Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
FT's Gideon Rachman: The Baker-Hamilton report
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.
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.
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"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)