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::fuzzy and blue --political musings by a proud Democrat::
::Author::  Name::Tina From::United States Married college graduate and parent who lives in the Mid West View my complete 
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Tuesday, February 28, 2006 HAPPY MARDI GRAS EVERYONE!  Let the good times roll. My birthday is March 1st. Hubby and I had planned on going to New Orleans 2006 to ring in Fat Tuesday and my birthday all in one. Then that horrendous bitch Katrina entered the picture... sigh. So, in honor of Mardi Gras, this evening I will be preparing shrimp etoufee, muffalettas, and of course, a King Cake and PLENTY of cocktails (don't worry-- BabyGirl will be at my parents and Hubby and I took Weds off.) Granted, I won't be able to earn my Mardi Gras beads as I did once before (hey! I was single at the time!)... and yes... I easily went home with 100s of necklaces. But I am one curvy chick... they were waaaay easy to earn. But since I can't get any beads this yr (unless Hubby wants to toss me some lovely baubles & trinkets) check out this fabulous idea. Happy Mardi Gras everyone, may God comfort and bless the people of New Orleans in 2006 with better fortune, and Laissez les bon temps rouler! 
Hmm, so we LIE about the number dead in Iraq's unofficial civil war. Nice... WaPost: "Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major US offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the US military and the news media." And get this, even more info about the Shiia death squads' handiwork: "100s of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday -- blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound and many of them had wound up at the morgue after what their families said was their abduction by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr." Good to see we ousted a bloodthirsty secular Saddam for bloodthirsty fundamentalist Shiites, huh? And better yet... we're footing the bill for this bloodbath.
The Coast Guard reports at a Senate hearing: "Citing broad gaps in US intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush admin that it was unable to determine whether a UAE-owned company might support terrorist operations." Well, it appears that 1 of the only people in the media who gets how mammoth of a f-up this deal will be is Lou Dobbs. Check him out here, here, and here. Lou is on fire!
This from the WaPost made me laugh outloud. All I could think was pot meet kettle and call it black. : "Vice Pres Cheney has grown increasingly skeptical of Russian Pres Putin and shown interest in toughening the admin's approach... due to growing concerns about the Kremlin's crackdown on internal dissent and pressure tactics toward its neighbors." (B/c God knows there is no crackdown on dissenting voices in America and the US hasn't pressured their neighbors, allies and so -called enemies, right? cough... hack... snark). Oh please Bunker Boy in an undisclosed location, go hunt humans and wingless caged birds while drunk (so says the Secret Service and so does Bruce Willis).
Holy crap! Reuters: "The NYTimes sued the US Defense Dept on Monday demanding that it hand over documents about the NSA's domestic spying program. The Times wants a list of documents including all internal memos and e-mails about the program of monitoring phone calls w/out court approval. It also seeks the names of the people or groups identified by it." I wonder how BushCo will spin this? Oh that's right... Scotty McClellan the Lying Doughboy will say what he says everyday: lies and denials.
Bush says: What civil war in Iraq?  Every piece of news worldwide in the last 5 days has been about Iraq coming apart at the seams (just see 1. here, 2. here, 3. here, 4. here, 5. here, 6. here for a sample) AND yet Capt Clueless and his Team BushCo think otherwise. Well, something has clearly shifted b/c this pix featured in this article from VOA is also the pix used on the front pg of Yahoo News (but I'm just waiting for it to mysteriously disappear). When was the last time you can recall a frontpage story about Iraq that included a pix used showing an injured Iraqi child? Maybe people are beginning to realize how incompetent and responsible BushCo is b/c they blatantly have ignored warnings of Iraqi civil war for yrs. And it seems that Iraq is not the only nation on the brink of teetering over the civil war cliff: Pakistan's Pres Musharraf is clinging to power by the skin of his teeth. Oh well... I guess that is just more of Bush's victorious "democracy" spreading like wildfire in the Middle East, huh?
TIME is saying that this port deal is costing Bush his "political capital" and the Rasmussen polls indicate that only 17% are okay w/the deal, yet CNN reports that the Repukes are currently working out a deal w/Bush to make sure that he gets his Dubai/ UAE port deal. Take a look at the 21 reasons why we shouldn't let the deal go thru (the 21 reasons are based upon this document from the Dept of Justice case against Zacarias Moussaoui). And yes, it is symbolic that there are 21 reasons b/c we have now learned that the Dubai/ UAE port deal involves 21 US ports not the mere 6 that we had been previously told about. Despite all of this... when it comes to the deal: Bush. Will. Not. Back. Down.
IndependentUK: "100s of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior, the UNs' outgoing human rights chief John Pace in Iraq has revealed. Up to 3/4 of the corpses stacked in the city's mortuary show evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or injuries caused by drill-bits or burning cigarettes. Much of the killing was carried out by Shia Muslim groups under the control of the Ministry of the Interior, Pace said. He said figures show that last July the morgue alone received 1,100 bodies, about 900 of which bore evidence of torture or summary execution. The pattern prevailed throughout the yr until Dec, when the number dropped to 780 bodies, about 400 of which had gunshot or torture wounds." I'm sure the wingnuts and War Fans will somehow even defend this, even though they always use this old and tired spew (when defending Bush's WMDs never appearing): "We had to stop Saddam. His death squads tortured & killed 1000s of Iraqis and Kurds." How nice that our "liberation" has freed up the Shiia to form their own death squads that torture and execute on our taxpayers' dime.
IRS exams found that nearly 3 out of 4 churches, charities, and other civic groups suspected of having violated restraints on political activity in the '04 election did in fact do so. The majority of charities and churches followed the law, but a ''disturbing" amount of political intervention did occur in the '04 elections. The IRS examined 110 organizations referred to the tax agency for potential violations; 28 cases remain open. Among the 82 closed cases, the IRS found prohibited politicking and sent a written warning to 55 organizations (37 churches) and assessed a penalty tax against 1 group. Among the prohibited activities, the examiners found that charities and churches had distributed printed material supporting a preferred candidate and assembled improper voter guides or candidate ratings." Hmm... now if we could just convince these wingnut churches that state sanctioned torture, illegal wars, decimating all socially needed programs, killing off the middle class/ poor & tax breaks for billionaires are NOT Christian beliefs, then we might achieve something.
NewYorker: "3 yrs ago, former Navy genrl counsel Alberto Mora, wrote a memo which was marked secret but not classified and its 22 pgs detailed the chronological accounting and a warning of the consequences of Bush's decision on Feb 02 to bypass the Geneva conventions that prohibit torture and "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment". Read the Jane Mayer article to see just how diligently BushCo worked to thwart Mora and his memo so they could torture at will.
I Was Tagged by Renegade Eye Yes... I was tagged again. But this tag had questions that I hadn't seen before. 1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies? Usually color, BUT some genres of movies are simply better in black and white. 2: What is the 1 single subject that bores you to near-death? Anything that comes out of the mouth of my Neo-Nazi brother-in-law. 3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music? CD's. 4: You are handed one 1st class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and $10 million cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going … Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run? Nope, I would be going nowhere. I would never willingly leave my husband and child. 5: Seriously, what do you consider the world’s most pressing issue now? G-R-E-E-D 6: How would you rectify the world’s most pressing issue? "You say you want a revolution... Well you know... We all want to change the world." 7: You are given the chance to go back and change 1 thing in your life; what would that be? I would have defended a childhood friend from a bully in 7th grade. 8: You are given the chance to go back and change 1 event in world history, what would that be? I would render Barbara and George H. Walker Bush infertile. 9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole’ Opry –Which do you choose? Absolutely the opera... NEVER the Grand Ole' Opry. 10: What is the 1 great unsolved crime of all time you’d like to solve? Who was Jack the Ripper. 11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal? Joyce Carol Oates. A 3 cheese and spinach lasagna, greek salad, and cinnamon iced banana cake. 12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky — what’s the 1st immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact? Nothing, b/c I don't do good b/c of a fear of hell... I do it b/c it is simply the right thing to do. And since I was tagged, I am going to tag 4 fellow bloggers: 1.) Earl, 2.) Silly Adventures, 3,) Dicky Doodles, & JulianB. Yeh... I know you're all cursing me under your breath, but I really do want to see your answers partly out of curiosity and partly to get to know you better.
A Bush Joke, courtesy of my Dad  Pres Bush is out jogging one afternoon to avoid falling off his bike yet again. While jogging, he comes across a little boy sitting on a park bench w/ a carboard box on his lap. Afraid that this little boy just might be planning to blow Bush up, the Secret Service surrounds the kid w/ guns drawn. The terrified little boy puts his hands up and says: "I'm not doing anything wrong! I'm just sitting here with my new puppies." Bush, relieved and curious, approaches the little boy and peeks in the box and sees the cutest bunch of newborn puppies he's ever laid eyes on. Bush says: "Those puppies are so darned cute. What kind of puppies are they little man?" The little boy says: "These are Republican puppies, Mr. President." Bush says: "Well, isn't that just precious? They are Republican puppies. Hey kid, if you come here next week at the same time w/ those puppies, I promise to bring the country's vice-president by so he can see those cute puppies, too." The little boy agrees and Bush goes back to jogging. The next week, as was planned, Bush is jogging while Cheney is riding in a golf cart and they come across the little boy sitting on the same park bench w/ the cardboard box on his lap again. Bush says: "I can't wait til ya see these puppies, Dick. They're the cutest." Cheney grumbles and mumbles that he'd like to eat a live puppy, but Dubya elbows him and says shhh. They approach the kid and they both look into the box and as Cheney salivates, Bush says: "Hey little man, why dontcha tell my Boss here what kind of puppies you have here?" The little boy says: "These are Democrat puppies, Mr. President." An incredibly shocked Bush shakes his head and says: "Wait a minute kid, just last week you told me that these were Republican puppies! What gives?" The little boy says: "Oh that's easy to explain Mr. President. These are Democrat puppies now, but they were Republican puppies when their eyes were sealed shut and they were as good as blind."
9/11 Documentary: How BushCo was Complicit  Pix courtesy of OilEmpire. Lest we forget what happens when America is attacked, PLEASE watch this 1hr 22mins documentary from 9/11 Loose Change 2nd Edition. I've read 100s of conspiracy theories concerning 9/11, but nothing as succinct as this. It ties it all up nice and neat AND provides facts and evidence to back up every single claim... and made me wonder why exactly BushCo is pushing this UAE- Dubai port deal so hard. I think it is either b/c they sincerely want another 9/11 attack to happen to keep us all shaking w/fear like a cat shittin razorblades, and/or b/c they want to actively participate in another attack... as perhaps they did on Sept 11th (please read this-- it is yet another Dubai/ Osama connection). I believe wholeheartedly that every single citizen needs to see this documentary and rightfully question what horrors have been secretly committed by our leaders. It ain't about a tin foil hat... it is about the facts not adding up and an administration that has a history of lying about everything. Watch this and spread it far and wide... we owe it to America to do so.
I could care less that this deal has been given a temporary delay (that just means they are going to spin this in over time full throttle now) b/c I firmly believe this deal reeks of greased palms, so please check out this from DelilahBoyd's Blog (via IsAmericaBurning?): Here's what Rice is saying: "Hrs before she was due in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, Rice said the US admin had spent 3 months vetting the deal, dismissing concerns by several Congress members that it could be a threat to natl security." Here's what the Prez is saying: "Bush on Thurs sought to calm an uproar over the 6 major US ports, saying "people don't need to worry about security." Here's what a Coast Guard veteran is saying... and Rice & Bush are hoping you won't find this out.
The WaPost reports: "An examination of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machine records from the 04 election found possible tampering and 10s of 1000s of malfunctions and errors. Yeah, when the internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast 2 wks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night, one does have ample reason to question the vote results and how the hacking/ fraud happened.
Boo frickety hoo... CNN: "Lawyers for Scooter Libby asked a fedrl judge to dismiss his indictment on grounds that the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case lacked authority. In a crt filing, lawyers for Libby said his indictment violated the Constitution b/c Special Counsel Fitzgerald was not appointed by the president w/the consent of the Senate."... and b/c the prez and VP have left him twisting in the wind and b/c Fitz's evidence is proving that Libby is guilty & is tossing his defense out the window. And speaking of WH approved leakers, did the Bush admin "authorize" the leak of classified info to Bob Woodward? And did those leaks damage natl security?
AssocPress: "The gap between the very wealthy and other income groups widened during 2001 to 2004. Average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually fell from 01 to 04, and the growth in net worth was the weakest in a decade, the Fedrl Reserve reported Thurs. Average family incomes, after adjusting for inflation, fell to $70,700 in 04, a drop of 2.3% when compared w/ '01. That was the weakest showing since a decline of 11.3% from 1989 to 1992, a period that also covered a recession. The top 10% of households saw their net worth rise by 6.1% to an average of $3.11 million while the bottom 25% suffered a decline from a net worth in which their assets equaled their liabilities in '01 to owing $1,400 more than their total assets in '04. "This is the continuing story of the rich getting richer," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in NY. "Clearly, the gains in wealth are going to the top end."
SouthDakota Passes Abortion Ban  Says it all, no? ArgusLeader: "South Dakota House Bill 1215 would ban most abortions in SD.The only exceptions made are for the life of the mother." So, in cases of rape and/or incest... too bad for you bitch. You shouldn't have allowed yourself to get raped: GOP Sen. Lee Schoenbeck objected to any exception for rape /incest. "Rape should be punished severely, but the amendment is unfair to some equally innocent souls who have no chance to stand and defend themselves." Isn't it amazing that Republicans love to allow a rapist procreate, yet make the female who has already been brutalized by the rapist suffer a further 9 months of punishment for a crime she did not commit? And keep in mind that as the NYTimes reports, only about 800 abortions take place in SD per yr: "In this state of some 770,000 people, about 800 abortions are performed each year, nearly all at one clinic in Sioux Falls. Several yrs ago, the political atmosphere in SD became such that no local doctors felt comfortable performing abortions, so doctors are now flown in from Minnesota." Repukes/ Bush seem to cherish the idea of women having baby after baby until they drop dead b/c they don't support birth control, don't support abortion, don't support the morning-after pill, and they don't support babies or their families once they're born. But they do support this perfect plan to aide in the destruction of conventional families, and it's a great way to increase crime and spiritually unwanted and unloved babies. It's Bush in all his morally bankrupt and evil brilliance once again. I just want to know when exactly will the motherfuckers who voted for this be adopting all of the deformed fetuses that need round the clock care that no one can afford? Or when will they be setting up lifelong medical care and homes for all of these unwanted babies w/severe medical problems that women are being forced to bear? Will there be a special drop off place, or are the babies expected to crawl there all by themselves? B/c God knows that their sick & twisted culture of life ends the second the baby is born.
I know you won't be surprised by this, but: "Evidence is mounting that sr officials in the office of Cheney & the Natl Security Council conspired to unmask Plame -Wilson's identity to reporters in an effort to stop her husband from publicly criticizing the administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence." It isn't what is being said about this that is shocking... just that it is being said AT ALL is what I find shocking.
1.) Global ports operator DP World welcomed news that 1 of its sr execs, Dave Sanborn, has been nominated by Bush to serve as Maritime Administrator, a key transportation appt reporting directly to Norman Mineta the Sec of Transportation and Cabinet Member. 2.) The UAE has some of the worst human rights records in the whole world: "Trafficked children are used as camel jockeys. The child victims are reportedly starved to make them light, abused physically/ sexually, denied education and health care, and subjected to harsh living and working conditions." 3.) The Bush WH and the Dubai govt had a secret deal which involved info cooperation in exchange for the approval of the takeover of our port operations... keep in mind these negotiations were underway while the prez claims he was completely "unaware" of the deal.
I am so sick and tried of hearing Bush play this old and tired hand as his defense: "I just didn't know." Well, please read Kalamazoo's take on this weak, pissy-pants excuse... It appears that he is sick of it too. Seriously, how can the Pres of the United States be allowed to just shrug his shoulders and say "Hey, you all know what a dumb-ass I am. Once again folks- I just didn't know." ? The outrage meter is off the scale.
Proof that United Arab Emerites tied to Osama/Taliban  CooperativeResearchOrg: "After the Taliban took control of the area around Kandahar, Afghanistan, prominent Persian Gulf state officials and businessmen, including high-ranking United Arab Emirates and Saudi govt ministers, frequently secretly flew into Kandahar on state and private jets for hunting expeditions. [LATimes, 11/18/01] Gen. Wayne Downing, Bush's former natl director for combating terrorism, says: "They would go out and see Osama, spend some time with him, talk with him, you know, live out in the tents, eat the simple food, engage in falconing, some other pursuits, ride horses. One noted visitor was Sheik Mohammed ibn Rashid al Maktum, UAE Defense Minister and Crown Prince for the emirate of Dubai." [MSNBC, 9/5/03] While there, some developed ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda and give them money. Both bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar sometimes participate in these hunting trips. On 1 occasion, the US will decide not to attack bin Laden with a missile because he's falconing with important members of the UAEs' royal family. People and organizations involved: Wayne Downing, al-Qaeda, Mullah Omar- Taliban, Osama bin Laden, Sheik Mohammed ibn Rashid al Maktum, Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud- UAE." So, add the testimony of ex CIA dir George Tenet to the above info, plus this info from Sept 2004, and please tell me why we should trust them w/our port security exactly? Seems like plenty of people are not.
It is refreshing to see our Prez act like a 4 yr old isn't it? What's next-- will Bush announce that he's gonna take his ball and go home if he doesn't get his way? LouDobbs via CNN: Bush 's response to being told by Dems first and now scared shitless GOPers (who have to face their constituents on this issue and own up to it) that they are not happy about the United Arab Emerites taking control over the security of 6 major US ports is this: "Bush insisted the sale will go forward, and the president is threatening to veto any legislation to block the deal. The WH, of course, approved this deal in the 1st place, even though the UAE has ties w/the 9/11 hijackers and nuclear proliferation." Well, why the hell should that matter to Bush? Let's face it... if something goes down in the US that involves a terror attack, it woun't be his ass that suffers. Chimpy and Darth Dick's evil asses will be protected, safe and sound, and hidden away in an undisclosed location. We will be the only ones to suffer, so why should he care?
Read what John C. Danforth, a former Republican Senator, ordained Episcopal priest has to say about the Religious Frighters. In an article that appeared in the NY Times, Danforth rued the day the Christian right had taken over the Republican Party and longed for the day its influence would be diminished, if not eliminated. Isn't it refreshing when someone doesn't allow loyalty to their political party blind them to the horrors and crimes that BushCo has committed?
CNN's Situation Room: "Wolf, this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back, this deal to sell control of 6 US ports to a company controlled by the UAE. There are now actually Senators, Congressmen, Govs and Mayors telling the WH "you're not gonna do this." And it's about time. No one has said "no" to this administration on anything that matters in a very long time. Well this matters. It matters a lot. If this deal is allowed to go through, we deserve whatever we get. A country with ties to terrorists will have a presence at 6 critical doorways to our country. And if anyone thinks that the terrorists, in time, won't figure out how to exploit that, then we're all done. Nothing's happened yet, mind you, but if our elected representatives don't do everything in their power to stop this thing, each of us should vow to work tirelessly to see that they are removed from public office. We're at a crossroads - which way will we choose?"
Santorum Lives Beyond his Means  Opus Dei or no Opus Dei, I guess he won't be sainted, huh? AmericanProspect: "The Santorums bought their oversized Shenstone “estate” even though his financial disclosure forms since 2001 have shown little family income beyond his Senate salary, now $162,100, and he admits that life hasn’t been financially easy. Amer Prospect decided to heed Santorum’s advice by taking "an honest look at the family budget" -- his family budget. What we found is that Santorum’s exurban lifestyle is financed in ways that aren’t available to the average voter back home in PA -- namely from a political action committee. Read the article... it appears Mr Holier Than Thou is knee deep in financial santorum & misconduct.
On Lou Dobbs Monday night, I was told that Bush said that when it came to the United Arab Emerites winning control over 6 major US ports, surprise! surprise!... Bush supposedly knew nothing about it. While I believe he would need the the Jaws of Life to remove his head from his ass, it is hard to buy that Bush statement given that 12 top level officials signed off on this deal, including: Treasury Sec Snow, Sec of Defense Rumsfeld, Sec of State Rice, Sec of Homeland Security Chertoff, Att Gen Gonzalez, & Assis to the Pres for Natl Security Affairs Hadley. Wanna try another lie Dubya?
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch this ballistics test (by Prison Planet's Alex Jones w/engineers and ex-military/ law enforcement). Cheney and Whittington's bullshit is proven to be just that: 100% lawn fertilizer.
Despite the incredible whitewash BushCo & the GOPers keeps doing, Glenn Greenwald says this scandal ain't going nowhere.
Do we need any more proof of the secretive and "I know best" nature of BushCo?: NYTimes: "In a secret program at the Natl Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access 1000s of historical documents that were available for yrs, including some already published by the State Dept and others photocopied yrs ago by private historians." Downright authoritarian, no? Even on principle, they can't trust anyone w/ the truth so they treat us all like children. Seems to me that only thieves and scoundrels require the cloak of secrecy...
$500 Million BushCo Slushfund for Anti-Gay Initiatives  Didja know that Bush signed a special allotment for Christian-ONLY faith based initiatives? I know. It sounds like it is completely illegal per our Founding Father's explicit wishes in the Constitution. But hey... making ads that show that gay people are gay b/c they are abuse victims is incredibly expensive and this $500 million slushfund can buy a whole lot of anti-gay initiatives. Hmm... I guess that means that Mary Cheney was abused by Lynne and The Big Dick Cheney, too huh? Oh that's right, that "bad man" John Kerry was the only 1 who abused her when he referred to a Mary Cheney (who has been openly gay for over a decade and worked as the gay and lesbian liason for the Coors Corp) as an openly gay woman. Sigh... democracy please meet theocracy: "Bush's faith-based initiative also privileges Christianity above all other religions. After sifting through every grant announcement I could get my hands on from Bush's faith-based offices, I couldn't find a single grant issued to a religious charity that wasn't Christian -- no Jewish charities, no Muslim charities, nothing. And when I spoke with Jim Towey, dir of the WH Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, he confirmed that no direct fedrl grants from his program had gone to a non-Christian religious group. This kind of religious favoritism is exactly what the Constitution's establishment clause was put in place to prevent." Yeah, this must also be why the GOP is asking for church directories and beating the anti gay-marriage drum again.
Please read this op/ed by David Shribman. He isn't anti-holiday... just anti-absolute power in the executive office.
A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. Hmm... must be b/c they question the safety behind this move, huh? I wonder how long it will be before 'ole Gov Jeb worms his way into this to help out his bro Dubya? Oh never mind. Silly me. Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff on Sunday defended the govt’s security review of an Arab company given permission to take over operations at 6 major US ports. And God knows, when it comes to making us safe and taking care of the American people, BushCo and Homeland Sec do a HECK OF A JOB, eh? But security issues aside, why the fuck is our govt giving jobs away with our tax money? We now have to outsource our own homeland security?
I certainly believe that when it comes to tinfoil hats, the BushCo admin forces all of us to wear one every once in awhile b/c they lie about everything all of the time. But check out this investigative digging exploration... it digs up a whole lotta BushCo dirt in relation to the GOP players involved in the Cheney shooting... dirt that can't be readily explained nor swept away. Then again, maybe this is what Cheney was really doing when he shot Whittington: we know we'll never be told the truth.
37 million Americans live in poverty  It is so good to see that Bush and his Republicans don't let their Christianity get in the way of their dislike for the poor, eh? ObserverUK: "A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 % of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. Each year since 2001 their number has grown. Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line. Yet they are not a story of the unemployed or the destitute. Most have jobs. Many have 2. But the economy, stripped of worker benefits like healthcare, is having trouble providing good wages. Even families with 2 working parents are often one slice of bad luck - a medical bill or factory closure - away from disaster. The minimum wage of $5.15 an hr has not risen since 1997 and, adjusted for inflation, is at its lowest since 1956. The gap between the haves and the have-nots looms wider than ever. Faced w/ rising poverty rates, Bush's trillion-dollar fedrl budget recently raised massive amounts of defence spending for the war in Iraq and slashed billions from welfare programs." And yet Bush and his Republicans somehow smile and nod their heads yes and say that we must make Bush's wealthy tax cuts permanent. Their evilness, their moral bankruptcy, and their indifference to other human beings knows no bounds. And I'm sure they justify it w/this: their appallingly self-reassuring lie that these people are poor b/c they are lazy and choose to be poor, and then the Religious Frighters chime in and spew the ghastly lie that they are poor b/c they haven't earned God's favor. Perhaps they need to try opening the Bible and actually read what is said about the poor... Jesus had more than plenty to say.
A Bush Joke... or a Joke= Bush... to lift the spirit  Pix courtesy of NegativeSpin.Com. And I never realized how the words Bush and joke are practically interchangable. But anyhoo, let's lighten our spirits w/laughter shall we? Bush went to an elementary school in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. for a photo op. After his talk, Bush asked for questions. One little boy put up his hand, and the president asked his name. Boy: "Kenneth". Bush: "What is your question, Kenneth? "Boy: "I have 3 questions: 1st- Where are we with your so-called social security plan? 2nd- What responsibility do you personally take for the mess w/ FEMA & Hurricane Katrina? 3rd- Why are we still in Iraq when there were no weapons of mass destruction found? Just then the bell rang for recess. Bush told the kids that he would continue after recess. When they resumed the president said "Okay where were we? Who has a question?" A different little boy put his hand up. Bush pointed to him and asked his name. Boy: "Larry." Bush: "And what is your question, Larry?" Boy: "I have 5 questions: 1st- Where are we with your so-called social security plan? 2nd- What responsibility do you personally take for the mess w/ FEMA & Hurricane Katrina? 3rd- Why are we still in Iraq when there were no weapons of mass destruction found? 4th- Why did the recess bell ring 20 mins early? And 5th - "What the hell happened to Kenneth?
Salon.Com has More Abu Ghraib Photos  Pix of Lady Abu Liberty courtesy of Canadian Spectator. Apparently all the Abu Ghraib photos have now been released to Salon. These pix show the same kinds of depraved abuse we have seen before in the other previously released pix from earlier this wk and from 04, yet only a portion are available for viewing at Salon at this time. Salon writes: "The photos we are showing in the accompanying gallery represent a small fraction of these visual materials. None, as far as we know, have been published elsewhere. They include: a naked, handcuffed prisoner in a contorted position; a dead prisoner who had been severely beaten; a prisoner apparently sodomizing himself with an object; and a naked, hooded prisoner standing next to a US officer who is blandly writing a report against a wall. Other photos depict a bloody cell. The DVD also includes photos of guards threatening Iraqi prisoners w/dogs, homemade videotapes depicting hooded prisoners being forced to masturbate, and a video showing a mentally disturbed prisoner smashing his head against a door." You can see the Australian Dateline documentary that aired the just released pix this wk here at Chris Floyd.Com and read the transcript. I'm sure that when it comes to the War Fans, half will just want to kill the messenger and the other half-- if they don't see the pictures, or see the whole thing on TV alongside of American Idol, it simply didn't happen. AND then of course, there will be these freaks: Even if they do see photo and video evidence, it STILL didn't happen - b/c it's all been fabricated to injure Dear Bushler. And I don't care what anyone says, the guy who is handcuffed and has his ankles tied together did not just happen to shove what appears to be a banana up his ass of his own free will. He is practically hogtied. Where did he happen to hide the banana so he could willingly sodomize himself? And how exactly did he get it into his ass while hogtied? I'm sick and tired of BushCo driving our entire nation off of the cliff, but commiting heinous acts like this in our name is beyond the pale. It is morally bankrupt and criminal.
 I will be blogging lightly for awhile. Hubby and I have some serious decision making to do about BabyGirl. We spent 3 hrs at her pediatric ophthalmologist's office on Weds and surgery was advised. I'm trying to be optimistic about this, but I am beyond scared. Whatever you believe in or don't believe, please please please wish BabyGirl well. I wish I could magically take this from her and have the surgery myself. Please pray for all to go well. We really could use the energy of many on this.
 I had already written this post early Weds before going to the doctor's for BabyGirl... so please do not mistake this post as an absence of gravitas. I just thought I'd go ahead and post it since it was written. Besides, laughter is sometimes the best medicine, right?... just ask the always sensitive Pentagon when it comes to the grieving loved ones of military families... hack... cough. A new study shows that "young Canadians are practicing a new style of safe sex and the only touching required involves a keyboard. Of more than 2,500 university and college students polled across Canada, 87% of them are having sex over instant messenger, webcams or the telephone."Now I have no problem with people choosing to have virtual sex. Like my attitude about porn, as long as it doesn't involve any children or animals (who are incapable of consent) and all participants are willing and consenting adults, do whatcha like. But when it comes to having virtual sex vs real sex, I'll quote the immortal wisdom of Jeffrey Lebowski... aka The Dude... from The Big Lebowski: The pornographer- Jackie TREEHORN :"People forget that the brain is the biggest erogenous zone." The DUDE: "On you maybe." TREEHORN: "The new technology permits us to do exciting things w/ interactive erotic software. Wave of the future, Dude. 100% electronic." DUDE: "Uh-huh. Well, I still jerk off manually."
Aussies Show Unreleased Abu Ghraib Pix  Pix courtesy of WizardOfWhimsy. Captures the Torquemada-esque qualities of Abu Ghraib Gonzales nicely, no? The Sydney Morning Herald and Australia's SBS Dateline will show and publish some of the Abu Gharib photos which have been until now supressed by the Bush Admin. There are 60 of them in total. The pix at this diary are the ones which are publishable. What else can I say about more of these fucking disgraceful examples of BushCo arrogance and complete disregard for internatl law?
Lieberman was a guest of the Bushes' Valentine's Day party? WTF? For the love of all things holy... I'd love to see Lieberman even has a fucking beating heart in his hollow whored-out chest. And on a totally unrelated note: Hubby got me 8 sterling silver diamond cut bangle bracelets... 1 for every yr he has known me upon meeting me in '98. I know... he rocks.
Hmm, and yet W claims he never met the guy. LATimes: "When the govt of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the US by arranging a meeting between Bush and its controversial prime minister in '02, it followed the same strategy as many other well-heeled interests in Washington: It called on lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help. It was a tall order. The then-prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton admin for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents. But it was important to the Malaysians, according to a former Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian ambassador and the lobbyist. Abramoff contacted Karl Rove on at least 4 occasions to help arrange a meeting, the witness said. Finally, the former associate said, Rove's office called to tell Abramoff that Mahathir would be getting an official WH invitation. Neither the former Abramoff associate nor any others who spoke about the Malaysian contacts wanted their names used, out of fear they might damage future business opportunities. In May '02, Mahathir met w/ Bush in the Oval Office; his photo w/ Bush was beamed around the world. Abramoff received $1.2 million from the Malaysian govt for his lobbying services in '01- '02. Documents obtained by Senate investigators appear to confirm at least $900,000 of that amount."
Oh holy hell... I'm sure I'm on this damn list that has quadrupled since '03. I'm a member of MoveOn and practically every other PAC, I campaigned my ass off for Kerry in '04, I worked w/a team of volunteer attorneys to document voter fraud and disenfranchisement in OH, Hubby and I have given tons of our hard earned and oh-so-needed cash to every OH Dem and plenty of natl Dems, I have an incredibly anti-Bush blog that has had many visits from scary-ass govt visitors, and I am a very vocal pro-choice/ pro-gay Catholic. I'm toast. How many of you think you might be on this list, too?
List of things that are deeply troubling about Cheney shooting Whittington: 1.) Why did it take 24 hrs for news of the shooting to be made public? 2.) Why was Karen Armstrong (the ranch owner & private citizen) and NOT the WH the one to go public w/this info? 3.) Why did Karl Rove speak to Karen Armstrong BEFORE she went public w/the shooting info? 4.) Why did Secret Service agents turn away the Sheriff when the Sheriff came to talk to Cheney? AND 5.) Why was the Sheriff told to return the NEXT day? 6.) Why does the WH continue to refuse to address these ample questions and continue to blatantly generate the idea that they are above the law and above all scrutiny? 7.) Why did MSNBC scrub the story that had a quote from Karen Armstrong saying that alcohol was consumed by Cheney? 8.) Does the police report's description of the area of the body hit on Whittington make sense when we have been told that this is all Whittington's fault b/c he "broke" some unwritten TX hunting law of not announcing his presence to Cheney? AND Where are Whittington's clothes so an analysis of the gunshot spatter can be done? 9.) On Keith Olbermann, we were told that instead of taking Whittington straight to the hospital in Corpus Christi they took him to the smaller town of Kingsville, which would have involved traveling across the ranch probably on bumpy roads and a longer drive. So, the question is WHY would they have taken him to a lesser hospital 1st that required longer travel time? 10.) Why does Cheney refuse to make 1 single comment about this incident?
From a fellow N.E. Ohio blogger known as FaggotyAssFaggot: "Friday, news organizations began to report that a new bill had been introduced in the Ohio House that would ban anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender from adopting or becoming a foster parent. It's the most far-reaching anti-queer adoption bill in the country - even Florida's doesn't mention trannies. This is OH. Should we be surprised? Our anti-gay marriage law is the worst in the nation, and that passed more than a year ago. What have conservatives been waiting for, election yr? Oh, right. I have little hope that anyone can stop this bill if the Republican majority in our state legislature decides it can get away with passing it." Please check out Brian's blog... this fag hag thinks it is aces.
WOO HOO!! Take that you self-righteous behemoth of cheap Chinese goods & piss poor labor practices! CBSNews: "The state board that oversees pharmacies ordered Wal-Mart on Tues to stock emergency contraception pills at its pharmacies in MA, making the Bay State the 2nd in the nation to require the world's largest retailer to carry the drug. Wal-Mart now carries the pill only in IL, where it is required to do so under state law. The company has said it "chooses not to carry many products for business reasons," but has refused to elaborate. Tue's unanimous decision by the pharmacy board comes 2 wks after 3 women sued the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant for failing to carry the drug in its 44 Wal-Marts and 4 Sam's Club stores in MA. The women had argued that state policy requires pharmacies to provide all "commonly prescribed medicines."
Happy Valentine's Day  Let's think of our troops who are apart from their loved ones this yr.
 To my Hubby: I love you so much my sweet honey and my best friend. There is no one else I'd want to spend my life or this day with. BabyGirl and I hid your Valentines and candy... happy hunting for them. And much later, I'll be unveiling something I bought from Frederick's of Hollywood :)
According to The Daily Show, the quail that Cheney was hunting were wingless, raised in captivity and released only to be killed. Nice, huh? Well, it is not the 1st time Cheney was such a pathetically lazy and cruel hunter. This is from '03, but this does shed some light on how twisted Cheney and his mysterious group of hunting guests are: Originally posted: 2:51 p.m. EST Dec 9, 2003 The Human Society Statement via WTAV Channel 4: "Monday's hunting trip to PA by VP Cheney in which he reportedly shot more than 70 stocked pheasants and an unknown number of mallard ducks at an exclusive private club places a spotlight on an increasingly popular and deplorable form of hunting, in which birds are pen-reared and released to be shot in large numbers by patrons. The ethics of these hunts are called into question by rank-and-file sportsmen, who hunt animals in their native habitat and do not shoot confined or pen-raised animals that cannot escape. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that 500 farm-raised pheasants were released yesterday morning at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township for the benefit of Cheney's 10-person hunting party. The group killed at least 417 of the birds, illustrating the unsporting nature of canned hunts. The party also shot an unknown number of captive mallards in the afternoon. "This wasn't a hunting ground. It was an open-air abattoir, and the vice pres should be ashamed to have patronized this operation and then slaughtered so many animals," states Wayne Pacelle, a sr vice pres of The Humane Society. "If the VP and his friends wanted to sharpen their shooting skills, they could have shot skeet or clay, not resorted to the slaughter of more than 400 creatures planted right in front of them as animated targets." The Humane Society deplores the shooting of captive birds and animals where traditional "fair chase" hunting ethics are discarded and kills are guaranteed. We are campaigning to outlaw canned hunts thru fedrl/ state legislation." What a tool. The Big Dick can't even hunt properly unless the animals are released in a canned arena. Oh yeh... GOPers are sooooo big & bad w/their guns. Puh-leeze.
And people actually believe that GOPers are tough and keep us safe? Well, not if you're a 78 yr old lawyer or an endangered bird: "Michigan’s Mourning Doves Targeted: Dove hunting results in mistaken identity kills of other birds, such as kestrels and other protected species. This is evidenced by an actual account that involved George W. Bush ('94). Even in the presence of experienced hunting guides and an entourage of media, in 1 of only 7 shots he fired off, he mistakenly shot a federally protected Killdeer and had to pay a fine." Well, since he went AWOL during Vietnam, at least Dubya can now proudly put this endangered bird in his kill column.
Hat tip to Kathleen Callon for tipping me off to this. Read her post- it is great... and this connection is beyond fucking creepy. It is downright psychotic: "An old scandal exists involving a Bush contributor and longtime family friend, Robert Waltrip and the desecration of dead bodies. And George W. Bush is directly linked to this scandal (as is former FEMA director Joe Allbaugh, GW's Chief of Staff while Gov of TX). According to Fox News, Waltrip's company, a cemetery company called Srvc Corp Internatl (aka Dignity Memorial) was "recycling" graves, removing the bodies that were there originally and throwing them in the woods to use the space to house new customers at 2 Jewish cemeteries in FL. Bush's connection to the story is that he was subpoenaed in '99 but refused to testify in a lawsuit by an ousted TX state employee as to what his involvement was in halting an investigation into SCI's embalming practices, among other things. This was a big TX scandal for our prez at the time, but as you will learn from this Wa Post article dated 8/31/99, a TX judge put everything right for then-Gov Bush, just in time to campaign for the Presidency. Taxpayers of the state of TX and SCI settled the lawsuit for $210,000 on 11/9/01, wks before the gruesome discovery made at 2 cemeteries in FL caught the brief attention of the media." As a result of this whistle-blowing scandal, the TX Funeral Srvc Commission was dismissed. A new TFSC board was formed. And who headed the board? None other than Austin lawyer Harry Whittington. "Whittington said his motivation for taking the job comes both from his age and his desire to serve the public. "I know it's a challenge," he said. "But we have 150,000 people dying every year in TX. That's a lot of funerals, and my generation is getting closer to them every day. It's a big part of our lives that needs to be dealt with." The plot thickens, eh? And what did Harry- no pun intended- dig up about this?
HuffingtonPost: Play the game that allows you test your hunting skills as you aim at the quail... or the 78 yr old lawyer... as the case may be. At least Jon at TDS has fun at Cheney's expense. And of course, Mary Matalin (always the water carrying enabler for BushCo) says this to wipe away ANY and ALL responsibility: "He felt badly, obviously. On the other hand, he was not careless or incautious or violate any of the [rules]. He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do." Except of course, NOT allow the police to interview him on the day that the shooting took place and instead told the cops they had to come back the next day. Giving The Big Dick ample time to sober up, or flush his system clean of any alcohol over a period of hrs. And the best quote about Cheney shooting Whittington -comes from The CarpetBagger Report: " If Cheney wanted to shoot someone, he shouldn't have taken 5 deferments." *rim shot*
So, it would seem that Jacky met Karl a long time ago... And Karl's Deputy, Barry Jackson has ties to Abramoff going back to at least 1983... surprise surprise! So when do we get all the gory details of the uber-secret ceremony they all attend where they sell their tiny blackened hearts & consciences to Satan? (please click here and here... seriously) Or are they all naturally born evil just like in Rosemary's Baby?
I am seriously pissed off. And if any Dems chased Hackett off w/some pissypants whining, I'm gonna blow a fucking gasket. Hubby and I have happily given Hackett our hard earned money and while we like Sherrod Brown just fine, we were really hoping that Hackett would take on the Repuke corruption that has a death grip on the state of Ohio... for example: This news about Tom Noe-- coin dealer and embezzler extraordinaire-- is charged w/embezzling at least $1 million and giving it away to OH's GOPers. We plan on letting Hackett know here that we don't care what the freakin race is... JUST RUN dammit!
Spent All of Sunday in Pittsburgh  Pittsburgh was cold and blustery with big fluffy snowflakes falling off and on all day... but lovely, no? You should visit Crackpot... you might be pleasantly surprised (Flickr slideshow). Hubby, BabyGirl and I left our Ohio home by 8:00 am and arrived in Pittsburgh just before 10:00am, where we spent the entire day taking care of things for Hubby's work, strolling thru The Strip area, looking at the architecture & bridges, riding the Incline to take a great pix, buying Steelers/Superbowl T-shirts & baseball caps for family members from street vendors on Penn Ave, visiting my great Aunt (she is the coolest nun I know) and eating lots of great food (Italian at Carmassi's and Polish pierogies take out... yummy). Very, very, very tired... must go beddy-bye soon... but I think the most wonderful thing that happened Sunday was that while buying a cap for my Pittsburgh native dad, we saw a very old black man who had a missing leg and many missing teeth. He was wrapped up in a heavy tattered blanket in a wheelchair, sitting with a plastic cup in his hand. We had some small bills left over from our purchases, so we gave BabyGirl some singles and I walked her over to the guy and I told her to put the money in his cup. She did and she stood there smiling at him and checking him out w/the curiosity that only a 3 yr old can get away with, and he reached out and touched the top of her mitten and said: "Bless you young lady." BabyGirl put her hand up to her nose, pretended to sneeze w/ a very exaggerated sneeze noise and said: "Thank you. Bless you." The old guy looked Hubby and I in the eye and said "Thank you young folks." We told him he was welcome and we hoped he would stay warm and safe, and started to walk away... but BabyGirl wouldn't budge. She just stood there looking at him, and finally she let go of my hand, stepped right up to him and said "You welcome" and blew him a kiss w/her mitten covered hand. It was so sweet. And I hope that we can always instill in her that we don't do these things out of pity or shame, but that we do it b/c that could very well be any one of us on the street in the cold, and I would pray that someone would bestow some kindness and charity on me and mine. Good night all.
Personally, I'm just disappointed that Justice Wingnut Scalia wasn't on this particular hunting trip w/Cheney, but isn't it strange that this shooting happened on Saturday afternoon, yet NOT a single report was released until late Sunday afternoon? And get this: "Armstrong said emergency personnel traveling with the vice president treated Whittington's wounds and he was transported to Christus Spohn Kleberg Hospital." Emergency personnel travels w/5 Deferments Dick on his hunting outings? How much does that fucking cost us taxpayers?? If your health is so bad that a freakin ambulance needs to accompany your hunting soirees, maybe you need to take up stamp collecting asshat. Well, despite the obvious shady cover-up overtones (which is just typical BushCo), this release is PRICELESS!: USNewsWire: "James and Sarah Brady made comments today related to Vice President Cheney's reportedly accidental shooting yesterday in Texas. "Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him," said Jim Brady. "I had a friend once who accidentally shot pellets into his dog - and I thought he was an idiot." "I've thought Cheney was scary for a long time," Sarah Brady said. "Now I know I was right to be nervous." Yeah Sarah... we all are sweating bullets nervously when it comes to scary Cheney.
 Big hugs to all who wished Fuzzy and Blue a happy Blog Birthday. I really appreciate your comments and visits to my lil corner of the blog world.
Happy 1st Birthday to Fuzzy and Blue  It is officially 1 full yr since I started my blog. And just as I did on Nov 3 of 2004, I still am crying over the state of our nation. Yet, I will keep fighting the good fight b/c I have to. My 3 yr old daughter is counting on me to fight this for her. I owe her this fight. We all do. Besides, as my mom always said when I would cry instead of brush myself off and fight for something when I was a kid, the more you cry, the less you pee.
This isn't good... TelegraphUK: "Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb. Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation. They are reporting to the office of Def Sec Rumsfeld, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions." And after we bomb the hell outta them, and Iran and their Shiite brethren in Iraq turn their sights on our troops inside Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, who will bail them out?
Tee hee... if this is true, then this is truly an amazing display of karma: "State and local prosecutors said Friday that former Whitewater independent counsel and Clinton "MonicaGate" special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and another lawyer representing a death row inmate, submitted to the CA Gov forged letters from jurors who were falsely portrayed as wishing the condemned man would be spared." Well, actually, karma would involve several millions of dollars spent on uncovering Starr caught up in a torrid scandal that would have at least these 3 elements: a cigar, a stained dress, and a blow job. Except since he is a Repub, we all know it would somehow involve closeted gay sex and hopefully Starr would be wearing the stained dress, giving out the BJ and I don't even want to know where the cigar would be... eeewww.
Take this Osama/Falwell & Robertson Quiz  Cartoon courtesy of Chris Britt & The Journal Register Holy crap! I took this quiz (found courtesy of SheaNC via the Smirking Chimp's post "The Repubs are just like OBL")... and I scored a pitiful 10 out of 20. Take it for yourself and see how you do... but beware... these theocrats are a wily bunch.
OMFG... this just takes the absolute cake in complete lies: "Bush outlined details of an alleged plot to use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door of a commercial jetliner, take control of the plane and crash it into the Library Tower in LA, a 73-story building renamed the US Bank Tower. Bush said cooperation between Washington and several Asian countries helped expose the plot, which he said was derailed when a S.E. Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative. The AP has learned that the recruit, Zaini Zakaria, pulled out of the plot after seeing the carnage at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and was unwilling to die as a martyr for Islam. Also, he has been in custody in his homeland since Dec '02, S.E. Asian security officials said Friday. Zaini was doing some odd jobs before he surrendered to Malaysian authorities in 2002." Guess that blows another giant hole in Bush's lie of "I need to illegally spy to keep ya'll safe from the terrorists", eh? A hole ya could fly a plane thru...
BostonGlobe: "Opponents of a major budget bill just signed by Bush are weighing a crt challenge on the grounds that the measure is unconstitutional because it was amended after the House voted on it. At issue is a provision involving the period of time the govt pays to rent some types of durable medical equipment before medical suppliers transfer it to Medicare patients. The Senate voted for 13 months, as intended by Sen & House negotiators, but a Senate clerk erroneously put down 36 months in sending the bill back to the House for a final vote, and that's what the House approved Feb 1. By the time the bill was shipped to Bush, the number was back to 13 months as passed by the Sen but not the House. As anyone who passed high school civics knows, a bill can only become a law if the House & Sen pass it in identical form. That didn't happen in this case." Of course, Bush & the GOPers consider the issue done and finished... b/c they are simply above the law and use our Constitution like a roll of Charmin. Bush also views our natl forests and land as something to be used and thrown/ flushed away: Bush included in the '07 Budget a plan to fund rural schools and county road maintenance by selling nearly a billion dollars worth of federal forests...$800 million of Natl Forests and $182 million of forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Sen Inhofe: I Know the WMDs are in Syria  This is unbelievable... the only guy in the world who claims to know where the WMDs are is a GOP senator from Oklahoma? Don't ya think maybe someone else should know this info? Like perhaps the Prez, the weapons inspectors or maybe our military members who are putting their ass on the line in Iraq?... ya know... the nation where we were all told the WMDs were? Inhofe claims this: "I was glad when Gen Georges Sada, he actually came to my office in Tulsa during the break. He gave me all the details which are now coming out public. He has shared those with Gen Maples and the intelligence committees of both the House and Senate. That, in fact, the WMDs, which I would consider the phoniest issue in the characterization of this war, that, in fact they were there. We knew they were there. He also has info as to where they were transported in Syria and even the names of some of the pilots and some of the telephone numbers. And that, thank God, is going to be a dead issue(WMD)." Sada and Inhofe found the WMDs! Hello? Anyone out there? We spent millions of tax dollars and spent 1000s of Iraqi and US lives looking for WMDs and all we needed to do was dial a phone. Who knew? Phew! I'm glad that issue is resolved. And this Gen Sada? Well, surprise! surprise!... he has written a shocking tell all book about these WMDs being smuggled to Syria! What do ya wanna bet that after the US invades Syria that the claim will change YET AGAIN that the WMDs have now been smuggled to Iran? Typical BushCo 3 Card Monte bullshit, if ya ask me.
It is no shock that Libby's lawyer is the same guy who represented that other lying sack of Republican shit Oliver North in Reagan's personal clusterfuck known as Iran Contra. So what do you think Libby's "defense" is? Exactly what Ollie North's was: "My higher ups made me do it. Golly gee, I was just following orders." WaPost: "Cheney's former chief of staff Scooter Libby testified that his bosses instructed him to leak info to reporters from a high-level intelligence report that suggested Iraq was trying to obtain WMDs, according to court records in the CIA leak case. To refresh your memory on all things evil that was Reagan (if your stomach can handle it... thank God I was but a wee child in the 80s... but my school lunch did have a vegetable like ketchup thanks to Reagan!) please check out this site that does an amazing job of providing great pix and a timeline of Reagan's times and crimes.
Well, okay, so Bush didn't actually say that, but he has repeatedly falsely claimed that he did not know Abramoff or that he had never even met him... despite these facts: 1.) Pictures prove that Abramoff and Bush did meet. 2.) Abramoff's emails prove that he had been invited to Bush's ranch in Aug '04, but b/c it was Shabbos (Saturday for Orthodox Jews) Abramoff couldn't go to the Crawford Ranch. (What a pious man of Jewish faith Abramoff is, eh? I guess bilking Indians out of millions is a part of his Jewish faith that I have never been made aware of though) 3.) Abramoff himself claims that he met w/Bush a dozen times and even joked around w/Dubya. And according to Abramoff's emails: "Bush "has one of the best memories of any politicians I have ever met," Abramoff wrote to Kim Eisler of Washingtonian magazine. "The guys saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." He joked around w/you AND made comments about your kids? Sheesh... I guess all of those yrs of cocaine and hard drinking have magically & conveniently sapped away Bush's memory, huh? Kind of like how Bush has no memory of Ken Lay being his friend Kenny-Boy?
Hmm, how ever will this be spun to try to make Gov Blanco & Mayor Nagin look like they dropped the ball? NYTimes: "the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans. But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a fedrl emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 pm on Aug 29, and the WH itself at midnight. "FYI from FEMA," said an email from the agency's public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Aug 29th night at 9:27 pm to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Sec Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, "are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought -also a number of fires." FEMA's "heck of a job Brownie" will be testifying Fri, and Brown has said: "There is no question in my mind that at the highest levels of the WH they understood how grave the situation was." The problem, he said, was the handicapping of FEMA when it was turned into a division of the Homeland Security Dept in '03." Ahh yes... Homeland Security. Keeping us safe from vegans, Quakers, and 80 yr old nuns... but not REAL threats and dangers.
GallatinNewsExaminer: Senate Majority Lder Bill Frist and House Spker Dennis Hastert engineered a backroom legislative maneuver to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, say witnesses to the pre-Christmas power play. The language was tucked into a Defense Dept appropriations bill at the last minute w/o the approval of members of a House-Senate conference committee, say several witnesses, including a top Repub staff member. The legislation, called the Public Readiness & Emergency Preparedness Act, allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency, which then provides immunity for companies that develop vaccines and other "counter- measures." Attorneys and other groups condemn the law, saying it could make it nearly impossible for people harmed by a vaccine to force the drug maker to pay for their injuries." Convenient, eh? Especially when the FDA says that the death of 25 children happened due to taking ADHD drugs & that these drugs now have to carry a sticker to warn consumers that their kid's heart may implode.
WaPost: The former CIA official who coordinated US intelligence on the Middle East until last yr has accused the Bush admin of cherry-picking intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam. Paul Pillar, who was the natl intelligence officer for the Near East and S Asia from 2000 to 05, acknowledges the US intelligence agencies' mistakes in concluding that Saddam's govt possessed WMDs. But he said those misjudgments did not drive the administration's decision to invade: "Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even w/ its flaws, it was not what led to the war,'' Instead, he says, the administration "went to war w/o requesting -and evidently w/o being influenced by- any strategic level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq. It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant natl security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between Bush policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized.'' Pillar wrote. I'm sure Scotty the Lying Doughboy will try to discredit Pillar as "Partisan Paul"... that is if Scotty ever answers any question asked of him.
Liberal media my ass... just check out the crapola MSNBC & the AP spewed about Harry Reid. Josh at Talking Pts Memo has the screen-saved version of how MSNBC ran the story originally, and here is how the story looks now. There is a massive difference between the false original "Top Democrat Reid met often w/Abramoff" and the correct revised "Top Democrat Reid aided Abramoff clients: Senator’s office admits 'routine contact' w/ lobbying firm"... but since when do DETAILS and FACTS hinder our corporate owned media whores?
Bush Sneaks in Soc Sec Privatization in the Budget Proposal  Gramps and Granny, get ready to eat catfood & freeze all winter. MSNBC: Bush didn't pitch private Soc Sec accounts in his SOTU last wk. But w/no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the fedrl budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday. So, let me get this straight: Bush demands that we cut Soc Sec's survivor benefits (which will only hurt orphans, widows & widowers) and then sneaks this privatization plan in the budget, and we're supposed to make the wealthy tax cuts permanent, keep the black hole that is the Iraq war going, and believe laughable lies like this?: "The first pillar of sound economic policy is spending restraint in Washington, D.C." -- GW Bush 2/8/06. Why don't we tax-payers demand that this war end immediately? It's one of the black holes in the budget that BushCo seeks to hijack Soc Sec taxes to fill. In addition to being immoral and illegal, this war will destroy the only safety net available for our elderly, poor, disabled, widowed, and orphans. And you can bet your ass that the soul-less GOPers will somehow justify voting for this despite how devastating this SS plan will be to people's lives. But since when does BushCo care about them until it is time to beg for a vote and brag about morality?
WaPost: Twice in the past 4 yrs, a top Justice Dept lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance crt that info overheard in Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the crt, according to 2 sources w/ knowledge of those events. The revelations infuriated US Dist Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly--who, like her predecessor, US District Judge Royce Lamberth, had expressed serious doubts about whether the warrantless monitoring of phone calls and e-mails ordered by Bush was legal. Both judges had insisted that no info obtained this way be used to gain warrants from their court, according to government sources, and both had been assured by admin officials it would never happen. Oh yeah... TRUST BushCo. They are so trustworthy that they had to put Tom DeLay on the committee in charge of overseeeing the Justice Dept, while he himself is being investigated by that very dept in the Abramoff prosecution! What's next for DeLay? Oh yeah... after being forced to step down as the #2 Repub in the House after being indicted in TX on campaign fund-raising charges, he was rewarded by party leaders Weds w/ a seat on the Appropriations Committee! Kinda like having Enron handle your investments, eh?
Be prepared to have your short and curlies straightened after read this in RollingStone: "Brownback seeks something far more radical: not faith-based politics but faith in place of politics. In his dream America, the one he believes both the Bible and the Constitution promise, the state will simply wither away. In its place will be a country so suffused w/ God and the free market that the social fabric of the last 100 yrs -schools, Social Security, welfare- will be privatized or simply done away with. There will be no abortions; sex will be confined to heterosexual marriage. Men will lead families, mothers will tend children, and big business and the church will take care of all." And yet Brownback and his ilk boast of "freeing" Iraq from a dictatorship and Afghanistan from a theocracy? Sweet Baby Jesus... feel free to smite down this freak of mammoth proportions NOW.
I feel oh-so-safe... sigh... Tampa Tribune: "The sisters say the monastery's main bank acct was frozen without explanation in Nov 05, creating financial headaches and making the Benedictine nuns hopping mad. They were told the Patriot Act was the cause. Sister Jean Abbott, the monastery's business manager said: "I think the Patriot Act is unwise, let's say, and that if it happened to us, it can happen to anybody. I think people need to know that nobody is safe from, in some cases, really ridiculous scrutiny." And which "dangerous" nun was the root cause of the problem? "Abbott said she was told the troubles started because one 80 yr old nun who is a signatory to the bank acct didn't have her Soc Security number and photo ID on file. "Clearly an internatl spy," Abbott said wryly. Yes, clearly that octogenarian nun is an internatl woman of mystery and danger. So, let's add it up: Homeland Sec and the Patriot Act has scooped up these "shady cast of characters": 1.) Vegans protesting eating meat 2.) A Quaker peace group, and 3.) An 80 yr old nun w/a bank acct who lives in a monastery. Thank God BushCo is on the case and protecting us! I'd pay good money to see The Penguin Nun from the Blues Bros whack Dubya upside his stupid head w/a ruler and say menacingly: "And don't come back until you have redeemed yourself!"
Normally, I would never comment on her or make this blog an arena to discuss her, but this "news" has made me furious. Britney Spears claims that she was "terrified of photographers who were following her" and didn't have time to put her 4 month old son back in his infant carseat, so instead she put him in her lap in front of the steering wheel and the airbag and drove off. Let's see what nugget of wisdom the White Trash Queen says: "I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way..." soooo... you didn't put him back into his REAR facing carseat and instead put him between your body and the steering wheel and let his tiny little skull sit directly in front of an airbag?? WTF?? The fact that she was not arrested or cited for this is criminal. If this hillbilly twit wants to drive around w/o her own seatbelt on, that is her business. I could care less if she bashes her face on the dashboard. But she does not have the right to endanger her 4 month old child's life due to her own irresponsibility, stupidity, and recklessness . Pssst... do all a favor and do not breed again.
Study: Homophobes Aroused by Gay Porn  Pix courtesy of Top Pun. Com Methinks the lady doth protest too much... and that the gay basher does too: Research by a Univ of GA psychologist suggests that 80% of men who are homophobic have secret homosexual feelings. The research results were published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, w/the backing of the Amer Psychological Assoc. This finding lends scientific support to the long-standing speculation that those who shout the loudest against homosexuality have something to hide. In tests conducted by Prof. Henry Adams of the Univ of GA, homophobic men who said they were exclusively heterosexual were shown gay sex videos. 4 out of 5 became sexually aroused by the homoerotic imagery, as recorded by a plethysmograph . . . a calibrated band fitted around the penis, which measures any enlargement. Adams says his research shows that most homophobes "demonstrate significant sexual arousal to homosexual erotic stimuli" suggesting that homophobia is a form of "latent homosexuality where persons are either unaware of -or deny- their homosexual urges." Hmm, what does this say about all of those anti-gay reverends, preachers & Repub politicians?
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