http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2006/12/the_bakerhamilt.html#more
Finally, it seems to me that the ground is being prepared for the United States to walk away, and to blame the Iraqi government for failing to get its act together. Take a look at this recommendation from the report:
"If the Iraqi government does not make substantial progress toward the achievement of milestones on national reconciliation, security and governance, the United States should reduce its political, military or economic support."
If I were an Iraqi sitting in the green zone, I wouldn’t feel too re-assured by that passage.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
RUN DMC
First hit this link:
http://www.sonymusic.com/clips/selection/fu/RunDMC/RunDMC_PeteRockMegamix_full.ram
Then read this link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2672294&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1
He's scored touchdowns four different ways this season. He has 12 rushing touchdowns, a 70-yard catch for a touchdown, two passing touchdowns and the 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. With 1,303 rushing yards, he's just 84 yards behind the Arkansas single-season record set by Madre Hill in 1995.
McFadden, a finalist for the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back, said it would be a "great honor" to break the Arkansas rushing record.
But an even greater honor would be bringing a first-ever SEC championship back to Fayetteville.
The next two defenses (LSU and Florida) will be the toughest two McFadden has faced all season. The Gators are allowing just 71.8 yards per game on the ground and the Tigers 74.6 yards. Neither defense is giving up more than 2.7 yards per carry.
McFadden's teammates say these are the types of games he lives for.
"He runs hard, and you'll see it go to another level now," Arkansas cornerback Chris Houston said. "If you try to tackle him one-on-one, it's not going to be too pretty for you."
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Take a trip back..........
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
whether its the Allmans at Fillmore West
Stevie Wonder at Winterland
or Traffic at Fillmore East
there is something for everyone on this website.. free access to the vaults
whether its the Allmans at Fillmore West
Stevie Wonder at Winterland
or Traffic at Fillmore East
there is something for everyone on this website.. free access to the vaults
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Ark. governor defends gift registries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_re_us/huckabee_gift_registries
note to ClusterHuck:
YOU SUCK
get him out of there..................
note to ClusterHuck:
YOU SUCK
get him out of there..................
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
White House: Iran must play constructive role
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061114/ts_nm/iran_usa_dc_9
uhhhh..... i thought Iran was supplying terrorists with weapons.. what next?
White House to request troops and nuclear warheads from N. Korea to battle insurgents
uhhhh..... i thought Iran was supplying terrorists with weapons.. what next?
White House to request troops and nuclear warheads from N. Korea to battle insurgents
Friday, November 10, 2006
Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.html
what goes around.....
wonder if this is the real reason he retired early
what goes around.....
wonder if this is the real reason he retired early
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
Key Evangelical quits amid gay sex claim
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061103/ap_on_re_us/haggard_sex_allegations
innocent til proven guilty but typical bs
The accusations were made by Mike Jones, 49, of Denver, who said he decided to go public because of the political fight over the amendments.
"I just want people to step back and take a look and say, 'Look, we're all sinners, we all have faults, but if two people want to get married, just let them, and let them have a happy life,'" said Jones, who added that he isn't working for any political group.
Jones, who said he is gay, said he was also upset when he discovered Haggard and the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage.
"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," he said.
innocent til proven guilty but typical bs
The accusations were made by Mike Jones, 49, of Denver, who said he decided to go public because of the political fight over the amendments.
"I just want people to step back and take a look and say, 'Look, we're all sinners, we all have faults, but if two people want to get married, just let them, and let them have a happy life,'" said Jones, who added that he isn't working for any political group.
Jones, who said he is gay, said he was also upset when he discovered Haggard and the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage.
"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," he said.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
National Foreclosures +17% QoQ, +43% YoY
http://news.yahoo.com/s/sddt/20061101/lo_sddt/foreclosureactivitypickingupsteam
some of the economic numbers Dubs doesn't want you to know about...
some of the economic numbers Dubs doesn't want you to know about...
Fascism - Us or Them?
Fascism - a system of social organization in which the political state is a dictatorship supported by a political elite and in which the economic society is an autarchic capitalism, enclosed and planned, in which the government assumes responsibility for creating adequate purchasing power through the instrumentality of national debt and in which militarism is adopted as a great economic project for creating work as well as a great romantic project in the service of the imperialist state.
Broken down, it includes these devices:
1. A government whose powers are unrestrained.
2. A leader who is a dictator, absolute in power but responsible to the party which is a preferred elite.
3. An economic system in which production and distribution are carried on by private owners but in accordance with plans made by the state directly or under its immediate supervision.
4. These plans involve control of all the instruments of production and distribution through great government bureaus which have the power to make regulations or directives with the force of law.
5. They involve also the comprehensive integration of government and private finances, under which investment is directed and regimented by the government, so that while ownership is private and production is carried on by private owners there is a type of socialization of investment, of the financial aspects of production. By this means the state, which by law and by regulation can exercise a powerful control over industry, can enormously expand and complete that control by assuming the role of banker and partner.
6. They involve also the device of creating streams of purchasing power by federal government borrowing and spending as a permanent institution.
7. As a necessary consequence of all this, militarism becomes an inevitable part of the system since it provides the easiest means of draining great numbers annually from the labor market and of creating a tremendous industry for the production of arms for defense, which industry is supported wholly by government borrowing and spending.
8. Imperialism becomes an essential element of such a system where that is possible — particularly in the strong states, since the whole fascist system, despite its promises of abundance, necessitates great financial and personal sacrifices, which people cannot be induced to make in the interest of the ordinary objectives of civil life and which they will submit to only when they are presented with some national crusade or adventure on the heroic model touching deeply the springs of chauvinistic pride, interest, and feeling.
Broken down, it includes these devices:
1. A government whose powers are unrestrained.
2. A leader who is a dictator, absolute in power but responsible to the party which is a preferred elite.
3. An economic system in which production and distribution are carried on by private owners but in accordance with plans made by the state directly or under its immediate supervision.
4. These plans involve control of all the instruments of production and distribution through great government bureaus which have the power to make regulations or directives with the force of law.
5. They involve also the comprehensive integration of government and private finances, under which investment is directed and regimented by the government, so that while ownership is private and production is carried on by private owners there is a type of socialization of investment, of the financial aspects of production. By this means the state, which by law and by regulation can exercise a powerful control over industry, can enormously expand and complete that control by assuming the role of banker and partner.
6. They involve also the device of creating streams of purchasing power by federal government borrowing and spending as a permanent institution.
7. As a necessary consequence of all this, militarism becomes an inevitable part of the system since it provides the easiest means of draining great numbers annually from the labor market and of creating a tremendous industry for the production of arms for defense, which industry is supported wholly by government borrowing and spending.
8. Imperialism becomes an essential element of such a system where that is possible — particularly in the strong states, since the whole fascist system, despite its promises of abundance, necessitates great financial and personal sacrifices, which people cannot be induced to make in the interest of the ordinary objectives of civil life and which they will submit to only when they are presented with some national crusade or adventure on the heroic model touching deeply the springs of chauvinistic pride, interest, and feeling.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
655,000 Iraqis die because of war
NEW YORK - A controversial new study contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates.
The timing of the survey's release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it "politics."
In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer.
"Deaths are occurring in now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003," Dr. Gilbert Burnham, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The study by Burnham, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and others is to be published Thursday on the Web site of The Lancet, a medical journal.
An accurate count of Iraqi deaths has been difficult to obtain, but one respected group puts its rough estimate at closer to 50,000. And at least one expert was skeptical of the new findings.
"They're almost certainly way too high," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election.
"This is not analysis, this is politics," Cordesman said.
The work updates an earlier Johns Hopkins study — that one was released just before the November 2004 presidential election. At the time, the lead researcher, Les Roberts of Hopkins, said the timing was deliberate. Many of the same researchers were involved in the latest estimate.
Speaking of the new study, Burnham said the estimate was much higher than others because it was derived from a house-to-house survey rather than approaches that depend on body counts or media reports.
A private group called Iraqi Body Count, for example, says it has recorded about 44,000 to 49,000 civilian Iraqi deaths. But it notes that those totals are based on media reports, which it says probably overlook "many if not most civilian casualties."
For Burnham's study, researchers gathered data from a sample of 1,849 Iraqi households with a total of 12,801 residents from late May to early July. That sample was used to extrapolate the total figure. The estimate deals with deaths up to July.
The survey participants attributed about 31 percent of violent deaths to coalition forces.
Accurate death tolls have been difficult to obtain ever since the Iraq conflict began in March 2003. When top Iraqi political officials cite death numbers, they often refuse to say where the numbers came from.
The Health Ministry, which tallies civilian deaths, relies on reports from government hospitals and morgues. The Interior Ministry compiles its figures from police stations, while the Defense Ministry reports deaths only among army soldiers and insurgents killed in combat.
The United keeps its own count, based largely on reports from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry.
The major funder of the new study was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The timing of the survey's release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it "politics."
In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer.
"Deaths are occurring in now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003," Dr. Gilbert Burnham, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The study by Burnham, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and others is to be published Thursday on the Web site of The Lancet, a medical journal.
An accurate count of Iraqi deaths has been difficult to obtain, but one respected group puts its rough estimate at closer to 50,000. And at least one expert was skeptical of the new findings.
"They're almost certainly way too high," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election.
"This is not analysis, this is politics," Cordesman said.
The work updates an earlier Johns Hopkins study — that one was released just before the November 2004 presidential election. At the time, the lead researcher, Les Roberts of Hopkins, said the timing was deliberate. Many of the same researchers were involved in the latest estimate.
Speaking of the new study, Burnham said the estimate was much higher than others because it was derived from a house-to-house survey rather than approaches that depend on body counts or media reports.
A private group called Iraqi Body Count, for example, says it has recorded about 44,000 to 49,000 civilian Iraqi deaths. But it notes that those totals are based on media reports, which it says probably overlook "many if not most civilian casualties."
For Burnham's study, researchers gathered data from a sample of 1,849 Iraqi households with a total of 12,801 residents from late May to early July. That sample was used to extrapolate the total figure. The estimate deals with deaths up to July.
The survey participants attributed about 31 percent of violent deaths to coalition forces.
Accurate death tolls have been difficult to obtain ever since the Iraq conflict began in March 2003. When top Iraqi political officials cite death numbers, they often refuse to say where the numbers came from.
The Health Ministry, which tallies civilian deaths, relies on reports from government hospitals and morgues. The Interior Ministry compiles its figures from police stations, while the Defense Ministry reports deaths only among army soldiers and insurgents killed in combat.
The United keeps its own count, based largely on reports from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry.
The major funder of the new study was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Axis of Evil Haunts Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100901130.html?referrer=email
the preppy rich kid picking a fight... always gets his ass kicked
the preppy rich kid picking a fight... always gets his ass kicked
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Image-conscious Arkansas takes anti-Nutt shirts
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2607558
Caleb Larru, 28, had black shirts printed with a cartoon of Nutt's face on the front. On the back, below a headline reading "National Championship Under Construction," was a list of statistics from Nutt's tenure at Arkansas, including the Razorbacks' lack of 10-win seasons and Southeastern Conference championships -- and their poor record against some of the SEC's top teams.
Caleb Larru, 28, had black shirts printed with a cartoon of Nutt's face on the front. On the back, below a headline reading "National Championship Under Construction," was a list of statistics from Nutt's tenure at Arkansas, including the Razorbacks' lack of 10-win seasons and Southeastern Conference championships -- and their poor record against some of the SEC's top teams.
Friday, September 29, 2006
TOP 10 LIST
Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey didn't do the honors, presenting a Top Ten list on Thursday's "Late Show With David Letterman." Staff member Gerard Mulligan came out to deliver the list.
And it's amusing, risque, out there ...
Letterman explained why Mulligan stepped in to deliver "Chapter Titles in Jim McGreevey's Book."
"We had invited the governor to be here, he said he would be here, we were all very excited that he was going to be here and then he stopped calling," Letterman said. "They just stopped calling. They left us numbers that were unplugged, we couldn't get a hold of him. He said, 'Oh no, we're coming, don't worry, we're coming,' and that's the last we heard of him…I hope he's OK."
McGreevey, who is gay, may not be after he sees this list ... Or maybe he'll guffaw. That was our reaction.
The list to "Chapter Titles in Jim McGreevey's Book" ...
10. "The Day I Got Caught Governing Myself"
9. "How to Pretend to Like Girls for 47 Years"
8. "From Schwarzenegger to Pataki: Governors I'd Like to Oil Up"
7. "Another Confession -- I Can't Resist Entenmann's Pound Cake"
6. "At First I Just Thought I Was Bipartisan"
5. "The New Jersey Budget Crisis -- What Would Judy Garland Do?"
4. "A Look at the Governor's Balls"
3. "Politicians Who Left a Bad Taste in My Mouth"
2. "How to Push Through a Bill – Or a Steve or a Larry…"
1. "Why I Don't Like Bush"
And it's amusing, risque, out there ...
Letterman explained why Mulligan stepped in to deliver "Chapter Titles in Jim McGreevey's Book."
"We had invited the governor to be here, he said he would be here, we were all very excited that he was going to be here and then he stopped calling," Letterman said. "They just stopped calling. They left us numbers that were unplugged, we couldn't get a hold of him. He said, 'Oh no, we're coming, don't worry, we're coming,' and that's the last we heard of him…I hope he's OK."
McGreevey, who is gay, may not be after he sees this list ... Or maybe he'll guffaw. That was our reaction.
The list to "Chapter Titles in Jim McGreevey's Book" ...
10. "The Day I Got Caught Governing Myself"
9. "How to Pretend to Like Girls for 47 Years"
8. "From Schwarzenegger to Pataki: Governors I'd Like to Oil Up"
7. "Another Confession -- I Can't Resist Entenmann's Pound Cake"
6. "At First I Just Thought I Was Bipartisan"
5. "The New Jersey Budget Crisis -- What Would Judy Garland Do?"
4. "A Look at the Governor's Balls"
3. "Politicians Who Left a Bad Taste in My Mouth"
2. "How to Push Through a Bill – Or a Steve or a Larry…"
1. "Why I Don't Like Bush"
Thursday, September 21, 2006
A Dirty Trick... (but not surprising)
Cheney's boys show their best side...
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/index.html#2391
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/index.html#2391
Monday, September 18, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Hurry...check this out!
Please Google the word 'failure' and see what results you get... better hurry before W finds out!
Hurry...check this out!
Please Google the word 'failure' and see what results you get... better hurry before W finds out!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
"we didn't bother to wake President Bush" - source tells NBC
Bush and Blair discussed the raid on Sunday nite...
MON
TUES
WED
worst performing stock sector was Airlines and other Transportation
think there was a leak?
MON
TUES
WED
worst performing stock sector was Airlines and other Transportation
think there was a leak?
Excellent....
I'll keep it short and sweet -- Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.
Secy's Laurel and Hardy.. All over it - whew i feel much safer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_terror_threat_text_1
oh my fucking god, part II
the worst mustache...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Consumer credit rose $10.27 billion in June
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060807/bs_nm/economy_credit_dc_1
borrowing more as rates rise.. not how it's supposed to work
borrowing more as rates rise.. not how it's supposed to work
Friday, August 04, 2006
'Atta girl!
Warms my heart to read in the Demazette this AM about Hilary dressing down Rummy at the hearing yesterday. I only wish I could have been there... after her opening salvo he mutters, "My goodness."
The mayor is behind on his comments... but was moved to action on Cynic's "Scary Shit" piece.
The mayor is behind on his comments... but was moved to action on Cynic's "Scary Shit" piece.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
NYT Sunday edition - Scary Shit
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/weekinreview/30shanker.html?_r=1&ref=weekinreview&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/magazine/30wwln_lede.html?ex=1154491200&en=41d918f5023f7993&ei=5070
you get the feeling that shit in the middle east is spiralling out of control in front of our eyes..
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/magazine/30wwln_lede.html?ex=1154491200&en=41d918f5023f7993&ei=5070
you get the feeling that shit in the middle east is spiralling out of control in front of our eyes..
Thursday, July 27, 2006
A Texas Preacher Leads Campaign To Let Israel Fight - WSJ
By ANDREW HIGGINS July 27, 2006
WASHINGTON -- After Israel sent warplanes into Iraq in 1981 to bomb a nuclear reactor, Texas televangelist John Hagee sent letters to 150 fellow Christian preachers to rally support for the Jewish state.
He got just one positive response. When Mr. Hagee pressed ahead with plans for a pro-Israel gathering in a San Antonio theater, he says he got a death threat on the phone and someone shot out all the windows of his station wagon parked in his driveway.
Last week, as Israel's armed forces pounded Lebanon and worries of a wider conflagration mounted, Mr. Hagee presided over what he called a "miracle of God": a gathering of 3,500 evangelical Christians packed into a Washington hotel to cheer Israel and its current military campaign.
Standing on a stage bedecked with a huge Israeli flag, Mr. Hagee drew rapturous applause and shouts of "amen" as he hailed Israel for doing God's work in a "war of good versus evil." Calls for Israel to show restraint violate "God's foreign-policy statement" toward Jews, he said, citing a verse from the Old Testament that promises to "bless those who bless you" and curse "the one who curses you."
The gathering was sponsored by Christians United for Israel, a national organization the 66-year-old preacher set up this year. The group lobbies politicians in Washington, rallies grassroots support for Israel and aims to educate Christians on what it calls the "biblical imperative" of supporting the Jewish state.
Mr. Hagee is a leading figure in the so-called Christian-Zionist movement. This evangelical political philosophy is rooted in biblical prophecies and a belief that Israel's struggles signal a prelude to Armageddon. Its followers staunchly support the Bush administration's unequivocal backing of Israel in its current battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Bush sent a message to the gathering praising Mr. Hagee and his supporters for "spreading the hope of God's love and the universal gift of freedom." The Israeli prime minister also sent words of thanks. Israel's ambassador, its former military chief and a host of U.S. political heavyweights, mostly Republican, attended.
At a time when Islamist groups are displacing secular nationalists as the main vehicle for political revolt across the Middle East, Mr. Hagee and like-minded evangelicals are injecting greater religious fervor into American attitudes and policy toward the region. They see, and even sometimes seem to embrace, the notion of a global conflict between Islam and the Judeo-Christian West, just as do many zealous Muslims.
John Hagee (center) at Christians United for Israel banquet in Washington last week.
"This is a religious war that Islam cannot -- and must not -- win," Mr. Hagee wrote in a recent book, "Jerusalem Countdown," which focuses on what he says is a coming nuclear showdown with Iran. "The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching.... Rejoice and be exceeding glad -- the best is yet to be." The book has sold nearly 700,000 copies since it was released in January, according to his Florida-based religious publisher, Strang Communications.
Christian Zionism has been around for years but is now gaining greater prominence as it gets turbocharged by the marketing flair of Mr. Hagee and other religious entrepreneurs. Mr. Hagee has deployed massive resources to galvanize support for Israel. He heads a San Antonio megachurch, which claims 19,000 members, runs a television company and has close ties to Republican Party power brokers. His Washington banquet last week cost about $500,000, according to an organizer. A big Christian broadcasting network, Daystar, carried the event live.
The following day, he mobilized evangelicals representing all 50 states in a lobbying blitz through the Capitol. Armed with talking points scripted by Mr. Hagee and his staff, they peppered senators and congressmen with arguments for Israel and against its enemies, particularly Iran.
While Mr. Bush is clearly close to evangelicals, he has never fully embraced their agenda or rhetoric. But their views are generally in sync with the aims of his national-security strategists, who reach similar conclusions through a different logic. They have long blasted what they've termed the "false stability" of a region mostly ruled by autocrats and that has tolerated terrorist organizations committed to Israel's destruction. The influential "neo-conservative" school of foreign-policy advisers has also buttressed this line, arguing that the U.S. must push more aggressively for democracy in the Middle East.
Bedrock for Bush
Christian evangelicals, who first found political traction under President Reagan in the 1980s, now number about 50 million and form a bedrock constituency for President Bush. Best known for their lobbying against abortion, same-sex marriage and on other domestic issues, they have also taken a keen interest in foreign policy, especially since the attacks of 9/11.
"Leave Israel alone. Let them do the job," Mr. Hagee told his supporters last week at the banquet. Israel's enemies, said New York Congressman Eliot Engel, one of the few Democratic speakers, "do the work of Satan."
This melding of realpolitik and religion, say former and current U.S. officials, has produced a potent force. Israel's evangelical supporters "were out there before, but didn't really appear on the radar screen," says Dennis Ross, a Middle East envoy in the administrations of both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. "Now they are an important part of the landscape." More than any prior White House, the Bush administration has established formal, regular contacts with American evangelical leaders.
The White House says it isn't overly influenced by any one group. "The president makes decisions about policies for our country based on what is right for our citizens," says Dana Perino, deputy press secretary. "The United States has been an ally of Israel since its founding, and President Bush has worked to strengthen that alliance."
The main vehicle for Mr. Hagee's pro-Israel activities over the years has been San Antonio's Cornerstone Church, which he first joined as pastor back in 1975 when it was called Church of Castle Hill, a moribund parish with only a few dozen worshippers and heavy debts. He had quit his previous church the same year during a messy divorce that was quickly followed by his remarriage to a young churchgoer. Attracted by Mr. Hagee's mix of thundering oratory and folksy humor, the congregation mushroomed.
The son of a puritanical preacher, Mr. Hagee first visited Israel in 1978. He says he went there "as a tourist and came back home a Zionist." While in Israel, Mr. Hagee visited Jerusalem's Western Wall and says he felt a "nearness to God like no other place on Earth." At that moment, he recalls, "The Lord required of me to do everything I could to bring Christians and Jews together."
After returning to Texas, Mr. Hagee says he plunged into a "three-year study binge to discover the Jewish roots of Christianity." This coincided with a surge of contacts between American evangelicals and the then Israeli government of Menachem Begin, a devout biblical scholar and hardline defender of Israel's right to territories won in 1967. Mr. Begin worked hard to cultivate American evangelicals, with whom he shared a belief that Israel's birth in 1948 and subsequent struggles were a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
Mr. Hagee says he met with Mr. Begin three times.
When Mr. Begin ordered Israel's air force to bomb Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, Mr. Hagee was horrified by widespread criticism that followed. After reading a San Antonio newspaper that described the attack as an act of "gunboat diplomacy," he decided to organize a pro-Israel gathering.
Local Christians initially showed little enthusiasm for the idea. San Antonio's Jewish community was even more wary. "There was a lot of skepticism," recalls Aryeh Scheinberg, an Orthodox rabbi who took part in meetings among Jewish leaders to decide how to respond to Mr. Hagee's proposal. "Everyone wanted to know: 'What does he really want?' I said, 'Let's give the man a chance and take the risk.' "
The pro-Israel gathering went ahead with both Jews and Christians present. As Mr. Scheinberg mounted the podium to deliver a final prayer, security told Mr. Hagee of a bomb threat. Mr. Hagee, a stocky man who got to college on a football scholarship, says he asked God to make the rabbi pray "not like Moses but like a Presbyterian late for lunch." The threat was a hoax.
The event has been held every year since, though some Jewish leaders refuse to attend and reject any alliance with Mr. Hagee. "Many of his views are hateful," says Barry Block, a prominent reform rabbi in San Antonio, who accuses Mr. Hagee of demonizing Muslims and propounding a divisive right-wing agenda that erodes the barrier between church and state.
When addressing Jewish audiences, Mr. Hagee generally avoids talking about Armageddon. But his books, whose titles include "Beginning of the End" and "From Daniel to Doomsday," are filled with death and mayhem. "The battlefield will cover the nation of Israel!" he writes in "Jerusalem Countdown," his recent work, describing a "sea of human blood drained from the veins of those who have followed Satan."
Some fellow evangelicals accuse Mr. Hagee of ignoring Arab Christians. Donald Wagner of North Park University, an evangelical Christian college in Chicago, first traveled to Israel at around the same time as Mr. Hagee but reached the opposite conclusion. "I was very pro-Israel until I went there," says Mr. Wagner, who heads a research group that challenges the theology of Christian Zionists.
A Turn to Television
Little known outside of Texas when he first embraced Zionism, Mr. Hagee turned to television to promote Jesus, Israel and his own name. His main platform for this was Global Evangelism Television Inc., a nonprofit organization. First set up in 1978, GETV initially relayed the programming of others to local cable operators. In the 1980s it began pumping out its own shows featuring Mr. Hagee for broadcast on national Christian networks. His sermons and chat shows now appear on 120 stations and, he says, reach more than 90 million homes.
By the mid-1980s his flock had outgrown his church in central San Antonio. In 1987, Cornerstone moved to a 35-acre suburban campus with a 5,000-person assembly hall and a new television and radio studio.
As his exposure grew, so did controversy. He ran into flak for inviting former White House aide Oliver North, a pardoned felon, and disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart to speak at Cornerstone. He also feuded with the U.S. Postal Service over nonprofit rates for church mailings that contained ads for his books and videos. (He sued and, he says, got a refund of around $40,000.)
Mr. Hagee also upset black leaders. To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." Mr. Hagee apologized but, in a radio interview, protested about pressure to be "politically correct" and joked that perhaps his pet dog should be called a "canine American."
The quarrels didn't stop the steady growth of his congregation, which is multiracial. His "nights to honor Israel" got bigger, too, as did his clout as a fund-raiser for Israeli causes. He says he has raised over $12 million so far.
Increasingly prominent, the preacher attracted the eye and, initially, the ire of Jerry Falwell, the dean of the Christian right and another enthusiastic supporter of Israel.
In 1994, The National Liberty Journal, a conservative monthly run by Mr. Falwell, labeled Mr. Hagee a "heretic" for championing so-called dual-covenant theory -- a belief that Jews and Christians have separate deals with God that allow each to get into heaven. The traditional Christian view is that Jews and other non-Christians must convert -- or end up on the wrong side of the battle of Armageddon.
Soon after the article appeared, Mr. Falwell arranged to meet the Texan at a Christian pow-wow in Memphis. Mr. Hagee, says Mr. Falwell, convinced him that he didn't believe in the "dual covenant." Mr. Falwell now sits on the board of Christians United for Israel.
Mr. Hagee, citing a New Testament verse, says a "remnant of Jewish people...have favor with God right now" but he is vague on which Jews will get to heaven without conversion, saying that only God knows this. He dismisses the dual-covenant issue as "something to start coffee-table debate."
Closer to Power
Mr. Bush's 2000 election victory and the Republican Party's control of both houses of Congress brought evangelical Christians closer to power than ever before. Mr. Hagee had met Mr. Bush several times while he was Texas governor and solidly supported his push for the White House. Mr. Hagee was closer, though, to another powerful Texan, Congressman Tom DeLay. Soon after becoming majority leader in the House of Representatives, Mr. DeLay gave the keynote speech at Mr. Hagee's 2002 pro-Israel gathering in San Antonio. Mr. DeLay, since embroiled in a corruption scandal, also spoke last week in Washington.
In 2003, The San Antonio Express-News dug into Mr. Hagee's filings with the Internal Revenue Service. The article alleged no wrongdoing, but reported that Mr. Hagee received more than $1.25 million in 2001 for his church and TV work and had a trust that includes a nearly 8,000-acre $2.1 million Texas ranch.
Mr. Hagee says that the bulk of his earnings comes from royalty payments from his 21 books, not from churchgoers' donations. He says he'll earn much the same this year if book sales hold up.
His finances under the spotlight, Mr. Hagee reorganized his holdings in a way that allowed him to avoid having to make public filings. In September 2004, Global Evangelism Television re-registered as a church under the name Grace Church of San Antonio. Churches, unlike religious TV companies and other nonprofit outfits, are exempt from filing detailed returns with the IRS. A further reorganization in recent weeks moved all assets into Cornerstone Church. None of the Church's financial records are publicly available. Mr. Hagee said his lawyers had recommended the changes for "greater clarity."
President Bush abandoned President Clinton's efforts to secure a big-bang peace settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict but, under prodding from Britain and others, did back a slow-paced plan known as the Roadmap for Peace.
In May 2003, Mr. Hagee and other evangelical leaders sent a letter to President Bush applauding the invasion of Iraq but complaining about the Israel-Palestine peace plan. They said it would be "morally reprehensible" for the U.S. to be "evenhanded" between Israel and "the terrorist-infested Palestinian infrastructure."
Last fall, he took his annual "night to honor Israel," to Israel, holding the event in the hangar of an Israeli air-force base. He spoke at the Israeli Parliament and organized a visit for his U.S. followers to Megiddo, an Israeli hilltop that he believes will be the site of the battle of Armageddon.
Mr. Hagee also started laying plans for Christians United for Israel, hoping to meld a plethora of mostly small pro-Israel Christian groups into a national network. He contacted Mr. Falwell, who says he immediately offered support. He hired David Brog, a lawyer who had worked in both Israel and on Capitol Hill and who is a distant cousin of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as the new organization's executive director.
As Mr. Hagee's plans took shape last fall, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, set up an "outreach" unit to work with Christians and others. Appointed to head the unit was a San Antonio native who had previously worshipped at the synagogue of Mr. Scheinberg, the Orthodox rabbi who has been one of Mr. Hagee's keenest supporters.
Christians United for Israel held its first meeting in San Antonio in February and immediately began organizing last week's Washington event. To galvanize support and allay suspicions in some quarters of his motives, Mr. Hagee traveled around the country, meeting with Christian and Jewish leaders. Some Jews worry that Christian-Zionists want to convert Jews to Christianity, something Mr. Hagee has always denied.
The current eruption of violence, says Mr. Hagee, shows that Israel should not surrender land in search of peace and that Christians and Jews are on the same side.
"If God opposes giving away the land, if it has never worked, let's come up with another plan," he thundered last week. "Do not give the land away. It belongs to you. It is God's heritage to you."
I think I am going to be sick
This country is being run by IDIOT DUMBSHIT FREAKS!!!
WASHINGTON -- After Israel sent warplanes into Iraq in 1981 to bomb a nuclear reactor, Texas televangelist John Hagee sent letters to 150 fellow Christian preachers to rally support for the Jewish state.
He got just one positive response. When Mr. Hagee pressed ahead with plans for a pro-Israel gathering in a San Antonio theater, he says he got a death threat on the phone and someone shot out all the windows of his station wagon parked in his driveway.
Last week, as Israel's armed forces pounded Lebanon and worries of a wider conflagration mounted, Mr. Hagee presided over what he called a "miracle of God": a gathering of 3,500 evangelical Christians packed into a Washington hotel to cheer Israel and its current military campaign.
Standing on a stage bedecked with a huge Israeli flag, Mr. Hagee drew rapturous applause and shouts of "amen" as he hailed Israel for doing God's work in a "war of good versus evil." Calls for Israel to show restraint violate "God's foreign-policy statement" toward Jews, he said, citing a verse from the Old Testament that promises to "bless those who bless you" and curse "the one who curses you."
The gathering was sponsored by Christians United for Israel, a national organization the 66-year-old preacher set up this year. The group lobbies politicians in Washington, rallies grassroots support for Israel and aims to educate Christians on what it calls the "biblical imperative" of supporting the Jewish state.
Mr. Hagee is a leading figure in the so-called Christian-Zionist movement. This evangelical political philosophy is rooted in biblical prophecies and a belief that Israel's struggles signal a prelude to Armageddon. Its followers staunchly support the Bush administration's unequivocal backing of Israel in its current battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Bush sent a message to the gathering praising Mr. Hagee and his supporters for "spreading the hope of God's love and the universal gift of freedom." The Israeli prime minister also sent words of thanks. Israel's ambassador, its former military chief and a host of U.S. political heavyweights, mostly Republican, attended.
At a time when Islamist groups are displacing secular nationalists as the main vehicle for political revolt across the Middle East, Mr. Hagee and like-minded evangelicals are injecting greater religious fervor into American attitudes and policy toward the region. They see, and even sometimes seem to embrace, the notion of a global conflict between Islam and the Judeo-Christian West, just as do many zealous Muslims.
John Hagee (center) at Christians United for Israel banquet in Washington last week.
"This is a religious war that Islam cannot -- and must not -- win," Mr. Hagee wrote in a recent book, "Jerusalem Countdown," which focuses on what he says is a coming nuclear showdown with Iran. "The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching.... Rejoice and be exceeding glad -- the best is yet to be." The book has sold nearly 700,000 copies since it was released in January, according to his Florida-based religious publisher, Strang Communications.
Christian Zionism has been around for years but is now gaining greater prominence as it gets turbocharged by the marketing flair of Mr. Hagee and other religious entrepreneurs. Mr. Hagee has deployed massive resources to galvanize support for Israel. He heads a San Antonio megachurch, which claims 19,000 members, runs a television company and has close ties to Republican Party power brokers. His Washington banquet last week cost about $500,000, according to an organizer. A big Christian broadcasting network, Daystar, carried the event live.
The following day, he mobilized evangelicals representing all 50 states in a lobbying blitz through the Capitol. Armed with talking points scripted by Mr. Hagee and his staff, they peppered senators and congressmen with arguments for Israel and against its enemies, particularly Iran.
While Mr. Bush is clearly close to evangelicals, he has never fully embraced their agenda or rhetoric. But their views are generally in sync with the aims of his national-security strategists, who reach similar conclusions through a different logic. They have long blasted what they've termed the "false stability" of a region mostly ruled by autocrats and that has tolerated terrorist organizations committed to Israel's destruction. The influential "neo-conservative" school of foreign-policy advisers has also buttressed this line, arguing that the U.S. must push more aggressively for democracy in the Middle East.
Bedrock for Bush
Christian evangelicals, who first found political traction under President Reagan in the 1980s, now number about 50 million and form a bedrock constituency for President Bush. Best known for their lobbying against abortion, same-sex marriage and on other domestic issues, they have also taken a keen interest in foreign policy, especially since the attacks of 9/11.
"Leave Israel alone. Let them do the job," Mr. Hagee told his supporters last week at the banquet. Israel's enemies, said New York Congressman Eliot Engel, one of the few Democratic speakers, "do the work of Satan."
This melding of realpolitik and religion, say former and current U.S. officials, has produced a potent force. Israel's evangelical supporters "were out there before, but didn't really appear on the radar screen," says Dennis Ross, a Middle East envoy in the administrations of both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. "Now they are an important part of the landscape." More than any prior White House, the Bush administration has established formal, regular contacts with American evangelical leaders.
The White House says it isn't overly influenced by any one group. "The president makes decisions about policies for our country based on what is right for our citizens," says Dana Perino, deputy press secretary. "The United States has been an ally of Israel since its founding, and President Bush has worked to strengthen that alliance."
The main vehicle for Mr. Hagee's pro-Israel activities over the years has been San Antonio's Cornerstone Church, which he first joined as pastor back in 1975 when it was called Church of Castle Hill, a moribund parish with only a few dozen worshippers and heavy debts. He had quit his previous church the same year during a messy divorce that was quickly followed by his remarriage to a young churchgoer. Attracted by Mr. Hagee's mix of thundering oratory and folksy humor, the congregation mushroomed.
The son of a puritanical preacher, Mr. Hagee first visited Israel in 1978. He says he went there "as a tourist and came back home a Zionist." While in Israel, Mr. Hagee visited Jerusalem's Western Wall and says he felt a "nearness to God like no other place on Earth." At that moment, he recalls, "The Lord required of me to do everything I could to bring Christians and Jews together."
After returning to Texas, Mr. Hagee says he plunged into a "three-year study binge to discover the Jewish roots of Christianity." This coincided with a surge of contacts between American evangelicals and the then Israeli government of Menachem Begin, a devout biblical scholar and hardline defender of Israel's right to territories won in 1967. Mr. Begin worked hard to cultivate American evangelicals, with whom he shared a belief that Israel's birth in 1948 and subsequent struggles were a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
Mr. Hagee says he met with Mr. Begin three times.
When Mr. Begin ordered Israel's air force to bomb Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, Mr. Hagee was horrified by widespread criticism that followed. After reading a San Antonio newspaper that described the attack as an act of "gunboat diplomacy," he decided to organize a pro-Israel gathering.
Local Christians initially showed little enthusiasm for the idea. San Antonio's Jewish community was even more wary. "There was a lot of skepticism," recalls Aryeh Scheinberg, an Orthodox rabbi who took part in meetings among Jewish leaders to decide how to respond to Mr. Hagee's proposal. "Everyone wanted to know: 'What does he really want?' I said, 'Let's give the man a chance and take the risk.' "
The pro-Israel gathering went ahead with both Jews and Christians present. As Mr. Scheinberg mounted the podium to deliver a final prayer, security told Mr. Hagee of a bomb threat. Mr. Hagee, a stocky man who got to college on a football scholarship, says he asked God to make the rabbi pray "not like Moses but like a Presbyterian late for lunch." The threat was a hoax.
The event has been held every year since, though some Jewish leaders refuse to attend and reject any alliance with Mr. Hagee. "Many of his views are hateful," says Barry Block, a prominent reform rabbi in San Antonio, who accuses Mr. Hagee of demonizing Muslims and propounding a divisive right-wing agenda that erodes the barrier between church and state.
When addressing Jewish audiences, Mr. Hagee generally avoids talking about Armageddon. But his books, whose titles include "Beginning of the End" and "From Daniel to Doomsday," are filled with death and mayhem. "The battlefield will cover the nation of Israel!" he writes in "Jerusalem Countdown," his recent work, describing a "sea of human blood drained from the veins of those who have followed Satan."
Some fellow evangelicals accuse Mr. Hagee of ignoring Arab Christians. Donald Wagner of North Park University, an evangelical Christian college in Chicago, first traveled to Israel at around the same time as Mr. Hagee but reached the opposite conclusion. "I was very pro-Israel until I went there," says Mr. Wagner, who heads a research group that challenges the theology of Christian Zionists.
A Turn to Television
Little known outside of Texas when he first embraced Zionism, Mr. Hagee turned to television to promote Jesus, Israel and his own name. His main platform for this was Global Evangelism Television Inc., a nonprofit organization. First set up in 1978, GETV initially relayed the programming of others to local cable operators. In the 1980s it began pumping out its own shows featuring Mr. Hagee for broadcast on national Christian networks. His sermons and chat shows now appear on 120 stations and, he says, reach more than 90 million homes.
By the mid-1980s his flock had outgrown his church in central San Antonio. In 1987, Cornerstone moved to a 35-acre suburban campus with a 5,000-person assembly hall and a new television and radio studio.
As his exposure grew, so did controversy. He ran into flak for inviting former White House aide Oliver North, a pardoned felon, and disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart to speak at Cornerstone. He also feuded with the U.S. Postal Service over nonprofit rates for church mailings that contained ads for his books and videos. (He sued and, he says, got a refund of around $40,000.)
Mr. Hagee also upset black leaders. To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." Mr. Hagee apologized but, in a radio interview, protested about pressure to be "politically correct" and joked that perhaps his pet dog should be called a "canine American."
The quarrels didn't stop the steady growth of his congregation, which is multiracial. His "nights to honor Israel" got bigger, too, as did his clout as a fund-raiser for Israeli causes. He says he has raised over $12 million so far.
Increasingly prominent, the preacher attracted the eye and, initially, the ire of Jerry Falwell, the dean of the Christian right and another enthusiastic supporter of Israel.
In 1994, The National Liberty Journal, a conservative monthly run by Mr. Falwell, labeled Mr. Hagee a "heretic" for championing so-called dual-covenant theory -- a belief that Jews and Christians have separate deals with God that allow each to get into heaven. The traditional Christian view is that Jews and other non-Christians must convert -- or end up on the wrong side of the battle of Armageddon.
Soon after the article appeared, Mr. Falwell arranged to meet the Texan at a Christian pow-wow in Memphis. Mr. Hagee, says Mr. Falwell, convinced him that he didn't believe in the "dual covenant." Mr. Falwell now sits on the board of Christians United for Israel.
Mr. Hagee, citing a New Testament verse, says a "remnant of Jewish people...have favor with God right now" but he is vague on which Jews will get to heaven without conversion, saying that only God knows this. He dismisses the dual-covenant issue as "something to start coffee-table debate."
Closer to Power
Mr. Bush's 2000 election victory and the Republican Party's control of both houses of Congress brought evangelical Christians closer to power than ever before. Mr. Hagee had met Mr. Bush several times while he was Texas governor and solidly supported his push for the White House. Mr. Hagee was closer, though, to another powerful Texan, Congressman Tom DeLay. Soon after becoming majority leader in the House of Representatives, Mr. DeLay gave the keynote speech at Mr. Hagee's 2002 pro-Israel gathering in San Antonio. Mr. DeLay, since embroiled in a corruption scandal, also spoke last week in Washington.
In 2003, The San Antonio Express-News dug into Mr. Hagee's filings with the Internal Revenue Service. The article alleged no wrongdoing, but reported that Mr. Hagee received more than $1.25 million in 2001 for his church and TV work and had a trust that includes a nearly 8,000-acre $2.1 million Texas ranch.
Mr. Hagee says that the bulk of his earnings comes from royalty payments from his 21 books, not from churchgoers' donations. He says he'll earn much the same this year if book sales hold up.
His finances under the spotlight, Mr. Hagee reorganized his holdings in a way that allowed him to avoid having to make public filings. In September 2004, Global Evangelism Television re-registered as a church under the name Grace Church of San Antonio. Churches, unlike religious TV companies and other nonprofit outfits, are exempt from filing detailed returns with the IRS. A further reorganization in recent weeks moved all assets into Cornerstone Church. None of the Church's financial records are publicly available. Mr. Hagee said his lawyers had recommended the changes for "greater clarity."
President Bush abandoned President Clinton's efforts to secure a big-bang peace settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict but, under prodding from Britain and others, did back a slow-paced plan known as the Roadmap for Peace.
In May 2003, Mr. Hagee and other evangelical leaders sent a letter to President Bush applauding the invasion of Iraq but complaining about the Israel-Palestine peace plan. They said it would be "morally reprehensible" for the U.S. to be "evenhanded" between Israel and "the terrorist-infested Palestinian infrastructure."
Last fall, he took his annual "night to honor Israel," to Israel, holding the event in the hangar of an Israeli air-force base. He spoke at the Israeli Parliament and organized a visit for his U.S. followers to Megiddo, an Israeli hilltop that he believes will be the site of the battle of Armageddon.
Mr. Hagee also started laying plans for Christians United for Israel, hoping to meld a plethora of mostly small pro-Israel Christian groups into a national network. He contacted Mr. Falwell, who says he immediately offered support. He hired David Brog, a lawyer who had worked in both Israel and on Capitol Hill and who is a distant cousin of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as the new organization's executive director.
As Mr. Hagee's plans took shape last fall, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, set up an "outreach" unit to work with Christians and others. Appointed to head the unit was a San Antonio native who had previously worshipped at the synagogue of Mr. Scheinberg, the Orthodox rabbi who has been one of Mr. Hagee's keenest supporters.
Christians United for Israel held its first meeting in San Antonio in February and immediately began organizing last week's Washington event. To galvanize support and allay suspicions in some quarters of his motives, Mr. Hagee traveled around the country, meeting with Christian and Jewish leaders. Some Jews worry that Christian-Zionists want to convert Jews to Christianity, something Mr. Hagee has always denied.
The current eruption of violence, says Mr. Hagee, shows that Israel should not surrender land in search of peace and that Christians and Jews are on the same side.
"If God opposes giving away the land, if it has never worked, let's come up with another plan," he thundered last week. "Do not give the land away. It belongs to you. It is God's heritage to you."
I think I am going to be sick
This country is being run by IDIOT DUMBSHIT FREAKS!!!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Imus and Chris Matthews
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Imus-Matthews-Bush-Middle-East-7-25-06.wmv
where was this conversation 3 years ago?
where was this conversation 3 years ago?
Monday, July 24, 2006
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Rockefeller's Obit
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/us/17rockefeller.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
i realize this is old news but for those who didn't see the NY Times obituary written by Steve Barnes....
i realize this is old news but for those who didn't see the NY Times obituary written by Steve Barnes....
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Limbaugh detained at Palm Beach airport
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn't have Limbaugh's name on it, but that of two doctors, said
Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
A doctor had prescribed the drug, but it was "labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes," Roy Black, Limbaugh's attorney, said in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection examined the 55-year-old radio commentator's luggage after his private plane landed at the airport from the Dominican Republic, said Miller.
The matter was referred to the sheriff's office, whose investigators interviewed Limbaugh. According to Miller, Limbaugh said that the Viagra was for his use, and that he obtained it from his doctors.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
Who would screw this fat bastard???
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn't have Limbaugh's name on it, but that of two doctors, said
Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
A doctor had prescribed the drug, but it was "labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes," Roy Black, Limbaugh's attorney, said in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection examined the 55-year-old radio commentator's luggage after his private plane landed at the airport from the Dominican Republic, said Miller.
The matter was referred to the sheriff's office, whose investigators interviewed Limbaugh. According to Miller, Limbaugh said that the Viagra was for his use, and that he obtained it from his doctors.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
Who would screw this fat bastard???
Monday, June 26, 2006
The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7055911
Trickle Down Economics.... not trickling down
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Warnings on WMD 'Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062401081.html
In late January 2003, as Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to argue the Bush administration's case against Iraq at the United Nations, veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller sat down with a classified draft of Powell's speech to look for errors. He found a whopper: a claim about mobile biological labs built by Iraq for germ warfare.
Drumheller instantly recognized the source, an Iraqi defector suspected of being mentally unstable and a liar. The CIA officer took his pen, he recounted in an interview, and crossed out the whole paragraph.
A few days later, the lines were back in the speech. Powell stood before the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 and said: "We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails."
WTF????
In late January 2003, as Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to argue the Bush administration's case against Iraq at the United Nations, veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller sat down with a classified draft of Powell's speech to look for errors. He found a whopper: a claim about mobile biological labs built by Iraq for germ warfare.
Drumheller instantly recognized the source, an Iraqi defector suspected of being mentally unstable and a liar. The CIA officer took his pen, he recounted in an interview, and crossed out the whole paragraph.
A few days later, the lines were back in the speech. Powell stood before the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 and said: "We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails."
WTF????
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
2 killed in second botched Israeli strike
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 21, 4:06 PM ET
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - In the second botched Israeli airstrike in Gaza in two days, two people were killed and 13 were wounded when a missile hit a house Wednesday, just hours after grieving and angry Palestinians buried three children killed in a previous attack.
Militants vowed revenge, and Israelis debated the effectiveness of airstrikes that target militants but are taking a mounting toll on innocent Palestinians.
In Wednesday's attack, Israeli aircraft targeted militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis but hit a house instead, killing a man and a woman and wounding at least 13 people, including five children, according to hospital officials.
The missile blew a hole in a wall of the one-story concrete block shack. A pool of blood covered part of the kitchen floor of the stricken house.
A witness said a car carrying Palestinian militants passed the house as the missile struck. They jumped from the car and ran into a nearby field.
A senior air force officer, speaking on condition of anonymity under military regulations, said the missile missed its target by several dozen yards.
How many is several dozen? 5 dozen is over half a football field.. that's a big miss. Dont' we supply the Isreali military with artilery?
If Isreal can't hit their target with US made weapons, how are we to believe Sadam could bomb US soil using his catapult?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you are Muslim, dont' walk outside in Gaza....
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - In the second botched Israeli airstrike in Gaza in two days, two people were killed and 13 were wounded when a missile hit a house Wednesday, just hours after grieving and angry Palestinians buried three children killed in a previous attack.
Militants vowed revenge, and Israelis debated the effectiveness of airstrikes that target militants but are taking a mounting toll on innocent Palestinians.
In Wednesday's attack, Israeli aircraft targeted militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis but hit a house instead, killing a man and a woman and wounding at least 13 people, including five children, according to hospital officials.
The missile blew a hole in a wall of the one-story concrete block shack. A pool of blood covered part of the kitchen floor of the stricken house.
A witness said a car carrying Palestinian militants passed the house as the missile struck. They jumped from the car and ran into a nearby field.
A senior air force officer, speaking on condition of anonymity under military regulations, said the missile missed its target by several dozen yards.
How many is several dozen? 5 dozen is over half a football field.. that's a big miss. Dont' we supply the Isreali military with artilery?
If Isreal can't hit their target with US made weapons, how are we to believe Sadam could bomb US soil using his catapult?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you are Muslim, dont' walk outside in Gaza....
Saddam's main lawyer killed... Again
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of Saddam Hussein's main lawyers was shot to death Wednesday after he was abducted from his Baghdad home by men wearing police uniforms, the third killing of a member of the former leader's defense team since the trial started some eight months ago.
Khamis al-Obeidi, an Iraqi who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim in their trial, was abducted from his house Wednesday morning, said Saddam's top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi. His body was found on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi confirmed that al-Obeidi had been killed, although he did not provide any details. A photo of al-Obeidi provided by police showed his face, head and shoulders drenched in his own blood.
A parked car bomb also exploded near an ice cream shop in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding eight, police Capt. Sattar Jabar said. It was the second attack in as many days in the sprawling Shiite district in eastern Baghdad.
The violence came a day after the U.S. military recovered the bodies of two missing soldiers from an area south of Baghdad that it said was rigged with explosives. A senior Iraqi defense official, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups, claimed the new leader of al-Qaida in
Iraq executed the men personally, but it offered no evidence. The U.S. military did not confirm whether the soldiers died from wounds suffered in an attack Friday or were kidnapped and later killed.
Al-Obeidi, who was in his 50s and had six children, was the third member of Saddam's defense team to be killed since the former leader's trial began on Oct. 19.
A dozen masked gunmen abducted defense lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office the day after the trial's opening session. His body was found the next day with two bullets in his skull. Nearly three weeks later, defense lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi was assassinated in a brazen daylight ambush in Baghdad. A colleague who was wounded fled the country.
"The aim of this act is to terrify the lawyers and hinder the work of the defense team," al-Dulaimi said.
i can see the job posting now...
wanted Baghdad law school graduate: summer internship for aspiring lawyers looking for experience in war crimes and genocide. assist the coalition of the willing and President Bush bring justice to Iraq. must provide own flak jacket and bodyguard. salary negotiable up to $5/day....
no thanks..
what a clusterfuck...
BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of Saddam Hussein's main lawyers was shot to death Wednesday after he was abducted from his Baghdad home by men wearing police uniforms, the third killing of a member of the former leader's defense team since the trial started some eight months ago.
Khamis al-Obeidi, an Iraqi who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim in their trial, was abducted from his house Wednesday morning, said Saddam's top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi. His body was found on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi confirmed that al-Obeidi had been killed, although he did not provide any details. A photo of al-Obeidi provided by police showed his face, head and shoulders drenched in his own blood.
A parked car bomb also exploded near an ice cream shop in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding eight, police Capt. Sattar Jabar said. It was the second attack in as many days in the sprawling Shiite district in eastern Baghdad.
The violence came a day after the U.S. military recovered the bodies of two missing soldiers from an area south of Baghdad that it said was rigged with explosives. A senior Iraqi defense official, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups, claimed the new leader of al-Qaida in
Iraq executed the men personally, but it offered no evidence. The U.S. military did not confirm whether the soldiers died from wounds suffered in an attack Friday or were kidnapped and later killed.
Al-Obeidi, who was in his 50s and had six children, was the third member of Saddam's defense team to be killed since the former leader's trial began on Oct. 19.
A dozen masked gunmen abducted defense lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office the day after the trial's opening session. His body was found the next day with two bullets in his skull. Nearly three weeks later, defense lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi was assassinated in a brazen daylight ambush in Baghdad. A colleague who was wounded fled the country.
"The aim of this act is to terrify the lawyers and hinder the work of the defense team," al-Dulaimi said.
i can see the job posting now...
wanted Baghdad law school graduate: summer internship for aspiring lawyers looking for experience in war crimes and genocide. assist the coalition of the willing and President Bush bring justice to Iraq. must provide own flak jacket and bodyguard. salary negotiable up to $5/day....
no thanks..
what a clusterfuck...
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Japan pulling its 600 troops from Iraq
By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO - Japan ordered the withdrawal of its ground troops from Iraq on Tuesday, declaring the humanitarian mission a success and ending a groundbreaking dispatch that tested the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the 600 non-combat troops — deployed in early 2004 — had helped rebuild infrastructure in the area where they were based, and he pledged further aid to Iraqi reconstruction.
"Today we have decided to withdraw Ground Self-Defense Forces from the Samawah region in Iraq," Koizumi said in a nationally televised news conference. "The humanitarian dispatch ... has achieved its mission."
Think North Korea nuke test has anything to do with this?
TOKYO - Japan ordered the withdrawal of its ground troops from Iraq on Tuesday, declaring the humanitarian mission a success and ending a groundbreaking dispatch that tested the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the 600 non-combat troops — deployed in early 2004 — had helped rebuild infrastructure in the area where they were based, and he pledged further aid to Iraqi reconstruction.
"Today we have decided to withdraw Ground Self-Defense Forces from the Samawah region in Iraq," Koizumi said in a nationally televised news conference. "The humanitarian dispatch ... has achieved its mission."
Think North Korea nuke test has anything to do with this?
Inflation Ravages U.S. Wages, Fueling Angst at Bush's Economy
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_us&refer=politics&sid=an9UsfFBthUk
Adjusted for inflation, the median income for the top 10 percent of U.S. households rose 2.3 percent between 2001 and 2004, covering much of Bush's first term in office, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, issued in February. For the other 90 percent of households -- which earned less than $184,800 in 2004 -- the median fell 0.5 percent over the same period.
Well there you have it.... supply-side economic policy working its magic.
Adjusted for inflation, the median income for the top 10 percent of U.S. households rose 2.3 percent between 2001 and 2004, covering much of Bush's first term in office, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, issued in February. For the other 90 percent of households -- which earned less than $184,800 in 2004 -- the median fell 0.5 percent over the same period.
Well there you have it.... supply-side economic policy working its magic.
Friday, June 16, 2006
What would war with Iraq cost?
02/02/03
Bush: Attack by Iraq 'would cripple' economy
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/01/sproject.irq.war.cost/
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is downplaying published reports of an estimated $50 billion to $60 billion price tag for a war with Iraq, saying it is "impossible" to estimate the cost at this time.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday that such a conflict could cost $50 billion to $60 billion -- the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
In September, Daniels disputed an estimate by Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey -- who has since left the White House -- that war with Iraq could cost $200 billion.
Daniels said he believes Lindsey's estimate was "the upper end of a hypothetical," Duffy said
Larry Lindsey was later fired for that estimate...
05/16/06
Senate sends Bush $94.5B for Iraq, Katrina
The 98-1 vote on the compromise House-Senate legislation gave much-needed funds to support U.S. troops overseas. Most of the money — $66 billion — goes to the Pentagon for military operations overseas.
The bill would bring to almost $320 billion the tally for the campaign in Iraq and $89 billion for the one in Afghanistan.
Only Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., voted against the bill. He is opposed to a provision endorsing Bush's $873 billion "cap" on the annual appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. Specter is pushing for $7 billion in additional money for education and health programs.
Still, there is increasing concern in Congress about the cost of the war in Iraq and the fact that the spending is kept on a set of loosely policed books that are kept separate from the rest of government operations.
"This bill continues the charade that this war should be funded off budget instead on including the money our troops need in the regular budget that's requested by the president and sent to us," said Patty Murray, D-Wash., as debate closed Thursday.
$320 billion? and still counting.... Looks like Larry was a little low, not high...
by the way that money is borrowed and not even reported in our budget deficit...
Bush: Attack by Iraq 'would cripple' economy
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/01/sproject.irq.war.cost/
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is downplaying published reports of an estimated $50 billion to $60 billion price tag for a war with Iraq, saying it is "impossible" to estimate the cost at this time.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday that such a conflict could cost $50 billion to $60 billion -- the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
In September, Daniels disputed an estimate by Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey -- who has since left the White House -- that war with Iraq could cost $200 billion.
Daniels said he believes Lindsey's estimate was "the upper end of a hypothetical," Duffy said
Larry Lindsey was later fired for that estimate...
05/16/06
Senate sends Bush $94.5B for Iraq, Katrina
The 98-1 vote on the compromise House-Senate legislation gave much-needed funds to support U.S. troops overseas. Most of the money — $66 billion — goes to the Pentagon for military operations overseas.
The bill would bring to almost $320 billion the tally for the campaign in Iraq and $89 billion for the one in Afghanistan.
Only Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., voted against the bill. He is opposed to a provision endorsing Bush's $873 billion "cap" on the annual appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. Specter is pushing for $7 billion in additional money for education and health programs.
Still, there is increasing concern in Congress about the cost of the war in Iraq and the fact that the spending is kept on a set of loosely policed books that are kept separate from the rest of government operations.
"This bill continues the charade that this war should be funded off budget instead on including the money our troops need in the regular budget that's requested by the president and sent to us," said Patty Murray, D-Wash., as debate closed Thursday.
$320 billion? and still counting.... Looks like Larry was a little low, not high...
by the way that money is borrowed and not even reported in our budget deficit...
House members argue over Iraq policy
WASHINGTON - "Stay the course, I don't think so Mr. President. It's time to face the facts," said Pelosi, D-Calif., adding that she will vote against a Republican-engineered resolution that she called "an affirmation of the president's failed policy in Iraq."
"Achieving victory is our only option, for the sake of the American people and for our children and grandchildren," answered Boehner, R-Ohio.
Meanwhile.......
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad on Friday, a day after the national security adviser said al Qaeda's days in Iraq are numbered.
The bomber blew himself up as worshippers gathered for prayers at the Buratha mosque, an old site which is revered by Shi'ites. Twenty-five people were wounded.
Mosque guard Abdullah Hussein said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who had hidden explosives in his sandals to avoid security checks. Police have not confirmed this.
"A guard tried to stop him but he blew himself up and nothing was left of him except his head. You can see it if you want, it's over there," he said, pointing toward a tray in the mosque where a severed human head lay.
It is not the first time a suicide bomber has killed at the Buratha mosque. On April 7, three suicide bombers dressed as women attacked it, killing at least 71 people.
Friday's blast was the type of violence the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, who succeeded Arab Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week, had vowed to maintain as part of a war against Shi'ites and the U.S.-backed government.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri vowed three days ago to avenge the death of Zarqawi, who was killed by a U.S. air strike last week.
Shortly after the mosque blast, mortar bombs hit houses and shops on the edge of Baghdad, killing at least three people.
The violence came just two days after the government launched a security crackdown with 50,000 Iraqi forces backed by 7,000 U.S. troops.
It also came after Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said security forces had seized documents detailing al Qaeda's network in Iraq and the whereabouts of its leaders.
"We believe this is the beginning of the end of al Qaeda in Iraq," he said on Thursday.
Really? That's great news. All is well. There is nothing to see here. Move along.....
Not to worry guys.. House members are debating the issue. I'm sure we will get some clarity in a couple of months... right...
"Achieving victory is our only option, for the sake of the American people and for our children and grandchildren," answered Boehner, R-Ohio.
Meanwhile.......
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad on Friday, a day after the national security adviser said al Qaeda's days in Iraq are numbered.
The bomber blew himself up as worshippers gathered for prayers at the Buratha mosque, an old site which is revered by Shi'ites. Twenty-five people were wounded.
Mosque guard Abdullah Hussein said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who had hidden explosives in his sandals to avoid security checks. Police have not confirmed this.
"A guard tried to stop him but he blew himself up and nothing was left of him except his head. You can see it if you want, it's over there," he said, pointing toward a tray in the mosque where a severed human head lay.
It is not the first time a suicide bomber has killed at the Buratha mosque. On April 7, three suicide bombers dressed as women attacked it, killing at least 71 people.
Friday's blast was the type of violence the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, who succeeded Arab Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week, had vowed to maintain as part of a war against Shi'ites and the U.S.-backed government.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri vowed three days ago to avenge the death of Zarqawi, who was killed by a U.S. air strike last week.
Shortly after the mosque blast, mortar bombs hit houses and shops on the edge of Baghdad, killing at least three people.
The violence came just two days after the government launched a security crackdown with 50,000 Iraqi forces backed by 7,000 U.S. troops.
It also came after Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said security forces had seized documents detailing al Qaeda's network in Iraq and the whereabouts of its leaders.
"We believe this is the beginning of the end of al Qaeda in Iraq," he said on Thursday.
Really? That's great news. All is well. There is nothing to see here. Move along.....
Not to worry guys.. House members are debating the issue. I'm sure we will get some clarity in a couple of months... right...
Monday, June 12, 2006
Beer ingredient may fight prostate cancer
CORVALLIS, Ore. - A main ingredient in beer may help prevent prostate cancer and enlargement, according to a new study. But researchers say don't rush out to stock the refrigerator because the ingredient is present in such small amounts that a person would have to drink more than 17 beers to benefit.
Oregon State University researchers say the compound xanthohumol, found in hops, inhibits a specific protein in the cells along the surface of the prostate gland.
The protein acts like a signal switch that turns on a variety of animal and human cancers, including prostate cancer.
Cancer typically results from uncontrolled cell reproduction and growth. Xanthohumol belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids, which can trigger the programmed cell death that controls growth, researchers say.
That's what i'm talking about!!!!
"Drink 17 beers and call me in the morning."
Oregon State University researchers say the compound xanthohumol, found in hops, inhibits a specific protein in the cells along the surface of the prostate gland.
The protein acts like a signal switch that turns on a variety of animal and human cancers, including prostate cancer.
Cancer typically results from uncontrolled cell reproduction and growth. Xanthohumol belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids, which can trigger the programmed cell death that controls growth, researchers say.
That's what i'm talking about!!!!
"Drink 17 beers and call me in the morning."
Murder in Iraq - Murder in USA... President Bush presiding over Global Murder Spree
WASHINGTON - Murders, robberies and aggravated assaults in the United States increased last year, spurring an overall rise in violent crime for the first time since 2001, according to FBI data.
Murders rose 4.8 percent, meaning there were more than 16,900 victims in 2005. That would be the most since 1998 and the largest percentage increase in 15 years.
Murders jumped from 272 to 334 in Houston, a 23 percent spike; from 330 to 377 in Philadelphia, a 14 percent rise; and from 131 to 144 in Las Vegas, a 10 percent increase.
Despite the national numbers, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York were among several large cities that saw the number of murders drop.
The overall increase in violent crime was modest, 2.5 percent, which equates to more than 1.4 million crimes. Nevertheless, that was the largest percentage increase since 1991.
The FBI data, compiled from reports by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies, does not contain overall crime numbers in any category nor does it offer any explanation for the changes. The FBI's final annual crime report comes out in the fall.
Criminal justice experts said the statistics reflect the nation's complacency in fighting crime, a product of dramatic declines in the 1990s and the abandonment of effective programs that emphasized prevention, putting more police officers on the street and controlling the spread of guns.
"We see that budgets for policing are being slashed and the federal government has gotten out of that business," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston. "Funding for prevention at the federal level and many localities are down and the (National Rifle Association) has renewed strength."
Still, Fox said, "We're still far better off than we were during the double-digit crime inflation we saw in the 1970s."
Robberies were up 4.5 percent and aggravated assaults 1.9 percent, according to preliminary data. Alone among violent crime categories, the number of rapes fell 1.9 percent.
Violent crimes peaked at 1.9 million in 1992 and fell steadily through the end of that decade. The number has been relatively stable for the past six years.
Crime last year increased in all regions, although the 5.7 percent rise in the Midwest was at least three times any other region's. These states make up the Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Fox cautioned against reading too much into year-to-year changes in individual cities, saying some differences result from random variation and marked swings the previous year. Also, some large statistical increases result from some small numerical changes.
In Hartford, Conn. for example, murders jumped more than 50 percent, from 16 to 25.
Little Rock has recorded 33 homicides this year, on pace to eclipse the city's record 76 homicides in 1993. Authorities suspect many of the killings were gang-related.
HMMMM....... think economic policy has anything to do with this? tax cuts and inflation fueling class warfare. this is no surprise. why can't Dems make this case?
Murders rose 4.8 percent, meaning there were more than 16,900 victims in 2005. That would be the most since 1998 and the largest percentage increase in 15 years.
Murders jumped from 272 to 334 in Houston, a 23 percent spike; from 330 to 377 in Philadelphia, a 14 percent rise; and from 131 to 144 in Las Vegas, a 10 percent increase.
Despite the national numbers, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York were among several large cities that saw the number of murders drop.
The overall increase in violent crime was modest, 2.5 percent, which equates to more than 1.4 million crimes. Nevertheless, that was the largest percentage increase since 1991.
The FBI data, compiled from reports by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies, does not contain overall crime numbers in any category nor does it offer any explanation for the changes. The FBI's final annual crime report comes out in the fall.
Criminal justice experts said the statistics reflect the nation's complacency in fighting crime, a product of dramatic declines in the 1990s and the abandonment of effective programs that emphasized prevention, putting more police officers on the street and controlling the spread of guns.
"We see that budgets for policing are being slashed and the federal government has gotten out of that business," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston. "Funding for prevention at the federal level and many localities are down and the (National Rifle Association) has renewed strength."
Still, Fox said, "We're still far better off than we were during the double-digit crime inflation we saw in the 1970s."
Robberies were up 4.5 percent and aggravated assaults 1.9 percent, according to preliminary data. Alone among violent crime categories, the number of rapes fell 1.9 percent.
Violent crimes peaked at 1.9 million in 1992 and fell steadily through the end of that decade. The number has been relatively stable for the past six years.
Crime last year increased in all regions, although the 5.7 percent rise in the Midwest was at least three times any other region's. These states make up the Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Fox cautioned against reading too much into year-to-year changes in individual cities, saying some differences result from random variation and marked swings the previous year. Also, some large statistical increases result from some small numerical changes.
In Hartford, Conn. for example, murders jumped more than 50 percent, from 16 to 25.
Little Rock has recorded 33 homicides this year, on pace to eclipse the city's record 76 homicides in 1993. Authorities suspect many of the killings were gang-related.
HMMMM....... think economic policy has anything to do with this? tax cuts and inflation fueling class warfare. this is no surprise. why can't Dems make this case?
Poop or Puke?
Interesting reading...pick your poison. Do you want to read about Iraq and crap in your shorts? Or do you want to read about the environment and throw up on yourself?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_060906A.shtml
or
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906G.shtml
"In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" Homer Simpson
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_060906A.shtml
or
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906G.shtml
"In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" Homer Simpson
Friday, June 09, 2006
Brewer Projected 11th Pick to Magic in Mock Draft
9. Golden State Warriors: Patrick O'Bryant, C, Bradley: O'BryantRationale: After getting Andris Biedrins, Ike Diogu, and Chris Taft in the last two drafts, do the Warriors still need bigs? Sadly, yes.Also Considered: Rodney Carney, Ronnie Brewer
10. Seattle Sonics: Shelden Williams, PF, Duke Rationale: Other than Tyrus Thomas, Williams is considered the best shot-blocker in the draft and is viewed just as pro-ready after spending four years being groomed by Coach K. With Chris Wilcox hitting the free agent market and a pair of unproven players at center, the Sonics can't avoid addressing their frontcourt. Also Considered: Ronnie Brewer
11. Orlando Magic: Ronnie Brewer, SG, Arkansas: J.J. Redick might be the pick here, but can the Magic really afford to use this pick on a sixth-man chucker? Orlando needs more than just a shooter, and Brewer can defend, handle the rock, and get to the rack—all of which makes him a good fit with Jameer Nelson in the backcourt.
Bad Gas?
Dozens Fall Ill at IHOP in Arkansas
Jun 08 3:01 PM US/Eastern
JONESBORO, Ark.
More than two dozen people became ill after inhaling a substance believed to have been sprayed inside an IHOP restaurant, police said.
Authorities were trying to determine the source of the substance that forced the restaurant's evacuation Tuesday evening.
Some customers were gasping for air, and one complained of shortness of breath and a burning sensation in his nose and throat. Four were taken to hospitals, police said.
"Due to the symptoms of the victims, it is believed that some substance, such as tear gas or some similar substance, may have been sprayed in the seating area of the restaurant," Patrolman Jonathan Landrum said.
The manager for the Jonesboro restaurant did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Patrick Lenow, a spokesman for Glendale, Calif.-based IHOP, said he was not aware of the incident and had no immediate comment.
My bet is Mrs. Huckabee ordered the 21 piece shrimp dinner....
Jun 08 3:01 PM US/Eastern
JONESBORO, Ark.
More than two dozen people became ill after inhaling a substance believed to have been sprayed inside an IHOP restaurant, police said.
Authorities were trying to determine the source of the substance that forced the restaurant's evacuation Tuesday evening.
Some customers were gasping for air, and one complained of shortness of breath and a burning sensation in his nose and throat. Four were taken to hospitals, police said.
"Due to the symptoms of the victims, it is believed that some substance, such as tear gas or some similar substance, may have been sprayed in the seating area of the restaurant," Patrolman Jonathan Landrum said.
The manager for the Jonesboro restaurant did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Patrick Lenow, a spokesman for Glendale, Calif.-based IHOP, said he was not aware of the incident and had no immediate comment.
My bet is Mrs. Huckabee ordered the 21 piece shrimp dinner....
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Homophobe Amendment Fails... 49-48
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00163
These assholes think we should AMEND THE CONSTITUTION
YEAs ---49
Alexander (R-TN)Allard (R-CO)Allen (R-VA)Bennett (R-UT)Bond (R-MO)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY)Burns (R-MT)Burr (R-NC)Byrd (D-WV)Chambliss (R-GA)Coburn (R-OK)Cochran (R-MS)Coleman (R-MN)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID)Crapo (R-ID)DeMint (R-SC)DeWine (R-OH)Dole (R-NC)Domenici (R-NM)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Frist (R-TN)Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)Hatch (R-UT)Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ)Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)Martinez (R-FL)McConnell (R-KY)Murkowski (R-AK)Nelson (D-NE)Roberts (R-KS)Santorum (R-PA)Sessions (R-AL)Shelby (R-AL)Smith (R-OR)Stevens (R-AK)Talent (R-MO)Thomas (R-WY)Thune (R-SD)Vitter (R-LA)Voinovich (R-OH)Warner (R-VA)
Byrd? that's fucked up
These assholes think we should AMEND THE CONSTITUTION
YEAs ---49
Alexander (R-TN)Allard (R-CO)Allen (R-VA)Bennett (R-UT)Bond (R-MO)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY)Burns (R-MT)Burr (R-NC)Byrd (D-WV)Chambliss (R-GA)Coburn (R-OK)Cochran (R-MS)Coleman (R-MN)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID)Crapo (R-ID)DeMint (R-SC)DeWine (R-OH)Dole (R-NC)Domenici (R-NM)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Frist (R-TN)Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)Hatch (R-UT)Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ)Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)Martinez (R-FL)McConnell (R-KY)Murkowski (R-AK)Nelson (D-NE)Roberts (R-KS)Santorum (R-PA)Sessions (R-AL)Shelby (R-AL)Smith (R-OR)Stevens (R-AK)Talent (R-MO)Thomas (R-WY)Thune (R-SD)Vitter (R-LA)Voinovich (R-OH)Warner (R-VA)
Byrd? that's fucked up
DAMIEN.......
7 June 2006
BORN AT 6AM ON 06/06/06, HIS MUM WAS INDUCED FOR 6 DAYS, HE WEIGHS 6LBS 6OZ AND HE'S CALLED.. DAMIEN
By Richard Smith
HORROR film fan Suzanne Cooper yesterday named her baby Damien after the devil child in the The Omen, who was also born on June 6.
Suzanne went one better than the movie by hitting the full Number of the Beast with the date - 6/6/06.
Special needs teacher Suzanne, 36, was also induced for six days before Damien arrived at 6.59am, tipping the scales at a spine-chilling 6lb 6oz.
She said: "We are overjoyed about the baby. The Omen is one of our favourite films and that's why I was keeping my legs crossed for a birth on the 6th.
"It does seem a bit weird I suppose, but he's a perfect baby - nothing at all like Damien in The Omen."
Cool......
BORN AT 6AM ON 06/06/06, HIS MUM WAS INDUCED FOR 6 DAYS, HE WEIGHS 6LBS 6OZ AND HE'S CALLED.. DAMIEN
By Richard Smith
HORROR film fan Suzanne Cooper yesterday named her baby Damien after the devil child in the The Omen, who was also born on June 6.
Suzanne went one better than the movie by hitting the full Number of the Beast with the date - 6/6/06.
Special needs teacher Suzanne, 36, was also induced for six days before Damien arrived at 6.59am, tipping the scales at a spine-chilling 6lb 6oz.
She said: "We are overjoyed about the baby. The Omen is one of our favourite films and that's why I was keeping my legs crossed for a birth on the 6th.
"It does seem a bit weird I suppose, but he's a perfect baby - nothing at all like Damien in The Omen."
Cool......
Monday, June 05, 2006
Some Recent Headlines from Reuters.....
Gunmen kidnap 50 workers in Iraq
Gunmen kill 21 commuters near Baghdad
Suicide blast kills 15, injures 30 in Iraq
Bush makes new push for gay-marriage ban
Gunmen kill 21 commuters near Baghdad
Suicide blast kills 15, injures 30 in Iraq
Bush makes new push for gay-marriage ban
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
a letter i wrote to the editor of AR DemGaz but they said it was too long
Subject: Editorial ''Thanks, Professor''
Comment: The editorial criticizing Paul Krugman Saturday seemed like
it contained a little misguided bias. Your optimistic cheerleading is
just the type of delusional rhetoric Mr. Krugman often cites out of
the Bush White House. Let me offer your readers some additional facts
about our economy that you failed to mention.
The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by over 30% since Bush took
office. The Bush economic experiment which is rooted in supply-side
economic theory has taken our $200 billion government surplus and run
it into a $400 billion deficit. That government surplus was an anchor
for the value of our dollar and provided some much needed cushion for
our baby boomer's entitlement liabilities. Now why does does this
matter if I am not traveling to Europe?
Inflation: 1. undue expansion or increase of the currency of a
country esp. by the issuing of paper money not redeemed in specie. 2.
a substantial rise of prices caused by an undue expansion in paper
money or bank credit.
I think that speaks for itself. Contrary to what Vice President
Cheney says, deficits do matter. This is the dirty little secret
behind the Bush economic policy. The foreign exchange market, the
largest in the world, has adjusted the purchasing power of our dollar
to acount for this massive expansion of money to cover the cost of the
war in Iraq, the tax cuts, the increase in the size of government
through the creation of a Homeland Security Department.
When you have to borrow money to cover the cost of a tax cut you are
creating money that wouldn't otherwise be in the economy. The foreign
exchange market discounts and adjusts the dollar lower to compensate
for the increased supply. This inturn drives up the prices of
commodities like food and energy. We all know how the rising costs of
food and energy are affecting our own monthly budget, but remember
inflation hits some peoples's discretionary income much differently
than others. The middle class is in effect subsadizing the tax cut
for the wealthy through the weak dollar and subsequent inflation that
occurs because it hits their budget so much harder. This is one
reason why real wages have been declining in the Bush economy.
The Bush Administration will point to increased tax receipts as proof
his policies are working but just like your 401k, adjusted for
inflation those extra tax receipts and rate of return don't compensate
for what you lost in purchasing power. Sure the Dow is at 11,000 but
priced against euros, pounds, gold or a basket of commodities it's
more like 8000. Still 30% below where it was 6 years ago. This year
the Dow is up about 5% after this correction, which by the by was
triggered by a sell-off in the dollar the very day Congress voted to
extend the tax cuts, and the dollar is down 7%. If you earn a nominal
return of 5% but lose 7% in purchasing power your real return is
negative.
I am not against tax cuts per se, but they are not without a cost.
There is no free lunch. Ponder this; Warren Buffet, one of the
richest men in the country and the greatest investor of all time, is
against the tax cuts and short the dollar.
Comment: The editorial criticizing Paul Krugman Saturday seemed like
it contained a little misguided bias. Your optimistic cheerleading is
just the type of delusional rhetoric Mr. Krugman often cites out of
the Bush White House. Let me offer your readers some additional facts
about our economy that you failed to mention.
The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by over 30% since Bush took
office. The Bush economic experiment which is rooted in supply-side
economic theory has taken our $200 billion government surplus and run
it into a $400 billion deficit. That government surplus was an anchor
for the value of our dollar and provided some much needed cushion for
our baby boomer's entitlement liabilities. Now why does does this
matter if I am not traveling to Europe?
Inflation: 1. undue expansion or increase of the currency of a
country esp. by the issuing of paper money not redeemed in specie. 2.
a substantial rise of prices caused by an undue expansion in paper
money or bank credit.
I think that speaks for itself. Contrary to what Vice President
Cheney says, deficits do matter. This is the dirty little secret
behind the Bush economic policy. The foreign exchange market, the
largest in the world, has adjusted the purchasing power of our dollar
to acount for this massive expansion of money to cover the cost of the
war in Iraq, the tax cuts, the increase in the size of government
through the creation of a Homeland Security Department.
When you have to borrow money to cover the cost of a tax cut you are
creating money that wouldn't otherwise be in the economy. The foreign
exchange market discounts and adjusts the dollar lower to compensate
for the increased supply. This inturn drives up the prices of
commodities like food and energy. We all know how the rising costs of
food and energy are affecting our own monthly budget, but remember
inflation hits some peoples's discretionary income much differently
than others. The middle class is in effect subsadizing the tax cut
for the wealthy through the weak dollar and subsequent inflation that
occurs because it hits their budget so much harder. This is one
reason why real wages have been declining in the Bush economy.
The Bush Administration will point to increased tax receipts as proof
his policies are working but just like your 401k, adjusted for
inflation those extra tax receipts and rate of return don't compensate
for what you lost in purchasing power. Sure the Dow is at 11,000 but
priced against euros, pounds, gold or a basket of commodities it's
more like 8000. Still 30% below where it was 6 years ago. This year
the Dow is up about 5% after this correction, which by the by was
triggered by a sell-off in the dollar the very day Congress voted to
extend the tax cuts, and the dollar is down 7%. If you earn a nominal
return of 5% but lose 7% in purchasing power your real return is
negative.
I am not against tax cuts per se, but they are not without a cost.
There is no free lunch. Ponder this; Warren Buffet, one of the
richest men in the country and the greatest investor of all time, is
against the tax cuts and short the dollar.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Mayor's Decree
Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! The Mayor of D-town hearby instates an ordinance requiring all citizens to log in to www.climatecrisis.net (Al Gore's page). Check out the book review, the upcoming film, and sign the pledge to see the film when it gets here on June 30. It's only going to be shown at Market Street Cinema. I will be checking with all of you, in yer face style, until you crack. This will not go away, it will not lose its relevance but rather will GROW LARGER AND LARGER.
Mock Lottery Picks
First prediction on the late Sportscenter had him at 12 to the NO/OK Hornets.| | ||||
| NAME | HT | POS | FROM | STOCK |
| 1. Tyrus Thomas | 6-9 | PF | LSU |
|
| If Noah decides to stay in school, the majority of scouts have Thomas penciled in at No. 1. He's got the length, athleticism and potential that scouts dream about. | ||||
| 6-10 | PF | |
| |
| He had an up and down tournament, but scouts feel that Aldridge is one of the few players in this draft that could be a star. His overall skill set, combined with size still make him a contender for No. 1. | ||||
| 7-0 | PF | |
| |
| GMs starting to back up international scouts opinions that Bargnani might be the best player in the draft. But who has the guts to pull the trigger with the No. 1 pick? | ||||
| 6-8 | SF | Gonzaga |
| |
| Didn't have the dominating tournament he'd hoped for, but Morrison's stock is still in great shape. A few teams (read Seattle and Orlando) would still take him No. 1. | ||||
| 5. Brandon Roy | 6-5 | SG | |
|
| | ||||
| 6. Rudy Gay | 6-9 | SF | UConn |
|
| Gay was solid for UConn in the tournament, but you expected more than solid from a potential No. 1 pick. The tournament hurt more than helped his stock . | ||||
| 7. Randy Foye | 6-4 | PG/SG | Villanova |
|
| Great tournament for Foye. He's tough, smart, can shoot and proved that he can run a team when Kyle Lowry wasn't on the floor. Wasn't Foye's fault Villanova didn't make it to the Final Four. | ||||
| 6-7 | PG/SG | |
| |
| Scouts are quick to point out the Brewer isn't a great shooter, but given all of the other tools he has on both ends of the floor, he's got a chance to go this high. | ||||
| 6-9 | PF | Duke |
| |
| Meat and potatoes big man won't be a star. But he can rebound and block shots in large volume and likes to play with his back to the basket. Given the lack of star potential in the draft, that will be enough. | ||||
| 10. Marcus Williams | 6-3 | PG | UConn |
|
| Williams may not be the most athletic or quickest point guard in the world, but he's got great court vision and he's a floor leader. Someone in the lottery is going to want a point guard. | ||||
| • Top 100 | ||||
More on ESPN.com
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Robertson: God Says Tsunami Possible For U.S.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Rev. Pat Robertson says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.
The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network has told viewers of "The 700 Club" that the revelations came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.
"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8.
He added specifics in Wednesday's show.
"There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest," he said.
those West Coast liberals will perish!!!!!
The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network has told viewers of "The 700 Club" that the revelations came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.
"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8.
He added specifics in Wednesday's show.
"There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest," he said.
those West Coast liberals will perish!!!!!
FBI Searches Mich. Farm for Clues on Hoffa
MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - For years, there has been a rumor in the neighborhood surrounding a horse farm outside Detroit where organized crime figures used to meet. Deb Koskovich heard it two decades ago from a neighbor when she moved next door: Jimmy Hoffa was buried there.
FBI agents investigating the Teamsters leader's 1975 disappearance from a restaurant in Oakland County's Bloomfield Township, about 20 miles away, were at the farm for a second day Thursday.
Asked if they were looking for Hoffa's remains, FBI Agent Dawn Clenney said, "Could be," and declined to comment further on the agents' presence.
A law enforcement official in Washington said the search was based on information developed several years ago and verified more recently.
The information indicated there was a high level of suspicious activity on the farm the day Hoffa vanished, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. A backhoe appeared near a barn that organized crime members had used for meetings, but that location was never used again after Hoffa disappeared, the official said.
I thought he was buried under the turf at Giants Stadium..... that would be crazy if they found him
FBI agents investigating the Teamsters leader's 1975 disappearance from a restaurant in Oakland County's Bloomfield Township, about 20 miles away, were at the farm for a second day Thursday.
Asked if they were looking for Hoffa's remains, FBI Agent Dawn Clenney said, "Could be," and declined to comment further on the agents' presence.
A law enforcement official in Washington said the search was based on information developed several years ago and verified more recently.
The information indicated there was a high level of suspicious activity on the farm the day Hoffa vanished, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. A backhoe appeared near a barn that organized crime members had used for meetings, but that location was never used again after Hoffa disappeared, the official said.
I thought he was buried under the turf at Giants Stadium..... that would be crazy if they found him
Prodi: War in Iraq Was 'Grave' Mistake
ROME - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Thursday the war in Iraq was a "grave" mistake, but said Italy would remain on the front lines in the war against terror.
"We consider the war and occupation in Iraq a grave error that hasn't solved — but has complicated — the problem of security," Prodi said in his first address to the Senate as prime minister. "Terrorism has found a new base and new excuses for internal and external terrorist action."
Sir, could you please come run our country?
"We consider the war and occupation in Iraq a grave error that hasn't solved — but has complicated — the problem of security," Prodi said in his first address to the Senate as prime minister. "Terrorism has found a new base and new excuses for internal and external terrorist action."
Sir, could you please come run our country?
Thursday, May 11, 2006
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made - across town or across the country - to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the
CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.
The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop - without warrants - on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA's efforts to create a national call database.
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."
As a result, domestic call records - those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders - were believed to be private.
Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made - across town or across the country - to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the
CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.
The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop - without warrants - on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA's efforts to create a national call database.
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."
As a result, domestic call records - those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders - were believed to be private.
Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Republican Leaders Blame High Gas Prices on President Clinton
Congressional leaders attempting to pass the buck to anyone else but themselves now are blaming high oil and gas prices on Clinton's veto of the drilling program in Alaska's ANWR national refuge. Of course high oil prices have nothing to do with an invasion of Iraq or a nuclear standoff with Iran two oil producers. Suicide bombers blowing up pipelines in the Middle East probably don't drive prices higher either. That doesn't even begin to get into the value of the dollar which has been in free fall since Bush was elected and Congress turned our budget into a credit card.
Sen Frist on NBC's Today show says, "President Clinton vetoed it. Unbelievable. Passed the House. Pass the Senate. And if President Clinton had not vetoed that, we would have more than a million barrels of oil coming here every single day. That’s more oil than we import from Saudi Arabia right now. It’s a matter supply and demand. Right now we would have increase supply if it had not been vetoed by President Clinton."
That's total bullshit.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Mr. Mayor Declares May 4th National Day of Prayer, May 5th Cinco de Mayo
http://www.ndptf.org/home/index.cfm?flash=1
"Now Hear This!!! I hereby declare May 4th to be National Day of Prayer. I ask that you all pray for our troops, our razorbacks and my re-election.
I also hereby declare May 5th to be Cinco de Mayo. I ask you to drink a Pacifico and eat a bean burrito..."
uh......
Mr. Mayor, there is no god, but we'll take you up on the burrito
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Iran threatens Israel if US acts "evil"
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to attack Israel in response to any "evil" act by the United States and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.
The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers meet in Paris to discuss the next steps after Tehran rejected a U.N. call to halt uranium enrichment.
"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," ISNA quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, as saying on Tuesday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."
Iran's deputy oil minister said there was "some possibility" of a U.S. attack on his country over its nuclear program.
Nice... Blackmail with nukes
The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers meet in Paris to discuss the next steps after Tehran rejected a U.N. call to halt uranium enrichment.
"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," ISNA quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, as saying on Tuesday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."
Iran's deputy oil minister said there was "some possibility" of a U.S. attack on his country over its nuclear program.
Nice... Blackmail with nukes
Friday, April 28, 2006
Give Peace a Chance
VIENNA, Austria - The International Atomic Energy said Friday that had enriched uranium and persists with related activities in its nuclear program in defiance of the U.N. Security Council.
Just before the report was released, Iran's president said the country "won't give a damn" about any U.N. resolutions concerning its nuclear program.
The eight-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, said that after more than three years of an IAEA investigation, "the existing gaps in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern."
"Any progress in that regard requires full transparency and active cooperation by Iran," said the report, written by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
The finding set the stage for a showdown in the U.N. Security Council, which is expected to meet next week and start a process that could result in punitive measures against the Islamic republic.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program.
"The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people Friday in Khorramdareh in northwestern Iran.
"Today, they want to force us to give up our way through threats and sanctions but those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country," state-run television quoted him as saying.
HOLY SHIT - A SCHOOL YARD FIGHT WITH NUKES
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Sister of Iraq's New Sunni Arab VP Killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A sister of Iraq's new Sunni Arab vice president was killed Thursday in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, a day after the politician called for the Sunni-dominated insurgency to be crushed by force.
Mayson Ahmed Bakir al-Hashimi, 60, whose brother, Tariq al-Hashimi, was appointed by parliament as vice president on Saturday, was killed by unidentified gunmen in a BMW sedan as she was leaving her home Thursday morning with her bodyguard in southwestern Baghdad, said police Capt. Jamel Hussein. The bodyguard, Saad Ali, also died in the shooting, Hussein said.
It was the second recent killing in Tariq al-Hashimi's immediate family. On April 13, his brother, Mahmoud al-Hashimi, was shot while driving in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad.
On Thursday, two of the vice president's brothers, one an army officer, raced to the scene to recover the body of their sister, Hussein said. She had worked on the government's audit commission and was married with two grown children.
can we get the hell out of this nightmare? maybe the mob would have better luck running this place....
Mayson Ahmed Bakir al-Hashimi, 60, whose brother, Tariq al-Hashimi, was appointed by parliament as vice president on Saturday, was killed by unidentified gunmen in a BMW sedan as she was leaving her home Thursday morning with her bodyguard in southwestern Baghdad, said police Capt. Jamel Hussein. The bodyguard, Saad Ali, also died in the shooting, Hussein said.
It was the second recent killing in Tariq al-Hashimi's immediate family. On April 13, his brother, Mahmoud al-Hashimi, was shot while driving in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad.
On Thursday, two of the vice president's brothers, one an army officer, raced to the scene to recover the body of their sister, Hussein said. She had worked on the government's audit commission and was married with two grown children.
can we get the hell out of this nightmare? maybe the mob would have better luck running this place....
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Huckabee says detainees in Cuba are treated fairly
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - Inmates at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainee camp in Cuba are being treated fairly by the U.S. government, Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday after returning from a trip to the camp.
Huckabee said the detainees at the camp, which he visited on Friday, are fed respecting their religious requirements and that each detainment cell is marked, showing the direction toward Mecca.
Huckabee said he thinks the detainees' cells at Guantanamo are more comfortable than many cells in Arkansas' state prisons.
Huckabee said that, during his tour of the facility, the governors withnessed the interrogation of a detainee who was suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations. "Instead of whips and torture, we saw lengthy, yet polite exchange between interrogators and the detainee," Huckabee said.
Well there you have it. Cells are better than Arkansas and no whips and torture. Life couldn't be better. I wonder why he didn't mention the fact that they have had no right to counsel? I guess that's irrelevant since there are no whips and torture.. Thanks Governor for your diligent inquiry into the abuse.
Friday, April 21, 2006
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