consumers did not. That helped to prevent the economy from stalling out altogether.

    Consumers boosted their spending by a 4.4 percent growth rate in the first quarter, the most in a year. Consumer spending accounts for a major chunk of economic activity.

    Some economists wonder how much interest consumers will have in continued brisk spending, however, given rising gasoline prices that have topped $3 a gallon in many markets. More money spent filling up the gas tank leaves less to spend on other things.

    One of the reasons consumers have stayed so resilient even as the housing market has been stuck in a rut for a year is because the job market has been good.

    However, there have been recent signs that the job market — while still healthy — is slowing a bit.

    The unemployment rate edged up to 4.5 percent in April as payrolls grew by just 88,000, the fewest in more than two years.

    An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report and closely watched by the Fed showed that core prices — excluding food and energy — rose at a rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter. That was unchanged from its initial estimate but up from a 1.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

    The Federal Reserve’s key interest rate has been at 5.25 percent for nearly a year. Many economists predict the rate probably will stay right where it is through the rest of this year.

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  16. Looks like we are headed for recession at .6% GDP we are balancing on the edge of a knife between recession and stagflation...........and THIS time the fed might not come to the rescue with interest rate cuts because they have to defend the dollar from collapsing with higher rates.............this could be a severe recession!

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  17. Jolly Roger said...
    To get back on the right path means to get back on a sustainable one.

    A lot of people bemoan the 1970s, and yet.... we accomplished amazing things in regards to oil consumption. We're going to have to do it again, big time. Right now. For all of the slamming people have done of Presidents Ford and Carter over the years, they presided over a remarkable taming of the beast. And they didn't have to spill the blood of any soldiers to get it done.

    Driving SUVs is not a "personal choice" anymore when it means some kid is going to get shot to pieces in the Middle East. It's time that the selfish among us acknowledge this fact."

    I couldnt agree more JR, Ford and Carter helped set up the 20 year economic boom we experienced by cutting our dependency on oil, raising fuel economy and breaking inflation so we could enjoy low interest rates.

    Also regarding SUV's, I think $4 a gallon gas will mark the end of the ignorant SUV fad, and help put us on a saner path regarding Energy policy.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Collapse comments


    Larry said...
    By Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News
    May 31, 2007
    A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Arapahoe County-based Jeppesen knowingly helped the Central Intelligence Agency fly terrorism suspects overseas to secret jails where the prisoners were tortured.

    And Bush says they don't torture."

    Yeah Larry, did you see that article Clif posted last night, Bush, Cheney and Gonzalez used the same justification for torture that Hitler and the Nazi's used, it was chilling to read that article.........The similarities between The Neo Cons and the Nazi's is truly scary!

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  19. Just listening to Bush mangling a speech is torture.

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  20. Hey did you guys see that Comedy Central has a new cartoon comedy coming out called "LIL BUSH"?

    It airs in June.

    Its a cartoon about Bush as a child.

    I can't believe it.

    I think its a first.

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  21. It looks hilarious.

    The commercials show a little George Bush in a little suit and a little tie, warning you that if you don't watch, you'll be supporting terrorism.

    It really looks like funny stuff.

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  22. We have certainly lampooned presidents before on stage and in cartoons, but I think this is the first time a President ever had the dubious honor of being mocked as a cartoon character in the starring role of a weekly series.

    I imagine Comedy Central is going to catch a lot of flack for it, but I think in the long run, they'll garner more praise.

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  23. gee. I guess I'm the only one who's seen the commercials.

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  24. Here.

    Check this out. Its a preview of "Lil Bush, resident of the United States".

    SNEAK PEAK AT LIL BUSH

    It looks pretty zany.

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  25. Theres more than one clip there. Click on the ones below it. You'll see one titled "BASEBALL" and one called "EVOLUTION" and one called "HOT DOG DAY".

    Watch them all.

    They are pretty funny. Kinda like South Park with Bush.

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  26. The one called "EVOLUTION" is the funniest one.

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  27. LYDIA.


    You've got to watch the clip called "EVOLUTION".

    It is hilarious. I can't believe they are doing this. They have brass balls at Comedy Central.

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  28. This is more significant than just a cartoon. This is a cartoon with a strong, strong message. And it is a first in American history.

    For the first time, we have a show, named after the President, that mocks the President, and stars a cartoon character playing the president as a young man.

    I am sure there is going to be backlash on this, but since they don't call him the president, and it is not about a president, but a school kid, then I am sure it is legal. But it will still draw some heat to be sure.

    But the message is there. That message?

    Mr President. This country no longer respects you.

    LIL BUSH"

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  29. Impeach Bush/Cheney:

    Do-It-Yourself Impeachment.



    In response to Kucinich's pursuing of Cheney, Impeach for Peace has created a new DIY Impeachment. This one is directed at Cheney. We have researched a method for impeaching the President and Vice President using a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the House of Representatives ("Jefferson’s Manual"). This document actually empowers individual citizens to initiate the impeachment process themselves.

    "Jefferson's Manual" is an interpretive guide to parliamentary procedure, and is included (along with the Constitution) in the bound volumes of the Rules of the House of Representatives. It is ratified by each congress (including the current one), and has been updated continuously through the history of our democracy. The section covering impeachment lists the acceptable vehicles for bringing impeachment motions to the floor of the House.

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  30. It's time to get these two sons of bitches out of office!

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  31. Worf,

    I guess you must have missed their show a few years back called "That's my Bush"....

    ReplyDelete
  32. 25 killed in suicide bombing in Fallujah

    By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer

    BAGHDAD - "A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 50, police said. U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen in western Baghdad in an engagement that lasted several hours.

    At least 10 policemen were among the dead in the Fallujah attack, which occurred about 11 a.m., according to a police official in the city who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information…

    Police said the bomber detonated his explosives vest at the third of four checkpoints as he stood among recruits who were lining up to apply for jobs on the force. The center had only been opened on Saturday in a primary school in eastern Fallujah.

    The U.S. military and Iraqi army and police were running the center along with members of Anbar Salvation Council, a loose grouping of Sunni tribes that have banded together to fight al-Qaida…"


    Mr. Bush, why won't you let these innocent peace loving people slaughter their own citizens at will?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Voltron said...
    Worf,

    I guess you must have missed their show a few years back called "That's my Bush"....



    Sorry I missed that.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Iraq residents rise up against al-Qaida

    By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writers

    "A battle raged in west Baghdad on Thursday after residents rose up against al-Qaida and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said…"


    Mr. Bush, why won't you pull our troops out now so they can peacefully kill their own?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Yea. Funny though.

    Before your "Mr Bush" blundered into that country like a monkey f#$king a football, they weren't doing that.


    Numbskulls like you tend to forget that, so I thought I'd remind you.

    ReplyDelete
  36. God, for a while there I actually thought you had grown a brain.


    Oh well.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Naw, slow news day so I thought I'd help Larry out a bit...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Clearly your nose is stuck so far up the GOP's ass you can't tell the shit from the sunshine, so I'll just let you babble to yourself for a while.


    Watching you post is like watching a chimpanzee smearing its own feces on itself.

    ReplyDelete
  39. I really thought you might have learned something over the last few weeks, which is why we didn't hear any of your gestapo propaganda.

    So much for small hopes.

    ReplyDelete
  40. After the last few weeks, anyone still willing to sign on with the Bush administration is so far gone that his brain is unable to reason.

    Only the most brainwashed volksturm, or the most cowed, followed Hitler at the end.

    I wonder which are you?

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  41. Actually I've been working on a new post for my blog about new age christians and liberals.

    I'm gonna call it "Hare Khristians and Ice Cream socialists"...

    Whadda ya think?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Actually Bushes dissing of people who disagree with his "Amnesty" immigration bill has put me off quite a bit.

    Right now about the ONLY thing I agree with him on is the war on terror...

    ReplyDelete
  43. I think you'd do better writing about a subject you know something about, like brainwashed goosetepping conservative christians.

    You could call it, "Hari Kari and Schnapps".

    ReplyDelete
  44. Voltron said...


    Right now about the ONLY thing I agree with him on is the war on terror...


    Funny thing about that "War on Terror".

    Only paranoid neocons like yourself are "terrorized".

    For all your tough talk, you're really just a bunch of chickenshit, well armed wimps.

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  45. Now you've got Russia pissed off.

    Bush has single handedly undone work by presidents thoughout the last few decades, including your beloved Ronald Reagan.

    Bush has singlehandely restarted the cold war.

    Another skillfully handled disaster.

    Heck-uva-job.

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  46. Anyway I don't have time to waste on you tonight nimrod.

    How do you tell a Nazi that murder is wrong? He just won't get it.

    Why?

    Cause he's a fu@#king murderer.

    Thats why.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Well I happen to agree with Mikey's post about "looking to the long term"...

    I'd rather fight a few battles now and get it over with than leave a full fledged bloody world war for future generations.



    And Russia had already drifted backwards. In case you never noticed Putin was (and is) a hard core Kremlin guy. They've been slowly moving back to communism since his "election".

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  48. And time with me is never wasted Worf. You might learn something...

    ;)

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  49. Voltron said...
    Iraq residents rise up against al-Qaida

    By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writers

    "A battle raged in west Baghdad on Thursday after residents rose up against al-Qaida and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said…"


    Mr. Bush, why won't you pull our troops out now so they can peacefully kill their own?"

    Why wont mr Bush pull our troops out indeed...........lets see He JUST said if the Iraqi's want us to leave we will pull out and most of the polls I've seen show that more than 80% want us out and yet...........mr Bush is still there putting our troops in harms way where they being murdered because all mr Bush cares about is oil.

    ReplyDelete
  50. BTW, Worf, I saw that Lil Bush that was pretty funny, Did you see Lil Cheney and Lil Rummy?

    Thats priceless and so were the captions Bush is being mocked and well he should!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Updated:2007-05-31 20:27:36
    Putin Blames U.S. for New Arms Race
    By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
    AP
    MOSCOW (May 31) - President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia's test-firing of new missiles this week was a response to U.S. plans to build missile defense sites across Europe, and suggested Washington is pursuing an imperialist policy that has triggered a new arms race.

    In a clear reference to the United States, Putin harshly criticized "diktat and imperialism" in global affairs and warned that Russia will keep strengthening its military potential to maintain a global strategic balance.

    "It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race," Putin said when asked about Russia's missile tests this week at a news conference in Moscow.

    In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe indicated that Moscow's tests only underscore the U.S. contention that the missile defense system would not be a threat to Russia.

    "Russia's strong missile capabilities are no match for our European missile defense plans and will not upset the strategic balance in the region," Johndroe said.

    Putin described the tests of a new ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and a new cruise missile as part of the Russian response to the planned deployment of new U.S. military bases and missile defense sites in ex-Soviet satellites in eastern Europe.

    He assailed the United States and other NATO members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the deployment of heavy non-nuclear weapons around the continent.

    "We have signed and ratified the CFE and are fully implementing it. We have pulled out all our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia to (locations) behind the Ural Mountains and cut our military by 300,000 men," Putin said.

    "And what about our partners? They are filling eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another one in Romania, a (missile defense) site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic," he said. "What we are supposed to do? We can't just sit back and look at that."

    Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected U.S. assurances that the planned missile defense installations are meant to counter a potential threat from nations such as Iran and pose no danger to Russia.

    He reaffirmed his warning that Russia would opt out of the CFE treaty altogether if NATO nations fail to ratify its amended version.

    "Either you ratify the treaty and start observing it, or we will opt out of it," Putin said.

    In remarks directed at Washington, Putin blasted those "who want to dictate their will to all others regardless of international norms and law."

    "It's dangerous and harmful," he added. "Norms of the international law were replaced with political expediency. We view it as diktat and imperialism."

    In one of the tests Tuesday, a prototype of Russia's new intercontinental ballistic missile, called the RS-24, was fired from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk launch site in northwestern Russia and its test warhead landed on target 3,400 miles away on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far eastern part of the country, officials said.

    Deploying a new missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads could allow Russia to maintain nuclear parity with the United States despite having to gradually decommission Soviet-built ICBMs.

    The military also tested a new cruise missile based on the existing short-range Iskander missile.

    First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, widely seen as a potential Kremlin candidate to succeed Putin, hailed the missile's capability on Thursday.

    "It can be used at long range with surgical precision, as doctors say" Ivanov said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "Russia needs this weapon to maintain strategic stability."

    ITAR-Tass said Thursday the new cruise missile, R-500, will have a range of up to 310 miles, the limit under a Soviet-era treaty that banned intermediate-range missiles. Putin and other officials have called the treaty outdated but have not said Russia would opt out of it.

    Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
    05/31/07 10:56 EDT

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  52. Putin may be a hardcore Kremlin guy But Bush has played a hand in shaping some of his policies.......to GWB and his pack of Neo Con fools the Cold War were the Good ole days!

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  53. Oh and btw Volt Putin may be taking Russia in an authoritarian direction but its NOT full fledged communism its more a combination of capitalism and government managed communism.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Updated:2007-05-31 15:34:54
    Vet May Lose 'Honorable' Status Over Protest
    By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
    AP
    KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 31) - An Iraq war veteran could lose his honorable discharge status after being photographed wearing fatigues at an anti-war protest.

    Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh and other veterans marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq in April by wearing their uniforms - with military insignia removed - and roaming around the nation's capital on a mock patrol.

    After Kokesh was identified in a photo cutline in The Washington Post, a superior officer sent him a letter saying he might have violated a rule prohibiting troops from wearing uniforms without authorization.

    Kokesh, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, responded with an obscenity.

    Now, a military panel has been scheduled to meet with Kokesh on Monday to decide whether his discharge status should be changed from "honorable" to "other than honorable."

    "This is clearly a case of selective prosecution and intimidation of veterans who speak out against the war," Kokesh said. "To suggest that while as a veteran you don't have freedom of speech is absurd."

    Kokesh is part of the Individual Ready Reserve, a segment of the reserves that consists mainly of those who have left active duty but still have time remaining on their eight-year military obligations.

    His attorney, Mike Lebowitz, said Kokesh's IRR status ends June 18. He said at least three other veterans have been investigated because of their involvement at demonstrations.

    Kokesh, 25, enlisted in the Marines while still attending high school in New Mexico. He was a reservist in an artillery unit, assigned to the November Battery, 5th Battalion, 14th Regiment of the 4th Division based out of Pico Rivera, Calif., near Los Angeles.

    Kokesh said he had reservations about Iraq even before the United States invaded, but wanted to go there to help rebuild schools and mosques after Saddam Hussein 's regime was toppled. He even learned Arabic.

    He said he grew disillusioned with the war during his first tour, and now believes there is no way for the country to achieve the rule of law with a foreign military imposing martial law.

    He was supposed to go to Iraq a second time, but was demoted from sergeant to corporal and not allowed to return after it was learned that he brought a pistol back after his first tour in 2004.

    Kokesh argues that he was not representing the military at the protest in Washington, and he made that clear by removing his name tag and other military insignia from his uniform.

    Lebowitz said Kokesh technically is a civilian unless recalled to active duty and had the right to be disrespectful in his response to the officer. He called the proceedings against Kokesh highly unusual and said the military usually seeks to change a veteran's discharge status only if a crime has been committed.

    If his discharge status is changed, Kokesh said he could lose some health benefits and be forced to repay about $10,800 he received to obtain his undergraduate degree on the GI Bill.

    Kokesh said he holds no ill will toward the Marines.

    "I love the Marine Corps," he said. "I always have loved the Marine Corps, and that is why I'm particularly offended to see it being used for political ends."

    ReplyDelete
  55. Think we are not in a fascist police state then read the previous article I just posted!

    ReplyDelete
  56. Mike-

    That was very well written! I'm sure that I haven't read an entry anywhere about Memorial Day that was so all encompassing.

    Bravo new friend! :)

    ReplyDelete
  57. Thanks Chuck, glad to have you here, BTW, I also enjoyed your collection of classic rock!

    ReplyDelete
  58. BTW Volt if you truly support the troops and despise a fascist police state how about donating some money to Kokesh's defense fund.......how about putting your money where your mouth is for once!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Worf: I will check out EVOLUTION on Comedy Central. It's part of the new caroon LIL BUSH?

    sounds hilarious.

    Did anyone see Bill Mahr's seaso finale last week with Ron Paul, Michael Moore, Ben Affleck?

    Brilliant.

    Michael Moore's film SICKO is getting rave reviews even from Republicans. FOX called it "brilliant."

    ReplyDelete
  60. An article on Huffington Post says that Fred Thompson is of the belief that the 2006 elections had nothing to do with Iraq.

    Well, there went his chance at winning.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Ok, now a little known secret is that my name is actually Mike. Of course, we already have one of those here so I adopted the name MCH1968. Be that as it may, I'm going to borrow a page from the other Mike's book and post a news story ... or Larry's book if you prefer.


    WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

    The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

    Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

    Got that from Olbermann's blog. Suppose we should all become vegetarians now?

    ReplyDelete
  62. Republican National Committee Fires ALL Their Telephone Solicitors

    I kid you not.

    I smell troll. Looks like I'd better strap on my gund again. I hear he polished his lawn ornament of dark persuasion this time.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Voltron said...
    Well I happen to agree with Mikey's post about "looking to the long term"...

    I'd rather fight a few battles now and get it over with than leave a full fledged bloody world war for future generations.


    So who's stopping you, you fascist war whore?

    You're happy to see other folks kids die, but damn, son, you didn't even bother picking up a gun and defending this nation in its gravest time of need.

    ReplyDelete
  64. And, I might point out, we're heading towards world war now, Widdle Twucker, so you might want to get your licks in early.

    Turkey to invade Kurdish territories

    ReplyDelete
  65. I have smelled troll the last few days as well Carl!

    ReplyDelete
  66. >>>Mike said...
    I have smelled troll the last few days as well Carl! >>>

    Aw, come on, Ann Coulter doesnt smell THAT bad ... oh wait, you meant the other troll. Sorry, my mistake

    ReplyDelete
  67. Mike said...
    I have smelled troll the last few days as well Carl!


    Not a problem. Now that I secured the deal I've been working on, I'll have much more time to rend them from limb to limb...Maybe I can sell them to China as Canadian bacon? Think they'd believe it wasn't pig?

    Oh. Wait. I wouldn't have to lie...

    ReplyDelete
  68. Publisher's Weekly | Jim Milliot | May 31, 2007 01:55 PM

    Simon & Schuster has joined with its author Valerie Plame Wilson to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the CIA, charging that the agency is interfering with Plame's efforts to write her memoir. The suit, which names the CIA; the director of the CIA Michael Hayden; and J. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, alleges that the executive branch of the government is trying to stop Plame from using the...

    Gotta shut the truth up.

    ReplyDelete
  69. LA Times | May 31, 2007 08:22 AM

    The United States is among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran, according to an index of 121 countries.

    According to the Global Peace Index, created by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway is the most peaceful nation and Iraq is the least, just after Russia, Israel and Sudan.

    This story just won't die.

    ReplyDelete
  70. AP | JEANNINE AVERSA | May 31, 2007 08:42 AM

    The economy nearly stalled in the first quarter with growth slowing to a pace of just 0.6 percent. That was the worst three-month showing in over four years.

    The new reading on the gross domestic product, released by the
    Commerce Department Thursday, showed that economic growth in the January-to-April quarter was much weaker. Government statisticians slashed by more than half their first estimate of a 1.3 percent growth rate for the quarter.

    The main culprits for the downgrade: the bloated trade deficit...

    More results of the Bush economy.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Iraqi PM al-Maliki told Lara Logan of CBS Evening News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that he has a real fear of a coup by the Iraqi army.

    Al-Maliki said that some of the officer corps have been creating problems and even violating the security of military operations. He stated, "I'm not afraid, but I have to watch the army, because those still loyal to the previous regime may start planning coups. Those people don't believe in democracy, and for that reason we are monitoring the status of the army very closely."

    Al-Maliki also insisted that his government is not ordered around by the Americans, saying, "The Americans don't order us to do this or not to do that. On the contrary, we're the ones who tell them to do this and don't do that."

    Bush's "surge" can't even keep his puppet regime in place.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Yeah Larry, I posted about that anemic .6% GDP today........it hasnt been that low since 2002 when we were coming out of a recession........I think we will definately enter recession late this year triggered by high gas prices!

    ReplyDelete
  73. A US architect working on the construction of a massive new US embassy in war-torn Baghdad quickly removed plans and drawings of the proposed compound from its website Thursday after a protest from the State Department, officials said.

    "Our desire would be that this not be in the public domain," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said after officials called the firm of Berger Devine Yaeger within minutes of learning from a reporter that the embassy plans had been posted on its website.

    I thought Bush was the Security President!

    ReplyDelete
  74. JALALABAD, Afghanistan, May 31 — Sixteen Afghan policemen were killed and six more wounded in an ambush Thursday morning on the main road that runs from the capital to the southern city of Kandahar.

    I thought Bush said he won that war!

    ReplyDelete
  75. By Nancy A. Youssef
    McClatchy Newspapers

    WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense spent nearly $31 million in three years in condolence payments to civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it didn't track how it doled out the money, a Government Accountability Office report found.


    The report, released Thursday, is the most detailed public study of compensation payments in the two wars. It found, for example, that the Defense Department paid $26 million to settle 21,450 claims, or an average of $1,212 per claim.


    The military makes condolence payments for killing or injuring a civilian or for damaging property. Generally, Iraqis and Afghanis received up to $2,500 for property damage or death. In April 2006, military officials in Iraq raised the maximum payment to $10,000. In addition, U.S. officials began paying the relatives of Iraqi soldiers and police who were killed because of U.S. operations, the report states.

    How many millions did Bush pay to U.S soldiers families who lost their loved one from his mishaps?

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hey Larry did you see that story I posted about the Marine who is getting a dishonorable discharge for protesting against Bush and the war...............Freedom of speech and rule of law doesnt matter one bit to these Nazi cronnies.......its ALL about politics!

    ReplyDelete
  77. Carl said...
    Maybe I can sell them to China as Canadian bacon? Think they'd believe it wasn't pig?

    Oh. Wait. I wouldn't have to lie...
    ---------------
    Hi Carl!

    ROFLMAO

    ReplyDelete
  78. I think we will definately enter recession late this year triggered by high gas prices!
    ---------------
    Hi Mike!

    Yes, it looks like that's the direction we're heading!

    ReplyDelete
  79. Updated: 12:02 p.m. ET May 31, 2007
    WASHINGTON - A half dozen federal investigations into the activities of Republican lawmakers are raising new worries for GOP leaders who hope to regain the House majority they lost last fall.
    AP:
    In recent weeks, two veteran Republicans surrendered prominent committee seats after FBI agents raided the offices of family businesses. Others have long-running investigations hanging over them. Some conservative activists are criticizing the party's handling of the matters.

    How will the Republicans survive with most of their members under indictment?

    ReplyDelete
  80. BTW, I also enjoyed your collection of classic rock!

    Thanks for visiting Mike. Unfortunately I've been neglecting it lately. I need to teach myself how to download YouTube videos to my hard drive. The embeds go bad too frequently. I'm just an old-timer that didn't learn much beyond HTML.

    ReplyDelete
  81. I saw that Mike, looks like the clamp of freedom only applies to the neocons.

    Hey Suzie.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Chuck:
    You need to keep that site going along with your others. Brings back memories.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Hey SQ, Hey Chuck!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Hey SQ, Hey Chuck!

    ReplyDelete
  85. Mike:

    Read Chuck's post about the Real ID act. It is good and most don't understand what this will do.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Larry said...
    Updated: 12:02 p.m. ET May 31, 2007
    WASHINGTON - A half dozen federal investigations into the activities of Republican lawmakers are raising new worries for GOP leaders who hope to regain the House majority they lost last fall.
    AP:
    In recent weeks, two veteran Republicans surrendered prominent committee seats after FBI agents raided the offices of family businesses. Others have long-running investigations hanging over them. Some conservative activists are criticizing the party's handling of the matters.

    How will the Republicans survive with most of their members under indictment?"


    Repugs hope to regain a House majority..............BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Btw Larry which repugs surrendered those committe seats?

    ReplyDelete
  87. Larry said...
    How will the Republicans survive with most of their members under indictment?
    --------------
    Larry:

    They won't! LOLMAO

    ReplyDelete
  88. Chuck said...
    I'm just an old-timer that didn't learn much beyond HTML.
    --------------
    Hi Chuck!

    Aren't we all still learning? :)

    ReplyDelete
  89. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., left the committee in April after FBI agents raided his Washington-area home. His wife, Julie, ran a business from the home in which she received commissions as a paid fundraiser for her husband's campaigns and her clients included now-jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

    Doolittle's committee seat went to Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. The FBI retrieved copies of Calvert's annual financial disclosure statements following reports last year that Calvert steered millions of federal dollars to projects near his private real estate developments.

    Calvert says the FBI has not contacted him and he has no reason to believe he is a target. But that hasn't stopped the widely read conservative blog RedState.com from repeatedly denouncing Calvert's appointment to the Appropriations Committee.

    Joining the attack recently was Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. He said Calvert "would seem to fit in more with the party" that keeps Jefferson and Mollohan in office "than with a party that has made great strides in trying to clean up its image."

    Aside from Doolittle, Republican operatives are most concerned about Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., who gave up his House intelligence committee seat last month after FBI agents raided his wife's insurance business.

    Renzi paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes while settling charges that his businesses improperly paid for his first congressional campaign. He also faces an inquiry into whether he used his House seat to help a former business partner make land swaps.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Suzie:

    I was worried about the poor corrupt Repugs.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Mike said...
    BTW, Worf, I saw that Lil Bush that was pretty funny, Did you see Lil Cheney and Lil Rummy?


    Yea.

    And little Condie Rice.

    ReplyDelete
  92. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of imperialism and starting a new arms race, but Washington said its ex-Cold War foe's foreign policy showed it was behind the times.

    Speaking a week before he meets leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrial nations in Germany, Putin said Russia's tests on Tuesday of two new missiles were a direct response to U.S. moves to create a missile defense system in Europe.

    Now Bush is starting another war he cannot mentally or economically win.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Larry:

    Sure you were... and hey, I have some great beach property here in Arizona that I would like to sell.. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  94. Suzie;

    After we put money into the innocent Save Tom Delay fund.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Damn Chuck, I just read that article about the Real ID Act thats SCARRY STUFF..............F$%K That i'll drive without a damn license they can ticket me all I want no way in hell will I walk arounfd with an RFID chip in my license allowing big brother to monitor me.................Ever here of live free or die........I will NEVER be a sheep or lemming that goes along with or supports a fascist police state that reeks of big brother!

    ReplyDelete
  96. Worf if you didnt see it go back and read the article I posted about the Marine who is having his honorable discharge changed to a dishonorable dischage because he protested against Bush and the war.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Lol, Larry or Worf........thats a nice picture you added!

    ReplyDelete
  98. Mike:

    The article you wrote is great! :)

    ReplyDelete
  99. FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed up to 20 men queuing at a police recruitment centre west of Baghdad on Thursday, police said, and al Qaeda militants battled a rival Sunni Arab faction in the south of the capital.

    Police and hospital officials said 20 people had been killed and at least 20 more wounded in the Falluja bombing, but the U.S. military said only one policeman had been killed.

    The deaths of three more U.S. soldiers were announced on the last day of May, already the deadliest month for U.S. forces in more than two years. A total of 3,473 have died since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, 122 of them in May.

    This should make Bush a May finale he will be proud of.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Economic growth skidded to a near halt in the first quarter, with the worst showing in more than four years raising concerns about how long the country's sluggish spell will last. Government statisticians slashed by more than half their first estimate of a 1.3 percent growth rate for the quarter. The main forces behind the downgrade: the bloated trade deficit and businesses cutting investment in supplies of the goods ...

    Bush is as good an ecomonist as he is a war planner.

    ReplyDelete
  101. I wonder if the guy that coined the term bush league had GWB in mind since Bush is a total failure that ruins everything he touches..........some people have the midas touch........GWB has the crapola touch where everything he touches turns to shit!

    ReplyDelete
  102. WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, seeking to blunt international criticism of the U.S. record on climate change, on Thursday urged 15 major nations to agree by the end of next year on a global target for reducing greenhouse gases.

    Bush called for the first in a series of meetings to begin this fall, bringing together countries identified as major emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The list would include the United States, China, India and major European countries. After setting a goal, the nations would be free to develop their own strategies to meet the target.

    The president outlined his proposal in a speech ahead of next week's summit in Germany of leading industrialized nations, where global warming is to be a major topic and Bush will be on the spot. (Watch how Bush may be setting a collision course with Europe )

    The United States has refused to ratify the landmark 1997 Kyoto Protocol requiring industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2012. Developing countries, including China and India, were exempted from that first round of cuts. Bush rejected the Kyoto approach, as well as the latest German proposal for what happens after 2012.

    "The United States takes this issue seriously," Bush said. "The new initiative I'm outlining today will contribute to the important dialogue that will take place in Germany next week."

    Environmental groups were quick to criticize Bush's plan.

    Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder called the proposal "a complete charade. It is an attempt to make the Bush administration look like it takes global warming seriously without actually doing anything to curb emissions."

    National Environmental Trust president Philip Clapp agreed.

    "This is a transparent effort to divert attention from the president's refusal to accept any emissions reductions proposals at next week's G-8 summit," Clapp said. "After sitting out talks on global warming for years, the Bush administration doesn't have very much credibility with other governments on the issue. "

    And Daniel J. Weiss, climate strategy director for the liberal Center for American Progress, said the Bush administration has a "do-nothing" policy on global warming despite U.S. allies' best efforts to spur U.S. reductions.

    Along with his call for a global emissions goal, Bush urged other nations to eliminate tariffs on clean energy technologies.

    Germany, which holds the European Union and Group of Eight presidencies, is proposing a so-called "2-degree" target, whereby global temperatures would be allowed to increase no more than 2 degrees Celsius -- the equivalent of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit -- before being brought back down. Practically, experts have said, that means a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

    Instead, Bush called for nations to hold a series of meetings, beginning this fall, to set a global emissions goal. Each nation then would have to decide on how to achieve the goal, White House officials said.

    "The United States will work with other nations to establish a new framework for greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," the president said.

    "So my proposal is this: By the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases. To develop this goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that produce the most greenhouse gases, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China.

    "Each country would establish midterm management targets and programs that reflect their own mix of energy sources and future energy needs," he said. "In the course of the next 18 months, our nations will bring together industry leaders from different sectors of our economies, such as power generation, and alternative fuels and transportation."

    James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, rejected charges that the U.S. was dragging its feet in the fight against climate change.

    "This is actually accelerating it," he said. "If we wanted to put things off further, you'd have annual meetings at the U.N. for the next five years. If you want to accelerate it, we do a lot of groundwork in between the U.N. meetings so we can bring the work product to the U.N. meetings."

    The U.S. last year actually experienced a drop in emissions of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas most blamed for global warming. The 1.3 percent decline from 2005, the first drop in 11 years, was due to a mild winter followed by a cool summer, along with other factors ranging from greater industrial efficiency to increased capacity of nuclear power plants.

    Carbon dioxide is produced from burning fossil fuels, including natural gas and coal, which are used widely to produce electricity to heat homes in winter and run air conditioners in summer.

    While Bush announced his new proposal, the administration registered its opposition to a number of approaches to combat global warming. Specifically, the White House said it does not support a global carbon-trading program allowing countries to buy and sell carbon credits to meet limits on carbon dioxide levels. The White House also expressed opposition to energy efficiency targets advocated by the EU, arguing that a standard applicable in one country does not fit another.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Bush is a product of his own demon seeds that he has obviously passed down to his twin terrors.

    Jebby is the moron seed of his equally moronish Daddy.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I think they are saying Bush is once again going through a charade to deceive people..........Bush has NEVER been for alternative energy or the environment and he can talk out of BOTH sides of his mouth and PRETEND he does all he wants...........actions speak louder than words........especially when you are dealing with a hippocritical Neo Con liar!

    ReplyDelete
  105. By MAY WONG, Associated Press Writer
    Thu May 31, 8:15 PM ET

    MENLO PARK, Calif. - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday called for a federal investigation into possible antitrust violations by the oil industry and criticized oil companies for raising gas prices.

    "There's absolutely no justification for the gas companies to be as profitable as they are and have the taxpayers subsidizing the industry," Edwards said.

    Why hasn't Bush done this?

    ReplyDelete
  106. I always thought jebby was the smart ideologue or at least the one who isnt stupid............but one thing is a given..........jeb lives in reality rather than his own delusional fantasy world.........he KNOWS and admits he has NO political future thans to his war criminal dunce of a brother!

    ReplyDelete
  107. Just wait until 2012 And you will see Jebby run. They can't stay away from power and profits.

    ReplyDelete
  108. The Associated Press is moving to protect its content by partnering with the technology company Attributor, which will track AP material across the Internet. The arrangement will allow Attributor to "fingerprint" AP copy down to a level where it can be identified anywhere on the Web. - May 31, 2007 12:05 AM ET

    No more AP articles.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Bush threatened to Veto ANY action against the oil companies Larry..........he likes price gouging as much as he hates and doesnt want to support the troops........he threatened to veto any legislation against price gouging by the oil companies, he vetoed a bill that funded the troops, and him and his cronnies said that a small raise for the troops putting their lives on the line was "UNNECCESSARY"

    ReplyDelete
  110. No I think Jeb is REALLY done, I think Rove and his minions are trying to glom onto Fred Thomas because Rove craves power and is like a moth to the flame to money and power!

    ReplyDelete
  111. The more gas prices rise the more layoffs will occur.

    But that doesn't matter to the ultra rich.

    ReplyDelete
  112. By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
    May 31 2007: 6:23 PM EDT


    NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Dell, the No. 2 PC maker, reported sales and profits Thursday that handily beat Wall Street forecasts and announced it would cut its staff by 10 percent over the next 12 months.

    The cuts would amount to about 8,800 jobs, according to a Dell spokesperson.

    Another result of the Bush economy.

    ReplyDelete
  113. NEW YORK (AP) -- Summer travelers already feeling the pinch of higher gas prices may find that lodging costs more, too.

    The AAA auto and travel association found in its annual vacation costs survey, released Wednesday, that combined lodging and restaurant costs were 3.7 percent higher than last year.

    The survey found that a family of two adults and two children could expect to pay an average of nearly $270 a day for food and lodging this summer. It said lodging rates averaged $152 a night, up nearly 8 percent from last year, while meals were projected at $118, down 1.3 percent.

    Another result of the Bush economy.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Larry said...
    The more gas prices rise the more layoffs will occur.

    But that doesn't matter to the ultra rich."

    It WILL when their shareprices tank and no one has money to buy the products their companies sell or pay their bills.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Those rich can't realize that or they wouldn't be sending millions of jobs overseas.

    ReplyDelete
  116. See, that's where Golden Parachutes come in. The Ultra Rich eventually lose their own jobs but are financially set for life.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Voltron said...
    And time with me is never wasted Worf. You might learn something...



    Oh I have learned something, I have...

    I have always wondered why the German people rolled over for the Nazi party, going about their lives while Jews burned in ovens outside of their towns and villages.

    Now I know.

    Guys like you were always there to bully and coerce the masses into going along with the slaughter.


    Indeed, I have learned a lot from you.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Mike:

    If you ever get a chance, get a copy of the Rocky Mountain News.

    Best paper on the market.

    ReplyDelete
  119. And indeed, I have learned "enough" from you.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Wanna know how a soldier in Iraq thinks about the democrats and republicans caving to Bush ET Al's illegal immoral war funding request?

    If The Shoe Fits...

    By SPC Freeman, Milo; US Army, Iraq

    Posted 06/31/07

    Memorandum for Record: Military Spending Concerns

    FROM: SPC Freeman, Milo; US Army, Iraq

    TO: Senate Democrats, Republicans, and "American Idol" viewers across the nation.

    1. You. Punk. Ass. Pantywaisted. Bitches.

    2. You had a chance. You could have put your money where your mouth is--could have put some ass behind all those claims of "favoring an end to war."

    3. And you f%#king choked.

    4. Let me explain something to you. Your children; your spouses; your lovers and friends and parents and CONSTITUENTS are hostages to this war. They're dying for a conflict with no concrete objective. They're losing marriages and childhood moments to a never-ending cycle of extended tours. Their equipment, their morale, is stretched thin. And some of them--those of us smart enough not to buy the f%#king hype--were counting on you to find your f%#king testicles and put an end to this shit. We were counting on you to save us from ourselves; to find a way to put us to use serving our country in ways perhaps more effective in rebuilding our nation.

    5. And you. F%#king. Choked.

    6. I haven't gotten a current edition of the paper in months. It's always a day behind. I don't get to check the news--I barely have the time. So what am I to think when I read yesterday's Stars and Stripes, and hear about this shit? Is that supposed to tell me that my leaders, my countrymen give a flying F@&K about what happens to me or my wife? Is that the message I'm supposed to glean from this STUNNING lack of cojones? Because I gotta tell you, America, I'm not seeing it.

    7. I'm so sick of hearing this wretched war talked about in terms of Victory or Defeat. "If we leave, the terrorists will win."

    8. F%#k that.

    9. Today it's Terrorists. Yesterday it was Blacks/Gays/Jews/Hippies. Before that it was Communists. Before that, it was Uppity Colonials with Secondhand Muskets and Pitchforks. It's always f%#king something with you people, isn't it?

    10.You just need your little wars to feel good about yourselves, don't you? Something to make you feel threatened; something to make you feel heroic; ANYTHING to make you feel like your pathetic lives are more than just you against the Big, Black, Scary Infinite. Well, obviously, it's working.

    11. You don't magically "win" an occupation. It's an inevitable bleed-out. We're stuck in a situation beyond our powers to fix, in a country that WE voted to destroy, whose history and people we neither understand nor care to try. We bought the hype, hook-line-and-sinker.

    12. F%#k Victory. F%#k Defeat. Any way you slice it, This. War. Is. Wrong.

    13.You don't keep trying to win the game after it turns out you bribed the refs. You fire the coaches and/or players responsible, and you hand over the Title. You take your lumps like a f%#king man and try to rebuild. Accept it.

    13. Hope you're happy, America. Clutch your pearls about all those dirty liberals who voted against the proposal ("They didn't Support The Troops!"). Whine about all the evil elderly schoolteachers and librarians protesting the war on a Saturday morning outside your courthouse.

    14. But when your son or daughter or spouse or first lay comes home airfreight, mangled into a closed-casket service by a daisy-chain of 155s buried under Route Tampa, remember this:

    15. It won't be the dirty liberals who put them there.

    16. Hoo-ah.

    //

    ORIGINAL SIGNED

    Milo Freeman, SPC

    United States Army, Iraq

    Credit: Thanks to Nolan K. Anderson for bringing this letter to my attention. Mr. Anderson attached the following comment to the original letter

    "This came to me via an old-time – World War II - military man who is trying to care for his World War War II Army nurse wife on a pension that has been cut and cut and cut by our War Makers over the years to the point where trying to live longer than his meager pension is more frightening than the snow and mud and cold and blood and “technologically advanced death” of the Big War's Winter(s)."

    Nolan K. Anderson is a retired engineer and a veteran of Korea who was once a “conservative” until he found there was nothing left to conserve and as a veteran hates to see a tour in Korea go to waste.


    Yea what he said......

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  121. Gee Volt.

    Something tells me you guys aren't going to be too popular when the troops finally do come home.


    Hey, maybe thats why you want to keep them there.

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  122. That guy sure doesn't sound too enthused.


    And I heard Lieberman was none too popular as he pretended to listen to what the troops had to say.

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  123. Here Voltron. Read this. YOU might "learn something".


    Clif said....

    We're stuck in a situation beyond our powers to fix, in a country that WE voted to destroy, whose history and people we neither understand nor care to try.

    We bought the hype, hook-line-and-sinker.

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  124. Worfeus, I bet most veterans of this war, never try to lie about the victory they were cheated out of by the democrats, like some Vietnam Veterans do......or the reichwing gutless punks who infect this blog.

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  125. It seems they are aware of the fact that since the days of Charlemene, we have known that a mobile army cannot defeat an embedded insurgency.

    It just cannot be done without killing every man, woman and child.

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  126. They will never give up.


    If we were occupied, would we?

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  127. Vietnam was no more "winnable fr the US military then it was for the French, or Japanese, or afghanistan was for the Soviets or Algeria was for the French because like the Iraqi people today the peoples of those lands in those previous wars refused to surrender to a foreign occupation army.

    And that is the fact the reichwing refuses to acknowledge because all their failed arguments do not attempt to address that very significant strategic point.

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  128. Or would we kill our occupiers, no matter how benevolant, no matter how benign?

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  129. Clif Did you see that Article about the Marine that received a dishonorable discharge because he protested against Bush and the war..........looks like we allready have a fascist police state reminiscent of Nazi Germany!

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  130. Just like our own "revolutionaries" refused to give up at

    Breeds Hill

    or Trenton

    or Boston

    or Monmouth

    or Valley Forge

    or New York

    or Charleston

    or Brandywine

    or Orinsky

    or Bennington

    or Saratoga

    or Montreal

    or South Carolina

    or Stonypoint

    or Camden

    or Guilford Court House

    or Hobkirks Hill

    or Eutaw Springs

    or at sea

    until the tired out manned out gunned cornered British Forces at Yorktown surrendered and went home.

    What makes the idiotic reichwing to think the Iraqis are less patriotic about their country then we are?

    ReplyDelete
  131. Worf He's either not smart enough to see the truth or he knows his side are a bunch or hippocrites and war criminals but its his JOB to defend them!

    ReplyDelete
  132. AP | MATT APUZZO | May 31, 2007 08:05 PM

    Former White House and State Department officials and military commanders are supporting former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as he asks a federal judge to spare him prison time in the CIA leak case.

    Prosecutors want Libby to serve up to three years in prison for lying about his conversations with reporters regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose 2003 outing touched off a leak investigation.

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  133. Scooter needs to go to jail with the rest of the criminals!

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  134. Either the judge will let him off with a few weeks, or Bush will pardon him, or both.

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  135. BTW whats going on with impeaching Gonzalez..............I mean Congress has to impeach this incompetent criminal.........he defies the Geneva Conventions and supports and condones torture, He has lied and perjured himself. he tried to politicize the Justice Department and He tried to commit fraud and circumvent justice by having a man who was delirious and incoherent authorize an illegal unconstitutional spy program when he wasnt even the Attorney General............if the rest of Congress does nothing to remove this cancerous tumeror from our government they are as worthless as Pelosi!

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  136. The Gonzales flap has quietly disappeared, so as usual nothing will happen to any of them.

    ReplyDelete
  137. I think Bush will pardon Him and all the other minions if Congress turns the heat up on them he is arrogant and pompous enough to defy and obstruct justice even with an election coming up!

    ReplyDelete
  138. Yeah but it should NOT be allowed to disapear, Gonzalez NEEDS to be removed!

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  139. The press and the Democrats have shut the noise about Gonzo and about ending the war.

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  140. Did you hear about Bush thumpimg his chest at That Convention of Billionaires and loudly proclaiming "I am the President"............like a little brat that needs to announce to the world how important he is................to bad for him he will be irrelevant in a few years and No one will listen to him much less respect him!

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  141. You don't hear Reid and Pelosi squawking about the war anymore. They are strangely quiet. Murtha too.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Bush is like a kid who was always smaller than the other kids in school, so now he has that little man complex.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Thats EXACTLY what it is Bush has the Napoleon Complex!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  144. Fred Thompson and Scooter Libby: Ooops!



    Fred Thompson hasn't been a real prosecutor for 35 years, but he plays one on TV. You might think he'd be careful about slandering a real prosecutors' prosecutor on behalf of a convicted perjurer. But you'd be wrong.


    Ol' Fred may yet regret allowing his name to be used as a member of the Advisory Board of the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust. I'm not sure, but to ordinary folks that may look like "Arthur Branch" is just a mite too cozy inside the Beltway.

    But Thompson's real vulnerability is going to come from his speech to the Council for National Policy , which Fitzgerald's sentencing memorandum in the Libby case shows to be a mostly a pack of lies.

    Thompson said:

    As you may recall, for some inexplicable reason, the CIA sent the husband of one of its employees to Niger on a sensitive mission. She had suggested it. He came back to the U.S. and proceeded to publicly blast the administration. Naturally, everyone wanted to know "who is this guy?" and "why was he sent to Niger?" Just as naturally, the fact that he was married to Valerie Plame at the CIA was leaked.

    Having virtually guaranteed that Ms. Plame's identity would be ultimately disclosed by using her, shall we say, "politically active" husband, the CIA then demanded that this leak of her name be investigated by the Justice Department for a possible violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

    The Justice Department, bowing to political and media pressure, appointed a Special Counsel to investigate the leak and promised that the Justice Department would exercise no supervision over him whatsoever -- a status even the Attorney General does not have.

    The only problem with this little scenario was that there was no violation of the law, by anyone, and everybody -- the CIA, the Justice Department and the Special Counsel knew it. Ms. Plame was not a "covered person" under the statute and it was obvious from the outset.

    Furthermore, Justice and the Special Counsel knew who leaked Plames's name and it wasn't Scooter Libby.
    But the Beltway machinery was well oiled and geared up so the Special Counsel spent the next two years moving heaven and earth to come up with something, anything. Finally he came up with some inconsistent recollections by Scooter Libby, who had been up to his ears studying National Intelligence Estimates. But he worked for Dick Cheney, so that apparently was enough for the special counsel.

    I didn't know Scooter Libby, but I did know something about this intersection of law, politics, special counsels and intelligence. And it was obvious to me that what was happening was not right. So I called him to see what I could do to help, and along the way we became friends. You know the rest of the story: a D.C. jury convicted him.


    I've highlighted the parts that the sentencing memo demolishes. She was a covered person: working covertly, having her identity actively protected, and having traveled abroad seven times under cover in the five years prior to the leak, and while Libby wasn't the only leaker he burned her to at least three different people before the Novak column ran. Note also the wonderful passive construction — Plame's CIA identity "was leaked" (by no one in particular), and the deniably but unmistakably racist crack about a "D.C. jury."

    And this is the conservatives' Great White Hope against Rudy McRomney? On this showing, I could make a better President out of paper maché.

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  145. Bush is a little bully, only he can't do it himself, he has to get innocent troops to prove to the world, how tough he is.

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  146. Thompson is pathetic. Does he think this story won't get out, or that the country loves Scooter.

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  147. So Ole Freddy boy is supporting and defending the Neo Con garbage that got us in this quagmire of a war.......and the Neo Con garbage is supporting him as well since all of Rove's minions are glomming on to Fred Thompson..............they think this clown is the second coming of their hero Reagan!

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  148. Thompson is so feeble his oatmeal drools down his twin chins while his assisted living nurse cleans his bedpan.

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  149. Why is it the Reich Wing accept such incompetence.........They accepted and supported an incompetent Secretary of Defense who undermanned and under equiped the war and allowed an insurgency to start.

    They Accept and support An Incompetent and
    criminal Scooter Libby who perjures himself and claims he is two incompetent to remember.......if the man has alzheimers or is to inept to remember important details of his job he shouldnt have had his job.

    Ditto for Gonzalez!

    ReplyDelete
  150. They support incompetence because it reflects their own abilities.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Reuters)
    Updated: 2007-06-01 20:30

    MADRID - Iran has not provided any evidence to suggest it is willing to freeze sensitive nuclear work, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday following talks between Tehran and the European Union.

    Just gotta stir up another war. Just gotta.

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  152. MSNBC News Services
    Updated: 1 minute ago
    WASHINGTON - Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's most trusted advisers and his longest-serving aide, said Friday he is resigning to begin a career outside of government.

    Another job opening. The qualifications: Must be a war-monger, and must enjoy lying and deaths.

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  153. So old Dan Bartlett couldn't handle the heat any more?

    Damn,

    Like rats leaving a sinking ship.

    ReplyDelete
  154. That says something that Bartlett is slipping out the back door.


    If Barlett can't lie with a straight face anymore, no one can.

    ReplyDelete
  155. OBI WAN WORFEUS said...
    So old Dan Bartlett couldn't handle the heat any more?


    More to the point, it looks like he picked a moment when the focus was off Bush to leave. Not a bad move on his part.

    ReplyDelete
  156. Chuck said...
    BTW, I also enjoyed your collection of classic rock!

    Thanks for visiting Mike. Unfortunately I've been neglecting it lately. I need to teach myself how to download YouTube videos to my hard drive.


    Chuck, if you use a Mac, there's a third party software that will do it with one click. I don't recall the name, but go to MacLife.com and search under flash video.

    ReplyDelete
  157. And if you don't...why you handicapping your Internet experiences????

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  158. BREAKING NEWS! Greg Palast handed over the "caging lists" to Conyers in Congress -- emails received by accident sent to teh RNC.COM website (it should have been RNC.ORG)

    Rnc.com was set up as a parody site by a leftie. He started receiving caging lists from Rove's attorney General who just had to resign. These caging lists were lists of our troops -- minorities -- whom they shut out of voting. OUR TROOPS VOTES DIDN'T COUNT IN LAST TWO ELECTIONS!!

    Listen to Greg Palast right now on Randi Rhodes.

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  159. What the heck?


    You're kidding, right Lydia?

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  160. Lydia Cornell said...

    These caging lists were lists of our troops -- minorities -- whom they shut out of voting

    ReplyDelete
  161. If this is true, I can't imagine anyone wriggling out of this one.

    The country will be up in arms.

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  162. Oh well, maybe voltron can stumble in and explain to us all how it was for the good of the country.

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  163. You know, in every other administration White House visitor logs were considered public.

    After all the people own the building, and they elect the leaders. They have a right to know who's visiting there.

    But suddenly in comes the worm known as Bush, and that haggardly band of maggots he calls a cabinet.

    And suddenly after 2 centuries, White House visitor logs are "SECRET".

    How f@$@KING stupid does a person have to be to not understand that that the only reason they'd fight to keep the logs secret, is because they are up to NO GOOD?

    How stupid?

    Right now we don't have a government.

    We have a SYNDICATE.

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  164. Organized crime has taken over the Federal Government.

    ReplyDelete
  165. I just posted the new article on blog. This is HUGE news.

    Tim Griffin resigned. Greg Palast handed over the caging lists last night to Congress.

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  166. I going to read it now Lydia.

    You're right.

    Its also kind of funny how the information came to light. They sent the emails to the Democrats!


    By accident.

    BAWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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  167. Sorry. I realize its no laughing matter, but its just so funny that the numbskulls sent the emails to the wrong place.


    Up until now we've been the ones feeling the brunt of their incompetence.

    Now it looks like their own incompetence in being unable to even set up their own email servers correctly, is going to come back and bite them right on the ass.

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  168. You know how you can spot a republican in a server room?


    It's easy.

    He'll be the one scratching his head.

    ReplyDelete
  169. Worf - please leave comments on the new post.
    Thanks
    I'm reposting some of your comments there.

    ReplyDelete