Aha... Them Naive Russians...

"MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian village was left baffled Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

'It is very dangerous. If a person had been in this disaster, he would have had almost no chance of survival. The trees flew downwards, under the ground,' said Dmitry Zaitsev, a local Emergencies Ministry official interviewed by the channel.

Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

'I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us,' said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house."

Lake disappears, baffling villagers

Evidently the woman has been watching too much Russian O'Reilly...

No Comment

"You are either a Baboon or a Otter personality. But you may also be a Fox personality. "

The Animal in You Test

Memorial-Day

Slavery v. Employment

"I quit Wal-Mart in 2001, and I’m very happy with what I’m doing now in banking. I get paid my overtime, which is the way it ought to be. Wal-Mart needs to change its ways. Slavery was over a long time ago."

Workers and Communities Suffer When Wal-Mart Moves in

Actually, slavery is being misquoted here.

During the time of slavery, the slave owner would provide shelter, medical care and sustenance to the slave and his or her family. Granted, the food, the medical care and the shelter were not first class, but the owner understood that if he took care of his slaves, they would be in a better condition to work and provide him with the services he needed. That was so until the owner realized that if he changed the status of a slave to a simple employee, he would not have to feed, provide shelter and medicalal care to that individual. The employee would in fact be cheaper and less burdensome than the slave which in turn would maximize profits.

Thus, being an employee under the conditions as provided by Walmart is worse than slavery--at least the slave had food, medical treatment and shelter provided to him/her.

goddam test

this is a goddam test

Quotable

“A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance”
--Source unknown

What Real Leaders Are About

"As a leader you do what you can do. For Vermont, I use my office to do what other members of Congress do, trying to bring money back home and to vote the right way. But, unlike many other members of Congress, we also use our office to educate and organize. When people say Vermont is a progressive state, they have to understand that it wasn't always that way. There are a number of factors involved in that, but one of them is that we have held hundreds of town meetings, both congressional and campaign, in smaller towns and larger cities throughout the state. In Vermont we held the first congressional town meetings in the country on corporate control over the media and the USA Patriot Act.

At a meeting last week in Springfield, Vermont, more than 250 people came out to talk about poverty. We use our office to educate and organize and to bring people together to discuss some of the most important issues facing this country. When people get the opportunity to talk about the real issues, it becomes clear how vacuous the present agenda is. I have never met anyone in Vermont who thinks it's a good idea to give tax breaks to billionaires and cut back on health care and education. Nobody. It's only when political consciousness is very low and people aren't talking about the real issues that somebody with a straight face can present the Bush agenda."

Sanders Steps Up

Do It Yourself...

... War on Terror--According to Fox News!

I love number 26... Don't them people listen to Fox?

Wow!

Some have accused Amnesty International as an entity so far gone to the left that it has no longer any credibility after its executive director made the comment below when releasing AI's annual report:

"If the US government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior US officials involved in the torture scandal. And if those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them. The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998." See Statement Of Dr. William F. Schulz Executive Director, Amnesty International USA

But then I came up with this comment in defense of AI which was worth mentioning;

"Greg Fox said...

Agreed. Only those on the far left would make such accusations.

Obviously, Amnesty is only following the lead of that notoriously anti-American organization the American Bar Association, whose House of Delegates roundly condemned the torture memos, especially the opinions of government lawyers that sought to justify or excuse torture.

Other pinkos hewing to this line are the numerous military lawyers who complained that their normal oversight was being circumvented by Pentagon civilians.

There is also the group of 130 prominent lawyers -- again all screaming lefties -- who signed an open statement of condemnation; here's a brief quote from a news story about it: ""The lawyers who prepared and approved these memoranda have failed to meet their professional obligations," according to the statement, which was signed by, among others, former FBI director William Sessions, retired Chief Judge of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals John J. Gibbons, former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and former Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Abner Mikva, among others."

Finally, any collection of such lefty extremists must include the US prosecutors at Nuremburg, who, in United States v. Altstoetter, successfully charged Nazi lawyers who advised that the law of war of the time did not apply to POWs and others. I highly recommend Scott Horton's essay in the upcoming volume of the Torture Papers that shows how closely the reasoning of these German lawyers parallels that of the Executive Branch authors of the torture memos."

You be the judge.

New Testament...

... Rolling forward in Iraq.
Battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis, mind you.

Words v. Action

AP reports:

"Seeking to improve its image among Palestinians, the United States has launched an advertising campaign in the West Bank, using billboards and television commercials filled with grinning children to tell Palestinians they have cleaner water and more classrooms thanks to its generosity."

Apparently, plans to enlist a Palestinian entertainer or athlete to serve as the goodwill ambassador for the U.S. campaign didn't pan out. It's no wonder. Note that President Bush, at the beginning of this year, requested $350 million from Congress, $200 million of which was to go directly to Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. While the House approved $200 million at the beginning of May, none of that money will go to either Abbas or the P.A. Instead, $150 million will "be channeled…through American aid agencies, nongovernmental organizations and philanthropic groups." And the other $50 million? It goes to Israel--to help build checkpoints bordering Palestinian areas. And to top it all off, Congress directed $2 million to the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah. So much for the "generosity" of U.S. aid to Palestine.

Via MojoBlog

Shut the Fuck Up!

... Fucking asshole.

"Like Hitler in his bunker, this violent extremist, failing to advance his political objectives, now appears committed to destroying everything and everyone around him," Rumsfeld said.

Demagoguery is ingrained in this motherfucker who uses anything to get the result he wants. Before it was Saddam who was likened to Hitler and now al-Zarquawi. Never mind that Hitler was in command of the largest military force of his era. Never mind that German industry was pumping out war machines by the thousands--tanks, submarines, airplanes, bombs, missiles... Never mind that the German War Machine was getting help from the West including Europe and the United States in form of millions of dollars of help. Now this two bit terrorist is being likened to Hitler?

Fuck you Rummy for trivializing the defeat of your policy of small armies, your lack of understanding of the enemy we faced and your imbecilic lack of post war planning... Somewhere the lies gotta stop. The old ad age saying: "you can fool some people sometime but you can't fool all the people all the time" seems just that... Old.

Fuck.

:)

Las Vegas??

Who would have thunk it?

American Cities That Best Fit You:

55% Las Vegas

50% Denver

50% New York City

50% San Francisco

45% Honolulu

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Don't Even Think About It

They don't even want to talk about drawing up a plan regarding any possible withdrawal...

"The House of Representatives voted down a measure, by a 128 to 300 vote, that called on President Bush to devise a plan for a withdrawal from Iraq. It came in the form of an amendment to the $491 billion budget for the Pentagon that was passed on Wednesday night.

But the withdrawal amendment marks the first time that Congress has officially voted and debated legislation that deals with a withdrawal.

'No, it won't pass today, but it will give us a chance to talk about it,' said Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the sponsor of the amendment. 'It's an opportunity for members of Congress who are frustrated that our troops are being killed for a war that wasn't necessary in the first place and that there is no plan in sight to bring them home.'"

House Kills First Vote on Iraq Withdrawal

Fifty!!!

Yesterday I received the most amount of spam I have received in a long time. Fifty!!! Five-O! Fortunately, I have both the internal spam catcher than comes with "mail" in my Apple and I have installed JunkMatcher. With them two devices ALL the fifty spam I received were directed to the Junk folder--which is good. But I am still amazed at the amount of spam I receive...

... Fifty!!! Wow...

Facts

Note the increase in premium collected by the Insurance Companies vs. the money they have paid out. While the latter has remained pretty constant, the former has shot up... The fact of the matter is that the Insurance Industry has been gouging the doctors and the medical providers in hope that they would pin themselves against the lawyers. Sooner the doctors realize that they have been played like fiddles, sooner they will be able to join the lawyers for the battle against the true enemy.

Bull Shit

"Under the terms, Democrats agreed to allow final confirmation votes for Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor, named to appeals court seats. There is “no commitment to vote for or against” the filibuster against two other conservatives named to appeals courts, Henry Saad and William Myers."

See here

All this so that the precious filibuster rules be preserved when it comes time for voting for the Supreme Court Judge nominees that are inevitably coming later on... What makes this stupid Democrats think that the pressure to ram through conservative judges will be any the less important when it comes time to vote for them inevitably foul Supreme Court nominees? Once again the Democrat rats are rolling over and playing dead... Fuck them.

I can only seat here and shake my head...

Update: So the Democrats agreed not to use the filibuster and agree with the Republicans and their nominations. In exchange, the right to filibuster will remain... so long as it is not used.

No Comment

Rice on her recent surprise visit to Iraq...

Legal Lies

Here is something interesting about the lies that are told to the young lawyers getting into, enduring and getting out the legal system in which they find themselves. Most of it is true.

Legal lies

And on the other hand there is this reply:

The Siren is Whinin'

There is a lot of truth to the fact that the students in law schools are being shaken down by Law Schools looking to get their hands on easily obtained student loans--the salaries and tuition keeps on rising yet, the quality of the material, teachers and academia does not seem to have the same upward mobility.

But I am biased...

More Hypocrisy

Still no sign of the Newspaper of Record taking any decisive editorial action on this. So much for the "liberal" media...

"So much outrage. So much hypocrisy.

In recent weeks, plenty of scandal fodder has become public: more corrupt contracting in Iraq; allegations that Air Force Academy cadets are coerced into becoming evangelical Christians; new evidence that the military tried to cover up the details of the friendly-fire death of Pat Tillman (who turned down an NFL contract to serve as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan); and, most notably, the Downing Street memo, which is the latest indication that the Bush Administration misled the nation on the way to war.

On May 1 the Sunday Times of London disclosed a memo that detailed a secret July 23, 2002, briefing for Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street. As part of this meeting, Richard Dearlove, the head of MI-6 (England's CIA), just back from consultations in Washington, reported that the Bush Administration viewed war with Iraq as inevitable. According to the memo, Dearlove told Blair, "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. [Bush's National Security Council] had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." The memo also noted that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had said that the case against Saddam Hussein was "thin" and that Iraq's "WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." British Attorney General Peter Goldsmith observed that the legal basis for an invasion of Iraq was iffy."

Hypocrisy

Where You Are Going With That?

I remember when I first began practicing law I made a motion for some sort of a sanction against the opposing counsel. In retrospect, few years later and a lot more experience, when I look back I see a motion that had no chance of being granted. I clearly recall the face of the Judge after having seen my motion looking at me puzzled asking me:"counsel, where are you going with this?"

It is time we ask the Bushies: "Where are you going with this Iraq thing?"

Some are going to do just that:

"Unlike World War II, where the enemy surrendered and the troops came home, there is no such prospect in Iraq. We must define an endpoint. We will soon introduce legislation to achieve that goal by bringing the occupation of Iraq to a close. The troops have done their job. It's up to Congress and the president to forge a policy worthy of their sacrifices."

Time for U.S. to Withdraw

No Marketing Here

This is what happens when you don't get to control and pick who is allowed to attend and who is not allowed to attend visits and political appearances:

"Protesters besieged Laura Bush during her visit Sunday to two of Jerusalem's most sacred sites, with Israeli police locking arms to restrain the crowd and Secret Service agents packed tightly around America's first lady."

laura Bush was Heckled by Protesters

And on the other side of the Globe, where clearly there is no possibility to only allow those Bushies supporters to attend the commencement ceremonies we have:

"One-third of the professors at an evangelical Christian college in Grand Rapids, Mich., are taking out a large ad in a local newspaper Saturday to protest President Bush's commencement speech. "As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort," the ad will say. "We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq.""

College Protet Bush's Visit

Even McNamara Sees the Light...

Isn't it time we demand our current leaders open their eyes to the obvious?

"It is time—well past time, in my view—for the United States to cease its Cold War-style reliance on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool. At the risk of appearing simplistic and provocative, I would characterize current U.S. nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous. The risk of an accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch is unacceptably high. Far from reducing these risks, the Bush administration has signaled that it is committed to keeping the U.S. nuclear arsenal as a mainstay of its military power—a commitment that is simultaneously eroding the international norms that have limited the spread of nuclear weapons and fissile materials for 50 years. Much of the current U.S. nuclear policy has been in place since before I was secretary of defense, and it has only grown more dangerous and diplomatically destructive in the intervening years."

Apocalypse Soon

The Crux of the Issue

"Under the 35-year-old, 188-nation treaty, which is reviewed every five years, those without nuclear weapons pledge not to pursue them, in exchange for a commitment by five nuclear-weapons states - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - to negotiate toward getting rid of them."

US Chided...

If the Weapons State (which includes India, Pakistan and Israel who have refused to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty) do not do good on their pledge to get rid of their weapons, is there a surprise that other states, including those who are not very friendly toward the US decide to move toward acquiring their weapons? This is elementary logic which this Administration seems not willing to understand.

That's What I Am Talking About...

I never felt safer:

Netflix and Walmart...

Perhaps it is time to close my account with Netflix. I loath Walmart and its business practices of active slavery and undermining of workers' labor rights. But what is the alternative? Blockbuster? A fucking Christian corporation that censors movies it has up for rental?

Fuck... There is no choice here.

Wrong on So Many Levels

First they are penalizing her for having gotten pregnant. Then, she protests, they are escorted out by the police. To add insult to injury, the boy (one half of the equation here) is allowed to participate fully in the graduation as if nothing he did could be subjected to criticism--at least from a religious point of view.

I have to shake my head at this... At least ban them all if you are going to at least keep an appearance of non-hypocrisy.

Pregnant Student Defies Graduation Ban

Keyboard Shortcuts

it can come in handy:
Firefox Help: Keyboard Shortcuts

What Does it Matter Now?

New Poll Numbers

Are Your Butts Covered?

They thoughts theirs were too...



"While some United Airlines employees are using placards and pamphlets to protest the loss of their pensions, a group of flight attendants is taking a more risque tack - showing some skin to publicize their plight.

The five women, ranging in age from 55 to 64, posed for a 2006 calendar that depicts them in various states of undress in front of a vintage plane, on a park bench and on a plane's wing, among other locations. Reflecting a mix of humor and anger, it was released to coincide with a bankruptcy court's approval this week of United's plan to terminate $9.8 billion in employee pension obligations.

While United is never named nor its airplanes shown, every photograph in "Stewardesses Stripped (Of Their Pension?)" is accompanied by a zinger related to the record pension default by the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline.

"Coffee, tea, or me without a pension?" reads one. "Marry me, fly free - but don't expect anything from my pension," says another. And the cover shot: "Are your butts covered? We thought ours were too.""

Via Salon.com

Stewardesses Stripped

Why CAFTA Should Be Opposed

This puts it rather well:

"Time to trade for a second. The White House is currently trying to push the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through Congress. As it stands right now, more and more Democrats are opposing the agreement, for a wide variety of reasons, and some Republicans who represent districts that would be adversely affected are speaking out as well. So it's not likely to pass, which looks like a good thing. Now in general, I don't much mind free trade agreements, but this one is particularly egregious in its specifics, especially the fact that it would allow the five Central American countries to "lock in" their current labor standards, which are largely atrocious. (CAFTA also comes bearing protectionist gifts to the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, by imposing restrictions on Big Pharma's generic-drug competitors abroad. Why this sort of practice gets called "free trade" is beyond me.)

But back to the labor standards. How atrocious are they? Well, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) has been trying to find out, and has been asking the Bush administration for Labor Department reports on working conditions in Central America, but all to little avail. First he filed a Freedom of Information Act request. Denied. Then, after a few more congressional maneuvers, the Labor Department finally relented. So the released report is here (pdf). The labor laws and working conditions, not surprisingly, are dismal—and keep in mind that, under, CAFTA, Central American governments would no longer need to "afford internationally recognized worker rights," as they do under the current Generalized System of Preferences. Central American workers would get screwed, with little hope that they could raise their standards of living over time. And yes, it's no surprise that the Bush administration tried to keep these reports hidden for so long, but it's appalling all the same."

CAFTA Details

Stalin Would be Proud!

" In recent years, the Republican leadership has used unprecedented measures to crush dissent in Congress. During the recent passage of the Bankruptcy Bill, for example, no opposition amendments were allowed on the floor of the House-effectively silencing public debate of the bill.

Perhaps the most blatant example of intolerance for dissenting viewpoints, however, comes from Bush himself, who is currently traveling the country holding "town meetings" on his Social Security privatization plan. Despite the fact that these ostensibly public meetings are paid for by taxpayers, American citizens who disagree with Bush are not allowed to attend.

It is in this context of an overall attack on dissenting opinions that the effort to censor cable and satellite TV becomes truly frightening. This is not simply about cleaning up offensive content; it is about the extreme right wing pushing to limit the free exchange of ideas. The time has come for all Americans who love freedom to let the government know that they don't want Uncle turning into Big Brother."

Remote Control

When Enough Should be Enough?

When our government commits crimes against humanity in our name.

" 'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. 'Depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror)

The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it burns can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even be so tiny they pass through a gas mask, making protection against them impossible. Yet, small is not beautiful. For these invisible killers indiscriminately attack men, women, children and even babies in the womb-and do the gravest harm of all to children and unborn babies.

Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate.' In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent the Ministry of Defense a special report on the potential damage to health and the environment. It said that it could cause half a million additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years. In that war the authorities only admitted to using 320 tons of DU-although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates the true figure is closer to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread across Iraq by this year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come, is beyond imagining.

The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions of every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against humanity which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time."

Horrors of USA's Depleted Uranium

We Knew That... Didn't We?

So it is confirmed. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was the best thing that could have happened to the GOP and the Bush Administration.

"The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, helped redraw the political landscape in America, giving President Bush and the Republicans an advantage over the Democrats, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. But Republicans may have difficulty consolidating the gains because of divisions within their expanded coalition.

The survey underscored how important the issues of terrorism and national security and Bush's personal appeal were in helping the GOP put together a winning coalition of voters in 2004. The findings suggest that Bush's reelection depended not just on motivating the Republican base but also on his success in attracting swing voters and even some Democrats.

Both parties enjoy strong support among their core voters, but the Pew study concluded that Republicans have done a more effective job in attracting support among voters with less allegiance to either party. Bush's campaign attracted support in the middle from well-educated, upbeat voters as well as those who are more down-scale and pessimistic about their own situation.

"In effect, Republicans have succeeded in attracting two types of swing voters who could not be more different," the study reports. "The common threads are a highly favorable opinion of President Bush personally and support for an aggressive military stance against potential enemies of the U.S.""

Poll Cites GOP Gains Since 9-11

Ha Ha Ha Ha... Ooooh Boy!!!

How o'd are you Ah'nod?

Read article

Somehow technology is of no help in this. I mean, King Tut was having a legend after himself. A grandiose King of Kings whose image was beyond reproach. And here is technology who basically tells us that this King was simply a dork.

Tut Was Not Such a Handsome Golden Youth, After All

Liberal Media? What Liberal Media?

It is interesting how the Newspaper of Record, The New York Times and other media outlets who are often accused [by the right wingies] to be of Liberal persuasion have mostly decided not to pay attention to the British Memo clearly evidencing the Bush Administrations decision to shape intelligence in a fashion that would support their decision to go to war in Iraq.

"A leaked document that appeared in a British newspaper offered clear new evidence that U.S. intelligence was shaped to support the drive for war. Though the information rocked British Prime Minister Tony Blair's re-election campaign when it was revealed, it has received little attention in the U.S. press.

The document, first revealed by the London Times (5/1/05), was the minutes of a July 23, 2002 meeting in Blair's office with the prime minister's close advisors. The meeting was held to discuss Bush administration policy on Iraq, and the likelihood that Britain would support a U.S. invasion of Iraq. "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided," the minutes state.

The minutes also recount a visit to Washington by Richard Dearlove, the head of the British intelligence service MI6: "There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.""

So now where is this famed Liberal Media to take advantage of this revelation and to drive a good blow into the heart of the terrorists now occupying the White House?

Smoking Gun Memo?

Winning the War

Who says the Iraq war is a tragedy? Who says the War in Iraq is not being won? To the contrary!!! The war is a tremendous success and far being from a tragedy, it is a joyful occasion and it is in fact being won... By Bechtel--the contract guru of the Wild Wild Middle East.

"For the year 2004, Bechtel brought in more than $17.4 billion, a record haul for the company. That makes two record years in a row. Last year Bechtel earned more than $17 billion for the first time. Both records were all the more impressive given the senescent condition of the economy.

Much of that robust income stream is coming from its operations in Iraq, where Bechtel is the king of contractors. A few days after the war began, the US Agency for International Development handed Bechtel a $680 million contract for the reconstruction of Iraq infrastructure, a by-invitation-only deal awarded in a secret process. That number has been jacked up twice and now totals more than $1.8 billion and may eventually reach as much as $50 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Bechtel got $515 million to rebuild Iraq's power generating stations; $33 million for rebuilding roads and railroads; $44 million to dredge the seaport at Umm Qasr; $45 million to rehab the Iraqi telephone network, covering 240,000 phone lines; $52 million for repair of the Baghdad airport; $208 million to rebuild sewage and water treatment plants; and $53 million for the reconstruction of Iraqi schools."

CounterPunch: "America's Best Political Newsletter"

Quotable

"Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock."
– Sigmund Freud

** What should the Civilization do when faced with ballot fraud?

!!!

The guy gets charged for "defacing" a water stain...

Virgin Mary

No Back Bone Whatsoever

Why would he apologize? I mean, Reid calls Bush a "loser" and then he puts his tail between his legs and goes about apologizing to the man which allows the GOP in turn to take the high road with a comment like this: "a sad development but not surprising from the leader of a party devoid of optimism, ideas or solutions to the issues people care about most."

I mean, where is the back bone? You make a comment. It may have been unfortunate but, one that is not outside the purview of probably what most non-GOP constituency believe to be true. What is the apology for? Remember when the ogre Chaney used the "F" word on the Senate floor? Did he apologize? No. In fact, he referred to the incident as "speaking honestly about what was on his ind." And then on CNN he added that:"it felt good." And the incident was forgotten.

It is simply stupid to crawl back and say you are sorry when you made an off the cuff comment... And make an apology to non else than Karl Rove!! Geezuz. What crap we have to put up with. No. Reid is the loser. The Democratic Party is the Loser. And, with leaders like this, they will be losers for a long time to come.

Reid Calls Bush 'A Loser,' Then Apologizes

May 14, 2005

Evidently, May is Masturbation Month and May 14th is going to be a glorious day!

Prepare for May 14

Huh?

Well, that is certainly an interesting line of reasoning:

"After one of the bloodiest weeks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam, US military officials have claimed that the dramatic upsurge in violence is proof they are close to breaking up the terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq."

So, more means less. That is because there are more bloodshed by the insurgents, that means that we are winning the war against them. This world is getting more Orwellian by the minute...

Read all About it

The American Taliban at Work (2)

"During the presidential election last year, Chandler told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for the Democratic nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), should either leave the church or repent, former member Lorene Sutton said."

N.C. Church Kicks Out Members Who Do Not Support Bush

Quotable

"In the open desert, one direction is as good as another."

The American Taliban at Work

One... Two... Three... Four... We Can't Shake it Anymore!!!

"The state's House of Representatives voted 85-55 to approve a bill that would forbid sexy cheers and give the Texas Education Agency authority to punish schools that allow 'overtly sexually suggestive' routines at football games and other events."

Don't shake it - May 5, 2005

Dress Thy Jesus

Love it!!!

Jesus Dress Up!

Wow...

Would would have thunk it?

"Standard & Poor's cut its debt ratings for the General Motors Corporation and the Ford Motor Company to junk bond status today, saying the companies continued to face sluggish sales and declining market share in the face of growing competition from overseas automakers."

From NYTimes.com article.

Catch Me If You Can...

... Pickin my nose!

Click Here.

He Shall Be Put to Death

I was reading the Hammurabi's Code of Laws and boy were they harsh. Read it and try to count how many times and for how many infractions the offender "shall be put to death." Death seems to be the answer to all sorts of crimes.

Yikes!

EAWC Anthology: Hammurabi's Code of Laws

Fun...

... But unless you want to seat on a shelf in Jewel, it is rather useless.

Barcode Yourself

So Long As They Are Ours...

Last month, Cuba and Venezuela were both up in arms over rumors that the U.S. might be harboring Luis Posada Carriles. Carriles, you see, is a Cuban exile who is wanted in Venezuela for the bombing of a Cuban airliner in the mid-70s. Carriles has also claimed responsibility for multiple bombings of Havana tourist spots in the 90s. His' lawyer, meanwhile, has told the press that Carriles' had applied for asylum in the U.S. and said "his client's asylum application would be based partly on his claim that he worked 'directly and indirectly' for the CIA for years, and had thus helped US interests."

And yet, when the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled yesterday that they are seeking Carriles' extradition due to the fact that he is a Venezuelan citizen, the State Department acted oblivious. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega noted that the U.S. can't seem to find Carriles, remarking, "I don't even know that he is in the United States." Noriega, not able to resist a jab at Cuba, referred to Cuban accusations against Carriles as "a completely manufactured issue." That's right. Because here in America, suspected terrorists are always innocent until proven... oh, wait.

From MojoBlog.

Secrecy...

... Kills Democracy.

"It was Defense Secretary Dick Cheney who banned media coverage of military casualties in December 1989, a day after the US invasion of Panama. Three television networks ran live coverage of the first flag-draped coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base, juxtaposed in split-screen with footage of George Bush I laughing with reporters at a White House press briefing--a devastating image for Poppy. The prohibition continued into the first Gulf War, as an Administration eager to kick off the Vietnam Syndrome desperately wanted to keep US casualties off the evening news. President Clinton permitted exceptions for Americans killed in bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and aboard the USS Cole.

The DoD restated the ban on media coverage at military bases shortly after the start of the war in Afghanistan and expanded the policy before the Iraq War to include all fallen soldiers' caskets. Only in March 2004, after Russ Kirk of thememoryhole.org filed a FOIA request, did the Pentagon release some 300 photos of the fallen. As the powerful images swept across the internet, the DoD immediately reversed course and refused to release further photos, prompting the FOIA from Begleiter."

Read More.

My Personality Test

INTJ - "Mastermind". Introverted intellectual with a preference for finding certainty. A builder of systems and the applier of theoretical models. 2.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs)

Love is Blind

"May 2, 2005 | Duluth, Ga. -- The jilted groom whose bride-to-be ran away four days before their wedding still wants to marry Jennifer Wilbanks, saying, 'Haven't we all made mistakes?'

'Just because we haven't walked down the aisle, just because we haven't stood in front of 500 people and said our 'I Do's, my commitment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I'm not backing down from that,' John Mason said Monday in an interview with Fox News' Hannity & Colmes show."

Groom still wants to marry runaway bride

So I Shot Them Down...

"Mr. Delgado, who eventually got conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged last January, recalled a disturbance that occurred while he was working in the Abu Ghraib motor pool. Detainees who had been demonstrating over a variety of grievances began throwing rocks at the guards. As the disturbance grew, the Army authorized lethal force. Four detainees were shot to death.

Mr. Delgado confronted a sergeant who, he said, had fired on the detainees. 'I asked him,' said Mr. Delgado, 'if he was proud that he had shot unarmed men behind barbed wire for throwing stones. He didn't get mad at all. He was, like, 'Well, I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down.""

From 'Gook' to 'Raghead'

The Bottom Line

"No, this is about ideology: Mr. Bush comes to bury Social Security, not to save it. His goal is to turn F.D.R.'s most durable achievement into an unpopular welfare program, so some future president will be able to attack it with tall tales about Social Security queens driving Cadillacs."

A Gut Punch to the Middle

This Wall Will Fall

On July 9th 2004, the International Court of Justice rendered its judgment on the illegality of the Wall that the Israeli government is constructing on occupied land. Their judgment was subsequently endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Yet, the Wall's construction has continued.

Who wonders why violence continues in that region?

Moral Values

One out of every two jobs created in the United States over the past 12 months was taken by a worker over 55. Economist Dean Baker says the flood of older workers is caused by the falling value of retirees' 401(k)s and the cost of health care.

The number of long-term unemployed who are college graduates has nearly tripled since 2000. Nearly one in five of the long-term jobless are college graduates, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a brand-new study out showing the uneven division of the fruits of the supposed economic recovery:

"The data show that the share of real income growth that has gone to wages and salaries has been smaller than during any other comparable post-World War II recovery period, while the share of real income growth that has gone to corporate profits has been larger than during all other comparable post-World War II recoveries."

In previous recoveries, workers got an average of 49 percent of the national income gains, while corporate profits got 18 percent. This time, the workers are getting 23 percent and the corporations are getting 44 percent -- about one half as much as the share that has gone to corporate profits.

None of that apply to you? Good. Go listen to Tom DeLay give another lecture on moral values.

Dumb Dems Let GOP Run Wild

Happy May 1st Day!

May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries and unofficially celebrated in many more, but ironically it is rarely recognized in the US where it began.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor) passed a resolution arguing that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative efforts had failed repeatedly. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly.

On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day protest in history. Within a few years, the fight was won. But, in the early part of the 20th century, the US government, recognizing May Day's galvanizing potency, tried to curb May 1 celebrations and their radical resonance by establishing an alternative: Labor Day, a holiday devoid of any historical significance--but one offering a paid day off!

This year, around the country, there seem to be a respectable number of May Day events doing honor to the memory of the first May 1 protesters. United for Peace is putting on an old-fashioned march and rally past the United Nations in a call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a US troop withdrawal from Iraq. The march sets off from 50th Street and First Ave. in Manhattan at 12:00 with the rally scheduled to kick off at the Heckscher Ballfields in Central Park at 2:00. Featured speakers include Daniel Ellsberg, Helen Caldicott, Ray McGovern and the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagaski. Click here for more info and click here to help spread the word.

Vietnam v. Iraq

"Iraq is far from becoming another Vietnam. But today the ghosts of the jungle are busy getting resurrected in the sands around Baghdad," says Matt Frei of the BBC. What are those ghosts? And why do they deserve more than media burial in the jungles of Asia or the sands of Iraq?

Here are some of the largely ignored parallels.

10 Things Your Banker Won't Tell You

Click Here: "10 things your banker won't tell you"

Quotable

"Speaking truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act."
--George Orwell

Bread Is Dangerous!

New findings on why bread should be banned.

Just Say No to Toast