Fear is "False Evidence Appearing Real." All that depresses us, all that we fear is really powerless to harm us. If we stay in wonder, humility and gratitude, fear loses its grip. There is a spark of the Divine in every one of us. Sooner or later, you have to find our soul, inner peace, God — whatever you want to call it. When materialism ceases to fill you up, and you've had enough sex, drugs, violence, war, gossip, food and TV — you have only one place left to go.
I wonder if Diablo Cody knew she was writing one of the most heroic pro-life movies ever. I loved JUNO the Oscar-nominated film starring the adorable Ellen Page and directed by Jason Reitman. Check out these opening credits:
JUNO
WINNER OF THE SAG AWARDS: The Cohen Brothers' "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN" is chilling depiction of a sociopath and "THERE WILL BE BLOOD" based on Upton Sinclair's book OIL, is an excruciating character study of greed, played by Daniel Day Lewis — who was mesmerizing. I was disturbed by this movie, but can't stop thinking about it. It was torture to watch, but you can't take your eyes off of Daniel Day Lewis and wonder what created a wretch like this.
*******************************************
RETIREMENT PLANNING FOR 2008
Had you purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.
With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.
With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.
Had you purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.
But, had you purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00.
Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to consume beer and recycle. Just kidding.
It's called the 401-Keg.
(Joke of the Day courtesy of my husband's email)
GOOD NEWS NETWORK.ORG
Iraqi Boy Sends Messages of Peace in a Bottle
Written by Graciela Sholander
Iraqi teen and his friends work towards peace by sending peace messages in bottles down the Euphrates River. The 14 year-old says he loves all the people of Iraq and hopes to encourage brotherhood among the sects with messages of peace. (CNN Video)
11-Year-Old's Idea May Become Law: Boy's Initiative May Be Passed as Law to Help Feed Homeless
Jack Davis, 11, says, "If you think there's a problem in the world, you don't wait for other people to fix it. You have to try to fix it yourself." (ABCNEWS.com)
Jack Davis is only 11, but he had a pretty grown-up idea: He was disturbed to learn that Florida restaurants throw out food that could be given to the hungry and the homeless -- because the restaurant owners could be sued if anyone who ate the food became ill or developed food poisoning.
"I thought it pretty disturbing to see pounds, pretty much, of food being thrown away every single day," the 11-year-old said. Jack had visited a homeless shelter on school field trips and he worried about people going hungry.
"I realized that I could make a difference by trying to change the law," Davis said.
Jack's idea was to pass a law that would give restaurant owners' some protection from lawsuits. He got his dad to float the idea to some Florida legislators.
____________________________________________
REPUBLICANS REFUSE HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN... AGAIN
The House [debated] the override of the President’s veto of the revised bipartisan SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) bill. The President’s veto on December 12 denied health care to children of hardworking families across America just as the country began experiencing an economic downturn, with families increasingly struggling with the costs of heat, food, gas and health care.
From CBS News: The vote was 260-152, at least 15 votes short of the two-thirds threshold needed to override a veto. The Democratic bill _ backed by 45 Republicans in the House _ would expand eligibility for SCHIP benefits to 10 million uninsured children. Republicans have rejected the measure because they believe it would allow illegal immigrants and middle income people to get government health coverage, even though there is explicit language in the bill to prevent such problems.
Unfortunately, the House Republicans sustained Bush’s veto, by narrowly denying the two-thirds necessary to override the veto: 260 in favor of passage versus 152 against, despite the veto-proof margin in the Senate, meaning 42 Republicans voted with the Democrats. Rep. Charlie Rangel:
“I stand in support of overriding the President’s veto, not for the reasons given by Chairman Dingell — that it’s the right and moral position — because that has existed all of the time and yet we’ve been unsuccessful. But I would say to the gentleman from Texas that since the last time this has come up, the President has admitted we are going toward a recession and that economy may be jeopardized unless the Congress supported a stimulus package. It would just seem to me that if it’s recognized that our states are going to go into deficit, our governors are going to have serious problems, and that it is very possible if not likely that services for our kids will be further cut under Medicaid, it would seem to me that a legitimate argument could be made that by providing care for these 11 million children it allows the parents to know that they’ll be able to be more productive knowing that their kids are covered by health insurance. It’s sad that the poor now have to be used merely as a vehicle to stimulate our economy but had we taken care of these people… perhaps we’d be not going through this struggle. So it occurs to me that this is another opportunity that the minority would have, not just to do the moral thing but to do the economic thing, and to be of some assistance to the governors who are screaming out for the continuation of this program, indeed the expansion of it.”
photo credit: Peyton Quinn "Freedom From Fear" How to Take Back Your Life and Dissolve Depression"
We went to Lowes a few weeks ago to buy a new fridge. The old one wasn't chillin' the food anymore, so we broke down and replaced it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Jim and I spent a good 2 hours at Lowes. Armed with consumer reports writeups and we asked dozens of questions. We had a wonderful, informative salesman, who, after we decided on a model, handed us off to the scheduling desk who scheduled a delivery day. Finally, we checked out up front with a cashier.
Every person we interacted with, everyone, was old enough to be my father or mother. One man could've easily been my grandfather. When we drove off in my SUV home, I said to Jim, "Did you notice everyone we talked to was near or over retirement age?" Now, I didn't interview the staff but I bet they're all working, not because they want to work, but because they have to work.
Isn't Murika great???
Wow, that's strange and sad -- unless they want to work.
ReplyDeleteDo you live in a small town?
Chrisytopher, go to a mao-mart, they must troll retirement homes to find greeters that old. Hell I've seen a rise in senior citizens at Mickey D's and other entry level service sector jobs.
ReplyDeleteBut bush claims he created great jobs, he did, just ask the people who have to work at those jobs.
Here's Paul Krugman's take on the current stimulus plan as it stands;
ReplyDeleteWho gets stimulated ?
Fast work by the people at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who figure out who gets what from tax plans. They now have distribution tables for the stimulus proposal announced yesterday, and they more or less match my expectations.
Here’s what it looks like, by quintiles of the income distribution:
Quintile ** Share of rebates
lowest *********6.5%
fourth *********14.3%
third *********21.0%
second ********31.0%
highest *******27.1%
I’d guess that the top two quintiles are unlikely to be liquidity-constrained, so the rebate will have little effect on their spending. But they get 58% of the money. The bottom two quintiles, which are the place you’d most expect to have an impact, get only 21% of the money. Split the difference on the middle quintile, and you’ve got a plan where around 2/3 of the outlay is likely to be ineffective.
Now. I’ve been in touch with some people on the Hill, who say that the glass is best viewed as 1/3 full rather than 2/3 empty — that it’s only thanks to the Democrats that people likely to spend their rebate are getting anything at all. And they have a point: this plan will produce some stimulus, while the Bush plan would have done virtually nothing.
And I suppose that it may be true that this was the best Nancy Pelosi could get. But I just can’t bring myself to celebrate.
Hopefully the US senate can correct this, with things like a raise in food stamps to help the poorest people in their attempt to keep up with the increasing food price inflation, and extending unemployment so those who are getting laid off, or already have can get a little longer to find jobs which are not materializing right now.
But then again, I could just say, I hope Bush would START being the compassionate conservative he claimed he was. that would go VERY far to help out the poor and lower middle class to regain some of what they have lost, and start to right the collapsing ship of state, because the income distribution and wealth is so far out of whack.
But then again, I just could start believing in the tooth fairy both have equal chance of being true.
Uh Christopher,
ReplyDeleteum sorry;
talk about a typo.
The cycle of faux family values and republican hypocrissy continues;
ReplyDeleteEx-Romney aide, College Republican head, busted on sex offender charges
A former aide to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who also played a leadership role in Iowa's College Republicans was arrested by Des Moines-area police earlier in the week on outstanding warrants related to his status as a convicted sex offender.
Matthew Joseph Elliott, aged 26, and identified in numerous accounts as Matt Elliott, was arrested on Jan. 21 for outstanding warrants relating to his registered sex offender status, according to the Polk County government website. The Iowa registry of sex offenders also shows that he was convicted of exploiting a minor and given a "low" risk assessment.
The website Truth Caucus and an additional source independently confirmed to RAW STORY that Elliott was the same individual described in a Feb. 2006 account in the Washington Post. He briefly joined the Iowa presidential campaign staff of Governor Mitt Romney before leaving to run for a seat in the Iowa state legislature.
Additionally, Elliott was a leading College Republican in Iowa while attending Drake University, where he served as student body president. Elliott also served as director of the Iowa Republicans' Legislative Majority Fund.
Iowa state records show he was convicted on the sex charges in October 2006, months after leaving the Romney campaign.
West Des Moines police arrested Elliott while they were investigating the death of 7-month-old Alexis Gilbert, according to KCCI8-TV, found dead in her family's home where Elliott was staying. Elliott has been questioned, but not charged in relation to her death, which has been ruled a homicide. Gilbert's mother, Kristina, is 16 years of age, and her family has refused to explain Elliott's relationship to the family, according to the Des Moines Register.
Reached for comment by the the Boston Herald on Friday, Romney's campaign argued that Elliott was never affiliated the campaign, only with Romney's Commonwealth PAC.
Why do reichwingers like this keep showing up?
Does drinking that kool-aid do something to their sense of right and wrong?
Britain surpasses US in GPD (for first time in over a century)
ReplyDeleteFrom the London Times
UK living standards outstrip US
LIVING standards in Britain are set to rise above those in America for the first time since the 19th century, according to a report by the respected Oxford Economics consultancy.
The calculations suggest that, measured by gross domestic product per capita, Britain can now hold its head up high in the economic stakes after more than a century of playing second fiddle to the Americans.
It says that GDP per head in Britain will be £23,500 this year, compared with £23,250 in America, reflecting not only the strength of the pound against the dollar but also the UK economy’s record run of growth and rising incomes going back to the early 1990s.
In those days, according to Oxford Economics, Britain’s GDP per capita was 34% below that in America, 33% less than in Germany and 26% lower than in France. Now, not only have average incomes crept above those in America but they are more than 8% above France (£21,700) and Germany (£21,665).
“The past 15 years have seen a dramatic change in the UK’s economic performance and its position in the world economy,” said Adrian Cooper, managing director of Oxford Economics. “No longer are we the ‘sick man of Europe’. Indeed, our calculations suggest that UK living standards are now a match for those of the US.”
Although many people will be surprised by the figures, Americans have long complained that average incomes have been stagnant in their country. One often-quoted statistical comparison suggests that in real terms the median male full-time salary in America is no higher now than it was in the 1970s.
Oxford Economics says that while the comparisons are affected by sterling’s high value against the dollar, they also reflect longer-term factors. “The UK has been catching up steadily with living standards in the US since 2001 � so, it is a well established trend rather than simply the result of currency fluctuations,” its report says.
However, the British typically have significantly longer holidays than Americans as well as access to “free” healthcare.
The figures may be of small comfort to Britons worried about house prices and facing a severe squeeze on their incomes this year as a result of record petrol prices and rising energy bills.
Citigroup, which was the most accurate forecaster of Britain’s economy last year, predicts the slowest rise in consumer spending this year since 1992.
“After the credit-fuelled boom in domestic demand and asset prices, the UK economy now faces a hangover, with slowing credit growth, falling property prices and tightening lending standards,” said Michael Saunders, its UK economist.
Last week oil prices hit $100 a barrel, presaging a rise in petrol and diesel prices on the fore-courts. Npower, Britain’s fourth biggest energy supplier, announced that energy prices would go up sharply, raising the prospect of the average household bill rising above £1,000 for the first time.
America overtook Britain economically in the final years of the 19th century, during the so-called second industrial revolution, which brought mass manufacture and sharply rising prosperity to the United States.
The USA replaced Great Britain as the economic powerhouse of the world in 1885 so essentially GWB has undone almost 150 years of progress in a mere 7 years.
ReplyDeleteIn particular look at this portion of the article I posted
"“The UK has been catching up steadily with living standards in the US since 2001 � so, it is a well established trend rather than simply the result of currency fluctuations,” its report says."
Isnt it a truly amazing "COINCIDENCE" that Britains standards of living did not begin to surpass ours until GWB "CAME TO POWER" in 2001!
I dont think its a coincidence at all that man destroys, ruins and/or bankrupts EVERYTHING he touches.
In 7 short years GWB just undid almost a century and a half of economic dominance and progress.
ReplyDeleteLydia and Bartlebe, we have been discussing the credit crisis/mortgage meltdown and iminent recession pretty extensively on this thread and i just wanted to touch on something perhaps you both had not considered.
ReplyDeleteNow before I touch on that point I just want to say that i do agree with you that we have to make sure the credit markets dont seize up and keep banks lending..........because in a Fractional Reserve Banking system, particularly one based on growth or more specifically debt fueled growth the entire financial and economic system and society as we know it will collapse if that growth is ended by a contraction of the money supply from a credit/debt collapse.
I honestly dont think people KNOW how truly serious this is...........consider this Bush conceded on making his tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and conceded that the stimulous would ONLY be for the middle class and NOT the wealthy.BECAUSE he KNOWS that tax cuts for the wealthy DONT stimulate the economy like the Reich Wing has been screeching for decades giving to the poor and middle class DOES..........Bush wants to prolong the recession till he is out of office because he is AFRAID of going down in history as the NEXT Herbert Hoover and being a Depression President instead of a War President.Bush doesnt want to own this recession and he wants people to remember the repugs giving people tax rebates because this is an election year.
Now , i'm not trying to assign you guys a position here because i absolutely hate when people do that to me.........I get the impression that you guys view a recession as negative or dom and gloom and I think MOST of America because of the Federal Reserves manipulation NOW views a recession as unacceptable, when THAT is not true at all, I view a recession as part of the natural business cycle, just as we have seasons like Winter and Summer which each serve a purpose, for instance Winter kills many allergies and allows land to lie fallow and rebuild nutrients so they can be more fertile in summer than if crops were grown continuously and all the nutrients leached out and spring is a time of planting crops flowerrs etc, Summer is a time of growth and Fall a time of harvest; so to Recessions destroy the speculative excesses and allow us to reduce debt, prioritize and evaluate the most productive areas of growth and decide where our limited resources NEED to be allocated to maximize productivity.
Attempting to Deny natural and neccessary phenomenon like Recessions is unatural and goes against nature much like global warming does...........attempting to stop natural phenomenon ONLY increases the dangerous structural imbalances and only serves to make them MORE dangerous when that day of reckoning actually comes.
Had the Fed not increased the unatural imbalances by creating bubbles and encouraging speculation by encouraging people to take on reckless and unmanagable debt levels in order to stave off healthy corrections and recessions and attempt to prolong a unhealthy artificial debt fueled illusory phony frankengrowth that would actually be contraction and recession if they were honest and they were not using phony hedonics induced inflation stats to create a fantasy of actual growth when that is a pathetic lie.
Now in the current credit crisis action to prevent a Severe Recession/Depression is warranted because the imbalances have gotten so grotesquely out of hand that to do nothing would risk the implosion of our economic system and way of life. I MAY like to give the Reich Wing Fools like Bush et al a hard time for their hippocrissy for saying we should not bail out reckless speculation at tax payer expense and the people and companies who entered these contracts need to be responsible for their actions..........but in this case the debtors are so big that the whole system is at risk if action is not taken........so while I mock the Reich Wings hippocrissy and their double standard in this interest i dont really fault the action the are taking, although as Bart said I think giving millions a $600 plus windfall while nice wont really stave off a recession.
I think Bush was desperate he wanted to TRY to put the recession off till he is out off office I dont think it will work all the rebate will do is provide a blip for a month or two possibly and possibly make a single quater not as bad as it would have been.
Lydia said"REPUBLICANS REFUSE HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN... AGAIN
ReplyDeleteThe House [debated] the override of the President’s veto of the revised bipartisan SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) bill. The President’s veto on December 12 denied health care to children of hardworking families across America just as the country began experiencing an economic downturn, with families increasingly struggling with the costs of heat, food, gas and health care.
From CBS News: The vote was 260-152, at least 15 votes short of the two-thirds threshold needed to override a veto. The Democratic bill _ backed by 45 Republicans in the House _ would expand eligibility for SCHIP benefits to 10 million uninsured children. Republicans have rejected the measure because they believe it would allow illegal immigrants and middle income people to get government health coverage, even though there is explicit language in the bill to prevent such problems."
Lydia, I love how you have been highlight the repug hippocrissy, lies and delusional dishonest talking points like this and the Reaganomics lie that cutting taxes for the wealthy is "GOOD" for the economy and it will tricke down to the poor.........the poor and middle class have been pissed on far too long by these dishonest talking points.
And as for the SCHIP.................its an indefensible position for Bush and the repugs to spend trillions on a war based on lies yet the cant cough up millions or even a billion to provide insurance for children..............And I dont care if some of them are middle class..........isnt putting money in peoples pockets that need it and will spend it the idea if you want to avoid recession...........this NEEDS to be shouted from the rooftops, the time for being "nice" and agreeable is long done its time to play hardball with these hippocritical clowns if they want to be pennywise and dollar foolish by denying kids health coverage while squandering 1.6 trillion in an unwinnable quagmire of a war based on lies..........then they nEED to own this in an election year it needs to be an albatross or boat anchor around their necks come election time.
Yes I agree Mike, I said so on the air today: a recession is a natural thing and it restores balance, just like the seasons.
ReplyDeleteWe shouldn't be so afraid of a recesssion.
You said some brilliant things, I have to go back and read what you said carefully.
Saw "THERE WILL BE BLOOD" tonight, based on Upton Sinclair's book "OIL."
ReplyDeleteWould love to know what you think of this film
Has anyone else seen it?
It was riveting.
Be thankful for the good going on around you, especially the small things. For example, today in heavy traffic a kind man allowed us to make a turn in front of him so we could pass to the right lane. The more we magnify and acknowledge the good things, the more good things will appear to us. The good will expand in our lives the more we look for it — and the more gratitude we express.
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteA suburb of Rochester, NY.
The metro area has over a million people. Not huge like my former LA but certainly not a tiny hick town either.
I have to wonder if they work because their retirement wasn't sufficient to pay for even basics like energy costs and food.
Maybe.
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps they work because they like to feel useful and interact with people? (and I'm sure the extra income doesn't hurt either...)
Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at a situation or event, we see it through the distortions of our own thoughts, feelings and biases.
It may not be like that at all.
For what it's worth.
Lydia, that's one smart kid. Bush and the GOP oppose SCHIP because every penny we spend curing a sick child is a penny they can't spend on a millionaire.
ReplyDeleteYeah, ya gotta feel for all those sick 25 year old illegals...
ReplyDeleteRight dolty boy, people 75-80 years old WANT to go out in the snow and stand for hours in the front of Mao-mart or handing out burgers to snotty nosed rude teenagers.
ReplyDeleteFunny when I ask them, they tell me they need the money, especially the ones who LOST money when George Bush's friend Ken Lay (the guy who loaned Bush his corporate plane in 1999, while Enron was bilking millions of investors) bilked them out of a large chunk of their investment's, or when the large corps drop their medical coverage they worked 45 years for and were told would be there for the rest of their lives.
Just like those who worked for years and right before retirement got down sized. (A lot of them because reichwingers like mao-mart owners force corporations to go over seas to compete for cheap slave labor wages to keep mao-mart cheap plastic lead paint goods in stock) They WANTED things to turn out just the way it did, to rich greedy republicans get richer, and they end up working in menial jobs in their golden years.
Or the people who had a medical emergency and their insurance REFUSED to cover it, (because reichwingers turned medical care into money before people and the HMO's hiked the prices and costs while denying service) .... they wanted that, just so they could spent the end of their lives handing out burgers.
Damn you reichwingers will say anything to justify the greed of the people of your party won't ya son?
YO dolt where does it say the 90% of children who get help because their parents were down sized, or their jobs disappeared completely, are illegals, MORE reichwing bigoted hate speech showin son,
ReplyDeleteGo back to lying about a son and three showers a day.
At least you didn't look so pathetically stupid when you did that.
I guess to a gutless chicken hawk LYING reichwinger like dolty boy, anybody who isn't a reichwinger is an illegal, otherwise, his stupid, 9:09 comment doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteHey granny hips, does that make YOU an illegal when YOU went begging for somebody else to pay for your granny hips son? just wondering son ......
Just saw 'BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY" again this morning and I couldn't stop crying.
ReplyDeleteIn front of the Republican National Convention they were beating off disabled vets.
Why do they love war so much? Why did Bush, Cheney and their cronies bomb a nation with 'shock and awe" destroying human life, beauty, ancient artifacts, children, infrastructure and balance? Why do the Republicans think desctruction of human life is a good thing?
What is wrong with us that we are not standing up to this monster in the White House and his monstrous enablers?
Why can't we hold them accountable and stop this evil war?
Volt -- How dare you ridicule the poor of this country who cannot even heat their houses, let alone pay their mortgages or provide health insurance for their children. An average family pays over $600 a month in health insurance.
ReplyDeleteYou should be ashamed of yourself for you lack of compassion for your fellow man.
Lydia asking a reichwing troll who has slandered the troops who dared speak out, slandered veterans who disagreed with the neo-cons, slandered generals who told the truth, slandered politicians who work long after they retire, (unlike those who go into corporate lobbying, or reichwing "stink tanks"), slandered the poor just for being poor is an exercise in futility, because to be a reichwinger you can not have compassion for human beings, and just worship money and those who have it.
ReplyDeleteLydia, just where did I ridicule the poor of this country?
ReplyDeleteIf they need help I am all for their getting it.
I haven't read the latest resurrection of SCHIP, but the original included the definition of children up to age 25. AND included those here illegally.
Sorry "granny hips", but I don't slander people and ask that 1.3 BILLION people get murdered or brain washed just because of their religious beliefs, and even LIE about what those beliefs say.
ReplyDeleteI don't LAUGH at people because of their unfortunate situation in life, LIKE you and your ilk have done for YEARS,
and I don't defend the lying drug addicted fat gas bag when he does it either.
Sorry son BUT your views here showed your bigotry LONG ago.
Yeah, ya gotta feel for all those sick 25 year old illegals...
ReplyDelete9:09 AM
but the original included the definition of children up to age 25. AND included those here illegally.
9:26 AM
Sorry son but your dishonest spin doesn't meet your whining when you got called on it.
The VAST majority of children are neither undocumented people, (I'm sure god doesn't see them as illegal, but YOU an take that up with him when the time is right)
Nor are they 25, but that was set so people who are in college just making it, have medical coverage while they try to improve themselves, and make a better life for their children in the future, which will hopefully imporve both the country and economy.
greedy bastards NEVER think about improving the future for those children OTHERWISE you'd a have NEVER allowed the greedy reichwingers to run the debt up to 9+trillion dollars for the children to pay off, and NEVER accepted Bush's keeping the war off budget 6 years after he illegally started it.
You want YOUR war, BUT don't want to pay all the bills for it, so people like YOU accept future generations can pay for a war they never got a chance to voice their opinion on.
If you want that war STFU and PAY for it, and stop asking future generations to pay for a war your gutless chicken hawk yellow bellied granny hips is too scared to go fight your self.
Sorry dolty boy but I never attack people OR telling the WHOLE truth, YOU have, in fact you screech when I tell the WHOLE TRUTH.
ReplyDeleteLike why so many people in the middle east are tired of the over hundred years of western countries including the US interfering with their countries and cultures because they don't look or act like we do, or more accurately reichwing greed.
You (and others) attack Gen Shinseki for telling the truth in 2002.
You and other lied about the truth of the LIES of Bush Cheney ET AL.
Voltron - All we've ever done is speak out against war and the oligarchical elitism running this country that is supposed to be a democracy. All we have ever done is be mystified at how people like you can support a lying bunch of war criminals.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth you cannot see the crimes taking place under your own nose in your own country is beyond me.
And in case you don't know this, we are all one race, human. We are supposed to care for each other and love each other. We are not supposed to be so chauvinistic and patriotic that we forget those less fortunate in Mexico who see us as the Promised Land. God Bless them. Bless your enemies and they cease to offend you.
If you want to blame the "illegals" why don't you start by blaming the corporations who hire slave labor here?
Are you aware that last week when Bush was in Saudi Arabia he said, "I can't see what's wrong with having a King... and being a democracy."
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteWhat is compassionate about teaching people to depend on the government for their needs? All it does is create a permanent underclass and destroys their self esteem
Gee you're right.
Lets just do away with the Police Departments and other law enforcement agencies in the country, along with Fire, EMS and Rescue, and of course, the Military.
After all, we can take care of ourselves.
:|
Right Doctor Neville?
Whoevers deleting Voltrons comments I wish they'd stop.
ReplyDeleteI can't respond to them when you guys keep deleting them.
Anyway Voltron I responded to your ridiculous comment about the government and our reliance on them.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to respond to that, if you can.
Worflebee,
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between Infrastructure, and providing for the common defense, AND a government subsidy.
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
- James Madison
* Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, page 170 (1794-01-10).
The Annals summarize speeches in the third person, with the actual text of Madison's quote as follows: "Mr. Madison wished to relieve the sufferers, but was afraid of establishing a dangerous precedent, which might hereafter be perverted to the countenance of purposes very different from those of charity. He acknowledged, for his own part, that he could not undertake to lay his finger on that article in the Federal Constitution which granted a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." The expense in question was for French refugees from the Haitian Revolution.
"The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."
ReplyDelete- James Madison
* Speech, House of Representatives, during the debate "On the Memorial of the Relief Committee of Baltimore, for the Relief of St. Domingo Refugees" (1794-01-10)
Last one:
ReplyDelete"With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."
- James Madison
* Letter to James Robertson (1831-04-20)
Do you realize that before FDR, the federal budget was less than most state budgets of the time?
ReplyDeleteYou want to talk about throwing out the constitution? FDR did it.
(and unnecessarily I might add)
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between Infrastructure, and providing for the common defense, AND a blah blah blah
Oh I see.
So the government should take a third of our money, and provide us with the programs YOU think everyone should have.
:|
Now I see how it works.
hmmm, gee......what to do?
ReplyDeleteGo with Voltrons plan,.... where the government robs us blind, and offers us only the services HE thinks they should offer..... and he's really smart...... or go with the government taking care of its people, at LEAST as good as Canada or Iceland does.
:|
hmmmm, tough choice.
How about AND the government NOT robbing us blind?
ReplyDeleteKinda like the CONSTITUTIONAL way?
Oh, and I forgot to commend you on your TP/Mitt stance. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteMight I propose a plan C?
ReplyDeleteHow about we take all the 17th century throwbacks like Voltron, and give them their own country?
We'll give em Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and of course, Idaho. Hell lets throw in Texas so they have a shoreline.
We'll take the rest.
They can have their government, which provides them with police to arrest them, prisons to imprison them and militaries to control and subdue them, and no health care or any sort of commonwealth welfare or assitance programs.
Then we'll do with our country what we want.
We'll call our country "New America".
You can call yours "Inbreedia".
I'd settle for the Federal government taking little to none of our money, and providing the services Madison thought it should.
ReplyDelete(you know Madison, the one considered the father of our constitution?)
So now we get to the heart of it.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Worflebee the founding fathers were "inbreds".
Why is you guys keep saying you want to get back to what they had in mind, when you obviously don't like what they had in mind?
Just to make sure I've got this straight,
ReplyDeleteWhen a Republican or conservative disregards a part of the Constitution it's wrong and a crime, and they should be tried convicted and imprisoned. (Or hauled before the Hague like the founding fathers intended of course.)
But when a Democrat disregards a part of the Constitution thats fine?
Is that what you're saying here?
VOLT or VOO VOO -- so corporate welfare is okay?
ReplyDeleteCorporations do not have the right to the pursuit of happiness; people do.
The downtrodden in this nation were made that way BECAUSE of the corporate greed. Reagan's trickle down theory didn't work; the corporate elitists kept all the moneyh for themselves and then outsourced for slave labor, leaving the American worker jobless unless you count minimum wage at Walmart at $8 an hour enough to cover rent, food, car and insurance of every stripe.
Ford and GM are virtually gone. Manufacturing is gone.
But Michael Eisner got a 200 million dollar bonus one Christmas as head of Disney.
Corporate, elitist welfare at the expense of the American people.
No inbred.
ReplyDeleteWhat I said was what I wrote.
Buy thicker glasses.
VOLT or VOO VOO -- so corporate welfare is okay?
ReplyDeleteCorporations do not have the right to the pursuit of happiness; people do.
The downtrodden in this nation were made that way BECAUSE of the unfair advantage big business has.
Reagan's trickle down theory didn't work; the corporate elitists kept all the money for themselves and then outsourced for slave labor, leaving the American worker jobless...
unless you count minimum wage at Walmart at $8 an hour enough to cover rent, food, car and insurance of every stripe.
Ford and GM are virtually gone. Manufacturing is gone.
But Michael Eisner got a 200 million dollar bonus one Christmas as head of Disney.
Corporate, elitist welfare at the expense of the American people.
As for the "founding fathers" thing, I'd not even go there if I were you shit4brains.
ReplyDeleteAfter the last 7 years of using the Constitution as Charmin, I wouldn't climb onto that dungheap to crow to loudly.
Like I said Lydia, Voltron's poltical ideology is the government should give us ONLY the services HE thinks they should give us.
ReplyDeleteI read what you wrote Barf.
ReplyDeleteI suggested going back to what the Constitution required.
You wrote we should have our own country to do that in. You called it "Inbreedia".
The inference is there.
Freedom Volt/VooVoo -- government took money out of our pocket to start a trillion dollar war, not reinvesting in things that last like schools and infrastructure, but in bombs that annihilate and can only be used one time.
ReplyDeleteDo you know we invest more in gleaming prisons than in schools to help our young people thrive? Obama brought this up.
What kind of wise investment is that?
Why should government help the big guys, the wealthy industrial elite -- and not the little guy, who suffers at the expense of the big guy?
The big chains hike up prices and get the tax breaks too.
The little guy can't survive. Is this the way to create a happy, prosperous society? To have the masses hungry and angry and dying?
Why does every other industrialized nation take care of it's people with complete health coverage? Why? Because healthy, happy people create a prosperous patriotic society.
Course guys like Voltron think they're well travelled when the've been to Grand Island, NE.
ReplyDeleteIceland, Canada, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands....countries that enjoy a standard of living foreign to the Doltron.
The truth is America will catch up to the rest of the civilized world when we stop letting inbreds run things.
Which is just a matter of months away now.
Maybe YOU should read what I wrote.
ReplyDeleteI suggested the services that MADISON thought were appropriate.
THAT is what you are arguing AGAINST.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteI read what you wrote Barf.
I suggested going back to what the Constitution required.
Then I suggest you work with the Speak-n-Spell a while longer.
Because your comprehension skills suck.
And Lydia, Reagan set the stage for unprecedented growth that continued for many decades afterwards.
ReplyDelete"Corporations" are no more "greedy" or "generous" than the people that run and work in them. (Eisner was a liberal too)
If you make doing business more difficult here, it will go elsewhere.
And businesses provide the jobs the poor so desperately need.
You give an individual money, they spend it and it's gone, and then they need more.
You help a business to thrive and they'll hire the poor and then they'll have a continuing supply of money.
I don't necessarily believe in "corporate welfare", but making it easier for them to do business sure helps.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteWorflebee,
There is a difference between Infrastructure, and providing for the common defense, AND a government subsidy."
Speaking of goverment subsidies...........I take it YOU support the corporate welfare being doled out to the wealthy, particulary the wall street brokerage and mortgage companies who recklessly did not bother to qualify and approve people ACTUALLY capable of paying the loans back.............Oh and lets not forget the corporate dole and tax breaks to the oil companies while demanding NOTHING of value in return like increased production or developing renewable and alternate forms of energy.
Lets be real here your kind worships autharitarian megalomaniac's and wanna be despots like Hamilton rather than men like Madison.
Hint asswipe.
ReplyDeleteThe constitution outlines the STRUCTURE of our Govt, not the mechanics of our infrastucture.
Public transportation, for example is not in the original drafts. Yet its a division of our govt. Why? Because the constitution doesn't deal with the mechanics of our infrastucture, it outlines the STRUCTURE of our govt.
But feel free to show us the part in the Constitution that says the government should NOT take care of its citizens.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to produce that one skippy
Ford, GM and manufacturing are "almost gone" because of the overhead because of the incredibly large "entitlements" demanded by the unions.
ReplyDeleteLets see if you're better than Madison Barf. Can YOU lay your finger on the article that claims it should?
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I believe accepted wisdom is that "infrastructure" is whats meant by "the general welfare".
Fine dickhead.
ReplyDeleteShow me the part where it says the govt should NOT take care of its people.
I'm waiting.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteI read what you wrote Barf.
I suggested going back to what the Constitution required.
You wrote we should have our own country to do that in. You called it "Inbreedia".
The inference is there."
Dont make me laugh here, now correct me if i'm wrong but YOU CLAIM to be supporting the Constitution while defending GWB guitting and destroying the Bill of Rights which is the most valuable and important part, its the heart and soul of the constitution so to speak.
You see perfectly ok with Freedom of speech being limited by Bush's "free speech zones which dont allow people to have freedom of speech at a public event at all.
You seem perfectly ok with Our right to a fair and speedy trial being taken away, the right to an impartial jury of our peers being taken away, the right to not be tortured or cruel and unuaual punishment, the right to know the charges against us, the right to not be held or improsoned indefinately, the right to not have our homes entered and searched without our knowledge, the right to privacy and not having our phones and computers monitored illegally, etc.........
No Volt, you are FAR from a champion of freedom..........YOU Support a fascist Police State which is the furthest thing FROM FREEDOM.........The only people who support Police States are the very evil untrustworthy tyrants who gain and maintain their power from the Police States as well as the Very cowardly and ignorant who are fools who would sacrifice freedom to evil men in the name of safety.
No TRUE Patriot who Truely values freedom and supports the Constitution would Ever support the Police State assualts on it that you and the other Reich Wing enablers do.
So you're taking the "anti" Madison route? To paraphrase, he said "show me the part that does".
ReplyDeleteBut hey, thanks for showing everyone what they get when the vote for the republicans.
ReplyDeleteVote republican, and you get a tightfisted selfish dick like this toothless tatooed trailertrash inbred like the Doltron, who will line his pockets and the pockets of his cronies, while pissing on the needy and the poor in this country.
Vote republican, and get another ignorant, illterate self righteous bumpkin who will take your money, and use it to build armies, start wars and spy on you and your kids.
But if your kid needs a life saving operation, and you don't happen to have 3 quarters of a million dollars laying around to pay for it, and the peice of shit insurance companies that the other inbred peice of shit president, Nixon gave us, denies their claim, then forget it.
Trailer trash doesn't care about the needy.
Trailer trash just cares about trailer trash.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteFord, GM and manufacturing are "almost gone" because of the overhead because of the incredibly large "entitlements" demanded by the unions."
Really I would say it is because of the Large entitlements The Ceo's are Stealing only in America do CEO's of companies doing horrifically make thousands more than the average worker and blame the workers and unions and demand they make sacrifices while STEALING more and more of the pie EVERY year.
Volt said:
ReplyDelete"If you make doing business more difficult here, it will go elsewhere.
And businesses provide the jobs the poor so desperately need."
Business was given massive tax breaks, and the CEOs and hedge fund managers (guys who buy up retirement homes for example, and do massive cost cutting to make themselves profitable by eliminating the nurses so sick people often suffer in squalor... while hedge fund managers bloat themselves and hide the wealth offshore.
Meanwhile most big business HAS gone elsewhere -- to China and India! They can use slave labor at $1.00 a day.
How does the American worker profit by this?
Voltron ...said...
ReplyDeleteWhat is compassionate about teaching people to depend on the government for their needs? All it does is create a permanent underclass and destroys their self esteem.
So it appears what your saying here is its ok for people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to pay less of percentage of their income in taxes than some poor guy breaking his back making $30,000 a year...............Funny thing is the two richest most successful guys in the world dont agree they dont want or need the money, they want to pay their fair share and think anyone that says otherwise is a fool.
As for permanent underclass dont you think squandering trillions on a war based on lies, Giving tax cuts to the ultra wealthy while taxes have not gone down on the working class in decades, the cost of basic neccessities have increased outsourcing all the good paying middleclass jobs while claiming that insurance for the working class who cant afford it, benefits and care for veterans, pay raises for soldiers, decent wages for the working class are all unneccessary
Well lets see, in the space of a few short hours I've been referred to as "your kind", "asswipe", "dickhead", "shit4brains", "inbred" and "VooVoo". Not including clifs comments and Barfs last rant...
ReplyDelete(that's when I'm not being deleted of course)
And somehow I'M the angry, bigoted intolerant one...LOL
Oh btw, is "VooVoo" a term of endearment?
-If so, I'm honored.
It's been real folks. I got work to do. So long for now...
The real terrorists in this country, are cancer and disease.
ReplyDeleteAmericans die every minute.
Terrorists kill a few thousand of us a decade.
Disease and natural disasters and crimes kill us by the second.
So, vote for the govt of INBREEDIA, and you get an ill educated peice of shit like the Doltron, who will spend trillions to try protect a few thousand of you from the terrorists, while doing nothing to protect the million of you dying needlessly.
Because you say your dirties with a smirk and a smile doltron, makes them no less foul.
ReplyDeleteBusinesses have NEVER paid such a low proportion of the taxes as they do under Bush, same goes for the VERY wealthy...........the tax burden is being shifted MORE and More on the working class..........Again i'd like to see YOU justify Bill Gates and Warren Buffet paying less of a percentage of tax than a guy making $30,000............If you clowns want to run on that in an election year all the power to you.........but I think most of America would tend to disagree that a guy making 50 Billion should pay less taxes percentage wise than a guy making $30,000!
ReplyDeleteOh and Mike, I don't know about Gates but Buffet is being disingenuous.
ReplyDeleteHe makes most of his money on capital appreciation, stock market profits and dividends, NOT payroll income.
Of COURSE as a percentage he pays less than his secretary.
And on that, gotta go.
BARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteThe real terrorists in this country, are cancer and disease.
Americans die every minute.
Terrorists kill a few thousand of us a decade.
Disease and natural disasters and crimes kill us by the second.
So, vote for the govt of INBREEDIA, and you get an ill educated peice of shit like the Doltron, who will spend trillions to try protect a few thousand of you from the terrorists, while doing nothing to protect the million of you dying needlessly."
EXECTLY i say your chances of being killed by a terrorist are similar to being hit by lighening..........anyone who sacrices freedom out of fear and lets fear rule their life is either a fool, evil or both.
Thats it.
ReplyDeleteScurry off little ratboy. Scurry off like the rat you are,until the next time you find your way back in, to leave more of your diseased droppings.
Scurry off to your menial labor, and may life return to you all that you deserve.
Hey, I didn't say "dirties" to you Barf. I just quoted Madison.
ReplyDeleteVoltron said...
ReplyDeleteOh and Mike, I don't know about Gates but Buffet is being disingenuous.
He makes most of his money on capital appreciation, stock market profits and dividends, NOT payroll income.
Of COURSE as a percentage he pays less than his secretary.
And on that, gotta go."
Course you gotta go......its irrelevant if the money is dividends or capital gains or they work for it.
Dividends and capital gains are the realm of the wealthy you are tap dancing and trying to say the wealthty deserve handouts and corporate wealfare without saying it.
Buffet said he wants to pay his fair share, regardeless of wether it is capital gains, dividends or earned income..........YOU are being dishonest and disingenous to clkaim otherwise.
The trailertrash thinks his foul words of hate somehow stink less because he says them with a toothless smile.
ReplyDeleteThey're not.
It just elevates him to the rank of propaganda minister, for evil.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteHey, I didn't say "dirties" to you Barf. I just quoted Madison."
Be honest you identify with men like Hamilton..........NOT men like Madison!
Americans die every minute.
ReplyDeleteTerrorists kill a few thousand of us a decade.
Disease and natural disasters and crimes kill us by the second.
So, vote for the govt of INBREEDIA, and you get an ill educated peice of shit like the Doltron, who will spend trillions to try protect a few thousand of you from the terrorists, while doing nothing to protect the million of you dying needlessly."
Mike said...
ReplyDeleteBe honest you identify with men like Hamilton..........NOT men like Madison!
He identifies with men like Hitler.
Whats funny is the inbred trailertrash trucker, actually thinks he has any position to argue anything from.
ReplyDeleteAfter the last 7 year clusterfuck that him and his mental midget master have produced, he's lucky IANA lets him on the internet.
BARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteMike said...
Be honest you identify with men like Hamilton..........NOT men like Madison!
He identifies with men like Hitler."
I stand corrected!
Iceland enjoys universal health care, a booming economy, almost non existent mental illness or depression statistics, 100 PERCENT literacy, and no wars.
ReplyDeleteAnd they HATE America now.
They HATE us, because they think we're all inbred trailer trash, like the Doltron.
Canada enjoys a booming economy, universal health care, no war.
ReplyDeleteAnd some day, when smart people are elected again, we'll catch up to them again.
Aw shucks, your comment about my appearance and my burning of crosses was deleted.
ReplyDeleteReally, that was one of your better ones!
I decided to be nice.
ReplyDeleteI can put it back if you like troll.
By the way, since you told us an hour ago you had to go to work, does that mean you have to get back into the blogs they're actually paying you to be in?
ReplyDeleteIs that what you mean by "get back to work", troll?
Voltron likes to insert irrelevent BS into the debate to deflect and distract like when he through out the irrelevent boondoggle that Buffet derives MOST of his income from dividends or capital gains, or When Voltron and Troll Tex kept mentioning Richard Armatiges name over and over again as if He was one of us who we couldnt help but defend.
ReplyDeleteSee the difference between us is "I"M not defending talking points or a particular political party or ideology..........I'm defending justice and I have truth and facts on my side.
I could care less about Armitage...........if he's guilty of treason hang em like the rest of the treasonous bastards.
Doing my fuel tax audits on the computer. I can still check in, it just takes time away from what I need to get done.
ReplyDeleteLook at the troll.
ReplyDeleteAs he does everytime, he tells us he's leaving.
Several times.
But as always, he's "lurking", and in fact, REFRESHING his page, constantly to see whats being said.
Which is another token of his genuine comfort with dishonesty.
And of course, he keeps a running feed of all comments.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, as ALWAYS, you say a comment, and delete it a minute or two later, and somehow he ALWAYS has it.
So either he's sitting there, frantically refreshing his page reading every single comment, or he's logging them.
Otherwise he'd never see them, every single time.
Voltron,
ReplyDeleteI have a lot more to say to you, so check back later.
But first this:
1. We had two wonderful good Samaritans on our show, two women who reminded me of Mother Theresa. One was arrested for feeding the homeless in a public park. She has to pay a $1,300 fine for gathering 25 homeless people (one-third were U.S. veterans; the rest were women and children and a few teenage boy runaways.)
The city of Las Vegas has a law that you can't gather 25 people together in a public park without paying a $75.00 permit fee.
This woman feeds the homeless every Sunday at a picnic, and pays for everything out of her own pocket.
She has been threatened and swept off the street to keep the city "clean and pristine for the tourists so they don't see homeless people.
What kind of nation are we that calls itself a "Christian nation' yet treats it's own like this? Christ commanded us to "take care of the least among us" yet a citizen is arrested for feeding the poor.
There are no Union Rescue Missions in Las Vegas, one of the richest cities run by corporate interests.
"The Christian is the one who takes care of orphans and widows" (James 1:27, The Living Bible).
Volt: "One distinction must be noted though. Jefferson and Madison were by no means representative of the opinions of all the framers. They were both strict constitutionalists representative of those very fearful of the strength of the new government. For that reason I turn to the other side most represented in Alexander Hamilton - one that believed in a looser interpretation.
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly, the woman should be commended not condemned.
She is doing a very good thing.
But the problem lies with the city government and it's citizens. Obviously the city feels it needs to look good for tourists, yet if the citizenry is offended enough they can make the city officials back down or face losing the next election.
I will however disagree about Las Vegas being run by "corporate" interests. Historically, it's been the mafia and more notably the Teamster union. (And the union votes dem I might add)
That said, I hope the citizens are outraged enough to make the city rescind it's fine of this woman.
And I don't know, I'm just throwing this out there but, perhaps there is a better place than the public park?
And Lydia, Hamilton was FOR the corporate and industrialists, as well as national banks.
ReplyDeleteThat's why Mike was trying to smear me using Hamilton above.
Hamilton did much to concentrate federal power in Washington.
I have no problem with helping or giving to someone truly in need.
ReplyDeleteWhat I resent is it being taken without being asked.
In FDR's second inaugural address, he used the term "The forgotten man". He lifted this quote (and twisted it) from Yale philosopher William Graham Sumner:
"As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law proposes to determine...what A, B, and C shall do for X." But what about C? There was nothing wrong with A and B helping X. What was wrong was the law, and the indenturing of C to the cause. C was the forgotten man, the man who paid, "the man who is never thought of."
Only Roosevelt had made "X" the "Forgotten Man.
Ask me and I'll help all that I can. Take it from me against my will, misuse it and then tell me it's not enough, And I'll fight you all the way.
"Jefferson and Madison were by no means representative of the opinions of all the framers. They were both strict constitutionalists representative of those very fearful of the strength of the new government. For that reason I turn to the other side most represented in Alexander Hamilton..."
ReplyDeleteAnd therein lies our philosophical differences.
Only I don't believe YOURS makes you evil.
We are not calling you evil, we are calling politicians and corporations that collude with our leaders in war profiteering evil. Companies like Haliburton and Blackwater and Bush's oil buddies (all of whom profit and receive kickbacks, Iraq reconstruction contracts (we are missing over 2 billion dollars in phony "ghost" contracts!!_
ReplyDeleteWe are calling Bush's veto of the S-CHIP wrong, if not evil. He sees nothing wrong with investing MY TAX DOLLAR AND TAKING IT OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF MY CHILDREN, MY FRIENDS WHO ARE SUFFERING, AND OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM which is hurting -- and our dear Americans in New Orleans who still don't have affordable housing after Katrina -- who is Bush to decide that my money should go to kill innocent lives in Iraq?
Who is he to interpret Christianity for me, in his own image -- the exact opposite of Christ's entire mission?
Who is he to make Peace into a dirty word and take away my constitutional rights to privacy? Who is he to condone torture in the name of America.
This is truly evil. Promoting war and war profiteering are truly evil.
Our forefathers never envisioned an America like this. And common sense tells you not to get bogged down in semantics and technical clauses or interpretations -- but to look at the state of the union and fix it with an open, generous heart.
So many American senior citizens are dying alone in their apartments with no heat this winter.
Lydia, perhaps you're not calling me "evil", but Barfeus and clif do on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteOf course you're correct that kickbacks are wrong, and missing large sums of money do need to be accounted for.
From what I've read Blackwater has acted badly, and probably needs some restraint, and punishment if found liable for any criminality.
As to Haliburton, it is unique in that it is one of only a handful of companies that has the scope and capabilities to do what it does. It's also one of the only ones that are American.
I don't begrudge them making a fair profit though as they are supposed to for their shareholders.
(Some of which are undoubtedly pension funds for the retired, elderly and sick)
And perhaps the veto of S-CHIP is wrong this time around, as I said, I haven't read the latest incarnation of it. But if it were to include the same language as the original proposal, I would still be against it. Also, if it IS vital to so many, why are the Dems trying to force a modified version down our throat, when Bush has said he'd sign one based on the previously existing plan and even allow more money to be added to it?
AND OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM is hurting because of the LOCK the teachers unions with their liberal agenda have on it.
Why can't we just go back to teaching kids skills they need without all the propaganda?
Most kids can't do basic math or write basic english, but they know all about evil corporations and global warming.
And please lets not rehash New Orleans. There's plenty of blame there all around. State and local governments and officials are not blameless either.
And like it or not, Bush is president, and was given the power to go to war by congress. Many who voted in favor were Democrats as well. They were also all for it when Clinton was president too, and I can provide quotes.
Did Bush rig the intelligence reports when Clinton was president?
And from what I've seen he only interprets Christianity as what it means to him personally not anyone else.
I also don't think he's made peace into a dirty word, he simply defines it as an absence of threat against us. (and I agree on that one.)
Remember how you all gasped in fear when Reagan called the Soviet Union "The evil empire" and joked "the bombing starts in 15 minutes"? You called him a war monger.
And how did that turn out? We'd still be fighting the cold war if not for him.
Your privacy was always at risk from the federal government no matter what bills were passed or signed. That's part of the problem of a large and powerful federal government, and you've already said you lean to the Hamilton side.
Nor do I think anyone "condones" torture. But there is a debate on just what "torture" consists of.
Some think merely playing Eminem at high volume is torture.
(I actually agree with those, god knows I'd tell 'em anything I knew.)
And I would amend your "promoting war" statement as well, Promoting an "unjust" war is truly evil. One that is "just" and necessary, to me is not evil. And excessive profits may be evil, but the corporations that supply the materials of war still have to pay their poor needy (unionized) workers, and subsidize the pension funds of their shareholder elderly retirees.
"Our forefathers never envisioned an America like this." I'm sure they didn't, they thought we were much more rugged and self reliant than we've evidently become.
And if we ARE to fix the state of the union, lets leave the heart where it belongs, in the individuals of this country. They know how to help where it's needed and when to stop it when it becomes abused.
Lets fix the state of the union with a cold steely eye towards the bottom line, making it function efficiently and take as little of our resources as possible, and leave the social engineering to the hearts of the people at large.
"So many American senior citizens are dying alone in their apartments with no heat this winter."
- And with so many organizations, groups and even the power companies out there to help.
Our local power company has a "warm neighbor" program. By checking a box and paying one dollar more, I help families in this area who are poor and can't afford their winter power bills.
Now Worflebee, I want you to pick just ONE sentence out of the first couple of lines of that and blow it all out of proportion, ignoring the context provided by the rest of the post.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you won't disappoint me.
Volt said "And like it or not, Bush is president, and was given the power to go to war by congress. Many who voted in favor were Democrats as well. They were also all for it when Clinton was president too, and I can provide quotes.
ReplyDeleteDid Bush rig the intelligence reports when Clinton was president?"
He was given the power to go to war as a LAST resort..........Bush abused that power because War was his intention it was his FIRST resort and he did it based on a pack of lies and dishonest propaganda that would have made Hitler and Gobels proud!
Also While People in the Clinton Administration may have said Saddam was a bad guy or EVEN advocated regime change I'd like to see YOU PROVE where they advocated war or else retract this as another Neo Con lie.
Clinton and his admin DIDNT cherypick the intelligence reports or use discredited intell to deceive............i'd love to see those "ALLEGED " quotes where YOU "CLAIM" the Clinton Administration advocated attacking, invading and occupying Iraq at a cost of 1.6 trillion.........dont forget CLINTON HAD A SURPLUS!
As a side note,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting that as many here so willingly point out, many of our long time western European allies are against us in this current struggle?
Especially when the eastern European countries that used to be behind the iron curtain, and certainly know what evil and tyranny are, largely side WITH us.
Volt said "I also don't think he's made peace into a dirty word, he simply defines it as an absence of threat against us. (and I agree on that one.)
ReplyDeleteRemember how you all gasped in fear when Reagan called the Soviet Union "The evil empire" and joked "the bombing starts in 15 minutes"? You called him a war monger.
And how did that turn out? We'd still be fighting the cold war if not for him."
Lets be honest here WE won the cold war because the Soviets were stupid and bankrupted themselves and squandered all their resources fighting an unwinnable quagmire in Afghanistan just like we are doing in Iraq now.........NOT because of Reagan's inflamatory bravado, or his running up huge deficits while CLAIMING repugs are the party of small government and are the fiscally conservitive party, or because he pissed on the poor with his BS supply side trickle down Reaganomic BS.
"dont forget CLINTON HAD A SURPLUS!"
ReplyDeleteYes, and you were against that when Newt forced him into it...
Rush had a really funny clip of Clinton speeches spliced together where he said we could "balance the budget in 7 years, 11 years, 5 years, 20 years, etc ad naseum....
It took the '94 republican congress to make him do it while he was still in office.
Mike, it is a FACT that under Reagan's last term revenue to the treasury more than doubled.
ReplyDeleteIt is also true that the Dem congresses (It is congress which holds the purse strings) spending outstripped the new resources coming in.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteAnd Lydia, Hamilton was FOR the corporate and industrialists, as well as national banks.
That's why Mike was trying to smear me using Hamilton above.
Hamilton did much to concentrate federal power in Washington."
How am "I" trying to smear you by logically putting the facts together. BUSH is for the vcorporate industrialist, and the national banks, Bush is trying to Conentrate Federal power in the Executive Branch and usurp state powers and dismantle the Constitution JUST as Hamilton was...........so exactly how is that a smear or false comparison.
You defend Bush destroting our freedoms and privacy as enumerated in the Constitution yet CLAIM to be a libertarian who actually VALUES freedom.............if i'm wrong please enlighten me.....i;m all ears.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteMike, it is a FACT that under Reagan's last term revenue to the treasury more than doubled.
It is also true that the Dem congresses (It is congress which holds the purse strings) spending outstripped the new resources coming in."
Sure Reagan wasnt stupid........cutting taxes from an ornorous 70% to 50% was smart and did increase revenue and I did and STILL DO support that, increasing despreciation to spur business investmernt was also smart and is something we should do now as well..........Reagan also lowballed and backloaded things to make sure the deficit went down during the later years of his term just as Bush did.
Voltron said...
ReplyDelete"dont forget CLINTON HAD A SURPLUS!"
Yes, and you were against that when Newt forced him into it...
Rush had a really funny clip of Clinton speeches spliced together where he said we could "balance the budget in 7 years, 11 years, 5 years, 20 years, etc ad naseum....
It took the '94 republican congress to make him do it while he was still in office."
Clinton and Rubin werer for a balanced budget from the beginning, Clinton vetoed alot of things...........I will concede one thing to you, YOU were right the Clinton's definately have a slimy dirty side. after this campaign that should be evident to EVERYONE.
I dont hate Reagan, never did........I didnt agree with all of his policies and i still dont but he was a decent president.
"Imagine the consequences if Saddam fails to comply and we fail to act. Saddam will be emboldened, believing the international community has lost its will. He will rebuild his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. And some day, some way, I am certain, he will use that arsenal again, as he has ten times since 1983."
ReplyDeleteSandy Berger, President Clinton's National Security Advisor
Town Hall Meeting on Iraq at Ohio State University
February 18, 1998
"No one has done what Saddam Hussein has done, or is thinking of doing. He is producing weapons of mass destruction, and he is qualitatively and quantitatively different from other dictators."
Madeleine Albright, President Clinton's Secretary of State
Town Hall Meeting on Iraq at Ohio State University
February 18, 1998
"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California)
Statement on US Led Military Strike Against Iraq
December 16, 1998
"His regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region, and the security of all the rest of us.
What if he fails to comply, and we fail to act, or we take some ambiguous third route which gives him yet more opportunities to develop this program of weapons of mass destruction and continue to press for the release of the sanctions and continue to ignore the solemn commitments that he made?
Well, he will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction.
And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal."
President Clinton
Address to Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff
February 17, 1998
Please don't ask me to go on, remember when Bush talked about Iraq's WMD's? Lies, all lies!
What I can't figure out is how Bush rigged all this while still only governor of Texas?
I'd also love to see you make a case on how a guy making 50 billion should pay LESS of a percentage of his income in taxes than a guy breaking his back to support a family making $30,000.
ReplyDeleteThats like if you go to lunch with your teenage son and nephew who make minimum wage and expecting them to pay a bigger percentage of the bill........its common decency when you go out with a younger relative or co worker not making much money to either pay more or pick up the bill not stick them with it disproportionately.
But again if your party wants to campaign in an election year on the premise that people making 50,000,000,000 DESERVE to pay less of a percentage of their income in tax than a poor guy making $30,000 then good luck to you because you clowns will need it.
"I will concede one thing to you, YOU were right the Clinton's definately have a slimy dirty side. after this campaign that should be evident to EVERYONE."
ReplyDeleteNever one to leave a compliment alone...lol
You only see it now because they're attacking someone you like. You believed everything they had to say when they were attacking Republicans.
Yeah, and i'm still looking for the quotes that show where ANYONE in the CLINTON Adminstration advocated that we should attack, invade and occupy Iraq?????????
ReplyDeleteSure Saddam was a bad guy thats moot......But Clinton NEVER said we attack, invade or occupy Iraq.......no less waste 1.6 TRILLION on such folly.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that its fair Mike.
ReplyDeleteAnd you'll also note that the '94 Republican congress tried to close the capital gains loophole.
Part of the problem is that we don't tax actual wealth in this country, we tax the ACCUMULATION of wealth.
The people trying to get rich pay through the nose, while those already there pay little or nothing. Ask Ted Kennedy.
Also, if he feels that damn guilty then let Buffet pay more. He can donate as much as he wants to the feds.
I'd like to know how YOU can CLAIM to value freedom and privacy and small government yet still support the large intrusive police state government Bush has implemented..........because NO true Libertarian who truly values freedom could.
ReplyDeleteHe has a charity foundation and IS donating the bulk of his fortune.
ReplyDeletewould YOU donate your money to a dishonest intrusive, incompetent government...........Conservatives say government is inefficient and incompetent and when they come to power they do their best to prove themselves right.
ReplyDeleteI don't care what anyone says, I would take Bill Clinton back in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteBut I think Obama would be better for our reputation in the world and for world peace. We would immediately gain stature and respect and not be thought of as a bunch of illiterate gun-shootin' rednecks.
Did anyone hear this line from the recent Ben Stiller movie: "This is the Bible Belt -- be careful these people have guns!"
Can you imagine equating Christians with guns!!!! It's insane.
I value freedom and smaller limited government Mike.
ReplyDeleteI also value privacy, but privacy while desirable, doesn't always trump other factors.
If your number were on a cell phone used by a known terrorist, I'd support the government checking you out too. If you make a phone call to a country that supports terrorism, or they call you, I don't care if you are a US citizen, I want you checked out.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteI value freedom and smaller limited government Mike.
I also value privacy, but privacy while desirable, doesn't always trump other factors.
If your number were on a cell phone used by a known terrorist, I'd support the government checking you out too. If you make a phone call to a country that supports terrorism, or they call you, I don't care if you are a US citizen, I want you checked out."
Thats o deflection and false choice because the Bush administration lied they are NOT just spying on known terrorists who people associated with them like they CLAIMED............they are spying on EVERY single citizen...........and i believe they were doing for political capital so they could get dirt on politicians and important and prominent people so they could bully and blackmail them just like their mentor J Edgar Hoover did. The Neo Cons are throwbacks they are the residue of evil from evil men like Hoover and DULLES.
Anyways, I've tried to play nice and answer all the comments, but I still have a lot of work get done, it's probably gonna be an all nighter.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lydia, I hope I've responded decently and with as much humility as I can muster.
I'll check back every so often and do the best I can, but tonight my time is limited.
LydiaCornell said...
ReplyDeleteI don't care what anyone says, I would take Bill Clinton back in a heartbeat.
But I think Obama would be better for our reputation in the world and for world peace. We would immediately gain stature and respect and not be thought of as a bunch of illiterate gun-shootin' rednecks.
Did anyone hear this line from the recent Ben Stiller movie: "This is the Bible Belt -- be careful these people have guns!"
Can you imagine equating Christians with guns!!!! It's insane."
And I would take him back after what we had as well......but that doesnt change the fact he is tarnishing and diminishing himseld in my eyes.
I think we need vto go in a new direction while i always liked Bill i never cared for Hillary...........sure after Bush she would be decent but i think she's all wrong for us and we can do better.
I think Bloomberg could decide who the Dem nominee is.
I probably don't know as much about cell phones as Barf does Mike, but as far as land lines he is correct that it's always on and listening. This isn't Bushes doing though, it's been that way since the beginning of phones.
ReplyDeleteIf there wasn't someone or something always listening how would they know what number you dialed and who to connect you to?
I wonder if that was Lydia Mike?
ReplyDeleteThe profile is a new one since Dec. of 2007, and her name wasn't separated by a space, nor did it include a picture like her previous posts.
From her previous posts she seemed interested in our conversation, and this last post she didn't even mention it?
Oh well, peace.
Wow. I'm glad I'm not the trolls employer. That must have been some "work" he had to do.
ReplyDeleteLook guys, the trolls argument is not only not credibile, its laughable.
If he honestly thinks we need to run our federal financial infrastructure and services to the commonwealth based on 18th Century standards, all I can say is no wonder he drives a truck for a living.
I just hope they gave him an automatic.
As for getting the trolls opinion on anything technical, lets just say you'd be better trying to make a chimpanzee explain Red Shift to you, than listen to him expound on telecommunications and eavesdropping.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is a program, developed at NSA during Clintons presidency and was "on the shelf' as a tool should we ever need it, was turned on by Bush, 8 months prior to 911, for what reason, we do not know.
Now, thanks to the new digitial switching hubs around the country, ALL communications, including voice, email, internet browsing, etc, is being funneled off into secret rooms at the telecom company's, like ATandT's big one in San Fransisco, where it is stored for future data mining shoudl the need arise.
This is new, and its a precedent. Now everything you've every written in email, surfed on the web, or said on the phone since Bush took office, is stored safely away by your government, should they ever need it to use against you.
Voltron said...
ReplyDeleteAnd Lydia, I hope I've responded decently and with as much humility as I can muster.
Well then you need to "muster" more.
Because until you come in and apologize for your years of support of an evil, murderous regime, you're just chaff in the wind, troll.
Chaff in the wind.
Bartlebe said "The fact is a program, developed at NSA during Clintons presidency and was "on the shelf' as a tool should we ever need it, was turned on by Bush, 8 months prior to 911, for what reason, we do not know."
ReplyDeleteLike I said a ton of times I KNOW why Busg started his spying "BEFORE" 9/11.............they are following the Hoover plan of getting dirt on people so you can blackmail and intimidate them........thats the political capital Bush babbled about i feel it in my bones.
Think about it they started spying BEFORE 9/11.........PNAC had a manifesto BEFORE 9/11 stated they NEEDED a Pearle Harbor type even to justify and enable them to invade and occupy oil rich Middle Eatern natins and install puppet regimes. they even named Iraq, Iran and Syria.
And Richard Armitage the man all the trolls talking points try to CLAIM is a liberal and try to use to derail and deflect from claims the administration committed treason outing Plame a covert CIA agent was a member of PNAC.
Lets ALSO examine the fact that the man who trained the 9/11 hijackers to fly planes was secretly given 5 million and the pieces are starting to fit together and something smells rotten in Denmark.
Get this, Voltron "CLIAIMS" Richard Armitage, Charles Prince and Michael Eisner are Liberals.................Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! you better cut back on the koolaid there Volty
ReplyDeleteVoltron Claims the Nazi's were a Left Wing organization................you need to REREAD history instead of trying to REWRITE it.
The troll also thinks its smart, so what does that tell you?
ReplyDeleteYo Voltron didn't actually READ the United States Constitution did ya BOY?
ReplyDeleteBecause in Article V it says exactly this;
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Which means stupid, the laws enacted in the 1930's and 1960's are constitutional. Because the procedures laid out in that very document were followed and as such James Madison would have to admit they were CONSTITUTIONAL son.
But keep screeching about how a man who RODE horses, never saw an automobile or plane, let alone used a telephone or computer should set ALL the rules as to how our modern society should operate.
Tell us how his 18th century opinion should OVER ride all the opinions that have come afterwards, even though HE helped put into that VERY document a way to keep it up to date, and include the opinions of all who come after he did.
BTW numb nuts does that mean he would screech about women voting since it is NOT in the constitution, and screech about the fact blacks are counted as a full person unlike they way the constitution HE wrote told the us to count them as 3/5ths of a person?
Typical take a speech relevant to the 18th century and try to force fit it into the 21st century.
So bozo according to YOU, Madison would want the US air force disappear because that is not in the constitution,
Or the Federal trade commission, of course he would never accept the UN because that is not in the US constitution, Nor would he accept wasting money on NASA because the constitution doesn't say anything about rockets or space travel;
How about forcing people to have drivers licenses to drive on the roads congress paid for?
Well son, the US constitution doesn't say any thing about building roads especially interstate highways, so son, open up your wallet and pay for the roads you make money off of, and quite having everyone ELSE pay for the roads you use to make a living.
Your just using his speeches to forward your bigoted views, and he would deny that in 2008 his 1794 speeches were as relevant as TYOU claim, because so much had changed.
The US constitution was created to be upgraded and changed as the situation facing this country changed.
In James Madison's time the vast majority of people were Farmers or small trades or craftsman, NO major international corporations existed nor did the large modern structures of commerce and international trade, which means the modern state must exist,
Madison could see that things would change and left the US constitution OPEN to that, your the closed minded bigot who hates it NOT him son.
More than 72,043 battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan:
ReplyDeleteThe Pentagon officially reported 72,043 battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan through Jan. 5, 2008. In addition, VA hospitals and clinics have treated 263,909 unplanned patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
On top of that, VA reported 245,034 disability claims from veterans of the two wars. Those are some of the disturbing new statistics released by the group Veterans for Common Sense, which gathered that data through use of the Freedom of Information Act (typical of the rest of its secrecy, the Bush Administration doesn't just release this information to the public as a matter of course).
That concealment is the latest example of the Bush Administration's downplaying of the true cost of the Iraq War. Remember, the President initially refused to make public photos of fallen soldiers returning home in flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base.
Here is the real truth about bush's incompetence.
He has killed and wounded over 100 times as many Americans then in laden ever has done, but wants MORE deaths and life long wounded veterans.
Nice he had a rich bastard of a father to save his sorry a$$ from Vietnam, ole dead eye just filed for deferments and got drunk.
Fu@K George W Bush, may he and Dick Cheney ROT IN HELL.
BTW if the primary trends hold up in the general election, the repubies ain't gonna be happy,
ReplyDeleteVote *** Dem ********* Repub
IA ** 239,000 ******* 118,691
NH ** 284,104 ******* 233,381
NV ** 117,599 ******* 44,324
SC ** 529,789 ******* 442,918
Total 1,170,492 ***** 839,314
I hope Voltron has locked his "rope"away this year.
(And tallltexan don't make any more stupid bets he has to welsh on.)
Lydia this needs to go up front;
ReplyDeleteA President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDY
OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
Yes we need another JFK or FDR, definitely NOT a RWR fraud or anything which resembles the bushsh*t we have been forced to endure for the last 7 years.
and the 5 dweebs running as bush but not bush are just not anything we need at all.
BTW the redstaters ARE afraid of Barack Obama;
ReplyDeleteBest Red State comment:
Did Kos hijack your account? by St. Louis Conservative
Obama winning is good? What? I want the GOP to win. Obama will defeat us, in the House and Senate as well.
Do you care about winning the White House? I do.
Are you interested in Hillary dragging down 25 House Democrats to defeat by virtue of her being at the top of the ticket? I am.
Check your head, dude.
".....women and minorities hardest hit"
Reply To This -- User Info -- #30
But then again, those bed wetters are afraid of something the reichwing and neo-cons MADE up;
ISLAMOFASCISTS,
and
of course
The Shillary.
But a Obama general campaign candidacy scares the pants off them.
redstaters
Such scardey cats ............
ROTFLMAO
Of course if it ends up being a Shillary-Obama ticket, those widdle people will just hide in mommy's basement from the evil liberals, who do most of the real work in this country.
Because THAT ticket will TROUNCE the reichwing and set up a long term democratic dominance of the political landscape.
Suck on that one KKKArl ......
permanent repubie majority?
PLEASE.............. you were joking right?
You weren't?
Bhahahwhahwhahwhahwhahwhahwhaaaa.
KKKArl you should do comedy, and math lessons for home schoolers,
OH right you already did that, that is how they end up with 6000 years as the age of the planet when SCIENCE says 4.5 billion years.
Now about your science where dinosaurs walk with human beings?
Well stick to comedy son.
BTW don't tell those redstaters this one either;
ReplyDeleteOrbiting U.S. spy satellite could crash to Earth
A U.S. intelligence satellite has lost power and could fall to Earth sometime in February or March, a government official said on Saturday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the spy satellite can no longer be controlled and it was not known where on the planet it might come down.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause."
In recent years, NASA has safely brought defunct satellites back to Earth. In 2000, the space agency maneuvered the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Or they will start their chicken little dance all over again ....
You know the one where they claimed Saddam had WMD's;
Or his non-existent piper cub planes were gonna fly half way around the planet avoiding the US Air Force, NORAD defences and NATO to drop non-existent WMD's on us all;
Or he was in cahoots with Bin Forgotten;
Or they will swim 4000 miles from the middle east to follow us here to attacks us, (after they rest up from that LONG swim);
Or how the children of GOD on the planet he created are somehow ILLEGAL.
At least this time they could screech the sky is fallin' .... At least a tiny little part of it, and be somewhat correct.
(Because like everything else they screech about they would distort it and blow it way out of proportion to any real threat it poses)
Well more correct then they ever have been about Iraq, or Iran for that matter.
The widdle scaredy cats they are and all.
Juan Cole has an interesting take on the latest happenings in Iraq, and how the army officers see the end of the surge ....
ReplyDeleteMark Perry reports that the US officer corps had wanted to reach out to the Sunni Arab tribes of al-Anbar years ago but was consistently blocked by the civilian politicians of the White House (presumably because they had thrown in with the Shiite fundamentalist parties and Ahmad Chalabi's Iraq National Congress). Was the length of the struggle with the "insurgency" an artifact of Don Rumsfeld's, Paul Wolfowitz's and Condi Rice's various and contradictory policies, which had the effect of over-ruling the good sense of our smart officers on the ground? Par II is here. Perry argues that no one among the officers can figure out who is in charge of policy. What I hear is that the top officers in Iraq feel they have done everything they can, but that policy is adrift and BushCo won't make any tough decisions about where to go from here. And, the officers don't make policy, they mainly do tactics in the service of a strategy that should be coming from the White House. It isn't.
Sounds to me like the Exxon Valdez, with Bush playing the skipper and Iraq playing the supertanker.
On the political front, I fear this national reconciliation thing is not working out very well in Iraq.
From the Asia Times article;
But military officers say that the American public should not be fooled: the relative quiet in Iraq - and it is, after all, only a "relative quiet" - does not mean the "surge" has worked, or that the problems facing the US military have somehow magically gone away. Quite the opposite. For while the American public is consumed by the campaign for the presidency, the American military is not. Instead, they are as obsessed now, in January of 2008, with the war in Iraq as they were then, in 2003 - except that now, many military officers admit, the host of problems they face may, in fact, be much more intractable.
First contact
"Don't let the quiet fool you," a senior defense official says. "There's still a huge chasm between how the White House views Iraq and how we [in the Pentagon] view Iraq. The White House would like to have you believe the 'surge' has worked, that we somehow defeated the insurgency. That's just ludicrous. There's increasing quiet in Iraq, but that's happened because of our shift in strategy - the 'surge' had nothing to do with it."
Here is the second installment about the current Iraqi situation;
Troops felled by a 'trust gap'
How the "surge" succeeded - or even whether it has succeeded - is a source of constant commentary in military circles. In an "after-action report" written for the head of the Department of Social Sciences at West Point by retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey, who traveled to Iraq in mid-December, some of the problems that continue to plague US forces in Iraq were detailed.
McCaffrey, who has often been outspoken in his criticism of the
George W Bush administration's counter-terrorism strategy, admitted that "an active counter-insurgency campaign in Iraq could probably succeed in the coming decade with 25 US Brigade Combat Teams". But that would be more than one-half of the total available in the entire army - a level of commitment that simply cannot be sustained.
With US requirements in Afghanistan - estimated by McCaffrey at four brigades permanently engaged in a campaign that would last 15 years, a continued war on terrorism in Southwest Asia has become nearly impossible. Additionally, McCaffrey says, "The US Army is starting to unravel. Our recruiting campaign is bringing into the army thousands of new soldiers who should not be in uniform" - those with criminal records, who have used drugs, who have been given moral waivers, or who have not graduated from high school. A senior Pentagon official agrees. "We have increased our recruiting totals and tripled the number of our police battalions," he says, bitterly. "We will soon have to build new stockades to handle the influx."
Reading both articles in the Asia Times lays bare the dishonesty of Bush ET Al about the surge, and St Johnny the delusional's lie BODY says the troops are over extended and the military ground forces are about broken.
A group of retired officers has been saying exactly the opposite, in public, for years: retired Brigadier General John Johns, retired air force Colonel Dick Klass, and retired Lieutenant General Robert Gard, who once served as Robert McNamara's military assistant, have been outspoken in their criticism of the Bush administration's abuse of the military's trust - and the enormous pressures placed on the army by the administration's multiple Iraq deployments.
"If the army isn't broken, I don't know what is," Gard says. Mullen's comments on the duty of military officers to obey the orders of the civilians authorities, on the other hand, seemed innocuous and nearly predictable: they are repeated, almost verbatim, by any man or woman who serves in the US military. But they have taken on a special poignancy since the beginnings of the Iraq insurgency, which began within weeks of the fall of Baghdad, in April of 2003.
Ironically, as senior military officers now say, in the months and years that have followed the fall of Baghdad, many of the best men and women in uniform have actually followed Mullen's advice - rather than saluting and saying "yes sir", they have turned their backs on their senior commanders and walked away, a repudiation of trust in the nation's leadership that is nearly unparalleled in American military history.
American military officers in key combat commands (the captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels who are actually responsible for carrying out the orders of their superiors) are leaving the services in record numbers. "The Marine Corps has just ceased to exist," a former marine commander says. "They have been gutted by the insurgency. They are losing their cadre of officers, their majors and captains. They are coming home and they are dedicated and these are fine young men. And Yale and Harvard are offering them positions and the marines are saying, 'Well, we can send you to do recruiting in Minot, North Dakota.' I don't understand that. They are doing nothing to retain them. And the army is just on the ropes - the tours are being extended and then reextended. And they say the recruiting numbers are not down, but the truth is they are lowering the bar. They are letting people in now that they would never have allowed in five years ago. This is a disaster. The army is over-extended and the Marines Corps has just been eviscerated. Iraq has been a catastrophe for the American military."
When an organization loses a large majority of it's best mid level officers, it is in decline, and the army and marine corps are both doing just that thanks to the idiotic demands of Bush for his insane political purposes.
When George W Bush leaves office, Iraq will still be a mess, and the military ground forces will be broken ....
One hell of a legacy for Bush.
I don't care what anyone says, I would take Bill Clinton back in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteI would've said the same thing before he started to play gutter politics and try to smear Barack Obama by playing the race card.
Now, I have no interest in either HillBilly or BillHilly.
It's clear to me that Bill Clinton promised his Borg Queen the presidency if she didn't divorce his philandering ass back in 97/98 during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Frankly, I sick and tired of the Clintons and all the drama they bring to the table. Just as I am sick and tired of the Bush clan and all of their drama.
It's time to turn a page and go forward -- not backward.
I'd vote for Slappy White as long as it means no more republicans in control.
ReplyDeleteThe "clintonistas" are a little better then the latest front runner in the insane clown posse of the 5 dweebs running as bush but not bush, but only marginally.
ReplyDeleteShillery would get my vote over anyone in that delusional, fear mongering, unattached, empty suit, void of charlitans who say what the kool-aid drinking base wants to hear, instead of the truth, but only by me holding my nose, and forcing myself to vote for him er I mean her.
BTW things ain't as rosy as the MSM talking heads would have you believe, even with the free fall of interest rates and government hand out of money because the economy sucks so bad;
ReplyDeleteUS slides into dangerous 1930s 'liquidity trap'
The United States is sliding towards a dangerous 1930s-style "liquidity trap" that cannot easily be stopped by drastic cuts in interest rates, Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned.
"The biggest fear is that long-term bond rates won't come down in line with short-term rates. We'll have the reverse of what we've seen in recent years, and that is what is frightening the markets," he told the Daily Telegraph, while trudging through ice and snow in Davos. "The mechanism of monetary policy is ineffective in these circumstances. I'm not saying it won't work at all: it will help the banking system but the credit squeeze is going to go on because nobody trusts anybody else. The Fed is pushing on a string," he said.[..]
"People have been drawing home equity out of the houses at a rate of $700bn or $800bn a year. It's been a huge boost to consumption, but that game is now up. House prices are going to continue falling, and lower rates won't stop that this point," he said.[..]
... the global downturn may already have acquired an unstoppable momentum, requiring months or even years to purge the excesses from the bubble. Professor Stiglitz blamed the whole US economic establishment for failing to regulate the housing and credit markets adequately, allowing huge imbalances to build up. "The Federal Reserve and the Bush Administration didn't want to hear anything about these problems. The Fed has finally got around to closing the stable door (on subprime lending), but the after the horse has already bolted," he said.
A 1930's style liquidity trap?
Damn there was something else about the 1930's economy ....
Something else that people keep saying we might be headed for ....
Something, but it has just slipped my mind.
Oops another revelation by Sibel Edmonds that the MSM will ignore;
ReplyDeleteAn allegation a high ranking Bush State Department official committed TREASON by outing a CIA operation in 2001, even before Irving (scooter) Libby Karl Rove and Ari Fleisher committed treason outing Valerie Plame for Dick Cheney;
UK Times: Brewster Jennings outed by 'treasonous' US govt official in 2001, not 2003
by lukery
The UK's Sunday Times has another article today, Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe, in their series about the penetration of US agencies by a criminal network of Turkish, Israeli and US government officials stealing nuclear secrets and selling them on the black market to the highest bidder.
The focus of this new Times article is the original outing of Brewster Jennings, the CIA cover company that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for. The article confirms that Marc Grossman, former # 3 State Dept official, and former Ambassador to Turkey, warned his Turkish associates to be wary of Brewster Jennings because it was a CIA front operation. This disclosure occurred in the summer of 2001, two years prior to the outing of Valerie Plame.
The FBI warned the CIA about Grossman's activities and Brewster Jennings was dismantled shortly thereafter.
Given the libel laws in the UK, the Times has not published Marc Grossman's name again in this piece, but long-time observers of this case all recognize that Grossman is the unnamed official in this article, as well as the previous two
articles.
From the Times:
The claims that a State Department official blew the investigation into a nuclear smuggling ring have been made by Sibel Edmonds, 38, a former Turkish language translator in the FBI’s Washington field office.
(snip)
She has previously told The Sunday Times she heard evidence that foreign intelligence agents had enlisted US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.
Her latest claims relate to a number of intercepted recordings believed to have been made between the summer and autumn of 2001. At that time, foreign agents were actively attempting to acquire the West’s nuclear secrets and technology.
More from the Times:
One group of Turkish agents who had come to America on the pretext of researching alternative energy sources was introduced to Brewster Jennings through the Washington-based American Turkish Council (ATC), a lobby group that aids commercial ties between the countries. Edmonds says the Turks believed Brewster Jennings to be energy consultants and were planning to hire them.
We know that the FBI was running a counter-intelligence operation against the Turkish diplomatic community, the American Turkish Council (ATC) and other groups such as the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (A.T.A.A.)
Times:
But said: " found out about the arrangement... and he contacted one of the foreign targets and said... you need to stay away from Brewster Jennings because they are a cover for the government.
“The target... immediately followed up by calling several people to warn them about Brewster Jennings.
“At least one of them was at the ATC. This person also called an ISI person to warn them.” If the ISI was made aware of the CIA front company , then this would almost certainly have damaged the investigation into the activities of Khan. Plame’s cover would also have been compromised, although Edmonds never heard her name mentioned on the intercepts. Shortly afterwards, Plame was moved to a different operation.
Plame was moved because Brewster Jennings was dismantled due to the FBI discovering that Grossman had blown the cover. Plame has been forbidden by the CIA to refer to her work, or even the fact that she worked at CIA, prior to 2002.
In Joe Wilson's book, The Politics of Truth, he says that he met his future wife, Valerie Plame, at an American Turkish Council (ATC) event at the residence of the Turkish ambassador in Washington DC in 1997. At the time, both the ATC and the Turkish diplomatic community were targets of FBI investigations.
Incidentally Wilson was on the Defense subcommittee of the board of the ATC, and he was personally and professionally close to ATC Chairman and former National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft. Scowcroft recently appeared in a Rogue's Gallery apparently indicating that he is one of the guilty parties in Sibel Edmonds' case.
Wilson's consulting company, JC Wilson International Ventures, appears to have some Turkish clients, some of which may have come through his involvement at the ATC.
[but that is from freeperville]
Clearly there are a number of potential conflicts of interest here. I don't have any theory as to what was going on here, there are more questions than answers. Wilson had business interests with the ATC, and he was friendly with ATC Chair Brent Scowcroft, who was apparently a target of these investigations. The idea of a CIA agent dating, then marrying, someone so closely aligned with a target also gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.
An anonymous letter, apparently written by an FBI official, obtained by the Times and others outlining many of the facts in this case, states that much of this information was given to the Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald who was investigating the 2003 outing of Plame, and the information was also given to the Scooter Libby defense team but apparently neither side decided to use this information for their own purposes.
The Times:
"Phillip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, said: “It’s pretty clear Plame was targeting the Turks. If indeed that [State Department] official was working with the Turks to violate US law on nuclear exports, it would have been in his interest to alert them to the fact that this woman’s company was affiliated to the CIA. I don’t know if that’s treason legally but many people would consider it to be.”"
Marc Grossman has again (anonymously) denied the charges against him, however in an interview this week, Phil Giraldi wondered why neither Grossman nor any of the others were actively working to exonerate themselves:
"Quite honestly, if I were Marc Grossman, who allegedly is now making $3 million a year working for the Cohen Group, I would be kind of concerned about my personal reputation where people are saying that I was taking money, and I would want to straighten out the record and I would want to the FBI to produce a definitive statement about me, and (Grossman) hasn't demanded that. He hasn't gone after that, and none of the other people in this case have gone after that, so I'm wondering why, if these people are innocent, they aren't making a more serious effort to demonstrate that they are."
I wonder too.
Significantly, since the Times began this series three weeks ago, the White House has quietly moved to legalize the sale of nuclear technology to Turkey in an apparent attempt to 'Exonerate Neocon Criminals' who have been illegally selling this technology for a decade. Congress has 90 days to block this legislation, otherwise it becomes law. If Turkey wants and deserves nuclear technology, this decision should be made openly and transparently, not the result of stealth decisions made by this administration to hide crimes of senior US officials.
We need public open hearings to determine which officials have been supplying the nuclear black market before this becomes law.
**********************************
It appears the Valerie Plame case is much larger then we thought, and if there was anything in Washington which needs a very robust congressional oversight hearings televised for all to see, and a special prosecutor, this case and Sibel Edmonds allegations are it.
It is treason before 9-11, it is treason after 9-11, It was treason in 2001 when it appears Marc Grossman did it, and it was treason when Dick Cheney had Irving (scooter) Libby do it, Karl Rove and Ari Fleisher on somebody's approval also did it.
We need an open complete investigation about this and go where ever it goes, if powerful people end up facing impeachment or prison they deserve it.
A very powerful question;
ReplyDeleteI wonder though if the ultimate problem isn't far more systematic. We are a Republic, but one that is effectively run for the benefit of an oligarchy, or a plutocracy or however you want to describe the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations. And our media is a willing servant of that corporatist oligarchy. The oligarchs, through the amount of money they can supply to candidates, indirectly choose who will be allowed the chance to serve them as President.
Perhaps this is the real reason Gore decided he didn't want to run. In effect, the President of these United States is a bought and paid for employee of Big Business. Some may be more upfront about their allegiances (the Republicans) and others less so (the Democrats, especially the DLC brand of Democrat) but all of them are limited in what they can do to cross those who provided them the funds to win their elections. Gore saw this quite clearly, and he also saw that he could do more working outside the system to effect real change in our nation (and our world), which as we are all aware is irretrievably broken.
Perhaps the real question I should have asked is what happens when the collapse of our society is finally apparent to even the most willfully blinded individuals. At that point what happens? I don't know, but the possibilities frighten the crap out of me. Hyperinflation? Depression? Military coup? Fascist/Christianist takeover? War, famine, plague?
These aren't just hyperbolic statements made to inflame the passions of the "choir" but sincere concerns. Across all sectors our country is is regressing, losing ground: in education, as an economic power, as a diplomatic power, and even as a military power. Our infrastructure is dangerously in need of massive repairs across the board. Our ability to supply fresh water in the future is at great risk, either from pollution in the East, overuse in the West and/or the effects of Global Warming (eg., the current drought in the Southeast). Our democracy, and in particular the great compromise which was the result of the FDR Presidency began to show cracks in the late 50's and early 60's. Those cracks were pasted over during the 70's after Watergate, but now, after nearly 30 years of Republican rule (and I count the Clintons as a form of Republicanism within the Democratic Party) the cracks have been torn asunder by the Bush Presidency and the raw wounds exposed for all to see.
We will collapse like the Soviet Union did, but the manner and the form of that collapse will be different. I supported Edwards in large part because he was the only candidate with a serious hope of winning who represents a revitalized progressive movement based on the principles established by FDR, the last time we faced a crisis moment in our nation's history when the country could have torn itself apart.
Now all it seems is that we have to hope that the "hope" of Obama has something behind it other than mere charisma. Clearly he is the most charismatic Presidential candidate since JFK, but JFK did not really get much accomplished as President. His greatest accomplishments were negative ones. He didn't get us into a nuclear war over Cuba (a much closer occurrence than we used to believe), and he didn't openly oppose the Civil Rights Movement, though he didn't do much to encourage it either.
The trouble is, that we are heading into times in which the dangers we face are orders of magnitude higher than what Kennedy faced (with the exception of the Missile Crisis). We need more than charisma and the ability to give a good speech from our President. We need a program for radical change such as the one FDR provided during the Great Depression (along with all his charisma and eloquence, too). What I fear is that no President in our era can openly propose such a program, much less get it passed through Congress, until the collapse of our society has advanced so far that even jaded politicians will accept it out of fear of revolution or worse. By then, it likely will be too late.
If that sounds too pessimistic, I'm sorry. Someone once said (and I'm probably paraphrasing here) hope is what you have left when all reason to believe that you can avoid calamity has fled. I have hope for the future, but at this point very little reason to believe that any one politician will be our salvation.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteA very powerful question;
I wonder though if the ultimate problem isn't far more systematic. We are a Republic, but one that is effectively run for the benefit of an oligarchy, or a plutocracy or however you want to describe the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations. And our media is a willing servant of that corporatist oligarchy. The oligarchs, through the amount of money they can supply to candidates, indirectly choose who will be allowed the chance to serve them as President.
Perhaps this is the real reason Gore decided he didn't want to run. In effect, the President of these United States is a bought and paid for employee of Big Business. Some may be more upfront about their allegiances (the Republicans) and others less so (the Democrats, especially the DLC brand of Democrat) but all of them are limited in what they can do to cross those who provided them the funds to win their elections. Gore saw this quite clearly, and he also saw that he could do more working outside the system to effect real change in our nation (and our world), which as we are all aware is irretrievably broken.
Perhaps the real question I should have asked is what happens when the collapse of our society is finally apparent to even the most willfully blinded individuals. At that point what happens? I don't know, but the possibilities frighten the crap out of me. Hyperinflation? Depression? Military coup? Fascist/Christianist takeover? War, famine, plague?
These aren't just hyperbolic statements made to inflame the passions of the "choir" but sincere concerns. Across all sectors our country is is regressing, losing ground: in education, as an economic power, as a diplomatic power, and even as a military power. Our infrastructure is dangerously in need of massive repairs across the board. Our ability to supply fresh water in the future is at great risk, either from pollution in the East, overuse in the West and/or the effects of Global Warming (eg., the current drought in the Southeast). Our democracy, and in particular the great compromise which was the result of the FDR Presidency began to show cracks in the late 50's and early 60's. Those cracks were pasted over during the 70's after Watergate, but now, after nearly 30 years of Republican rule (and I count the Clintons as a form of Republicanism within the Democratic Party) the cracks have been torn asunder by the Bush Presidency and the raw wounds exposed for all to see.
We will collapse like the Soviet Union did, but the manner and the form of that collapse will be different. I supported Edwards in large part because he was the only candidate with a serious hope of winning who represents a revitalized progressive movement based on the principles established by FDR, the last time we faced a crisis moment in our nation's history when the country could have torn itself apart.
Now all it seems is that we have to hope that the "hope" of Obama has something behind it other than mere charisma. Clearly he is the most charismatic Presidential candidate since JFK, but JFK did not really get much accomplished as President. His greatest accomplishments were negative ones. He didn't get us into a nuclear war over Cuba (a much closer occurrence than we used to believe), and he didn't openly oppose the Civil Rights Movement, though he didn't do much to encourage it either.
The trouble is, that we are heading into times in which the dangers we face are orders of magnitude higher than what Kennedy faced (with the exception of the Missile Crisis). We need more than charisma and the ability to give a good speech from our President. We need a program for radical change such as the one FDR provided during the Great Depression (along with all his charisma and eloquence, too). What I fear is that no President in our era can openly propose such a program, much less get it passed through Congress, until the collapse of our society has advanced so far that even jaded politicians will accept it out of fear of revolution or worse. By then, it likely will be too late.
If that sounds too pessimistic, I'm sorry. Someone once said (and I'm probably paraphrasing here) hope is what you have left when all reason to believe that you can avoid calamity has fled. I have hope for the future, but at this point very little reason to believe that any one politician will be our salvation."
Grest post Clif.........i couldnt agree more that we need an FDR type president and Edwards is the closest thing to that........I also agree that the Clinton's are repug lites.
The Question Hillary Clinton Should be Made to Answer
ReplyDeleteIs Laura Bush Qualified to be President?
Come on Shillery is she?
After all;
Laura Bush has worked with kids as a priority in her life. She was a two-term governors wife. As first lady she campaigned for literacy among her other children's charities. She is a two-term presidential first lady. And at a more trying time than Mrs. Clinton. Short of being a one term Senator, Laura more or less has the same qualifications.
If she is why don't ya make her your VP and win all the womens vote, which guarantees your election because there are more women then men in the good ole' USA.
You two gals with experience can clean up the mess the men have made of this country over the last 50 years.
But if Pickles Bush ain't qualified Shillery, STFU and go back to being a moderately successful senator from New York ..... tell Bill to go back to doing that Africa aids thingy and speaking for hundreds of thousands of dollars a shot to supplement your meager $169,300 per year salary .....
and let pickles take the loser she married back to Crawford and have the shrinks up the Valium for her.
because then neither are YOU.
Was My post deleted? If so, why? I wasnt trolling -- I slammed Voltron a bit and asked a legitimate question about Lydia's posts.
ReplyDeleteDamn I missed this absolutely STUPID remark Voltron made.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't Bushes doing though, it's been that way since the beginning of phones
No Voltron try again, they set up a cable split in a large room in California for AT&T to collect all calls that go through the switch there.
One side goes where you want, the other to government recorders, but with the Billions of calls and emails made daily, compared to the thousands at best who actually listen or read those messages, I wouldn't worry too much, (Until Shillery gets in, then FEAR son like you never FEARED in your life cause she wants YOU son, she is just runnin' to make OUR life miserable. Once that is done she will declare mission accomplished).
If there wasn't someone or something always listening how would they know what number you dialed and who to connect you to?
You actually believe this?
REALLY?
Have you heard of those modern thingys called computers?
Oh you have?
Well son do ya thunk that they have little critters watching what key you push, run inside the machine and post a letter to your screen?
Because that is what YOUR claim says about the phone companies who have used computer switching for YEARS son probably as long as you have been wasting Oxygen on this planet.
MCH said...
ReplyDeleteWas My post deleted? If so, why? I wasnt trolling -- I slammed Voltron a bit and asked a legitimate question about Lydia's posts."
It looks like it did disapear????
I dont know what happened, some of Volts posts disapeared yesterday too..........maybe a glitch?
I liked the post...........but i was in a hot n heavy battle with voltron at the time.............any time your give a repug troll a hard time about a bet thats fine with me.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteThe Question Hillary Clinton Should be Made to Answer
Is Laura Bush Qualified to be President?
Come on Shillery is she?"
I said this about a month ago and NO ONE responded, i said OBAMA should be shouting this from the rooftops.
Better yet Obama should get Edwards to shout it from the roof tops...........there is NOTHING scarier to people in power than a man with nothing to lose............and at this point Edwards has nothing to lose.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Obama I would try to stay above the fray while getting someone on the periphery to bloody their knuckles on the Clintons if the Clintons persist in rolling in the mud and waging a Karl Rove campaign.
Hey Clif the History Chanel has been running programming about Peak Oil and Global Warming all day today...............they basically said everything we've been saying here.
ReplyDeleteThey came out and said Peak oil could cause countries to go to war to secure their oil............ya think.....I think that train has allready left the station.
BTW, do you guys think the NEXT President will declassify Cheney's super secret treasonous energy meetings?
ReplyDeleteMike, I have watched that history channel show before, and on the tubes.
ReplyDeleteThis year the CEO of Shell just admitted we are either at or just past the peak.
Check out his letter to the employees of Shell
Things are gonna get worse, MUCH worse as the demand for oil exceeds the supply. It already has in many places, and is an underlying cause of a large part of the unrest in Pakistan. they suffer from electric blackouts when there isn't enough oil to fuel their bunker c electric plants, and south Africa is suffering also. It isn't just places like Zimbabwe or Cuba which has to "power down". But many second and third world countries.
Good thing we aren't in they're shoes, no real means of production import much of what they use, a massive foreign debt both public and some large banks being bought up by countries which have the capital they lack.
But then again that just about describes the USA to a TEE now a days.
BTW Mike if your watching the History channel, stay tuned, for the debut of "crude" at 8pm eastern tonight.
ReplyDeleteIt is very educational.
Clif said "Things are gonna get worse, MUCH worse as the demand for oil exceeds the supply. It already has in many places, and is an underlying cause of a large part of the unrest in Pakistan. they suffer from electric blackouts when there isn't enough oil to fuel their bunker c electric plants, and south Africa is suffering also. It isn't just places like Zimbabwe or Cuba which has to "power down". But many second and third world countries."
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that would only serve to fuel hatred of the west and aid the terrorists cause.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteBTW Mike if your watching the History channel, stay tuned, for the debut of "crude" at 8pm eastern tonight.
It is very educational."
Yeah, i'm going to watch that tonight.
Looks like more democrats are getting on the Obama bandwagon;
ReplyDeleteTed Kennedy embraces Obama
Rejecting a personal entreaty from President Bill Clinton, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president in a joint appearance on Monday, Democratic sources said.
Sebelius Plans To Endorse Obama
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) will deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union on Monday.
And then Tuesday or Wednesday, she plans to endorse Barack Obama, numerous Democratic sources said.
The sources said that Sebelius decided some time ago that Obama was her candidate but decided to wait until after the State of the Union.
Mike:
ReplyDeleteI asked that VERY question on my blog...and most of my readers have fled..BUT it is a fair question...and I am sorry but she was Bill's Wife- yet she is on the Trail saying "we did this and we did that"...I don't think that is fair..she is or was HIS wife...that does not qualify as Presidential Experience...but plenty of women are plenty mad at me for saying it..but it is true...
( Can any of us imagine Laura Bush running for President ?)
And the BIGGER question Shillery Supporters NEED to be asked HOW involved will Bill be in the WHitehouse?...TOO MUCH....from watching the Campaign I would say he Wants back in...badly...and it is odd,. WHY ? he has a suceessful Foundation....which needs him- why does he want Power again...and why is he risking his legacy ?
and the Media has been saying they are "Running as a Team"...well that is odd....is that really what people want- a person that has to have her husband help ? Is she even liked in the Senate? Has anyone else noticed that NO ONE has come forward- or very few to support her...Patty Murray? Maria Cantwell ? Diane Feinstein? Barabara Boxer ? Very Few of the DC women have come forward....it is striking..and also very few Senators or other DC folks have come forward....
And no one has even asked of pointed out how Negative what they both are doing really is...I mean they both were so dismissive of SC WIN, that it was disrespectful to the 500,000 that Voted , their own supporters, but ALL the DEMS that went to the polls..and also to Barack...she barely acknowledged his win...and in the South - that is BAD manners..and OTHER Southern States are going to notice that....Big Time....( I was raised by Southern Women- and that is not accepted...Thank You Rituals are sacred...)
okay I am done on my little soap box...I will leave now....
thanks...
enigma4ever said...
ReplyDeleteMike:
I asked that VERY question on my blog...and most of my readers have fled..BUT it is a fair question...and I am sorry but she was Bill's Wife- yet she is on the Trail saying "we did this and we did that"...I don't think that is fair..she is or was HIS wife...that does not qualify as Presidential Experience...but plenty of women are plenty mad at me for saying it..but it is true...
( Can any of us imagine Laura Bush running for President ?)
And the BIGGER question Shillery Supporters NEED to be asked HOW involved will Bill be in the WHitehouse?...TOO MUCH....from watching the Campaign I would say he Wants back in...badly...and it is odd,. WHY ? he has a suceessful Foundation....which needs him- why does he want Power again...and why is he risking his legacy ?"
I think you nailed it Enigma...........The Clintons WANT Power........I watch them and at times i see a megalomaniac kind of like Bush who flashes rage when anyone questions or challenges her.........now i know i'll take some heat for saying that but thats what i see. They are also waging a gutter campaign just like Rove would. If we are better than the repugs then we have to ACTUALLY BE BETTER.
Why is Bill risking his legacy indeed........I always liked Bill Clinton, lately I think he looks like a pathetic fool.
I feel its insulting to our intelligence for Hillary to Claim she was part of what Bill's administration did..............she is lucky Obama is taking the ghigh road because focusing on her FAILED health care initiative and all the scandals would do her serious harm.
I'm also sick of Shillery hiding behind the "i know how to get stuff done" crap and the " I know things you dont" implying we should all just fall in line and trust anything she says...........most people that CLAIM to know deep dark secrets the unwashed masses arent privy to are trying to manipulate and deceive people............thats what the Bush Administration said and thats what Hitler said................I dont want or need "just trust me i'll protect you"............i want an open, honest and transparent government who PROVES they are looking out for our best interests with actions NOT words.
Make no mistake., i'm not saying Shillery is the devil incarnate or that she is just like GWB..........actually she would be decent after what we've had.........but I do think she is all wrong for us, we CLEARLY have better candidates and can do better.
ReplyDeleteShe has said nothing about restoring the Constitution and stoping Bushes assaunts on our freedoms and privacies and THAT disturbs me deeply same with the war she seemed to relish the vwar BEFORE she learned that the majority of the American people are against it and she couldnt get elected acting like a repug.............she is also running a campaign like Karl Rove would while crying how bad they are and crying like a hippocrite when she gets hit back for her slimy attacks.
Mike:
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone is worried that she is Hitler, or even like GWB...BUT......she has not offered to repair ANYTHING that he has done that is damaging..have we heard her say anything about FISA ? ( ahem...no)..About 80,000 people "labeled" as Terrorists ? The frigging NO FLY List ? The Patriot Act ( that she has consistantly supported ) , GITMO - that it should have been closed by now , Illegal Torture...these are all HUGE issues...I actually have seen the other candidates address these in speechs- Not her . Her Speeches are all about HOW she will return us to the 90's....( and yes, cspan runs them 24/7 so I have watched- closely).....
See here is the thing......the 90's were not good for everyone..so that really means little to me...and to be honest when she says "WE did this"....I think NO....that is not true....
But anyone who claims THEY did Something , when they didn't....that bothers me..she actually speaks very very little of her own work in the Senate...it is striking...yet, I was willing to let it go- she has not been there long..
I also think that I have not seen her speak up or ask for help for the 911 Workers- and that bothers me- there are 40,000 people that were effected ( and still are ) byt Damage sustained in her state- under her watch- She should be demanding care and answers and also accountability from the Fools ( Christy Whitman, Bush, and Rudy) for what happened to those people.....
I am mostly horrified now about the Bumper Stickers that are being passed out at her campaign events " African Americans for Hillary " ( there is a "Clinton" version too).....these are being passed out in the South now- they even showed them on CNN- what the heck??? WHY do that...why ? We as a Country need to come together and I don't ever remember a Democrat Engaging in Rovian Politics that was so based on Dividing US all up, like a big pie.....
Even as a Woman I am being shunned and scorned in different circles Because I don't support her....yet the joke is that I don't support her or HER Tactics, as a person she has shown that she lacks integrity...( attacking someone because they dreamed as a child of being president...or was trying to help people view Change as postive....???)
But the thing that is really concerning is - is she so weak that she has to use her Ex President Husband to hurt a fellow Senator , a Democrat....that is what really turns my stomach....after ALL the hatemongering and Shredded Messengers we have seen Under Bush....this is the Last thing we as a Country need.....I feel like the Clintons don't get IT......that people are suffering ....esp the last 7 years....
And the real reason I can not support her- her Healthcare Plan is pathetic...it would not help so many people.....Tax Credits ????what the heck does that help .....Her plan is Rudy;s plan- not joke- compare them online- it is the same plan....
it does not address issues of Accountibilty or accessibility or affordability.....
She and Bill do not know what it like to lose a home to Heart, or not have insurance- or be turned down because of an existing problem or health situation ( the number of people, esp women with Heart problems and diabetes and Breast Cancer History is staggering....)Or to see old women buying catfood at the market....so they can get their meds....This is NOT the America I can live with.....
200,000 VETS on the streets with no home, no care , no food.
37 Million without HealthCARE.....(it is not about BUYING something you have already been turned down for...)
19 Million of that number are Women and Children
More than Half of Bancruptcies declared in last 5 years are related to Unpaid Health Bills.....
okay I will stop....BUT these are the issues I want to hear....NOT attacks on Obama ......
oye...I need to correct myself...
ReplyDeleteit is 47 Million withhout Healthcare...
that is more than the population of ALL of Canada...
( and actually that number is almost 3 years old- it is closer to 49 million, AMA has ads that say it is indeed 1:7 people without Insurance or HEALTHCARE....and will reach that by the Election...)
enigma4ever said...
ReplyDeleteMike:
I don't think anyone is worried that she is Hitler, or even like GWB...BUT......she has not offered to repair ANYTHING that he has done that is damaging..have we heard her say anything about FISA ? ( ahem...no)..About 80,000 people "labeled" as Terrorists ? The frigging NO FLY List ? The Patriot Act ( that she has consistantly supported ) , GITMO - that it should have been closed by now , Illegal Torture...these are all HUGE issues...I actually have seen the other candidates address these in speechs- Not her . Her Speeches are all about HOW she will return us to the 90's....( and yes, cspan runs them 24/7 so I have watched- closely)....."
Exactly!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard her say NOTHING about stopping Bush's spying on American citizens, stopping the tortute, getting rid of the Patriot Act, or recinding Bush's claims he can imprison ANYONE or confiscate their assets on a whim............and i find that Extremely disturbing.
And Yes the other candidates HAVE addressed those issues.
ReplyDeleteBTW Mike:
ReplyDeletethat Bush Exceutive order that you sited last week, it was critical...and about the seizure etc...and directly violates the Constitution- and I have not heard ANYONE talk about it- Please do enocurage people to write Keith at Countdown about it....I think he would cover it ( but more need to write him that annoyinng nurse in Ohio... ahem ;-)
I hope that the campaign continues- I think that at Town hall Meetings ( the ones where questions are allowed) People are getting to ask about all of the issues we asked above....I do know that at some of the Hill events she does not take questions....sadly we don't always get to see the Candidates other than McCain or Hillary on MSM or cspan....( thank heavens for Youtube.....)
I've been talking about that Executive Order since it was issued back in July..........and I believe Olberman DID cover it also.
ReplyDeleteI've been talking about that Executive Order since it was issued back in July..........and I believe Olberman DID cover it also.
ReplyDeleteHey Mike:
ReplyDeleteI did not start coming here until the fall I think...so I might have missed when you first brought it up- but I am very grateful....very...
( About Keith- I am sure he probally did- I might have missed it...)
thanks for all the issues and news that you all cover here...
Ha! Maybe I should invest in my retirement plan and go buy a case of beer. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm not defending Hillery, but how do you handle that several of Obama's positions are even less progressive, like leaving 15 million poor Americans with no health care?
ReplyDeleteRove commencement address canceled.
ReplyDeleteUnder heavy pressure from students, New England prep school Choate Rosemary Hall has decided to cancel Karl Rove’s address at its commencement ceremony this year. Instead, Rove will speak to the campus on Feb. 11. Headmaster Edward J. Shanahan said that about “80 percent of the communications: he received from students, parents and alumni supported having Rove speak with students in a setting outside a graduation.”
Poor KKKarl can't get no Love?
Well maybe he needs to understand the vast majority of this country dislike HIM and what he stands for.
Maybe he needs to learn the people of this country want something which he FOUGHT tooth and nail against.
Maybe he needs to STFU and just slink away to rot under a stone somewhere, instead of rotting in public.
FREAKIN' EXCELLENT
ReplyDeleteArlen Specter will vote with the Dems and against cloture on FISA bill.
--David Kurtz
Here's hopin' a few more right wingers have an attack of the constitutional conscience before this vote, and the democrats also.
...Rockefeller Too
ReplyDeleteSen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the champion of the Senate intelligence committee bill that contains retroactive immunity, and one of the twelve Democrats who voted against the Senate Judiciary Committee bill last week, just said on the floor that he'll also vote against cloture. The administration is placing politics above national security, he says.
This isn't shaping up to be a close vote.
With Hillary, Barack, Chris Dodd, Harry Reid,and NOW the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee the democrats have cover, to vote against closure to hand the telephone companies a free pass for violating the LAW.
Hopefully some republicans will join Arlen Spector for supporting the US constitution over the interests of the reichwing and their corporate allies in under mining the US Constitution for political purposes.
Wanna see reichwing logic in a nutshell?
ReplyDeleteGOP: Dem Effort to Extend Surveillance Law That Must Not Lapse Is Unacceptable
.... and then they'll wanna LIE and claim democrats stopped the FISA court from doing it's work under the US Constitution.
TomCat said...
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm not defending Hillery, but how do you handle that several of Obama's positions are even less progressive, like leaving 15 million poor Americans with no health care?"
Tomcat, you raise a good point............in general principle I strongly feel we NEED National Healthcare, I think the current system is a disaster and we need a new one where EVERYONE is covered.
Having said that though I have really been holding back on judging the candidates on healthcare till i actually hear fleshed out plans that detail exactly how EVERYONE will get covered and/or be able to afford coverage rather than the soundbites that arent completely accurate.
Sure I dont particularly care for Obama not supporting natiomnal healthcare for EVERYONE............BUT I am also skeptical of Hillary mandating everyone MUST have coverage without detailing how the poor and middle class will be able to afford this mandatory coverage.
I mean we could make being poor illegal and penalize the poor..............but unless there is a clear coherent strategy on how to give them opportunities to lift them out of poverty all you are going to have is poorer poor who either have to pay fines or go to jail.............Just like the repugs declare a war on drugs that only serves to give more power and money to drug dealers, cartels and organized crime and puts drug users in jail without serving to actually prevent or reduce the number of drug users.............Same with their War on Terra, the repugs are actually helping the terrorists recruit and aiding their cause by inflaming hatred of the west with ignorant policies and inflamatory bellicose rhetoric rather than actually focusing our efforts to foster cooperation and show life is valuable and joining a cause that does not value life is the wrong choice.
I hope they ACTUALLY DO vote against cloture Clif and dont just fall in line like sheep when the actual vote comes up.................To me this spying is one of the most egregious things the Bush administration has done............it had NOTHING to do with national security or protecting us from terrorists.........all it was was Bush and his cronnies using J Edgar Hoover's plan to spy on politician's and powrerful people to be able to blackmail and bully them to do what Rove, Cheney and Bush wanted.
ReplyDeleteIt was part of the plan for a permanent repug majority.....................ever notice anytime ANYONE repug or dem spoke out and opposed the Bush admin particularly when there was a key vote they were always immediately silenced or jumped on board and fell in line like good little lemmings.
Mike they are voting right now, (C-Span 2) so far Obama, Clinton, Dodd, Rockefeller and the rest of the democratic senators have voted NO.
ReplyDeleteThe vote seems to be going along party lines which means the repubies LOSE in this round to hand the telephone companies a free pass for breaking the law.
Sen Diapers er I mean Vitter voted for breaking the Law.
ReplyDeleteI seems the repubies are FOR breaking the law while the democrats are for the US Constitution.
ReplyDeleteJohann wrote on January 28, 2008 3:31 PM:
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that could happen for the USA is for this law to lapse back into the original FISA law where the Bush Administration had the authority to wiretap and then later explain to a judge why that wiretap was necessary.
Immunity for telecoms knowingly breaking the law is ludicrous.
If it passes, I will be convinced that the illegal wiretapping was directed toward sitting congresspersons for the purpose of blackmail.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteI seems the repubies are FOR breaking the law while the democrats are for the US Constitution."
Hey Volt you hear that!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe you need to become a Dem.
Arlen Spector voted NO, good for him.
ReplyDeleteBy my rough count, even though the voting is not done, the reichwing has LOST this attempt to protect law breakers who do what they want.
ReplyDeleteSen Toe Tapper, er I mean Craig is FOR law breaking, but we already knew that one.
ReplyDelete48 for 45 against the cloture FAILS,
ReplyDeleteI wonder who the 7 senators who didn't even show up to vote were, only sen Johnson is incapacitated.
BTW Mitch is trying to keep the senate from approving an extension to the FISA bill, because georgie says he will veto it.
Reichwingers are full of crap.
Either FISA must stay in effect like the reichwingers screech all about;
Which makes the president's and the GOPer's stance unpatriotic,
OR they are just LYING again,
as usual.
Reid: GOP "Cynical" Approach to Surveillance Bill
ReplyDeleteA prepared transcript of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) remarks before the vote today are below.
Some highlights:
Mr. President, in my twenty years in Congress, I have not seen anything quite as cynical and counterproductive as the Republican approach to FISA.
The American people deserve to know that when President Bush talks about the foreign intelligence bill tonight, he's doing little more than shooting for cheap political points - and we should reject his efforts....
The Republican leader filed cloture on this bill after it had been on the floor for just a few hours. He filed cloture after Republicans blocked every amendment they could from being offered and blocked all amendments from getting votes.
In simple terms, this means the Republicans were filibustering their own bill. Let me repeat that. The Republicans were filibustering their own bill. In my time in the Senate, I can't remember this taking place....
We are the deliberative body. Let us deliberate.
Well well well, the repubies would RATHER play politics then get a bill.
Can we all say;
HYPOCRITES
Ain't it cute;
ReplyDeleteSt Johnny the Delusional is on CNN more worried about being pResident then doing the job he was hired to do, working on a bill the reichwing claims is SOooooooo important to the security of the United States.
Typical reichwing repubie ....
St Johnny puts his personal desires ahead of the countries security.
Oh dear Ru-die 9ui11iani is thinking of dropping out if he loses in Florida.
ReplyDeleteRudy: Winner Of Florida "Will Win The Nomination"
The LA Times's political blog catches an odd moment in which Rudy seems to be laying the groundwork to exit the race if and when he loses tomorrow:
In a meeting in the back of his chartered plane en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., a short while ago, the onetime, longtime GOP front-runner told a small group of reporters, including The Times' Louise Roug: "The winner of Florida will win the nomination."
Rudy's spokesperson quickly noted that Rudy was expressing confidence about winning tomorrow. Still, Rudy's in third or fourth in Florida in most polls -- and Rudy himself thinks that whoever wins tomorrow will "win the nomination."
So, given his own remarks, if he loses tomorrow there will be no point in continuing, and he'll drop out, right?
If he goes how will we ever remember 9-11 with out him constantly reminding us?
Here are the senators who didn't show up for the FISA vote either of them.
ReplyDeleterepubs
Coburn (R-OK), Not Voting
Dole (R-NC), Not Voting
Ensign (R-NV), Not Voting
Lieberman (ID-CT), Not Voting
McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting
dems
Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting
Harkin (D-IA), Not Voting
I find it interesting that Bush and McConnell claim HOW IMPORTANT this issue is, but FIVE right wing republicans can't even be bothered to show up. (Yes Holy Joe Lie-berman is a right wing republican, he just hasn't accepted the toe tappin' of the repubies last election cycle, but he plays in their stall.)
From a new blog about the economics of our time;
ReplyDeleteautomatic earth;
Resorting to 'Zimbabwe Economics'
Learning comes at a price. When markets are rising, nobody learns anything. It’s when they go wrong that people put on their thinking caps and take instruction. And then, at Davos this weekend, up to the podium stepped Stephen Roach, acting like an old professor with an “I told you so” tone in his voice. “If we had been running our economies the old-fashioned way, for example, where saving and consumption were funded by income, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess we are in now.” Roach went on to say that this mess “will dwarf the dotcom slump.”
As we’ve hinted, too, it is one thing to punish a few speculators with skin in the dotcom game. It is quite another to deliver a stern lesson to America’s entire middle class. The latter never liked school.
Spending on information technology was barely one sixth the spending on house building. But that’s only the beginning – because the dotcom bubble didn’t cause millions of householders to think they were a lot richer than they really were. It didn’t lead millions of families to borrow and spend far more than they could afford. And it didn’t entice bankers and investors into billions of dollars worth of losing positions. Naturally, Mr. Roach’s words didn’t seem to lift the mood at Davos. And the news coming out of the U.S. economy does little to lift American consumers’ moods either.
On Friday, the Dow sank back 171 points. What happened to the rally, investors asked themselves? Hadn’t the Bernanke helicopter squadron just dropped rates 75 basis points? Aren’t they warming up the engines for another run this week?[..]
A word to the wise: you can’t really make people wealthy by resorting to “Zimbabwe economics.” A society grows rich by producing things...and saving money. There is no other way. Cheaper credit won’t do it. More consumption won’t help. Printing money – and dumping it from helicopters – is a losing proposition. But we hope our financial authorities continue. At least it’s fun to watch. A trillion here...a trillion there...pretty soon you’re talking real money.
U.S. stocks are down about 10% so far this year...that’s about $1.5 trillion lost. U.S. housing stock is said to be down about $2 trillion. And losses from subprime, credit cards, home equity lines, rogue traders...and hanky panky...probably add up to another trillion or so. And let’s not forget the cost of the War Against Nobody in Particular – the war on terror...which costs a couple hundred billion.
And now, along comes...what’s this...a bi-partisan giveaway of tax rebates! Yes, it’s in today’s news. The Dems and the Reps have agreed to give taxpayers back some of their money. And Treasury secretary Paulson appeared in Congress telling them to get a move on. If they don’t get those checks out soon, it will be too late.
The pols are going to spend as much or more than ever. They were already running a $200 billion deficit...so they couldn’t possibly give money back. And many of these “rebates” are said to be going to people who never paid anything in the first place. Still, they’re going to send out 117 million checks at a cost of some $150 billion. This is Zimbabwe economics...if you don’t have money, just print it. “Economic stimulus” they call it. But if they’re hoping to counteract the effect of trillions of dollars of lost wealth...they’re going to have to come up with more than $150 billion.
Ilargi: Looks like Bloomberg is not in a party mood today. The worst home sales year in -at least- 45 years. Ouch! Yikes! Stop hurting me!
I wonder what the White House script writers, preparing for tonight's State of the Union, will spin out of this one. Oh, I know, between all the misery, there's this: "For the year, the median price of new homes rose 0.2 percent.". We're saved!
Hey, wait a minute! Ain't all script writers supposed to be on strike? What happened to solidarity? I say: No Emmy's, No Oscar, No State of the Union!
Mike you might want to bookmark this one. It is a good overall blog about what is happening around the planet in the economic sphere.
From simply left behind
ReplyDeleteThere's a show on C-SPAN about presidential libraries. Here're what the draft plans for the George W. Bush Library now call for:
The Alberto Gonzales Room - Where you can't remember any of the exhibits.
The Hurricane Katrina Room - It's still under construction.
The Texas Air National Guard Room - Where you don't have to even show up.
The Walter Reed Hospital Room - Where they don't let you in.
The Guantanamo Bay Room - Where they don't let you out.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room - Nobody has been able to find it.
The War in Iraq Room - After you complete your first tour, they can force you to go back for your second and third and fourth and fifth tours.
The K-Street Project Gift Shop - Where you can buy an election, or, if no one cares, steal one.
The Men's Room - Where you could meet a Republican Senator (or two).
To be fair, the President has done some good things, and so the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.
When asked, President Bush said that he didn't care so much about the individual exhibits as long as his museum was better than his father's.
Which a commenter added;
... The GREEN Room - where the missing $9,000,000,000.00 IN CASH went.
Mt. Video | 01.28.08 - 1:46 pm | #
Kudos Carl.
I'm not defending Hillery, but how do you handle that several of Obama's positions are even less progressive, like leaving 15 million poor Americans with no health care?
ReplyDeleteThis is blatantly untrue and a verbatim page taken from Hillary Clinton's talkingpoints manual of spin and lies.
Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans
Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:
1. Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
2. Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
3. Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
4. Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
5. Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.
6. Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
7. Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
8. Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.
The Reich Wing owned Media is a damn joke............i'm listening to the delusional cheerleaders at CNBC and its pathetic how damn stupid and dishonest these fools are..................Larry Krudlow just said essentially that you need to give BIG tax cuts to the wealthy and make the Bush tax cuts permanent because all the peasants will do is buy a little soap and food at Walmart and that wont do anything for the economy, while the wealthy will go to Saks or Tiffany's and buy jewelry or a yacht.
ReplyDeleteThen there was a fool named Bryan who said the economy is booming, he is expecting over 5% GDP in 2008 and there is no evidence of recession the American people are just wrong, and Housing only comprises 4% of the economy.
Looks like Bryan has been drinking way too much koolaid...........he obviously didnt take into account all of the industries that are related to housing anfd how like Real estate, Finance, Construction, Home Improvement, basic materials etc......and how that will also effect employment and hence the economy...........looks like the blueblood supply side idiot KRudlow doesnt think General Mills, or Proctor and gamble are part of the economy like Saks and Tiffany's are........BTW, i wonder what percentage of the American public buy Proctor and Gamble's and General Mills Products and Shop at Walmary Vs the percentage that buy yachts and shop at Tiffany's?
Try adding a zero bryan and you'd be closer since Housing related industries comprise OVER 40% of the economy...........you CANT have a housing recession this severe and not have it effect employment and the economy.
ReplyDeletePlease listen in the archives today to our show today. We had BradBlog's Brad Friedman on and it was riveting -- all about election fraud, voter machines and the New Hampshire recount.
ReplyDeletewww.bashamandcornell.com
You know, this is just a suggestion, but if our plan is to "win" the general election this year, then I "suggest" we find ways to focus on the positives of the Democratic candidates, instead of the negatives.
ReplyDeleteSuper Tuesday is coming fast, and soon we'll have a DNC nominee, and we know it will be either Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Chances are, its going to be Obama, but whichever one we get, if we're not able to throw our full support behind them, then we could be sitting here come November, scratching our collective asses and wondering "what happened".
If Hilary wins, they'll put Bloomberg in to split up the left wing moderates, and to sew up the independent votes.
The question we have to ask ourselves is "are we going to let them?"
I think Obama will win, but if Hillary wins, are we going to just roll over and let the right wing walk away with it?
ReplyDeleteThink about it.
Think about another 4 years of republican rule, as opposed to being led by someone smart.
Good point, Mike.
ReplyDeleteThanks Christopher. When Obama was asked that in a debate, he did not answer the question so I assumed it was correct.
Bartlebee, I've heard talk from some about abandoning the party if Hillary wins. I could not disagree more. Problematic as she is, she stands head and shoulders over anyone on the GOP side. Furthermore, every Republican has promised to to appoint ideologue justices to the Supreme Court in the image of Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas. One more justice of that ilk would spell the end of human rights, civil rights, gay rights, and reproductive rights in the US and cement the Fourth Reich.
ReplyDelete