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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Sept. 18, 2006 at 12:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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46 Comments
Quote of the Day:
…a revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue and good sense. John Adams
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
Well, well, what’s all this about then? Maybe CapnBolshevik can explain why the “far-right” is doing exceptionally well in the formerly communist eastern part of Germany? lmosrfao
German neo-Nazis set for poll victory
Luke Harding in BerlinFriday September 15, 2006The Guardian
A supporter of Germany’s far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) at a rally in Berlin. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Germany’s racist neo-Nazi party is poised to make a stunning breakthrough during elections this weekend, entering a regional parliament for the second time in three years, polls suggest.According to a poll for ZDF television the far-right National Party of Germany (NPD) is likely to win 7% of the vote in elections on Sunday in the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Another Infratest poll puts the party on 6%.
The projected result is above Germany’s 5% hurdle – and means the far-right MPs will sit in the parliament for the first time. “We are very confident. It’s extremely likely we are going to make it,” Michael Andrejewski, the NPD’s candidate in its stronghold town of Anklam, told the Guardian today.
Mr Andrejewski claimed that voters in Germany’s depressed former communist east were turning to the neo-Nazi right because they were disillusioned with mainstream politics. They were also fed up with the region’s massive unemployment, he said.http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1873381,00.html
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
Bush and Republicans want to make a big deal about the 14 terrorist the have locked up, but don’t even mention they have 14,000 people locked up all over the world being held without charges. 13,000 in Iraq alone. And then they wonder why Iraqies don’t want our kind of democracy?
An interesting article (and comments) on 9/11 conspiricy theories:
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/09/17/the-one-truth-that-9-11-deniers-wont-face/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdebunk9-11myths.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F09%2Fone-truth-that-911-deniers-wont-face.html&frame=true
The One Truth That 9/11 Deniers Won’t FaceThe 9/11 denial movement has enjoyed a measure of success in recent months in gaining national attention. We have seen them on CNN, heard them on radio shows, and their books and websites abound. These conspiracy theorists are eager to confront and deny any truth about the 9/11 tragedies. All except for one. No 9/11 denier is willing to face or admit this truth: They want 9/11 to have been a government conspiracy rather than a terrorist attack.
The Bush regime just let out an AP photographer they had imprisoned for five months. His crime was solely the color of his skin and the country he resided in. How is the Bush crime family any different from the Gestapo or Stalin’s secret police?
I see that the Kansas State Department of Education has again made its annual hick-state announcement,
“SAT scores continue to top national average”
Nice feel-good propaganda. Suppose that General Motors took the salaries of its executives, managers and research engineers, and averaged them. Now suppose that GM took the entire salary scales of Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, BMW, and Nissan plants in the U.S., down to custodians. Would it be surprising if GM claimed, “We have the highest salaries in U.S. automaking?” No.
This is what Kansas SAT scores represent: the smartest Kansas public school students who vie for national scholarships and first-tier private university admissions, and private school students whose parents can afford to send their kids out of state. The SAT scores for many takers represents the ability of their families to pay for BOTH the SAT and the ACT, and often private test preparation.
52% of Kansas SAT takers have taken calculus in high school. 65% have family incomes over $70,000. 84% have at bachelor’s degrees and 47% have graduate degrees. Does this sound like it represents all Kansas 4-year-college-bound students to you?
The national SAT average, 1021, primarily represents 19 states that give the SAT to ALL their college-hopeful students. (Some states are “mixed, with some districts using the ACT as their standard, others using the SAT as their standard.)
How do we understand the distinction? Because Kansas’s 8% of students who take the SAT and get 1172 score average is totally discrepant to ALL KANSAS college-hopeful students’ ACT average of 21.6, which corresponds, statistically, to a 1030 SAT average.
The data turned around, an 1172 corresponds to a 25 ACT, which is 3.4 points above the state average.
Essentially a 21.6 ACT average, with attendant quartile and quintile bands, means that about 20% of Kansas’s 4-year-college-hopeful students won’t need high school remediation in college.
An 1172 SAT average, with attendant quartile and quintile bands, means that about 40% of the examinees won’t need high school remediation in college. Even though the takers, on the whole, represent our best public school students (avg. 1184) and students whose parents can afford private education (avg. 1129).
Actually North Dakota, whose 4% of graduates take the SAT, tops the nation at 1227. Are these students whomping Kansas students? No, because if 8% of North Dakota students took the SAT, instead of 4%, North Dakota’s SAT average would be a lot lower.
North Dakota’s ACT average is 21.5, i.e. 0.1 points LOWER THAN KANSAS (statistically indistinguishable), concordant to an SAT of 1020, not 1227.
(I am omitting the new SAT writing test scores. We don’t have concordance data for the 3-test SAT and ACT scores until the ACT writing test is implemented, so I am using well-established score-correspondence results based on the two-SAT vs. four-ACT subtest data.)
In summary Kansas’s “SAT scores continue to top national average” is an average of select students, which has no relevance to any other state’s or national average.
Kansas educators, once again, want to perpetrate air-head hick-state hype. “We don’t publicize real analysis, we just want to promote everybody-feel-good-about-Kansas schools puffery.”
For
“84% have at [least] bachelor’s degrees and 47% have graduate degrees,”
I meant students’ parents, obviously not the SAT-taking students themselves.
Rumsfield’s latest justification for the invasion of Iraq:
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/09/17/rumsfeld-unveils-new-justification-for-iraq-war-high-gas-prices/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2F2006%2F09%2F17%2Frumsfeld-gas-prices%2F&frame=true
Rumsfeld Unveils New Justification For Iraq War: High Gas PricesPrior to the war, the administration stressed that the United States needed to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs and had connections to al-Qaeda. None of that turned out to be true.
Now, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has introduced a new rationale for the invasion of Iraq, high gas prices. From a radio interview last week:
SECRETARY RUMSFELD: The fact of the matter is – if Saddam Hussein were still in power in Iraq, he would be rolling in petrol dollars. Think of the price of oil today. He would have so much money. And he would be seeing the Iranians interested in a nuclear program, he would be seeing the North Koreans developing a nuclear program, and he’d say well why shouldn’t he – and he would. So we’re fortunate that he’s gone.
Of course, one of the reason gas prices are high is instability in the Middle East — created, in part, by the invasion of Iraq.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, the administration does nothing to reduce our demand for the stuff.
Funny,If a Pit Bull kills someone, it’s the irresponsible owner’s fault. If somebody is killed by a gun, it’s the gun’s fault.
Now that’s rich – Rumsfeld complaining about the high cost of gas and trying to use that as a justification for this crazy war.
This man and the Republicans must be pretty desperate to come up with this line of crap.
Today’s Bushism:
“If a person doesn’t have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all”5/22/2001
Spoken like a true Commader-In-Chief!!
More warrentless wiretaps and home invasions coming? Yes if Specter and Bush get their way:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71778-0.html?tw=wn_index_1
NSA Bill Performs a Patriot Act
A bill radically redefining and expanding the government’s ability to eavesdrop and search the houses of U.S. citizens without court approval passed a key Senate committee Wednesday, and may be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week.
By a 10-8 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB2453, the National Security Surveillance Act (.pdf), which was co-written by committee’s chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) in concert with the White House.
The committee also passed two other surveillance measures, including one from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), one of the few senators to be briefed on the National Security Agency program. Feinstein’s bill, which Specter co-sponsored before submitting another bill, rebuffs the administration’s legal arguments and all but declares the warrantless wiretapping illegal.
In contrast, Specter’s bill concedes the government’s right to wiretap Americans without warrants, and allows the U.S. Attorney General to authorize, on his own, dragnet surveillance of Americans so long as the stated purpose of the surveillance is to monitor suspected terrorists or spies.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note that it only says that the “stated purpose” has to be going after terrorists or spies; that definitely does not prevent fishing expeditions.
Wow, Ian,
I’m so impressed. The neo-Nazis have attracted 5-7 percent in a backward part of Germany.
Why don’t you move there and lead the movement?
It wouldn’t woth capn. The Neos there are trying to moderate their image.
Charlie Daniels on Rosie.
Ill-Fated WordsI don’t watch television shows like the one Rosie O’Donnell is on but I didsee a replay of her saying that radical Christianity is just as dangerous asradical Islam.First of all, I don’t know what Ms. O’Donnell is referring to when she saysradical Christianity. When compared to radical Islam it would have to meanthat there is a sect of Christians who hates and persecutes every otherreligion in the world.A group who straps explosives to their bodies and blows up innocent women and children. They would have to sacrifice their sons and daughters as suicide bombers. They would have to be willing to hack off heads with the whole world watching.They would have to be willing to wage worldwide war against anybody whoisn’t a Christian. They would treat women like cattle and indoctrinate theirchildren with hate.They would have to believe that the only sure way to get to Heaven is to diekilling other human beings in the name of their deity.They would advocate a form of government which would strip away all civiland personal rights and turn the power to govern over to humorless old men who encourage their sons and daughters to go out and die for their cause.I have been around Christians all my life, many denominations, many different people who interpret the Holy Bible slightly differently fromeach other. I have been in charismatic churches, Evangelical churches, Pentacostal churches, all kind of churches and I have never seen the kind of Christianity Ms. O’Donnell is talking about.So where is this radical Christianity Ms. O’Donnell fears? I am an extremelywell traveled person and I’ve never seen it.Even the occasional nut like Jim Jones and David Koresh never did suicidebombings or beheaded people and certainly did not represent anything close to the teachings of Jesus Christ.Nor does the odd misled soul who stands beside the road with a sign saying, God hates fags. God hates the sin but loves the sinner.Just to show you the difference, if Ms. O’Donnell had said what she did on atelevision network in Iran or Saudi Arabia she would have been charged withblasphemy, a crime punishable by death in some instances.No Rosie, there is no comparison and although I vehemently disagree withwhat you said, instead of anger, I feel pity. You see I dont really think you even believe what you said, you’re just trying to hurt somebody, and Ms. O’Donnell, if you want to know who you’re really hurting, go look in the mirror.Pray for our troops.What do you think?God Bless AmericaCharlie DanielsSeptember 15, 2006
I love Daniels music.I must say that in a fair fight,I would bet on Rosie!
I will never forget when that fat pig rosie lambasted Tom Selleck for his pro-gun stance. We later found out that she had an armed bodyguard for her snot-nosed, brat kid! She’s just another limosine leftist asshole who should not be seen or heard!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Aw hell, Ian.That bull dyke could whip your ass with one hand while she holds Charlie down with the other!
Here’s a little more to go with Ben’s post:
Here are some quick facts about the Cheney-Specter bill:
It allows President Bush—and every president after him—to wiretap Americans indefinitely, in secret, without a warrant and without any oversight.It effectively pardons the president for any illegal behavior by forcing Congress to concede that he has the inherent authority to conduct the program—something federal courts, numerous legal experts and many leading Republicans disagree with.It completely guts FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which has protected the privacy of Americans against illegal wiretaps for close to 30 years.It prevents any legal challenges from taking place in the public court system. Instead, it moves all cases to a secret court, where only Bush administration officials can argue it.It would help “immunize” any officials who broke the law in this program from being held accountable in the future.
*********
I’m pretty sure our resident Republicans and other Conservatives will pooh-pooh the above and tell us that we have no reason to question it. But as soon as a Democratic moves into the White House, they’ll be screaming bloody murder and find a way to blame Clinton and/or the Democratic Congress.
Anybody interested in a bet?
Bushies are not known for their smarts. That is why they can’t figure out the fact that the extended powers Georgie gets, the next president will also have.
That is too far down the road for them to see.
CR
Since the next President will be another Republican I’m not too worried about those extended powers.
Sooner or later Heckler sooner or later.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of my choice of President being given the powers bush is accumulating! Oh what great change and social justice we can bring with those powers!
Oh and Heckler? Do you really think anyone but you and Sean Hannity give a crap what Charlie Daniels thinks?
Talk about washed up. I hear in between appearances at right wing redneck rant rallies, Daniels shares a railyard flop with Boxcar Willie.
Too funny, Trace!
“So where is this radical Christianity Ms. O’Donnell fears? I am an extremely well traveled person and I’ve never seen it.”
Okay, ignoring history–Crusades, Spanish inquisition, “Bloody” Mary, the 30 Years War, Bonny Prince Charles (Catholic uprising and its repression), Salem witch burnings–we can find any number of modern Christo-fascist terrorist acts.
1. Christian phalangists were unleashed by Israel in Palestinian refugee camps and massacred over a thousand. “The Christian Phalangist group are reported to have murdered entire families in cold blood in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/17/newsid_2519000/2519637.stm
2. The long and bloody history of Northern Ireland was fueled by native Catholic Irish against the “Orangemen” (protestant loyalists).
3. Tim McVeigh and the terror-bombing in Ok City was part of a Christo-fascist organization: CNN reports, “After renting a Ryder truck that has been linked to the Oklahoma City bombing, McVeigh telephoned a religious community that preaches white supremacy . . . “
The Branch Davidians were some kind of wack-o religious cult too, weren’t they?
CapnAmerica tries to tag all Christians, or at least the conservatives, with every wacko person or political group who claims the mantle.
Sorry Dude. Not at all convincing.
And if you were successful in relating those wackos to Christianity, why would it not reflect just as much on you, Capn, since you claim to be a Christian? Don’t you?
If this law passes, Richard Nixon is retroactively immunized against having committed the wiretapping at Watergate, and from now on all presidents will enjoy this luxury. Sure, the scope may be off, but since it can be tried only in secret by the President’s Men, then WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY?
I don’t feel safer… I am scared to freaking death. The enemy within has surpassed the enemy without when it comes to creating fear. Go, Red Staters, revel in your police state. Welcome to the occupation. When this is all over, you will be the first against the wall. Maybe not in two years, maybe not in 10, but every population has a threshhold for abuse by its leaders.
Charlie Daniels is a great person and a great American. The fact that JR badmouths him is a pretty good indicator that he’s one of the good guys.
If Christians today are tying bombs to their relatives and blowing themselves up for Jesus. And if they’re threatening death to anyone who says anything bad about God, then why didn’t I get the memo that we are doing these things?
Too many theophobes running around out there…what a shame.
Here’s the difference:
Ask Rosie point blank and a dangerous Christian is anyone who votes Republican.
To me (as a believer in the Christ) it’s likes of your fellow Kansan Fred Phelps, Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh.
Well certainly republicans have done more to hurt me and mine then any muslim ever did.
And Nojo pops up again. Whatsa matter NoJo? Truth hurt? Go back in your box. YOU know the routine. I pull the rope and you piss up it!
JR,Here’s your motto:
“Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.”
- Smashing Pumpkins
Yeah whatever Nojo
You never stick around long enough to be anymore than an annoyance. At least in the NoJo nic anyway.
McCavity comes to mind…..
Rational quote of the day:
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.Bishop Desmond Tutu (South African activist and religious leader, 1931- )
Mark Twain (U.S. writer, 1835-1910)
The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.
Get it?, Ian and outlander?
And NoJoco scurried away again.
And he did it just when I really needed him!
Oh well.
Calling all right wing kooks! Calling all right wing kooks!
I need your input here.
Among the talk radio shills, (and I keep up with them all) I regard Michael Savage as the most credible. Of course, I also see him as dangerously insane.
Anywho, Savage (real name Wiener) had an equally insane guest tonight. They were discussing that Muslims have been told to leave America! IT seems that several nuclear suitcase bombs will be detonated by Islamic terrorists in the next few months!
So hows about it? Any of you righties getting chatter about this through your tin hats or your dental fillings? Care to share?
Hey it would not surprise me much. Our borders are a sieve and we are busy inspecting peoples shoes when shiploads of uninspected containers the size of a semi arrive in America every day in ports bush sought to sell to the arab nation of Dubai.
So what say you righties? Got anything on this?
As one of my co-workers so brilliantly stated on being an intellectually gifted child:
“The thing is, we don’t walk around thinking ‘What a blessing it is to be so intelligent.’ The thought is, ‘It is incredible how many stupid people there are.’”
Ten years from now people will still be arguing about whether or not Iraq had WMDs, at least when the Viewscreens aren’t in view and the Thought Police aren’t watching. Maybe I will take up smoking the Victory cigarettes.
Big Brother is Watching You.
And all you can do is bicker about morality. There is so much more to lose, here, people. And you will go gentle into this good night.
Capn,
While I agree with you overall, no one was burned in Salem. 19 men and women were hanged, and one elderly man was pressed to death with huge stones. No burning there. No burning of witches in the U.S.
You may be referring to what is commonly called The Burning Times, which took place in Europe during the late medieval and renaissance periods, although some say that was more a battle between Catholics and Protestants more than anything else. To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t read up that much on it. The numbers of those murdered during that time fall between 40,000 and 100,000, but there is no actual count.
JR?I have done more reading than writing on this blog. I quit reading for a while because it was so predictable. Now that I’m back to reading it again I find what you have to say as the most offensive among all of the others.
You seem to be too paranoid to be taken seriously. You seem to be a really unhappy person who wants to blame everyone else but you for your problems. Your arrogance is not tolerable. Your “I’m always right” attitude reaks. Rather than discussing matters, you want to win at all costs. It really is a tired act.
But alas you have no other means to live a fulfilling life except for this blog. You patrol it like some teritorial animal who pisses everywhere so as to remind them that this is your turf. Anyone who disagrees with you is immediately squashed (in your mind).
As for my handle, guess what? It’s the only one I use.
Go spin in your wheel for a while and think about it.
I think that is your longest post in history here NoJo.
I must be hitting a nerve.
NoJo is your only name here? Folks I trust better than you tell me otherwise.
Your cockeyed opinion of me? I don’t take that very seriously. But hey you can get 3 or 4 other posters here to agree with you on that. They are not anymore regarded here than you are.
I’d like to call here again on the Eagle editors.
The two threads devoted to Terry Fox and his shady departure from Immaunelle Baptist church are your most posted in history.
Much was revealed/insinuated on those threads. It was suggested that a business meeting would occur this past Suday evening at Immanuel to clear the air.
I call again for a new thread devoted to this story.
NoJo–
Funny . . . even though you hardly ever post, you still come off as an annoying, self-righteous jerk.
And….PART TIME SOCK PUPPET.
Capn?You’re just scroll over material. I find it humorous that YOU called someone a jerk!
HA HA HA HA!
Tracy,You’re the court jester of the WE blog. You ride the coatails of other jackasses. What a joke you are!
Why thank you!!Why are you here?At least I serve a purpose.Did any of your Mom’s kids live?
Does this mean NoJo will be boring and scolding us more?
Bring it on.
Making pissant right wingers look stupid is my speciality!
And ya’ know what’s FUNNY, JR.The pissant got on another thread (pit bulls) and wanted everybody to look at his link.Whataguy.
24% of Americans believe that the Internet is able for a time to replace them with a loved one. For obvious reasons, such sentiments particularly prevalent among residents of the United States alone. Both men and women can replace the beloved, beloved trips to the World Network. However, the willingness to such transactions vary among followers of different ideologies: conservatives frowned relate to this idea, and the “progressive-minded” on the contrary, Nerkarat it.Study company Zogby International also showed that every fourth resident of the United States have their own representation in the web-site or internet-stranichka. Creating internet-dvoynikov most passionate about young people (18-24 years of age) – 78% of them have personal Web page. In doing so, 68% of those surveyed said that the World Wide Web, they do not appear in its original capacity, their virtual overnight seriously different from the real.Only 11% of Americans would agree implantable microchip in his brain, which would provide them with direct contact with the Internet. But the situation is changing, in the case of children. Almost every fifth resident of the United States would agree to equip their child safety device which would allow him to track the movement in space on the Internet.10% of U.S. stated that the Internet brings them to God. ” In turn, 6% are convinced that because of the existence of the World Wide Web God away from them.And how you feel? Sorry bad English.