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Me first! May you all have a beautiful day!
Happy Wednesday, Wichita! Have fun in the sun, and look for miles of smiles!
me too!
Time for breakfast!
Wakey Wakey!
It’s time to get up……………………
Get up! Get out that bed!
Shake your booteh…
When it Came to the Environment George Carlin Was skeptical
George Carlin’s “The Planet Is Fine”:
We’re so self-important. So self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these bleeping people kidding me? Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven’t learned how to care for one another, we’re gonna save the bleeping planet?
I’m getting tired of that bleep. Tired of that bleep. I’m tired of bleeping Earth Day, I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world save for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a bleep about the planet. They don’t care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are bleeped. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?
The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles…hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages…And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet…the planet…the planet isn’t going anywhere. WE ARE!
We’re going away. Pack your bleep, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.
You wanna know how the planet’s doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet’s doing. You wanna know if the planet’s all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilauea, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.
The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic…bleephole.
So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that’s begun. Don’t you think that’s already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let’s see… Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh…viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.
Well, that’s a poetic note. And it’s a start. And I can dream, can’t I? See I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron…whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.”
Me fourth!
Has anyone seen the “interview with yodeling cats” video on the Kansas.com main page?
Oh! I just love cats SO-SO-SO-MUCH! I love felines with every inch of my soul. And these lovely kitties are just so cute!
I grew up with cats; my very first memory is the summer of 1962. I am not quite four years of age, but I’m already bonding with our newest acquisition, a six-month-old stray tabby we named “Mewie.”
Soon, mother Mewie had her first batch of adorable little kittens. One of them was so cute that we kept him for our very own – and named him Elie. Mewie lived until 1971; Elie survived until 1980. Our family showed both creatures with abundant love; however, I still think we could have made their lives more luxurious.
What’s not to love about cats? Their manifest grace and elegance….their otherworldly charm and dignity……their cuteness and unconditional love…..and……
That wonderful thing called a “purr.” Oh, is there any more soothing sound in the whole wide world? I think not. Our kitty komrades are surely more refined than many of the post-ers here; who belch forth with a great deal of noise and no subtlety.
You sure couldn’t accuse most cats of that particular (but not very particular) character deficit……
And, speaking of Carlin –
When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is fuc#ed up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of shit you’d expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would’ve been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say “this guy”, because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever fuc# things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he’s at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn’t give a shit. Doesn’t give a shit, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results.
So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some spooky incompetent father figure who doesn’t give a shit, I decided to look around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.
And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can’t see the sun at night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I’m big on that. If I can see something, I don’t know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know? So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we’re not setting people on fire simply because they don’t agree with us.
Sun worship is fairly simple. There’s no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don’t have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I’m unworthy. Doesn’t tell me I’m a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn’t said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don’t pray to the sun. Know why? I wouldn’t presume on our friendship. It’s not polite.
I’ve often thought people treat God rather rudely, don’t you? Asking trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday His day off. It’s not nice. And it’s no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know, your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested for defecating in a mall. But most of all, you’d really like to # that hot little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you’d have to. And I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about the Divine Plan?
Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn’t in God’s Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you? Doesn’t it seem a little arrogant? It’s a Divine Plan. What’s the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayerbook can come along and fuc# up Your Plan?
And here’s something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your prayers aren’t answered. What do you say? “Well, it’s God’s will.” “Thy Will Be Done.” Fine, but if it’s God’s will, and He’s going to do what He wants to anyway, why the fuc# bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me! Couldn’t you just skip the praying part and go right to His Will? It’s all very confusing.
So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don’t pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he’s a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn’t fuc# around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with.
For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that cocksucker out with one visit. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.
So I’ve been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don’t. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit’s foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat’s testicles, it’s all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might want to look at the Three Little Pigs, that’s a good one. Has a nice happy ending, I’m sure you’ll like that. Then there’s Little Red Riding Hood, although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn’t care for, by the way. And finally, I’ve always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I like the best? “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” That’s because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was.
In fact, I’m gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody’s okay? All right, tell you what, I’ll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is a God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I’ve got a little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I’m blind. I’m blind, oh, now I’m okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci. Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just a LITTLE cynical?
Off to work..have a good one!
And as Little Red Riding Hood went walking through the forest, the Bad Wolf jumped out in front of her, and said, “Red, I am going to eat you all up!” And Red, throwing down her picnic basket, said: “Eat, eat, eat – Doesnt anybody just want to F%&^ anymore?”
– From Fractured Adult Fairy Tales –
Geez, I remember that Little Red Riding Hood joke from high school.
Here’s one for you.
Little Miss Muffett sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her, and she beat it to death with her spoon.
Or if you prefer this version:
Little Miss Muffett sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her, and said, “What’s in the bowl, bitch.”
I just read this insightful prediction from BBC News. Boy, has anyone been willing to go out on such a ledge as this one? For goodness sakes. They must have taken lessons from our Kansas weather forecasters in covering ALL the bases! It gets more difficult daily to find any real substance in teh news.
“For the time being, the general election between Barack Obama and John McCain looks to be very close, although there is the potential for a last-minute landslide similar to the pattern that emerged in 1980 when Ronald Reagan pulled away from a tie to wallop Jimmy Carter.”
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.
In a 5-4 vote, the court says the law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in cases of child rape violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
“Here’s to the new boss, same as the old boss”
Obama’s FISA Betrayal
By Matthew Rothschild, June 24, 2008
Barack Obama’s rightward sprint is nowhere more obvious than in his betrayal on the FISA bill.
This bill allows the President to grab all incoming and outgoing international communications without a warrant.
The ACLU says it represents “an unprecedented extension of governmental surveillance over Americans.”
Obama, sounding on Friday a lot like Bush, said: “Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay.”
Here’s what Bush said the same day as Obama: The bill “allows our intelligence professionals to quickly and effectively monitor the plans of terrorists abroad, while protecting the liberties of Americans here at home.”
I’m not really of a mind to start pickin’ fights today…..reading Randall Terry’s titanically turgid manifestos is more than enough unpleasantry for one era…….and he sorta has me of a mind to write a biography called “Death of a (former used-car) Salesman”…..but there is an image that has not left my soul since early yesterday.
According to the statements of a former clinic employee, a physician employed by Dr. Tiller “completed” an “unsuccessful” late-term abortion by stabbing a live, viable fetus to death. We do not know if the terminated employee’s statements are true. We do not know if these recollections are untrue.
Speaking personally, I only know this: this atrocity raises some salient moral questions. These are questions which deserve to be sincerely and compassionately considered by all of us – not excluding Senator Obama. However……..
Calling the Democratic nominee a “Judas goat” and “fruitcake” is highly offensive. Mr. Obama is neither of these things. He is a highly intelligent politian, a dedicated husband and father, and an individual with deeply felt principles.
Whether I agree with all of those principles – especially when it comes to the area of late-term abortions – isn’t always silky-smooth. I shall be interested in the Obama/McCain debate and hearing Obama’s statements regarding this issue.
If 1) McCain radically alters his platform so that WWIII er, (Bush term #3) isn’t an ominous reality; AND 2) Obama displays the callousness I’ve seen from a handful of radical liberals; AND 3) Obama picks Rev. Wright as his running mate, AND 4) the terminated clinic employee’s attestations ARE true…..
Then I just may do the unthinkable – I may vote Republican. But the thought of doing that is off-putting.
Parkay, you’ve got to leave the gratituous insults alone. Eschewing the alcholism, morbid intellectual constipation, mordant neurasthenia, and ultra-insipid taste for polka music, you sorta remind me of my dead daddy at times like this.
And that’s a recollection I’d just as soon do without.
“Barack Obama’s rightward sprint is nowhere more obvious than in his betrayal on the FISA bill.
Obama, sounding on Friday a lot like Bush, said: “Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay.”
———–
Sounds like grown up talk.
“Barack Obama’s rightward sprint is nowhere more obvious than in his betrayal on the FISA bill.”
Told ya.
Sounds like Obama can count on the outlander vote.
He doesn’t get mine.
You call that grown up talk? Funny!!
Here’s our president – master statesman that he is…
PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that — in which there’s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the — of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.
PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you.
The Rude Pundit:
The truly complex, difficult position is to say, “No, you sons and daughters of b_tches, you don’t give up the very things that make us Americans.” See, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” isn’t a conditional phrase. It ain’t “Well, Give Me the Liberties You Think I Oughta Have As Long As It’s Balanced With Your Tortured Legalistic Definitions and Limitations On the Constitution, But, Hey, As Long As You Tell Me We’re Still Free, It’s All Cool, Yo.”
I sent emails to Roberts, Brownback and Obama asking them to give due diligence to renewing the FISA bill. Too many times there has been a rush to judgment and this shouldn’t be repeated. I don’t understand why this bill is necessary when legal ways to gain information exist without it! Unless, of course, someone needs it to cover their a** which is my suspicion. On Obama sounding like a clone of bush, I guess this proves the new boss wants the same over-the-top privileges and rights as the old boss.
Makes me sick to my stomach!
I did explain to Obama that I could easily stay home on election day!
Aren’t presidential candidates briefed on national security issues? If so, I suspect that Obama now knows things that would curl your hair and cause any responsible person to fall on the side of protecting America.
Or maybe it’s just sticking it to the radical left.
“We can firmly say that today’s concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane are 28 and 124 percent higher respectively than at any time during the last 800,000 years,”
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-624-2/#comment-373242
Hmmm. Sounds like it’s those damned cow farts then. Being as CO2 is only 28 times higher and methane is 124 times higher. So as methane is up, can you honestly say that it is only humans doing this? What is the correlation between the massive spike in methane as opposed to CO2? By the way, what kind of climate change was there 800,000 years ago? Wasn’t there an ice age? Wouldn’t everything being frozen reduce the amount of ‘green house gasses’ being released? Wouldn’t everything thawing increase gas output?
You yourself posted that some tundra thawing somewhere was going to dump what? Billions of tons of methane into the atmosphere?
Seems more logical that these green house gasses were formed naturally. You proved my point cosmos.
Or could be Obama is no different than others who seek power.
This goes to the core of one of my biggest complaints about the current administration! The grabbing of power. This could be a deal breaker for me and Obama.
There are LEGAL ways to get all information needed in place without reauthorizing this bill. This bill is about many things that have little to do with security and much to do with trampling civil rights and giving undo power to one branch of government.
No matter which party, no matter which person, we can’t allow the scales to be tipped so ONE person has accountable authority. Why don’t we just quit pretending to be a nation of laws or a nation that values freedom and individual rights?
Can’t type when I’m most passoniate, well can’t type well anytime…
Should have been UNaccountable authority in that last para.
“Perhaps the poll should have asked if Americans are in favor of increased oil spills and having oil soaked beaches. “
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-624-2/#comment-373286
Perhaps you should live in reality. Remember those hurricanes a few years back? The ones that ripped oil rigs out of the water and they washed up on shore? Yeah, oil spills, not so much. When was the last oil spill of consequence?
Pleased to be picking up my plaque.
Pleased to be telling you the sky is not falling.
Fed seen holding rates as inflation unease grows
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to hold interest rates steady and indicate slightly greater unease on inflation, while stopping well short of signaling higher borrowing costs are imminent.
http://tinyurl.com/546652
Ah, c’mon Feds! Ya gotta do something, whatever it takes to make the OFFICIAL numbers not indicate recession until bush leaves Dodge and our financial woes can be blamed on the folks!
“lindainks55″ notes —
“There are LEGAL ways to get all information needed in place without reauthorizing this bill. This bill is about many things that have little to do with security and much to do with trampling civil rights and giving undo power to one branch of government.”
Yeah. But who expects BushCo to start dealing with legalities this late in his administration?
I can’t help but think the current FISA legislation is a stop-gap measure, certain to be rewritten by the next Democratic Congress and signed by the new Democratic President.
I know a lot of people who are in semi-siege mentality, hoping against hope Shrub won’t find time for yest another colossal screw-up. Like Iran.
Even more daunting is how John Sidney McCain the Third’s (for Shrub’s 3rd term) top policy strategists told Fortune magazine the best thing that could happen for the Republic Party’s chances in November would be another 9/11-like attack!
Now, I won’t go so far as to buy into the theory that 9/11 was an inside job. (There’s no solid proof the Reichstag fire was Hitler’s doing, either.)
But we’re hearing all sorts of neoCon cant that echoes their rhetoric prior to invading Iraq.
I don’t like it, but I don’t like the alternative: for Dumbya to whine that his illegal wiretaps might have prevented a second WTC-like attack…and so we must invade Iran.
MonkeyHawk, I was working myself up to a real stubborn bite my nose off to spite my face position and here you come and give me new things to think about! grumble, gripe, complain…
“Obama, sounding on Friday a lot like Bush, said: “Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay.”
Here’s what Bush said the same day as Obama: The bill “allows our intelligence professionals to quickly and effectively monitor the plans of terrorists abroad, while protecting the liberties of Americans here at home.”
——————–
When we look at what is actually happening here can anyone name how this bill if passed as written will affect their freedom. Specific instances.
It looks as if Obama has looked at the evidence before him and now knows that our national security might someday depend on collecting data before the FISA approval can be obtained.
I don’t want to see anymore freedoms taken from the American public either but sometime we miss the obvious by not looking deeply at what is right before us.
So, MonkeyHawk, this is also WHY another attack would be favorable to McCain’s campaign. I hadn’t been able to figure that one out. Stewpid libahral that I am, all I could see is bush and McCain share the idea that what we’ve been doing has kept us from another attack, thus an attack would invalidate that stance. Now I begin to see a little more clearly why votes to fund the troops, continue bush’s abuses of power… have nuances I wasn’t smart enough to consider.
What webs we weave. I’m just not up to all this. There are some truly evil people in our government!
“I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths.”
Yeah, well, maybe if George Carlin had done a little more biking and a little less smoking and drinking (at one point, he drank a case of beer a day), he might have made past 71 . . .
“that our national security might someday depend on collecting data before the FISA approval can be obtained.”
The existing FISA provisions have always allowed for emergency wiretapping with approval to come later.
There never has been a need to circumvent the system.
Mass. State Rep. James Fagan on Jessica’s Law:
“In a fiery soliloquy on the House floor, Fagan said he’d grill victims so that, “when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.””
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view.bg?articleid=1102761
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq-NJ1YQu8M
I agree completely with every word you said, wsc. But, I also recognize how evil bush is and how he and his turn whatever to his advantage. He is a user and there are too many who fall for his excuses. Look at those who still think we’re safe because of HIM, will remain safe because of McCain.
Facts, rational thinking, clear heads don’t enter in here.
“When we look at what is actually happening here can anyone name how this bill if passed as written will affect their freedom. Specific instances.”
Can anyone name how this bill has helped protect us from anything? Specific instances.
Good news for child rapists.
“The U.S. Supreme Court made it illegal to execute persons convicted of child-rape in a 5-4 decision Wednesday.
“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who authored the majority opinion. The ruling broke on party lines, the liberal Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer siding with Kenney.
In their decision, the liberal justices ruled that a Louisiana law that sent 43 year-old man named Patrick Kennedy to death row in 2003 for raping his 8-year old stepdaughter was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/06/25/scotus_no_execution_for_child_rape
Voting blocks in the Supreme Court. Don’t any of these idiotic Supreme Court Justices have a mind of their own?
How long has it been since a Supreme Court Justice surprised us with their vote?
Where, because of their alleged high intellect, they saw past ideology?
I smell a potential election issue.
“lindainks55″ says –
“Now I begin to see a little more clearly why votes to fund the troops, continue bush’s abuses of power… have nuances….
“What webs we weave. I’m just not up to all this. There are some truly evil people in our government!”
I think it might have been George Stephanopoulis who wrote that after Clinton won the ‘92 election — the “It’s the economy, stupid!” election — how shocked they were to get the real data — not the Bush Administration’s version — only to discover the economy was in far worse shape than any of them imagined!
One can only imagine what Shrub’s White House is keeping out of the mix; evidence of their fuc#-ups, incompetence, skulduggery.
Already the World Court is warning Shrub and Cheney they’d better stay in the USA after they leave office, else they be put in the pokey for war crimes.
“Already the World Court is warning Shrub and Cheney they’d better stay in the USA after they leave office, else they be put in the pokey for war crimes.”
These guys are not on my “A” Xmas Card list, but I’ve never heard this before. ???
Grateful_Dave I will take that as a no. You nor anyone you know has ever had there rights violated because of this law as it stands.
As for your question to me – I’m not privy to decisions and facts concerning the safety of this nation. But I can only believe that if Obama changed his mind on this he was shown something that changed his thinking on this.
“You nor anyone you know has ever had there rights violated because of this law as it stands.”
If it had happened, how would you know? The proceedings were all secret.
The FISA court has only rejected 2 requests for surveillance and the law provides for emergencies – so why does the law need to be circumvented?
Liberal?
“Many pundits assumed that Ronald Reagan’s third choice to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis Powell would not constitute his favorite nominee for the position. Ironically, however, Anthony Kennedy shared a deeper background and association with Reagan than either of Reagan’s two previous candidates”
http://www.oyez.org/justices/anthony_kennedy/
Souter:
Souter, who received his nomination to the Court from President George Bush
http://www.oyez.org/justices/david_h_souter/
SolDevVB posted June 25, 2008 at 10:09 am
“Seems more logical that these green house gasses were formed naturally. You proved my point cosmos.”
——————-
No… and thank you for proving my point.
“outlander” mourns another blow to his blood lust with –
“The U.S. Supreme Court made it illegal to execute persons convicted of child-rape in a 5-4 decision Wednesday.
“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who authored the majority opinion. The ruling broke on party lines, the liberal Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer siding with Kenney.”
Uhm.
“Party” lines?
Kennedy was appointed by the sainted Ronald Reagan.
Stevens was appointed by Jerry Ford.
Souter was appointed by George HW Bush.
It was a 5-4 decision.
Three of the five were appointed by Republic Party presidents.
“…justices ruled that a Louisiana law that sent 43 year-old man named Patrick Kennedy to death row in 2003 for raping his 8-year old stepdaughter was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Yet again, the blood-lusters are hoisted on their own petard.
All that “eye-for-an-eye…” rhetoric comes back to bite you in the butt. Child rape is most certainly an horrific crime. “Lock ‘em up and throw away the key!” I say!
But no. The blood-lusters had to lynch! The whole “eye-for-an-eye” meme doesn’t work for any other crime or punishment. If you burglarize a home, the court doesn’t punish you by burglarizing your house. If you commit rape, the law doesn’t say you should be raped. (May not be a bad idea, actually; but it’s now the way our system of jurisprudence operates.)
But, of course, “outlander” doesn’t tend to put reasoning or thought or logic in his/her screeds; only bile-fueled emotion. And for only one reason, as “outlander” admitted –
“I smell a potential election issue.”
Of course you do.
All of you Cons’ election issues smell.
John Paul Stevens:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens#Judicial_career.2C_1970-present
President Gerald Ford then nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1975 to replace Justice William O. Douglas, who had recently retired, and he took his seat December 19, 1975, after being confirmed 98-0 by the Senate.
Gee outlander; your Republicans seem awful soft on crime!
“gster” notes –
“Already the World Court is warning Shrub and Cheney they’d better stay in the USA after they leave office, else they be put in the pokey for war crimes.”
These guys are not on my “A” Xmas Card list, but I’ve never heard this before. ???
It was in the British papers last week. Google the Mail or the Telegraph; probably the Times of London, too.
It was a spin-off of Shrub’s recent European tour.
Lawyers at The Hague were approached since the war crimes of BushCo have attracted a lot of attention.
You really should read some international news sources. The conservative-dominated corporate media of America doesn’t tell you the whole story.
‘Greenland Ice Core Analysis Shows Drastic Climate Change Near End Of Last Ice Age’
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619142112.htm
H/T to http://desmogblog.com
“But I can only believe that if Obama changed his mind on this he was shown something that changed his thinking on this.”
According to news reports last night, and this morning, Obama is favoring the FISA provisions, because the Telecoms issue is to be separated from the rest of the Bill, and voted on separately.
So, Obama can vote to further the FISA provisions, while still voting to find the Telecoms guilty of illegalities.
That being said, can someone show why Obama is turning around on his viewpoints? He was always opposed to the amnesty idea for the Telecoms.
Evidently nothing has changed.
‘Greenland Ice Core Analysis Shows Drastic Climate Change Near End Of Last Ice Age’
End of ice age… climate change.
YA THINK???
I really hope no one got paid to write a report that there was a climate change at the end of an ice age
Damn that is dumb.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-625-2/#comment-373629
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-625-2/#comment-373629
Mmmm k, let’s think on this one shall we? Cosmos touts that methane is 124 times greater and CO2 is 28 times greater. Cosmos wants to stop CO2 emissions.
This may be a tough jump for you, but as you’ve stated earlier, methane is worse for the atmosphere. And being as methane has increased 100 times more than CO2…
You know what? If you can’t cut and paste Cosmos, you are just lost. Even your own cut and pastes are betraying you and you don’t even see it.
“SquarePeg” reports –
“According to news reports last night, and this morning, Obama is favoring the FISA provisions, because the Telecoms issue is to be separated from the rest of the Bill, and voted on separately.
“So, Obama can vote to further the FISA provisions, while still voting to find the Telecoms guilty of illegalities.”
This might just portend a different approach to the legislative gamesmanship that’s corrupted our democratic process.
We all know of bills that have an earmark here or there that buys the vote of a recalcitrant congresscritter who’ll get a “Big Ball of Twine” national historic landmark designation in return for sending Marines to die in a barracks in Lebanon… even if it means a few Americans dying on the beaches of Granada.
Trading votes is part of the sausage-making nature of representative democracy. It’s never pretty or fun to look at.
SolDevVB posted June 25, 2008 at 1:38 pm
“Cosmos touts that methane is 124 times greater and CO2 is 28 times greater. Cosmos wants to stop CO2 emissions.
This may be a tough jump for you, but as you’ve stated earlier, methane is worse for the atmosphere. And being as methane has increased 100 times more than CO2…
————–
SolDevVB, do you have a severe reading problem? Or are you just dumb?
1) PERCENT
————–
“… are 28 and 124 PERCENT higher respectively ”
————–
2) AND, there’s less CH4 than CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere — so even though CH4 has a higher GWP than CO2, the anthropogenic-added CO2 is causing MORE warming than the anthropogenic-added CH4.
“SolDevVB, do you have a severe reading problem? Or are you just dumb?”
Methinks cosmo is breathing in too much of his own methane. He sure is mean.
Sooo, if methane is leaking into the atmosphere at an alarming rate (124 PERCENT) how much CO2 is leaking from the earth from the same source?
Source please.
If we are leaking that much methane, can you with a straight face say that no CO2 is also leaking from the same source?
And again, I have to point to your wonderful source – there was climate change at the end of an iceage. Laughed so hard I cried.
By they way, that climate change at the end of an iceage? What caused that? Hmmmm. Pre-global warming global warming. Shocking.
SolDevVB posted June 25, 2008 at 2:27 pm
“Sooo, if methane is leaking into the atmosphere at an alarming rate (124 PERCENT)…
————
Again, do you have a severe reading problem? Or are you just dumb?
It’s NOT “leaking into the atmosphere at an alarming rate”.
It currently is at a LEVEL that is 124 percent higher than during the last 800,000 years.
“Pre-global warming global warming.”
Hey, it could happen. My wife has PPMS-PMS-PPMS.
PrePMS-PMS then PostPMS
That’s what cosmo has.
Any 9/11 conspiracy freaks on this blog? Check out
http://plungerspeaks.blogspot.com
It seems pretty preposterous but there sure are a lot of interesting connections. It could just be the rantings of a paranoid, but what if ???
SolDevVB posted June 25, 2008 at 2:29 pm
“By they way, that climate change at the end of an iceage? What caused that?”
Why don’t you try to educate yourself?
Chapter 6, ‘Palaeoclimate’ at
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm
A fitting honor for the best president we’ve ever had:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25rename.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
It currently is at a LEVEL that is 124 percent higher than during the last 800,000 years.
Yeah, I’ll leave the name calling, arm flailing and screeching to you. You’re so good at it.
Sooooo. You posted a link stating that huge amounts of methane are going to be released from the melting frozen tundra – in the years between 2300 and 2400 no less. Methane is 124 PERCENT higher now than 800,000 years ago. 124 PERCENT increase. Seems a little more important than a 28 PERCENT increase in CO2.
As I am stupid or something, help me out. 124 PERCENT is a good deal higher than 28 PERCENT correct.
Isn’t it also safe to assume that if methane is released from the frozen tundra, then so too could be CO2. Does methane have a corner on this market?
Alas, still no answer on the pre-global warming global warming. Did Daddy Gore figure that one into a peer reviewed report. How on earth could there be global warming without EEEEVIL people spewing CO2 from their cars????
And StevenDavis you have to wonder why most people in the US wouldn’t mind if San Francisco chipped off and became an island on it’s own.
They make their own laws, name their own monuments, let them govern their own little island. Have all the parades they want, invade all of churches in drag. Sounds as good to me as the ridiculous post you just gave us.
That is news because why?
Why don’t you try to educate yourself?
Chapter 6, ‘Palaeoclimate’ at
Awww. and you enjoy cut & paste so much too. Nah. I’ll wait for the Cliff’s notes.
oh oh, Boeing’s victory may be short lived, McCains boy Gates is getting involved!
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080625/boeing_tanker_fight.html?.v=1
Speaking of NOT voting…
In the book “Seeing”, 85% of the voters voted with a BLANK ballot. That is, they protested the current Government by “Not Voting” with a BLANK ballot. Not just apathy, where people simply don’t vote, but making a Statement by making it clear the Government Knows people are intentionally Not Voting and are Mad as H and not gonna take it anymore!
Hmmmmmm……
————————————————————-
http://www.observer.com/node/52115
Set four years later in the same unnamed national capital of a country very much like Mr. Saramago’s native Portugal, Seeing concerns a crisis in political self-expression: how to shore up a government’s legitimacy when 85 percent of the ballots in a national election are simply returned blank. This is no Bush v. Gore question of interpreting the voter intent behind botched ballots; this, rather, is the ultimate vote of no confidence.
As with that other, earlier epidemic of blankness, no one has a clear fix on the deeper meaning beneath the opaque course of events. The most that any confessed blank voter—or “blankers,” as they soon come to be known—will explain under state interrogation is: “I’m not to blame for what you call the result, I voted as I wanted to vote, within the law, now it’s up to you … to respond.”
The bemused narrator has some theories of his own, largely to do with the media’s panicked debauching of the common weal; his sentiments (which students of our own media will find particularly apropos) are well worth quoting at length: “Driven by an understandable urge to try and please everyone, some newspapers thought they could combat the absence of readers by plastering their pages with naked bodies, whether male or female, together or alone, singly or in pairs, at rest or in action, disporting themselves in modern gardens of delight, but the readers, grown impatient with images whose minimal and not particularly arousing variations in color and configuration had, even in remote antiquity, been considered banal commonplaces of man’s exploration of the libido, continued, out of apathy, indifference and even nausea, to cause print-runs and sales to plummet …. [T]he old game of public virtues masking private vices, the jolly carousel of private vices elevated to the status of public virtues, which, until recently, had never lacked for spectators or for candidates willing to strut their stuff, failed to have a favorable impact on the day-to-day balance sheet of debit and credit, which was at an irremediably low ebb. It really seemed as if the majority of the city’s inhabitants were determined to change their lives, their tastes and their style.”
A review from Amazon.com on “Seeing”:
“Silence is a profound expression,” she argued, “and enough unraised voices eventually turn even the most partisan heads.” “Elections,” she contended, “maintain the illusion of opposing parties exchanging ideas rather than political animals competing for power. Selling voting as the ultimate expression of citizenship . . . legitimizes the process that keeps them in control and makes the public docile by enforcing the notion that we rule ourselves.”
Whether or not one agrees with Hopkins, she offers a perspective that Saramago might endorse, to judge by “Seeing.” In “Seeing,” some 70 percent of the residents of the capital of an unnamed country turn in blank ballots in an election, refusing to vote for the Party of the Right, the Party of the Center, or the Party of the Left. The government, dominated by unsavory and unprincipled authoritarians, is horrified that the rituals of democracy have generated a challenge to the government’s legitimacy and orders the election to be reheld. But the percentage of blank votes is higher than before.
The government’s reaction, though often fumbling, is vicious and lethal. It uses various Orwellian techniques and, as it deems necessary, violence to punish the capital’s residents and try to get them to appear to respect the available choices, regardless of their true feelings about the three parties.
SolDevVB
Posted June 25, 2008 at 2:50 pm | Permalink
Alas, still no answer on the pre-global warming global warming. Did Daddy Gore figure that one into a peer reviewed report. How on earth could there be global warming without EEEEVIL people spewing CO2 from their cars????
——————————————————————-
Oh come one Sol. They admit there was Global Warming BEFORE Global Warming. (Right before the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago, there was Global Warming – before the Global Cooling.)
But THIS TIME DAMMIT, Global Warming is being caused by PEOPLE!
Forget that Global Warming happened before Global Warming. Forget the Natural cycles of Warming and Cooling, and Warming and Cooling, and Warming and Cooling, and Warming and Cooling, and Warming and Cooling, of the past.
MANKIND is causing the Current Global Warming Cycle now!
(Though you must expect Global Cooling for the next 20 to 30 years as part of the current Global Warming Process, according to the peer reviewed scientists, and supported by THE Farmers Almanac of course.)
Jeff Longwell is so big on stopping smoking in public why does he do it himself?
Jeff Longwell was seen at the Setter Foundation Cigar dinner at the Airport Hilton smoking a cigar. He was subjecting the staff to second hand smoke (supposedly one of the reasons to ban smoking in public).
What a hypocrit!
On top of that two of the city council members (Jeff Longwell and Paul Gray) were guests paid for by Bill Warren at the event.
These guys are supporting giving Bill Warren $6million of our tax dollars. Something really smells here and should be investigated.
Sol – the Milankovitch cycles have been discussed and explained extensively. In fact, it is from doing that that we developed our understanding of forcers and feedbacks.
In the past I have linked a lot of information on that. I recommend the graduate capstone class in Paleoclimatology in the WSU Geology department. It is strictly ‘backwards-looking’; that is past climates over many millions of years.
They might expect you to take some pre-requisites first. I found the class to be quite interesting.
Yeah Sol, everybody says there is a rationale explanation for past cycles.
Ask Cosmos. Or bth. Or my brother Joe. Or Aunt Alice. Or that lady across the street, and her dog even agrees.
Geeesh! I wish the Government would just start locking up the Global Warming deniers and shutting them up behind bars!
As abortion mills around the nation continue to be prosecuted and shut down, Dallas, TX pro-lifers are glad to learn that Aaron Women’s Health Center, a late-term abortion mill, will be closing its doors Saturday. It was one of 3 late-term abortion mills in Texas qualified as an ambulatory surgical center for killing children.
Five abortion mills remain open in the Dallas area to be targeted.
- – -
So, the Kansas Legislature failed to override Bilious Sebelius’ veto again, to enforce informed consent in Kansas abortion mills. . . .
This is what the mothers assuredly facing at least one severe consequence of each abortion will not be told:
. . .
10% of women undergoing elective abortion will suffer the immediate complications of perforation of the uterus, infection, embolism, retained tissue, hemorrhage, cervical injury, endotoxic shock, ‘boggy’ uterus, or failure to recognize an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy. Tubal pregnancies increase by 30% after one abortion by 160% after two.
Over 50% of women experience one or more of the following after abortions: depression, guilt, regret, nervousness, and insomnia. Women are 2 times as likely to have sleep disorders after an abortion.
An abortion results in a 65% higher risk (compared to no abortion) of Clinical Depression, a 30% higher risk of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and a 5 times higher risk of substance abuse.
Abortion results in a 160% higher risk of hospitalization for psychiatric treatment, a 62% higher risk of death from all causes, a 6 times higher risk of suicide. Drug abuse during subsequent pregnancies is 5 times more likely, with any abortion. Risk of a future miscarriage increases by 60%, and Placenta Privia (the risk of life-threatening bleeding during future pregnancies) is increased 600%.
A 30% overall increased risk of breast cancer occurs after an abortion. And that risk increases to 90% for abortions to young women after 18 weeks, and to 150% if the woman is under 18.
144% of abortive women were more likely to abuse their children than those who did not have an abortion.
- – -
Bilious Sebelius wants you to be aware about the risks of being struck by lightning, but vetoed informed consent in Kansas abortion mills, lest abortion mill profits, her favorite cash cow, drop any.
If prayer could affect people’s safety in a lightning storm, Bilious Sebelius would have been a cinder long ago.
I can see clearly now, the smog is gone!
And it’s soooo much cooler with Global Warming eliminated. I hardly even miss having Air Conditioning and Refrigeration!
Ooops, wrong topic!
(Gosh, that was dumb)
“That is news because why?”
Germ,
This is an open thread. The fact that is so obviously irritated you, pleases me to no end. Thanks.
FAQ at,
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm
Frequently Asked Question 6.1
What Caused the Ice Ages and Other Important Climate Changes Before the Industrial Era?
“…
These examples illustrate that different climate changes in the past had different causes. The fact that natural factors caused climate changes in the past does not mean that the current climate change is natural.
By analogy, the fact that forest fires have long been caused naturally by lightning strikes does not mean that fires cannot also be caused by a careless camper. FAQ 2.1 addresses the question of how human influences compare with natural ones in their contributions to recent climate change.”
Great Post Cosmos!
THAT should convince them!
SolDevVB posted June 25, 2008 at 2:50 pm
“As I am stupid or something, help me out. 124 PERCENT is a good deal higher than 28 PERCENT correct.”
———–
Maybe I didn’t explain it clearly enough at 2:18 pm?
The amount of radiative forcing depends on BOTH the global warming potential of the gas, AND the amount of that gas in the atmosphere.
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) has a GWP of 23,900 (23,900 times stronger than CO2) — but fortunately there is only a very small amount of SF6 in the atmosphere.
Max, nothing would ever convince you.
But the BSP is enormous.
It’s cool to pack in Ky.!
“There’s more than two people dead. There’s like one, two, three, four, five people dead,” the man said. “The supervisor is dead, too.”
Authorities said Higdon was known to keep a .45-caliber pistol in his car, which is not illegal in Kentucky.
More lies lies lies from Parkay Newman. Note no source at all…they’re all from him.
About the war crimes thing, Spain nabbed Pinochet and there IS a vague movement to have the International Court try Bush and Blair. The world Court did get and convict the leaders of the Balkans horrors and have tried to get others like those who had a hand in the Rawanda massacres.That’s one of the reasons the US does not belong to nor recognize the World Court, making America unique on that score. I can’t imagine any government just nabbing a former official of any administration, that’s playing rough and the US would play just as rough or rougher, right back. Besides there were similar dire comments about Kissinger over Veitnam, but it came of nothing. Now if the US tried these guys, that’s another story!
Bush/Cheney will have SS protection for five years after they leave office.
After that they are merely private citizens with no government protection.
Good night; Good luck; and God Bless —
Whatever you conceive God to be!!
Blessings ALL!!
Blessings on the great State of Kansas!!
Blessings on the endeavors of Gay Pride Week!
May the night be a safe one,
And may the morning bring new life!
So mote it be!
Political_Mama……
Can you see the “pickle” I’m in? I’ve experienced at least two of the calamities M3 cites above; however, I’ve never alleged they occurred “because of my abortion.” Nor has any physician
They occurred because of several things – I’m not wholly excluding the totality of teenage pregnancy, rape and subsequent abortion from the mix.
But just so we’re clear here: I experienced two of those calamities before I became pregnant, so I’m not sure how cogent Parkay’s conclusions are in my case.
Hey, I’ve got a swell idea: Instead of denigrating our governor, our Democratic candidate and anyone else who disagrees with your views…..if you’ve got the ability to speak well in front of the camera – use it!
I mean – shove this post-abortive, post-depressive wench in front of a v-cam and tragedy would ensue. It’d be somewhat akin to an acid flashback, and I’ve never even taken LSD!
For the love of God, Parkay – cite your sources! 600% increase????? That’s kind of scary s–t ya got goin’ on there.
OpenMoko, a Taiwan-based device manufacturer, is celebrating Independence Day by freeing smart phone users from the shackles of proprietary devices with its touch-screen Neo FreeRunner, an open source Linux handset to rival the coveted Apple iPhone.