Open thread 8/8

230 Comments

  1. Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:05 am | Permalink

    On the other hand creationists say women developed by being cloned from a man’s rib.

    Gene For Sexual Switching In Melons Provides Clues To Evolution Of Sex

    ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2008) — A newly discovered function for a hormone in melons suggests it plays a role in how sexual systems evolve in plants. The study, conducted by French and American scientists, appeared recently in the journal Science.

    Scientists from several French institutions, led by Abdel Bendahmane of the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), isolated the melon sex determination gene and determined its function. As part of this collaborative effort, New York University biologists Jonathan Flowers and Michael Purugganan, who are part of NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, conducted the evolutionary analysis of the study.

    Because plants’ sexual systems are varied—species may possess various combinations of male, female, or hermaphrodite systems—their evolution has long been of interest to scientists. This is especially the case in melons, whose sexual system—andromonoecy—carries both male and bisexual flowers and appears to have evolved recently. In this study, the researchers sought to understand what determines the recent formation of melons’ new sexual system.

    More at:
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807144242.htm

  2. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:43 am | Permalink

    So I’m not crazy,…KSN will show you “cloud seeding” tonight at 6.

    There’s your global warming for you.

    William Cohen stated that “we” can create earthquakes and that will change the face of war.

    Playing God, bringing Revelation to a bunch of fools…daily.

    But of course, KSN, like all MSM, will treat this cloud seeding as benign and beneficent.

    BS.

  3. HLP
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:47 am | Permalink

    The Green Hornet

    Al Gore said the other day that “the future of human civilization” depends on giving up fossil fuels within a decade — and was acclaimed as a prophet by the political class. Obviously boring reality doesn’t count for much these days. Even so, when Barack Obama wheels out an energy agenda nearly as grandiose as Mr. Gore’s, shouldn’t it receive at least some media scrutiny?

    On Monday, Mr. Obama said that the U.S. must “end the age of oil in our time,” with “real results by the end of my first term in office.” This, he said, will “take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy.” Mark that one down as the understatement of the year. Maybe Mr. Obama really is the Green Hornet, or some other superhero of his current political myth.

    The Senator calls for $150 billion over 10 years to achieve “energy independence,” with elevated subsidies for renewable alternatives and efficiency programs. He also says he’ll “leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy,” euphemistically referring to his climate plan to tax and regulate greenhouse gases. Every President since Nixon has declared “energy independence,” as Mr. Obama noted. But this time, he says, things will change.

    They won’t. And not because of “the old politics,” or whatever. Currently, alternative sources — wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric and geothermal — provide less than 7% of yearly domestic consumption. Throw out hydro and geothermal, and it’s only 4%. For the foreseeable future, renewables simply cannot provide the scale and volume of energy needed to meet growing U.S. demand, which is expected to increase by 20% over the next two decades. Even with colossal taxpayer subsidies, renewables probably can’t even slow the rate of growth of carbon-based fuel consumption, much less replace it.

    Take wind power, which has grown rapidly though still only provides about two-thirds of 1% of all U.S. electricity. The Energy Department optimistically calculates that ramping up merely to 20% by 2030 would require more than $2 trillion and turbines across the Midwest “wind corridor,” plus multiple offshore installations. And we’ll need a new “transmission superhighway system” of more than 12,000 miles of electric lines to connect the wind system to population centers. A mere $150 billion won’t cut it. Mr. Obama also didn’t mention that this wind power will be more expensive than traditional sources like coal.

    Wind, too, is intermittent: It isn’t always blowing and can’t be accessed on demand when people need electricity. Since there’s no cost-effective way to store large amounts of electricity, wind requires “spinning reserve,” or nonalternative baseload power to avoid blackouts. That baseload power is now provided largely by coal, nuclear and natural gas, and wind can’t displace much. The same problem afflicts solar energy — now one-hundredth of 1% of net U.S. electric generation. One of the top uses of solar panels is to heat residential swimming pools.

    Mr. Obama also says he wants to mandate that all new cars and trucks are “flexible fuel” vehicles, meaning that they can run on higher concentrations of corn ethanol mixed with gasoline, or second-generation biofuels if those ever come onto the market. Like wind and solar, this would present major land use problems: According to credible estimates, land areas larger than the size of Texas would need to be planted with fuel feedstocks to displace just half the oil America imports every day. Meanwhile, the economic distortions caused by corn ethanol — such as higher food prices — have been bad enough.

    And yet there’s more miracle work to do. Mr. Obama promises to put at least one million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015. That’s fine if consumers want to buy them. But even if technical battery problems are overcome, this would only lead to “fuel switching” — if cars don’t use gasoline, the energy still has to come from somewhere. And the cap-and-trade program also favored by Mr. Obama would effectively bar new coal plants, while new nuclear plants are only now being planned after a 30-year hiatus thanks to punishing regulations and lawsuits.

    Problems like these are the reality of “alternative” energy, and they explain why every “energy independence” plan has faltered since the 1970s. But just because Mr. Obama’s plan is wildly unrealistic doesn’t mean that a program of vast new taxes, subsidies and mandates wouldn’t be destructive. The U.S. has a great deal invested in fossil fuels not because of a political conspiracy or because anyone worships carbon but because other sources of energy are, right now, inferior.

    Consumption isn’t rising because of wastefulness. The U.S. produces more than twice as much GDP today per unit of energy as it did in the 1950s, yet energy use has risen threefold. That’s because energy use is tethered to growth, and the economy continues to innovate and expand. Mr. Obama seems to have other ideas.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797838304214973.html

  4. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:55 am | Permalink

    My point being, that I don’t have ANY trust for my loving government. And if they are modifying weather and tectonics, what else are they fu%#ing with? Are they dropping some crazy strain of flu down upon us? Worse?

    I mean, we do have too many people in the world, right?

  5. HLP
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:57 am | Permalink

    Get a chin strap for your little tin foil hat, Pleefer. It seems to be a little loose this morning.

  6. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 6:59 am | Permalink

    http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

  7. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:01 am | Permalink

    The age of oil will be ended in Obama’s time even if nothing is done. The wise thing to do is to plan for it. Not in mine though. I’m taking my Ford to the grave.

  8. lindainks55
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:11 am | Permalink

    All you McCain “supporters” don’t any longer need to rely on statements like, “He has the “R” behind his name,” or “Well, he sure beats the alternative even tho I don’t know or can’t tell you why.” McCain’s web site offers sample comments AND you can win rewards! I haven’t checked to see if WEBlog qualifies — not only do you need to use the talking points provided but must post them on one of the listed sites.

    Oh, btw, of course since Obama supporters are capable of thinking for themselves, and Obama has positives in character, policies and experience, the Obama campaign doesn’t have a comment program! Instead, he has actual enthusiastic supporters proud to share the merits of Obama with the knowledge that his election will be the reward!
    ————

    Win Points for McCain!

    Activists and political operatives have used volunteers or paid staff to seed radio call-in shows or letters-to-the-editor pages for years, typically without disclosing the caller or letter writer’s connection to a candidate or cause. Like the fake grass for which the practice is named, such AstroTurf messages look as though they come from the grass roots but are ersatz.

    McCain’s campaign has taken the same idea and given it an Internet-era twist. It also has taken the concept one step further.

    People who sign up for McCain’s program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain’s webmasters).

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080603589.html

  9. HLP
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:11 am | Permalink

    HEHEHEHE

    Obama’s time? If he survives the convention (any body noticing that Hillary is asking for a floor vote?) his ‘time’ will end in November.

  10. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:12 am | Permalink

    I mention the Club of Rome and Paul Ehrlich for proof of what they have in store for us, I don’t need you crazy, insane and plain ignorant Revelation, END OF THE WORLD Christians telling me that I can blame it on God. Yeah, it’s going to be the end of the world, for you dummies.

    Don’t insult me, bro, I can play that game as well.

  11. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:15 am | Permalink

    It takes a few rolls of foil to make a hat big enough to take any stock in that silly story written by men, claimed to be by GOD, to sit and wait for some old dude sitting in the clouds to come take you away in some rapture nonsense. Talk about crazy.

  12. Raptor
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:20 am | Permalink

    According to the state of Utah:

    Cloud seeding had its beginnings in 1946 at the General Electric Research Laboratories in Schenectady, New York. Cloud seeding can assist nature in the formation of precipitation, with appropriate types and numbers of nuclei at the proper times and places. Cloud seeding projects have been carried out in over 20 countries

    So, it has been going on for 62 years without problem. I don’t understand the ‘connection’ to global warming?

  13. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:21 am | Permalink

    Yeah, that’s what I meant. I was trying to be “couth”

  14. Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:28 am | Permalink

    “Consumption isn’t rising because of wastefulness. ”

    Oh of course it is and always has.

    But moods are changing. Conspicuous consumption is falling out of fashion. It’s even becoming something to be despised.

    Quite right, so it should.

  15. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:47 am | Permalink

    “We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just W-hores for power and oil, but killer w-hores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just w-hores. Get out of our way, or we’ll kill you. Who does vote for these dishonest $hitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I pi$$ down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Phuck them.”

    Hunter S Thompson

  16. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:49 am | Permalink

    It’s called the Alcoa syndrome. Mass seeing of ionized particles interrupt the cloud physics causing downpours of Biblical proportions.

    When Cornus sessilis or Salix lasiandra are added to the mix in powdered form, it literally rans cats and dogs.

    Dr. Helios Ombria has developed a mixture that will cause it to rain in full sunshine. Old farmers gave it a nickname of “The Devil is beating his wife.”

    Texas A&M researchers all of who belong to the fabis abstinete fraternity are working on adding hydrogen sulphide to a special mixture which will create ‘thunder farts.’

    British Meteorologist Illian Winde doesn’t think much of the A&M experiments and says it will induce further Global Warming by concentrating methanes in areas where they shouldn’t be concentrated. Mr. Winde, of the Open Window Institute says he’s working on a more friendly “silent but effective” thunderstorm that will equilibriate cloud dynamics by low resonance vibrations beyond human hearing.

    Sidney Gullee Washa of the American Meteorological association says we shouldn’t be doing anything as mother nature renders climate as a careful balancing act. He further stated “If the crik runs dry,” it was meant to be.

  17. Posted August 8, 2008 at 7:55 am | Permalink

    I think HLP has something there. If you recall, Hillary Clinton only said that she was suspending her campaign. She never really withdrew it completely. I have always believed that she was just waiting for her moment and when Obama went overseas he really blew it when he put down his own country. At first i was afraid it was going to be something worse like him getting assassinated but it seems as though he has done that to himself politically.

    However, in my opinion, the democrats really have nothing to complain about. McCain isn’t really as conservative and republican as the right would want him to be. If you recall, there were a lot of democrats that voted in the early primaries for McCain just so they would vote out the more conservative republicans.

    I myself have finally decided to vote for McCain. At first, I wasn’t going to vote at all but since the democrats, Obama or Clinton, whichever it may be, are so far to the left and extreme, I feel that I must vote for McCain just to vote against them.

  18. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:03 am | Permalink

    Iraqi Officials Say Deal Close on Plan for U.S. Troops to Leave by October 2010

    BAGHDAD — Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

    The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone — where the U.S. Embassy is located — to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399402,00.html

  19. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:08 am | Permalink

    Hunter S. Thompson, a real American. A patriot.

  20. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:08 am | Permalink

    Albiet, a drunk and uber high patriot.

  21. annie_moose
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:16 am | Permalink

    I bet this will be commercially available before ANWR is drilled

    http://media.cleantech.com/1806/amyris-pulls-in-70m-for-unique-biofuel

    September 19, 2007 - Exclusive
    By David Ehrlich, Cleantech Group
    Similar

    * Amyris, Crystalsev in sugarcane biodiesel venture
    * Amyris Biotechnologies evolving ethanol
    * Virent’s biogasoline gets Big Oil backing
    * Investors eat up algae and other fuels
    * Making yeast beefier

    The California startup says its bio-gasoline is compatible with regular car engines and can be used at very low temperatures.

    Amyris Biotechnologies, which announced $70 million in Series B funding today, says it can make a biofuel that can run in regular car engines, not just diesel, and it can do it with current biofuel plant technology.

    Unlike other cellulosic startups, Emeryville, Calif.-based Amyris, spun out from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2003, isn’t making ethanol.

    “Our fuels are hydrocarbons. They’re designed, as closely as possible, to resemble components in current gasoline, in petroleum diesel, in jet fuel,” Neil Renninger, Sr. VP of development and co-founder of Amyris Biotechnologies, told Cleantech.com.

    “We expect them to be able to be used at very, very high blends.”

    Using synthetic biology, Amyris re-programs microbes to function as living factories for the environmentally-friendly production of high-value chemicals.

    “We went about the process of identifying, if you had to start from first principals, what would you make as a biofuel?” said Renninger.

    “Our skill set, what we bring, is the ability to engineer microbes to make hydrocarbons. That’s where our expertise lies. Changing the cellular metabolism, so that instead of, for example, making ethanol, our bugs make hydrocarbons,” he said.

    Another company fiddling on the molecular level for biofuel is Laguna Hills, Calif.’s Coda Genomics. That company is working on making a more efficient yeast for the fermentation of sugar into ethanol (see Making yeast beefier).

    Amyris, with just under 100 employees, and growing, has some high profile backers for its biofuel project, including Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. But Amyris is no stranger to high-profile funding.

    It’s part of a nonprofit group developing an inexpensive anti-malaria drug that received a $42.6 million grant in 2004 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Amyris said it converted a microbe known for its ability to make alcohol, such as yeast, into a chemical factory for artemisinin, a proven anti-malarial drug, for that project. The drug is expected to be produced next year.

    Khosla, Kleiner and TPG put up $20 million in a Series A in October 2006 to support the company’s initial work on biofuels. This new round, led by Duff Ackerman & Goodrich Ventures, and including Khosla, Kleiner and TPG, will allow Amyris to take the next step.

    “We’ll have a pilot plant that we hope will be operational late next year or early 2009,” said Renninger.

    The company is still looking at locations for the plant, but has been talking to the state of Alabama and the state of California.

    “We’re looking at on the order of 100,000 gallons per year, if we were running the facility flat out,” said Renninger.

    The company probably won’t have to build it’s own plant, as Renninger said the company is designing its production systems to work effectively in today’s ethanol production infrastructure. He said they should be able to adapt current facilities to make their new biofuels.

    Amyris expects to start pumping out its biodiesel commercially in late 2010 or early 2011, with its bio-gasoline following a year or two after that. And another year after that comes the company’s bio-jet fuel.

    “We’re talking to a few potential customers,” said Renninger.

    As for feedstocks, the company can take anything you can get sugar out of.

    “Initially we’re focused on the cheapest, most greenhouse gas friendly feedstock possible, and right now that feedstock is sugarcane.”

    And Amyris’ biofuel may not be just a green replacement for gasoline or diesel, it may be better.

    “Our fuels have very impressive cold flow properties,” said Renninger. “It remains liquid down below minus 50 degrees Celsius,” he said of the company’s biodiesel.

    With startups like BioEnergy International, as well as corn-ethanol giants like Poet and VeraSun, all getting into the biofuel game, Amyris could end up in a crowded market.

  22. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:30 am | Permalink

    Oh, no, Pleefer, Frankenyeast!

  23. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    Russia bombs Georgia-

    “A senior Georgian security official said Russian jets had bombed the Vaziani military airbase outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and President Mikheil Saakashvili said 150 Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles had entered South Ossetia from neighboring Russia.

    He also said Georgian forces had downed two Russian jets.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL768040420080808

  24. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:45 am | Permalink

    “Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili says it is in the United States’ interest to help his country.”

  25. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:50 am | Permalink

    “Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili says it is in the United States’ interest to help his country.”

    Thanx, no. Our plate is a little full right now.

  26. Mary_Caruso
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:51 am | Permalink

    Sounds like we should invade Russia and overthrow the government…after all they DO possess WMDs and have no regard for human rights, either.

    As far as global warming, the coral reefs are dying due to increased water temperatures. It’s a fact, Jack.

  27. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:52 am | Permalink

    Our plate would overflow-ith if we went up against Russia.

  28. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:52 am | Permalink

    FEAR
    Let’s Have a War

    There’s so many of us
    There’s so many of us
    There’s so many
    There’s so many of us
    There’s so many of us
    There’s so many

    Let’s have a war
    So you can go and die!
    Let’s have a war!
    We could all use the money!
    Let’s have a war!
    We need the space!
    Let’s have a war!
    Clean out this place!

    It already started in the city!
    Suburbia will be just as easy!

    Let’s have a war!
    Jack up the Dow Jones!
    Let’s have a war!
    It can start in New Jersey!
    Let’s have a war!
    Blame it on the middle-class!
    Let’s have a war!
    We’re like rats in a cage!

    It already started in the city!
    Suburbia will be just as easy!

    Let’s have a war!
    Sell the rights to the networks!
    Let’s have a war!
    Let our wallets get fat like last time!
    Let’s have a war!
    Give guns to the queers!
    Let’s have a war!
    The enemy’s within!

    It already started in the city!
    Suburbia will be just as easy!

  29. Mary_Caruso
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:52 am | Permalink

    Oh come on, SolDevVB! What’s a little war between friends?

  30. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:56 am | Permalink

    Oh come on, SolDevVB! What’s a little war between friends?
    —–
    I don’t want to learn Russian, they use funny letters.

  31. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:56 am | Permalink

    I’m on the phone with Ahmadinejad, I’ll ask him…

  32. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:57 am | Permalink

    Rising temps…

    http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/hadcrut-jan08.png

    Or not.

  33. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:58 am | Permalink

    And again…

    http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/uah-monthly-anomaly-z.png

  34. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:58 am | Permalink

    And again…

    http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/rss-msu-2007-2008-delta.png

  35. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:58 am | Permalink

    I’m on the phone with Ahmadinejad, I’ll ask him…
    ——
    Tell him to lob a few missiles Russia’s way. Maybe that would keep Russia and Iran busy so we can get our sh*t straightened out.

  36. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 8:59 am | Permalink

    I don’t want to learn Russian, they use funny letters.

    But damn they make good vodka. Maybe after a few shots the language gets easier.

  37. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:00 am | Permalink

    But damn they make good vodka. Maybe after a few shots the language gets easier.
    ——
    True dat, yo.

  38. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:01 am | Permalink

    I have a hard enough time with Ebonics, learning Russian may put me over the edge.

  39. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:02 am | Permalink

    Tell him to lob a few missiles Russia’s way.

    No can do. they are bro’s, bro.

    Don’t taze me bro !!!

  40. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:04 am | Permalink

    No can do. they are bro’s, bro.
    —–
    Just tell Tom that it will bring on the end of the world…he likes that kind of stuff.

  41. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:06 am | Permalink

    “As far as global warming, the coral reefs are dying due to increased water temperatures. It’s a fact, Jack” — Mary the whale shark rider.

    Some dispute there Mary. Some say that overfishing has caused an explosion in the population of coral eating starfish, and that has caused the destruction of the reefs. The cause is the same, whatever. Too many using too much. We’re casting ourselves out of the garden. Makes me ill.

  42. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:11 am | Permalink

    Reefs and Global Warming.
    (BTW the Great Barrier Reef is growing in a different direction not declining)

    Dr Gary Sharp, Scientific Director of the Center for Climate/Ocean Resource Study in Monterey Bay, California, makes a few good points regarding global warming and coral bleaching with particular reference to the Florida Keys in a recent article published by Tech Central Station titled, ‘Coral Bleaching: What (or Who) Dunnit?’:

    1. Cold winters, not global warming, wiped out large areas of cold-sensitive corals in the Florida Keys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

    2. Coral reefs currently exists along a 6-7 degree temperature gradient so all the corals aren’t likely to die from a projected 2 degree celsius warming.

    3. Sea surface temperatures are unlikely to increase by 2 degree celsius because the ocean responses to “excessive heating” through Deep Convection when the sea surface temperture exceeds about 27.5C.

    Read the full article here:
    Full Article here:
    http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=042606B

    Hoegh-Guldberg has found an attractive GW niche in the well established guild of GBR doomscryers. It has provided notoriety, acclaim and generous research support. Whether his prophesies will stand up to the reality test remains to be seen. Based on the track record of science based doomscrying his odds don’t look too good. In fact sheep’s entrails and tea leaves seem to produce better results, probably because they at least incorporate some element of intuitive judgment.”

    Last year Walter wrote a review titled ‘Threats to the Great Barrier Reef’, published by the IPA.

  43. Pedant
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:16 am | Permalink

    Will Americans use the coming increases in meat prices to adopt healthier lifestyles? Will the budding increases in all foods, which are expected to outstrip inflation, finally cause Americans to reevaluate their diet and consume less meat?

    Such a fundamental change in diet and food consumption could save the US billions in healthcare costs. In fact, if Americans could change to a healthier diet it would probably reorder the US healthcare system on a size and scale of the reordering Detroit is currently undergoing.

    I guess we can keep our fingers crossed. :D
    ***
    Food Giants Race to Pass
    Rising Costs to Shoppers

    By SCOTT KILMAN

    August 8, 2008; Page A1

    “…During the first six months of 2008, the consumer-price index for food compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics rose at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.8%, with retail prices of breakfast cereal, bakery products and cooking oil among the fastest climbers. That six-month inflation rate is far higher than anything U.S. consumers have had to stomach in 18 years.

    In another measure, the cost of the groceries that the federal government suggests middle-class families buy to have healthy diets rose 8.6% in June compared with the same month a year earlier.

    Michael Swanson, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co., thinks the food inflation rate could rise as high as 6% next year. Paul Prentice, president of Farm Sector Economics, Colorado Springs, Colo., said he expects retail food prices to rise about 7.5% in 2009.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture sees food prices climbing 4.5% to 5.5% this year and 4% to 5% in 2009. Even under this more conservative forecast, the average family of four would see its annual food costs hit $9,800 in 2009, up about $1,200 since 2006.

    Meat is a big reason economists think food inflation has legs.

    Grain is such a big part of the cost of raising livestock that many farmers big and small are losing money on every chicken, steer and hog they sell this summer. As a result, the livestock industry is beginning what could be its biggest contraction since 1982. By next year, the supply of beef, pork and poultry available to U.S. consumers is expected to shrink by five pounds per person, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver.

    Joe Jennings, who raises cattle with his brother near Lazbuddie, Texas, is shrinking his family’s feedlot operation to 2,000 cattle — half last year’s level and their smallest herd since the 1970s. The brothers have lost roughly $100 on some steers because the cost of fattening them on grain has climbed nearly 60% in two years.

    “It is getting pretty precarious,” said Mr. Jennings, 60 years old.

    Feedlots are buying fewer cattle from ranchers, who in turn are selling their breeding cows for slaughter, which means fewer calves in the future. James Mintert, a Kansas State University economist, expects the number of U.S. cattle to sink as low as 90 million by January 2010, down 6.7 million from January 2008.” …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121815511527422591.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today

  44. lindainks55
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:21 am | Permalink

    Really great news! We will have the opportunity to hear from BOTH Clintons at the Democratic Convention later this month. I can’t think of a better way to everybody all excited and motivated than to hear from both those fine leaders AND Obama!
    ————

    News broke late on Thursday that Mr. Clinton had been offered a chance to address the convention on Aug. 27, before the speech of the vice presidential nominee, according to The Times’s Jeff Zeleny. That is the night after Mrs. Clinton is to deliver her speech at the gathering in Denver.

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/the-early-word-clintons-at-the-convention/

  45. Hud
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:24 am | Permalink

    Okay Hank, what is the story about the leak on the Houston?

  46. Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:31 am | Permalink

    “But damn they make good vodka. Maybe after a few shots the language gets easier.”

    Dont forget the caviar. Beluga. Ummmmmmmmm……

  47. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:34 am | Permalink

    Dont forget the caviar. Beluga. Ummmmmmmmm……
    ——-
    BABY KILLER!!!!! :D

  48. Political_mama
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:37 am | Permalink

    I wonder if it counts to do McSame talking points then refuting them in the next post?

  49. Political_mama
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:37 am | Permalink

    BSHunter, like we really ever thought you’d not vote for Mcsame.

  50. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:41 am | Permalink

    The One

  51. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    FBI opens probe into drug raid, dogs’ deaths

    Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

    The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman; investigators said the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/08/fbi.opens.probe.ap/index.html

  52. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:47 am | Permalink

    An energy plan I can get behind…

    NEW YORK (CNN) — Call our politicians and tell them to stay on vacation. Call the caribou roaming in Alaska and tell them they’re safe. Call the Saudi king and tell him what you really think of his oil.

    I, Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic rodeo clown, have come up with a solution to America’s energy crisis…and you’re wearing it.

    Look at yourself right now. You’ve probably got on a shirt, socks, shoes, jewelry, maybe even some pants. Do you have any idea how much all of that weighs?

    If people really loved America, they would strip down, leave their clothes at home, and drive around buck naked. That would decrease the weight of our cars, which would increase our gas mileage so dramatically that we probably wouldn’t have to drill for any new oil!

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/07/beck.energy/index.html

  53. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:52 am | Permalink

    106 mpg ‘air car’ creates buzz, questions

  54. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:54 am | Permalink

    If people really loved America, they would strip down, leave their clothes at home, and drive around buck naked.
    —–
    Ah, I am way ahead of ya, Mr. Beck. However, vinyl seats pose a problem in the summer….

  55. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:56 am | Permalink

    vinyl seats pose a problem in the summer….

    Skin grafts help the economy. sheesh.

  56. Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:57 am | Permalink

    Ahh yesss… Glenn Beck, the self-admitted alcoholic and ADD sufferer, strikes with his sheer genius :roll: yet again!!

    /sarcasm off

  57. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:58 am | Permalink

    Georgia ‘under attack’ as Russian tanks roll in

    …Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer issued a statement Friday saying he was seriously concerned about the recent events in the region…

    Bet they are shakin in their boots now

  58. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:00 am | Permalink

    Chas,

    The self proven blog idiot strikes again. But he won’t admit it. You just try to make him.

    The man beat alcohol dependence, and a ‘self proclaimed preacher’ belittles him for it. What a man you are chas, what a man of God you are.

  59. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:01 am | Permalink

    In his new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Vincent Bugliosi makes a devastating, well documented case that President George W. Bush is guilty of murder as a result of the lies he told to justify the invasion of Iraq.

    As a Los Angeles prosecutor, Bugliosi represented the state in 105 major cases and won 104, including each of his 21 murder cases. Since his first book, Helter Skelter, he’s been one of the top true crime writers with three number one best sellers and numerous awards.

    In his best known case, Bugliosi convicted Charles Manson of murder even though Manson was never at two of the crime scenes when the victims were murdered. Should Bush appear before a judge and jury charged with the murder of U.S. soldiers, Bugliosi is confident that he’s provided the arguments and evidence required for a first degree murder conviction.

    Bugliosi’s argument is simple. Bush wanted a war with Iraq. He had to show that a preemptive invasion of Iraq was justified. To do this Iraq had to be an imminent threat to the United States. There were two major problems. Bush couldn’t prove any connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. More importantly, his own intelligence estimate found that the only scenario in which Saddam posed an imminent threat to the United States was through a preemptive attack on Iraq that threatened Saddam’s survival, i.e., the Bush proposal.

    That was a minor obstacle. Bush cheated. He simply reversed the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of 2002, classified the original document, and provided Congress with a doctored version to support his claims. By doing this, Bush pushed through an illegal invasion which he had to have known would cost U.S. lives. That, Bugliosi argues, is an act of murder committed against each and every U.S. soldier killed in the war.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S00099.htm

  60. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:04 am | Permalink

    SOL — Beck says every day he is a reformed alcoholic, and has ADD… What did I say that HE doesnt say DAILY about himself?? Geez…. you touchy today or what??

  61. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:05 am | Permalink

    Lay off Chas’s profession, Sol.

    Everytime he posts with a strong opinion you reich-wingers don’t like, you hit him with that “man of God” BS.

    WWJD? He’d condemn you as the selfish, greedy bastards ye are.

    Let Chas have his opinions without the personal pile-on.

  62. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:08 am | Permalink

    And for those of you reich-wingers who supported and still support the Iraq War, history will judge you like it judges the good Nazis who supported their Fuhrer, “right or wrong.”

  63. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:09 am | Permalink

    Political_mama
    “BSHunter, like we really ever thought you’d not vote for Mcsame.”

    Hey P_Mom, so typical of you dems to go and accuse someone of doing exactly what you do. It is the democrats who will vote for a democrat no matter who they are. I should know, I was raised a democrat and was a democrat until the Clintons came along.

    I voted for Bill Clinton in his first term but I changed when he ran again, not as a republican either. It is almost impossible to vote for a republican when you have been told all your life that is the the democrat party that is for the people. Well, I found out that was a lie.

    It is the democrat party that is saying that all other countries hate us. What a pack of lies. I have been to other countries, I was in the military. There may have been a few that didn’t like us, but there are lots who do. It is so foolish for the democrat party to hate its own country when there are a lot of foreigners that do like us. Why do you think they move here? We have freedoms that no other country has and you are foolish in their eyes and like spoiled brats. I suggest you talk to them instead of listening to your elitist leaders. You may find the truth.

    Until the democrat party can come to its senses and quit trying to destroy this country, I will vote against them. And btw, those freedoms came from GOD, not from a piece of paper. And it is people like you in the democrat party who want to take away our freedom of religion; therefore, I cannot vote for the democrat party. If you do not like these freedoms that you were born to, you are free to move to any country you wish. Other countries don’t want their people to leave, you are lucky that you can. And if you really hate this country and what it stands for and you have the freedom to leave, then WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE????

  64. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:10 am | Permalink

    Capn

    MOVE ON.

    Any of the 40 nation coalition who forced Saddam into the ceasfire agreement following Gulf War I had the legal right to overthrow him if he failed to live up to the conditions agreed to.

    He did not.

    We did.

    And you have dickheads like Bugliosi wasting their lives away making a case thats mute.

    Pathetic.

  65. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:11 am | Permalink

    Besides, what does my profession have to do with my opinion of the lunatic Beck and his Radio and TV shows??

    I have watched much less of CNN ever since they chose to put him and the ever bombastic Nancy Grace on back to back…

  66. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink

    And I have never understood how the self-proclaimed Right Wingnut, Beck, allowed himself to be pimped out to what HE used to call, the Leftist CNN (until he went to work for them).

  67. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:13 am | Permalink

    Try to wash the blood from your hands, CONs.

    The child left motherless by a 500 pound bomb, the father holding the mutilated remains of his daughter, the family wiped out for the crime of not seeing a check point soon enough.

    “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?

    No; this my hand will rather
    The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
    Making the green one red”.

  68. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:14 am | Permalink

    Heckler —- I believe the word you are looking for there is “moot” — not “mute”

    Carry on….

  69. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:16 am | Permalink

    Heckler wants us to forget our country’s involvement in the wanton murder of hundreds of thousands.

    Well ain’t that a kick in the head.

  70. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:17 am | Permalink

    SOL —-

    Does Beck claim every day to be a reformed Alcoholic??? Does he claim every day to suffer from ADD???

    How do you call those imbecilic claims???

  71. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:19 am | Permalink

    Wasn’t Bugliosi accused of sheep buggery?

  72. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:19 am | Permalink

    Sol–

    Better be careful. You’ll have Regular climbing all over you for using “that kind of language.”

    Oh, wait. I forgot, it’s only when libs use “that kind of language” that he gets all self-righteous.

    You can attack imbecilic remarks all you want to. It’s the constant reference to Chas’s profession that bugs me. As if a pastor isn’t supposed to sound off about anything he sees as wrong . . .

  73. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:22 am | Permalink

    Appalling, Regular, just appalling.

    For seeming to care so much about “that kind of language,” you manage to create images of the most excerable imaginable.

    You, sir, are a blackguard.

  74. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:22 am | Permalink

    ALWAYS REMEMBER >>>>

    “When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” minnehaha07 Sinclair Lewis quotes (American Writer, 1885-1951)

    http://thinkexist.com/quotation/when-facism-comes-to-america-it-will-be-wrapped/411192.html

  75. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:23 am | Permalink

    Incorrect, Sol.

    Alcoholics are always alcoholics, whether they’re drinking or not.

  76. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:23 am | Permalink

    Heh HEH

    See solie melt down.

  77. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:23 am | Permalink

    Capn

    Inflate the numbers all you want. Whatever it takes to stoke the hate in your heart.

    But think about this.

    6 years ago a man who criticized the “government” of Iraq could look forward to a goon squad in the night to maybe gouge an eye out, chop off 4 or 5 fingers, and maybe gang rape his wife.

    6 years later a man who criticizes the elected government officials battling over plans to share oil revenue between different parts of the nation might get screamed at. If he really ticks someone off he might even get spit in the face.

    But that thought probably doesnt do anything to keep that hate simmering at an adequate rate does it.

  78. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:26 am | Permalink

    SOL — What does an AA Member say when he/she stands to share their story???

    “My name is _________ and I’m an ALCOHOLIC…”

    There is NO SUCH THING as a “reformed” alcoholic…. I stuck that “reformed” word in there so you could understand….

  79. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:27 am | Permalink

    Chas

    mute is moot

    very good

    Thank you ever so much.

  80. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:28 am | Permalink

    “Any of the 40 nation coalition who forced Saddam into the ceasfire agreement following Gulf War I had the legal right to overthrow him if he failed to live up to the conditions agreed to.”

    And the Nazis had their legal justifications for Leibenstrom too . . .

  81. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:29 am | Permalink

    You an alcoholic capn? Is Clark? I seem to remember him saying he liked to tip a few back. So would you refer to him as an alcoholic? I wouldn’t.

    Is a man that drinks all day and all night an alcoholic? Would you refer to him that way? If the man busted his butt and got off the sauce, would you introduce him as ‘Jim, the alcoholic’?

    I know you like to stick up for the village idiot capn, but even you can see F-Tard chas used that as an attack against the man. You can play semantics all you like, but you can’t take away the fact of what chas did.

    Got $100 says he will never admit to it also. Anyone want some of that action?

  82. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:31 am | Permalink

    With Chas around, there is a constant shortage of communion wine.

  83. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:33 am | Permalink

    #
    CapnAmerica
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:22 am | Permalink

    Appalling, Regular, just appalling.

    For seeming to care so much about “that kind of language,” you manage to create images of the most excerable imaginable.

    You, sir, are a blackguard.
    ==================================

    Ah Crapn, I feel vituperated

    …or not.

  84. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:34 am | Permalink

    Capn

    All that hate’s gonna eat your soul away to the point that come judgement day even the Devil won’t waste his time with you. Nothin be left but dried up bile.

  85. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:35 am | Permalink

    SOL — It is very clear that you understand nothing about the nature of alcoholism… It is a disease…. And even if CapN, or I would not introduce “Jim the alcoholic” —- JIM WOULD!!

    And BECK does so himself!!

  86. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    You are taking something said about a hero of yours rather personally there solie.

    Heh heh.

  87. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    SOL — Exactly what is it that I am supposed to be guilty of??? Using Beck’s own words against him??? Thats probably the biggest joke of the day so far!!

    REGULAR — most of the churches in my denomination do not use WINE for communion… It would be offensive to any alcoholics who come to the Altar for the Means of Grace…

  88. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:38 am | Permalink

    blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/08/open-thread-88-2/#comment-397942
    SOL — Beck says every day he is a reformed alcoholic

    blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/08/open-thread-88-2/#comment-397956
    Does Beck claim every day to be a reformed Alcoholic???
    ________________________________________________________
    blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/08/open-thread-88-2/#comment-397969
    There is NO SUCH THING as a “reformed” alcoholic

    I think lab-monkey is putting on a show for us. No one can be this stupid.

  89. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:38 am | Permalink

    #
    Chas
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    SOL — Exactly what is it that I am supposed to be guilty of??? Using Beck’s own words against him??? Thats probably the biggest joke of the day so far!!

    REGULAR — most of the churches in my denomination do not use WINE for communion… It would be offensive to any alcoholics who come to the Altar for the Means of Grace…
    ————————–
    Welches or Mr. Fizzy?

  90. TomPaine
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:40 am | Permalink

    Sol?? your the one who brought up the fact that Beck’s a alcoholic, and he does bring it up on his show quite a bit. Also I dont think hes a Libertarian, he has them on his show and agrees with them on certain issues, but is also highly critical on other core issues, the border, drugs, Iraq, comes to mind,

  91. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:41 am | Permalink

    Correction: Lebensraum Living room/space

  92. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    SOL — Hate??? NO… Throwing Beck’s own self proclaimed truth in his face?? YEP!!

    You have the audacity to bitch at me about hate??? Look at your own posts denigrating ME and my profession…. My profession has NOTHING to do with when I see a vile, hate-filled Talk show host, spewing his LIES….

  93. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    (skirt) missed the damn R key.

    Hey stroke boy, when does the CAPS fest start?

  94. Mary_Caruso
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    The seas are warmer than in the 80’s, it does no good to show the short term temps, because they often rise and dip.
    I saw brown sea fans that should have been purple, the almost complete demise of the blue bell tunicates, azure sponges that were turning brown instead of staying brilliant blue…things had changed dramatically since I was there 5 years ago. The sea itself was so warm, I never even wore a wetsuit, even with 3-4 dives per day. That’s not “overfishing” at work..it’s increased water temp due to overall global warming. What else could make the water so warm that the reefs are dying?

  95. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:44 am | Permalink

    They sure as heck don’t use wine in Regular’s church either.

    So . . . he’s mocking himself, assuming that he actually goes to church as he says he does . . .

  96. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:46 am | Permalink

    SOL —- ONE MORE TIME…. Read slowly —-

    There IS no such thing as a “reformed” alcoholic…. I put that word in there so YOU would understand it….

    I guess I was wrong… You didnt understand it…

    As long as BECK calls himself an Alcoholic, I guess I will too!! The term used by alcoholics is NOT “reformed” —- They talk in terms of the length of their sobriety… Try using the right words, Sol…

  97. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:46 am | Permalink

    The sea itself was so warm, I never even wore a wetsuit
    ——-
    It’s the Caribbean.

  98. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:48 am | Permalink

    blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/08/open-thread-88-2/#comment-397931
    “I, Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic”

    __________________________________________________

    http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/08/open-thread-88-2/#comment-397936
    Chas
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 9:57 am | Permalink
    Ahh yesss… Glenn Beck, the self-admitted alcoholic

    _________________________________________________

    Y’all too ignorant to see the difference? Your bad.

    _______________________________________________

    Chas,

    a vile, hate-filled Talk show host, spewing his LIES….

    Back it up. Prove it.

    Got another $100 says lab-monkey can’t do that either. Any takers?

  99. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:50 am | Permalink

    Tom Paine….

    BECK will also be starting his favorite weekly bigot game soon…. MORON TRIVIA…. The game where he calls up C-Stores in the cities where an NFL game will be played… and asks stupid questions of the clerks who answer the phones….

    His HOPE is that he gets a Clerk on the phone who speaks little, or badly broken, English, so he can poke fun at them….

    And HE thinks it’s great fun!!

  100. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:52 am | Permalink

    You can call it “hate” if it makes you feel better, Heckler.

    I call it working for justice.

    The vast majority of good Nazis didn’t participate in their country’s horrific terror campaigns, they just quietly paid their taxes and said, “I can’t do anything about it.”

    The question is not how that one man [Hitler] could be so evil but that how so many had not the courage to be good.

    - Elie Wiesel

  101. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    SOL — Just listen to his stupid show… He proves it himself daily…. He just isnt quite as bad as Michael Savage… or Mark Levin…. ALMOST…. but not quite….

  102. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:55 am | Permalink

    Capn’A lovingly equates the USA to Nazi Germany….nice.

  103. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:56 am | Permalink

    Ya GOTTA love Canada….

    Controversial U.S. church group stopped at border

    Paul Gackle, Winnipeg Free Press
    Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008

    WINNIPEG — Residents rallied Thursday to protect the family of a young man murdered on a Greyhound bus last week from a posse of radical religious protesters planning to portray Tim McLean’s death as God’s wrath.

    Earlier this week, the Westboro Baptist Church - an organization branded as a hate group and infamous for protesting the funerals of slain U.S. soldiers - announced they would picket Mr. McLean’s funeral to let Canadians know that his decapitation was God’s response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and adultery.

    But Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church’s founder, Fred Phelps, said a small group of protesters was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border on Thursday afternoon.

    “They won’t let us in, but we have a group that will cross in another spot,” she said. “They’ll have to strip search everyone who crosses that border or they won’t know who we are. They’ll have to see the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) tattoo on our butts” …

    http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=707624

    I wonder what the phelps kids will say when they write their “How I spent my summer vacation” essay…

  104. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:57 am | Permalink

    Capn

    “I call it working for justice.”

    Try rooting your efforts a little more in reality then.

  105. Heckler
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:58 am | Permalink

    Capn

    …if you wish to be taken seriously.

  106. Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:58 am | Permalink

    SOL — Beck’s BIGGEST lie is getting paid by the very Liberals he claims to detest!!

    What more proof can be offered than that??

  107. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 10:59 am | Permalink

    “They won’t let us in, but we have a group that will cross in another spot,” she said. “They’ll have to strip search everyone who crosses that border or they won’t know who we are. They’ll have to see the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) tattoo on our butts”
    —–
    Can we drop these loons in an Afghan village and be done with them?

  108. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    Buligosi: Ican tell you that if the case went to trial, the central, overriding issue at Bush’s trial, would be whether or not he took this nation to war in self defense as he claimed he did: that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and therefore he was an imminent threat to the security of this country, so we had to strike first in self defense.

    If Bush could prove this that would be his defense. The prosecution has the burden of showing that he did not act in self defense. But if the evidence showed that he did act in self defense, that would be a legal justification for all of the deaths during the war in Iraq.

    If the prosecutor, on the other hand, could prove that he did not act in self defense and he took the nation to war under false pretenses, then all of the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq would become unlawful killings. All of those killings would become unlawful killings and therefore murder.

    . . . .

    As I testified before Congress, I have documentary evidence that when George Bush told the nation on the evening of October 7, 2002, that Hussein was an imminent threat to the security of this country, he was telling millions of unsuspecting Americans the exact opposite of what his own CIA had told him just six days earlier in a classified report on October 1 — that Hussein was not an imminent threat. That classified report was the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002. But it even gets worse than this. On October 4, three days after the October 1 classified report, the Bush administration put out an unclassified summary version of the classified report so they could give it to Congress and the American people. This unclassified version came to be known as the White Paper, and in this White Paper the conclusion of U.S. intelligence that Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country was completely deleted.

  109. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    Can we drop these loons in an Afghan village and be done with them?

    I’ll second that.

  110. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:03 am | Permalink

    The Jews must feel the same as the Capn’, you know since we’ve burned up a few million of them.

  111. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:04 am | Permalink

    And where was Old Rubberstamp Roberts as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee while Commander Cod Piece was lying us into war?

    He’s in a position to know and what does he do?

    He leads the chant, “seig heil.”

  112. TomPaine
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:06 am | Permalink

    Someone or something torched some buildings on the Phelps compound, somehow I dont see the Topeka FD wasting a lot of time figuring it out even if it is arson

  113. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:07 am | Permalink

    SOL — You want me to admit to a blatant attack on Glenn Beck???

    OK… Sure, I will admit to that….

    I thought that was obvious…. So, how come you got your panties all in a wad over me attacking Beck??? You his resident shill in Michigan??? Or what??

  114. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:07 am | Permalink

    Anti–

    I see your name and I scroll right over your posts.

    Too bad the BLOG doesn’t have an ignore feature so people you don’t want to read are no longer seen by the user.

    Maybe if Hank Price suggests it to the editors, they’ll do it, (since they ignored our pleas for registration until HE suggested it, heh).

  115. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:08 am | Permalink

    Maybe the Phelps Clan torched their own compound looking for sympathy, TomPaine…

    Just saying…..

  116. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:09 am | Permalink

    Capn, you are only denying the severity of Jewish tragedy by comparing the USA to Nazi Germany.

  117. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    Chas, I’m with you.

    Beck is like a deoderized version of Limbaugh. They even look alike.

    I can’t stand the sound of his voice.

    He’s the pundit who tells conventional thinkers that their conventional view of the world is just alright.

    In other words, he panders to the dumb by telling them that dumb is right.

    Same as Limbaugh.

  118. Regular
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    Vincent Bugliosi’s Misnamed Reclaiming History
    by David R. Wrone, 28 Sep 2007

    No doubt, Bugliosi’s book will end up in flames likes his previous book, “Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.”

    In the forty four years of sustained discussion about the official findings of the federal government’s investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy no author can equal the failure Vincent Bugliosi has achieved in his misnamed Reclaiming History. Invented facts & relations. A characteristic of his narrative is the frequent use of hypothetical instances as a substitute for a lack of evidence or absence of documentary support for a statement. These he typically expresses with such phrases as “probably” or “must have” and similar wordage. In other words, when no or scant evidence exists to sustain a point he is writing about, he makes it up.

  119. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    You want me to admit to a blatant attack on Glenn Beck???

    OK… Sure, I will admit to that….

    So chas attacks those that have beaten the alcohol demon. How proud you must be.

    At least you grew a little of your nuts back and admitted it. Still waiting on the hate filled lies. Gave you a link to his show. You can find transcripts for about 90% of his live broadcasts there. Good hunting.

  120. TomPaine
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:12 am | Permalink

    a question about the Phelps, as many people know a good chunk of the Phelps family work for the state of Kansas, now how is it that they can miss so much work always going around the county protesting and not get fired, I dont know the states benefits but would imagine that you only get a few weeks a year in vacation

  121. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:12 am | Permalink

    De-odarized?

    Yes, that looks correct now . . .

  122. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:13 am | Permalink

    I’m not going to argue with you Mary, you were there and I wasn’t. I’m just a costal snorkler anyway, and I’ve never worn a wet suit anywhere. However, a lot of the reef die-off in Australia has been shown to be due to overfishing.

  123. outlander
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:14 am | Permalink

    To the Dr. Pepper tune:

    ask any Nazi and they’ll say “only a Nazi behaves that way”

    i’m a Nazi, he’s a Nazi, she’s a Nazi, we’re all Nazis, wouldn’t you like to be a Nazi too?

    be a Nazi think like a Nazi! come on! (x4)

  124. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:18 am | Permalink

    I seem to have opened the phloodgates to the pent up desire to use the ph-word.

  125. TomPaine
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:19 am | Permalink

    Chas, if the Phelps burnt their own stuff then it would be worth finding out and putting them in jail for arson.

  126. beber
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:24 am | Permalink

    I’ve never listened to Nancy Grace or Glenn Beck any longer than it takes me to change the channel. Same goes for Mr. Bush. I suggest you people do the same, if you don’t like those shows. I blocked Fox eight years ago.

  127. avtolle
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    Capn, its “deodorized”.

  128. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    At least remembering the start of WW3 will be easy to remember in the future. 8-8-8, Russia invades Georgia.

  129. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:32 am | Permalink

    Russian tanks rolling into town, shooting civilians…awesome! Just what the Neo-Cons have always wanted! Happy Birthday guys!

  130. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:36 am | Permalink

    Just what the Neo-Cons have always wanted! Happy Birthday guys!
    ——
    Yes, because as we all know, war with Russia will be a good thing…..jeeez us!

  131. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:38 am | Permalink

    They said they would attack if the missles came into Georgia. Looks like they made good.

  132. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:38 am | Permalink

    SOL —

    What bigger LIE could you ask for, than for Beck to constantly denigrate the Liberal Media, and then laugh all the way to the bank with his check from CNN??? ROFL

    Get on the right page, ok??

  133. Pleefer
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    Now, do I watch war or the Olympics…tough one.

  134. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    ALSO —-

    I already posted about his weekly bigot game he calls Moron Trivia….

  135. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    What bigger LIE could you ask for,

    So you still have nuthin. Got it.

  136. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:40 am | Permalink

    Moron Trivia

    And that is a lie how?

  137. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:40 am | Permalink

    (from the LA Times):

    Anthrax investigation should be investigated, congressmen say

    Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Rush Holt want hearings into the Justice Department and FBI’s handling of the case.

    By Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
    August 8, 2008

    WASHINGTON — After seven long years, the FBI and the Justice Department say they are closing the books on the anthrax investigation.

    But the investigation into the investigation is only beginning, and it will focus on what Congress members described Thursday as apparent missteps by authorities that dramatically prolonged the probe, unfairly maligned an innocent government scientist, and raised questions about whether federal agents had conclusively ruled out other suspects besides microbiologist Bruce E. Ivins.

    Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.), frequent critics of the FBI, demanded a far more detailed release of documents by the bureau and the Justice Department to support the government’s case, as well as congressional hearings into the investigation.

    Grassley sent a three-page letter Thursday evening to Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, giving them two weeks to respond to 18 questions that raised concerns about virtually every aspect of the probe.

    ******

    Strangely, none of Ivins’s colleagues who are the best position to know think that he could have done it. They point out that they don’t use dry spores at USAMRIID, and he couldn’t have weaponized the anthrax alone without anyone’s knowledge.

    As far as the all-too convenient suicide, he may have been depressed and paranoid. He may have responded with suicide because he didn’t want some other embarrassing knowledge to come out at trial, like he was having an affair, say. He may have just cracked under constant FBI harrassment, which is their preferred method of investigation rather than actual forensic police work.

    If the prosecutors can’t place Ivins at the well-established mail drops within a narrow window of time, they got nothing. And so far, they haven’t.
    All he needs is proof that he couldn’t have been where the anthrax mailer must have been (at that time) for their case to completely fall apart.

  138. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:42 am | Permalink

    Watch the olympics on the commercials for the war. Sheesh.

  139. ANTI
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:42 am | Permalink

    Moron Trivia….
    ——
    That gets a giggle out of me every time!

  140. Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:44 am | Permalink

    Avtolle–

    Ah ha! Thanks.

    I hate those “spelling demons.” Took me about ten years to spell “their” correctly.

  141. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 11:48 am | Permalink

    Moron Trivia

    What a human travisty…

    http://www.morontrivia.com/playbyplay.php?gid=258

  142. SolDevVB
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

    Boy, chas is taking quite a while hunting down one little lie. Since Beck lies daily on his shows, it would seem easy for poor little chas to find just one. Hmmm.

  143. Posted August 8, 2008 at 12:10 pm | Permalink

    SOL — In order to get to the transcripts of the daily shows, one has to be a PAID subscriber… I am not going to PAY any money to show you any of Beck’s LIES….

    Got it???

  144. Posted August 8, 2008 at 12:11 pm | Permalink

    However…. here is a link to a bunch of Beck’s LIES and false statements…. both on Radio, and on TV….

    http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/tags/glenn_beck

  145. Grateful_Dave
    Posted August 8, 2008 at 12:22 pm | Permalink

    Well, lets see…..
    Bush says America does not torture….Then we must not be in America anymore, Toto !

    McCain, who claimed to have been tortured as a POW in North Vietnam, says a lot of the right things. “We do not torture people,” he said in a 2007 Republican debate. “It’s not about the terrorists; it’s about us. It’s about what kind of country we are.” He used his Vietnam experience against fellow Republicans, bullying Congress into passing a law banning torture against detainees held by the military.
    Bush signed McCain’s bill in late 2005, saying it “is to make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad.”

    Al-Qaida: Terror suspect says she was secretly detained and tortured for years by US
    The Guardian,
    Friday August 8 2008
    A Pakistani woman charged with attacking US army officers in Afghanistan last month has told her lawyer that she was in US custody for years, despite claims that she was only arrested last month.
    Aafia Siddiqui, who is accused of being a key al-Qaida operative, disappeared five years ago. Now being detained in New York, she said she had been held elsewhere for years and was tortured.
    Her US lawyer, Elaine Sharp, who interviewed her for three hours on Wednesday, said her description of the place she was detained meant it could only be Bagram, the US ba