Sunday, October 28, 2007

CELEBRATE PEACE * RUMSFELD FEARS ARREST

THIS STORY IS INCREDIBLE!

Rumsfeld flees France fearing arrest
Sat, 10/27/2007 - 08:45

Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today fearing arrest over charges of "ordering and authorizing" torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the US military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, unconfirmed reports coming from Paris suggest.

US embassy officials whisked Rumsfeld away yesterday from a breakfast meeting in Paris organized by the Foreign Policy magazine after human rights groups filed a criminal complaint against the man who spearheaded President George W. Bush's "war on terror" for six years.

Under international law, authorities in France are obliged to open an investigation when a complaint is made while the alleged torturer is on French soil.

According to activists in France, who greeted Rumsfeld shouting "murderer" and "war criminal" at the breakfast meeting venue, US embassy officials remained tight-lipped about the former defense secretary's whereabouts citing "security reasons".

Anti-torture protesters in France believe that the defense secretary fled over the open border to Germany, where a war crimes case against Rumsfeld was dismissed by a federal court. But activists point out that under the Schengen agreement that ended border checkpoints across a large part of the European Union, French law enforcement agents are allowed to cross the border into Germany in pursuit of a fleeing fugitive.

"Rumsfeld must be feeling how Saddam Hussein felt when US forces were hunting him down," activist Tanguy Richard said. "He may never end up being hanged like his old friend, but he must learn that in the civilized world, war crime doesn't pay."

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the French League for Human Rights (LDH) filed the complaint on Thursday after learning that Rumsfeld was scheduled to visit Paris.

Arianna at HuffPo says: "We have a mainstream on the right that supports torture, supports the behavior of Blackwater thugs, supports the gutting of our civil liberties. So, it can no longer be denied: the right wing lunatics are running the Republican asylum.

** Please go to StopIranWar.com and sign the petition for General Wesley Clark.



Time for a break from politics. Last Sunday night, my family attended a lavish Barmitzvah at the Fairmont Hotel for the 13-year-old Iranian (Persian Jewish) friend of my son's. There were two ballrooms: one for the kids and one for the adults. We entered the "appetizer room" which had a bar with a carving table of roast lamb, grilled chops, and a long table of ten different salads, hummus, Middle Eastern empanadas and a Sushi bar. It was a feast. That was just the beginning.

Then the ballroom was opened and at least 500 people sat down to an amazing celebration of a boy entering manhood. They danced around him, threw him up into the air — seated in a chair — and showed slides of his entire childhood set to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake music. Then they showed slides of a family trip to Jerusalem and the Western Wall. there were video crews, photographers, and Espresso machines. This party was more impressive than any wedding I've been to. This photo is just a stock photo, not the actual Barmitzvah we went to.

Another buffet feast was served, but first, fruit, tea and figs. There wree huge crystal vases filled with golden raspberries, cucumbers, apples, grapes, olives, figs, and apricots. Then the main course of sea bass, Osso bucco, and roast beef.

Sometimes I wish we were Jewish. There is such a tight-knit culture and so much celebration of life. The kids turn out so confident after being honored this way.

I am a big fan of the Food Network and the Travel Channel. Just watched Giada in Paris last night as she climbed the Arc du Triomphe and ate amazing Parisian dishes. Paris is one of my favorite cities; I remember climbing the steep spiral steps inside Nortre Dame with my sister years ago, up to the roof full of Gargoyles. We sat there looking over the city, mesmerized. We had the best time in Paris. I wrote a novel which takes place there in 1938.

Also watched Rachel Ray on Martha's Vineyard eating fresh lobster and crusted snapper and organic gazpacho.

Johnny Garlic's Cedar Plank Salmon
Show: Guys Big Bite
Episode: Swim the Plank

2 tablespoons oil
2 jalapenos, cut into rings
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 cup apricot preserves
4 (4 by 4-inch) pieces parchment paper
4 cedar plank pieces, food service quality
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned and boned
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (3-inch) fresh rosemary sprigs
1 lemon, zested
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small saute pan over medium heat, heat oil. When hot, add jalapenos and saute until caramelized. Add garlic, and before it begins to brown, deglaze with white wine. Next add mustard and apricot preserves and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes and let completely cool.

Place parchment paper on planks, add salmon, lightly salt and pepper, place a rosemary sprig on each fillet, and liberally apply cooled apricot mixture.

Place cedar plank on gas burner. When plank has begun to smoke, place into preheated oven.

Cook salmon until medium-rare; remove from oven and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes until serving. Garnish with lemon zest.

133 comments:

  1. Salmon is the single best fish on the planet, after mahi-mahi from Hawaii and ono (also from the Pacific), and Dijon mustard crusted salmon is the single most delicious fish dish I know of.

    So you were basically "Keeping Up With The Steins" last Sunday, eh, Lyd? :-)

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  2. Thanks Carl! It was actually keeping up with the Yadegaris, the Yadidians and the Zakhors.

    xoxo

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  3. Christopher, I haven't had time to read through all the comments on last week's blog, but if the trolls were offensive and cruel -- as they usually are -- I am so sorry.

    We are usually able to delete them when they get personal.

    Please forgive.

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  4. Wow! This is amazing: Rumsfield Flees France for fear of Being Arrested as a Torturer!!

    Read new blog update.

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  5. I hate Salmon.

    What are you Julia Child now Lydia?

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  6. That Barmitzvah sounded like fun though.

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  7. Whats that about Rumsfeld? He almost got arrested by the French?

    Now that I'd pay to see.

    Maybe Rummy should move to Argentina, lol.

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  8. Hey Lydia, did you see Valerie Plame on Harball?

    Chris Matthews interviewed her and he was livid. You could tell Matthews had heard all he needed to hear on her outing, and was brutal to the Bush administration.

    He came right out and said that we KNOW Rove outed her along with other administration officials.

    He implied Bush was behind it and he just railed on Bush and Cheney.

    It was a thing of beauty.

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  9. Bartlebee - I missed Valerie Plame on Hardball, darn it. But I take your word for it.

    Chris Matthews has the clout to keep this story alive and get his buddies on the right to be outraged too.
    That is, if he sticks to "principles" over personalities.

    Matthews' fawning adulation for Tom Delay and Ann Coulter is still mystifying to me though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lydia Cornell said...


    Chris Matthews has the clout to keep this story alive and get his buddies on the right to be outraged too.


    Thats absolutely right. It was one thing to interview her on Countdown with Keith Olberman. But Matthews was clearly a fence-sitter. Matthews is not politically biased, and he is not partisan.

    He's a huge Guliani fan and he was an ardent supporter of Bush early on. Now, he looks like an angry patron that wants his money back.

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  11. Oh shut up TT. You weren't making an arugment. You were simply saying "nuh uh".

    Over and over and over.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You asked me why the Federal Prosecutor didn't bring indictments on the charges.

    I responding referencing the Federal Prosecutors OWN WORDS as to why he didn't bring indictments on the charges.

    And you simply dismissed them as irrelevant.

    And since no one can argue with an idiot like you who just dismisses the actual facts in the case in favor of your own opinion, and since you FALSELY accused me of deleting your stupid posts earlier, when I wasn't even in the blog, I decided to accomodate you.

    And if you keep running your mouth about nothing, and I'll accomodate you again.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pat Fitzgerald made an offical on the record statement as to why he didn't bring indictments in the case.

    You thought that a way of arguing your "opinion" as to why he didn't bring indictments in the case was to merely dismiss the Federal Prosecutors OWN OFFICAL STATEMENT as to why he didn't bring indictments.

    And thats not debating.

    Thats just saying "nuh uh" like the stupid adolescent you are.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yeah Shut up Troll Tex You WERE NOT trying to debate anything, YOU NEVER DO, you were trying to derail and be a slimy troll which is ALL YOU EVER DO.

    Take a hint and hit the road LOSER, no one likes you, no one respects you and NO ONE wants you here.

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  15. Oh and your stupid emails to Lydia, where you subtly threaten her about how its going to "hurt her blog" by letting people delete your "TROLLSPAM" are laughable.

    As laughable as your arguments are.

    Get a clue slim. You're not needed here, nor are you welcome.

    You're "tolerated" at best.

    And that only marginally.

    ReplyDelete
  16. These trolls NEVER debate facts its always their BS talking points, opinions and dishonest Reich Wing rhetoric that they try to pass off as fact.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey Troll you ever consider Fitz MIGHT have offered Armitage some kind of immunity so he would get information to catch the bigger fish like that treasonous bastard Cheney.

    But regardless of YOURS or MY SPECULATION, Like Bartlebe said Fitz said clearly WHY he DID NOT get indictments and that was bewcause of obstruction of justice.

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  18. You dismissed the Federal Prosecutors own statement and kept insisting that they were innocent because charges weren't filed, which is as stupid as believing Al Capone wasn't guilty of murder, simply because he wasn't charged with it.

    You're a fool. And a liar to boot. And you're in here doing the work of the right wing trying to bury facts with lies.

    Oh and by the way, I just deleted your last two posts too. And they weren't personal either.

    Better cry to Lydia some more, troll.

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  19. Now I just got the notorcycle back after 6 weeks at the dealer, so i'm gonna go burn some rubber and drink a nice cold Russian Imperial Stout...........i'll be back later as well and if troll tex is doing his usual troll routine i'll bounce his ass right out the door.

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  20. Sounds like fun Mike.

    Catch ya later.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This Blog has NEVER done better since You and the 2 other retarded stooges that asnswer to you Moo Moo and Rusty left..........All you try to do is bury facts and press peoples buttons.........Slither baqck whereever you came from Loser!

    GTiving you a voice to derail and post lies and unsubstantiated BS is giving a voice to evil just like the Reich Wing controlled MSM does.

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  22. And if you think we don't know you're a paid troll hack like your pal Doltron and Freedom Fart, think again.

    You 3 have been coming in here for 2 years now, into a place you're clearly not welcome, wanted or invited, and harassing the regular commenters in here ad nauseum.

    And I personally don't care. But make no mistake about it. We know what you are, and we know what you're about.

    And no one cares about your crying.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thats right Mike. And they drive off the more reasonable bloggers with their constant attacks.

    And notice how when their lies are exposed, invariably in crawls Rusty, or Johnny, or one of the other less savory characters to really bash and attack the members?

    They are like bank robbers who are irratated because the teller didn't tell them to have a nice day.

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  24. Now they're back to beat the war drum for attacking Iran and to assault the commenters in here as weak or traitors for not wanting to murder more people while waving the flag.

    I won't be forced into condoning murder and I don't know a good man who would.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Theres nothing weak about having the courage to live in a world where not everyone likes or fears you.

    Theres nothing weak about having the courage to not kill.

    ReplyDelete
  26. TT and Volt support murder with a smirk and a chortle.

    But their numbers are dwindling fast, while ours are ever growing.

    ReplyDelete
  27. BARTLEBEE said...
    Thats right Mike. And they drive off the more reasonable bloggers with their constant attacks.

    And notice how when their lies are exposed, invariably in crawls Rusty, or Johnny, or one of the other less savory characters to really bash and attack the members?

    They are like bank robbers who are irratated because the teller didn't tell them to have a nice day."


    Driving off the more reasonable bloggers is EXACTLY what they are trying to do.


    And you are ABSOLUTELTY right about the vulgar name callers like Rusty and Moo Moo coming in when their lies are exposed...........I absolutely shredded Volts lies and dishonest talking points for 3 weeks straight, he looked like a complete fool, and then Rusty and Moo and Troll Tex show up to bury the thread and start the baby talk and name calling.

    Volt is thyed ONLY one that actually tries to debate and he gets his ass handed to him.

    All they are is paid slimy trolls they see Lydia's show is doing well, they see we are attracting lots of real commenters on the blog and dont need them and they see Lydia has control of the blog and they no longer do and that galls them and they want to throw a wrench in that and sabotage things...........so they piss and whine to Lydia when their derailment and name calling is deleted or whine when they are hit back with similar tactics.

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  28. They are also in here to beat the war drum and with the election getting closer their funding is probably back to fight the blog wars right up until the election.

    The keyboard wars are the ONLY wars these gutless cowards have the courage to fight............its really pathetic and laughable that a bunch of losers who lack the courage to suit up and actually serve their country fighting the wars they instigate and cheerlead while others die and who have bungled screwed up, destroyed and mismanaged EVERYTHING they have touched, and have been DEAD WRONG about essentially EVERYTHING they have ever said............Have the audacity to claim that ONLY they know what is best for this country and are capable of protecting it.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh man -- France tried to arrest Rumsfeld?

    That's both hilarious and downright scary all at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  30. TT said ... "If the criteria for post deletion is simply "I don't agree," then you or the people you've put in charge here cannot hold there own in a perfectly reasonably debate"

    Nope, I have seen enough to know that Lydia and Bart and the others can more than hold their own. For that matter, I have handed Voltron his ass on more than one occasion. Problem is you guys dont know how to hold a 'reasonable debate'. You, TT, either change the subject or fall back on Rush Limbaugh soundbites ... never mind how nonsensical they may be ... and Voltron just keeps ignoring it when he's proven wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Lydia Cornell Posted...

    Rumsfeld flees France fearing arrest
    Sat, 10/27/2007 - 08:45

    Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today fearing arrest over charges of "ordering and authorizing" torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the US military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, unconfirmed reports coming from Paris suggest.

    US embassy officials whisked Rumsfeld away yesterday from a breakfast meeting in Paris



    :|

    Another proud international moment for the United States, courtesy of the Bush administration.

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  32. I hope these guys are making some strong ties in Saudi Arabia, because once this country won't have them any longer then who will?

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  33. This is like a bad spy movie on Fox.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Volt and TT and Freedom Fan (where is he?)

    I invite you all to a court martial. Or how about a court hearing where we evaluate whether or not you guys can debate properly.

    In the future, if we are to have right vs. left-wing debates, we have to abide by certain rules:
    1. Listen to your opponent
    2. Respond to the points he made with impartial and factual evidence to back up your points
    3. Do not repeat yourself over and over in an offensive way.

    All of us have to abide by these rules.

    I would actually like to experiment with really listening to each other on a deeper level.

    I am still perplexed: what are the differences between our worldviews? Aren't we cut from the same cloth? Maybe not, but we can respectfully disagree.

    Can't we at least listen to each other's side? And take into account our differences.

    An example: liberals have been maligned unfairly all these years by right-wing talk radio.

    The truth is, we are motivated by our sadness over loss of life. We do not love the bomb. Why is this a bad thing?

    Why does this make you label us "unpatriotic" to love America so much we want our troops home alive? Why can't you see that war is not cool, not effective and not truly macho?

    We have broken hearts over how Bush and Cheney have usurped our Constitutional rights.

    Can you see our point of view?

    ReplyDelete
  35. MCH said...
    TT said ... "If the criteria for post deletion is simply "I don't agree," then you or the people you've put in charge here cannot hold there own in a perfectly reasonably debate"

    Nope, I have seen enough to know that Lydia and Bart and the others can more than hold their own. For that matter, I have handed Voltron his ass on more than one occasion. Problem is you guys dont know how to hold a 'reasonable debate'. You, TT, either change the subject or fall back on Rush Limbaugh soundbites ... never mind how nonsensical they may be ... and Voltron just keeps ignoring it when he's proven wrong"

    EXACTLY RIGHT.........he plays the troll and changes the topic, assigns you a position or just keeps repeating his talking pointsv with no facts to back up what he says or uses outdated facts, and if he gets his assed handed to him he has one of his associates start spamming and burying it with insults and name calling.

    You clowns cant have it both ways, either liberals are nice meek little weaklings who cant stand up for what is right and what they believe in or they are mean vulgar and immoral........which is it.

    I'm TIRED of being nice and just allowing you fools to murder and torture in our name and destroy Our Constitution, our frreedoms and liberties, our democracy, the middle class, our childrens future, the environment, squander our resources etc........if you think i'm going to just shut up or be nice while you destroy our country, your more delusional than i thought.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Lydia Cornell said...
    Volt and TT and Freedom Fan (where is he?)

    I invite you all to a court martial. Or how about a court hearing where we evaluate whether or not you guys can debate properly.

    In the future, if we are to have right vs. left-wing debates, we have to abide by certain rules:
    1. Listen to your opponent
    2. Respond to the points he made with impartial and factual evidence to back up your points
    3. Do not repeat yourself over and over in an offensive way.

    All of us have to abide by these rules.

    I would actually like to experiment with really listening to each other on a deeper level.

    I am still perplexed: what are the differences between our worldviews? Aren't we cut from the same cloth? Maybe not, but we can respectfully disagree.

    Can't we at least listen to each other's side? And take into account our differences.

    An example: liberals have been maligned unfairly all these years by right-wing talk radio.

    The truth is, we are motivated by our sadness over loss of life. We do not love the bomb. Why is this a bad thing?

    Why does this make you label us "unpatriotic" to love America so much we want our troops home alive? Why can't you see that war is not cool, not effective and not truly macho?

    We have broken hearts over how Bush and Cheney have usurped our Constitutional rights.

    Can you see our point of view?"


    Lydia whaT YOU said sounds very reasonable, the problem is THESE clowns are paid trolls whose objective is to derail, deceive and attack they dont want honest civil debate, they dont want the best arguments and facts to win out they want to dominate and deceive.

    You and I talk and debate with republicans all the time in an honest, civil and fact based manner, your husband is a republican, my best friend is a repug, 2 weeks ago i played cards with a CEO of a hospital who is a hardcore repug and we had a very interesting and informative discussion that was fact based and honest.

    What i'm saying is you cant ask paid operatives whose sole purpose is to derail and deceive and obfuscate the facts to debate honestly and factually, thats like asking the fox to guard the chickens and not eat them when thats what foxes do............you cant ask a paid troll to not act like a troll.....thats what they are and what they do.

    Dont let them pull your pity strings.........these are NOT regular repugs looking for truth and wamting honest discussion that lets the best ideas win........these are paid trolls out to stifle and destroy democracy freedom and particulasrly freedom of speech where the best ideas win out.............they want America fearful, ignorant and uneducated so they will be more susceptible to their lies, dishonest talking points and fear based rhetoric.

    They control the discourse in the MSM and dishonestly frame the issues to their talking points Dont allow them to do the same on the blog whether the tactic they use is pity that they are persecuted or fear based that the blog will suffer if they arent allowed unfettered freedom of speech to derail, obfuscate and deceive...........What they want is no different than the MSM giving Ann Coulter a bully pulpit to preach lies and hatespeak...............the only difference is THEY control the MSM and you control what is acceptible here.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Contributions from associates and friends of now-indicted garbage executive James Galante to the 2004 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman have sparked the interest of federal investigators.

    Lieberman's bid for the White House took in at least $14,000 from Galante, his associates and their relatives in the fall of 2003, according to a Courant review of campaign records.

    The contributions to Lieberman, a longtime Democrat who became an independent in 2006, are similar to allegedly bundled contributions to three Republican officeholders that earlier this month led to state charges against Galante, who is also facing a 2006 federal racketeering indictment.




    What's more, people familiar with the campaign matters say, the names of Lieberman, the three Republicans and about a dozen other Connecticut and New York politicians have turned up on what the FBI loosely refers to as a "ledger" that agents seized from Galante's office while investigating mob influence in the trash industry.

    The so-called ledger, a subject of interest to a legislative committee investigating state Sen. Louis DeLuca, R-Woodbury, summarizes information provided to Galante by his lobbyists on fundraising goals set by a number of candidates, the people familiar with the documents said.

    Send the corrupt Republican Lieberman to prison.

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  38. A bomb crater blocks one lane, so they cross to the other side, where houses are blackened by fire, shops crumbled into bricks. The remains of a car bomb serve as hideous public art. Sgt. Victor Alarcon's Humvee rolls into a vast pool of knee-high brown sewage water -- the soldiers call it Lake Havasu, after the Arizona spring-break party spot -- that seeps in the doors of the vehicle and wets his boots.

    "When we first got here, all the shops were open. There were women and children walking out on the street," Alarcon said this week. "The women were in Western clothing. It was our favorite street to go down because of all the hot chicks."

    That was 14 long months ago, when the soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, arrived in southwestern Baghdad. It was before their partners in the Iraqi National Police became their enemies and before Shiite militiamen, aligned with the police, attempted to exterminate a neighborhood of middle-class Sunni families.

    Next month, the U.S. soldiers will complete their tour in Iraq. Their experience in Sadiyah has left many of them deeply discouraged, by both the unabated hatred between rival sectarian fighters and the questionable will of the Iraqi government to work toward peaceful solutions.

    Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice -- 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad -- Alarcon said no: "I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."

    From someone who knows.

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  39. Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.

    His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan.

    Bush's corrupt buddy back for more U.S tax dollars.

    Courtesy of George W Bush!

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  40. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."

    McConnell tucked money for three weapons projects for BAE Systems into the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate approved Oct. 3. The Defense Department failed to include the money in its own budget request, which required McConnell to intercede, said BAE spokeswoman Susan Lenover.

    BAE is based in Great Britain but has worldwide operations, including a Louisville facility that makes naval guns and employs 322. McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election. United Defense Industries, which BAE purchased two years ago, pledged $500,000 to a political-science foundation the senator created, the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville.

    In June, BAE confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating possible corruption in its Saudi Arabian deals. According to British media reports, BAE set up a slush fund with hundreds of millions of dollars in a Washington, D.C., bank to bribe Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan in order to win weapons contracts. Bandar, who heads the Saudi National Security Council, has denied the allegation.

    Those corrupt Republicans just can't steal enough.

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  41. Larry Flynt, editor and publisher of Hustler magazine, told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto that he’s “hoping to expose a bombshell” that will stand “Washington and the country on its head.”

    Within the next week or two, he says his magazine will expose a sex scandal of huge proportions involving a prominent United States Senator. Flynt refused to comment on the Senator’s political affiliation, but alluded that he or she is a Republican.

    Those Moral Republicans are at it again!

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  42. Today the president’s support among evangelicals, still among his most loyal constituents, has crumbled. Once close to 90 percent, the president’s approval rating among white evangelicals has fallen to a recent low below 45 percent, according to polls by the Pew Research Center. White evangelicals under 30 — the future of the church — were once Bush’s biggest fans; now they are less supportive than their elders. And the dissatisfaction extends beyond Bush. For the first time in many years, white evangelical identification with the Republican Party has dipped below 50 percent, with the sharpest falloff again among the young, according to John C. Green, a senior fellow at Pew and an expert on religion and politics. (The defectors by and large say they’ve become independents, not Democrats, according to the polls.)

    Some claim the falloff in support for Bush reflects the unrealistic expectations pumped up by conservative Christian leaders. But no one denies the war is a factor. Christianity Today, the evangelical journal, has even posed the question of whether evangelicals should "repent" for their swift support of invading Iraq.

    "Even in evangelical circles, we are tired of the war, tired of the body bags," the Rev. David Welsh, who took over late last year as senior pastor of Wichita’s large Central Christian Church, told me. "I think it is to the point where they are saying: ‘O.K., we have done as much good as we can. Now let’s just get out of there.’

    Bush has driven those "religious" voters to the Democrats.

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  43. The survey, conducted from Oct. 12-16, found that while evangelical voters remain overwhelmingly conservative, they are largely unsatisfied with the current crop of Republican candidates, who they feel are not discussing their priorities - not gay marriage and abortion, with which evangelical voters are often identified, but issues that are also a top priority for voters overall, including the war in Iraq and health care.

    Among white evangelical registered voters, 23 percent want to hear presidential candidates discuss health care, while 20 percent want them to talk about the war in Iraq. Both figures are only slightly lower than the overall population of registered voters. Abortion and same-sex marriage were at the bottom of the list for both groups.

    Those "religious voters" just can't stand the war lover Bush!

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  44. Bye Bye Troll Tex, dont let the door hit you in the ass.............and you can take your BS "you libs hate your country" fascist/nazi talk with you!

    ReplyDelete
  45. White evangelicals are typically analyzed as a group, but an examination of the younger generation (those ages 18-29) provides evidence that white evangelicals may be undergoing some significant political changes. An analysis of surveys conducted between 2001 and 2007 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press suggests that younger white evangelicals have become increasingly dissatisfied with Bush and are moving away from the GOP. The question is whether these changes will result in a shift in white evangelical votes in 2008 and beyond.

    Those young neocons hate Bush!

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  46. BTW, I think its great that Rumsfeld is being held accountable..........or at least they are TRYING to hold him accountable as all treasonous war criminals should be.

    ReplyDelete
  47. This morning on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush forcefully dismissed conservatives who attacked her for wearing a Muslim headscarf during her visit last wek to the Middle East. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she said, before disagreeing with one Weekly Standard columnist's claim that she had given "a tacit endorsement of Islam's subjugation of women."

    Now the neocons hate Pickles Bush!

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  48. BTW, have you noticed a pattern on ALL the Sunday morning shows...........I did, they are all talking about the need to defend the Constitution and defend freedom from a criminal administration run amuk..............its about time........now all we need is some action to go along with the talk.

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  49. Tim Russert was accusing Dodd of playing politics with the FISA bill.

    Russert is a closet Repug.

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  50. Bush and Cheney are steering the U.S. into a collapse. Only strong public voices by influential people can prevent the coming disaster. We desperately need for men and women who are known to the public and have credibility to speak up in the critical period ahead to avoid catastrophe.

    A week ago Bush warned Iran that its attainment of nuclear arms would lead to World War III.
    Russia, which has been assisting Iran in its nuclear construction program for decades, regards Western military action against Iran as unacceptable.
    China has been arming Iran with missiles. Its relations with Iran have been improving for years.
    We know that Bush and Cheney are capable of pre-emptive attack. We know that Bush will act if he believes he is right no matter what the costs are. In his distorted worldview, Iran with nuclear weapons is a scenario worth any cost to avoid.

    Bush and Cheney: Purposely Destroying America!

    ReplyDelete
  51. ANYONE here George Will's comments this morning.........they were discussing Charles Rangels tax plan to cut taxes on EVERYONE making less than $200,000 and raise taxes on those above $200,000 and all Will could say was that would offend the powerful frarming and business lobbies...............so according to will, fairness to the working class be damned...........we got to cater and pander to the wealthy lobbyists.

    He just showed how out of touch the repugs are and how screwed up our political system is and how NECCESSARY lobby reform is to stop the special interests from controling our country.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Will still thinks he is above the ultra neocon in his rhetoric and thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Thousands of people called for a swift end to the war in Iraq as they marched through downtown on Saturday, chanting and carrying signs that read: "Wall Street Gets Rich, Iraqis and GIs Die" or "Drop Tuition Not Bombs."

    The streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.

    As part of the demonstration, protesters fell on Market Street as part of a "die in" to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.

    The protest was the largest in a series of war protests taking place in New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, organizers said.

    No official head count was available. Organizers of the event estimated about 30,000 people participated in San Francisco. It appeared that more than 10,000 people attended the march.

    "I got the sense that many people were at a demonstration for the first time," said Sarah Sloan, one of the event's organizers. "That's something that's really changed. People have realized the right thing to do is to take to the streets."

    Is anyone listening?

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  54. In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

    Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."

    President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

    Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ("refuse" or "fail" in) maintaining public order, "in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."

    For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.

    The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

    An article on "recent contract awards" in a recent issue of the slick, insider "Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International" reported that "global engineering and technical services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency." "With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five year term," the report notes, "the contract is to be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," "for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." The report points out that "KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton." (3) So, in addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, including a $70-billion "supplemental provision" which covers the cost of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an "emergency managed" and seemingly willfully gullible public as a "global war on terrorism."

    Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, an executive intent on using force to enforce its will.

    Unfortunately, this past week, the president dealt posse comitatus, along with American democracy, a near fatal blow. Consequently, it will take an aroused citizenry to undo the damage wrought by this horrendous act, part and parcel, as we have seen, of a long train of abuses and outrages perpetrated by this authoritarian administration.

    Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation's governors."

    Senator Leahy went on to stress that, "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders."

    A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

    In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

    Senator Leahy's final ruminations: "Since hearing word a couple of weeks ago that this outcome was likely, I have wondered how Congress could have gotten to this point. It seems the changes to the Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and the White House want it."

    The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

    The Pentagon, as one might expect, plays an even more direct role in martial law operations. Title XIV of the new law, entitled, "Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Legislative Provisions," authorizes "the Secretary of Defense to create a Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Consortium to improve the effectiveness of the Department of Defense (DOD) processes for identifying and deploying relevant DOD technology to federal, State, and local first responders."

    In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.(4)

    It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator.

    Martial Law is coming soon: Courtesy of the Emperor George W Bush!

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  55. I'll throw this parting shot out to the hippocritical trolls.

    Why is it that you clowns and your hero GWB constantly talk out of the sides of your mouths about the evils of government welfare bailing out the poor saps who entered into reckless mortgage contracts.........but yet you hippocritical clowns seem to have NO PROBLEM with the same government handing out welfare to the wealthy lenders, hedge funds and brokerage houses who entered into those VERY same contracts that the buyers did.

    Why do you fools claim the poor should be responsible for their own actions but the rich should not.

    Why should some poor slob lose his home and be put on the street but a big wall street brokerage house or hedgefund gets corporate welfare and a government bailout.

    The repugs seem to have a double standard for EVERYTHING...........its wrong if Iran nukes another country pre-emptively but perfectly ok if GWB does it.

    Repug hippocrissy knows no bounds!

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  56. A federal appeals court has concluded that an FBI agent must go to trial on charges he coerced a false confession out of a prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks. But the FBI still insists that its agent did nothing wrong. And the feds swayed the court to suppress that portion of a recent decision detailing how the FBI agent used the threat of torture to break an innocent man.

    Abdallah Higazy, a 30-year-old Egyptian student, arrived in New York City to study engineering at the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn on August 27, 2001. A U.S. foreign-aid program reserved and paid for his room at the Millennium Hilton Hotel, next to the World Trade Center. After the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, Higazy hot-footed it out of the hotel. After the terrorist attack, the hotel was sealed.

    Three months later, guests were allowed to retrieve their belongings. When Higazy went to the hotel on December 17, he was arrested and accused of possessing an aviation radio. (A hotel security guard reported finding the radio in a safe in his room.) Higazy denied owning the radio. He was arrested as a material witness and locked up in solitary confinement.

    Torture knows no bounds when you are a Repug!

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  57. Newly released FBI documents reveal how the Nixon and Reagan administrations used the FBI to intimidate witnesses set to testify against the late chief justice William Rehnquist at his confirmation hearings. The documents also reveal Rehnquist’s dependency on pain medication once led him to try to escape a hospital stay in his pajamas after convincing himself of a CIA plot against his life. We speak with the reporter who broke the story.

    Corruption, Torture, Mass Murder, Pedophiles, Adulterers, and now Drug Addicts.

    This is Today's Republican Party!

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  58. After the U.S.S.R. dissolved, Americans believed their country was the sole, remaining superpower, but the strength of any nation is its economy. Without a robust and thriving economy, the U.S. never could have built the vast military machine that projects American power to all corners of the globe. But the U.S. has weakened. Since 2006, Bush admits he’s increased the deficit by three trillion dollars since taking office, but creative book keeping conceals the real number. Add the as yet unfunded future payments to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, plus individual, corporate and the fifty state’s collective debt, and the deficit skyrockets to 44 trillion dollars. This figure was determined by economists and budget analysts at the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office. The Bush Administration’s tax cuts, the corporate scandals that occur with rapid fire frequency, the huge expenditures on prosecuting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and now the threats against Iran send the message to foreign lenders that the U.S. has no intention of reining in its spending. "The budget should be balanced; the treasury should be refilled; public debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled." Cicero. 106-43 B.C.

    The occupation of Iraq was going to greatly reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. The plan was that after seizing Iraq’s oil fields, U.S. oil producers would move in and get the wells pumping again, and before you could say, “Iraqi Oil” the U.S. would be shipping high grade crude to American refineries. Rebuilding Iraq? Don’t worry about it. As soon as the dust settles, the money will flow. But like everything else about the occupation, it didn’t work out that way. The Iraqi oil ministry is carefully weighing the options of how best to help the war ravaged land and its people. Russia is rebuilding Iraq’s power plants and are waiting to help Iraq develop its unexplored oil fields. Iraq has claimed their vast oil wealth a natural resource that belongs to the Iraqi people. The U.S. watched from the sidelines as Iraq discussed honoring pre-war contracts with Russia, China, France, and India. No major drilling concessions have been awarded yet, but it’s expected that a multinational conglomerate of oil producers will eventually share in developing Iraq’s unexplored oil reserves.


    The Bush Administration’s hawkish elements had once dreamed of ccupying the entire Middle East. If the U.S. controlled a significant percentage of the world’s oil wealth they reasoned, it could maintain its faltering superpower status. The plan had been to occupy Iraq, take Iran’s oil fields, go after Syria - then Egypt. But the neocons have been forced to see the impossibility of their pipe dreams, and now Russia and China have warned the U.S against an Iranian attack. On October 25th, during a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “To run around like a madman waving a knife is not the best way forward,” He added, “Why drive the situation into a dead end?'' This, from a man whose soul Bush looked into, and found good.

    Russia is not a friend to the U.S, and contrary to popular belief, it isn’t a weak, bygone power either. Russia is still very much a communist state, and as such, remains an enemy of free market capitalism. The Financial Times reported in August of 2006, that Russia’s proven oil reserves had surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest. This puts Russia in a position to dominate the world’s oil markets, and with Bush weakening U.S. influence around the globe, Russian oil exports to European Nations may soon be paid for in rubles, replacing the dollar as the world’s fiat currency. This plays directly into Russia’s plans to isolate the U.S. from its traditional allies, and Bush seems to be doing everything he can to assure the Russian plan succeeds. The world’s contempt for U.S. foreign policy, if a permanent war footing can be called that, has been greatly exacerbated by Bush’s abandonment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Global Arms Trade Treaty.

    Russia, in response, has rearmed its ballistic missiles with MIRV’s, Multiple Independently guided Re-entry Vehicles. It has also resumed long range bomber flights, that are presumably nuclear capable. In November, 2005 The Washington Times reported that Russia had developed a new ballistic missile that was capable of changing course in mid-flight, negating any technology the U.S. possesses to intercept incoming missiles. In January of 2006, during a news conference, Russia’s president said, “These missile systems don’t represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path.” Alexei Bayer, a frequent contributor to Geopolitical, Global Analysis writes, “The Pentagon Budget may be larger than the sum total of what the rest of the world spends on defense, but Russia can still incinerate all of the U.S. in about 15 minutes—hardly a condition for world domination by Washington.”

    The Bush Administrations strategy, if one is charitable enough to call it that, is to hand the democrats the enormous debt Bush and his neocons have incurred. They’ll also hand the democrats the unenviable task of finding an exit strategy out of Iraq. This assumes the democrats will win the White House in 2008, and Bush doesn’t attack Iran. If he does, the entire Middle East will erupt in anti-American hatred, with Muslims the world over vowing revenge against U.S. interests, including American citizens abroad. Russia will not sit idly by while the U.S. establishes military bases on the Russian border.

    Reagan began the U.S. decline with his deregulation of American corporations. The American public bought into the scheme with promises of lower costs for everything through healthy competition. The opposite has proven true. As Paul Krugman recently wrote in the New York Times, “Unfortunately, assertions that unregulated financial markets would take care of themselves have proved as wrong as claims that deregulation would reduce electricity prices.” Corporate failures, from the S&L’s to California’s utilities, have destroyed overseas confidence in U.S. markets, and have cost taxpayers trillions of dollars that should have been spent on infrastructure, educating a globally competitive workforce, and a serious investment in alternative energy, freeing the U.S. from oil blackmail. Bush and his neocons thought that occupying Iraq and taking control of its oil would make them all fantastically wealthy. Instead, their misguided and disastrous invasion has seriously threatened the U.S. economy, and has cast a long shadow on America’s once, good name.

    Today's Republican Party: Working To Destroy America!

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  59. For the working poor, life on the economic edge means routine anxiety.

    Every day begins with "crossed fingers and held breath, hoping the car will start," said Leah McCullough, a board member of Hopelink, an Eastside social service agency.

    You hope your child's coughing doesn't mean he or she is ill, because you lack health insurance. Staying home to care for your child could cost you your job.

    Those and other factors place low-income workers in a precarious place economically. Yet they are being overlooked in the growing gap between haves and have-nots, McCullough and other speakers said Friday in a panel discussion organized by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.

    Federal poverty guidelines are outdated and inadequate, participants said to about 100 people who work at social service and employment agencies, community colleges and foundations. The event was held in the NewHolly community.

    By definition, a family of four in the United States is considered impoverished if its household income is no more than $20,650. But even a household earning $36,051 -- the median for a four-person family in Washington -- likely would be struggling.

    The topic can result in little interest to making changes among those with influence. When University of Washington professor Marcia Meyers was in Olympia recently to talk about the new West Coast Poverty Center that she directs, someone told her it should have a different name because "no one wants to talk about poverty anymore."

    What determines the poverty line is "very politicized," she said. "When you change the line, you change the story."

    A better measure than federal guidelines is the "Self-Sufficiency Standard," said UW senior lecturer Diana Pearce, director of the Center for Women's Welfare.

    The standard she devised considers not just food costs -- the sole expense factor in federal poverty guidelines -- but other household expenses. Her method also takes into account geographic location and a family's size and makeup.

    By Pearce's calculations, one in five households in Washington do not earn enough to be self-sufficient. That's 2 1/2 times the amount of those who fall below the federal poverty line, she said.

    Many workers with inadequate incomes aren't necessarily in the wrong profession but in the wrong position within that occupational category, Pearce said.

    For instance, a manager at a convenience store could earn more income by getting a managerial position at a larger business.

    The problem of the working poor could be addressed by raising wages, lowering the costs of child and health care and housing, and offering parents tax credits, Pearce said.

    McCullough called for increased wages, job training and other support services.

    Panelist Stephen Norman, executive director of the King County Housing Authority, recommended more federal investment in housing programs. Local rents are increasing 8.5 percent annually while salaries rise only 4.5 percent, he said.

    Dave Sieminski, manager of United Way of King County's asset-development programs and another panelist, said that long term, the emphasis should change from "getting by" to "getting ahead." That comes through a progression of maximizing income, building savings, and gaining and expanding assets, he said.

    Another result and casualty of the Bush economy!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Before I read the post I just wanted to say that I also did a post on War Criminal Rumsfeld.

    I also left a response to Larry's comment with a link to when I posted on his comment about using the Military or National Guard against American Citizens.

    Now let me see what you wrote.

    Take care and ...

    God Bless.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Great article Larry!

    ReplyDelete
  62. oh look right after the anonymous troll comes in attacking Larry with "you libs hate your country".........in comes Eddie Haskell appealing to Lydia's decency and good will.


    You are so traparent just like your masters it makes me sick!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Oh the desperation of a phony!

    ReplyDelete
  64. TT's not here to debate. He's here to obscure fact with right wing propaganda. Yesterday he was defending the Bush administration on the outing of Valerie Plame by claiming that since Patrick Fitzgerald didn't bring indictments therefore the Bush administration is innocent.

    He repeatedly asked me why did the Federal Prosecutor fail to produce indictments, later narrowing his question to Richard Armitage only, as if that made a difference. And when I responded with the Federal Prosecutors own offical statement answering that very question, he, finding himself beaten on that point, simply "dismissed" the offical statement of the Federal Prosecutor himself.

    Just "la tee da" threw it out.

    Because it didn't fit his position so he simply dismissed it, and sat there like a big, fat, inbred baby, demanding I answer the question using other data that he liked better.

    Because he didn't like the Offical Statement of the Federal Prosecutor answering his question. No sir he didn't like that, so he just dismissed it and sat there stomping his feet and huffing and puffing like Rush Limbaugh overdosing on Viagra, demanding over and over that I produce some other answer other than the facts.

    He never wants to debate.

    That was never his intention.

    ReplyDelete
  65. We've heard this crap from the TT troll before and he and his ilk proceeded to attack.

    He can leave.

    ReplyDelete
  66. You cannot debate with a man who when upon asking the sum of 2 plus 2 in Base10, and delivered the answer of 4, dismisses the answer and demands some other answer other than the only one there is.

    It is impossible to debate such an individual to whom the truth is only valid when it supports his position.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Funny how he suddenly reappears and refuses to leave a blog where he is not welcome or wanted.

    Looks like he is on the payroll to me.

    ReplyDelete
  68. As I said before, George Bush could rape a 4 year old and TT would just say she accidently fell on his tool.

    And now as he does everytime he pulls the Eddie Haskell routine.

    "why no Miss Cornell, I'm just here for honest debate... these fella's are quite unfriendly"

    ReplyDelete
  69. TT believes there is two sides to every argument.

    His and the correct one.

    ReplyDelete
  70. It's always that mean old Bartlebee who is keeping Troll Boy from making trouble MS. Cornell.

    ReplyDelete
  71. "gee Miss Cornell, may I say your blog is looking quite lovely today..."

    ReplyDelete
  72. But he never condemns his little cow boy from his spew.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Troll is writing MS.Cornell right now about that mean old Bartlebee.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Larry said...
    Funny how he suddenly reappears and refuses to leave a blog where he is not welcome or wanted.

    Looks like he is on the payroll to me.


    Clearly. Any normal person would have left long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Those 4 trolls must be desperate for money to hang on a place day and night where they are not welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Larry said...
    Troll is writing MS.Cornell right now about that mean old Bartlebee


    Here, I'll start it for him.

    "Dear Miss Cornell. Might I start out by pointing out how lovely you're hair looks today...now it has come to my attention that certain poorly mannered individuals on your blog are rebla blah blah blah blah "

    ReplyDelete
  77. Very well written Bartlebee.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Thanks. He can feel free to use it.

    ReplyDelete
  79. He is crying to much he can't see to write clearly.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Hmm, looks like someone else deleted your post tonight TT. I didn't do it. So don't start sqauwking at me about it.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Anonymous7:52 PM

    tard texan contradicts himself every other post, and appears to be too stupid to see it.

    I swear, were I tard, I'd either subcontract my posting or I'd quit. Why would someone expose himself to such utter ridicule all the time, even for money? Streetwalkers are far more respectable.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Jolly:

    Streetwalkers are more respectible and not nearly as slimy.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Another result of the clueless reichwigers who currently are trashing the White House and this countries reputation;

    Censoring science

    Let's set aside for a moment the implausible notion that White House political appointees are better informed about the science in reports by the IPCC — the U.N.-chartered scientific group that shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore — than Dr. Gerberding and her staff are.
    The fact is that for well over a decade, the IPCC has been sounding the alarm on climate change, and the Bush administration has ignored, downplayed and denied its conclusions.


    Credibility gap

    From polar bears to public health, government scientists' views keep running into political Wite-Out at the White House.
    The latest example in a stunning array of them came last week when the Associated Press reported that the White House made significant edits in testimony about the impact of climate change on public health. Deleted sections, which the AP said covered more than half of the original text, included a list of specifics in which "climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health."

    Hope the fuure generations treat the gutless lying welshes like they really deserve.

    Leaving them to ROT in a desert somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  84. BARTLEBEE said...
    As I said before, George Bush could rape a 4 year old and TT would just say she accidently fell on his tool.

    And now as he does everytime he pulls the Eddie Haskell routine.

    "why no Miss Cornell, I'm just here for honest debate... these fella's are quite unfriendly"


    No, your actually giving him TOO much credit, he's slimier than that......he'd actually attack the 4 year old girl who was the victim and say she was asking for it, just like the rabib Reich Wingers did that kid that spoke out to GWB about SCHIP or like when Coulter attacked the 9/11 widows and claimed they were happy their husbands were dead.

    He's been pulling the same slimy troll tactics for 2 years now only a fool could believe he is here for honest debate...........he is here for one purpose sabotage......he wants to derail the debate with reich wing talking points nonsense subject changes and falsely reframing our arguments as well as his own.

    He is a paid troll nothing more and giving him a voice to derail and drive off honest legitimate bloggers is giving a voice to evil.

    ReplyDelete
  85. He is so brainwashed he would claim that if Bush pardoned himself for raping a 4 year old he wasnt guilty because there was no conviction.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Tiny the Liar is so brainwashed he thinks he is defending America from enemies by attack us the way he and his ilk have done the last year and a half ......... they don't realise they are doing exactly what the forefathers warned us about.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Only a Bush reichwing White House would ever think of doin this;

    DIRECTOR OF FAKE FEMA NEWS CONFERENCE PROMOTED

    Lie to the American People and get promoted. That seems to be the Bush ET AL mantra .......

    ReplyDelete
  88. Mike said...
    He is so brainwashed he would claim that if Bush pardoned himself for raping a 4 year old he wasnt guilty because there was no conviction.


    Ha ha, agreed.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Anonymous10:04 PM

    tard texan, doltron, fascist franny, and the rest of the moronic monkey's worshipers are mere fly flecks. They're angry because everybody doesn't kneel at the feet of the moronic monkey and wait for the poo to be flung in their faces. A shower might help the Chimpletons, but they proudly wear their poo stains. Instead of wanting to clean things up in America, they want everybody else to stink the same way they do. They are disgusting, and a disgrace to the roughly 8 in 10 of us who don't want to live in a Fascist dictatorship run by a child.

    ReplyDelete
  90. JollyRoger said...
    tard texan, doltron, fascist franny, and the rest of the moronic monkey's worshipers are mere fly flecks. They're angry because everybody doesn't kneel at the feet of the moronic monkey and wait for the poo to be flung in their faces. A shower might help the Chimpletons, but they proudly wear their poo stains. Instead of wanting to clean things up in America, they want everybody else to stink the same way they do. They are disgusting, and a disgrace to the roughly 8 in 10 of us who don't want to live in a Fascist dictatorship run by a child."

    You nailed this one out of the p-ark JR.......I couldnt agree more!

    ReplyDelete
  91. clif said...
    Tiny the Liar is so brainwashed he thinks he is defending America from enemies by attack us the way he and his ilk have done the last year and a half ......... they don't realise they are doing exactly what the forefathers warned us about."


    you know Clif, more and more from the Sunday talk shows to Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, to some of the presidential candidates to John Stewart.............people are starting to talk about defending the Constitution and defending assaults on freedom and liberty. People are also quoting Jefferson, Burke, FDR etc...more and more lately.

    better late than never although the time for talk is past and it is time for action to restore the constitution and save democracy.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Gee, the rightwing propaganda machine just can't make up their minds about France. First they were a bunch of pantywaists because they didn't support Iraqmire. Then they became honorary he-men when they elected a rightwing president.

    If they threaten to arrest Rumsfeld, well, I guess it's back to Freedom Fries.

    Who Hijacked Our Country

    ReplyDelete
  93. Larry I left a reply to your comment on my site. Stay with me on this!
    Lydia I just want to say I really wish Rummy and all the rest of them would be arrested by anyone and now before it is too late! That said, Rummy like the rest of them have nothing to fear.

    ReplyDelete
  94. That said, Rummy like the rest of them have nothing to fear.

    Kissinger never paid for his crimes in Cambodia or Chile, so why should Dumsfeld worry except for his trips to Europe, BTW Henry the war criminal never travels to France for the basicly same reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Get Out The Knives

    If I'm right and the GOP contest gets decided in South Carolina, then you really need to start looking at which of the local hatchet men (sorry: 'operatives') is working for which candidate.

    Because when you think about it, half the stuff they made up about McCain in 2000 is actually true about Rudy.

    So the ride could get pretty bumpy.

    --Josh Marshall

    ReplyDelete
  96. Paul Krugman knows the bed-wetting reichwing real well;

    No such thing as ‘Islamofascism’

    There isn’t actually any such thing as Islamofascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn’t. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.

    [Thus they lied about this like they lied about the WMD's]

    Beyond that, the claim that Iran is on the path to global domination is beyond ludicrous. Yes, the Iranian regime is a nasty piece of work in many ways, and it would be a bad thing if that regime acquired nuclear weapons. But let’s have some perspective, please: we’re talking about a country with roughly the G.D.P. of Connecticut, and a government whose military budget is roughly the same as Sweden’s. […]

    [Bbbuttt they might attack and steal tiny's widdle teddy bear or dolty boy's dollies he LOVES to play with]

    Mike Huckabee, whom reporters like to portray as a nice, reasonable guy, says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, “I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.” Yep, a bunch of lightly armed terrorists and a fourth-rate military power — which aren’t even allies — pose a greater danger than Hitler’s panzers or the Soviet nuclear arsenal ever did.

    [The reichwing is scared of Hillary because SHE has more testicular fortitude then ALL of them combined, including dead eye, the stupidest person ever to claim to be pResident, and their trolls in the 102nd gutless keyboard commando brigade and their Larry Craig mensroom sock puppets ]

    All of this would be funny if it weren’t so serious.



    As our resident bed-wetters Tiny the Liar and dolty boy have shown over and over again, they screech real loud, but NEVER suit up or show up for the fight they screech for. (Their sock-puppets also).

    Given the fact that truck drivers are really, really needed in Iraq, AND dolty boy claimed in early 2006 to be "exploring about that" where has his gobernment financed granny-hips been glued for the last year and a half?

    Right behind his widdle dollies bloggin' away, fur that is HOW the gutless reichwingers defend this country from imaginary non-existant threats THEY MAKE UP.

    Because to actually see them in Afghanisan, where bin Forgotten actually WAS, and the fight against him really exists, never ... (the widdle dollies don't work so well if the bullets are real; trust me on this one dolty)

    Nor will they ever actually suit up and show up in Iraq, where THEY claim Bin Laden is fighting us,

    (actually it is Iraqi people trying to evict a foriegn invader and occupier from THEIR country, but PLEASE do not confuse these cowards with the facts)

    No the gutless yellow bellyied punks will never show up, they will fight the "good fight" from their mommy's basement with their trusty keyboards totally safe from harm, and except for the occasional muscle strain from typing too much (or over reaching for the cheetos and beer), they have no fear of actually meeting the requirements of the DOD for one purple heart, let alone THREE like some have.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.

    His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those services without great success.

    That the U.S. and Iraqi officials are again turning to Chalabi, this time to restore life to Baghdad neighborhoods, speaks to his resiliency in this nascent government. It's also, some say, his latest effort to promote himself as a true national advocate for everyday Iraqis.

    Chalabi, in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, provided White House and Pentagon officials and journalists with a stream of bogus or exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorism. He also suggested that he'd lead Iraq to make peace with Israel and welcome permanent U.S. military bases, which could apply pressure to Iran and Syria.

    But Chalabi's proven a resilient politician since then and Iraqis yearn for someone who can make the government help them. In sermons in the holy Shiite city of Najaf and in Sunni newspapers alike, Iraqis here often reject their central government, saying it has done nothing for them since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Instead, the government's critics say, local tribal leaders and residents rejuvenated neighborhoods by pushing fighters out and securing the streets.

    U.S. officials maintain that it's up to the central government to provide Iraqis with longer-term stability. Iraqis agree, especially when it comes to services beyond the capability of neighborhood councils, such as providing electricity, bringing doctors back into neighborhoods, establishing and paying a police force and building a school system, Traditionally, Iraq's central government delivered these services.

    "The key is going to be getting the concerned local citizens — and all the citizens — feeling that this government is reconnected with them," Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander here, said Saturday. Chalabi "agrees with that."

    Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki named Chalabi as head of the services committee, a consortium of eight service ministries and two Baghdad municipal posts, that is tasked with bringing services to Baghdad, the heart of the surge plan.

    Chalabi "is an important part of the process," said Col. Steven Boylan, Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."

    How nice Petraeus wants to cut the equally corrupt Chalabi in on some of the U.S tax dollar action again!

    ReplyDelete
  98. Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here say that morale among U.S. soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.

    The Bush Foreign Policy: Destroy Moral as You Destroy The Troops!

    ReplyDelete
  99. MCH said...
    TT said ... "If the criteria for post deletion is simply "I don't agree," then you or the people you've put in charge here cannot hold there own in a perfectly reasonably debate"


    It's not, so then you need to look at your own M.O., Widdle Cowboy...and get that stick horse OUT OF YOUR ASS!

    ReplyDelete
  100. Ahhh, the Fairmont Hotel....

    I'll be staying at the Fairmont Southampon in Bermuda later this year when I do my second vacation their in 2007.

    THIS time, diving for treasure! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  101. At the beginning of the year I said the United States would enter a recession by the end 2007. It looks like that forecast is coming closer to fruition by the day.

    Let's take a look at how the events are unfolding.

    The housing bust is far from over. Early in 2007 I predicted the unwinding of the highly leveraged subprime housing market. That was dead-on, and the subprime debacle caused a potentially disastrous gridlock in the credit markets.

    The Mother of All Financial Disasters

    In our new Financial Intelligence Report, "The Great Housing Crash of 2008," you'll learn why the drop in U.S. real estate markets is likely just the first stage of a global liquidity crunch which could ravish your assets and your investments. Learn nine specific steps to take NOW to protect your wealth.

    Click here to get your FREE copy of
    this stunning new Special Report.

    The massive leverage and almost fraudulent “slicing and dicing” of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) eventually caused a major credit problem, itself a recessionary influence.

    In addition, it was clear that a major downturn in residential housing was likely to occur and worsen. Well, it certainly happened, and it triggered a bursting of the incredible liquidity-driven asset bubble of the past few years.

    A worsening housing market would, sooner or later, affect consumer spending, which makes up 72 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

    Most Wall Street “experts” and “cheerleaders” ridiculed this view. Senior figures such as President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that our economy was “strong” and looked good into the future. Nothing to worry about, they said.

    The recent Fed cuts acted like a shot of morphine — the sense of pain subsided. Bond markets remained bullish and stock markets climbed to record levels.

    Still, the housing market continues to flail and lenders continue to hold a death grip on their purse strings.

    Sales of existing homes, which make up 85 percent of total home sales, fell 19 percent in September compared to last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's the slowest pace on record.

    Frankly, the disconnect between the financial markets of Wall Street and the economic reality on Main Street is amazing.

    So what is the real situation, and what can we expect over the next few quarters?

    It is clearly in the financial interest of Wall Street to keep the “bull party” going. Strenuous efforts will be made to manipulate any positive short-term noise to keep the rally music going and the financial markets dancing!

    However, it's clear, too, that the housing bust is going to last longer than expected, not to mention the plunging dollar and rising inflation.

    In short, we are currently headed from contraction into recession. Although it will not become “officially” apparent until the GDP figures are published, it could be a very severe recession, even stagflation.

    The Bush Economy: Near the Fatal Destruction!

    ReplyDelete
  102. Oil prices jumped to fresh historic highs on Monday, breaching 93 dollars for the first time on mounting concerns about tight energy supplies worldwide, analysts said.

    Investors pushed up crude futures to new peaks as more bad news in the shape of Mexican production cutbacks came on top of already serious tensions in the Middle East.

    Also supporting oil prices Monday was a weak dollar and OPEC's reluctance to increase output ahead of the northern hemisphere winter when demand for heating fuel spikes.

    "There are supply concerns around," CMC Markets trader Nas Nijjar said.

    The Bush Domestic Policy: Destroy the Economy While Prospering The Wealthy!

    ReplyDelete
  103. a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.

    The very same practicewas seen in Vietnam in the 1971-72period, when almost every one realized the paris peace accords were gonna end it some military victory on the battle field.

    Looks like quite a few US soldiers realize the same thing about georgie's illegal invasion and ccupation of Iraq.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I never thought of the search and avoid Clif.

    ReplyDelete
  105. On Oct. 29, 1929, stock prices collapsed on the New York Stock Exchange amid panic selling. Thousands of investors were wiped out.

    Looks like the id-jets on wall street are warming up fur a repeat performance of this historical also ...... utthis time with a tankng NOT risingdollar, andthings like pek oil and global warming looming on the horizon. (Or maybe not sofar away) Not to mention the fact the reichwing has shipped most of US major manufacturing off shore.

    But the stock market is up on inflatted dollars "heilcopter ben" keeps dropping, like the market is praying for dropping interest rates to keep the bubble going.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Larry once the end is in sight, why sacrifice your life or limbs for a losing or lost cause?

    Hell the gutless reichwing couldn't even when they claimed we were "winning".

    ReplyDelete
  107. That's understandable Clif.

    ReplyDelete
  108. The troops on the ground KNOW much better then the lying politicians or their gutless enablers what is really happening ...... and their vote is the"war"is NOT worth their sacrifice any more.

    when are dolty boy, tiny the liar, anny tranny, the fat drug addicted gas bag, fallaful guy, and the rest of the lying reichwing gonna SIGN UP and serve in the place of the troops?

    RIGHT, ..... NEVER

    ReplyDelete
  109. Chalabi is back for more payola from Bush and those U.S tax dollars.

    Isn't that comforting!

    ReplyDelete
  110. Why Not Larry, Chalibi was working FOR Iran when he LIED to the US in 2001, 2002, 2003, so why not re-emerge when it looks like the Maliki Government is turning to the Badr corps which Iran TRAINED to run Iraq?

    He is just claiming his just rewards for getting the Bush and Cheney to do Iran's dirty work in Iraq for them.

    Iran is the ONLY winner so far in the Fiasco called Iraq.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Iran is the only winner but Turkey is moving toward their share.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Check out this post on what a neocon really is:

    Blog of Revelation

    ReplyDelete
  113. Turkey is a different story, they just wanna keep the Kurds in Turkey under their thumbs, but the PKK uses the Kurdish regions in the US protected Iraq as basis like the taliban is using Pakistan to attack Afghanisan.


    Where as Iran had little ability to interfer in Iraq until Bush and Cheney OPENED that door for them. and left it ungaurded for YEARS.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Now the door is opening for Russia and China to show who the real powers are, thanks to Bush.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded on Thursday that there was a “hole” in United States law that had allowed Blackwater USA employees and other armed contractors in Iraq to escape legal jeopardy for crimes possibly committed there.

    In an appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Ms. Rice said the administration would support new laws that would apply to contractors but expressed reservations about proposals to bring contractors under the military justice system.

    She deferred a number of other questions about problems with the supervision of the thousands of private security guards in Iraq, saying she planned to meet with Robert M. Gates, the secretary of defense, to try to come up with new rules to avoid episodes like the shooting by Blackwater gunmen on Sept. 16 that Iraqi investigators have said left 17 Iraqis dead. “Obviously we need a better coordinated policy for all of them,” she said.

    Blackwater, meanwhile, under continuing siege in the courts, the news media and Congress, stepped up its public relations efforts this week with a mass e-mail message to its employees, suppliers, fellow security contractors and political allies, asking them to flood Congress with messages of support.

    The e-mail message noted that the Blackwater “family” was working vigorously to defend American interests. “In this tumultuous political climate,” Blackwater “has taken center stage, our services and ethics aggressively challenged with misinformation and fabrications,” the message said. “While we can’t ask that each supporter do everything, Blackwater asks that everyone does something. Contact your lawmakers and tell them to stand by the truth.”

    It then suggests some talking points: Blackwater is saving taxpayers millions of dollars by providing temporary workers to take the place of full-time government or military employees; 30 Blackwater guards have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan but none of the American officials they guard have been killed or seriously wounded; and Blackwater’s work force is mainly military veterans and “mature law enforcement personnel.”

    “Expanding our communications effort starts with you,” said the Blackwater message, which was sent by Constant Contact, an e-mail marketing firm. “Pass the word — pass the truth.”

    Blackwater pleading for mercy from the very public they are financially raping.

    ReplyDelete
  116. (AP) — The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.

    George W Bush: Protecting Murderers.

    ReplyDelete
  117. The Pentagon was reeling last night from the American military's second major nuclear weapons blunder in a month.

    Congress is demanding a full scale investigation and serious questions are being asked about the competence of the officers in charge of the world's mightiest arsenal.

    The latest outrage came as Commander Michael Portland, the officer in charge of the USS Hampton, the most advanced nuclear attack submarine in the world, was fired after it was discovered that he had neglected to make basic daily safety checks.

    Investigation: The Pentagon is reeling from the American military’s second major nuclear weapons blunder in a month

    Last month 70 US airmen were demoted after they lost track of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles and allowed them to be flown halfway across America by a bomber crew that didn't even know they were there.

    The Pentagon said that it had lost confidence in Commander Portland's leadership after checks showed that he had failed to analyse the chemical and radiological properties of the submarine's nuclear reactor for a month.

    It is considered vital that the reactor's condition be fully examined every day so that any malfunction can be caught early.

    If something went wrong with the reactor it could lead to a devastating nuclear accident.

    The USS Hampton, currently docked in San Diego, is armed with nuclear torpedoes, nuclear cruise missiles and a massive mine-laying arsenal.

    US Navy officials said that it had also been discovered that logs on the USS Hampton had been filled out to make it appear the daily checks of the reactor water had actually been done.

    Members of Congress are furious about the latest scandal especially as it follows so closely after the nuclear missile debacle.

    In that incident a large US Air Force team failed to remove the nuclear warheads from six cruise missiles being flown by a B-52 bomber from North Dakota to Louisiana.

    It was described as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons procedures ever.

    The incident sparked a so-called "Bent Spear" nuclear alert, one step down in military terms from a "Broken Arrow".

    A "Broken Arrow" is triggered if a nuclear missile has been lost or detonated in a way that does not create the risk of nuclear war. If the B-52 had crashed there would not have been a nuclear explosion but there could have been major plutonium leakage causing thousands of deaths.

    The Bush Homeland Security Department at Work!

    ReplyDelete
  118. Yesterday, the Blackwater scandal claimed its first administration victim. Richard Griffin, the State Department’s top diplomatic security official, agreed to resign, effectively taking the fall for the department’s non-existent oversight.

    That’s the good news. The bad news, as ABC News’ Rhonda Schwartz and Justin Rood noted, is that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “quietly promoted” two other senior staffers who directly oversaw Blackwater’s security operations.

    Justine Sincavage has been serving as director of the Overseas Protection Operation (OPO), which has direct responsibility for all State Department security contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan. That includes overseeing Blackwater, which has won more than $1 billion in security work from the State Department.

    According to internal State Department documents, Sincavage was promoted Tuesday. Sincavage’s predecessor as OPO director, Kevin Barry, was also promoted, the documents show.

    A State Department official who asked not to be named called the promotions of Sincavage and Barry a symptom of “a perverted system of government.”

    “They both got promoted in the face of all this mismanagement and controversy — talk about government B.S.,” said another. “What does it say when State promotes the two people into DS’ most senior positions, when if they had properly managed the programs under their responsibility, we wouldn’t be in this mess?”

    Actually, it says quite a bit about the Bush administration’s habit of rewarding those who fail.

    The Bush Administration: Made up of complete failures!

    ReplyDelete
  119. First Lady Laura Bush said Sunday that she is much more involved in policy than many people think and then went to bat for her husband on children’s health care and foreign policy.

    Calling the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP) “a perfect issue” for Democrats to demagogue on, Bush waded into largely uncharted public territory for her by taking exception to the party that opposes the president.

    The first lady appeared genuinely upset about the Democrats’ tactics on the issue.

    “It’s really easy to blame people for so-called voting against children,” Bush said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. The first lady went on to say that the bill would cover children who are not poor and added that the program is often used to cover adults.

    “The president is very anxious to work with Congress and to come up with something that both he and they can be proud of,” she said.

    Bush also insisted the perception of her staying out of her husband’s policies is false.

    “The fact is I’ve been involved for a long time in policy, and I think I just didn’t get a lot of coverage on it,” Bush said. “I was stereotyped as being a certain way because I was a librarian and a teacher…which are considered traditional women’s careers.”

    Pickles Bush: Making Foreign Policy Decisions Over A Few Martini's!

    ReplyDelete
  120. ABC News' Cynthia McFadden and Rick Klein Report: Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy, is ruling out making personal financial contributions to her husband's struggling campaign for president, saying that the she and her husband are committed to funding his race via small contributions from donors.

    In an interview to air on ABC's "Nightline" Tuesday night, Cindy McCain said they will not reconsider that decision, even though McCain, R-Ariz., is contemplating taking public financing to help keep his campaign afloat.

    Cindy McCain is the biggest stockholder and chairman of the board of Hensley & Co., one of the nation's largest Anheuser-Busch distributors. Her fortune is the bulk of the estimated $25 million to $38 million that the couple is worth.

    Poor old warlover:Even his filthy rich wife refuses to fund his "wargames."

    ReplyDelete
  121. You know Laura's none too bright is she?

    If I were her, and had made it this long going primarily unnoticed and unassociated with her husbands endless blunders and disasters.... I don't think I'd come out this late in the game and take partial credit for them.

    ReplyDelete
  122. BARTLEBEE said...
    You know Laura's none too bright is she?

    If I were her, and had made it this long going primarily unnoticed and unassociated with her husbands endless blunders and disasters.... I don't think I'd come out this late in the game and take partial credit for them."


    LMAO.............I was going to say essentially the same thing.

    And while i'm at it, let me add isnt it laughable when Bush or his partner in idiocy (Laura or Cheney take your pick) cry and whine about partisanship, when they are the most ravenously fanatic partisans 've ever seen in my entire life.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Pickles Bush is running/ruining foreign policy while Georgie is overwhelmed with the latest Lincoln logs.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Climate Change's Uncertainty Principle

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its first report in 1990 predicted that temperatures would warm by 0.5 degree Fahrenheit (0.3 degree Celsius) per decade if no efforts were made to restrain greenhouse gas emissions.

    But the panel of scientists and other experts was wrong:

    By 2001, the group estimated that average temperatures would increase by 2.7 to 8.1 degrees F (1.5 to 4.5 degrees C) in the 21st century,

    and they raised the lower end to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) this year in their most recent report.


    In essence, neither this international team of experts nor any other can say with any certainty just how bad global warming may get.


    How true.

    But they seem to be quite certain that it's getting worse each time they look, not better.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Briefing Costs FEMA Spokesman New Job
    CNN
    Posted: 2007-10-29 21:43:14
    Filed Under: Politics News
    WASHINGTON (Oct. 29) -- The man who oversaw public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency when it held a fake news conference last week will no longer be taking over as head of public relations for the director of national intelligence.

    Pat Philbin, FEMA's external affairs director, was scheduled to become director of public affairs for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he offered his resignation or was fired just as he was set to begin the job.


    Photo Gallery: Fallout Over Fake News Conference

    FEMA Pat Philbin, who oversaw public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has lost out on a top government position because of last week's staged news conference concerning the California fires.
    1 of 5
    As of Sunday, officials only said that they were aware of concerns.

    But Monday, the director of national intelligence office issued this statement: "We do not normally comment on personnel matters. However, we can confirm that Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs for the office of the director of national intelligence."

    FEMA Director David Paulison said Philbin sent him an e-mail in which he took full responsibility for last week's staging of the news conference.

    FEMA, part of the Department of Homeland Security, called a news conference Tuesday in Washington on the agency's handling of the California wildfires.

    The agency said no media representatives showed up because the conference was announced at the last minute. Instead, reporters called in on a phone line but couldn't ask questions

    The agency released a video of the conference with FEMA employees asking less than hard-hitting questions.

    Deputy Director Harvey Johnson, who was fielding questions, gave no indication at the time that staff members were asking the questions.

    He later apologized, calling the fake briefing an "error in judgment."

    "I am calling to apologize and say it will not happen again," Paulison said in a phone call to CNN.

    He said rules are changing to prevent any reoccurrence. Reporters will be given at least an hour's warning before a press conference and those calling in will be able to ask questions in the future, he said.

    Paulison said he is continuing to investigate. He said he understands that FEMA officials did not plan to ask questions and did so only when reporters failed to appear.

    Disciplinary action is being taken against some FEMA employees, he said.

    Another official said that reprimands have been issued and more may be coming.

    Johnson "really didn't have an awareness" of what was taking place, according to Paulison.The FEMA director said Johnson wasn't familiar with everyone in the press office and did not recognize staffers asking questions.

    "He just feels sick about it," Paulison said. "He feels his credibility has been hurt."

    However, reporters noted that Johnson called on at least one person by name.

    FEMA generally received high marks for its response to the California wildfires after fierce criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but Paulison said he was sure the conference flap has had a bad effect on morale.

    "The last two years of planning for a major disaster fell in place," Paulison said. "Things were working as they were supposed to ... and that just killed everything you tried to have happen."

    The head of homeland security also has blasted the fake news briefing and said those behind it showed "extraordinarily poor judgment."

    "I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've ever seen since I've been in government," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Saturday.

    The White House said it was unaware of the briefing beforehand.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Funny how just like the trolls on this blog.........the Neo Con and repug jackasses KNOW their talking points dont hold up and they CANT debate facts and field REAL questions so they have to stick to dishonest talking points and resort to staged events where they are pitched softballs and not asked ANY real or tough questions..........GWB has used similar tactics for years.

    ReplyDelete
  127. ANYONE here George Will's comments this morning.........they were discussing Charles Rangels tax plan to cut taxes on EVERYONE making less than $200,000 and raise taxes on those above $200,000 and all Will could say was that would offend the powerful farming and business lobbies...............so according to will, fairness to the working class be damned...........we got to cater and pander to the wealthy lobbyists.

    He just showed how out of touch the repugs are and how screwed up our political system is and how NECCESSARY lobby reform is to stop the special interests from controling our country.

    ReplyDelete
  128. I'll throw this parting shot out to the hippocritical trolls.

    Why is it that you clowns and your hero GWB constantly talk out of the sides of your mouths about the evils of government welfare bailing out the poor saps who entered into reckless mortgage contracts.........but yet you hippocritical clowns seem to have NO PROBLEM with the same government handing out welfare to the wealthy lenders, hedge funds and brokerage houses who entered into those VERY same contracts that the buyers did.

    Why do you fools claim the poor should be responsible for their own actions but the rich should not.

    Why should some poor slob lose his home and be put on the street but a big wall street brokerage house or hedgefund gets corporate welfare and a government bailout.

    The repugs seem to have a double standard for EVERYTHING...........its wrong if Iran nukes another country pre-emptively but perfectly ok if GWB does it.

    Repug hippocrissy knows no bounds!

    ReplyDelete
  129. Gagged FBI whistle-
    blower to tell all


    Sibel Edmonds, once FBI translator, now willing to violate 'State Secret' gag and Face Charges if Necessary - to Any Major Television Network That Will Let Her

    She's Prepared to Name Names, Including Those of Two 'Well-Known' Congress Members Involved in Criminal Corruption


    The 'Most Gagged Person in U.S. History' Tells The BRAD BLOG She's Now Exhausted All Other Channels....

    ReplyDelete
  130. Here is a list of someof the things she says is corruption in the FBI, DOJ, congress and Federal Government the FBI Ashcroft, Gonzo and Bush it seems don't want the American people knowing;

    9/11 Related:

    Information omitted and covered-up regarding documented and confirmed case of a long-term FBI Informant & Asset who provided the FBI with specific information and warnings in April & June 2001 regarding 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    Information omitted & covered up regarding documented information in the procession of the FBI in July 2001 regarding blue prints and building composite information of Sky Scrapers being sent to certain groups in the Middle East by certain Middle-Eastern suspects in the State of Nevada.

    Information omitted & covered up regarding arrangements made between the State Department and certain countries to deport certain Middle-Eastern and Central Asian detainees from jails in New Jersey & New York off the record and without having them interrogated in November 2001. (Documents related to these suspects were forged at the FBI).

    Information omitted & covered up regarding nuclear related information illegally obtained by certain foreign entities and US persons (government officials) from several US labs being sold to a certain Middle-Eastern group in the United States in 1998-2000. The operation involved individuals with Diplomatic cover, foreign Ph.D. students, and US employees.

    Information omitted & covered up regarding money laundering & narcotics operations, some of which involved entities from the Middle East and the Balkans, in several US cities.

    Information omitted & covered up regarding certain Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)-related activities linked to the 9/11 attacks between August & October 2001.

    Certain terrorist related Counterintelligence/FISA information & investigations were prevented from being transferred to counterterrorism & criminal division by the Department of State and the Pentagon; "preserving sensitive diplomatic relations" and "protecting certain US foreign business relations (mainly involving weapons procurement)" were cited as reasons.

    Intentional mistranslation & blocking of foreign language intelligence of FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

    Penetration of FBI, Department of State and Department of Defense:

    Melek Can Dickerson: FBI; formerly employed by the American Turkish Council (ATC) and American Turkish Association (ATA).

    Major Douglas Dickerson: Air Force, DIA; formerly worked with the American Turkish Council (ATC), had on going relationship with International Advisors Inc

    (IAI) principles who worked as lobbying arms for certain foreign nations and foreign non-state entities (some of whom were engaged in illegal activities in the United States and against US interests and national Security.)

    Cases reported by John M. Cole, Veteran FBI Counterintelligence Operations Manager, to the DOJ-IG & Congress involving Hadiya Roberts (ISI-Pakistan), and several other individuals.

    Documented cases under FBI counterintelligence surveillance between 1997 and 2002, involving US government officials from the Department of State, DOD, and certain elected officials who were recipients of regular payments made by state and non-state foreign entities, some involved in criminal operations against US interests & national security. These cases were prevented from being transferred to actionable criminal and/or counterterrorism divisions/investigations.

    A reported case of penetration of FBI New York Field Office by an Iranian rouge agent.

    Corruption & illegal activities involving US persons:

    Illegal payments to several elected officials in Congress; on going (1997-2002).

    Joint illegal activities between certain foreign agents (state & non-state) and US lobbying firms, government officials (Pentagon and the Department of State) and several elected officials. These activities include obtaining and passing highly classified and sensitive DOD documents & bribery and/or coercion of US individuals.

    Nuclear black market related activities carried out by certain foreign groups/lobbying firms/businesses/individuals & US persons (former & current US government employees and officials).

    FBI: incompetence:

    (Refer to DOJ-IG report confirming all & more)

    Hiring unqualified translators based on nepotism & cronyism, some of these translators did not even pass elementary English proficiency tests; some were granted Top Secret Clearance despite their highly questionable background.

    Language specialists charging the United States government for hours not worked and/or services not rendered (Fraudulent invoices, etc.)

    ...much more; please refer to the DOJ-IG
    Report


    h/t bradblog

    ReplyDelete
  131. Lydia, YOU could have HER on your show, that would make news, and get the truth out.

    ReplyDelete