Why NYTimes.Com Has Fallen Out of My Bookmarks

"The New York Times, sheltered by its legendary but mythical 'liberal' reputation, has become increasingly bold and transparent in its defense of President Bush and his policies, both foreign and domestic. This support is not found, of course, on the labeled editorial pages (which can be discounted as mere opinion), but on the attention-grabbing front page and in other news sections."

NY Times Skews the News… Again - by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst

No Wonder The Bushies Hate Chavez

President Chavez has succeeded where the American Taliban in the White House has failed. Read on...

"But I was in Venezuela just this month. And I saw a different reality.

I attended the 16th World Festival for Youth and Students, which drew more than 15,000 young peace and justice activists from across the globe.

What I saw, in the enormous city of Caracas and the rural towns of Monagas state, were huge numbers of people who, for the first time in their lives, have free and adequate health care, the opportunity to attend university, access to land grants and work contracts, constitutionally assured rights for women and indigenous people, and free breakfast programs for children. And with all this, a sense of dignity and ownership over their lives."

Mattie Weiss: Robertson's not alone in his dislike of Chavez

:)

No More Anonymous Comments

Sorry folks... All them fucking asshole spammers you will now have to register before being able to spam my comment box.

Fuck you and your family!

ICE This...

"'ICE' is a cool idea that stands for 'In Case of Emergency.' It is a concept advocated by police and other emergency services workers to get drivers to program their home phone numbers--as well as emergency contact information--into their cellular phones for use in the event of an accident that incapacitates the motorist.

A teen driver, for example, could create an entry like 'ICE-Mom' for use by rescue workers or hospital personnel to contact family members or friends of the victim.

The 'ICE' messages are being flashed on electronic highway message boards run by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority."

ICE Program

Rotten Elites

Very interesting article worth reading:

"I have never been much of a revolutionary. Even when I was young I tended to cringe at any kind of earnest, 'to the barricades' kind of thinking. I tend to think in smaller strategic and tactical terms rather than large sweeping movements. However, I have come to realize that this is one of those times when something has to happen from the ground up. Washington has become a kind of aristocrisy, with all the attendant inbred, insular, corruption that eventually befalls a ruling elite.

The biggest sickness in our politics is this top down, elitist mentality in which people are fed a diet of information, entertainment, products and ideas that are focus grouped, soulless and commercial --- and which are then filtered through a ruling media class that is so psychologically cramped, so emotionally sterile, so stuck in their own feedback loop that they are presenting a totally distorted version of reality. It's important that we look elsewhere for wisdom and leadership."

Hullabaloo

For What It Is Worth...

"While it's arguable that Bush 'would have' won more votes had the halted partial recounts continued, that's just part of the story. As all outlets conceded further along--whether in the subtitle, a few paragraphs down or a separate article--Gore 'might have' won if all rather than some of the uncounted votes had been examined. More important, they found that all evidence pointed to a simple and dramatic truth: A plurality of voters entered the polling place intending to vote for Gore. This reality was heavily obscured by generally pro-Bush headlines and misleading articles; in many cases, readers would have been better off skipping the stories and going straight to the accompanying charts."

Who Won the Election? Who Cares?

Quotable...?

Dish City?

"The Dish Network is promoting free service for the city or town who legally changes their name to “Dish.“

Satellite Television’s Dish Network is offering a decade of free service for every household in the first city or town that consents to change its name to “Dish.” "
Dish City Feature Story

Quotable

President Bush says: "Democracies do not attack their neighbors."

Harry shearer, agreeing with the president, ads: "Of course, democracies do not attack their neighbors... They attack countries half way across the world!!!"

When You Read This...

... Think about Venezuela and President Chavez.

" Author Dilip Hiro wrote:

America -- a power that most secular nationalists had initially considered to be benevolently neutral to Iran in its dispute with the British -- had clandestinely allied with Britain to overthrow a government that represented popular nationalist interest. This reprehensible act of the United States left a deep scar on the minds of Iranians, implanting most of them with abiding animosity toward America.'

With the 1979 revolution, came the flight of the Shah and the return of Iran's exiled spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini."

And the rest is History...

I got this via Sean Penn's account of his visit to Iran. Most interesting read:
Iran: Culture in Deep Conflict by Sean Penn

Mr. President: A Passing Knowledge of US History Would Be Nice...

"Try as Bush and his followers may, they will find no historical record of Ayatollah Alexander Hamilton's militia hunting down followers of radical secularist Thomas Jefferson, nor of rival Christian gangs blowing up one another's houses of worship. Nor will they find a record of renegade Green Mountain Boys gunning down foreign troops who were supposedly present to 'help young democracies succeed.'

In fact, there were no foreign troops prodding the process along. The French, who played a critical role in helping the American revolutionaries throw off British colonial oppression, exited quickly. The Marquis de Lafayette, as good a friend as the American rebels had, did not return to the new republic until 1824.

To be sure, Lafayette had ideas about how the Continentals ought to organize the American experiment. But he was smart enough to recognize that constitutions are organic documents that cannot be written under timelines imposed by foreign powers, just as he recognized that democracies cannot form or flourish under occupation."

Bush vs. History

Another Cool Clock...

INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK ||| MONO*CRAFTS

Really Really Cool Clock...

CLOCKBLOCK1.0 ||| MONO*CRAFTS3.0

Leave My Child Alone

"I support H.R.551, the Student Privacy Protection Act of 2005, which amends section 9528 of No Child Left Behind. H.R. 551 prohibits military recruiters from contacting students unless these minors and their parents specifically “Opt In” and consent to receive such communications."

Leave My Child Alone

Move America Forward--Who They Are:

"Move America Forward is a right-wing political advocacy group founded and headed by California Republicans and staff members of the public relations firm Russo Marsh and Rogers, which has strong ties to the Republican Party."

Move America Forward - SourceWatch

Let us see how effective their anti-Cindy campaign will be.

Really...

... We need Glasnost here in America.

"It was a veritable bonfire of public money, and it raged with all the brilliance of an Alabama book-burning. And what fueled it all were the little details you never heard about. The energy bill alone was 1,724 pages long. By the time the newspapers reduced this Tolstoyan monster to the size of a single headline announcing its passage, only a very few Americans understood that it was an ambitious giveaway to energy interests. But the drama of the legislative process is never in the broad strokes but in the bloody skirmishes and power plays that happen behind the scenes."

RollingStone.com: Four Amendments & a Funeral : Politics

NIH Agrees To Loosen Ethics Rules

Doesn't this sums up rather well the Bush Era?
Director of NIH Agrees To Loosen Ethics Rules

How To End Iraq War

A simple strategy... It makes sense, that is why you know the Bushites will not go for it...

First, as a confidence-building measure, the US government must... [announce] a clear shift in policy from military occupation to a conflict resolution model.

Second, instead of claiming there are no plans for withdrawal... the Administration [should] declare its intention to end the occupation and bring the troops home in months, not years.

Third, the US will have to request the United Nations, or a body blessed by the United Nations, to establish protocols to monitor the military cease-fires, de-escalation, disengagement and ultimate withdrawal.

Fourth, the US must request that the United Nation or a related body take the lead in organizing a peaceful reconstruction effort.

Fifth... the US government should immediately appoint a peace envoy independent of the occupation authorities to underscore a new commitment to an entirely different mission.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: How to End the Iraq War

Imagine That...

... Or perhaps you would not want to.

Where Is...

... Chalabi when you need him again?

Iranian agents have tried to obtain from South Korea a substance that can be used to boost nuclear explosions in atomic weapons, an Iranian exile group said on Thursday.

That is Great...

... These people in the Administration will not let a little thing like Reality put a stop to their plans! It would have been way funny if it was not so sad.

US: Iran cannot be let off hook over nuclear charges:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said that
Iran should not be let off the hook although an independent probe has reportedly showed no evidence of clandestine atomic weapons activities in the Islamic republic."

Goes to Show...

... That you do not need intelligence, know-how, political savvy, knowledge; you do not have to have any sort of prerequisite background, you do not have to be well read, well traveled, you do not have to be an authority on things you talk about, you do not have to take any sort of an exam, go to school, have a degree, know a trade or anything...

All you need is money and you can have access to public airwaves and say all sort of drivel you feel like... Funny how the FCC finds a boob shown on TV objectionable but does not find another boob running his mouth and inviting assassinations not objectionable.

Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination

There You Have It...

"'The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions,' said a senior official who discussed the still-confidential findings on the condition of anonymity.

Scientists from the United States, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to pore over data collected by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to U.S. and foreign officials. Recently, the group, whose existence had not been previously reported, definitively matched samples of the highly enriched uranium -- a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon -- with centrifuge equipment turned over by the government of Pakistan.

Iran has long contended that the uranium traces were the result of contaminated equipment bought years ago from Pakistan. But the Bush administration had pointed to the material as evidence that Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients."

No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program

A Reminder...

American Military Deaths in Iraq

Total In combat
Since war began: 1866 1483
Since 5/1/2003: 1729 1375

Official Estimated
Total wounded: 14021 15000-42500

Antiwar.com Blog

Deaf Ears...

Actually, the longer he does not talk to her, the better it is. However, the bootlickers on the Democratic side, including the Moveon.org crowd, will probably ruin this genuine grass roots effort... given enough time--see Camp Casey II!!! What was wrong with the original Camp Casey anyhow?

This Is A Test

I just downloaded Ecto from the net and I am using it as a client to blog with. It is supposed to be a WYSIWYG type of a client and so I am checking it out... But I am not sure whether it will work... Let us stay positive!

Ok... it appears that it is working, but the photo import is not. Oh well...

The Soldier, His Wife and the Bum...

...by Charles Bukowski

Quotable

'Somebody at one of these places asked me: 'What do you do? How do you write, create?' You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like it's looks, you make a pet out of it.'

- Charles Bukowski

Liberal Media Huh?

Why is it that there is nothing about Camp Casey and Cindy Sheehan on the front pages of any of the major media? In order to read anything about that you have to go to UL news media The Guardian to find anything mainstream about that news...

Liberal Media... Helping the get the word out!
The Observer | International | Mother tips the balance against Bush: "Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans believe Iraq has been mishandled. A Gallup poll last week showed 54 per cent believe it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq. Bush's approval ratings have slumped to the 30s. The analogy with Vietnam and the steady bleeding away of support for that conflict is a strong one."

Chutzpah!!!

"I cannot recall any sympathetic coverage of Palestinians being evicted from their homes. No interviews with weeping mothers or fathers. No discussions of whether the evictions were right or wrong. This is obviously a deliberate policy on the part of America's television networks, for after all, they had 4,170 opportunities to report on Palestinian evictions since September 2000. That's how many homes were destroyed, and, of course, doesn't count the orchards and olive trees bulldozed by the Israeli army or Israeli settlers.

Of course, Palestinians were not evicted by sympathetic soldiers or promised huge amounts of money to relocate. No, they were brutally told to get out of their houses, which were then blown up or bulldozed into rubble by decidedly unsympathetic Israeli soldiers. What little they had was destroyed, and they were offered nothing except verbal abuse by the Israelis and invisibility by the American media."

Gaza Evacuation Should Be Americans' Last Straw - by Charley Reese

The Last Refuge of the Modern Scoundrel

"The supporters of this war have run out of convincing lies and effective emotional appeals. Now, they are reduced to attacking the grieving mothers of dead soldiers. Samuel Johnson suggested that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. But, with their attacks on Cindy Sheehan, the apologists for George Bush's infamy have found a new and darker refuge."

Cindy Sheehan's Tragic Critics

Seeing Right Through It...

"Just as there is a virtually unanimous international consensus on the illegal nature of the Israeli settler-colonies, so is there also global agreement that Israel must leave the territories occupied in 1967, negotiate a fair settlement of the refugee issue, share Jerusalem and coexist in peace alongside a sovereign, viable Palestinian state. The deep skepticism about both the impetus and the impact of the Gaza withdrawal reflects the perception - rooted in historical experience - that Israel is behaving only according to its sense of how to ensure its security through the use of its force, rather than through compliance with international law and the will of the community of nations.

There is something slightly politically devious about Israel's withdrawal. It does not have the compelling ring of authenticity and honesty that characterized the white South Africans' coming to terms with black majority rule, or Mikhael Gorbachev's coming to grips with his people's right to freedom and democracy. It seems to be an expedient, grudging, defensive, reluctant endeavor. It is the enterprise of a thief who decides to stop stealing in one part of town, only to steal more efficiently in other neighborhoods."

Israel's withdrawal is both historic and deceptive

Chicago Did Not Make the List!!!

Neither did the State of Illinois...

Travel: "The top 20 meanest U.S. cities:

1. Little Rock, Arkansas
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Cincinnati, Ohio
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Gainesville, Florida
6. New York City, New York
7. Los Angeles, California
8. San Francisco, California
9. Honolulu, Hawaii
10. Austin, Texas
11. Sarasota, Florida
12. Key West, Florida
13. Nashville, Tennessee
14. Berkeley, California
15. Dallas, Texas
16. Fresno, California
17. San Antonio, Texas
18. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
19. St. Paul, Minnesota
20. Manchester, New Hampshire

The top four meanest states:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Hawaii
4. Texas"

Any of Our Tax Money Involved?

"Compensation

Israeli officials raised the prospect that the army could finish evacuation of settlers in two days, speeding an operation the military had said it hoped to complete by 4 September.

Four small Gaza settlements and two in the northern West Bank had evacuated on their own, ahead of the deadline.

But signs of defiance remained. In Kfar Darom, a hardline religious stronghold, many settlers vowed to stay.

Israeli soldiers trained for the pullout weeks before Officials say 66% of settler families have accepted compensation deals.

Those who refused to go could lose a third of the money, ranging from $150,000 to $400,000 a family."

Israeli army evicts Gaza settlers

The Anatomy of a Lie

"Now, all of that 'reporting' is – at best – misleading.

And deliberately so.

Charbonneau is deliberately misleading you about (a) what the IAEA 'found' back in 2002, (b) why the IAEA seals were in place, (c) what the Iranians did last week, and last – but most important – (d) what constitutes a 'breaking' of the NPT.

Bush-Cheney officials have repeatedly charged that the Iranians have broken the NPT and that they are seeking to manufacture or 'otherwise acquire' nuclear weapons.

But if the Iranians were breaking the NPT, who would be in the best position to know? The Bush-Cheney officials who made similar charges about Iraq?

Neo-crazy media sycophants like Charbonneau?

No."

More Media Lies About Iran - by Gordon Prather

Make It All Up...

Make your own here

Quotable

"Casey knew that the war was wrong from the beginning. But he felt it was his duty to go, that his buddies were going, and that he had no choice. The people who send our young, honorable, brave soldiers to die in this war, have no skin in the game. They don't have any loved ones in harm's way. As for people like O'Reilly and Hannity and Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh and all the others who are attacking me and parroting the administration line that we must complete the mission there – they don't have one thing at stake. They don't suffer through sleepless nights worrying about their loved ones."
- Cindy Sheehan

They Should All Go...

"Comley's grandmother, 80-year-old Geraldine Comley of Versailles, described herself as a former Republican stalwart who is "on a rampage" against the president and the war.

"When someone gets up and says 'My son died for our freedom,' or I get a sympathy card that says that, I can hardly bear it," Geraldine Comley said. She added that she would like nothing better than to join Cindy Sheehan, who has been holding a protest outside President Bush's ranch in Texas."

Read More

You know, let us hope that all those who failed to see the lies perpetrated on them by this Administration learn something from their shortcoming and they myopic view of the world policy and their readiness to get duped by nice words and phrases. Please, next time (because there will be a next time), would you not dismiss the opposition off hand without really learning all the facts?

EBay Hits The Fire Department...

Watch the Video

Really...

"George W. Bush should be able to handle one grieving mother on his own without the right-wing echo chamber ganging up on her."

Via AbeLog -- A Blog

The News According to The Bushies

Stupid Fucking Idiots...

... We could have told them that long ago, except they were too self absorbed to hear it.

"The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say."

Stupid fucking idiots...

Before I Hear Anyone Say: "I Told You So"...

... Better read the article and find buried in the middle of it, this real gem:

"U.S. military photos of the alleged lab showed a bare concrete-walled room scattered with stacks of plastic containers, coiled tubing, hoses and a stand holding a large metal device that looked like a distillery. Black rubber boots lay among the gear.

The operation was the biggest suspected chemical-weapon lab found so far in Iraq, Boylan said. A lab discovered last year in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah contained a how-to book for chemical weapons and an unspecified amount of chemicals."

Read More

So what does this mean? I will tell you what it means. It means two things:

1- Before the Idiot's invasion, Iraq had got ridden of its WMDs; but, now they are re-manufacturing it;
2- Before the Idiot's invasion, Iraq did not have any connection with terrorists; but, now they are all over Iraq.

Feel safer now?

So I hope all yous who voted a second time for the Idiot are feeling sorry for your ignorance?

Really... Shut the Fuck Up!

President Bush said that he sympathizes with [Sheehan's] loss but added that agreeing to her demand to immediately withdraw troops "would be a mistake for the security of this country."

Remember

I remember where I was and what I was doing--It is etched into my memory--and each time I think about it, I get all teary.



Firefighter notifying of second plane hitting the WTC

Firefighter notifying of the South Tower collapse

More Here...

The More Things Change...

... The more they stay the same.

"Aug. 10, 2005 - A former Washington-area man accused in court papers of being the “American contact” for an Osama bin Laden “front organization” is now believed to be working for the new Iraqi government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two U.S. law-enforcement officials and a longtime associate of the man tell NEWSWEEK."

Read More

Shut the Fuck Up...

Does anyone listens to his crap anymore?

"President Bush said Thursday no decision has been made on increasing or decreasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, saying that as "Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" and that only conditions on the ground will dictate when it is time for a reduction in U.S. forces."

Read More

Worth Watching

t r u t h o u t - MultiMedia: "One Mother's Stand -- 08.10.05"

This Made Me LOL!!!

See the Video

Funny!!!

Watch the Video

The Dead Don't Talk...

... The wounded do.

"The Humvee finally comes to a stop and the right side is just torn apart and I hear my squad leader screaming, 'I think I lost my arm!' And my best friend Maida was in the front passenger seat where the bomb went off and he was screaming, 'Where's help? Where's help?' And then he went quiet.

"And me, I'm trying to crawl out of the Humvee and I get most of my body out and just this leg is stuck and I thought it must be caught on something in the twisted metal. I look back and I see it's just laying there on the seat, so I'm like, 'Why is it stuck?' So I try to lift my leg up and it won't lift. I just had to pick up my leg and crawl the rest of the way out.

[...]

"Then I started checking out my leg. I knew my femur was broken, but at that time I didn't know my calf was missing," he says. "And that's when I hear my best friend Maida and he started heaving."

Rodgers takes a few loud, quick breaths to show what Mark Maida sounded like.

"And he breathes like that for a few seconds and then he just stops. And that's when he died.""

Read More

Making Al Capone Proud...

"California Army National Guard troops charged unauthorized, off-the-books "rent" to Iraqi-owned businesses inside Baghdad's Green Zone in Iraq to raise money for a "soldier's fund," military officials and sources within the troops' battalion said Friday.

The disclosure is the latest to emerge from a wide-ranging investigation into the conduct of the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment of the Guard, which is headquartered in Modesto, Calif.

Military officials had confirmed previously that the battalion's commander, Lt. Col. Patrick Frey, had been suspended and that one of the battalion's companies, based in Fullerton, Calif., had been removed from patrol duties and restricted to an Army base south of Baghdad, the capital."

Read More

August 6, 1945

An eye for an eye makes us all blind.
– Mahatma Gandhi

Ha Ha

This Won't Make the Headlines...

I dare anyone to find this news within the first 2 pages on Chicago Sun Times.

"A 19-year-old Israeli soldier opened fire inside a bus Thursday, killing four Israeli Arabs in the deadliest attack on Arabs in Israel by a Jewish extremist since 1990. An angry crowd then killed the gunman."

Read More

The Public Interest Test

"In the Alice in Wonderland world of the Plame-Rove story, Judith Miller, who worked hand in glove with the Bush administration to publish bogus stories about Saddam Hussein's alleged nuclear program, is a hero—for going to jail to protect, once again, her friends in the administration. And Time-Warner, which turned over Matt Cooper's notes (for the wrong reasons—Time-Warner's corporate interests—but that's another story) is the villain. Yet it may be Cooper's testimony that finally sinks Rove. So who's the hero and what's the public interest?...

It's one thing for reporters to protect a brave whistle-blower who has taken personal risks to serve the public interest. It is another thing for reporters to collude with the powerful to punish the whistle-blower, in this case Joseph Wilson, and his wife, an innocent bystander.

Is the public good served by helping Fitzgerald learn who at the White House broke the law? Or is it served by having reporters protect Karl Rove? We need a public interest test, not an absolute privilege."

Defending Miller's Indefensible Chocie

How Can We Really Tell?

First Cloned Dog

Quotable

"If you don't want to work, become a reporter.
That awful power, the public opinion of the
nation, was created by a horde of self-complacent
simpletons, who failed at ditch digging and shoe
making, and fetched up in journalism on their
way to the poorhouse."

Mark Twain
Connecticut Evening Dinner Club, 1881

Yeah... So what?

"Americans are anxious about the direction of U.S. foreign policy and how the country is perceived overseas and a majority believe the government has been too quick to go to war, a survey released on Tuesday said.

"Contrary to conventional wisdom that the American public doesn't know and doesn't care how it is seen abroad, strong majorities" believe the U.S. image overseas is suffering and "large majorities are worried about it," the survey concluded."

Perhaps next time the same "large majorities" will actually use their brain, common sense and intelligence (if any) to come to the same conclusion before almost 2000 kids are killed... Or simply listen to the critics instead of calling them "unpatriotic"...

American Anxious About US Foreign Policy

Tell me...

... You saw this photograph and you thought she was on a cell phone right?



But then you realized that at the time this photo was taken, there were no cell phones around...

Political Psychic

Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first:

"Bush will not be leaving the Office at the end of his term."

Erin has made the prediction and it is here preserved for posterity.

With the Advice and Consent of the Senate...

"President Bush sidestepped the U.S. Senate on Monday and installed controversial nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations..."

Bush Sidesteps Senate, Installs Bolton as U.N. Envoy