It's time for a 2nd Amendment Iraq Marshall Plan by John Aravosis (DC)
Guns don't kill people, evil-doers kill people. That's the theory a lot of Republicans are now promoting about the violence at Virginia Tech. If only those now-dead students had all been armed, the story goes, they'd have been able to start a mass circle of gunfire in the middle of their classroom and kill the shooter (and sure, they'd kill everyone else in the classroom too, but they'd be dead AND exercising their 2nd Amendment rights, so it'd be okay). Anyway, I say the Republicans put their money where their mouths are and establish a 2nd Amendment Marshall Plan (we can call it the LaPierre plan), and ship as many guns and other weapons as possible into the hands of every single Iraqi in order to help them defend themselves (and we could hire Paul Wolfowitz's girlfriend to run it - a two-fer!). First off, we'd be guaranteeing the 2nd Amendment rights of every Iraqi, and after all, that's way more important than winning (or even living). And second, if everyone had more weapons, they'd all be able to join in on keeping the peace that much better. While we're at it, why not give em all WMD? Nothing stops a tuhrerist from driving a chlorine truck into a market like knowing that every grandma in that market has her own chlorine truck ready and waiting to drive back into YOUR market.
Missed the show last week although still got it on tape - but just watched the tape from last night and what a mess it was. Poor Martina!
NOBODY ... none of these people knew how to sing a country song. The more they yelled, the worse it got. But lame doesn't do it either. I listened to a guy named Chris and shook my head in dismay ... and the judges thought it was good. No he wasn't.
Who was bashed again to bits by the expert judges, however? Cute little Sanjaya who else. S. picked R&B which didn't bother me at that point since most of the gang worked hard to r&b country anyway. So it wasn't much country but he is a natural performer. He was my favorite. Again ;-)
Kudos to this seventeen-year old kid who keeps smiling and hanging on ... He got guts.
And Good for the host of the show who kept Simon from acting like a complete fool. I suppose Sanjaya must have done something right in the singing department since he was selected by the same lot to join the group this season.
I think I said this before but the Idols this season are the most mediocre wannabes this far. So
Go Sanjaya!
btw. maybe there is something in the air this spring because the Celeb Dancers this season are also nothing to get excited about :( Some of them are incredibly bad and don't care.
Blaming the Victims... Because they're Total Wusses
The last time we checked in with NRO's John Derbyshire, he was expounding on his own hypothetical bravery regarding Iranian hostage-takers. Today, we learn that he also is completely fearless in imaginary domestic scenarios as well:
Spirit of Self-Defense [John Derbyshire]
As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.
At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.
Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.
If I had to choose a favorite insane statement here -- like, say, if someone was holding a gun to my head -- I think it'd be the idea that, "At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him." Or, best yet: you could always try the ol', "Shoe's untied!" bit. Works with my theoretical mass shooting murderers all the time.
Experts: Draft May Be Necessary By: Nicole Belle @ 12:03 PM - PDT
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has paid attention to recruitment levels over the last few years, but given the military's reticence over publicly admitting anything that might be perceived as detrimental to the military, I find this remarkable. As C&Ler GM wrote to me when he sent in this tip, the issue of bringing back the draft is a political third rail that no politician wants to touch. Bush, with a popularity rating hovering in the high 20s/low 30s, REALLY does not want to go there. So should we read this as a metaphorical shot across the bow by the military brass to Bush: "either re-arm or re-fit or get us the hell out of there?"
Marine Corps Times:
The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony Tuesday that increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps may not resolve severe and growing personnel problems. There was even talk of returning to the draft to fill the ranks.[..]
"If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft."[..]
Masked Senator Strikes Again By Paul Kiel - April 18, 2007, 1:35 PM Apparently the Senate is an irony-free zone, because once again, a senator has placed a secret hold on legislation that increases government transparency.
In this case, the bill that's been blocked would require Senate candidates to file their campaign finance reports electronically. Right now, they only file paper versions, which are much more difficult to search through. House candidates file electronically.
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) moved to approve the bill by unanimous consent yesterday, "a Republican Senator anonymously objected, stalling the bill indefinitely," according to Roll Call (sub. req.).
The good people at the Sunlight Foundation are working to find out who the culprit is. You can lend them a hand by giving your senator a call.
I just finished listening to the podcast of Sam Seder's final weekday show on Air America Radio. I kept waiting for somebody to yell "psyche!" and admit that the whole thing was a joke, that God was in His heaven, and that Sam's show would continue to roll along. I just could not believe that Air America would take this gem of a broadcast off the air. I was wrong. The show really is gone.
I hope some savvy broadcaster gets wise and puts a sweet syndication deal together for Sam. He deserves better than to be shunted off to Sundays from 4-7 p.m.
I don't know what AAR's new owners are thinking. With the departure of Al Franken, AAR's disgraceful treatment of Marc Maron, and now the cancellation of The Sam Seder Show, I am running out of reasons to renew my subscription to Air America Premium.
posted by UncommonSense
http://ucsense.blogspot.com/2007/04/seder.html
*
marcmaronrules said...
April 18, 2007 2:47 PM
Sure thing, mmrules....I think it's an mrr blogger who writes some or all of that page...
I happen to agree with Kurt Vonnegut who encourages everyone to try some of the arts because its good for the soul and body. One doesn't have to be an expert - whether its playing an instrument, writing, singing, dancing, film ... I like it all.
Ballroom dancing rocks because it got it all ... its social, romantic, emotional, you name it. It combines sports and music. Adults are learning it again, school kids are being introduced to it by dance teachers and learn manners and how to respect each other in the process. Just saw the Antonio Banderas film about the NY teacher who introduced ballroom to schools in the poor neighborhoods for free ... and it caught on big time.
In Finland adults dance the tango as social therapy. Lots of movies and documentaries out lately which deal with this subject.
"way fun, and a real workout, brain and body both!"
Absolutely. I think you did mention before that you enjoyed ballroom:)
Many years ago, in the last century, I found a figure skating site with 1000s of fans totally by accident ... and I couldn't believe my eyes cause I am a huge fan of that sport. Sort of discovered the net that way.
What??? People are discussing figure skating on the internet? LOL. Was a lot of fun.
One of the geese in our pond has a broken leg. Her partner has not left her side She is either in the water or at the side of the pond and he is there to protect her. Geese mate forever. I didn't know that til recently.
Alot of drama in our pond. Another goose just flew down and landed close to them in the pond and the male reared up and started honking like crazy. Then he started push her toward shore. The other goose floated to the other end of the pond.
"Ginsburg complained that Kennedy used the term "abortion doctor" in what she called an "alarming" decision. In her dissenting opinion, she repeatedly used O'Connor's words from an earlier abortion ruling, one that went the other way."
todd the mute said... I don't have anything to say.
April 18, 2007 6:47 PM
I've seen worse videos in psychology courses.
Janeane liked to talk about the Milgram experiments. She probably doesn't know how VISUALLY DISTURBING they are to watch-- seemingly "sane" people who are willing to torture and kill people at the drop of a hat.
04.18.2007 The Emperor Has No Guns (6 comments ) READ MORE: United States, Mark Green, David Brock, U.S. Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani, Virginia Tech, U.S. Congress The boilerplate response to the Virginia shootings from pro-gun Republicans is, sorry about the loss but we all still have to recognize the Second Amendment right to own guns.
What right?
The only authoritative voice on this is the United States Supreme Court which, in United States v Miller in 1939, ruled that Congress can't constitutionally limit a state's right--not a person's right--to bear arms.
Yes, the Second Amendment says that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," but that conclusion is explicitly limited to "a well regulated militia, necessary to the security of a free State."
Since McCain, Giuliani, Romney et al. have falsely and knowingly said thousands of times that an individual has such a "right," I'm reminded of FDR's sage observation that "repetition does not turn a lie into a truth."
So conservatives have been enjoying a collective memory lapse for nearly seven decades. Then last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. ignored the 1939 precedent and overturned the District's gun control laws by suddenly stating, based on a tortured reading of the obvious language, that the Second Amendment actually now "protects an individual right to keep and bear arms." Turns out that the 2-1 majority were Reagan and Bush 43 jurists and was written by Judge Laurence Silberman. This is the man who believed Anita Hill was just a lesbian "acting out" and who disowned his close friend David Brock when Brock started criticizing the right-wing scandal machinery instead of feeding it, as Brock describes in Blinded by the Right.
This ruling by an openly partisan appointee seems exactly what conservatives are complaining about when they attack "activist judges" who try to create law rather than comply with the Founder's "original intent." (Or maybe "activist" is just a gross misspelling of "progressive.") What if a new Black Nationalist movement began calling for a re-segregation of American children? They would be free to advocate that under the First Amendment but, after Brown v. Board, they couldn't claim a constitutional basis for segregating schools all over again.
"Deny, deny, deny" is a common tactic of Republicans who resent "reality-based" Democrats. What to do? Here's a do-able suggestion. Whoever moderates the May 3rd MSNBC debate among the Republican presidential candidates should ask, say, Rudy Giuliani, this question: "Mayor Giuliani, after the Virginia Tech shooting, you said, 'Obviously, this tragedy does not alter the Second Amendment. People have the right to keep and bear arms and the Constitution says this right will not be infringed.' Now, since you're a lawyer, you must be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court since 1939 has ruled that only state militias, not individuals, have such a right. So why have you intentionally misstated the law? And if the Court said this 68 years ago, doesn't it qualify as 'settled precedent'? Aren't you and all your rivals undermining constitutional law to politically appease the NRA?"
_________
Someone should write in the comments, "Hey, why did you relegate Seder to Sundays?"
remember the long and tough road to the Brady Bill? Jim in his wheelchair and the amazing Sarah Brady spoke at the Dem convention.
Bill Clinton and the Dems fought hard for gun control - and not just that -
give me back the nineties anytime!!! ANYTIME ---
James Wolcott:(please follow the links on JW's post)
"Blame Game Hall of Shame
Sarah Brady, a lifelong Republican whose husband Jim has been confined to a wheelchair since taking a hollowpoint bullet to the head during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981 (he was Reagan's press secretary), is the public face of and driving force behind the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. So when gun violence breaks out on a slaughterhouse scale, a woman who devotes her adult life to preventing gun violence is obviously one of the first guilty parties to hold culpable, if you dwell in the reverse-logic world of the rightwing delusionary, that is. This particular microbe can't even trouble himself to spell her first name right.
Of course, there's a lot of imaginary blame to spread around over the Virginia Tech tragedy--Bill Bennett types are even giving English-lit courses the fishy eye, taking the Culture Wars to new depths of desperation. " http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcott
We've told you about Jeremy Scahill's new book on Blackwater, USA--a powerful private army with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and 20,000 soldiers at the ready. Many other people heard about the book too and it debuted in the #9 slot on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list!
Scahill's reporting in The Nation has exposed Blackwater's role in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans as crucial to the Bush Administration's privatization agenda and has lifted the veil off the tightening relationship between the federal government and unaccountable private contractors.
Tomorrow night, Thursday, April 19, Scahill will discuss his research with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's Daily Show. The show airs nationally at 11:00pm. Check local listings or the network's website for confirmation. ...
Report: FBI raids home of Republican lawmaker Mike Sheehan Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly raided the home of Republican congressmember John Doolittle (R-CA), according to The Hill.
"The FBI searched the Virginia home of [Doolittle] last Friday," write Mike Soraghan and Susan Crabtree, "in its investigation into the ties of the congressman and his wife, Julie, to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources."
RAW STORY reported in November 2005 that the Justice Department, investigating possible influence-peddling by Abramoff, had scrutinized his dealings with Doolittle and other lawmakers.
Presently, Doolittle "has been under fire," continue Soraghan and Crabtree, "for paying his wife's company, Sierra Dominion, a 15 percent commission on all contributions that the company raised for Doolittle's campaign committee and leadership PAC." Two of Abramoff's businesses made up the only other three clients of Doolittle's wife.
Excerpts from the Hill article, available in full at this link, follow...
# Doolittle came within three percentage points of losing his election in November after facing months of scrutiny over his relationship with Abramoff, who is in jail for an array of fraud, bribery and money-laundering charges.
...
Doolittle also received contributions from indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes and his associates, and investigators are probing whether those contributions are linked to any official action Doolittle took to help Wilkes’s company obtain millions of dollars in government earmarks.
Wilkes recently was indicted in connection with his investigation stemming from former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) bribery conviction and jailing.
Murtha: President's Iraq war plan requires draft Michael Roston Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
Rep. John Murtha, a veteran of the U.S. Marines who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, said that President George W. Bush cannot continue to carry out his current war plans in Iraq without starting a draft.
"The president asks the impossible and the burden continues to fall on the very few. The pressure must be taken off the current force and their families who have already sacrificed so much," said Murtha today to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, which he chairs. "If the President insists on continuing the current operational tempo and policy, then he should call for a military draft. That is the responsible thing to do.”
Murtha's full statement, which was sent to RAW STORY, is provided below.
# Murtha calls for responsibility on the part of the President
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman John P. Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following remarks today while discussing Army personnel issues:
“I just returned from visiting three major Army bases: Ft. Hood, Ft. Stewart and Ft. Bragg.
“What I found was that the President’s policy has forced the military to break its own rotation and deployment guidelines. Our forces have had to accelerate training, they have had to train on inadequate and insufficient equipment, and percentages have been deployed a third and fourth time.
Former Reagan Advisor angry Bush 'bankrupted America' RAW STORY Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
Print This Email This
Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett accused President Bush of "bankrupting" America and betraying the Reagan legacy in an interview on PBS's Tavis Smiley Show on Tuesday.
A domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, Bartlett assailed Bush's "big government conservatism" and said he was surprised at Bush's policies, despite his campaign pledge to be a "compassionate conservative."
"In 2000 I thought that was election year rhetoric," said Bartlett. "I didn't think it meant anything. I learned the hard way as a lot of us did what he really meant it when he talked about compassionate conservatism."
When asked how the current President Bush compared to his father, Bartlett responded, "If I didn't know with a certainty they were related, I wouldn't think that they were."
Bartlett also argued that current conservative fiscal rhetoric regarding supply-side economics is outdated. "We have a completely different economic situation, completely different fiscal and tax situation and I think people are still using rhetoric that was appropriate at one time for a situation that in which it is no longer appropriate."
Bartlett was also not optimistic about the remainer of Bush's term.
"I think we are on automatic pilot," said Bartlett. "Very few administrations do much of anything the last year and a half in office. I think the best thing we can hope for is a new president who will take America in a different direction."
FYI - Please see the attached press release announcing a press conference Thursday on Capitol Hill with Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the Progressive States Network and state lawmakers to discuss burgeoning state legislative opposition to President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq.
This press conference precedes the Progressive States Network's gala event in Washington, D.C. Thursday night from 6-8pm featuring Al Franken, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). Media and the public are welcome to the gala event. RSVP to attend the gala at:
For Planning Purposes Only Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 CONTACT: Jim Manley / Rodell Mollineau, Reid, 202-224-2939
FEDERAL, STATE LEGISLATORS OPPOSE PRESIDENT BUSH'S FAILED WAR STRATEGY
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Senate Democrats and state legislators from across the country will hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss their opposition to President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq.
Resolutions and letters calling for a change of course in Iraq have been introduced in 29 states and passed in more than a dozen. These state governing bodies join the majority of Americans, bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress, military experts and the Iraq Study Group in calling for a change course .
WHO:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Senator Ted Kennedy
Hannah Pingree, Majority Leader, Maine House of Representatives
Steve Doherty, former Montana State Senate Minority Leader and co-chair of the Progressive States Network
Hey toniD, I read your post regarding Republicans and Benedictine educated word mongers.
Sad to say (and somewhat rube-like), I immediately thought that Benedictine University might be in Atchison, Kansas. My brother and I attended Camp St. Maur there over several summers during our respective youths.
After further consideration, I thought that I might have displaced my monks into your abbey, so I Googled Benedictine University which is, in fact, in Illinois.
But I was nonplussed. I know that there is a Benedictine college in Atchison because it has the only pipe organ that I have ever played and because I swam naked in its lake waters along with dozens of altar boys. (Insert trite Catholic pedophilia joke here.)
So I Googled myself silly. The school in Atchison is Benedictine College (of LIBERAL arts) and I learned that Brother Gregory is deceased. He was the camp's crafty monk-bro. Somewhere in the ectoplasmatic plastic-weaving othersphere, Brother Gregory is helping Jesus make a lanyard for Mary.
(I hope that she's more appreciative of the knotted wad than my mom was.)
Denedictine University is in Lisle, Il. It's about 15 miles from where I live. I wasn't aware of a Benedictine College outside of this area, but, I guess those Benedictine monks got around.
This Man I was writing about is also a history buff and into old maps. He is doing research of the Indians of this area also. Actually he teaches music and plays several musical instruments. Including the harmonica.
It was a very slow election day so we were able to talk alot.
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL: BUYING THE WAR Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings)
How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?
In this clip from the premiere of BILL MOYERS JOURNAL on PBS, Bob Simon of 60 Minutes, who was based in the Middle East, talks about the reporting he was seeing and reading out of the beltway, and John Walcott and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers (now The McClatchy Company), discuss their work burrowing deep into the intelligence agencies to determine whether there was any evidence for the Bush Administration's case for war. On Wednesday, April 25 at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), watch "Buying the War," a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, which includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of Meet the Press; and Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN.
Two days later on April 27, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL airs at its regular timeslot on Fridays at 9 P.M. with interviews and news analysis of underreported stories across an array of beats, including: the environment, media, politics, the economy, arts and culture, and social issues.
On O'Reilly Factor, Bruce alleged left-wing hit list of conservative media figures
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704170015
On the April 16 edition of his television show, Bill O'Reilly invited Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce to comment on the firing of Don Imus, which, according to O'Reilly, "has metastasized into an ideological witch-hunt by evil forces." Bruce asserted that "small groups of people" are engaged in an "effort" to "silence[]" and "destroy[]" "people who are not intimidated" and that these groups "have a list of individuals that are to be targeted." She said to O'Reilly, "[W]ell, you're on it of course." She continued: "We start with [right-wing pundit Ann] Coulter a few months ago, and it's moved to Imus. And of course, they will move down their list, because we're moving into this election."
Later, when O'Reilly asked how she would respond to those who questioned why liberals would "target Don Imus" since he "was essentially a liberal guy on the radio," Bruce claimed: "There is a civil war going on right now between the far left individual extremists, as you have noted them to be, and the classical liberal basic Democrats." She added: "In order to be able to even go after Republicans eventually, or conservatives, these far left forces need to purge our own House of Democrats like myself who speak the truth and will confront them on what they are. That's why Imus had to be eliminated and that's why they went after him first. And now they'll proceed down their list."
O'Reilly replied: "OK, now there's also a list -- and I don't know whether you're aware of this, but this is what [Fox News host] Sean [Hannity] and I are working on -- of mainstream media people like [New York Times columnist] Frank Rich and others who are used by these far-left websites, fed stuff directly to them." Bruce responded: "Oh yes, I used them." (In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Rich described the ensuing controversy sparked by Imus' comments as a "lynching" and wrote: "I don't think the punishment fits the crime.")
As Media Matters has documented, Bruce is a self-described "openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush progressive feminist." Bruce has equated the election of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee to "putting O.J. Simpson in charge of a battered women's shelter." Additionally, following the resignation of former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Bruce asserted: "All I want, frankly, is a gay person in office who is not a sexual compulsive," as Media Matters noted.
****
I am always just amazed that these people are not hauled away in straight jackets ...
I mean think of it .. if you got a tape of this show and it was not a major network broadcast (and therefore supposedly legitimized in sheeple's minds)...
Would you not think someone had better come take care of these people? It would be the precursor tape to the one that the VaTech gunman sent. The ramblings of madmen and women.
I've been trying to understand how come you've made the decision to change to Lionel .... other than the money/ratings reason. I don't believe Sam was given a chance with the ratings and besides, the ratings haven't come out, yet, have they? It seems Sam was on the rise.
I've said before I'm a social worker in public school but I haven't said what I did before - I was a teacher. I was trained as an elementary teacher, junior high teacher, H.S. history teacher, Special Ed./Emotionally Disturbed, and counselor. I taught H.S. Sp. Ed. for six years and discovered the best way to an adolescent brain was humour/comedy; dry information didn't make it into their brain cells. What you've done by replacing Sam with Lionel is create drywall for those of us (adults and young) who need humour to create knowledge wiring to our brains. Lionel has some humour but it's isoteric while Sam's humour was more landbased, like Colbert's and the Daily Show's, which has shown more people are learning more, and correctly, from them than people are learning less, and incorrectly, from Fox. I've, also, learned not only young people learn better and comprehend better by humour but so do us/adults.
Did you hear Lionel's show Mon./4-16-07? He continually called Mr. Cho, the Virginia Tech killer, "Chinese"? Do you really want someone who continally makes the same mistake over and over and over and over again?
Please change your mind/direction and bring Sam Seder back.
Did you replace Sam Seder with the NRA? Is the NRA participating in AAR? Is it a corporate sponsor? Secretively? Through Lionel?
This is the website for Lionel's Tuesday's show/4-17-07 podcast and to the best of my knowledge, he is the only AAR host who seems to support the NRA's philosophy: http://wor710.com/pages/46363.php Wow! AAR is on a new path and direction for sure.
On Monday/4-16-07 night's show, Lionel calls Cho Chinese, over and over again and never corrects himself. The following night, he walks/talks the NRA line while eating some kind of chocolate chicken. I remember Al's partner, I can't remember her name, who scolded him when he had eaten on a break but hadn't finished eating before he got back live on the radio. She said it was a big "NO-NO" in radio (and probably TV, too!).
Men ..... please, bring back Sam Seder to his rightly place on AAR. Don't you understand the brightest intellectuals are political humourists?
RNC To Waxman: We’ll Only Show You The Emails We Want You To See In a new letter to the Republican National Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman writes that the RNC has provided only minimal information regarding White House officials’ use of RNC e-mail accounts. The purpose of Waxman’s inquiry was in part to determine the extent that White House staff used “non-governmental e-mail accounts to conduct official government business.”
In the new letter, Waxman reveals that the RNC’s response thus far has been to propose that any Congressional requests for emails be filtered through “eight search terms, such as ‘political briefing,’ ‘Hatch Act,’ and ‘2008.’” Waxman notes that these proposed search terms would not have produced the RNC email that transmitted a copy of Karl Rove’s Powerpoint slides that were presented at a General Services Administration meeting. That e-mail read: “Please do not email this out or let people see it. It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”
Waxman says that before Congress can agree to the RNC’s proposed “search terms,” the RNC must provide basic information about the extent their email accounts have been used to transact government business:
Police say student had 2 assault rifles, ammunition
Fernando Diaz Staff writer A Rochester Institute of Technology student was arrested and suspended from classes after authorities discovered he had two assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition a day after the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
Jonathan Hackenburg, a 22-year-old engineering senior from Hackettstown, N.J., told Monroe County sheriff's deputies and campus safety officials he had a valid federal firearms license and purchased the weapons, a STAG-15 and another model similar to that used by U.S. military personnel, in his home state.
Deputies recovered the rifles, which Hackenburg said he had just assembled, from his dorm room but did not find ammunition there, said RIT spokesman Robert Finnerty. Deputies later found more than 200 rounds of ammunition and four, 30-round magazines in his car, according to the Sheriff's Office.
"Thankfully it was resolved without incident," said Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn, adding that Hackenburg did not appear to have threatened using the weapons. He also told investigators he was a gun collector who spent time rebuilding firearms.
A university employee heard a suspicious sound at the RIT Inn and Conference Center on West Henrietta Road and alerted campus safety officials about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Finnerty said. Hackenburg admitted possessing the weapons after he was questioned.
Hackenburg was arraigned on two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm, both felonies, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, for having the rifles on school property. It is illegal to possess firearms on school grounds in New York. It is also illegal to possess assault rifles here, said O'Flynn.
"There's a reason these laws are in place."
Students, faculty and staff were notified of the arrest Tuesday evening, according to Finnerty, who also commended the university employee for alerting authorities.
Unimpeachable, that's what you are Unimpeachable, regardless of war Like the lost sense of democracy And the thought of all those atrocities Never before has someone been more
Unimpeachable in every way And forever more, that's how you'll stay Congress says no, unbelievable Guess that makes them also culpable They think we are so forgettable too
Unimpeachable in every way And forever more, that's how you'll stay Congress says no, it's incredible That someone so unimpeachable Thinks that we are so forgettable too
Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors Cannabis Compound Slows Cancer Spread In Mice, Researchers Say
(WebMD) Cannabis may be bad for the lungs, but the active ingredient in marijuana may help combat lung cancer, new research suggests.
In lab and mouse studies, the compound, known as THC, cut lung tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from spreading, says Anju Preet, PhD, a Harvard University researcher in Boston who tested the chemical.
While a lot more work needs to be done, the results suggest THC has therapeutic potential, she tells WebMD.
Moreover, other early research suggests the cannabis compound could help fight brain, prostate, and skin cancers as well, Preet says.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The finding builds on the recent discovery of the body's own cannabinoid system, Preet says. Known as endocannabinoids, the natural cannabinoids stimulate appetite and control pain and inflammation.
THC seeks out, attaches to, and activates two specific endocannabinoids that are present in high amounts on lung cancer cells, Preet says. This revs up their natural anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation can promote the growth and spread of cancer.
In the new study, the researchers first demonstrated that THC inhibited the growth and spread of cells from two different lung cancer cell lines and from patient lung tumors. Then, they injected THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells. After three weeks, tumors shrank by about 50 percent, compared with tumors in untreated mice.
Preet notes that animals injected with THC seem to get high, showing signs of clumsiness and getting the munchies. You would expect to see the same thing in humans, so if this work does pan out, getting the dose right is going to be all important, she says.
Borges's narrator describes how his universe consists of an endless expanse of interlocking hexagonal rooms, each of which contains the bare necessities for human survival—and four walls of bookshelves. Though the order and content of the books is random and apparently completely meaningless, the inhabitants believe that the books contain every possible ordering of just a few basic characters (letters, spaces and punctuation marks). Though the majority of the books in this universe are pure gibberish, the library also must contain, somewhere, every coherent book ever written, or that might ever be written, and every possible permutation or slightly erroneous version of every one of those books. The narrator notes that the library must contain all useful information, including predictions of the future, biographies of any person, and translations of every book in all languages. Conversely, for any given text some language could be devised that would make it readable with any of an infinite number of different contents.
Despite — indeed, because of — this glut of information, all books are totally useless to the reader, leaving the librarians in a state of suicidal despair. However, Borges speculates on the existence of the "Crimson Hexagon", containing a book that contains the truth of all the other books; the librarian who reads it is akin to God.
Inside the mind of a mass murderer Questions about Cho's mental state deepen as 2005 court papers reveal concerns about his mental health, and pictures of him before his rampage are released. One bears a striking resemblance to a Korean film.
An epiphany hit me today while meditating. Jazz is the perfect metaphor for how I want to live my life. For a long time now my life has resembled noise more than music. But I mean "Noise" in the sense of an actual genre. There are noise artists who create ambient and experimental soundscapes; kind of like the aural equivalent to abstract expressionist art. So my life has been totally unstructured, chaotic, and experimental. I've had nothing to anchor me. It's really thrilling and exciting in one sense, but it also can be really scary and make me feel really vulnerable. And I've decided that I'm way too libertarian to get in touch with my inner Nazi and seek to exert total control over my life, because I love the episodic euphoria and creativity that comes with chaos. I mean, the opposite to noise might be Western classical music: everything is totally structured and planned out, right down to the last "ding" of a triangle. It is about perfection and refinement. Beautiful but predictable. There is no room for flair or creativity. Classical musicians just follow scripts, but do not create their own. Now, that brings me to jazz. The beautiful thing about jazz is that it floats between order and chaos, between the kind of experimentality and adventurism of noise art, and the kind of structure found in classical music. The concept of jazz is this: there is an underlying structure and base rythym, and this is the base upon which improvisation and flair is laid upon. I suppose it's the same with freestyle hip-hop. It's a beautiful dance between order and chaos, and both come to coexist to produce a music that is unique in this world. Every performance will be different, yet familiar. Jazz resides musically on the edge of chaos: that region between total order and totally unmitigated disorder. It adeptly walks that mountain ridge, avoiding slipping down either slope. And it is on that ridge where the best views are. And so this is the perfect metaphor for the life I want to live. I want to retain the advantages of being chaotic, creative, spontaneous and unstructured, but it would also be great to have some kind of existential anchor in life; a feeling of home, of strong friendships, healthy relationships, and a metaphysical sense of place in the universe. The universe itself operates according to the jazz principle. Perhaps this is what Henry Miller meant when he said that "Chaos is the score upon which reality is written". Living our lives as jazz can surely situate and harmonise us within that cosmic dance. That's where I want to be. Who wants to come along for the ride?
Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants? by John Aravosis (DC) · 4/18/2007 02:39:00 PM ET
Guess what? They do. From ABC News, regarding the VA Tech shooter: Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search. We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants? And in fact, the article suggests that this isn't just a database of patients who use anti-depressants, it's a federal database of every prescription drug you've ever bought.
What exactly do the Bushies do with that list? And what other lists do they have of which medications you've ever taken?
Reid To Bush: If You Come After Us, We'll Hit Back Every Bit As Aggressively By Greg Sargent | bio Okay, here's some color from inside the meeting today at the White House between President Bush and Congressional leaders about what to do to resolve the impasse over Iraq.
A source familiar with the meeting -- at which no compromise of any kind was reached, though Speaker Nancy Pelosi said publicly today that it had been "productive" -- shares a few interesting tidbits. First, the source says, Bush bristled and was taken aback when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared the current situation to Vietnam; he also appeared irked by those who said the war couldn't be won.
Second, according to the source, Reid told Bush that he understood that the White House would come after Congressional Dems after the veto of the bill with everything they had; Reid vowed to respond every bit as aggressively.
"Reid talked about a recent conversation he had with a retired general where they talked about the similarities between the current situation and Vietnam," the source relates. "He talked about how the President and Secretary of Defense [during Vietnam] knew that the war was lost but continued to press on at the cost of thousands of additional lives lost."
"The analogy to Vietnam appeared to touch a nerve with the President. He appeared a little sensitive to it," the source continued. "And he clearly didn't like to hear people in the room say that the war couldn't be won militarily."
More: "Reid made it clear to the President that he understood that the President and Vice President after the veto would come after him and Speaker Pelosi with everything they have. Reid said that he and Pelosi would respond just as aggressively. He said he was convinced that they were on the right side of the issue."
SJ - Here are additional websites concerning the post you made earlier. Apparently, the principal needs a vacation and the law enforcement and prosecutor need a lawsuit for “false arrest.”
The alleged “criminal” is a star athlete, honor student and student council leader according to The Pittsburgh Channel. Why the principal would just assume the child would jeopardize all of his achievements suggests to me she is nearing a breakdown or his behavior record is confidential.
Guess I always give educators and education administrators the benefit of the doubt since someone very close to me is a vice principal for a middle school, and I have worked and volunteered in the public educational system for awhile, giving me insight to the depth of commitment of all of those working in it no matter their role.
For most who work in the public school system, it’s a vocation because they certainly don’t get paid for what their efforts and devotion are worth and for what they must endure as a result of either ineffective or under-funded/under-staffed policies. Too often they are dumped on by societal conditions or unfounded policies, taken for granted, subjected to undue criticism for political sake, harmed by the few bad “apples,” and ignored until someone needs something.
When I do spend time in a classroom, it only takes a couple of hours before I start thinking about quiet solitude. I am sure toniD knows what I am talking about. It was probably a teacher who coined the phrase, “Silence is Golden.”
Regardless of their family’s socio-economic status, more and more children are neglected resulting in various behavioral issues. Parents for the most part are supportive but overworked and can’t put in the hours for parenting much less volunteering at school. Studies show that the more parental involvement the better the school and the children do.
Apparently, bomb threats are a common occurrence for schools nowadays although national stats aren‘t kept. So imagine the stress of keeping children safe, attending to their nutritional, psychological, medical and other special needs and, oh yea, teaching them too.
Ummm ... the clock ate my alibi Teen blames daylight-saving for threat arrest as school clock fingers him http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953572/
Daylight Saving Time To Blame For School's Bomb Threat Mixup http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/11512755/detail.html
FAIRNESS IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE IN PENNSYLVANIA: A GUIDE FOR ATTORNEYS AND ADVOCATES WHO REPRESENT STUDENTS www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads/english/dsc-Fairness%20in%20Discipline%20manual%209-061.pdf
“Additionally, in reviewing school safety or anti-terrorism policies, or in advising regarding the treatment of a student who may have made threats or acted suspiciously, attorneys must be mindful of a student’s constitutional due process rights…While schools and school administrators generally benefit from local governmental immunities, and will not be subject to civil liability in various circumstances unless their actions were wanton or willful, defending these lawsuits will be costly for the school district.” http://www.isba.org/Sections/sept04Nsltr.htm
From the Department of Justice http://www.popcenter.org/problems/problem-bomb_threats.htm
farmers market this year, me bringing up the crop freeze and bees, her wondering how the new location will work out.
have the Mason orchard bees ready to hatch and positioned at the bottom of their new Bee condo so when they pop out they have a selection of nest sites to set up in.
the horse pix are millions of years of beautiful personafied and about as springtimish as it gets.
Man’s Best Friend Buried at Sea Story Number: NNS061204-17 12/4/2006
http://www.uswardogs.org/id44.html
(bottom of page article)
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Peter D. Lawlor, USS Blue Ridge Public Affairs
USS BLUE RIDGE, At Sea (NNS) -- Master-at-arms dog handlers from Yokosuka Naval Base ceremoniously paid their last respects to three of their working dog partners during a burial at sea service Dec. 2 aboard USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19).
Burials at sea are an age-old tradition in the Navy, but this ceremony was the first of its kind on Blue Ridge involving three military working dogs, Art, Max and Connor.
The dogs were memorialized with the same respect that any Sailor would receive after a career of honorable service to his country.
Mine was..now it's all mostly the new green leaves....a friend of mine bought real bananna fruit trees, had them shipped from Florida...that would be cool...
Patton's pretty cool, but I'm really excited to see Dan. I've been interested in his music for a while now. Pigeon John, who I'm unfamiliar with, will also be there.
Just saw Amiina again, and after Air, I think RJD2 is next, some time in May.
President Bush, who signed the law in 2003 and appointed two of the justices who upheld it, said the prohibition "represents a commitment to building a culture of life in America."
In a related story, Bush met with his advisors to review how many troops would be needed for the war on terror, expected to last well into the future.
looks like its gonna be a rough day in the markets. hang onto your 401k's...
from marketwatch:
The east runs red hot - Investors spooked globally as China's GDP soars 11.1% in first quarter
Mainland's gross domestic product expanded at a torrid pace to start 2007, outpacing forecasts and renewing fears that the country's central bank will have to raise interest rates in short order to curb growth.
INDICATIONS - Dark clouds over Wall Street.
Judging from how weak futures are, stocks look ready to reprise a downdraft akin to swoon touched off by China jitters in late February.
Australia's Latest Export To United States : Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers
This is surely one of the most bizarre government policy announcements in years. Few on the Left or the Right can seem to comprehend WTF it's all about.
Here's the short version : The Howard government and the Bush administration have reached a deal which will see dozens of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, currently held on Nauru Island off the coast of Australia, packed off to the United States, where, presumably, they will eventually be given green cards and allowed to settle.
In exchange, the Bush administration gets to free up some space in Guantanamo Bay by sending hundreds of asylum seekers from Haiti and Cuba to Australian shores.
Here's Australian immigration minister, Kevin Andrews :
"This arrangement will ensure the integrity of the international system of protection and the integrity of Australia's borders is maintained, by providing protection to those who need it. It also sends a strong deterrence message to people smugglers."
It does? How? By allowing people smugglers to raise their prices because they can now say, "Hey, we'll get you near Australia, then you get to go to America!"
Have the senior ranks of the Howard government been sitting around licking cane toads?
Some sanity :
...refugee advocates have called the Mutual Assistance Arrangement, signed in Washington last week, a "bizarre refugee swap" and questioned the motives of the US Government.
And perspective :
The agreement will hose down fears in the lead-up to the election that asylum seekers could be cast into indefinite exile on Nauru. These include the 82 Sri Lankans who were intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island earlier this year. "It points to the human rights credit of Australia that the only country that will assist us is a country with whom we are in the coalition of the willing," said Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. "It's shocking. My other concern is what does America expect of Australia in return for taking our refugees? The Yanks don't do anything for nothing."
The whole thing is like a a pitch for some new demented reality TV show : "We follow desperate asylum seekers from South East Asia all the way to Australia. But here's the twist. They won't get into Australia. Instead, they will be stuffed onto a plane for a mystery flight, all the way to the USA! Wait till you see the looks on their faces!"
Naturally, there's a political angle for John Howard, who's never been afraid to use the poorest and most desperate of people as bargaining chips and publicity footballs. Problem is, nobody seems to be quite sure just what that political angle will be.
“A deputy to Paul Wolfowitz urged the World Bank chief on Wednesday to resign in the interests of the institution during a meeting of the bank’s management, sources who participated in the meeting said… World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler, a bank veteran named by Wolfowitz as one of his two deputies a year ago, raised the issue at a meeting of the bank’s vice presidents. … Wheeler…is widely respected in the institution.”
I have been watching the coverage of the V-Tech murders. By the time it is over, we will know about each person that has died, almost intimately. What a great loss their deaths have been. This whole thing has been a horrid tragedy.
But another tragedy are the deaths of our troops in Iraq that for awhile we could not even see the flag covered caskets returning here, let alone know about each of them and what a great loss their lives are.
And the Iraqis that have died in the war and what a great loss their lives are. Who knows, there might have been someone kelled in Iraq that would have been a great leader for that country.
All these deaths are a loss. It's just that V-Tech is closer.
I think it is all a tragedy and it is all caused by insane people.
Bush Brings Iraq ‘Death And Destruction’ Tour To Local High Schools Increasingly desperate, and facing broad public opposition, Bush used his last Iraq speech on Monday to stir up fear with repeated references to September 11 and dark visions of “death and destruction…here in America” if U.S. troops were to withdraw.
Now Bush is taking his show on the road. Bush will speak about Iraq tomorrow at Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, OH, to “local businessmen and students who take an advanced government class.” On Friday, Bush heads to East Grand Rapids High School in Michigan “to deliver what the White House calls a ‘major policy speech‘ on the War in Iraq.”
His message to teenagers: fear for your lives. The Detroit News reports:
White House spokesman Alex Conant said Bush will tell the audience that “the consequences of failure in Iraq would be death and destruction in the Middle East and here in America.”
Of course, Bush shouldn’t expect a particularly sympathetic audience. Even as far back as 2000, reporters noted, “Most of his high school stops have been larger rallies, shielding Bush from the often-hostile high school audiences. Nobody in the campaign could remember the last time Bush took questions from high schoolers.”
Times haven’t changed. “Some East Grand Rapids students plan to wear black on Friday in their own form of protest.”
toniD, somewhere i read that for the tipp city speech, the setting will be the high school, but the audience will be preselected with a majority of the kids watching on a closed circuit feed. i suppose the only thing missing will be troops to stand on stage behind president custer.
Iraq plans to control whole nation by end 2007: Maliki Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:43AM EDT
AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq plans to take security control of all its provinces from foreign forces before the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech read out by a senior official on Wednesday.
Maliki is under growing pressure from powerful anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie at a ceremony marking the handover of southern Maysan province from British forces to Iraqi control, Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next.
"Maysan ... will be followed by the three Kurdistan provinces, a month from now," Maliki said.
"After that Kerbala and Wasit (provinces). Then it will be province by province until we achieve (this transfer) before the end of the year."
The transfer of Maysan means four of the country's 18 provinces are now under Iraq's security control.
Sadr withdrew six ministers from his political movement from Maliki's government on Monday to press his demand for a timetable for the pullout of American troops.
Maliki has repeatedly said U.S. troops would leave Iraq only when Iraqi forces were ready to take over security.
blah blah blah said... toniD, somewhere i read that for the tipp city speech, the setting will be the high school, but the audience will be preselected with a majority of the kids watching on a closed circuit feed. i suppose the only thing missing will be troops to stand on stage behind president custer.
Loophole Let Wal-Mart Evade $2.3B in Taxes* by Michelle Chen *A correction was appended to this news report after initial publication. Apr. 18 – Accusing a retail giant of wriggling out of over $2 billion in taxes, a watchdog group is pointing to a loophole in certain states that lets huge companies pay rent to themselves.
According to a new analysis of corporate and state financial data, from fiscal years 1999 to 2005, Wal-Mart paid some $2.4 billion in state income taxes, out of $77.4 billion in overall profits. But watchdog groups estimate the company would have owed about $2.3 billion more under state tax rates – calculated at about 6 percent of profits nationwide – suggesting Wal-Mart somehow shrugged off about half of its tax burden.
The report, released by the taxpayer-advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the labor coalition Change to Win, attributes part of the tax gap to real-estate investment trusts (REIT). These trusts enable Wal-Mart and other multi-state companies to funnel money into a fund designated for property investments.
The REIT system has enabled Wal-Mart to effectively double as both landlord and tenant, recycling real-estate funds to itself and then deducting that cost from its tax bill. Court documents recently published by the Wall Street Journal show that Wal-Mart has used the REIT structure to set up the Delaware-based Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust, which is run by Wal-Mart employees.
According to CTJ's sister organization Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 20 states, including California and Illinois, have moved to close the REIT loophole by adopting so-called "combined reporting" laws. These policies require the incomes of a parent company and subsidiaries to be reported together, blocking companies from concealing profits held out of state.
Though unable to yield detailed figures for Wal-Mart's taxes in each state, CTJ did obtain payment data for Wisconsin, which allows tax-sheltering through REITs. Payments from fiscal years 2000 to 2003 amounted to $3 million, or about a third of one percent of Wal-Mart's revenues in the state, while the standard state-tax rate was nearly 8 percent. CTJ argues that Wal-Mart's ability to escape 96 percent of the taxes it would ordinarily have had to pay is tied to Wisconsin's looser reporting requirements.
But to Wal-Mart, the CTJ report describes a legal, widespread use of state tax codes and merely reflects anti-Wal-Mart sentiment among some unions. Company spokesperson John Simley told The NewStandard that to suggest that the company is abusing REITs is "analogous to saying that a person filing their own tax return should not take the deductions that are allowed to them."
Video Diary: Mentally F'ed Up Digg this story! E-mail this Print this Adel, Hometown Baghdad, 19 April 2007
Recently a series of short documentaries made by Iraqis and filmed in Iraq began appearing on a website called Hometown Baghdad. When the web documentary project is completed, there will be 45 'webisodes', each one presenting something rarely captured in the blur of daily headlines about Iraq: humanity. Electronic Iraq will be posting Hometown Baghdad episodes daily with our other Iraq Diaries. If you want to learn more about this invaluable project, visit the Hometown Baghdad website.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2988.shtml
---
http://hometownbaghdad.com/page/2/
A note from our Iraqi producer April 3rd, 2007
We are overwhelmed by the positive response to Hometown Baghdad. Every note and every positive press mention that we receive shows us that not only did our participants want to speak to the world but that the world wanted to hear what they had to say. And the conversations that have sprung up in the blog’s comments, both argumentative and friendly, tell us that we need dialogue and understanding.
I want to post this note that we received from our Iraqi producer Fady after I sent him one particularly nice feedback letter. He writes:
Dear all -
I am extremely moved and inspired by all the warm feedback that we are getting on several blogs and websites. It is giving me energy and strength to bear the nightmares that I am living and the ones I dream of at night. It was an honor for me to help in bringing out these messages from Baghdad to the outer world, despite of all the dangers we face everyday. Thank you, Mike, for keep sending me the feedback.
Public Broadcaster Pulls TV Documentary on Islamism
Khody Akhavi Apr 18
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has dropped a documentary film purporting to show the struggles of U.S. "moderate" Muslims against Islamic extremists from a television series airing this week on more than 300 U.S. public television stations.
No sooner had PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) excluded "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Centre" from the series "America at a Crossroads" than the film's producers accused the station of suppressing their views as part of "an ideological vendetta."
"This is a well-documented, textbook case of the abuse of taxpayer funding by elements in the public broadcasting system to advocate their agenda and ensure that people who have a different agenda don't get on the air," said Frank Gaffney, one of the film's producers, as quoted in the conservative Washington Times. "The public ought to be allowed to see a film which PBS doesn't want them to see."
The Committee is starting on Gonzales if you want to watch, it's on c-span now and will go to c-span 3 when the House is in session. Or you can stream from the c-span site.
Gonzales talked to Bush, Rove and Domenici about David Iglesias. Will he remember any of that today? by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/19/2007 08:28:00 AM ET
Today's the big day for Gonzales: Investigators have already determined that Mr. Gonzales spoke directly three times with Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, about his complaints regarding David C. Iglesias, the states former top federal prosecutor.
Administration officials have confirmed that Mr. Gonzales also spoke with President Bush and Karl Rove, the presidents chief political adviser, about the perceived lack of enthusiasm in Mr. Iglesiass office, among others, for prosecuting voting fraud cases, a top Republican Party priority. And investigators know that Mr. Iglesiass name was among the last to be added to the ouster list.
On what precise date, why and by whom was Mr. Iglesias placed on the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired? asked Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, in a list of questions he has presented to Mr. Gonzales.
Judiciary Committee staff members said Wednesday that given the repeated instances in which Mr. Gonzales was directly involved in discussions related to Mr. Iglesias, it might be hard for the attorney general to refuse to testify about these discussions or any follow-up conversations or to deny any recollection of them. It would be hard for an honest person. Might not be that hard for a liar.
78: Percentage of Americans who believe immigrants now in the U.S. illegally should be given a chance at citizenship, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll, showing “the American public appears to have reached a consensus on the question.”
Senate conservatives “blocked legislation yesterday that would have allowed the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices.” Eighty-five percent of Americans support such negotiations.
“For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates. … On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division’s Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans.”
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) said “no, nope, no way, hell no” Tuesday to helping create the first national identifcation cards, signing into law a bill that blocks the state from complying with the REAL ID Act.
“Congressional Democratic leaders are moving to make their proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq ‘advisory’ as they seek to reconcile two versions of war spending legislation into a single bill that they plan to pass next week, according to several House members.”
Hell Hath No Fury Like Sens. Reid's and Rockefeller's By SusanUnPC
Mr. President, let's call it the way it is. Vice President Cheney runs the intelligence operations of this administration. He has for 6 years. It apparently is not going to stop. We could not even improve the intelligence-gathering operations for the 16 agencies because it may interfere with the Vice President. -- Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, about the GOP's failure to keep its bargain reached in consultation with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence minority chair, Sen. Kit Bond. (This was while America's television sets were held hostage by President Bush who was exploiting tragedy praying and pontificating reaching out to VTech students.)
I should tell you what Sens. Reid and Rockefeller are so furious about, shouldn't I. It's not like you would have heard a single word about it on any news network, is it? (And, below, why Victoria Toensing's freaky hard-core red Shear-Madness-cut hair must be standing on end!)
Continue reading "Hell Hath No Fury Like Sens. Reid's and Rockefeller's"
Besides the repetitious one-story format of cable news since yesterday -- from which I'm doing all I can to escape -- there's cable news's failure to ask some questions:
"Bush is going to attend services for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting today. When was the last time Bush did that for the troops? Oh, right, never!," writes Leslie below.
Bush has ordered the nation's flags flown at half-staff until Sunday. Did Bush order flags lowered after Katrina's devastation and the deaths of hundreds of people?
It was astonishing to watch news reporters rabidly attack Virginia Tech's president and chief of police. Why don't news reporters regularly attack Bush and Cheney like that?
Sheldon Drobny nails the simplicity of the Virginia Tech tragedy: "[In the case of the] University of Texas massacre in the 1960s ... the assassin was suffering from a tumor in his brain. The Virginia Tech assassin surely had a brain disease of some kind. That is all you need to know."
Continue reading "Sounding Off: CNNMSNBCFAUX's One-Story Drone" » LINK
How Many Dead Equal Failed Government? by Larry C Johnson
What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon.
We cannot say the same about events in Baghdad and Iraq. Just today four separate car bombs in and around Baghdad teft at least 160 Iraqis--mostly Shia--dead. Yesterday, Tuesday, at least 85 bodies turned up and there were more bombings. Monday was not much better--thirty corpses and at least twenty killed in bombings. Sixty nine plus on Sunday. And the beat goes on.
Think about those numbers in relationship to the anger expressed by the public and press because Virginia Tech University officials failed to prevent Monday's massacre. What would we be saying if another shooter showed up at Virginia Tech on Tuesday and killed 20 more students and another shooter bagged an additional 40 on Wednesday? The President of the University would be lynched, the students would arm themselves, and the police would lose any pretense of control. Why do we think Iraqi Shias and Sunnis should react differently then we would?
Continue reading "How Many Dead Equal Failed Government
ABC Psychiatrist: "If You Can Take Imus Off The Air, You Can Certainly Keep [Cho] From Having His Own Morning Show" ABC News | April 19, 2007 08:48 AM
The videos of Seung-hui Cho, the man who fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech on Monday and then killed himself, shouldn't have been released because they don't offer the public any greater understanding of the gruesome crime, said Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and ABC News consultant, on "Good Morning America" today.
"If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the Internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube," Welner said. "This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe."
it was an different link toni, yours are always reliable and thanks again, I new that sounded great white sharky.
----
Hey Jim! suns finally out and i got the day off . gonna advertise for this show we're going to do next week where we're improvising a score to the film version of Slaughterhouse 5 at this great bookstore. hopefully we'll be able to webcast the audio, but we're still working out the kinks on the site.
We Are Getting Tired of Prying Your Guns out of Your Cold Dead Hand 04.18.2007 Elayne Boosler
3,300 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last four years. 120,000 Americans have been shot to death in America in the last four years. Where is the outrage?
McCain Sings: "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran," At Campaign Stop Georgetown Times | Scott Harper | April 19, 2007 10:30 AM
with getting proper medical treatment when it's needed, it makes it hard to recruit, McCain said. Another man -- wondering if an attack on Iran is in the works -- wanted to know when America is going to "send an air mail message to Tehran."
McCain began his answer by changing the words to a popular Beach Boys song. "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," he sang to the tune of Barbara Ann. "Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. That alone should concern us but now they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support the President when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel."
california community is trying to stop Blackwater Mercenaries from building "Blackwater West"
main objections pretty well covered on Amy Goodmans Democracy Now webcast.
Lack of accountability, huge amonts in goverment contracts, hook ups with major rightwing loonie fundamentalist "religious movements", Scwartznegers police state plans and crooked lobbyists being installed as california goverment controllers etc.
Schumer: ‘We Will Get To The Bottom Of This While Bush Is Still President’ » In advance of today’s hearings with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned the White House that it cannot avoid congressional oversight by using executive privilege to run out the clock.
“When privilege has been claimed in these kinds of cases, it has taken months not years” to resolve, Schumer said at a press conference. “So those in the White House who think that they can somehow sort of outlast this, as the courts debate privilege, I think are mistaken. We will get to the bottom of this while President Bush is still president.” Watch it:
Blogger and video journalist Josh Wolf is in U.S. prison for refusing to turn over video footage of a protest that he taped in 2005. Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson are preparing to do a moot court trial of the Josh Wolf case on Berkman Island in Second Life. The lawyers in this trial will be students from Harvard Law School, and Professor Nesson will be the judge. Second Life citizens will act as mock jurors for the trial. The trial will be held April 22nd from 1-3pm SLT (Pacific) on Harvard’s Berkman Island at Berkman (136, 240, 25), and is open to the public.
... 1. - To name this integration effort by member states as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
2. - To establish the creation of an Energy Council, with the mission of presenting a proposal on the matter for the 3rd Summit of South American Nations. The Council will be comprised of the energy ministers of each country, who will base their work on the principle that energy integration should be utilized as an important tool for promoting social and economic development, as well as eradicating poverty.
3. - To designate a Permanent Secretariat that will have its offices near the Mitad del Mundo Monument in Quito, Ecuador.
4. – To entrust the foreign ministers with designating the Permanent Secretary and transforming the High-Ranking Officials Commission into a council of delegates or a political commission charged with drawing up a draft agreement for the UNASUR constitution.
Another of these proposals —which in and of themselves, according to analysts and commentators, made the regional meeting worthwhile — was to create a South American Energy Treaty, with the goal of having, in the near future, a tool for the cohesion of a system of production, distribution and supply of guaranteed energy for the continent’s peoples, according to President Chávez. ...
The FBI has raided the home of Republican Congresman John Doolittle of California and his wife Julie. The couple has been closely tied to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Agents seized computers and documents.
Congressman Doolittle said the raid targeted his wife's consulting business. Abramoff hired Julie Doolittle's firm to raise funds for a charity he founded.
(AP) St. Paul The Ramsey County sheriff has prepared a $4.4 million budget for security during the 2008 Republican National Convention, with a plan to handle the arrests of as many as 3,000 protesters.
Sheriff Bob Fletcher's proposal includes money for a possible open-air, fenced detention facility next to the county workhouse, riot equipment and Tasers, and $1.7 million for officers' overtime.
Boston and New York City, which hosted the national political conventions in 2004, prepared for similar numbers of arrests but wound up arresting fewer. Fletcher said things could be different in 2008.
"The tenor of the country's feelings about the war in Iraq is different than it was four years ago," Fletcher said.
Planning for 3,000 arrests drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union in Minnesota. Charles Samuelson, the group's executive director, said he was concerned that the number might be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
St. Paul police Commander Joe Neuberger rejected that. Ramsey County simply needed a number to start with, he said.
Specter Dresses Down Gonzales: ‘I Don’t Think You’re Going To Win A Debate About Your Preparation’ Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said today that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ opening testimony continued “a pattern of not being candid.” Specter proceeded to ask the Attorney General to resolve his contradictory statements, noting that he should be able to answer them since he has spent weeks preparing.
Gonzales interjected, “I prepare for every hearing, Senator.” A livid Specter responded, “Do you prepare for all your press conferences? Were you prepared for the press conference where you said there weren’t any discussions involving you?”
Gonzales, put on the defensive, conceded, “Senator, I already said I misspoke. It was my mistake.” When Specter pressed about the specific question of whether he prepares for press conferences, Gonzales said “we do take time to try to prepare for the press conference.”
“Let’s move on,” Specter said. “I don’t think you’re not going to win a debate about your preparation, frankly.” Gonzales chuckled. Watch it:
Anti-war network sits in at Sen. Kohl’s office through the night
After walking out of their classes at 1 p.m. Wednesday in protest of the war in Iraq and rallying students down State Street, more than 40 members of UW-Madison’s Campus Anti-war Network staged an all-night sit-in at U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s, D-Wis., Madison office.
The protesters insisted the senator return to Wisconsin to meet with the group and hear its demands regarding the war in Iraq.
Filing into Kohl’s 14 W. Mifflin St. office, drumming and chanting anti-war slogans, CAN members spoke via telephone to eminent progressive historian Howard Zinn and antiwar sports columnist Dave Zirin.
Zinn offered words of encouragement to CAN members, stressing Congress is “provoking chaos, they’re provoking chaos and war.”
Arriving at Kohl’s office at approximately 2 p.m., armed with six demands to halt Kohl’s voting for continued funding of the war in Iraq, CAN members met opposition in the form of office staff and U.S. Department of Homeland Security police officers.
Gonzales: You Know Better Than I Do By Paul Kiel - April 19, 2007, 10:55 AM There was a revealing moment during the questioning by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). When pressed on the process of removing the U.S. attorneys and what Gonzales knew about it, Gonzales replied that since the judiciary committees had been interviewing all of Gonzales' aides, that investigators now know more about the firings that Gonzales does.
Kennedy also pressed on whether Gonzales had ever done an evaluation about whether the firings would affect certain ongoing prosecutions. Gonzales replied no, because the assistant U.S. attorneys in the offices are really the ones who handle the cases -- the U.S. attorneys are important, he allowed, but "this institution is built to sustain change." It doesn't matter all that much, who's in charge, apparently.
An interesting thing to keep in mind regarding hearing like this, the Libby case and Karl Rove's involvement in just about everything:
Plausible deniability is the term given to the creation of loose and informal chains of command in governments and other large organizations. In the case that assassinations, false flag or black ops or any other illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any connection to or awareness of such act, or the agents used to carry out such act.
Gonzales on Iglesias Firing By Paul Kiel - April 19, 2007, 10:26 AM Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) was fast out of the gate, jumping right in with questions about the firing of David Iglesias.
Despite Gonzales' foggy recollections, some significant details emerged.
Gonzales could not recall details about his conversation with Karl Rove about voter fraud, although he testified that he did have such a conversation. He said that it covered three jurisdictions -- New Mexico, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. He could not recall when or where or how it had occurred, only that it was in the fall of 2006.
He pinpointed the date of his conversation with President Bush about those same three jurisdictions as happening on October 11.
He also revealed that, when he spoke with Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) in the fall of 2005 about David Iglesias, that Domenici said that Iglesias "was in over his head." Domenici was concerned that Iglesias didn't have personnel for public corruption cases. Domenici never requested that Iglesias be removed, Gonzales said -- he just questioned whether Iglesias was capable.
When pressed by Leahy, Gonzales could not say precisely why Iglesias was fired, nor when Iglesias' name appeared on the list.
The Daily Muck By Will Thomas - April 19, 2007, 9:22 AM RNC and Waxman Battle Over Right to Emails "In a new letter to the Republican National Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman writes that the RNC has provided only minimal information regarding White House officials’ use of RNC e-mail accounts. Waxman reveals that the RNC’s response thus far has been to propose that any Congressional requests for emails be filtered through eight search terms, such as ‘political briefing,’ ‘Hatch Act,’ and ‘2008.’” (Think Progress) Meanwhile, the RNC maintains that they want to work with Congress, but refuse to make available their entire database. "We are drawing a line in the sand on this," said a party executive. "For the first time, we are saying that we are not going to put up with this." (USNews)
Its funny. didn't Sam always talk about the hard time he had getting rid of Majority Report Merch (mousepads, mugs) etc... Its cool how people are actually willing to bid on mugs now. his stock has skyrocketed. i still think he should just have a crazy firesale so he can empty his garage.
Ooh, I love to dance the little sidestep / Now they see me, now they don't / I've come and gone / And ooh, I love to sweep around a wide step / Cut a little swath / And lead the people on!
On Saturday, April 28th, tens of thousands of Americans will be making their voices heard by putting the word IMPEACH! in front of the public eye (see www.A28.org). Along with demonstrations and media events around the country, it's going to be up to us freewaybloggers to really get the message out. Freewayblogging, as you know, is the simple art of placing text in front of traffic in such a way as to maximize the number of people who see it. Although large banners on overpasses are popular, the best method by far is to place smaller signs, four or five feet long, on peripheral fencing or trees alongside the freeway. These signs will stay up for days, sometimes weeks, rather than hours, and require nothing more than cardboard, paint and a little bit of cleverness to post.
Remember that when all those flags went up on overpasses after 9/11 they established a legal precedent to use freeways for the expression of free political speech, and it's time we started using it. A single sign placed next to a major freeway can be seen by 200,000 people a day and remain up for days before it comes down: ten signs placed next to a couple different freeways can be seen by over a million people. easily, before they come down.
When the Founders of this Nation gave its citizens the right to full and unfettered free political speech, they didn't mean it as window dressing or a nicety, they meant for us to use it, and I think you'll agree it's time. So please help make a statement, and make history, on April 28!
http://www.freewayblogger.com/howto.htm and here: http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com (type "arsenal" into the search box for tips)
earlier it was said that the vote against breathing some public disclosure into the intelligence act came about because the white house declared that the vote was a test of party loyalty...
so how does this get communicated to a congressman? does a chip in their ass give them a shock if they don't vote the way the chimp wants them to?
more importantly, why doesn't polosei or boxer or dean have this power over the dems?
593 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 593 Newer› Newest»This next election we need to get more seats for the Dems and Independents that are socially consious!
It's time for a 2nd Amendment Iraq Marshall Plan
by John Aravosis (DC)
Guns don't kill people, evil-doers kill people. That's the theory a lot of Republicans are now promoting about the violence at Virginia Tech. If only those now-dead students had all been armed, the story goes, they'd have been able to start a mass circle of gunfire in the middle of their classroom and kill the shooter (and sure, they'd kill everyone else in the classroom too, but they'd be dead AND exercising their 2nd Amendment rights, so it'd be okay). Anyway, I say the Republicans put their money where their mouths are and establish a 2nd Amendment Marshall Plan (we can call it the LaPierre plan), and ship as many guns and other weapons as possible into the hands of every single Iraqi in order to help them defend themselves (and we could hire Paul Wolfowitz's girlfriend to run it - a two-fer!). First off, we'd be guaranteeing the 2nd Amendment rights of every Iraqi, and after all, that's way more important than winning (or even living). And second, if everyone had more weapons, they'd all be able to join in on keeping the peace that much better. While we're at it, why not give em all WMD? Nothing stops a tuhrerist from driving a chlorine truck into a market like knowing that every grandma in that market has her own chlorine truck ready and waiting to drive back into YOUR market.
Yes, weapons for all. The lessons of Virginia Tech live on.
"I loved the Darth Vader Character since I was a little girl"
~-~-
With a helmet like that, what grrl wouldn't!
re American Idol
Missed the show last week although still got it on tape - but just watched the tape from last night and what a mess it was. Poor Martina!
NOBODY ... none of these people knew how to sing a country song. The more they yelled, the worse it got. But lame doesn't do it either. I listened to a guy named Chris and shook my head in dismay ... and the judges thought it was good. No he wasn't.
Who was bashed again to bits by the expert judges, however? Cute little Sanjaya who else. S. picked R&B which didn't bother me at that point since most of the gang worked hard to r&b country anyway. So it wasn't much country but he is a natural performer. He was my favorite. Again ;-)
Kudos to this seventeen-year old kid who keeps smiling and hanging on ... He got guts.
And Good for the host of the show who kept Simon from acting like a complete fool. I suppose Sanjaya must have done something right in the singing department since he was selected by the same lot to join the group this season.
I think I said this before but the Idols this season are the most mediocre wannabes this far. So
Go Sanjaya!
btw. maybe there is something in the air this spring because the Celeb Dancers this season are also nothing to get excited about :( Some of them are incredibly bad and don't care.
I miss Sam.
I am happy to say I never got into American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.
I like a good mystery or a really good comedy program.
Stock market is at a record high. They say that it is because inflation is not spreading.
Oh really? And who are they asking that? Not the middle class I am sure.
Blaming the Victims... Because they're Total Wusses
The last time we checked in with NRO's John Derbyshire, he was expounding on his own hypothetical bravery regarding Iranian hostage-takers. Today, we learn that he also is completely fearless in imaginary domestic scenarios as well:
Spirit of Self-Defense [John Derbyshire]
As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.
At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.
Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.
If I had to choose a favorite insane statement here -- like, say, if someone was holding a gun to my head -- I think it'd be the idea that, "At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him." Or, best yet: you could always try the ol', "Shoe's untied!" bit. Works with my theoretical mass shooting murderers all the time.
"Your chances aren't bad," in any case.
Experts: Draft May Be Necessary
By: Nicole Belle @ 12:03 PM - PDT
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has paid attention to recruitment levels over the last few years, but given the military's reticence over publicly admitting anything that might be perceived as detrimental to the military, I find this remarkable. As C&Ler GM wrote to me when he sent in this tip, the issue of bringing back the draft is a political third rail that no politician wants to touch. Bush, with a popularity rating hovering in the high 20s/low 30s, REALLY does not want to go there. So should we read this as a metaphorical shot across the bow by the military brass to Bush: "either re-arm or re-fit or get us the hell out of there?"
Marine Corps Times:
The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony Tuesday that increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps may not resolve severe and growing personnel problems. There was even talk of returning to the draft to fill the ranks.[..]
"If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft."[..]
LINK
There are now several copycat things happening at Universities. There was just a bomb threat in Minnesota. Per CNN.
Masked Senator Strikes Again
By Paul Kiel - April 18, 2007, 1:35 PM
Apparently the Senate is an irony-free zone, because once again, a senator has placed a secret hold on legislation that increases government transparency.
In this case, the bill that's been blocked would require Senate candidates to file their campaign finance reports electronically. Right now, they only file paper versions, which are much more difficult to search through. House candidates file electronically.
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) moved to approve the bill by unanimous consent yesterday, "a Republican Senator anonymously objected, stalling the bill indefinitely," according to Roll Call (sub. req.).
The good people at the Sunlight Foundation are working to find out who the culprit is. You can lend them a hand by giving your senator a call.
LINK
It's the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis Campus with the bomb threat. Seven Bldg's have been evacuated.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Seder
I just finished listening to the podcast of Sam Seder's final weekday show on Air America Radio. I kept waiting for somebody to yell "psyche!" and admit that the whole thing was a joke, that God was in His heaven, and that Sam's show would continue to roll along. I just could not believe that Air America would take this gem of a broadcast off the air. I was wrong. The show really is gone.
I hope some savvy broadcaster gets wise and puts a sweet syndication deal together for Sam. He deserves better than to be shunted off to Sundays from 4-7 p.m.
I don't know what AAR's new owners are thinking. With the departure of Al Franken, AAR's disgraceful treatment of Marc Maron, and now the cancellation of The Sam Seder Show, I am running out of reasons to renew my subscription to Air America Premium.
posted by UncommonSense
http://ucsense.blogspot.com/2007/04/seder.html
*
marcmaronrules said...
April 18, 2007 2:47 PM
Sure thing, mmrules....I think it's an mrr blogger who writes some or all of that page...
lunch O'clock!
get to put up the mason bee condo and watch em hatch for the next few days.
the fruit trees are all blossoming nicely.
the dogs did'nt eat any plants while i was out.
the rest of the planet needs therapy.
it all balances out eh?
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/nq/2007/nq070408.gif
Cute SJ! :)
the Arts
I happen to agree with Kurt Vonnegut who encourages everyone to try some of the arts because its good for the soul and body. One doesn't have to be an expert - whether its playing an instrument, writing, singing, dancing, film ... I like it all.
Ballroom dancing rocks because it got it all ... its social, romantic, emotional, you name it. It combines sports and music. Adults are learning it again, school kids are being introduced to it by dance teachers and learn manners and how to respect each other in the process. Just saw the Antonio Banderas film about the NY teacher who introduced ballroom to schools in the poor neighborhoods for free ... and it caught on big time.
In Finland adults dance the tango as social therapy. Lots of movies and documentaries out lately which deal with this subject.
well...
it just struck me that any self respecting liburrian would want to post that on the hallway bulletin board.
eya Bridge!
Tango's encourage dissidence and passion.
from wayyyyy back in the blog threads:
http://www.piazzolla.org/sounds/own.html
NBC News confirms it received mail from Cho about the shootings.
Was just announced in a news conference from from V-Tech.
It has been turned over to the police.
Me an Bgurl took ballroom dancing a year or two ago.
way fun, and a real workout, brain and body both!
Great! thanks Jim!
and ITA@"the rest of the planet needs therapy"
I think one of my posts vanished in the tubes on its way to the blog just now ...
... was asking you if MAT has posted again ... haven't read the blog since last week ... miss her.
WATCH LIVE: NBC received photographs, materials from shooter
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
Cho sent writings, videos, photographs from Cho and have turned them over to the FBI.
These were sent inbetween the killings.
Private Investors to Buy Sallie Mae for $25 Billion
(Student Loans!!!)
http://tinyurl.com/2ekf6j
By David S. Hilzenrath and Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writers
"way fun, and a real workout, brain and body both!"
Absolutely. I think you did mention before that you enjoyed ballroom:)
Many years ago, in the last century, I found a figure skating site with 1000s of fans totally by accident ... and I couldn't believe my eyes cause I am a huge fan of that sport. Sort of discovered the net that way.
What??? People are discussing figure skating on the internet? LOL. Was a lot of fun.
MAT?
have'nt spotted anything since!
new post at her blog though. her chicks are getting bigger!
look at her dogger murphy and the chicks, what a sweet dog he is.
http://akamat.wordpress.com/2007/04/14/the-babies-are-growing-up/
drop by and leave a post.
One of the geese in our pond has a broken leg. Her partner has not left her side She is either in the water or at the side of the pond and he is there to protect her. Geese mate forever. I didn't know that til recently.
Alot of drama in our pond. Another goose just flew down and landed close to them in the pond and the male reared up and started honking like crazy. Then he started push her toward shore. The other goose floated to the other end of the pond.
figure skating? me too.
a really good performance has brought tears to my eyes.
we get to talk Olympics next time around. one of the few things i will watch on the tube.
One of the geese in our pond has a broken leg""
what a tragedy.
back to it!
love ya all!
"a really good performance has brought tears to my eyes"
me too :) and YAY to the next Olys.
--
I remember MAT's dog from her posts. V. sweet dog.
Was wondering what kind of food MAT was feeding her pets. Wouldnt be surprised if she cooked the food herself :)
I am determined to get my cat off insulin or at least reduce the shots - found a whole world of cat sites on the net and need to study big time -
cat owners posted that cats w. diabetes should not have dry food although Vets suggest it all the time incl. our Vet.
Sunshine Jim said...
Private Investors to Buy Sallie Mae for $25 Billion
(Student Loans!!!)
gee, does anyone else have a clue why these f**ktards running the country won't do anything about making college more affordable?
Here's one of the photos NBC receive from Cho.
LINK
Check out the picture that the nut sent to NBC. It's on MSNBC's homepage.
Unbelievable. I want to resurrect this kid so we can kill him again.
the "Kennedy" Court
--
"Ginsburg complained that Kennedy used the term "abortion doctor" in what she called an "alarming" decision. In her dissenting opinion, she repeatedly used O'Connor's words from an earlier abortion ruling, one that went the other way."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154AP_Abortion_Kennedy.html
I'm watching footage of this guy.
I'm leaning toward schizophrenia. He is babbling incoherently.
I want to hear me fellow mental health professionals' opinions
it definitely seems like schizophrenia
*my
I don't have anything to say.
I miss SAM
Hey does anyone remeber when there was an audio voice that acompanied this blog?
Like in the mornings, the voice would tell us about events and stuff make jokes and take phonecalls?
i miss the voices
-conbo
todd the mute said...
I don't have anything to say.
April 18, 2007 6:47 PM
I've seen worse videos in psychology courses.
Janeane liked to talk about the Milgram experiments. She probably doesn't know how VISUALLY DISTURBING they are to watch-- seemingly "sane" people who are willing to torture and kill people at the drop of a hat.
Milgram experiements...I think we had our family re-union there one year
-conbo
toniD said...
In case you didn't know, Sam has a My Space Page...
Here's the link:
LINK
April 18, 2007 2:44 PM
Wow
Sam is part of the Murdock enterprise...I knew it!
TRUST NO ONE
For CONBO.....
something easy to REMEMBER.....
there are TWO M's in REMEMBER.
Mark Green has posted an entry on Huff Post:
04.18.2007
The Emperor Has No Guns (6 comments )
READ MORE: United States, Mark Green, David Brock, U.S. Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani, Virginia Tech, U.S. Congress
The boilerplate response to the Virginia shootings from pro-gun Republicans is, sorry about the loss but we all still have to recognize the Second Amendment right to own guns.
What right?
The only authoritative voice on this is the United States Supreme Court which, in United States v Miller in 1939, ruled that Congress can't constitutionally limit a state's right--not a person's right--to bear arms.
Yes, the Second Amendment says that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," but that conclusion is explicitly limited to "a well regulated militia, necessary to the security of a free State."
Since McCain, Giuliani, Romney et al. have falsely and knowingly said thousands of times that an individual has such a "right," I'm reminded of FDR's sage observation that "repetition does not turn a lie into a truth."
So conservatives have been enjoying a collective memory lapse for nearly seven decades. Then last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. ignored the 1939 precedent and overturned the District's gun control laws by suddenly stating, based on a tortured reading of the obvious language, that the Second Amendment actually now "protects an individual right to keep and bear arms." Turns out that the 2-1 majority were Reagan and Bush 43 jurists and was written by Judge Laurence Silberman. This is the man who believed Anita Hill was just a lesbian "acting out" and who disowned his close friend David Brock when Brock started criticizing the right-wing scandal machinery instead of feeding it, as Brock describes in Blinded by the Right.
This ruling by an openly partisan appointee seems exactly what conservatives are complaining about when they attack "activist judges" who try to create law rather than comply with the Founder's "original intent." (Or maybe "activist" is just a gross misspelling of "progressive.") What if a new Black Nationalist movement began calling for a re-segregation of American children? They would be free to advocate that under the First Amendment but, after Brown v. Board, they couldn't claim a constitutional basis for segregating schools all over again.
"Deny, deny, deny" is a common tactic of Republicans who resent "reality-based" Democrats. What to do? Here's a do-able suggestion. Whoever moderates the May 3rd MSNBC debate among the Republican presidential candidates should ask, say, Rudy Giuliani, this question: "Mayor Giuliani, after the Virginia Tech shooting, you said, 'Obviously, this tragedy does not alter the Second Amendment. People have the right to keep and bear arms and the Constitution says this right will not be infringed.' Now, since you're a lawyer, you must be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court since 1939 has ruled that only state militias, not individuals, have such a right. So why have you intentionally misstated the law? And if the Court said this 68 years ago, doesn't it qualify as 'settled precedent'? Aren't you and all your rivals undermining constitutional law to politically appease the NRA?"
_________
Someone should write in the comments, "Hey, why did you relegate Seder to Sundays?"
remember the long and tough road to the Brady Bill?
Jim in his wheelchair and the amazing Sarah Brady spoke at the Dem convention.
Bill Clinton and the Dems fought hard for gun control - and not just that -
give me back the nineties anytime!!! ANYTIME
---
James Wolcott:(please follow the links on JW's post)
"Blame Game Hall of Shame
Sarah Brady, a lifelong Republican whose husband Jim has been confined to a wheelchair since taking a hollowpoint bullet to the head during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981 (he was Reagan's press secretary), is the public face of and driving force behind the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. So when gun violence breaks out on a slaughterhouse scale, a woman who devotes her adult life to preventing gun violence is obviously one of the first guilty parties to hold culpable, if you dwell in the reverse-logic world of the rightwing delusionary, that is. This particular microbe can't even trouble himself to spell her first name right.
Of course, there's a lot of imaginary blame to spread around over the Virginia Tech tragedy--Bill Bennett types are even giving English-lit courses the fishy eye, taking the Culture Wars to new depths of desperation.
"
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcott
It's amazing the servers can handle all the traffic on this blog.
This is a busy place.
three m's in rememember!
got it!
-conbo
Dear EmailNation Subscriber,
We've told you about Jeremy Scahill's new book on Blackwater, USA--a powerful private army with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and 20,000 soldiers at the ready. Many other people heard about the book too and it debuted in the #9 slot on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list!
Scahill's reporting in The Nation has exposed Blackwater's role in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans as crucial to the Bush Administration's privatization agenda and has lifted the veil off the tightening relationship between the federal government and unaccountable private contractors.
Tomorrow night, Thursday, April 19, Scahill will discuss his research with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's Daily Show. The show airs nationally at 11:00pm. Check local listings or the network's website for confirmation.
...
Report: FBI raids home of Republican lawmaker Mike Sheehan
Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly raided the home of Republican congressmember John Doolittle (R-CA), according to The Hill.
"The FBI searched the Virginia home of [Doolittle] last Friday," write Mike Soraghan and Susan Crabtree, "in its investigation into the ties of the congressman and his wife, Julie, to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources."
RAW STORY reported in November 2005 that the Justice Department, investigating possible influence-peddling by Abramoff, had scrutinized his dealings with Doolittle and other lawmakers.
Presently, Doolittle "has been under fire," continue Soraghan and Crabtree, "for paying his wife's company, Sierra Dominion, a 15 percent commission on all contributions that the company raised for Doolittle's campaign committee and leadership PAC." Two of Abramoff's businesses made up the only other three clients of Doolittle's wife.
Excerpts from the Hill article, available in full at this link, follow...
#
Doolittle came within three percentage points of losing his election in November after facing months of scrutiny over his relationship with Abramoff, who is in jail for an array of fraud, bribery and money-laundering charges.
...
Doolittle also received contributions from indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes and his associates, and investigators are probing whether those contributions are linked to any official action Doolittle took to help Wilkes’s company obtain millions of dollars in government earmarks.
Wilkes recently was indicted in connection with his investigation stemming from former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) bribery conviction and jailing.
LINK
Murtha: President's Iraq war plan requires draft Michael Roston
Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
Rep. John Murtha, a veteran of the U.S. Marines who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, said that President George W. Bush cannot continue to carry out his current war plans in Iraq without starting a draft.
"The president asks the impossible and the burden continues to fall on the very few. The pressure must be taken off the current force and their families who have already sacrificed so much," said Murtha today to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, which he chairs. "If the President insists on continuing the current operational tempo and policy, then he should call for a military draft. That is the responsible thing to do.”
Murtha's full statement, which was sent to RAW STORY, is provided below.
#
Murtha calls for responsibility on the part of the President
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman John P. Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following remarks today while discussing Army personnel issues:
“I just returned from visiting three major Army bases: Ft. Hood, Ft. Stewart and Ft. Bragg.
“What I found was that the President’s policy has forced the military to break its own rotation and deployment guidelines. Our forces have had to accelerate training, they have had to train on inadequate and insufficient equipment, and percentages have been deployed a third and fourth time.
LINK
Former Reagan Advisor angry Bush 'bankrupted America' RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007
Print This Email This
Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett accused President Bush of "bankrupting" America and betraying the Reagan legacy in an interview on PBS's Tavis Smiley Show on Tuesday.
A domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, Bartlett assailed Bush's "big government conservatism" and said he was surprised at Bush's policies, despite his campaign pledge to be a "compassionate conservative."
"In 2000 I thought that was election year rhetoric," said Bartlett. "I didn't think it meant anything. I learned the hard way as a lot of us did what he really meant it when he talked about compassionate conservatism."
When asked how the current President Bush compared to his father, Bartlett responded, "If I didn't know with a certainty they were related, I wouldn't think that they were."
Bartlett also argued that current conservative fiscal rhetoric regarding supply-side economics is outdated. "We have a completely different economic situation, completely different fiscal and tax situation and I think people are still using rhetoric that was appropriate at one time for a situation that in which it is no longer appropriate."
Bartlett was also not optimistic about the remainer of Bush's term.
"I think we are on automatic pilot," said Bartlett. "Very few administrations do much of anything the last year and a half in office. I think the best thing we can hope for is a new president who will take America in a different direction."
Video
LINK
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/2008_candidates_react_to_Supreme_Court_0418.html
LINK
FYI - Please see the attached press release announcing a press conference Thursday on Capitol Hill with Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the Progressive States Network and state lawmakers to discuss burgeoning state legislative opposition to President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq.
This press conference precedes the Progressive States Network's gala event in Washington, D.C. Thursday night from 6-8pm featuring Al Franken, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). Media and the public are welcome to the gala event. RSVP to attend the gala at:
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/progressivestates/event/checkOut.jsp?event_KEY=22262
***********************
For Planning Purposes Only
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2007
CONTACT: Jim Manley / Rodell Mollineau, Reid, 202-224-2939
FEDERAL, STATE LEGISLATORS OPPOSE PRESIDENT BUSH'S FAILED WAR STRATEGY
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Senate Democrats and state legislators from across the country will hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss their opposition to President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq.
Resolutions and letters calling for a change of course in Iraq have been introduced in 29 states and passed in more than a dozen. These state governing bodies join the majority of Americans, bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress, military experts and the Iraq Study Group in calling for a change course .
WHO:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Senator Ted Kennedy
Hannah Pingree, Majority Leader, Maine House of Representatives
Steve Doherty, former Montana State Senate Minority Leader and co-chair of the Progressive States Network
Donald Betts, Kansas State Senator
WHERE: Russell 188
WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 12:30 p.m.
just an opinion said...
America needs to be doing a hell of a lot more fucking and a hell of a lot less fighting!
April 18, 2007 8:37 PM
Oh hell yes.
Hey toniD,
I read your post regarding Republicans and Benedictine educated word mongers.
Sad to say (and somewhat rube-like), I immediately thought that Benedictine University might be in Atchison, Kansas. My brother and I attended Camp St. Maur there over several summers during our respective youths.
After further consideration, I thought that I might have displaced my monks into your abbey, so I Googled Benedictine University which is, in fact, in Illinois.
But I was nonplussed. I know that there is a Benedictine college in Atchison because it has the only pipe organ that I have ever played and because I swam naked in its lake waters along with dozens of altar boys. (Insert trite Catholic pedophilia joke here.)
So I Googled myself silly. The school in Atchison is Benedictine College (of LIBERAL arts) and I learned that Brother Gregory is deceased. He was the camp's crafty monk-bro. Somewhere in the ectoplasmatic plastic-weaving othersphere, Brother Gregory is helping Jesus make a lanyard for Mary.
(I hope that she's more appreciative of the knotted wad than my mom was.)
Love it, edna!
Crazy is as Crazy does
--------------------------------------------------
“I didn’t have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run."
-- Cho Seung-Hui, April 16, 2007
---------------------------------------------------
"If we do not defeat the terrorists and extremists in Iraq, they won't leave us alone -- they will follow us to the United States of America."
-- George W. Bush, April 16, 2007
Hi Crank,
Denedictine University is in Lisle, Il. It's about 15 miles from where I live. I wasn't aware of a Benedictine College outside of this area, but, I guess those Benedictine monks got around.
This Man I was writing about is also a history buff and into old maps. He is doing research of the Indians of this area also. Actually he teaches music and plays several musical instruments. Including the harmonica.
It was a very slow election day so we were able to talk alot.
I took these on the way to work this morning...every year there's a new colt here on this property I pass everyday...
New
Baby
Horse
Bill Moyers is back on PBS. He is on April 25th with "Buying the War"
"How did the mainstream press get it so wrong".
Check your local station for the time. Mine is on at 9PM my time CDT.
Adorable Foal Shell. Good photos.
Here's Bill Moyers' Blog...
Bill Moyers' blog
Shell, from Bill Moyers' Blog comments:
Bill
Please do a piece on Venezuela. Our Government is slandering one of the world's best leaders of a totally democratic and benevolent Government.
Please set the record straight.
Posted by: Charles Koch | April 17, 2007 10:02 PM
Very cool, Toni..I hope he does...
Preview: BUYING THE WAR
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL: BUYING THE WAR
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings)
How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?
In this clip from the premiere of BILL MOYERS JOURNAL on PBS, Bob Simon of 60 Minutes, who was based in the Middle East, talks about the reporting he was seeing and reading out of the beltway, and John Walcott and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers (now The McClatchy Company), discuss their work burrowing deep into the intelligence agencies to determine whether there was any evidence for the Bush Administration's case for war. On Wednesday, April 25 at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), watch "Buying the War," a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, which includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of Meet the Press; and Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN.
Two days later on April 27, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL airs at its regular timeslot on Fridays at 9 P.M. with interviews and news analysis of underreported stories across an array of beats, including: the environment, media, politics, the economy, arts and culture, and social issues.
Here is a partial list of shooting victims at Virginia Tech.
Crime Library
I like to search for similarities.
As I looked at the nut's pose with two pistols, I combed My Brain's vast archive of images. I thought of this scene:
Scorsese's Taxi Driver
I thought of many other scenes including The Punisher and Angelina Jolie as Laura Croft. I think the Taxi Driver image is the nearest one, though
I'm not claiming that this guy was influenced by Taxi Driver... but we know that lunatics are drawn to Jodie Foster :D
On O'Reilly Factor, Bruce alleged left-wing hit list of conservative media figures
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704170015
On the April 16 edition of his television show, Bill O'Reilly invited Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce to comment on the firing of Don Imus, which, according to O'Reilly, "has metastasized into an ideological witch-hunt by evil forces." Bruce asserted that "small groups of people" are engaged in an "effort" to "silence[]" and "destroy[]" "people who are not intimidated" and that these groups "have a list of individuals that are to be targeted." She said to O'Reilly, "[W]ell, you're on it of course." She continued: "We start with [right-wing pundit Ann] Coulter a few months ago, and it's moved to Imus. And of course, they will move down their list, because we're moving into this election."
Later, when O'Reilly asked how she would respond to those who questioned why liberals would "target Don Imus" since he "was essentially a liberal guy on the radio," Bruce claimed: "There is a civil war going on right now between the far left individual extremists, as you have noted them to be, and the classical liberal basic Democrats." She added: "In order to be able to even go after Republicans eventually, or conservatives, these far left forces need to purge our own House of Democrats like myself who speak the truth and will confront them on what they are. That's why Imus had to be eliminated and that's why they went after him first. And now they'll proceed down their list."
O'Reilly replied: "OK, now there's also a list -- and I don't know whether you're aware of this, but this is what [Fox News host] Sean [Hannity] and I are working on -- of mainstream media people like [New York Times columnist] Frank Rich and others who are used by these far-left websites, fed stuff directly to them." Bruce responded: "Oh yes, I used them." (In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Rich described the ensuing controversy sparked by Imus' comments as a "lynching" and wrote: "I don't think the punishment fits the crime.")
As Media Matters has documented, Bruce is a self-described "openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush progressive feminist." Bruce has equated the election of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee to "putting O.J. Simpson in charge of a battered women's shelter." Additionally, following the resignation of former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Bruce asserted: "All I want, frankly, is a gay person in office who is not a sexual compulsive," as Media Matters noted.
****
I am always just amazed that these people are not hauled away in straight jackets ...
I mean think of it .. if you got a tape of this show and it was not a major network broadcast (and therefore supposedly legitimized in sheeple's minds)...
Would you not think someone had better come take care of these people? It would be the precursor tape to the one that the VaTech gunman sent. The ramblings of madmen and women.
"...but we know that lunatics are drawn to Jodie Foster..."
April 18, 2007 10:06 PM
--------------------------------
"Jodie, Jodie, Jodie..."
Scary Grant
I wrote twice to the 3 AAR men today:
Hello Men ....
I've been trying to understand how come you've made the decision to change to Lionel .... other than the money/ratings reason. I don't believe Sam was given a chance with the ratings and besides, the ratings haven't come out, yet, have they? It seems Sam was on the rise.
I've said before I'm a social worker in public school but I haven't said what I did before - I was a teacher. I was trained as an elementary teacher, junior high teacher, H.S. history teacher, Special Ed./Emotionally Disturbed, and counselor. I taught H.S. Sp. Ed. for six years and discovered the best way to an adolescent brain was humour/comedy; dry information didn't make it into their brain cells. What you've done by replacing Sam with Lionel is create drywall for those of us (adults and young) who need humour to create knowledge wiring to our brains. Lionel has some humour but it's isoteric while Sam's humour was more landbased, like Colbert's and the Daily Show's, which has shown more people are learning more, and correctly, from them than people are learning less, and incorrectly, from Fox. I've, also, learned not only young people learn better and comprehend better by humour but so do us/adults.
Did you hear Lionel's show Mon./4-16-07? He continually called Mr. Cho, the Virginia Tech killer, "Chinese"? Do you really want someone who continally makes the same mistake over and over and over and over again?
Please change your mind/direction and bring Sam Seder back.
~~~ I took these on the way to work this morning...every year there's a new colt here on this property I pass everyday ~~~
CUTE!!!!!!!!
My 2nd letter to the 3 AAR men:
Hello Men ....
Did you replace Sam Seder with the NRA? Is the NRA participating in AAR? Is it a corporate sponsor? Secretively? Through Lionel?
This is the website for Lionel's Tuesday's show/4-17-07 podcast and to the best of my knowledge, he is the only AAR host who seems to support the NRA's philosophy: http://wor710.com/pages/46363.php Wow! AAR is on a new path and direction for sure.
On Monday/4-16-07 night's show, Lionel calls Cho Chinese, over and over again and never corrects himself. The following night, he walks/talks the NRA line while eating some kind of chocolate chicken. I remember Al's partner, I can't remember her name, who scolded him when he had eaten on a break but hadn't finished eating before he got back live on the radio. She said it was a big "NO-NO" in radio (and probably TV, too!).
Men ..... please, bring back Sam Seder to his rightly place on AAR. Don't you understand the brightest intellectuals are political humourists?
“Every U.S. war against oppressed
peoples and nations has begun with
saturating the entire civilian
population with war propaganda that
so demonized the leader of the
targeted population that any crime
was treated as acceptable and
beyond question. This has been true
since the wars against Native
populations and the demonization of
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo
and many, many other Indigenous
leaders, up to the leaders of every
progressive or revolutionary
struggle over the past 50 years. It
doesn't matter how mild or
committed to non-violence the
leader is. Consider the case of the
kidnapped former priest, President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti,
who was charged with corruption,
drug running and gang violence.
Today President Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran are
increasingly portrayed as madmen,
dictators and evil incarnate.”
From Marco @ http://insurgelicious.blogspot.com/
Fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How the heck are you?!
Why do you forsake us? ;) We don't see you nearly enough....
RNC To Waxman: We’ll Only Show You The Emails We Want You To See
In a new letter to the Republican National Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman writes that the RNC has provided only minimal information regarding White House officials’ use of RNC e-mail accounts. The purpose of Waxman’s inquiry was in part to determine the extent that White House staff used “non-governmental e-mail accounts to conduct official government business.”
In the new letter, Waxman reveals that the RNC’s response thus far has been to propose that any Congressional requests for emails be filtered through “eight search terms, such as ‘political briefing,’ ‘Hatch Act,’ and ‘2008.’” Waxman notes that these proposed search terms would not have produced the RNC email that transmitted a copy of Karl Rove’s Powerpoint slides that were presented at a General Services Administration meeting. That e-mail read: “Please do not email this out or let people see it. It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”
Waxman says that before Congress can agree to the RNC’s proposed “search terms,” the RNC must provide basic information about the extent their email accounts have been used to transact government business:
Read the rest here
A note to conservatives mocking VA Tech students for not fighting back: Not that it makes your comments less offensive, but they did fight back.
LINK
April 18, 2007
RIT senior faces gun charges
Police say student had 2 assault rifles, ammunition
Fernando Diaz
Staff writer
A Rochester Institute of Technology student was arrested and suspended from classes after authorities discovered he had two assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition a day after the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
Jonathan Hackenburg, a 22-year-old engineering senior from Hackettstown, N.J., told Monroe County sheriff's deputies and campus safety officials he had a valid federal firearms license and purchased the weapons, a STAG-15 and another model similar to that used by U.S. military personnel, in his home state.
Deputies recovered the rifles, which Hackenburg said he had just assembled, from his dorm room but did not find ammunition there, said RIT spokesman Robert Finnerty. Deputies later found more than 200 rounds of ammunition and four, 30-round magazines in his car, according to the Sheriff's Office.
"Thankfully it was resolved without incident," said Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn, adding that Hackenburg did not appear to have threatened using the weapons. He also told investigators he was a gun collector who spent time rebuilding firearms.
A university employee heard a suspicious sound at the RIT Inn and Conference Center on West Henrietta Road and alerted campus safety officials about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Finnerty said. Hackenburg admitted possessing the weapons after he was questioned.
Hackenburg was arraigned on two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm, both felonies, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, for having the rifles on school property. It is illegal to possess firearms on school grounds in New York. It is also illegal to possess assault rifles here, said O'Flynn.
"There's a reason these laws are in place."
Students, faculty and staff were notified of the arrest Tuesday evening, according to Finnerty, who also commended the university employee for alerting authorities.
LINK
Screwing the planet, so you don't have to
Unimpeachable, that's what you are
Unimpeachable, regardless of war
Like the lost sense of democracy
And the thought of all those atrocities
Never before has someone been more
Unimpeachable in every way
And forever more, that's how you'll stay
Congress says no, unbelievable
Guess that makes them also culpable
They think we are so forgettable too
Unimpeachable in every way
And forever more, that's how you'll stay
Congress says no, it's incredible
That someone so unimpeachable
Thinks that we are so forgettable too
Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors
Cannabis Compound Slows Cancer Spread In Mice, Researchers Say
(WebMD) Cannabis may be bad for the lungs, but the active ingredient in marijuana may help combat lung cancer, new research suggests.
In lab and mouse studies, the compound, known as THC, cut lung tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from spreading, says Anju Preet, PhD, a Harvard University researcher in Boston who tested the chemical.
While a lot more work needs to be done, the results suggest THC has therapeutic potential, she tells WebMD.
Moreover, other early research suggests the cannabis compound could help fight brain, prostate, and skin cancers as well, Preet says.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The finding builds on the recent discovery of the body's own cannabinoid system, Preet says. Known as endocannabinoids, the natural cannabinoids stimulate appetite and control pain and inflammation.
THC seeks out, attaches to, and activates two specific endocannabinoids that are present in high amounts on lung cancer cells, Preet says. This revs up their natural anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation can promote the growth and spread of cancer.
In the new study, the researchers first demonstrated that THC inhibited the growth and spread of cells from two different lung cancer cell lines and from patient lung tumors. Then, they injected THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells. After three weeks, tumors shrank by about 50 percent, compared with tumors in untreated mice.
Preet notes that animals injected with THC seem to get high, showing signs of clumsiness and getting the munchies. You would expect to see the same thing in humans, so if this work does pan out, getting the dose right is going to be all important, she says.
LINK
Borges's narrator describes how his universe consists of an endless expanse of interlocking hexagonal rooms, each of which contains the bare necessities for human survival—and four walls of bookshelves. Though the order and content of the books is random and apparently completely meaningless, the inhabitants believe that the books contain every possible ordering of just a few basic characters (letters, spaces and punctuation marks). Though the majority of the books in this universe are pure gibberish, the library also must contain, somewhere, every coherent book ever written, or that might ever be written, and every possible permutation or slightly erroneous version of every one of those books. The narrator notes that the library must contain all useful information, including predictions of the future, biographies of any person, and translations of every book in all languages. Conversely, for any given text some language could be devised that would make it readable with any of an infinite number of different contents.
Despite — indeed, because of — this glut of information, all books are totally useless to the reader, leaving the librarians in a state of suicidal despair. However, Borges speculates on the existence of the "Crimson Hexagon", containing a book that contains the truth of all the other books; the librarian who reads it is akin to God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel
Inside the mind
of a mass murderer
Questions about Cho's mental state deepen as 2005 court papers reveal concerns about his mental health, and pictures of him before his rampage are released. One bears a striking resemblance to a Korean film.
LINK
Check the photo:
Photo
For NEWS CONSUMER:
Life as Jazz
An epiphany hit me today while meditating. Jazz is the perfect metaphor for how I want to live my life. For a long time now my life has resembled noise more than music. But I mean "Noise" in the sense of an actual genre. There are noise artists who create ambient and experimental soundscapes; kind of like the aural equivalent to abstract expressionist art. So my life has been totally unstructured, chaotic, and experimental. I've had nothing to anchor me. It's really thrilling and exciting in one sense, but it also can be really scary and make me feel really vulnerable. And I've decided that I'm way too libertarian to get in touch with my inner Nazi and seek to exert total control over my life, because I love the episodic euphoria and creativity that comes with chaos. I mean, the opposite to noise might be Western classical music: everything is totally structured and planned out, right down to the last "ding" of a triangle. It is about perfection and refinement. Beautiful but predictable. There is no room for flair or creativity. Classical musicians just follow scripts, but do not create their own. Now, that brings me to jazz. The beautiful thing about jazz is that it floats between order and chaos, between the kind of experimentality and adventurism of noise art, and the kind of structure found in classical music. The concept of jazz is this: there is an underlying structure and base rythym, and this is the base upon which improvisation and flair is laid upon. I suppose it's the same with freestyle hip-hop. It's a beautiful dance between order and chaos, and both come to coexist to produce a music that is unique in this world. Every performance will be different, yet familiar. Jazz resides musically on the edge of chaos: that region between total order and totally unmitigated disorder. It adeptly walks that mountain ridge, avoiding slipping down either slope. And it is on that ridge where the best views are. And so this is the perfect metaphor for the life I want to live. I want to retain the advantages of being chaotic, creative, spontaneous and unstructured, but it would also be great to have some kind of existential anchor in life; a feeling of home, of strong friendships, healthy relationships, and a metaphysical sense of place in the universe. The universe itself operates according to the jazz principle. Perhaps this is what Henry Miller meant when he said that "Chaos is the score upon which reality is written". Living our lives as jazz can surely situate and harmonise us within that cosmic dance. That's where I want to be. Who wants to come along for the ride?
Posted by J A G U A R I T O (Marco Hewitt)
oh i miss sam :(
Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants?
by John Aravosis (DC) · 4/18/2007 02:39:00 PM ET
Guess what? They do. From ABC News, regarding the VA Tech shooter:
Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.
We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants? And in fact, the article suggests that this isn't just a database of patients who use anti-depressants, it's a federal database of every prescription drug you've ever bought.
What exactly do the Bushies do with that list? And what other lists do they have of which medications you've ever taken?
LINK
Give em Hell Harry!!!!
Reid To Bush: If You Come After Us, We'll Hit Back Every Bit As Aggressively
By Greg Sargent | bio
Okay, here's some color from inside the meeting today at the White House between President Bush and Congressional leaders about what to do to resolve the impasse over Iraq.
A source familiar with the meeting -- at which no compromise of any kind was reached, though Speaker Nancy Pelosi said publicly today that it had been "productive" -- shares a few interesting tidbits. First, the source says, Bush bristled and was taken aback when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared the current situation to Vietnam; he also appeared irked by those who said the war couldn't be won.
Second, according to the source, Reid told Bush that he understood that the White House would come after Congressional Dems after the veto of the bill with everything they had; Reid vowed to respond every bit as aggressively.
"Reid talked about a recent conversation he had with a retired general where they talked about the similarities between the current situation and Vietnam," the source relates. "He talked about how the President and Secretary of Defense [during Vietnam] knew that the war was lost but continued to press on at the cost of thousands of additional lives lost."
"The analogy to Vietnam appeared to touch a nerve with the President. He appeared a little sensitive to it," the source continued. "And he clearly didn't like to hear people in the room say that the war couldn't be won militarily."
More: "Reid made it clear to the President that he understood that the President and Vice President after the veto would come after him and Speaker Pelosi with everything they have. Reid said that he and Pelosi would respond just as aggressively. He said he was convinced that they were on the right side of the issue."
LINK
I really hope that Reid has the balls finally.
I like the talk. Now walk the walk. And don't give in.
Got an account at the kollective?
Think about reccing this.
Catharine said...
I really hope that Reid has the balls finally.
I like the talk. Now walk the walk. And don't give in.
April 18, 2007 11:57 PM
....Or the breasts...either way it's not even funny that there will be no impeachment...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=878843666116164450&hl=en
*
For every girl who is tired of acting weak when she is strong, there is a boy tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable.
For every boy who is burdened with the constant expectation of knowing everything, there is a girl tired of people not trusting her intelligence.
For every girl who is tired of being called over-sensitive, there is a boy who fears to be gentle, to weep.
For every boy for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity, there is a girl who is called unfeminine when she competes.
For every girl who throws out her E-Z-Bake oven, there is a boy who wishes to find one.
For every boy struggling to not let advertising dictate his desires, there is a girl facing the ad industry's attack on her self-esteem.
For every girl who takes a step toward her liberation, there is a boy who finds the way to freedom a little easier.
-from a poster @ the sf anarchist bookfair...
http://insurgelicious.blogspot.com/2007/04/gender-and-liberation.html
Evening All and as promised SJ
SJ - Here are additional websites concerning the post you made earlier. Apparently, the principal needs a vacation and the law enforcement and prosecutor need a lawsuit for “false arrest.”
The alleged “criminal” is a star athlete, honor student and student council leader according to The Pittsburgh Channel. Why the principal would just assume the child would jeopardize all of his achievements suggests to me she is nearing a breakdown or his behavior record is confidential.
Guess I always give educators and education administrators the benefit of the doubt since someone very close to me is a vice principal for a middle school, and I have worked and volunteered in the public educational system for awhile, giving me insight to the depth of commitment of all of those working in it no matter their role.
For most who work in the public school system, it’s a vocation because they certainly don’t get paid for what their efforts and devotion are worth and for what they must endure as a result of either ineffective or under-funded/under-staffed policies. Too often they are dumped on by societal conditions or unfounded policies, taken for granted, subjected to undue criticism for political sake, harmed by the few bad “apples,” and ignored until someone needs something.
When I do spend time in a classroom, it only takes a couple of hours before I start thinking about quiet solitude. I am sure toniD knows what I am talking about. It was probably a teacher who coined the phrase, “Silence is Golden.”
Regardless of their family’s socio-economic status, more and more children are neglected resulting in various behavioral issues. Parents for the most part are supportive but overworked and can’t put in the hours for parenting much less volunteering at school. Studies show that the more parental involvement the better the school and the children do.
Apparently, bomb threats are a common occurrence for schools nowadays although national stats aren‘t kept. So imagine the stress of keeping children safe, attending to their nutritional, psychological, medical and other special needs and, oh yea, teaching them too.
Ummm ... the clock ate my alibi
Teen blames daylight-saving for threat arrest as school clock fingers him
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953572/
Daylight Saving Time To Blame For School's Bomb Threat Mixup
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/11512755/detail.html
FAIRNESS IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE IN PENNSYLVANIA: A GUIDE FOR ATTORNEYS AND ADVOCATES WHO REPRESENT STUDENTS
www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads/english/dsc-Fairness%20in%20Discipline%20manual%209-061.pdf
“Additionally, in reviewing school safety or anti-terrorism policies, or in advising regarding the treatment of a student who may have made threats or acted suspiciously, attorneys must be mindful of a student’s constitutional due process rights…While schools and school administrators generally benefit from local governmental immunities, and will not be subject to civil liability in various circumstances unless their actions were wanton or willful, defending these lawsuits will be costly for the school district.”
http://www.isba.org/Sections/sept04Nsltr.htm
From the Department of Justice
http://www.popcenter.org/problems/problem-bomb_threats.htm
eya gang!
long ass day today.
me and Bgurl talking about the
farmers market this year, me bringing up the crop freeze and bees, her wondering how the new location will work out.
have the Mason orchard bees ready to hatch and positioned at the bottom of their new Bee condo so when they pop out they have a selection of nest sites to set up in.
the horse pix are millions of years of beautiful personafied and about as springtimish as it gets.
A draft is not necessry
Peace and diplomacy are
-the horse pix are millions of years of beautiful personafied and about as springtimish as it gets. -
:)
eya cee cee!
synchronicity!
ya the time clock case.
false arrest only one of the suits possible.
the principle wanted it to be a big deal and firmly inserted foot into mouth very publicly.
kid accused will probably let it slide i bet. seems like he might be able to rise above the rep smack and earn some kudo's for letting it slide.
whaddya think?
Man’s Best Friend Buried at Sea
Story Number: NNS061204-17
12/4/2006
http://www.uswardogs.org/id44.html
(bottom of page article)
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Peter D. Lawlor, USS Blue Ridge Public Affairs
USS BLUE RIDGE, At Sea (NNS) -- Master-at-arms dog handlers from Yokosuka Naval Base ceremoniously paid their last respects to three of their working dog partners during a burial at sea service Dec. 2 aboard USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19).
Burials at sea are an age-old tradition in the Navy, but this ceremony was the first of its kind on Blue Ridge involving three military working dogs, Art, Max and Connor.
The dogs were memorialized with the same respect that any Sailor would receive after a career of honorable service to his country.
eya A.!
the cherry blossoms are gorgeous this year!
WaitingForCicero said...
Got an account at the kollective?
Think about reccing this.
April 19, 2007 12:02 AM
Ok, I did that, WFC...
*
La Femme D'Argent
*
April 19, 2007 1:04 AM
Mine was..now it's all mostly the new green leaves....a friend of mine bought real bananna fruit trees, had them shipped from Florida...that would be cool...
way cool!
how long before they produce fruit?
what growing conditions?
when life gives you global warming
grow banannas.
better than going banannas...
although it would be nice to stick a few in corporate ears and take pix.
the 2007 version of
"what, me worry?"
La Femme D'Argent
good stuff!
Am going to go see them on Sunday, A. They're playing the Crystal Ballroom, I think.
It's from the album 'Moon Safari' from the French band Air
Air? You're going to see Air, WFC?
I don't know the bananna tree details, SJ...we had *ahem* other things to discuss.. ;)
oooooooh!
"*ahem* other things to discuss"
i see...
Yes. And maybe Mike Patton and Dan the Automator the night before. Dunno about that one, but we're definitely going to see Air.
bloggie 3rd rule:
don't feed AO straight lines either
Mike Patton! Maybe you can hear MOJO...? I like that song...he's cute too.. :)
Hot meat balls!!!
Patton's pretty cool, but I'm really excited to see Dan. I've been interested in his music for a while now. Pigeon John, who I'm unfamiliar with, will also be there.
Just saw Amiina again, and after Air, I think RJD2 is next, some time in May.
That sounds like fun, WFC!
I just found out I'll be going to the ocean again soon...
Did you catch the Look Daggers/2mex video I posted? If so what did you think?
I think I'm tired....zzzzzzzzzzzz
Good night!! xoxox
I did not. I am not caught up on the blog right now, but I'll look for it tomorrow.
Have a good time at the coast!
Think I'm out, too.
Later
what a buncha lightweights!
you guys have no staying power.
why when i was (blink blink)
i was yer age i'd (yawn)
i'd......ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
~~~ Why do you forsake us? ;) We don't see you nearly enough ~~~
Temporary.
I miss you guys!
President Bush, who signed the law in 2003 and appointed two of the justices who upheld it, said the prohibition "represents a commitment to building a culture of life in America."
In a related story, Bush met with his advisors to review how many troops would be needed for the war on terror, expected to last well into the future.
morning gang if you're still around.
looks like its gonna be a rough day in the markets. hang onto your 401k's...
from marketwatch:
The east runs red hot - Investors spooked globally as China's GDP soars 11.1% in first quarter
Mainland's gross domestic product expanded at a torrid pace to start 2007, outpacing forecasts and renewing fears that the country's central bank will have to raise interest rates in short order to curb growth.
INDICATIONS - Dark clouds over Wall Street.
Judging from how weak futures are, stocks look ready to reprise a downdraft akin to swoon touched off by China jitters in late February.
"Bizarre Refugee Swap"
Australia's Latest Export To United States : Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers
This is surely one of the most bizarre government policy announcements in years. Few on the Left or the Right can seem to comprehend WTF it's all about.
Here's the short version : The Howard government and the Bush administration have reached a deal which will see dozens of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, currently held on Nauru Island off the coast of Australia, packed off to the United States, where, presumably, they will eventually be given green cards and allowed to settle.
In exchange, the Bush administration gets to free up some space in Guantanamo Bay by sending hundreds of asylum seekers from Haiti and Cuba to Australian shores.
Here's Australian immigration minister, Kevin Andrews :
"This arrangement will ensure the integrity of the international system of protection and the integrity of Australia's borders is maintained, by providing protection to those who need it. It also sends a strong deterrence message to people smugglers."
It does? How? By allowing people smugglers to raise their prices because they can now say, "Hey, we'll get you near Australia, then you get to go to America!"
Have the senior ranks of the Howard government been sitting around licking cane toads?
Some sanity :
...refugee advocates have called the Mutual Assistance Arrangement, signed in Washington last week, a "bizarre refugee swap" and questioned the motives of the US Government.
And perspective :
The agreement will hose down fears in the lead-up to the election that asylum seekers could be cast into indefinite exile on Nauru. These include the 82 Sri Lankans who were intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island earlier this year.
"It points to the human rights credit of Australia that the only country that will assist us is a country with whom we are in the coalition of the willing," said Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. "It's shocking. My other concern is what does America expect of Australia in return for taking our refugees? The Yanks don't do anything for nothing."
The whole thing is like a a pitch for some new demented reality TV show : "We follow desperate asylum seekers from South East Asia all the way to Australia. But here's the twist. They won't get into Australia. Instead, they will be stuffed onto a plane for a mystery flight, all the way to the USA! Wait till you see the looks on their faces!"
Naturally, there's a political angle for John Howard, who's never been afraid to use the poorest and most desperate of people as bargaining chips and publicity footballs. Problem is, nobody seems to be quite sure just what that political angle will be.
This is odd
“A deputy to Paul Wolfowitz urged the World Bank chief on Wednesday to resign in the interests of the institution during a meeting of the bank’s management, sources who participated in the meeting said… World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler, a bank veteran named by Wolfowitz as one of his two deputies a year ago, raised the issue at a meeting of the bank’s vice presidents. … Wheeler…is widely respected in the institution.”
LINK
Does anyone else think that Cho sounds like Napoleon Dynamite?
I have been watching the coverage of the V-Tech murders. By the time it is over, we will know about each person that has died, almost intimately. What a great loss their deaths have been. This whole thing has been a horrid tragedy.
But another tragedy are the deaths of our troops in Iraq that for awhile we could not even see the flag covered caskets returning here, let alone know about each of them and what a great loss their lives are.
And the Iraqis that have died in the war and what a great loss their lives are. Who knows, there might have been someone kelled in Iraq that would have been a great leader for that country.
All these deaths are a loss. It's just that V-Tech is closer.
I think it is all a tragedy and it is all caused by insane people.
Bloppo said...
Does anyone else think that Cho sounds like Napoleon Dynamite?
April 19, 2007 8:04 AM
I had to think back to that movie. Maybe a little. But without the t-shirt....
Bush Brings Iraq ‘Death And Destruction’ Tour To Local High Schools
Increasingly desperate, and facing broad public opposition, Bush used his last Iraq speech on Monday to stir up fear with repeated references to September 11 and dark visions of “death and destruction…here in America” if U.S. troops were to withdraw.
Now Bush is taking his show on the road. Bush will speak about Iraq tomorrow at Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, OH, to “local businessmen and students who take an advanced government class.” On Friday, Bush heads to East Grand Rapids High School in Michigan “to deliver what the White House calls a ‘major policy speech‘ on the War in Iraq.”
His message to teenagers: fear for your lives. The Detroit News reports:
White House spokesman Alex Conant said Bush will tell the audience that “the consequences of failure in Iraq would be death and destruction in the Middle East and here in America.”
Of course, Bush shouldn’t expect a particularly sympathetic audience. Even as far back as 2000, reporters noted, “Most of his high school stops have been larger rallies, shielding Bush from the often-hostile high school audiences. Nobody in the campaign could remember the last time Bush took questions from high schoolers.”
Times haven’t changed. “Some East Grand Rapids students plan to wear black on Friday in their own form of protest.”
LINK
toniD, somewhere i read that for the tipp city speech, the setting will be the high school, but the audience will be preselected with a majority of the kids watching on a closed circuit feed. i suppose the only thing missing will be troops to stand on stage behind president custer.
Maliki has caught the Bush Lie Virus...
Iraq plans to control whole nation by end 2007: Maliki
Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:43AM EDT
AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq plans to take security control of all its provinces from foreign forces before the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech read out by a senior official on Wednesday.
Maliki is under growing pressure from powerful anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie at a ceremony marking the handover of southern Maysan province from British forces to Iraqi control, Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next.
"Maysan ... will be followed by the three Kurdistan provinces, a month from now," Maliki said.
"After that Kerbala and Wasit (provinces). Then it will be province by province until we achieve (this transfer) before the end of the year."
The transfer of Maysan means four of the country's 18 provinces are now under Iraq's security control.
Sadr withdrew six ministers from his political movement from Maliki's government on Monday to press his demand for a timetable for the pullout of American troops.
Maliki has repeatedly said U.S. troops would leave Iraq only when Iraqi forces were ready to take over security.
LINK
blah blah blah said...
toniD, somewhere i read that for the tipp city speech, the setting will be the high school, but the audience will be preselected with a majority of the kids watching on a closed circuit feed. i suppose the only thing missing will be troops to stand on stage behind president custer.
April 19, 2007 8:15 AM
Sounds like what he might do. Always in a bubble!
Loophole Let Wal-Mart Evade $2.3B in Taxes*
by Michelle Chen
*A correction was appended to this news report after initial publication.
Apr. 18 – Accusing a retail giant of wriggling out of over $2 billion in taxes, a watchdog group is pointing to a loophole in certain states that lets huge companies pay rent to themselves.
According to a new analysis of corporate and state financial data, from fiscal years 1999 to 2005, Wal-Mart paid some $2.4 billion in state income taxes, out of $77.4 billion in overall profits. But watchdog groups estimate the company would have owed about $2.3 billion more under state tax rates – calculated at about 6 percent of profits nationwide – suggesting Wal-Mart somehow shrugged off about half of its tax burden.
The report, released by the taxpayer-advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the labor coalition Change to Win, attributes part of the tax gap to real-estate investment trusts (REIT). These trusts enable Wal-Mart and other multi-state companies to funnel money into a fund designated for property investments.
The REIT system has enabled Wal-Mart to effectively double as both landlord and tenant, recycling real-estate funds to itself and then deducting that cost from its tax bill. Court documents recently published by the Wall Street Journal show that Wal-Mart has used the REIT structure to set up the Delaware-based Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust, which is run by Wal-Mart employees.
According to CTJ's sister organization Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 20 states, including California and Illinois, have moved to close the REIT loophole by adopting so-called "combined reporting" laws. These policies require the incomes of a parent company and subsidiaries to be reported together, blocking companies from concealing profits held out of state.
Though unable to yield detailed figures for Wal-Mart's taxes in each state, CTJ did obtain payment data for Wisconsin, which allows tax-sheltering through REITs. Payments from fiscal years 2000 to 2003 amounted to $3 million, or about a third of one percent of Wal-Mart's revenues in the state, while the standard state-tax rate was nearly 8 percent. CTJ argues that Wal-Mart's ability to escape 96 percent of the taxes it would ordinarily have had to pay is tied to Wisconsin's looser reporting requirements.
But to Wal-Mart, the CTJ report describes a legal, widespread use of state tax codes and merely reflects anti-Wal-Mart sentiment among some unions. Company spokesperson John Simley told The NewStandard that to suggest that the company is abusing REITs is "analogous to saying that a person filing their own tax return should not take the deductions that are allowed to them."
LINK
Yes I am mad about Sam and would be nice to have to have him back on the air Monday - Friday for me it was 6-9 pacific standard time
Thanks
Doug
Mesa AZ
Mornin gang!
that was weird,
i was blogging in my sleep.
Morning Jim!
Blogging in your sleep? You were up too late blogging I think! Heh!
well i did'nt
wear my tinfoil night cap
is what the problem was i figger.
mind control rays from russia
stray HARP vibrations
from alaska and
weird vibes
in general.
Video Diary: Mentally F'ed Up Digg this story!
E-mail this
Print this
Adel, Hometown Baghdad, 19 April 2007
Recently a series of short documentaries made by Iraqis and filmed in Iraq began appearing on a website called Hometown Baghdad. When the web documentary project is completed, there will be 45 'webisodes', each one presenting something rarely captured in the blur of daily headlines about Iraq: humanity. Electronic Iraq will be posting Hometown Baghdad episodes daily with our other Iraq Diaries. If you want to learn more about this invaluable project, visit the Hometown Baghdad website.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2988.shtml
---
http://hometownbaghdad.com/page/2/
A note from our Iraqi producer
April 3rd, 2007
We are overwhelmed by the positive response to Hometown Baghdad. Every note and every positive press mention that we receive shows us that not only did our participants want to speak to the world but that the world wanted to hear what they had to say. And the conversations that have sprung up in the blog’s comments, both argumentative and friendly, tell us that we need dialogue and understanding.
I want to post this note that we received from our Iraqi producer Fady after I sent him one particularly nice feedback letter. He writes:
Dear all -
I am extremely moved and inspired by all the warm feedback that we are getting on several blogs and websites. It is giving me energy and strength to bear the nightmares that I am living and the ones I dream of at night. It was an honor for me to help in bringing out these messages from Baghdad to the outer world, despite of all the dangers we face everyday.
Thank you, Mike, for keep sending me the feedback.
Best,
Fady
Baghdad
so what did the people
you were in contact with yesterday
think about the situation in general or do they notice?
Attorney General Gonzales will appear today, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It will be streamed all day on c-span Or if you have c-span 3, you can watch.
Public Broadcaster Pulls TV Documentary on Islamism
Khody Akhavi
Apr 18
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has dropped a documentary film purporting to show the struggles of U.S. "moderate" Muslims against Islamic extremists from a television series airing this week on more than 300 U.S. public television stations.
No sooner had PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) excluded "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Centre" from the series "America at a Crossroads" than the film's producers accused the station of suppressing their views as part of "an ideological vendetta."
"This is a well-documented, textbook case of the abuse of taxpayer funding by elements in the public broadcasting system to advocate their agenda and ensure that people who have a different agenda don't get on the air," said Frank Gaffney, one of the film's producers, as quoted in the conservative Washington Times. "The public ought to be allowed to see a film which PBS doesn't want them to see."
The Committee is starting on Gonzales if you want to watch, it's on c-span now and will go to c-span 3 when the House is in session. Or you can stream from the c-span site.
watching democracy now.
global sniper diplomacy.
bush stopping ballistic fingerprinting.
Gonzales talked to Bush, Rove and Domenici about David Iglesias. Will he remember any of that today?
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/19/2007 08:28:00 AM ET
Today's the big day for Gonzales:
Investigators have already determined that Mr. Gonzales spoke directly three times with Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, about his complaints regarding David C. Iglesias, the states former top federal prosecutor.
Administration officials have confirmed that Mr. Gonzales also spoke with President Bush and Karl Rove, the presidents chief political adviser, about the perceived lack of enthusiasm in Mr. Iglesiass office, among others, for prosecuting voting fraud cases, a top Republican Party priority. And investigators know that Mr. Iglesiass name was among the last to be added to the ouster list.
On what precise date, why and by whom was Mr. Iglesias placed on the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired? asked Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, in a list of questions he has presented to Mr. Gonzales.
Judiciary Committee staff members said Wednesday that given the repeated instances in which Mr. Gonzales was directly involved in discussions related to Mr. Iglesias, it might be hard for the attorney general to refuse to testify about these discussions or any follow-up conversations or to deny any recollection of them.
It would be hard for an honest person. Might not be that hard for a liar.
LINK
78: Percentage of Americans who believe immigrants now in the U.S. illegally should be given a chance at citizenship, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll, showing “the American public appears to have reached a consensus on the question.”
LINK
Senate conservatives “blocked legislation yesterday that would have allowed the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices.” Eighty-five percent of Americans support such negotiations.
LINK
“For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates. … On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division’s Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans.”
LINK
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) said “no, nope, no way, hell no” Tuesday to helping create the first national identifcation cards, signing into law a bill that blocks the state from complying with the REAL ID Act.
LINK
stray HARP vibrations
from alaska and
weird vibes
in general.
------------
damn right Shadow.
Good stuff Toni!
cspan all day.
have you heard anything on U.S./
Australia swapping asylum seekers?
saw a little someting on it, but the link was dead.
“Congressional Democratic leaders are moving to make their proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq ‘advisory’ as they seek to reconcile two versions of war spending legislation into a single bill that they plan to pass next week, according to several House members.”
LINK
A group of influential conservatives and longtime Bush supporters has written a letter to the White House to call for Gonzo's resignation 4-17
http://tinyurl.com/ys2bhh
have you heard anything on U.S./
Australia swapping asylum seekers?
saw a little someting on it, but the link was dead.
April 19, 2007 10:08 AM
My link, Ja? Or another link?
Here's another link for the Aussie - US refugee swaps
LINK
thanks T.
eya jajajaja!
Hell Hath No Fury Like Sens. Reid's and Rockefeller's
By SusanUnPC
Mr. President, let's call it the way it is. Vice President Cheney runs the intelligence operations of this administration. He has for 6 years. It apparently is not going to stop. We could not even improve the intelligence-gathering operations for the 16 agencies because it may interfere with the Vice President.
-- Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, about the GOP's failure to keep its bargain reached in consultation with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence minority chair, Sen. Kit Bond. (This was while America's television sets were held hostage by President Bush who was exploiting tragedy praying and pontificating reaching out to VTech students.)
I should tell you what Sens. Reid and Rockefeller are so furious about, shouldn't I. It's not like you would have heard a single word about it on any news network, is it? (And, below, why Victoria Toensing's freaky hard-core red Shear-Madness-cut hair must be standing on end!)
Continue reading "Hell Hath No Fury Like Sens. Reid's and Rockefeller's"
LINK
toniD said...
“Congressional Democratic leaders are moving to make their proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq ‘advisory’
given that its the wapo, maybe the story is wishful thinking on the part of the conservatives.
i was hoping our new democrats would have more spine in stopping the insanity that is the bush administration.
Sounding Off: CNNMSNBCFAUX's One-Story Drone
Besides the repetitious one-story format of cable news since yesterday -- from which I'm doing all I can to escape -- there's cable news's failure to ask some questions:
"Bush is going to attend services for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting today. When was the last time Bush did that for the troops? Oh, right, never!," writes Leslie below.
Bush has ordered the nation's flags flown at half-staff until Sunday. Did Bush order flags lowered after Katrina's devastation and the deaths of hundreds of people?
It was astonishing to watch news reporters rabidly attack Virginia Tech's president and chief of police. Why don't news reporters regularly attack Bush and Cheney like that?
Sheldon Drobny nails the simplicity of the Virginia Tech tragedy: "[In the case of the] University of Texas massacre in the 1960s ... the assassin was suffering from a tumor in his brain. The Virginia Tech assassin surely had a brain disease of some kind. That is all you need to know."
Continue reading "Sounding Off: CNNMSNBCFAUX's One-Story Drone" »
LINK
How Many Dead Equal Failed Government?
by
Larry C Johnson
What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon.
We cannot say the same about events in Baghdad and Iraq. Just today four separate car bombs in and around Baghdad teft at least 160 Iraqis--mostly Shia--dead. Yesterday, Tuesday, at least 85 bodies turned up and there were more bombings. Monday was not much better--thirty corpses and at least twenty killed in bombings. Sixty nine plus on Sunday. And the beat goes on.
Think about those numbers in relationship to the anger expressed by the public and press because Virginia Tech University officials failed to prevent Monday's massacre. What would we be saying if another shooter showed up at Virginia Tech on Tuesday and killed 20 more students and another shooter bagged an additional 40 on Wednesday? The President of the University would be lynched, the students would arm themselves, and the police would lose any pretense of control. Why do we think Iraqi Shias and Sunnis should react differently then we would?
Continue reading "How Many Dead Equal Failed Government
LINK
blah blah blah said...
lets hope war with iran doesn't start at 5:45 tonight...
seriously, i would expect gonzo to be gone by the end of the day.
March 20, 2007 1:00 PM
Hmm???
ABC Psychiatrist: "If You Can Take Imus Off The Air, You Can Certainly Keep [Cho] From Having His Own Morning Show"
ABC News | April 19, 2007 08:48 AM
The videos of Seung-hui Cho, the man who fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech on Monday and then killed himself, shouldn't have been released because they don't offer the public any greater understanding of the gruesome crime, said Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and ABC News consultant, on "Good Morning America" today.
"If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the Internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube," Welner said. "This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe."
LINK
it was an different link toni,
yours are always reliable and thanks again, I new that sounded great white sharky.
----
Hey Jim!
suns finally out and i got the day off . gonna advertise for this show we're going to do next week where we're improvising a score to the film version of Slaughterhouse 5 at this great bookstore.
hopefully we'll be able to webcast the audio, but we're still working out the kinks on the site.
hows by your coast?
blah blah blah said...
lets hope war with iran doesn't start at 5:45 tonight...
seriously, i would expect gonzo to be gone by the end of the day.
March 20, 2007 1:00 PM
who woulda thunk i could be wrong. mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa.
but seriously, try the veal...
We Are Getting Tired of Prying Your Guns out of Your Cold Dead Hand
04.18.2007 Elayne Boosler
3,300 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last four years. 120,000 Americans have been shot to death in America in the last four years. Where is the outrage?
LINK
Ok this is BULLSHIT SAM!
You need to take back your SHOW!
The air waves are mighty, mighty empty without your voice!
It sucks! thought you would like to know.
later, Sister Joyous Whip of Enlightenment
McCain Sings: "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran," At Campaign Stop
Georgetown Times | Scott Harper | April 19, 2007 10:30 AM
with getting proper medical treatment when it's needed, it makes it hard to recruit, McCain said.
Another man -- wondering if an attack on Iran is in the works -- wanted to know when America is going to "send an air mail message to Tehran."
McCain began his answer by changing the words to a popular Beach Boys song.
"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," he sang to the tune of Barbara Ann. "Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. That alone should concern us but now they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support the President when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel."
LINK
Is anyone counting how many times Gonzo is saying...I don't recall!!
eya Ja,
california community is trying to stop Blackwater Mercenaries from building "Blackwater West"
main objections pretty well covered on Amy Goodmans Democracy Now webcast.
Lack of accountability, huge amonts in goverment contracts, hook ups with major rightwing loonie fundamentalist "religious movements", Scwartznegers police state plans and crooked lobbyists being installed as california goverment controllers etc.
toniD said...
Is anyone counting how many times Gonzo is saying...I don't recall!!
April 19, 2007 10:47 AM
-------------------------------
I forget.
Schumer: ‘We Will Get To The Bottom Of This While Bush Is Still President’ »
In advance of today’s hearings with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned the White House that it cannot avoid congressional oversight by using executive privilege to run out the clock.
“When privilege has been claimed in these kinds of cases, it has taken months not years” to resolve, Schumer said at a press conference. “So those in the White House who think that they can somehow sort of outlast this, as the courts debate privilege, I think are mistaken. We will get to the bottom of this while President Bush is still president.” Watch it:
LINK
Good Morning!
The Sister is correct... it IS BS!
*
Harvard to Conduct Josh Wolf Mock Trial
by Benjamin Duranske
Blogger and video journalist Josh Wolf is in U.S. prison for refusing to turn over video footage of a protest that he taped in 2005. Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson are preparing to do a moot court trial of the Josh Wolf case on Berkman Island in Second Life. The lawyers in this trial will be students from Harvard Law School, and Professor Nesson will be the judge. Second Life citizens will act as mock jurors for the trial. The trial will be held April 22nd from 1-3pm SLT (Pacific) on Harvard’s Berkman Island at Berkman (136, 240, 25), and is open to the public.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/136/240/25
I haven't heard any really hard questions asked Gonzales, yet.
Orin Hatch questioning now and he's throwing soft balls, of course!
Same with Brownbeck.
Only Specter asked a few biting questions.
UNION OF SOUTH AMERICAN NATIONS: Where energy resources will be the basis of development
...
1. - To name this integration effort by member states as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
2. - To establish the creation of an Energy Council, with the mission of presenting a proposal on the matter for the 3rd Summit of South American Nations. The Council will be comprised of the energy ministers of each country, who will base their work on the principle that energy integration should be utilized as an important tool for promoting social and economic development, as well as eradicating poverty.
3. - To designate a Permanent Secretariat that will have its offices near the Mitad del Mundo Monument in Quito, Ecuador.
4. – To entrust the foreign ministers with designating the Permanent Secretary and transforming the High-Ranking Officials Commission into a council of delegates or a political commission charged with drawing up a draft agreement for the UNASUR constitution.
Another of these proposals —which in and of themselves, according to analysts and commentators, made the regional meeting worthwhile — was to create a South American Energy Treaty, with the goal of having, in the near future, a tool for the cohesion of a system of production, distribution and supply of guaranteed energy for the continent’s peoples, according to President Chávez.
...
FBI Raids Home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)
The FBI has raided the home of Republican Congresman John Doolittle of California and his wife Julie. The couple has been closely tied to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Agents seized computers and documents.
Congressman Doolittle said the raid targeted his wife's consulting business. Abramoff hired Julie Doolittle's firm to raise funds for a charity he founded.
Police Prepared To Arrest 3,000 At '08 RNC
(AP) St. Paul The Ramsey County sheriff has prepared a $4.4 million budget for security during the 2008 Republican National Convention, with a plan to handle the arrests of as many as 3,000 protesters.
Sheriff Bob Fletcher's proposal includes money for a possible open-air, fenced detention facility next to the county workhouse, riot equipment and Tasers, and $1.7 million for officers' overtime.
Boston and New York City, which hosted the national political conventions in 2004, prepared for similar numbers of arrests but wound up arresting fewer. Fletcher said things could be different in 2008.
"The tenor of the country's feelings about the war in Iraq is different than it was four years ago," Fletcher said.
Planning for 3,000 arrests drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union in Minnesota. Charles Samuelson, the group's executive director, said he was concerned that the number might be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
St. Paul police Commander Joe Neuberger rejected that. Ramsey County simply needed a number to start with, he said.
"Our goal is to arrest no one," he said.
Feinstein, Finally hard question!
Specter Dresses Down Gonzales: ‘I Don’t Think You’re Going To Win A Debate About Your Preparation’
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said today that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ opening testimony continued “a pattern of not being candid.” Specter proceeded to ask the Attorney General to resolve his contradictory statements, noting that he should be able to answer them since he has spent weeks preparing.
Gonzales interjected, “I prepare for every hearing, Senator.” A livid Specter responded, “Do you prepare for all your press conferences? Were you prepared for the press conference where you said there weren’t any discussions involving you?”
Gonzales, put on the defensive, conceded, “Senator, I already said I misspoke. It was my mistake.” When Specter pressed about the specific question of whether he prepares for press conferences, Gonzales said “we do take time to try to prepare for the press conference.”
“Let’s move on,” Specter said. “I don’t think you’re not going to win a debate about your preparation, frankly.” Gonzales chuckled. Watch it:
LINK
Hey Sam! Better get busy getting that show back, because you get old before you know it and when that happens nobody listens to you.
HA!
http://akamat.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/the-zimmers-my-generation/
Love Ya, Sister Joyous Whip of Enlightenment
Anti-war network sits in at Sen. Kohl’s office through the night
After walking out of their classes at 1 p.m. Wednesday in protest of the war in Iraq and rallying students down State Street, more than 40 members of UW-Madison’s Campus Anti-war Network staged an all-night sit-in at U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s, D-Wis., Madison office.
The protesters insisted the senator return to Wisconsin to meet with the group and hear its demands regarding the war in Iraq.
Filing into Kohl’s 14 W. Mifflin St. office, drumming and chanting anti-war slogans, CAN members spoke via telephone to eminent progressive historian Howard Zinn and antiwar sports columnist Dave Zirin.
Zinn offered words of encouragement to CAN members, stressing Congress is “provoking chaos, they’re provoking chaos and war.”
Arriving at Kohl’s office at approximately 2 p.m., armed with six demands to halt Kohl’s voting for continued funding of the war in Iraq, CAN members met opposition in the form of office staff and U.S. Department of Homeland Security police officers.
Gonzales: You Know Better Than I Do
By Paul Kiel - April 19, 2007, 10:55 AM
There was a revealing moment during the questioning by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). When pressed on the process of removing the U.S. attorneys and what Gonzales knew about it, Gonzales replied that since the judiciary committees had been interviewing all of Gonzales' aides, that investigators now know more about the firings that Gonzales does.
Kennedy also pressed on whether Gonzales had ever done an evaluation about whether the firings would affect certain ongoing prosecutions. Gonzales replied no, because the assistant U.S. attorneys in the offices are really the ones who handle the cases -- the U.S. attorneys are important, he allowed, but "this institution is built to sustain change." It doesn't matter all that much, who's in charge, apparently.
LINK
Man, it's not the same without you. Gotta get it back.
Morning Bloggi!
Howabout this hearing, Toni!
More of the same!
An interesting thing to keep in mind regarding hearing like this, the Libby case and Karl Rove's involvement in just about everything:
Plausible deniability is the term given to the creation of loose and informal chains of command in governments and other large organizations. In the case that assassinations, false flag or black ops or any other illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any connection to or awareness of such act, or the agents used to carry out such act.
Gonzales on Iglesias Firing
By Paul Kiel - April 19, 2007, 10:26 AM
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) was fast out of the gate, jumping right in with questions about the firing of David Iglesias.
Despite Gonzales' foggy recollections, some significant details emerged.
Gonzales could not recall details about his conversation with Karl Rove about voter fraud, although he testified that he did have such a conversation. He said that it covered three jurisdictions -- New Mexico, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. He could not recall when or where or how it had occurred, only that it was in the fall of 2006.
He pinpointed the date of his conversation with President Bush about those same three jurisdictions as happening on October 11.
He also revealed that, when he spoke with Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) in the fall of 2005 about David Iglesias, that Domenici said that Iglesias "was in over his head." Domenici was concerned that Iglesias didn't have personnel for public corruption cases. Domenici never requested that Iglesias be removed, Gonzales said -- he just questioned whether Iglesias was capable.
When pressed by Leahy, Gonzales could not say precisely why Iglesias was fired, nor when Iglesias' name appeared on the list.
Video at link
The Daily Muck
By Will Thomas - April 19, 2007, 9:22 AM
RNC and Waxman Battle Over Right to Emails
"In a new letter to the Republican National Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman writes that the RNC has provided only minimal information regarding White House officials’ use of RNC e-mail accounts. Waxman reveals that the RNC’s response thus far has been to propose that any Congressional requests for emails be filtered through eight search terms, such as ‘political briefing,’ ‘Hatch Act,’ and ‘2008.’” (Think Progress) Meanwhile, the RNC maintains that they want to work with Congress, but refuse to make available their entire database. "We are drawing a line in the sand on this," said a party executive. "For the first time, we are saying that we are not going to put up with this." (USNews)
Continue reading...
LINK
Mainline meat!
Project On Government Oversight
POGO
Possum from Earth Day 1971
Pogo
Fly air-ono
pogo
Hi Cat Chew!
Great POGO's!!
Where has air ono been lately?
fat head said...
Mainline meat!
Please do, we need to cull the herd.
Its funny. didn't Sam always talk about the hard time he had getting rid of Majority Report Merch (mousepads, mugs) etc...
Its cool how people are actually willing to bid on mugs now. his stock has skyrocketed.
i still think he should just have a crazy firesale so he can empty his garage.
Firedoglake is blogging the testimony of Gonzales.
http://firedoglake.com/
Ooh, I love to dance the little sidestep / Now they see me, now they don't / I've come and gone / And ooh, I love to sweep around a wide step / Cut a little swath / And lead the people on!
Finegold is up!
An Important Message from Freewayblogger
http://www.A28.org
Dear Freewaybloggers,
On Saturday, April 28th, tens of thousands of Americans will be making their voices heard by putting the word IMPEACH! in front of the public eye (see www.A28.org). Along with demonstrations and media events around the country, it's going to be up to us freewaybloggers to really get the message out. Freewayblogging, as you know, is the simple art of placing text in front of traffic in such a way as to maximize the number of people who see it. Although large banners on overpasses are popular, the best method by far is to place smaller signs, four or five feet long, on peripheral fencing or trees alongside the freeway. These signs will stay up for days, sometimes weeks, rather than hours, and require nothing more than cardboard, paint and a little bit of cleverness to post.
Remember that when all those flags went up on overpasses after 9/11 they established a legal precedent to use freeways for the expression of free political speech, and it's time we started using it. A single sign placed next to a major freeway can be seen by 200,000 people a day and remain up for days before it comes down: ten signs placed next to a couple different freeways can be seen by over a million people. easily, before they come down.
When the Founders of this Nation gave its citizens the right to full and unfettered free political speech, they didn't mean it as window dressing or a nicety, they meant for us to use it, and I think you'll agree it's time. So please help make a statement, and make history, on April 28!
http://www.freewayblogger.com/howto.htm
and here:
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com (type "arsenal" into the search box for tips)
earlier it was said that the vote against breathing some public disclosure into the intelligence act came about because the white house declared that the vote was a test of party loyalty...
so how does this get communicated to a congressman? does a chip in their ass give them a shock if they don't vote the way the chimp wants them to?
more importantly, why doesn't polosei or boxer or dean have this power over the dems?
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-does-bush-administration-have-list.html
Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants?
Where has air ono been lately?
He was on this thread, briefly. I guess he's semi-boycotting for better blogging conditions.
Firedoglake is blogging the testimony of Gonzales.
Glad of that. Have too many things to do in the yard to watch/listen much in real time today.
SHADOW VALLEY CONDOMS
If you lived here....
you'd be home by now!!!
Abu Gonzo has no memory, doesn't recall, has no recollection.
I don't think a man with a brain so like a sieve is fit to serve in any high office.
Speaking of voter fraud (watching CSPAN3),
Ann Coulter still seems immune from prosecution...
Back to work.
Have fun, blogkins.
ralph spoilsport said...
you'd be home by now!!!
====
But I'm looking for the Same Old Place.
is anybody listening to big eddies rant about nbc airing the vt killers video?
5 rugs for 5 bucks
But I'm looking for the Same Old Place.
April 19, 2007 12:10 PM
You must mean the old Same Place.
Hey, I'm listening to the Senate hearings of Gonzales... Senator Graham is speaking... can somebody shut that door, please???
Dear Senator Leahy;
Oft heard today
"I can't recall," I don't recall,"
or is it more truthfully
I haven't yet recalled, or
I won't recall.
thank you,
jim
[contrasted with "I have no memory of ... which is beyond equivocation : ) ]
LMAO !!!!!!!
"I take issue issue with sen pryor's characterazation."
Listening to the Gonzales hearings.
What is Big Ed saying?
Post a Comment