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Open thread 3/27
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted March 27, 2008 at 6:04 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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95 Comments
When the U.S. is out of the military tanker business, remember to thank McCain.
Don’t they know the creator planted the jaw bone and tools during the first six days of creation!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/ap_on_sc/spain_ancient_jawbone
If any of you guys work downtown – and yer’re forced to walk to work until yer hooptie is out of the shop, and ya got real, real bad bitchin’ back pain to boot, be warned – the fuzz may be out ta get ya.
This morning, my arthritis, icky-tricky karma or who the f–k knows WHAT it is was actin’ up real, real bad. The Songbird, whose threshhold for pain is somewhere in the minus single digits, was hurting something awful. And she sort of let it show. (”Regal stoicism” is not my forte.)
Halfway to work, the pain got so bad that a howl of anguish burst forth from my loins up to my throat and out my mouth – and it caused a law-enforcing, badge-bearin’ dude to rush to my side. I told him I hadn’t been shot – I was just in pain. He asked if I needed an ambulance.
Yeah – right – an ambulance. With no health insurance? Pull this leg and it plays Jingle Bells, mo’fo’.
I guess I can’t really blame the guy. The Songbird isn’t exactly doe-like when pain strikes. I didn’t just “cry out.” We’re talking wolf-like baying at the moon.
The Dark Side of the Moon.
It’s a weird kind of pain. The minute I sit down – and stay there for several minutes – the pain dramatically abates. That would not be true of the most severe back injuries – such as I endured in 2001. In cases like those – sitting actually makes it worse.
In cases like those – poor little fellows like my ex are forced to seek remuneration from workmen’s, er, workweenie’s comp.
So maybe it isn’t karma for all the times I’ve made fun of his sitch. Then again, maybe I’m being punished for my abject lack of pity and understandin’. All I know is – if this pain gets much worse, I won’t be able to walk to work.
And then I’ll be in a big, big pickle (heavy on the irony here). I don’t like dealing with policepeople. Especially the females. They’re big; they’re scary; they’re ugly; their shoulders are bigger than the rocks of Gibraltar; heck, they’re a walking testament to hormone imbalance – and the havoc it wreaks.
But back pain ain’t joyful. It’s rather horrendous, to be truthful. Oh well, maybe I’m being punished for my sin(s). Then again, I’ve known a whole lotta chicks whose behavior is a lot worse than mine – so that theory probably won’t fly.
As Jim Carroll once said (in “The Basketball Diaries”), I just want to be pure………or free from pain.
Of the four remaining candidates, which one(s) have addressed the failing dollar? What is his/her plan to stabilize the dollar?
What is the most important issue facing this nation? IMHO, it is the economy. What are the view points of the four candidates on getting the economy back on track?
How much more of our inflation can we send to the shores of our trading partners before they un-anchor from the dollar? How far will the dollar tumble once un-anchored? Has your candidate thought of this? If so, what are his/her plans for correcting the dollar?
“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.” -Ronald Reagan
http://www.topix.net/search/article?q=sting+sex
More proof that human nature is illegal. Amazing. There will never be an empty jail cell in this country. Can you imagine the billions going down this worm hole?
BTW: 67601 users. You can start a board on topix, and avoid all the cumbersome small town death threats.
You can do it on “hey martha” too.
Uh huh outlander.
Ronnie Raygun also advised people trapped in a room full of horseshit to look for a pony.
Darn good advice too JR!
That was the first in a series of daily Gipper quotes that I have lined up for reading pleasure and liberal education. Enjoy!
You wouldn’t have far to look. The pony was the Gipper. Many of today’s problems can be traced directly to his policies.
Oh yeah! The fall of the Soviet Union? Now just how did that work out? U.S. Policies in Afghanistan? Supply side economics as regards to our energy future?
“On voice vote, Senate approves immigration bill”
Those Senators that voted ‘NO’ to protecting our state from the invasion of illegals are doing so to subsidize businesses wanting to take advantage of cheap labor at the expense of us the taxpayer.
Folks…YOU are paying for that cheap labor through increased taxes to support things such as more stupid school bond issues and increased education costs in general, higher community health care costs and higher criminal justice costs, as well as threats to our community health from diseases that are coming back through these illegals, like T.B., etc.
We need to all remember who is doing this! The Eagle listed those voting ‘NO’ and we need to voice our strong opposition to them on this and remember come election time.
Here are those listed as voting no and their email addresses:
Jean Schodorf:
Susan Wagle:
Carolyn McGinn:
Jay Scott Emler:
Donald Betts:
Greta Goodwin:
They voted against our protection on a voice vote only, doing so to help hide their traitorous identities.
Give these traitors hell, contact them, and vote them out first opportunity.
Now, start working on your Kansas Representative, here is a link to where their email addresses can be found. We can still make a difference in the house.
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-house/searchHouse.do
heh Songbird
Well written and enjoyable.
The copy and paste did not carry the email address through, lets try here again. The system may not let me list them. If not simply go to the following link to get them as they are all listed.
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do
Jean Schodorf:
Susan Wagle:
Carolyn McGinn:
Jay Scott Emler:
Donald Betts:
Greta Goodwin:
Sol:
“Four remaining candidates?” Just who would be the fourth?
Let me guess. The racist lunatic?
Racist lunatic. I see you have nothing else to throw at him. What a gullible party line hack GMC. Yep, that lunatic is the only one addressing what truly ails this nation. The only one with a viable plan. Your guy? Not so much. He’s “not too good on the economy” but he did buy Greenspan’s book. The guy is a total moron. Can’t even get the war right. Great guy you back GMC. Way to go.
I noticed you didn’t answer any of the questions GMC. Could that be because your guy is absolutely clueless? Kinda like you huh?
IMMIGRATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY….Paul Krugman points out that in the 2008 report of the Social Security Trustees released today the “actuarial balance” of the system is better than it’s been since 1993. Interesting! But how much better?
Click here for the answer: last year the trustees estimated that Social Security had an overall 75-year deficit of 1.95% of taxable payroll. This year it’s 1.70%. That’s a pretty substantial improvement. What caused it?
Click here for the answer: Table IV.B9 has only one significant change from 2007: “Methods and programmatic data.” And what might that entail?
Scroll down for the answer: immigrants. To be specific, better estimates of the taxes and benefits received by illegal immigrants — or, as the trustees refer to them, “other-immigrants”:
In previous reports, the other-immigrant population was projected using assumed annual numbers of net other immigrants with a static age-sex distribution. For this year’s report, the annual numbers of net other immigrants are projected by explicitly modeling other immigrants and other emigrants separately.
Translation: instead of just pulling a net number out of a hat, the trustees built a model that estimated the actual demographic characteristics of both immigrants and emigrants. And guess what?
· Illegal immigrants tend to skew young. This benefits the system.
· Young people have more children than older people. This benefits the system.
· Some illegal immigrants pay taxes for a few years and then leave. This benefits the system.
Bottom line: “This year’s report results in [...] a substantial increase in the number of working-age individuals contributing payroll taxes, but a relatively smaller increase in the number of retirement-age individuals receiving benefits in the latter half of the long-range period.” Give or take a bit, it turns out that this shores up the Social Security system to the tune of around $13 billion per year. Thanks, illegal immigrants.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
Let me guess. The racist lunatic?
Geesh, Solly, I thought he was suggesting that Nixon was running. Gotta admit, he’d make a great candidate for the Reps–he’s ALREADY dead.
he’s ALREADY dead.
So is McCain. They do still judge that by brain waves right?
McCain can’t even deliver a speech about the economy. Good Lord who supports this dolt?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/03/26/moos.teleprompter.trip.cnn
Anybody read values boy this a.m.?
Sort of reminds me of the Vietnam-era chant: Killing for peace is like fu**cking for chastity.
Dennis, I think someone on the WE editorial board should tell values boy the shark called. He is REALLY tired of being jumped…
“Dennis
Posted March 27, 2008 at 9:01 am | Permalink
Anybody read values boy this a.m.?”
No, I never bother. Waste of time and brain cells. Why do you?
They find John Glasgow yet?
Now why would the authorities speculate that Clinon’s Library Builder, John Glasgow, committed suicide?
(Vince Foster, Vince Foster, Vince Foster)
Naw, Hillary has nothing to hide.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,338294,00.html
Clinton Library Builder’s CFO Disappears Amid Audit
Sunday, March 16, 2008
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — John Glasgow had a healthy salary, with an opportunity to pick up stock in the construction company where he worked. He was the kind of guy who paid back a $500 bonus he got for completing an anti-smoking program because he started to light up again.
But now Glasgow has been missing since Jan. 28, with his car found abandoned the next day, and family and police say it’s impossible to tell whether he killed himself, was abducted or left to start a new life elsewhere.
“Naw, Hillary has nothing to hide.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,338294,00.html”
Doesn;t seem like it to me. As far as the Clinton’s go, this seems to be a nonstory.
The “No” votes will open our borders to those illegals fleeing from surrounding states.
—–
The Senate voted to send Vratil’s version of the Senate immigration bill (as amended tonight) to final action on Thursday.
The following news article covers the key vote on the bill that happened earlier in the evening. The remainder of the evening was a battle of amendments to improve or add to the bill.
http://www.hdnews.net/wirestories/k1100-BC-KS-XGR-SenateVote-Im-03-26-03273/26/2008
Senate roll call on immigration amendment
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The 27-12 vote Wednesday night by which the Senate voted against returning an illegal immigration bill to its original version, rather than the version drafted by a committee that had the support of business groups.
A “yes” vote was a vote for the original version, which business groups opposed.
A “no” vote was to keep the committee’s version.
Of the 30 Republicans, 10 voted “yes,” 19 voted “no,” and one did not vote.
Of the 10 Democrats, two voted “yes” and eight voted “no.”
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES
Jim Barnett, Emporia.
Les Donovan, Wichita.
Tim Huelskamp, Fowler.
Nick Jordan, Shawnee.
Phil Journey, Haysville
Ralph Ostmeyer, Grinnell
Peggy Palmer, Augusta.
Mike Petersen, Wichita
Dennis Pyle, Hiawatha.
Mark Taddiken, Clifton.
REPUBLICANS VOTING NO
Barbara Allen, Overland Park
Pat Apple, Louisburg
Karin Brownlee, Olathe
Terry Bruce, Hutchinson
Pete Brungardt, Salina
Jay Scott Emler, Lindsborg
Carolyn McGinn, Sedgwick
Steve Morris, Hugoton
Roger Pine, Lawrence
Roger Reitz, Manhattan
Derek Schmidt, Independence
Vicki Schmidt, Topeka.
Jean Schodorf, Wichita
Ruth Teichman, Stafford
Dwayne Umbarger, Thayer
John Vratil, Leawood
Susan Wagle, Wichita
Dennis Wilson, Overland Park
David Wysong, Mission Hills
REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING
Julia Lynn, Olathe
DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Jim Barone, Frontenac.
Mark Gilstrap, Kansas City
DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Donald Betts, Wichita.
Marci Francisco, Lawrence.
Greta Goodwin, Winfield.
David Haley, Kansas City.
Anthony Hensley, Topeka.
Laura Kelly, Topeka.
Janis Lee, Kensington.
Chris Steineger, Kansas City.
Actually, Littlejohn, I just read the headline. Same with Cal Thomas. That’s about all I can stand.
SC Edison expanding solar energy:
http://greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/03/27/california-utility-to-turn-roofs-into-solar-power-plants/
California utility to turn roofs into solar power plants
Solar arrays of course only generate electricity when the sun is shining, but they produce the most power during the hottest part of the day when Southern Californians crank up their air conditioners. The arrays could help spare Edison from having to fire up a fossil-fuel power plant when demand peaks.
GOOD FOR THEM!
“Dennis
Posted March 27, 2008 at 9:48 am | Permalink
Actually, Littlejohn, I just read the headline. Same with Cal Thomas. That’s about all I can stand.”
Agreed. Though it often helps to know what the opposition is saying. However, I read fewer and fewer editorials. Most are just so damn predictable.
“They find John Glasgow yet?”
I dunno Max. Why don’t they just ask Hillary.
She always tells the truth.
Ben-
I understand your point, however, I have a couple of questions.
1) WHo is going to pay for the all the new infrastructure?
2) WHat is the carbon footprint of building all this infrastructure, vs the carbon footprint of an already existing powerplant?
Geez, while you’re at it, why not blame Jimmy Hoffa on the Clintons… Is that all you have?? I know McCain has very little to campaign FOR… So, instead of promoting YOUR candidate, you attack all others… a reverse promotion, eh?? Hmmmmm Gotta think on that tactic…
You ure HIllary wasnt in cahoots with John Wilkes Booth??? ROFL!!
Oh, I found one answer in the article:
“which will be financed by a hike in utility rates.”
Gets it sucks if you are already barely making ends meet. Of course, depending on where you live in Las Angeles, you don;t even NEED air conditioning. My utility bill in SF, LA, and SD were all WAAAY below what they are here.
Actually, Littlejohn, I just read the headline. Same with Cal Thomas. That’s about all I can stand.
I usually glance through values’ column–good for a quick giggle. Cal is a good read though–good exercise in unknotting convoluted logic. have notice he’s actually ragged on them Go Pees a few times lately.
I think Hill-Billy is involved in everything.
Sort of like that video and the game made about the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon
Shows how he was connected to everyone in Hollywood, one way or the other. :)
Gee I don’t know, the guy responsible for building the multi-million dollar Clinton Library is under investigation for millions of missing dollars and Glasgow disapears – does that mean the Clinton’s might be involved?
Let’s look at the donor list and financing of the library and find out. Follow the money, somebody stole it.
You afraid to find out who?
I hope those Iraqis appreciate all we’re doing for ‘em!
IRAQ: Fever Named After Blackwater
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
FALLUJAH, Mar 26 (IPS) – Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.
“This disease is a severe form of malarial infection caused by the parasite plasmodium falciparum, which is considered the worst type of malarial infection,” Dr. Ali Hakki from Fallujah told IPS. “It is one of the complications of that infection, and not the ordinary picture of the disease. Because of its frequent and severe complications, such as Blackwater fever, and its resistance to treatment, P. falciparum can cause death within 24 hours.”
What Iraqis now call Blackwater fever is really a well-known medical condition, and while it has nothing to do with Blackwater Worldwide, Iraqis in al-Anbar province have decided to make the connection between the disease and the lethal U.S.-based company which has been responsible for the death of countless Iraqis.
The disease is most prevalent in Africa and Asia. The patient suffers severe intravascular haemolysis — the destruction of red blood cells leading to kidney and liver failure. It also leads to black or red urination, and hence perhaps the new name ‘Blackwater’.
The deadly disease, never before seen in Iraq on at least this scale, seems to be spreading across the country. And Iraq lacks medicines, hospitals, and doctors to lead a campaign to fight the disease.
“We informed the ministry of the disease, but it seems that they are not in a mood to listen,” a doctor from the al-Anbar Health Office in Ramadi told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are making personal contacts with NGOs in an attempt to get the necessary medicines.”
The three doctors who spoke to IPS in Fallujah and in Ramadi in al-Anbar province that lies west of Baghdad, seemed sure that the Iraqi government would do little to face the plague.
“They have not even made any announcement so that people can take precautions,” one of the doctors from Fallujah told IPS.
The doctor said a patient usually suffers three stages of malarial infection. “First is the cold stage where the patient will have chills and shaking, the second is the hot stage when fever takes over, and the third is the sweating stage.”
Doctors in Fallujah say the new complication of the disease that may develop from malarial infection can be treated in its early stages, but is difficult to control when complications develop. Drugs currently being used to treat the disease include Chloroquin, Mefloquin, Pyrimethamine, Suladox, Halfotrin and Primaquine.
Patients seem unaware of the seriousness of the disease, though doctors tell them it is essential to buy medicines from private pharmacies because they are not available at general hospitals.
“Many have died within the past two weeks in my town,” Mahmood Nassir, a schoolteacher from Saqlawiya, north of Fallujah, told IPS. “We know it is a deadly disease, but what can we do about it? We have no government to refer to, and everyone in the Green Zone (the government district of Baghdad) is too busy preparing to escape with their share of the money they stole from us.”
What I am going to say will upset some, they will be bipartisan and let reason and common sense be over ruled by unreasoning hatred. I watched Obama give a speech this morning and he gave a solution to the
Prim-mortgage problem. Rather then people walking away from a mortgage and a home they can not afford.
The Government would set up a fund that allows the payer to pay as much as they can afford. The remainder being pay from the fund. BUT the home has to be put on the market to be sold to someone that can afford a mortgage that is sound.
This is the compromise between the Clinton plan which would be a total bailout and the Mc Cain plan that basically is to simple wait and watch. Then take only those measures that would forestall a collapse. You Know the Bush economic plan…
The Obama plan is the sound reasonable, fiscally responsible plan that allows for a well measured response to a large problem. LOL gee just think, Obama maybe more a fiscal conservative then the Republican candidate!
writerdog-
Could you provide a link. I am having a little trouble grasping what you say is his proposal vs
“walking away” from the mortgage. SOunds like you are saying that the borrower will pay what they can, AND put the house on the market. If that is true, knowing human nature, they will not pay what they can,since they are losing they house anyway. I think I have missed somehting, so I would like to read it myself.
Fiscally responsible? Fiscally conservative? Free money? I don’t get it. Where will this fund get funded? Tax increase on those of us that didn’t do something really stupid?
I’m not attacking you or going down party lines. I am just getting sick of the government bailing out people and companies. That isn’t what the government is for. I am getting tired of paying for other people’s mistakes.
Here comes the singularity!!!
Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity
By Gary Wolf 03.24.08 | 6:00 PM
Ray Kurzweil, the famous inventor, is trim, balding, and not very tall. With his perfect posture and narrow black glasses, he would look at home in an old documentary about Cape Canaveral, but his mission is bolder than any mere voyage into space. He is attempting to travel across a frontier in time, to pass through the border between our era and a future so different as to be unrecognizable. He calls this border the singularity. Kurzweil is 60, but he intends to be no more than 40 when the singularity arrives.
Kurzweil’s notion of a singularity is taken from cosmology, in which it signifies a border in spacetime beyond which normal rules of measurement do not apply (the edge of a black hole, for example). The word was first used to describe a crucial moment in the evolution of humanity by the great mathematician John von Neumann. One day in the 1950s, while talking with his colleague Stanislaw Ulam, von Neumann began discussing the ever-accelerating pace of technological change, which, he said, “gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs as we know them could not continue.”
Many years later, this idea was picked up by another mathematician, the professor and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, who added an additional twist. Vinge linked the singularity directly with improvements in computer hardware. This put the future on a schedule. He could look at how quickly computers were improving and make an educated guess about when the singularity would arrive. “Within 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence,” Vinge wrote at the beginning of his 1993 essay The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era. “Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” According to Vinge, superintelligent machines will take charge of their own evolution, creating ever smarter successors. Humans will become bystanders in history, too dull in comparison with their devices to make any decisions that matter.
I am not commenting at all on Obamas plan. I just want some information so I can understand it. Please
The govt. needs to crack down on who’s starting these malacious rumors. I knew the shorts would have a field day!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/bs_nm/lehman_stock_dc_2
OK, I hope this doesnt get buried. I dont know whether to laugh or cry. Right now, I’m laughing my ass off. WTF? Trego county is about to violate federal ozone standards.
Hee hee hee hee hee.
Ya gotta read this. And I guess the regulars here know I live in Trego County? heheheheheheheheheheh.
I confess. It’s my chickens…
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/353992.html
And, ya gotta love a city manager who works for a city council dominated by the county economic development manager, who freely admits, “there’s nothing but deer and birds out here”.
OMG.
Ya just cant make this stuff up.
Kansas…as nutty as you think!
Sol the options are: One, a total bailout of all involved, the lenders, the home owners and everyone in between. Other wise saying billions of taxpayer dollars spent and it would be all losers win and the rest pay the bills. Two, The government sets back watches as the whole thing collapse and slows down the pieces so all that happens is they do not fall as quickly and not make as largest impact. But 3, it is not a bailout as the homeowner still has to pay at a rate that is manageable, the arrears are kept up out of a fund that is set up solely to allow that farther indebtedness does not occur while the home is placed on the market to be sold.
In the end all the losers will have not gain out of it. The lender will not get as much out of it as the house will be sold at the current fair market price rather then the inflated owned price. The homeowner does not keep the house but will get out from under a unfair mortgage. And go looking without having a foreclosure on the credit report.
The American taxpayer is still funding, but it will be a closed end. Otherwise saying the amount is not as great as it would be under the Clinton plan. But in the end is cheaper then the Mc Cain plan because under it the government would still be in the business of bailing out the banks and financial institutions. There is no win-win anyway you go, it just the best of the bad opts.
Geez. So now Trego county has to worry about Cedar Bluff, the Smoky, AND its air quality?
Jesus WEPT!
I left AUSTIN because I wanted a quiet and clean country life.
Woof.
But there are no environmental problems out here. No. Uh-Uh. Nothing but deer and birds…
Now THERE’s a way to gain political clout for your region…
KFG- Hide the chickens and blame it on the potatoes you planted! If that doesn’t work, tell them you have a new Vodka recipe and plenty of fixin’s, and you’ll take care of it.
PS. Hold the Ozone
Hee hee hee gster.
I’m planting greenery as fast as I can, and the chickens contribute the fertilizer.
Does mulch create greenhouse gas?
Only down wind.
Hey, KFG — you feedin them chickens sour mash again?? ROFL!!!
Did you know there is no longer such a thing called “laying mash”?
Yeah, I’m an anachronism. I still call the FSA office the ASC, I call the local power co-op the REA, and I still think chickens eat laying mash.
It’s now called “egg maker” at a higher price per bag.
Oh, and no once uses peat moss anyhmore for bedding. The prefered material now is wood, as in chips and shavings. Of course, the local farm store is out of them.
Why? You might ask?
Well, you see it comes from the waste of furniture makers and it seems the demand for wood furniture has gone south, no pun intended. So.. fewer pieces manufactured equals fewer wood chips for chicken bedding.
Guess it’s back to straw for my girls.
Ok, sorry. So much for today’s Les Nessman Silver Sow report…
KFG I guess it all depends on where you are living at the time. To me it sounds wonderful where you live.
But of course one of my goals it to have a piece of land out in the middle of nowhere. A small shack with a computer and internet access and spend my days just writing and looking out at a lake and trees. How big is that there Chicken coop? :>
Jeez, where have I heard this before??????
“Bush calls for patience on Iraq – March 27: In a speech on Thursday, President Bush praises Iraqi government leaders for making what he describes as remarkable political, economic and social gains.”
Patience. That’s right, I heard that last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that and the year before that.
All we need is a little patience………
WS did you happen to watch the on PBS a couple of nights ago the documentary about the Iraq war?
It touched on something I had not heard about before. I knew that Rice and Rumsfield were at odds, but not to the extent that the documentary said! While Rice was wanting to make the best of it and then leave. Rumsfield do not care one bit as to what was happening on the ground and wanted to cut and run. Rumsfield’s plan “ a small foot print” was nothing more then keeping U.S. Causalities down till he could slip the troops out. Even when the violence went up Rumsfield and Casey were still planning on pulling out.
Rice went to the President and was just told to work it out with Donnie.
In a sense it was Rice who spear headed the surge as she noted that one commander on the ground had bucked Rumsfield and had his troops staying in the community rather then on a FOB. It was Rice who pushed through, “Clear, secure and build” . The end of Rumsfield finally came when he actually argued his plan over Rice’s to Bush. Rice had went over Rumsfield’s head and he did not like it. A losing plan did not get him booted, high causality counts did not get him booted. It was bad mouthing Rice that got him booted!
I write mainly S.F. and I would have a hard time coming up with this stuff :<
Well, we “can’t afford” the $7 billion per year to expand SCHIP, but we’ve got #29 billion for Bear Stearns…..
“Where no Fed has gone before – Central bank’s ‘loan’ for Bear Stearns deal faces serious scrutiny”
“Although the Fed insists that it isn’t technically buying any assets, in practical terms it’s doing exactly that.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23828287/
We “have” the money for Iraq and bailing out business but don’t even think of asking for money for the American people.
I write mainly S.F. ( science fiction )and I would have a hard time coming up with this stuff :<
On second thought it does actually sound like some of the plots I have written in S.F.!
no argument there, I will say it again. “this administration is as fiscally responsible as a drunken freshman with his first credit card!”. One of the duties granted to the federal government by the Constitution is “the common welfare”. I believe in the hand up and not the hand out reasoning. But Americans should come first, before the Iraqis, the Afghans or anyone else.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Siegelman-Democrats.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
March 27, 2008
Jailed Ex – Governor Sought for Testimony
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Judiciary Committee asked the Justice Department on Thursday to allow imprisoned former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to testify before Congress about possible political influence over his prosecution.
Siegelman, a Democrat sentenced to serve more than seven years in a Louisiana prison, would travel to Washington in May under guard of the U.S. Marshals Service, said Melanie Roussell, a spokeswoman for the committee.
Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, believes Siegelman could provide important information about Justice Department practices under President Bush, Roussell said.
”The chairman … believes he would have a lot to add to the committee’s investigation into selective prosecution,” she said.
The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the request.
A member of Siegelman’s defense team said the former governor has agreed to testify.
”He’s delighted to cooperate,” attorney Vince Kilborn said. ”There are no restrictions on questions they can ask him.”
Democrats last year began reviewing Siegelman’s 2006 corruption conviction as part of a broader investigation into allegations of political meddling in Justice affairs by the Bush administration.
Justice and the federal prosecutors who handled the prosecution have denied any political influence, emphasizing that Siegelman was convicted by a jury. But critics, including a group of former state attorneys general, have called for an independent review and said the case raises a number of questions.
The effort gained momentum after a Republican lawyer who had volunteered for Siegelman’s re-election opponent — current Republican Gov. Bob Riley — said she overheard conversations suggesting that former White House adviser Karl Rove was talking with Justice officials about Siegelman’s prosecution.
Last month, CBS’s ”60 Minutes” reported that a key witness against Siegelman said that prosecutors met with him some 70 times and had him repeatedly write out his testimony because they were frustrated with his recollection of events.
Grant Woods, a former Republican attorney general from Arizona who has criticized the prosecution, said the list of former attorneys general calling for a review continues to grow and now has about 55 signatures.
”It’s really unprecedented to have that many people continuing to ask for an investigation,” Woods said.
Personal testimony from the former governor, Woods said, could force lawmakers and the public to see Siegelman as a human being instead of as a partisan politician.
”I think if they see him live and in person the congressmen and congresswomen would be willing to take a new look at this,” he said. ”But I wouldn’t hold my breath for the Justice Department to go along with it.”
Siegelman was elected governor in 1998 and served one term before narrowly losing re-election to Riley in 2002, as reports of corruption investigations clouded Siegelman’s administration.
Siegelman was originally indicted in 2004 on charges of conspiring to rig bids on state Medicaid contracts. Prosecutors dropped the case, however, after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to support key charges.
Siegelman was indicted again a year later in a separate bribery and corruption case.
In June 2006, he was convicted on six bribery-related charges and one obstruction of justice charge. He began serving his sentence last June.
Siegelman was accused of appointing then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to an important hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in disguised contributions to Siegelman’s campaign for a statewide lottery. Siegelman was also convicted of a separate obstruction of justice charge concerning $9,200 he received from a former lobbyist to help with the purchase of a motorcycle.
In prepared remarks for a speech Thursday to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco about public corruption, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said politics plays no role in the department’s investigations.
”I consider it one of my paramount responsibilities to ensure that the department continues to handle its public corruption investigations and prosecutions in a consistent, nonpartisan and appropriate manner,” Mukasey said. ”Just as important, though, I also consider it my duty to ensure that the department continues to pursue public corruption wherever we find it.”
Maybe the bush political prisoner will be released!
Sollie asked me awhile back if I knew Obama’s budget priorities.
Yup.
I do now.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/112357/993/773/485355
Obama continues to argue the main theme of his candidacy- his campaign’s backbone- the ability to say NO to special interests who have written economic policy for the past 20 years. But not just economic policies, per se, but regulations period. The FERC, SEC, FCC, and the failure to enforce the Anti-Trust Act has created a cycle of financial free-for-all where “greed is good” drove the market. Who’s even heard of “shared prosperity” being a policy position. It use to be and Obama does a good job of saying why it needs to be- if it’s not everyone gets hurt and we have historical precedent to prove it.
More at link . . .
ksfarmgrrl
Posted March 27, 2008 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
Ok, sorry. So much for today’s Les Nessman Silver Sow report
——————–
heh, WKRP-Cincinnati :D
MP George “Give ‘Em Hell” Galloway says “anyone who voted for that war [in Iraq] is either too stupid or too wicked to be sitting in the British Parliment.”
You gotta love this guy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g94rt3QIDzY
Remember him turning the tables on Sen. Norm Coleman and the other ‘Pukes who sought to investigate his “dealings with Saddam” thinking they could shut him up that way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-NK8bWiJoQ&feature=related
“I told the world contrary to your claims that everything you said was a pack of lies . . . In everything I said I turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong, thousands dead on a pack of lies . . . ”
“If the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement, we wouldn’t be in this catastrophe that we’re in now.”
“The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government.”
Boy, it didn’t take long for Washington to pretend like that man didn’t exist, did it?
Galloway — “I told the world contrary to your claims that everything you said was a pack of lies . . . In everything I said I turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong, thousands dead on a pack of lies . . . ”
================================
Good thing this guy didnt post on this Blog!! LOL!!
Yup. Chas, if you have a fast connection, you should click on the links and listen to this Scotsman reaming the CONs a new one.
Why don’t we have a liberal mentsch like this on our side of the pond? Somebody who can just stand up and let fly with the simple truth?
Boy, did they ever poke a stick at the wrong dog or what.
Taking a page from Bush’s songbook, if elected I will create a 30 billion dollar stimulus package for those in low income status.
After advisement, I have distanced myself from Rev. Wright until after the election. After I am elected, we will continue the Farakan-like policies in our Church as usual. We have Luis the Rev. Wright award, so we can’t leave him hanging like that.
I promise to change depending on what the poll state for the day and will deliver up the most expedient way that will secure my nomination again in 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
March 28, 2008
Thousands in Baghdad Protest Basra Assault
By JAMES GLANZ and GRAHAM BOWLEY
BAGHDAD — In direct confrontation with the American-backed government in Iraq, thousands of supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia took to the streets of Baghdad on Thursday to protest the Iraqi Army’s assault on the southern port city of Basra, as intense fighting continued there for a third day.
In Basra, there seemed to be no breakthrough in the fighting by either side. As much as half of the city remained under militia control, hospitals in some parts of the city were reported full, and the violence continued to spread. Clashes were reported all over the city and in locations 12 miles south of Basra.
The Iraqi Army’s offensive in Basra is an important political test for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and for American forces eager to demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight effectively on their own. President Bush sought to portray the fighting in a positive light on Thursday, declaring the offensive by Mr. Maliki’s government a “bold decision.”
But if the assault in Basra leads the Mahdi Army to break completely with its current cease-fire, which has helped to tamp down attacks in Iraq during the past year, there is a risk of escalating violence and of replaying 2004. That year, the militia fought intense battles with American forces that destabilized the entire country.
The assault has already touched off violent reprisals by some outraged Mahdi supporters in other cities, including in Baghdad, where the boom of rocket fire rattled the city all day Wednesday and continued Thursday with reports of a rocket strike on the fortified Green Zone near the United States Embassy.
*****
Thank goodness the surge is “working . . . “
Capn,
Thank you for the link at 3:34 pm to Obama’s budget speech.
He has many good, common-sense ideas on that issue.
The link at 3:43 pm.
CapN — we have a number of Galloway’s — But they get shouted down as UnAmerican, or UnChristian, or as Socialsits, or worse!! You know what I mean, right??
‘Green Zone Target for Shiite Militias’
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jub2Xo90q7gFhFOlIGmmBHokoNQAD8VM19280
“The official — who has been through other attacks — described the recent barrages as “qualitatively different.”
“There is a sense of hunkering down for a sustained period of time,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security restrictions.”
Hey Chas!
How are you?
I thought you were for socialism, NOT Socialsitsm?
“But they get shouted down as UnAmerican, or UnChristian, or as SOCIALSITS, or worse!! You know what I mean, right??”
CaptAmerica; There is time in the British Parliametary Tradition set aside for something called “Question Period”. Honourable Members can ask any question to the Government and demand an answer. The answer must be given and one cannot duck out of it with a news release or any other deflecting apparatus. It also occurs in New Zealand, Australia and Canada who have the same system of Government. It’s a hoot and can be the source of much embarrasement to those in power for they dare not lie because the consequences of misleading an elected representative or lying to the House is horrific. Sometimes the antics are pretty rough for a Member can say things in the House that would get him sued, said outside of Parliament. Once Pierre Trudeau told a another member to F— O–. It was recorded as “Fuddle Duddle” in the official transcripts and is still considered one of the best stoppers ever heard in Parliament. Question Period brings things into the open but can be abused by those looking for cheap political points. I saw that Scot’s performance sometime ago and thought nothing of it, for it happens all the time in the British Tradition of Parliament. Our first PM and founding father, the guy who forged this country, was a drunk, scoundrel and proven diverter of monies to his friends. He is nontheless honoured for what he did, and therein lies my basic scepticism of governments. It comes with the teritory.
We really are through the looking glass cosmos.
bush makes a speech this morning about how great things are going in Iraq.
WHILE things are exploding over there.
It’s like Hitler long about late April 1945.
Don’t fret over the bear stearns ceo too much, he sold 61.3 mil. in stock today.
Is bush the new Baghdad Bob?
Wow, the competent Bush regime gave a $300 million military contract to a 22 year old.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Audio_reveals_US_defense_contractor_proposing_0327.html
The company, ran by the incompetent 22 year old has a VP who is a licensed masseuse, so at least the VP is qualified for something. Our taxpayer money was used to buy 40 year old ammo made in China which can’t be used by the American soldiers.
Another victory for the war president.
Another victory for religion:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gy_FocuLcPyslOqVeaOFan8yo7eQD8VM3A680
Religion kills. Don’t tell me to respect your beliefs when it leads to the murder of children.
At 9 PM PBS is showing from the Cox Neader: Unnatural Causes : Is Inequality making us sick?
In sickness and in health . The connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts in the US. some residents of poorer coutries live long and healthy lives.
Could be revealing to both sides of the health care issue here in the US
Good grief, American… All you got is some bitch/gripe over a typo??? Must suck to be you!! Really bad, even!!
Typical Reich Wing A$$e$ — Cant find anything to attack the post, so Ad Hominem, and bitch/gripe the poster!! Real brilliant!! And you even think you MATTER!!
Dont you just love it Doug??? Kid is sick and dying right in front of them… and then when she goes into a coma, what do they do??? Call a doctor??? NOOOOO…. They Pray!! If they are that religious, they COULD have called their Doctor, and also prayed for the Doctor’s skills to be used to help their daughter…
Being a diabetic myself, I can reasonably say that IF they would have had that girl in for annual physicals, they would have caught that form of diabetes easily… had her in treatment, and the girl would be alive now…
Now, they will prepare for a funeral that should be happening… But… they know they did nothing wrong!
Takes all kinds!! :-(
I wonder if God can be sued for practicing without a license?
* SHOULD = shouldnt *
“Religion kills. Don’t tell me to respect your beliefs when it leads to the murder of children.”
————–
Yep, those folks should have trusted medicine. As a result, they lost their child. They not suffering enough for ya Doug?
And your haughty superiority is laughable considering your support of the most prolific killer in our country, Dr. Tiller.
Clean the blood off of your own hands and then come back.
Copied this out of a Reuters article on Eads British tanker win, notice that EADS was the “preferred bidder”, the kind of thing McCain rails against when it’s a U.S. competition!
“But the truth is that the situation this time around was rather different. First of all, the win was pretty much expected: the EADS consortium won the status of “preferred bidder” back in 2005, with the financing of the bid proving the main sticking point until now. EADS said on Thursday the consortium had put together financing of £2.5 billion ($5.0 billion), but press reports claimed this was thanks to a last-minute bank loan after credit markets had proven too unstable
Dont think so Doug… Some little clause about “acts of God” :-)
And besides, in that story, God didnt tell them NOT to seek out medical professionals.
Well, long day tomorrow >>>
Good night; Good luck;
God bless; whatever you conceive God to be!!
Blessings ALL!
Special blessings on that Wisconsin Family!
Amazing how phone Oleo Boy isnt interested in the Wisconsin story. Wonder why?
correction: phone = phony
Outlander, the difference, the child in this case was living breathing and feeling. The child was allowed to suffer for days.
No excuse to defend the parent’s behavior.
ESPECIALLY since they indicated they didn’t learn a darn thing and would continue the same kind of policies for their other children.
Well, look at it this way..if their other chldren die under the same circumstances, at least the ignorance in their bloodline won’t continue.
“Stupid people shouldn’t breed”