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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Jan. 14, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
- Filed under Uncategorized
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36 Comments
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011101803.html
Fourteen members of an advisory board to the Carter Center in Atlanta resigned yesterday in protest over former president Jimmy Carter’s best-selling new book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that they could “no longer in good conscience continue to serve.”
So anyone who speaks out against what Israel is doing, is what, crazy? No, I’ve said for a long time, both groups have equally perpetuated the violence. I don’t read that passage as Carter advocating terroristic acts, but rather saying they will not end until Israel does the right thing.
I find it very unfortunate that the Post chose to expound on the idea that Carter was saying it should be happening.
I don’t suppose those who resigned were Jewish?
President’s Job Approval rating continues to fall
Despite his “surge speech” in which he looked like a rabbit in the headlights of a semi, his numbers continue to go down.
Rasmussen Reports show Bush’s approval ratings falling an astonishing NINE POINTS in four days–from 44 to 35.
Rasmussen Reports generally has higher than average numbers for Bush approval than other polls. They explain it this way:
At Rasmussen Reports, we ask if people Strongly Approve, Somewhat Approve, Somewhat Disapprove, or Strongly Disapprove of the way the President is performing his job. This approach, in the current political environment, yields results about 3-4 points higher than if we simply ask if people if they approve or disapprove (we have tested this by asking the question both ways on the same night). Presumably, this is because some people who are a bit uncomfortable saying they “Approve” are willing to say they “Somewhat Approve.”
Bush’s approval are way below Carter’s and just about at Nixon’s.
Worst. President. Ever.
And everybody knows it.
January 13, 2007For the second straight day, 35% of Americans approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That’s the lowest level of Approval ever measured by Rasmussen Reports.
These figures are based upon nightly telephone surveys and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. More than two-thirds of the interviews were completed after the President’s Wednesday night speech. Sixty-one percent (61%) now disapprove of his performance.
Washington PostUnveiled ThreatsA Bush appointee’s crude gambit on detainees’ legal rightsFriday, January 12, 2007; Page A18
MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way. Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs. In a repellent interview yesterday with Federal News Radio, Mr. Stimson brought up, unprompted, the number of major U.S. law firms that have helped represent detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
“Actually you know I think the news story that you’re really going to start seeing in the next couple of weeks is this: As a result of a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request through a major news organization, somebody asked, ‘Who are the lawyers around this country representing detainees down there,’ and you know what, it’s shocking,” he said.
Mr. Stimson proceeded to reel off the names of these firms, adding, “I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”
EVERYONE deserves representation. EVERYONE.
Quote of the Day:
“The concept of envy — the hatred of the superior — has dropped out of our moral vocabulary … The idea that white Christian civilization is hated more for its virtues than its sins doesn’t occur to us, because it’s not a nice idea. … Western man towers over the rest of the world in ways so large as to be almost inexpressible. It’s Western exploration, science, and conquest that have revealed the world to itself. Other races feel like subjects of Western power long after colonialism, imperialism, and slavery have disappeared. The charge of racism puzzles whites who feel not hostility, but only baffled good will, because they don’t grasp what it really means: humiliation. The white man presents an image of superiority even when he isn’t conscious of it. And, superiority excites envy. Destroying white civilization is the inmost desire of the league of designated victims we call minorities.” Joe Sobran
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
For you PMom, since you seem to miss it in the link.re: Carter board members resign
“The deciding factor for board member Steve Berman, he said yesterday, was a passage on Page 213 that he quoted easily from memory: It was imperative, Carter wrote, that Arabs and Palestinians “make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals” of an internationally proposed peace accord “are accepted by Israel.”
Wow, there is finally a presidential candidate that I could vote for!
Rep. Ron Paul files for Republican presidential bid: AP
By Katherine HuntLast Update: 6:39 PM ET Jan 11, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Rep. Ron Paul has filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money, the Associated Press reported late Thursday.
The nine-term congressman from southeast Texas was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988 and received more than 400,000 votes, the AP reported. This time he plans to run as a Republican
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/rep-ron-paul-files-republican/story.aspx?guid=%7B0493594C%2D7178%2D4EFC%2D9640%2D83A0B27FE01F%7D
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Woot woot to Randy for his editorial on water.
I see you have been paying attention, grasshopper. heheheh
One question though. Did Tracy Streeter come a callin’? Alone or with his overseer Ken? Did darth harkins make an appearance?
Or did you all request a royal audience?
hehehehehehehehehehehehhehe
Tracy’s been known to follow certain, uh, critics, around and smooth over the ruffled feathers left in said wake.
heheheheheheheheheh. I wonder if he volunteered to talk with you all or did he draw the short straw.
And did David Pope turn ya down?
hehehehehehehhehehehehheheheheheheh
They dont like the light of day shining too bright on the state’s water business.
heavy on the “business”
They will land on their feet P-Mom, don’t worry about that! Probably a great career choice on their part, given present political realities.
Seriously though, thanks for pointing out that the biggest threat to Kansas’ future is the looming water crisis. And it isnt on ANYONE’s agenda in Topeka except for big ag.
Thanks for keeping that fact in front of your readers.
Just because you have water today, doesnt mean you’ll have water tomorrow.
Ask anyone at Cedar Bluff…..
I.B.G.G,
Do you see anti-semitism everywhere??????
Viva la Revolucion Blanco!!
Carter has never taken money from the Israeli/jewish pac. Unlike most politicians.
The only solution to the violence between Israel and the rest of the Middle East is a Palestian Homeland. Jerusalem has to be an International City, not part of Israel and the Palestians must receive economic support from the free world just as Israel did beginning in 1948.
There is no excuse for the delay in the establishment of a Palestian State. It has to be done or there will never be peace in the Middle East.
Establishing a Palestian Homeland will not guarantee peace, but peace will not be possible while Israel is allowed to dominate the region econmoically and militarily.
The Neocons have to get over the concept that Israel must be supported at all costs. It has not worked for fifty five years and it won’t work now.
JM, just because he said it will continue to happen, does not mean he supports it.
Here, let me give you an example.
Anti-choicers will always be around to fight against women’s choice until that choice has been removed.
I don’t ADVOCATE what they do- but I know it will continue to happen no matter what.
See the difference.
Bush set for climate change U-turn
Downing Street says that belated US recognition of global warming could lead to a post-Kyoto agreement on curbing emissions
Gaby Hinsliff, Juliette Jowit and Paul HarrisSunday January 14, 2007The Observer
George Bush is preparing to make a historic shift in his position on global warming when he makes his State of the Union speech later this month, say senior Downing Street officials.Tony Blair hopes that the new stance by the United States will lead to a breakthrough in international talks on climate change and that the outlines of a successor treaty to the Kyoto agreement, the deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases which expires in 2012, could now be thrashed out at the G8 summit in June.
The timetable may explain why Blair is so keen to remain in office until after the summit, with a deal on protecting the planet offering an appealing legacy with which to bow out of Number 10.Bush and Blair held private talks on climate change before Christmas, and there is a feeling that the US President will now agree a cap on emissions in the US, meaning that, for the first time, American industry and consumers would be expected to start conserving energy and curbing pollution.
‘We could now be seeing the beginning of a consensus on a post-Kyoto framework,’ said a source close to the prime minister. ‘President Bush is beginning to talk about more radical measures.’
The move will be seen as part of a wider repositioning of the Bush government after its comprehensive defeat in last autumn’s mid-term elections.
A change of heart on the environment was signalled earlier this month when the US administration unexpectedly announced that polar bears were now an endangered species because their habitat in the US state of Alaska had suffered from melting ice sheets caused by global warming. The government is now required to act on threats to the bears’ survival. The EU has its own so-called cap and trade scheme, under which industries are given a quota of carbon dioxide emissions: if they exceed the limits, they must pay for extra credits that can be bought from cleaner industries – an incentive to firms to go green.
Downing Street is increasingly confident that the arguments pushed by Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the recent Treasury report on the cost of global warming, that doing nothing will eventually prove more costly than trying to avert catastrophe are now gaining in momentum. However, Stern warned: ‘The US will work it out for itself. Nobody will be telling them what to do, and nobody should.’
Downing Street now expects a broad agreement between EU countries on a successor treaty to Kyoto to be thrashed out at the EU spring council, paving the way for an agreement at the G8.
Blair was also told in meetings with senior senators late last year that they would seek to push through measures on global warming which had been repeatedly blocked by the Republicans before the mid-term elections cost Bush’s party control of both Houses of Congress.
But another source close to the negotiations warned that Bush had previously appeared to give ground on climate change, only to fail to make real concessions. The best hope could lie with a post-Kyoto deal for 2009, the source said – by which time Bush will be out of office.
Kurt Davies, research director on climate change for Greenpeace USA, said climate change was now expected to be one of the keynotes of the State of the Union address.
‘The sands are clearly shifting on climate change for this administration, but there has to be a concrete follow-up,’ he said. ‘We were shocked last year when he talked about the US being addicted to oil, but then there was no follow-up to that.’
.morg,
I’d guess that the Dems gaining control of Congress caused Bush to decide he should flip-flop on global warming. For example Sen. Boxer will replace Sen. “GW is a hoax” Inhofe.
This is kinda funny, ‘Inhofe’s last stand’http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/12/inhofes-last-stand/
Polar Bear Extinction Act has passed? When was this?
Just checked the http://www.doi.gov/audio.htmlwebsite and see nothing indicating such? They said they wanted to have a year to study before making a decision.
I always checked the US Fish and Wildlife website which is responsible for the Polar Bear Population in the US. I could find nothing on declining populations of Polar Bears.
By the way, the Polar Bears are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and very closely surveyed and monitored by scientists of the USFW department.
Perhaps the passage of this law is part of the confusion. Has nothing to do with the GreenPease petition.
“Polar bears are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Under that law, it is generally prohibited to (1) take or (2) import marine mammals and their parts or products. The species is also protected by international treaties involving countries in the bear’s range. In early December, Congress passed the United States-Russia Polar Bear Conservation and Management Act of 2006, implementing a treaty with Russia designed to conserve polar bears shared between the two countries. President Bush is expected to sign this legislation into law.”
How is everyone liking the weather? Not as bad as 2 years ago, at least for those of us in Wichita, but this cold crap is hitting places where people aren’t accustomed to it.
L.A. temps are so cold that a broken sprinkler shot water onto a roadway, which froze and caused major accidents. Lots of “black ice.”
Dallas is experiencing extreme temps, when only a few days ago they were in the 70’s. Ice is making the roadways unsafe. A friend of mine cut her visit to Houston short and returned home to Waco on very nasties roads. Heavy rains haven’t helped the situation.
Even Wichita made it to an AP news video. Sorry I can’t post the video link. :(
JM – I fail to see what the problem is with what Carter said about the Arabs and Palestinians and Israel.
Carter was only stating that the Arabs and Palestinians should make it clear that they will stop their terrorism when Israel accepts a peace accord.
What is so wrong with that statement? It takes more than one country to continue a war and why is it that Israel gets a free pass on whether it will accept a peace accord or not?
Jeesh, JM, wake up and smell the coffee. The Middle East has been fighting for generations. I think these people are so accustomed to it that they think the rest of the world lives the same way.
Jimmy Carter is only stating the obvious and the fact that the Israel supporter don’t like it speaks volumes as to their true motivation for any type of peace in Middle East.
Here’s a great test for all you peoples to take! Here is my score, they have me as being leftist/authoritarian!!! lmsarfao
http://politicalcompass.org/questionnaire
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
JM – when South Africa consigned Africans to ‘homelands’ that were isolated patches of ground isolated from one another and completely surrounded and controlled by the White government we correctly condemned it and called it Apartheid. When Israel does precisely the same thing with the Palestinian population in the West bank we should call it the same thing – Apartheid.
A friend’s son was recruited by a terrorist organization (Kach) to go to the West Bank as a part of that. Fortunately my friend saw what that group was and kept his son from going there.
I have often wondered how people who have been so persecuted can turn around and do the same to others. It is very clear that Isreali’s have treated the Palistinian’s horribly. However, everytime there has been an attempt to change things the terriorists have destroyed any hope of peace. I don’t know what the answer is but I don’t think it is a simple answer and I don’t think abandoning Isreal is the answer either.
JM,
The Interior Secretary announced a proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act late last month.
Pretty much a done deal, considering the loss of ice, cannibalism, etc.
‘Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts’http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1938132,00.htmlalso’Polar bear plight worsens as toxins reach the Arctic’http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2226227,00.html
JR, your 401(k) that you liquidated: Was it invested in the stocks or bonds of corporations?
Just curious,
n
“n”?
The point of your question?
Oh and your usual nic in answering that. I don’t mess with small fry or those too cowardly to face me with their usual nic.
I am not for abandoning Israel either, Brenda, but I do feel Israel needs to be held accountable just as the Palestinians are. Why do we always support Israel without question? We are seen as contributors to the problem and not the solvers.
Israel has given just as much as they have gotten from the Palestinians. So where is the compromise going to come to finally see some resemblance of peace?
Cosmos,
Correct, the Polar Bear is under study for the next 12 months starting in January 2007. No final decision has been made until the 12 month study is done.
Oh and you forgot to include the Polar Bear that died drinking Ethylene Glycol (car anti-freeze.) Cats love the taste of anti-freeze and why it should be locked up. heh
Ian,You? A National Socialist? Color me shocked!
Here Ladies and Gentlemen is a troll identified by his own admission:
“And yes I am The Finger. I admit it.
Posted by: CapnAmerica | January 14, 2007 at 11:30 PM “
Yup, all three posts under that nic.
I admit to all of those . . . three.
Shock and oil: Iraq’s billions & the White House connectionStephen Foley reports from New YorkPublished: 14 January 2007The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management.
BearingPoint is fighting to restore its reputation in the US after falling more than a year behind in reporting its own financial results, prompting legal actions from its creditors and shareholders.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 (£60,000) to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor. Other recipients include three prominent Congressmen on the House of Representatives’ defence sub-committee, which oversees defence department contracts.
One of the biggest single contributors to BearingPoint’s in-house political fund was James Horner, who heads the company’s emerging markets business which is working in Iraq and Afghanistan. He donated $5,000 in August 2005.
The company’s shares have collapsed to a third of their value when the firm listed in 2001, and it faces being thrown out of the New York Stock Exchange altogether. Despite annual revenues of $3.4bn, the company made a loss of $722m in 2005. Those figures were released only last month, nine months late, and the company has not yet been able to report any fully audited figures at all for 2006.
Analysts in the US claim the reason is a culture of poor management controls stretching back to before the company was carved out of KPMG, the global accounting giant, at the start of the decade. A litany of failings included invoices going astray, poorly trained accounting staff and a failure to work out the tax implications of having so many employees working in foreign countries.
Sorry, just had to post this before I went to bed. :)Tokers will enjoy the marijuana entry. heh
The average life expectancyin USA was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone..
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 milesof paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower !
The average wage in USA was 22 cents per hour.
The averageworker made between $200 and $400 per year .
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of whichwere condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard.”
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and usedborax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people fromentering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:1. Pneumonia and influenza2. Tuberculosis3. Diarrhea4. Heart disease5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars..
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice teahadn’t been invented yet.
There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.” ( Shocking? DUH ! )
Eighteen percent of households had at leastone full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A. !
JM,
“Oh and you forgot to include the Polar Bear that died drinking Ethylene Glycol”
Did it move south, into a human-populated area, trying to find food?
Oh, and don’t forget the Polar Bears in Alaska that died from starvation, and from cannibalism.Also, AGW is allowing grizzly bears to move north into Polar Bear areas — more food competition.
JM,
You forgot to post what year that was. Or was it a quiz?
“Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.”
Not much different than today, actually, except that we have those who are “functionally illiterate.”
“In the United States, according to Business magazine, an estimated 15 million functionally illiterate adults held jobs at the beginning of the 21st century. The American Council of Life Insurers reported that 75% of the Fortune 500 companies provide some level of remedial training for their workers.”
“Unlike an illiterate, one who is functionally illiterate is able to read and write text in his/her native language. However, he/she does so with a variable degree of grammatical correctness, speed, and style, and cannot perform fundamental tasks such as: filling out an employment application; following written instructions; reading a newspaper article; reading traffic signs; consulting a dictionary; or understanding a bus schedule. In short, when confronted with printed materials, adults without basic literacy skills cannot function effectively in modern society.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_illiteracy