"more wars, less jobs" McCain Wins

I say bring it on.

"God fearing Americans are the source of America's greatness." Circular logic leads to genocide. Beware of Mitt.

McCain's fringe appeal will be easier to beat in November than Romney

60+% of the country want out of Iraq.

70+% of the country say Dems are better on the Economy.

Record turn out for Dems so far in the Primaries.

Republicans might as well stay home in Nov.

There is nothing like a good comedy when the economy tanks.

oh - & Malloy ROCKS!

Someone above mistakenly posted that Romney's first name was Willard.

In fact it actually is Mitt.

deals with most issues.

his biggest sin is being such an optimist.

was named after the Marriot family.

I'm sure he will answer to loser or Toast now.

Re: "Malloy is a screaming ranting irrelevance"

Malloy long ago lost his over the air radio voice and now his internet credibility is close to zero.
His influence is zero without any standing anywhere.

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and politician. Formerly the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Romney is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.[1]

___
brr

having some sort of PTSD flashback?

he keeps bringing up war references.

The former GOP frontrunner panders to no avail in Florida

Excerpts:

"We're going to get to Mars before anyone else gets there," Giuliani boasted at a rally on Monday by the Orlando Sanford International Airport.

"And we're going to reestablish our space program and eliminate that gap, so we can get our people up to the space station ourselves. That's something I learned about here in Florida, and I am committed to doing it."

----------

--"I hate pandering... have all my life," Rudy Giuliani once told Newsmax.

"It's one of the worst characteristics that politicians have--pandering to people...There's a dishonesty in that that really offends me."

-----------

To be sure, not all economic pandering is created equal. While Giuliani doesn't have much to show for his efforts, Mitt Romney's latest incarnation as a born-again John Edwards has paid enormous dividends.

Link:

http://www.reason.com/news/show/124672.html

For the factual record, Romney has always been called "Mitt"

... bad information.

Gotcha!

___
brr

Bush and Rove pulled out so much shit on him the last time... I am sure that there is residual fall out for McCain.

Greg Palast: One Bush Left Behind
www.gregpalast.com/one-bush-left-behind/

In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.

and in anticipation of his endorsement Giulliani.

The Pander Bear is in the house.

Sorry "boy" but he's always been called "Mitt" as a first name

Thanks!

"Rocketship Rudy Sets His Sights on Mars!"

Submitted by Star Vox on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 9:50pm.

The former GOP frontrunner panders to no avail in Florida

in the year of the rat?

Man Karma is a bitch.

http://www.nndb.com/people/373/000044241/

http://votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=CNIP7799

http://www.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200506031216.asp (4th paragraph)

___
brr

fat "boy"

___
brr

War Dog aka Part of the 97 is silent with his defeat tonight. Looks like the dog has retreated to lick his wounds. ;)

I've not seen anything intelligent from the large one. Save it for one with more action.

you can still get a laugh out of him so he has'nt gone totally bonkers.

every once in a while he discusses the nitty gritty of it all.

and like most everyone else he gets lost in the details.

perfection, a nice concept, know where i can find some other than nature?

Layoffs coming, and in large numbers, survey finds

By Mark Bruno
January 28, 2008

Corporate executives are poised to start making substantial cutbacks in their staffing, according to a new forecast by employment consulting and legal firm Career Protection.

In fact, the firm is predicting a 37% increase in layoffs this year over last, based on a survey of more than 1,300 corporate executives and senior level officials that was conducted earlier this month.

The layoff forecast registers as the worst in the last five years, according to Career Protection officials. They also indicated that the firm has already been “inundated” with inquiries from employees at a number of companies that announced layoffs earlier this month, including Bear Stearns, Chrysler, Citigroup, Ford, Covidien, General Motors, IndyMac and Sprint Nextel.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that the executives surveyed said that they do intend to provide severance packages to employees whose positions are eliminated. Broadly speaking, however, these severance packages will not be as generous as those that have been paid out in recent years, according to the Career Protection survey.

http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/REG/600...

Submitted by ObeseLargeLiberal on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 9:56pm.

... going to the self-imposed penalty box for bad behavior. (still it was fun!)

___
brr

I don't know where War Dog is tonight, but I have been posting all evening. The world revolves around Hillary and McCain, the world is turning in greased groves tonight!

I prefer to take on my senate colleague John McCain.

Bring it on!

Dear Republicans: Please do one-tenth as much research before casting a vote in a presidential election as you do before buying a new car.

One clue that Romney is our strongest candidate is the fact that Democrats keep viciously attacking him while expressing their deep respect for Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

This point was already extensively covered in Chapter 1 of "How To Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)": Never take advice from your political enemies.

Turn on any cable news show right now, and you will see Democratic pundits attacking Romney, calling him a "flip-flopper," and heaping praise on McCain and Huckleberry -- almost as if they were reading some sort of "talking points."

Doesn't that raise the tiniest suspicions in any of you? Are you too busy boning up on Consumer Reports' reviews of microwave ovens to spend one day thinking about who should be the next leader of the free world? Are you familiar with our "no exchange/no return" policy on presidential candidates? Voting for McCain because he was a POW a quarter-century ago or Huckabee because he was a Baptist preacher is like buying a new car because you like the color.

The candidate Republicans should be clamoring for is the one liberals are feverishly denouncing. That is Mitt Romney by a landslide..... - Anthrax Coulter

(sorry! i seem to have regained my sense of humor again)

Good to see that I and Johnny War are now #1 and #2.

Let the campaign begin because Hillary is almost history.

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

Hillary will make History!

Hey POT97, don't you have a different record? I think that one's broken.

Besides, if you had to choose between her and the other 2, I would think that you would want her.

Submitted by Catharine on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 9:54pm.

"Rocketship Rudy Sets His Sights on Mars!"

_________________

Catharine,

Good to see your recent posts on the blog!

-------

Will Rudy enjoy life on Mars?

Life On Mars?

David Bowie

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-wvgmZxbe8

Obama: History will not be kind to Bush

In a post-State of the Union response, White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama--enjoying endorsements today from Sen. Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and Toni Morrison--pans President Bush's "empty rhetoric" and says "I do not believe history will judge his administration kindly."

Video here:

http://jazz-from-hell.blogspot.com/2008/01/obama-history-will-not-be-kin...

Un-Happy person... negative - negative

I LOVE MALLOY ;)

great photo!!!!

I sometimes want to apologize to the world for that
MORON. He has fucked this country in so many ways - i can't even begin to explain the ways.

CBS NEWS

Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.) has withdrawn his papers to run for re-election, according to a spokesman in his Congressional office, adding yet another Republican to the ranks of retirements today.

According to the source, Lewis’ chief of staff withdrew the congressman’s filing papers with the Kentucky Board of Elections this afternoon. The filing deadline to qualify for the ballot in Kentucky was at 4 p.m. today.

It is unclear whether there will be any other Republicans who will qualify for the ballot.

The district is solidly Republican, though Democrats contested the seat last cycle. President Bush won 65 percent of the vote in the West Kentucky district in 2004........

Free Democracy

You said exactly what I have wanted to say to
POT97.

Please go on a site where people WANT to listen to your
crap!

It's snowing pretty heavy here. I look out my window and it's like a thick fog.

Looks like it's a wicked night out there. Glad I have nowhere to go.

How is it up north?

the metaphysics one, would you ask for an opinion on
The Untold Story of John Wilkes Booth

and they're not that easy to love...

Well it is BRR COLD out. Very windy
one of the guys here @ work just told me its 12 degrees out.
Ouch......wasn't it just 35 this afternoon??
I am not looking forward to driving home in this shit.

He isn't my taste because Malloy is extremely negative and hateful much of the time.

to keep from showing contempt?

Me? I'm *very* easy to love, SJ. :-)

Just send another car pic my way!

Now Barack Obama's natural charisma and ability to get along will go a long way in healing the world from bush junior.

Submitted by Cat Chew on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 9:42pm.

(maybe I'll catch up to y'all later...)

Submitted by Cat Chew on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 4:40am.

I usually go with We are all in the gutter,
but some of us are looking at the stars.
Think I like Ad Astra Per Alia Porci! better.

__________________

Cat Chew,

Good to know! I enjoyed reading your post on the earlier thread.

Ad Astra Per Alia Porci!

"Turn on any cable news show right now, and you will see Democratic pundits attacking Romney, calling him a "flip-flopper," and heaping praise on McCain and Huckleberry -- almost as if they were reading some sort of "talking points."

She may be right about Romney being the one to beat, but I just wanna know what Democratic pundits on what cable show?

some places a foot, traffic down, slippery as hell.

ruzz cut one of her paws on something, got it patched up now. snow hides everything.

minimal driving for this one today.

Goodnight Obama supporters!

Be kind to one another... refrain from personal attacks.

Peace

Sam has invited me to be here. I am a listener. That is the point of his show and this blog.

If you disagree with Sam you should email him and tell him so.

heh!

how bout these?

we parked the Stang alongside,

was at the summer Langley car show last year.

http://www3.telus.net/Art-Adventures/PeaceCar/

You parked beside a hippy, I think?

Just saw the photos of the awesome vehicle that you were working on. Wouldn't mind taking that out for a little spin.

but it doesn't seem to have helped my typos

Holy cow, SJ! Quite a colorful montage - those fins are too cool!

I liked that blue one you were beside in an earlier post. Tres hot! "sssssssss...Ouch!" (only those forced to watch Hannah Montana get that)

you all have snow down there huh?
Man its cold here in Chicago. 12 degrees now.

you have very GOOD taste in cars.
I like that one myself.

It's like a blizzard outside now. I went to the Balconey window and the snow is blowing sideways. Not quite a whiteout yet but close.

Please be careful driving home!

Two GOP sources tell CNN that Rudy Giuliani will drop out, endorse Sen. John McCain for GOP presidential bid.

A good monitor helps me read the typos as I enter them. I try to edit but I don't recognize all of my errs.

I'm going to send it to you hoping you will give it a once over for me pleeeaaaaase..?

I found a clip of Hillary yelling, "Will you help me!" However the quality is not that good. I was hoping the clip would have been posted on Ed Schultz website. Norman Goldman, who subbed for Ed yesterday, has his own website. Currently, it has not been posted. I sent him an email.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/01/28/slideshow-hillary-shrieks-at-nj-ra...

I was looking for it also but could not find it.

She said the same thing tonight in Florida.

Well, similar...She said "I need your help".

Submitted by Alice on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 9:42pm.
Hey Crank - What do YOU hoard?
----------
I haven't hoard in years.

He was a like a cartoon...

just had to throw out garbage....and holy shit its windy/freezing/snow-ee out there.
It is blowing sideways. The only positive would be school gets canceled tomorrow. That would be GREAT ;)

he is a cartoon character Chubby Bubba.

"but how does it smell?"

and CranK Bait sez, "Just awful!"

"The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society
outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship."

-- The Supreme Court of the United States of America,
from the decision on the Communications Decency Act

With that said, that don't mean I gotta listen to you. :-)

Crank Bait's girlfriend loves to shop. Always looking for a bargain. She'll buy anything marked down.

last week she bout an escalator!

What's shakin'? How u be?

an escalator?

is going to wet himself.

Submitted by Alice on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 10:53pm.
I'm finished with my first paper...I'm going to send it to you hoping you will give it a once over for me pleeeaaaaase..?
--------
narcolepsy: A disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable, though often brief, attacks of deep sleep, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations, often triggered by reading a rousing two hundred word essay on library science.

Ha! :)

Suuuuure ya haven't...

I hate to see Rudy go...
Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 11:02pm.
He was a like a cartoon...
---------
Coulda been America's first listhping POTUS.

this nonsense that Latinos won't vote for a black man bunk?

Seems like such a white man's myth to me.

I know they're boring for some people, but just this one, my first one...I want a lotta people to look at so I can gauge better....After this first assignment I think I can do it alone...but since my mum only uses Works and can't read my papers, you are the next best in English and writing that I know right now...I had a couple librarians read it, and Kevin and Pierce and you, and my teacher. It's just been so long since I've been in school, I have to make sure I'm not a bit retarded, or that I'm in over my head...pleeeease? ( I already sent it... ) :)

ith thound

did a whole thing this morning about what races and genders are voting (or tending) towards which candidates..the part I remember is that blacks of both genders are tending towards Obama.

One other thing I remember they said is that WOMEN will be deciding who wins this election...

(um..and the people will all be losing in this election, as usual...)

the pundits make it sound like black and latino voters are like rival prison gangs squaring off in the exercise yard

How you be girlie? It's soooooooo cold here! Snow and wind that'd blow you away, and collllldddddness. It's terrible.

back from picking up Bgurl from the station. a derail this AM put her through rail, bus, skytrain, and skytrain, bus, rail return hell!

time for HBR's!

my toesies is frozied!

white men always seem to think that they know best.
When really they have done enough to fuck up so many country's to last more that 10 life times.
Just my opinion & Im a white girl :)

Is that a Cadillac Estate Wagon? and... Does the roof rack have a board grip?

and part vintage Hoover vacumn cleaner near as i could tell.

we waited for the driver but had to go eventually.

lovely car as art/statement eh?

how's the boys?

I don't blame sex or race, smcgee43. I think it's human nature because we have not invested one iota of reward into evolving into a much higher being.

Sure, women hold society together and men most often make war. But there is something in men that also helps hold society together and sometimes women make war. Things would be easier to understand if we focused more on art instead of ego.

Together we are more than a group of individuals.

SJ

sex

garbage removal

wood movement

car repair

vet appointments

the dishes...

plus he is fun

and handsome

and nice.

:)

are doing great, both are curled up sleeping right now.

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~kwva/

Today's crisis is pervasive and deepening, accelerating its impact on all of life in our biosphere. Many are now beginning to question the nature and validity of modernity/mass society/the techno-culture. Maybe it's the problem, not the solution. It could be that the dynamics of this frightening, worsening reality goes all the way back to civilization itself. What is driving it all forward to a non-future seems to go deeper than capitalism, for example. We must face truly stark times and begin, together, to question all the givens and move toward solutions that undo what some very basic institutions are delivering.

When people began domesticating animals and plants just 10,000 years ago, our species began a downhill slide. This is the premise of the anti-civilization movement, which is based on several decades of archaeological and ethnographic research. There is mounting, convincing evidence that domestication of animals and plants brought previously unknown side effects: hierarchy, gender inequality, disease, haves and have-nots, soil depletion and the creation of deserts, and a host of other ills. These negative trends have continued to build momentum, and now appear to be leading to worldwide catastrophe.

John Zerzan is a leading theorist of the anti-civilization movement. John's arguments are based in part on an assessment of human prehistory that is now part of the standard university curriculum. Contrary to long-held stereotypes that described prehistoric human life as "nasty, brutish, and short," for the past few decades, scholars have considered our two-million-year existence as gatherers and hunters as the only successful human adaptation to the planet. Origins alone do not contain the whole solution to the why of the emptiness and the deteriorating quality of social existence today. But looking at how life was once and for such a long time, combined with existing indigenous wisdom, may point to a way forward.

View the 6-minute film Adventure of a Speck of Dust

Link to Wikipedia biographical information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerzan

http://www.johnzerzan.net/

I be okay. Same old shit - went to the Dr today and have to have some more tests done.
I like this Dr - she is very, very through < I hope I spelled that right.
Anyways just trying to keep my head above water.
Hope you are well - it is very BRR COLD out here in Chi Town.

I know you haven't seen me much lately - sorry about that! Work's busy. As if the girlscout cookie season wasn't pressure enough, everybody wants a fucking divorce and nobody wants to pay their child support. What is *up* with that? Heh - oh well, as long as people keep getting tired of each other, I'll always have a job! Yay, me!!!

But yeah, sometimes workin' there makes me a little testy.

Yeah, I know, hard to believe, but trust me. Sometimes I can be a real bitch!!

Heh :-) Good luck with the paper, Alice!

'nite chall!

sounds like you have yourself a true man. You are a lucky women!

Hope it isn't serious.

Feel better...

sweet dreams - blog ya later!

i've been waiting for weeks to remember to play this show and now it's not even working...*dammit*

on your paper. Hope all goes well.

Hey who is your Alderman, smcgee43?

Chubby Bubba - pups or kitties??

How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings*

is available for sale at http://tinyurl.com/qaj62

Here's an excerpt:

SUBTERRANEAN PRONOIA THERAPY, Part One

Experiments and exercises in becoming a rebelliously kind, affably
unpredictable, insanely poised Master of Supernal Mischief.

1. "I have not used my darkness well," mourns poet Stanley Moss in his
book Asleep in the Garden. He's right about that. His forays into the realm
of shadows rarely lead to redemption.

"One fine day/ I shall fall down ... in a prison of anger," he moans in one
poem. "In this country I planted not one seed," he announces elsewhere.
Other samples: "vomit is the speech of the soul"; "We die misinformed";
"How goes a life? Something like the ocean/ building dead coral."

But enough. Let's not indulge Moss in his profligacy. Instead, we'll appoint
him to be your anti-role model: an example of what you don't want to
become. May he inspire you to regard your sorrows and failures as
sources of disguised treasure; as raw materials that will fuel future
breakthroughs. Now write a poem or story in which you use your darkness
well.

2. Acquire a hand puppet, preferably a funky old-fashioned one from a
thrift store, but any one will do. Give the puppet a name and wear it on
your hand wherever you go for several days. In a voice different from
your normal one, make this ally speak the "shadow truths" of every
situation you encounter: the dicey subtexts everyone is shy about
acknowledging, the layers of truth that lie beneath the surface, the
agreed-upon illusions that cloud everyone's perceptual abilities.

3. All of us are eminently fallible nobodies. We're crammed with delusions
and base emotions. We give ourselves more slack than we give anyone
else, and we're brilliant at justifying our irrational biases with seemingly
logical explanations. Yet it's equally true that every one of us is a
magnificently enigmatic creation unlike any other in the history of the
world. We're stars with vast potential, gods and goddesses in the making.

Dramatize this paradox. Tomorrow, buy and wear ugly, threadbare clothes
from the same thrift store where you got your hand puppet. Eat the
cheapest junk food possible and do the most menial tasks you can find.
The next day, attire yourself in your best clothes, wear a crown or
diadem, and treat yourself to an expensive gourmet meal. Enjoy a
massage, a pedicure, and other luxuries that require people to wait on
you. On the third day, switch back and forth between the previous two
days' modes every couple of hours. As you do, cultivate a passionate
indifference to the question of whether you are ultimately an unimportant
nobody or a captivating hero.

4. Is it possible that in trying to repress some of the things about yourself
that you don't like, you have also disowned potentially strong and
beautiful aspects of yourself? What are they?

5. Inventor Thomas Edison came up with a lot of ideas that went
nowhere. While trying to develop the perfect battery, his unsuccessful
experiments were comically legion. "I have not failed," he mused. "I've
just found 10,000 ways that won't work." There are other ways in which
he didn't match the profile we usually associate with genius. He rarely had
a dramatic breakthrough out of the blue, for instance. Most often, he
tinkered and fussed until he discovered some new useful thing. Of his
1,093 patents, some were inventions he purposefully set about to create,
but most he simply stumbled upon.

Describe an area of your life where you've discovered 10,000 ways that
don't work.

6. Chantepleure is a word that means "to sing and weep simultaneously."
Think of a memory that moves you to do just that.

7. For the 2001 Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, artist David
Best constructed the "Mausoleum: Temple of Tears." Made from wooden
pieces of dinosaur puzzles, this pagoda-like sanctuary took him weeks to
perfect. Pilgrims who visited it were encouraged to write prayers on the
walls, mourning dead loved ones and exorcising adversaries who had
passed over. At the end of the festival, Best hosted a mass ritual of grief
and burned his masterpiece to ash.

Draw inspiration from Best's project. Create a talisman or ritual tool out
of whimsical junk, use it a while to catalyze a catharsis, then destroy it or
throw it away.

Good news for progressives about politics, the environment, health, and
more.

http://www.rosecolorednews.com/

http://tinyurl.com/ys9ysg

http://tinyurl.com/2fyjtb

"What is Green Hermeticism? It's a response to the problem that there hasn't been sufficient spiritual focus for the environmental movement. Without a spiritual focus, a movement like this doesn't generate the kind of emotional energy that it needs to battle against global capitalism."

but not an alderman. My Rep. is Melissa Bean - I live in a suburb of Chicago.

how are things gong on in your neck of the woods.
Been thinkin' bout the kitties. (Your kitties)
We found a home for the last 2 kitties - a vet. tech. @ our animal hospital took the brother & sister. Made me very happy :)

Do you live North of Chicago? It's very pretty up there...

about 25 miles out of the city.
Yes - - -
Alderman are just in the city limits.
The North Shore is very nice (lots o' money)
the further North you go the better looking the environment gets.

That is cool, that's happened to two of my ferals in the last few months...both adopted by vet techs at my vet...I don't know how they do that job, it must be so hard.

I'm feeling sort of guilty lately, our cat Leo was put up for adoption, jeez, like two months ago now. As soon as he left my house went back to perfect cat chi, everyone gets a long and no one sprays now. But since there was one cat ahead of him to be adopted (out of the vets office, he takes them for a fee to put up for adoption), Leo has been sitting at the vet's office all this time...It kills me thinking of him in a cage waiting and waiting..but no way can he come back.

It is a real relief to find them homes...Do you catch them just from around your house? Or do you go looking for colonies to help or what?

nice photos - would love to go to Italy & Greece someday.

There is a park bench right across the street from the Lake. I liked it there...
I was in Indiana for a couple weeks before I moved to Chicago...on STINKY Calumet Ave...After leaving my sterile home environment here in CA...I was sick living in that pit..and the house was atrocious...Then luckily I had a stray relative who was the manager of an apt bldg in Chicago so I found a place to live there...as lovely as Chicago is I am happy to be back here... Have you been West before?

If Chubbs left I have a picture of his cats Rusty and Rufus.. VERY handsome cats...

Im going to leave for home now...I will blog when I get home.
We are having nasty weather here in Chicago. So it may take me a little longer to get home. Snow & very COLD & windy.
It is now 11 degrees as I blog.

a couple of orange tabby littermates.

that's steamy, Star Vox...

I loved your link from this morning...thanks.

http://steinbeck.sjsu.edu/biography/pigasus.jsp

I visited the Steinbeck Museum..Cool displays of his book themes and very interactive...

The Universe Is Conspiring to Help Us

by Kevin Kelly

When I was in my 20s, I would hitchhike to work every day. I'd walk down three blocks to Route 22 in New Jersey, stick out my thumb and wait for a ride to work. Someone always picked me up, and I was never late. Each morning, I counted on the service of ordinary commuters who had lives full of their own worries and yet, without fail, at least one of them would do something generous, as if on schedule. As I stood there with my thumb outstretched, the only question in my mind was simply, "How will the miracle happen today?"

Shortly after that job, I took my wages and split for Asia. I've lost track of the number of generous acts aimed at me there, but they arrived as dependably as my daily hitchhiking miracle.

I have developed a belief about what happens in these moments and it goes like this: Kindness is like a breath. It can be squeezed out, or drawn in. To solicit a gift from a stranger takes a certain state of openness. If you are lost or ill, this is easy, but most days you are neither, so embracing extreme generosity takes some preparation. I learned to think of this as an exchange. During the moment the stranger offers his or her goodness, the person being aided offers degrees of humility, indebtedness, surprise, trust, delight, relief and amusement to the stranger.

One year I rode my bicycle across America. In the evenings I'd scout houses for a likely yard to camp in. I'd ring the bell and say, "I'd like to pitch my tent tonight where I have permission. I've just eaten dinner, and I'll be gone first thing in the morning." I was never turned away, not once. And there was always more, like an invitation into their home. My job at that moment was clear: I was to relate my adventure, and in the retelling of what happened so far, they would get to vicariously ride a bicycle across America — a thrill they secretly desired but would never do. In exchange I would get a place to camp and a dish of ice cream.

When the miracle flows, it flows both ways. With each gift the threads of benevolence are knotted, snaring both giver and recipient. I've only slowly come to realize that good givers are those who learn to receive with grace as well. They radiate a sense of being indebted and a state of being thankful. As a matter of fact, we are all at the receiving end of a huge gift simply by being alive. Yet, most of us are no good at being helpless, humble or indebted.

As with my hitchhiking rides, the gift is an extravagant gesture you can count on. No matter how bad the weather, soiled the past, broken the heart, hellish the war, I believe all that is behind the universe is conspiring to help us — if we will humble ourselves enough to let it.

Hi bridge,

How are you?

Good to see your name here.

Best wishes!

MRR Blogger Babies

:)

rufus , the top photo, and rusty on one of his favi=orite chars.

the chair is actually blue, he just sheds a lot.

Haha! :)

Funny...

Welp..I should go..I have a lot of stuff I'm procrastinating about lately...

Goodnight:

# Star Vox
# Sunshine Jim
# Annette
# CrissyStewart
# Chubby Bubba
# Kevin ©

sweet dreams!

self transit fur explosions!

is the only place where me and Jax

left with more fur than we came in with...

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 11:40pm.
and part vintage Hoover vacumn cleaner near as i could tell.
---------
Looks like the sweeper/beater attachment on my 1962 Kirby. It has steamer/fumigator attachments, too. (The food processor attachment is missing.)

probably under the hood

and souped up too!

* Senate Judiciary Cmte. Hearing with Attorney General Mukasey (10am) - LIVE

C-SPAN3 Highlights

* House Hearing on Global Warming Issues (9am) - LIVE
* Senate Finance Cmte. Mark Up of Economic Stimulus Package (2:30pm) - LIVE

C-SPAN2 Highlights

* British House of Commons Prime Minister's Questions (7am) - LIVE
* U.S. Senate: In Session (Time TBA) - LIVE

corner.nationalreview.com

Assuming there is no shocking revelation or health issue, the GOP nomination is over. Conservatives need to start practicing the phrase "Nominee presumptive John McCa....."

Sorry, I can't say it. Not yet.

But it's true. When the campaign comes here to Massachusetts on February 5th, I'll proudly cast my vote for any option on the GOP ballot other than You-Know-Who. But it will be a futile gesture. Mr. "1/3rd Of The GOP Primary Vote" is going to be the nominee.

He's going to win the big, left-leaning states on Tuesday. Huckabee will stay in and deny Romney a one-on-one contest for GOP voters that Captain Amnesty would almost certainly lose. The result: More wins for He Who Must Not Be Named, and fewer wins for Romney—regardless of delegate count. Florida has launched the one ship that Romney's money and Rush Limbaugh cannot stop: The U.S.S. Inevitable. It's gonna happen. Even if there were a realistic pathway to stop him, the media have seized control of the process now and are declaring him inevitable. He is, after all, the favorite son of the New York Times.

So it is over. Finished. In November, we'll be sending out our most liberal, least trustworthy candidate vs. to take on Hillary Clinton—perhaps not more liberal than Barack Obama, but certainly far less trustworthy. And the worst part for the Right is that McCain will have won the nomination while ignoring, insulting and, as of this weekend, shamelessly lying about conservatives and conservatism...........

Free Democracy

from maureen dowd

But now Obama is like that cat Mark Twain wrote about who wouldn’t jump on the stove again for fear of being burned.

grassley is the featured speaker on cspan washington journal this morning. how can one class of people (rethuglicans) be in such a state of denial is unfathomable. to listen to him, government is incapable of impacting the price of oil, drugs, or healthcare, and the only solution is to reduce taxes to fuel the economy.

:)

wet morning hear in the en why cee!

thanx Kev, ill be right up in the snot!

Republican government is incapable...
It's that "Can't do!" spirit again.

Imagine what would happen if dubya Bush attempted to
fix our crumbling infrastructure.

(Pictures from The FAIL Blog.)

Excerpt:

There was a belief that one appearance on "The Tonight Show" made you a star. But here are the facts. The first time you do the show, nothing. The second time you do the show, nothing. The sixth time you do the show, someone might come up to you and say, "Hi, I think we met at Harry's Christmas party." The tenth time you do the show, you could conceivably be remembered as being seen somewhere on television. The 12th time you do the show, you might hear, "Oh, I know you. You're that guy."

More (including a Tonight Show video clip) at Smithsonian Magazine.

Dan, were you feeling lonely this morning?

I slept in for a change. Precious, my cockatiel, woke me up to uncover her.

I turned on the TV and MSNBC was on. Scarborough and Mika were fighting like the Bickersons, like an old married couple! But to be honest it was Joe and Mathews talking and they would not giver her a word in edgewise. She has to assert herself to be heard.

Morning Lucille

S Africa set for month of blackouts

The power outage in South Africa has pushed the price of gold to record highs [EPA]

South Africa's parliament is set to hold an emergency session as people prepare for a month of blackouts due to severe power shortages.

The energy crisis, which analysts fear could severely damage the economy, has prompted opposition parties to threaten to bring a motion of no confidence against Thabo Mbeki, the country's president.

"Prepare yourself for four weeks of hell" the headline in one South African newspaper read on Wednesday.

Eskom, the country's largest electricity producer, is cutting electrictiy supplies by 4,000 megawatts for four weeks in an attempt to stabilise the power grid.

The energy minister told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the government accepted responsibility for the shortages and had not been timely in planning for the country's energy needs.

"We have been growing much more than we had anticipated. This growth in our economy is unprecedented in our country and as a result it has really affected an impacted our reserve margin," Buyelwa Patience Sonjica said.

"As we speak our reserve margin is between eight and 10 per cent when in reality the economy needs 15 per cent."

The oppostion says the government has been receiving warnings about an imminent power crisis for almost a decade but has failed to prevent it.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6C1C2757-6F49-4A3B-B108-126CD3224...

morning toniD--sometimes i look at them and think something is going on between them, but that is just me and my filthy mind, joe is an asshole..i know he is mad that the Mitt did not win, he was dogging McCain bad this morning!

Olmert facing war report criticism

Winograd has already accused Ehud Olmert of
"severe failures" over the war in Lebanon [AFP]

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, is expected to face heavy criticism in a report into the conduct of the 2006 war against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

The Winograd commission, which was appointed by Olmert after public pressure in the aftermath of the inconclusive conflict, will publish its final report on Wednesday.

Interim findings delivered by the panel last April were highly critical of Olmert, his government and senior military commanders.

Eliyahu Winograd, a retired judge, accused Olmert of "severe failures" and hasty decisions at the beginning of the 34-day war.

However, the five-member panel cannot recommend that Olmert or any others resign and the prime minister has vowed to stay on and act to "rectify any mistakes" highlighted in the report.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/852C15E9-F2DB-4F9F-B91B-9754072E7...

Home Ownership In Record Plunge

Fourth quarter saw biggest one-year drop in since tracking began in 1965 - as mortgage problems and rising foreclosures take their toll.

The housing and mortgage meltdown caused the biggest one-year drop in the rate of homeownership on record, according to government figures released Tuesday.

The Census Bureau report showed that home owners accounted for 67.8% of occupied homes in the fourth quarter, down 1.1 points from a year earlier. It's the largest year-over-year drop recorded in the report. The ownership rate was also well below the 68.2% ownership rate in the third quarter of 2007.

Homeownership rates, which have been tracked since 1965, hit a record high of 69.2% at the end of 2004.

The report also also showed a record 2.18 million homes vacant and available for sale in the fourth quarter, up from the 2.07 million in the third quarter and the 2.1 million a year earlier. The fourth-quarter reading on vacant homes for sale matched the previous record set in the first three months of 2007.

Sen Lincoln is on the span right now. She's talking about the stimulus package. She wants to ammend to include Senior and Vets. Her co ammender is Olympia Snowe.

Good to see you. Went from 47º to 14º overnight. Bleh. I'm rethinking the idea that we stay fresher when refrigerated. It might work for that Yeti over there, but not me.

Hiya, Nobody.

FBI investigating subprime business
by Chris in Paris · 1/30/2008 05:15:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comments (19) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

UBS just announced another ugly write-down, $14 billion and a $4 billion loss for 2008, and that won't be the last of it for the industry. How can the former CEOs continue to hold their millions when it was based on such bogus business? Now that the investigation is moving, will anything come of it?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the troubled mortgage industry, F.B.I. officials said Tuesday.

The F.B.I. said it was looking into possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with loans made to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit.

The agency declined to identify the companies under investigation but said the inquiry, which began last spring, involves companies across the financial industry, including mortgage lenders, loan brokers and Wall Street banks that packaged home loans into securities.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/01/fbi-investigating-subprime-business.h...

Edwards is pulling out. re c-span.

that Edwards is dropping out of race.

and double crap :(
I was hoping Edwards would stay in for another week.

stfu war bitch.

Former Sen. John Edwards is quitting the Democratic race for president, two sources inside his campaign told CNN Wednesday. The former senator is expected to make an announcement in New Orleans at 1 p.m.

maybe he'll surprise us and fire those two staffers

say word!!

im sorry dan---but i had to burst out laughing just the way you said it!!!

Damn it ! Edwards really is droping out ?

SAD ! :(

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Some of the nation’s most prominent spine surgeons hailed it as a medical breakthrough.

In a study of nearly 240 patients with lower back pain, the doctors said that the Prodisc, an artificial spinal disk, had worked much better than conventional surgery in which patients’ vertebrae were fused.

“As a surgeon, it is gratifying to see patients recover function more quickly than after fusion and return to their normal activities more easily,” Dr. Jack E. Zigler, a well-known spine specialist and one of the study’s lead researchers, said in a 2006 news release announcing the latest results of the Prodisc clinical trial.

As it turns out, Dr. Zigler had more than a medical interest in the outcome. So did doctors at about half of the 17 research centers involved in the study. They stood to profit financially if the Prodisc succeeded, according to confidential information from a patient’s lawsuit settled last year.

Con't-NYT

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Edwards is fighting what will be history though. The first woman or the first black president. What chance does a southern White guy have?

And the MSM seems to disregard him!

What's sad is that Elizabeth, as sick as she is, believed in her husband so much that she pushed to campagne for him. Both did very hard campagning. Life's not fair sometimes.

if he cedes his delegates to someone i believe it would be to obama given his youth and change theme as opposed to clinton who has more experience but represents the status quo.

i like the idea floated the other day about edwards as attorney general.

yesterday i posted something from a local blog that suggests selibus (-2 sp) from kansas will be the veep. this will have a strong influence on the heartland as well as the female vote.

Mukasey Holds Back on Torture Issue
Attorney General Won't Offer Senate Panel Definitive Opinion on Waterboarding
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey wrote that in some cases, waterboarding's legality would be a close call.

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said yesterday that the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding appears to be clearly prohibited by current law in some circumstances, but said that other circumstances would present "a far closer question."

In a three-page letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), however, Mukasey stopped short of offering a clearer legal opinion, because he said the CIA no longer uses the practice on prisoners.

The lawyerly response to demands from Congress was delivered in a last-minute letter before Mukasey's scheduled appearance today before the Judiciary panel. It is likely to anger Democrats who nearly derailed Mukasey's appointment over his refusal to render a firm legal judgment on waterboarding.

Mukasey said in the letter that waterboarding -- a simulated drowning meant to coerce disclosures by a resisting prisoner -- is not part of a "limited set of methods" being used by CIA interrogators. Mukasey said he has found the current methods, which he did not specify, to be legal.

"I understand that you and some other members of the (Judiciary) Committee may feel that I should go further in my review, and answer questions concerning the legality of waterboarding under current law," Mukasey wrote to Leahy. "I understand the strong interest in this question, but I do not think it would be responsible for me, as attorney general, to provide an answer."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR200801...

He wasn't likely to win, but he was pushing the dialog and certain perceptions, and in politics, perception is everything.

Cheers, JRE. I hope we see you in a prominent role in the next administration.

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death

to be fair, he can't win on this. still, the right thing to do is to say its torture and let the cards fall where there may.

Bill Clinton on best behavior in N.J.

BLACKWOOD, N.J. - Bill Clinton went back to the campaign trail for his wife Tuesday - and the Big Dog was wearing a muzzle.

After the furor over his attacks on Barack Obama culminated in Ted Kennedy's stunning repudiation - anointing the young Illinois senator as the heir to his family's storied legacy - a chastened Clinton was on his best behavior.

Appearing before a packed rally at Camden County College in South Jersey, the former President stuck carefully to praising his wife as a "proven change agent" and never once mentioned that she even had a rival.

He sang a song of inclusion, promising that Hillary Clinton sees an America "where no one is excluded by race, no one is excluded by income ... where we all move forward together."

Even his tie was toned down. Gone were the Day-Glo oranges and blinding scarlets he sported in South Carolina, where a backlash over his attack-dog campaigning may have helped Obama's landslide there.

Instead, he wore an elegant, muted blue silk.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/01/30/2008-01-30_bill_clin...

Big house, yadda, yadda, yadda. But he and Eliabeth have had some bad things happen. The loss of their son, the cancer that Elizabeth has had to deal with.

Momey isn't everything!

Well Peter will be happy, the old crumudgeon! Peter, his speaking voice didn't bother me like it did you. I thought it was kind of charming. Made me pay attention to what he said.

what can happen if he is on the side of the law!!!(somebody should be) shot in the face?

I thought this was a good article this morning on Edwards.
http://tinyurl.com/3dsjok

“Economic and employment opportunities are much on the minds of black voters during this presidential campaign season.” Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, notes “there is something of a permanent recession in the black community.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18532800&ft=1&f=3

Cheers, JRE. I hope we see you in a prominent role in the next administration.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Boy, I'm glad I popped in today. You folks make me feel better and more hopeful even when I hear disheartening news. I gotta go (company is coming) but in a better mood than I would be otherwise. Y'all enjoy yourselves!

Mme. Chew.

Good to read you (and everybody else!)

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death

Don't let this happen to you!

was a big part of Edwards decision. He's a politician enough to know that his chances were bad. Also, he is running out of money. Remember, he took no money from Big corps so he was at a disadvantage right away.

If he pairs up with Obama, I'd be more likely to vote for Obama. I want to know this before next Tuesday. Because he can guide Obama.

Do we really want him taking votes from Obama during Super Tuesday when he will be at his weakest? I don't. He did great things for this election already.

You keep warm too!

Adviser: Edwards Not Endorsing "For The Moment"
By Greg Sargent - January 30, 2008, 9:35AM
An Edwards adviser confirms to me that John Edwards won't be making any endorsement "for the moment."

However, this source refused to rule out the possibility of an endorsement before Feb. 5th, which is six days away. If Edwards were to throw his support to either Hillary or Obama before that date, the impact could obviously be huge.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/source_edwards_not_endorsing_for_t...

maybe that is what they met in secret to talk about 2 weeks ago!

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

Exclusive: Obama 'Would Love Edwards' Support'
Obama on His Rivals, His 'Scrappy Campaign' and His Midwestern Values

By JULIA HOPPOCK
Jan. 29, 2007—

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Sen. Barack Obama said that he has let former Sen. John Edwards know that he would like his endorsement should Edwards decide to drop out of the race. While Obama did not admit to rumors of back-door-dealings for delegate sharing, he said that he would strongly welcome a nod from Edwards.

"There is no doubt that I would love John's support, but I also respect the fact that he is in this contest. He is actively seeking the nomination, and he is a formidable candidate," Obama told "Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran.

On the day that Sen. John McCain claimed victory in Florida's Republican primary, Obama also said that he believes he would be the best candidate to take on McCain in a general election if that were the scenario. Recent polls have Obama and McCain at a dead heat in a hypothetical general election matchup.

"I think John's going to be a formidable candidate if he becomes the nominee for any Democrat." While Obama said that there's "no Republican he wouldn't worry about," he believes that record turnout among Democratic voters would give him a competitive edge over McCain.

"We have literally doubled turnout in every state, doubled it," Obama said. "That's unheard of."

No Place Like Home
Obama played up his Kansas roots today in an attempt to sway the Plains State voters who cast their ballots on Super Tuesday. With Sen. Hillary Clinton polling ahead of him in most of the Feb. 5 primary states, Obama will need every state he can get.

In a campaign speech in EL Dorado -- a small town where Obama's grandfather is from -- Obama mentioned his grandparents a lot in an attempt to connect with voters and perhaps to shed the image of himself as "exotic."

"Our family's story is one that spans miles and generations; races and realities, "Obama told the crowd. "It's a varied and unlikely journey, but one that's held together by the same simple dream. And that is why it's an American story."

Obama not only painted his family as the embodiment of the American dream but also stressed his "Midwestern" sensibility." I don't tend to look at problems and say, 'OK, I'm liberal on this issue, I'm conservative on that issue. ' I tend much more to think what is right and how do I think I can solve a problem."

And while Obama spent the day focusing on his white mother's side of the family, he said that coming out to Kansas had nothing to do with race.

"No, that isn't the case, because I think that's actually pretty well known," Obama said of his white background. "I think that the purpose of this trip is to explain that there are a set of values and roots here in the Midwest, and that although Kansas is now considered this red state, irrevocably Republican, that there are connections between all of us."

'We're 'Scrappy'
Obama's visit to El Dorado marks the beginning of his pre-Super Tuesday blitz, where he is working hard to get his name out to voters as well as court switchover Republican voters in red states like Kansas.

Obama -- whose campaign will spend more than $5 million on TV ads between now and Super Tuesday -- admits that Clinton's name recognition gives her a huge advantage over him in those Feb. 5 primary states.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4209610

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister

that isn't saying much..

Friggen NEO-SCUM!

Submitted by dan on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 9:28am.
...i like the idea floated the other day about edwards as attorney general...
--------
I don't know if his law experience qualifies Edwards for that position? However, Attorney Generals have been chosen for purely political reasons in the recent past, so broad-spectrum law experience hasn't counted for much.

I continue to hope that Edwards will remain on the outside, like Gore, to champion his effort to reform the influence of Big Money in political campaigns and lobby influence. No sitting politico will ever fight the good fight while risking monetary support. Only an outsider willing to negotiate with all concerned (like Gore has done) can gather enough support over a period of years to swing public consensus and force the media to devote ink to the cause, resulting (eventually) in support from elected representatives of the citizenry.

It is a cause with the cards stacked against its success. It is a full-time job. It is an expensive effort that is difficult to fund since the most available "cause" money is Big Money, which is the same influence that is being fought.

just taxied Bgurl down the hill, main road down to one lane, our street still an ice rink.

did you mean to say elmer fudd?

that 1M a year he draws from loaning his name to that cable channel helps a little.

going to play hockey with the neighborhood kids?

"Pesky Camuuls!"

but we did go from 50 to 10's which with 20 mph is -7.

the wind howled all night long.

more like bumper cars with half awake neighbors.

Ruzz gimping along on her cut paw,

healing up nice though.

now i gotta wipe the coffee off my screen...

indicates -3,

he wants in after 5 minutes.

mainly my keyboards that take the coffee hits.

course i'm getting older...

mukasey explaining waterboarding....what is he saying?

its a laptop so the screen isn't a stretch

have you followed any of the reports about china and its snowstorms? evidently a lot of the grid is offline or in a brownout condition, trucks are stranded everywhere. basically a huge mess.

so it was mkore like curling then?
I-90 is closed this morning cuz of the new heavy wet snow ontop of the old icy snow creates a avalanche danger. the morning news have footage of long-haul truckers saying , `I've been doing this route for 20 years and this is the worst I've ever seen it' kind of stuff.

It must suck to sit there for days on end waiting for the road to be clear enough.

big al gore
Submitted by dan on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 10:17am.
that 1M a year he draws from loaning his name to that cable channel helps a little.
--------
I don't have a problem with Gore (or anyone) creating his/her own source of income to help fund a cause.

Romney, for instance, does not owe one dollar's worth of political payback for each dollar of his own that he expends on his campaign. I am not defending Romney nor advocating for rich guys who can buy their own political office. I am using Romney as an example of using funds not sourced from pals who expect political payback.

Unless Al Gore were to create a highly-polluting company to help fund his anti-pollution efforts, I see nothing wrong with his methodology. If you can't get corporate monetary support for your cause, the only option is to create a viable (profitable) enterprise that provides a cash stream that can be tapped for your cause.

Gore could throw in the Global Warming towel and make tons of money in the private sector. I don't fault him for creating an income that allows him to continue his effort.

saw a few china pix in the newspaper yesterday.

locals must be buried, we usually have a snowplow through here by now.

curling? now that you mention it...

His policies were strong, and he pulled the corporate Dem party to a more populous based stance. I have refused to donate to anyone but the candidates themselves. We saw how the BUSH DOGS have only enabled Bush's agenda.

I never knew Wolfy was a Dem....kinda made me throw up a little in my mouth.
DLC:
PNAC is a small off-shoot, occupying the 5th floor, of the American Enterprise Institute which has been around since 1943. The AEI has 12 very busy floors where its operative have had plenty of time to send their operatives over to infiltrate the Democratic Party, or leave them in to be more accurate since the PNACers & AEIers are ORIGINALLY DEMOCRATS. To this day Richard Perle, Fieth and Wolfowitz are still Democrats. The day the Republican party, which they hijacked also, no longer suits their needs, they'll follow other PNAC neo-cons like Marshall Wittman back to the Democratic Party where the neoliberal Democratic Leadership Council is laying out the welcome mat for them.
http://progressiveindependent.com/shalom/pia/DLC_PNAC.htm

Bush Dogs
http://www.democrats.com/bushdemocrats
This list began after 59 Bush Democrats voted against the McGovern Amendment on 5/10/2007 on the first key vote to end the war. Those 59 Bush Democrats voted for an endless occupation of Iraq despite overwhelming opposition from Democrats, Independents, and even many Republicans. The list has been modified since then to take account of other key votes since the original Iraq War vote on 10/10/02.

GO PROGRESSIVES!!!!

One election at a time...

I Am Still Dreaming
new
Submitted by Crank Bait on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 10:11am.

I continue to hope that Edwards will remain on the outside, like Gore, to champion his effort to reform the influence of Big Money in political campaigns and lobby influence.

*******
Let us Not dream of greed and influence bought by monatary means..
Let us Dream for The Poor,The Middle Class and Real Political Election Reform ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

agreed.

i only knew about it because i saw an article the other day about the company going public as in sloughing their debt off on others. they lost a bundle during their first year and something less than a bundle last year.

as they say, nice job if you can get it.

I'm not listening to him, but I imagine you are hearing his cognitive dissonance verbalized

cognitive dissonance -American Heritage Dictionary -
n. Psychology

A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions, such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat

jee this mukasey guy is bushs personal lawyer!!!

The 97% have spoken! Don't we have a wonderful system? Step by step we work our way through the maze that leads to Hillary.

The first goal of the 97% has be successfully achieved. No 3%er shall be elected President. Now we must turn our attentions to Obama!

I too hold to the possibility of Edwards as Attorney General. This is a tough day though, because in my gut I worry that perhaps Elizabeth may have had a setback. She has not been at events for quite a while. Cate has been at his side in Nevada and South Carolina. Just has me concerned. Hoping all is okay. I suppose 1pm will shed some light.

I just want my $20 back! :'-(

Dammit...

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has decided to drop out of the presidential race, ending his campaign for the Democratic nomination, according to a campaign aide.

too bad, he was the best of the bunch ethics wise.

And that's from the heart. :-)

http://www.georgewbush.org/

Welcome to the future home of the officious George W. Bush Presidential Library. This patriotic website will serve as an authoritative digital archive, dedicated to preserving and celebrating the godly legacy of the most honest, peaceful, and intelligent leader in the 6,000 year history of the planet Earth.

Barack Obama will not be carrying the Democratic Leadership Council’s baggage in his race to become the second Black person to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. The state senator and professor of constitutional law has told The Black Commentator that he is acting to have his name stricken from the “New Democrats Directory,” a list of several hundred DLC-affiliated elected officials.

“I am not currently, nor have I ever been, a member of the DLC,” said Obama, in a statement that substantially reflects a telephone conversation with Associate Editor Bruce Dixon....
http://www.blackcommentator.com/48/48_cover.html

So, Edwards and Ghooliani to drop out today I hear.

I wish they'd both stay in the race a little longer, for obvious reasons. One to continue championing the middle class squeeze; the other to continue showcasing what nutcases the Republicans are.

But whatever.

~-~-~

Expect a whole lotta ugly from a never ending parade of stupid. - Motormouth Maybelle (Hairspray)

ARGH! Why is Edwards pulling out now? I know he's consistently in 3rd place but he's not even waiting for next Tuesday! Shit.
I hope his family is ok - hope that's not the reason why he's pulling out.
Man this is depressing.
Doris

In hungry Haiti, dirt is food

Rising Costs Force Haiti's Poor to Resort to Eating Dirt

It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.

With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.

Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/In_hungry_Haiti_dirt_is_food_012920...

Homophobic Houston ex-mayor dies

Louie Welch, a former five-term Houston mayor remembered for his service to the city and a remark caught on a TV microphone that ended his lengthy political career, died Sunday. He was 89. ...

He lost the [1985] race [to Kathy Whitmire] after saying on an open television microphone that one way to stop the spread of AIDS was to "shoot the queers." He made the remark without realizing the microphone was on.

Some gays responded with T-shirts that sported the slogan: "Don't shoot, Louie!"

After losing to Whitmire, Welch said he had lost "the instinct to fight in the rough-and-tumble that campaigns have become."

Yeah, campaigns are tough when you suffer from foot-in-mouth disease...

and yet we have 2 trillon dollars to spend on chasing an imaginary enemy lest people realize we're really doing it for the oil companies.

Television spots to buy

Radio ads

Print ads

Lease on a jet

Jet fuel

Insurance

Payroll

Winning = Money = Free Speech

Many links to documentation.

http://freemasonrywatch.org/lincoln.html

In 1957 Ray A. Neff of Gibbsboro, New Jersey, walked into Leary's Bookshop in Philadelphia and purchased a faded, second-hand book for fifty cents. Unbeknownst to Neff, inside that dusty military journal was a profound and stunning confession from the grave of a Union General and traitor, Lafayette Baker.

Booth was not alone, and according to Gen Baker, did indeed survive.

And as late as 1977, the FBI, did in fact investigate the issue of JOHN WILKES BOOTH and his possible survival. Recently the Bureau released 184 pages in PDF format, Booth 1, Booth 2, Booth 3, Booth 4. According to the FBI,

"These records contain correspondence dated 1922-23 of William J. Burns, former Director of the Bureau of Investigation, concerning a theory that Booth lived many years after the assassination of President Lincoln. Also included are the results of a 1948 examination by the FBI Laboratory of a boot said to be worn by Booth on the night of the assassination and a 1977 examination of a diary belonging to Booth."

On January 23, 1923, William J. Burns, by then the acting director of the Department of Justice wrote "I have gone over with considerable interest the volume entitled "The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth" by Finis L. Bates of Memphis, Tennessee...The work contains very strong evidence in support of the old belief that Booth did escape and live many years after the assassination of President Lincoln..." (see page 12, booth1.pdf )

>>more like bumper cars
Submitted by Chubby Bubba on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 10:29am.
--------
A little snow is as bad as a lot of snow. I have a friend who drives a semi delivering tires to rural retailers from near the Arkansas line, up through eastern Missouri all of the way to Hannibal, then back southward through central Missouri.

A few weeks ago on a dirt road, he drove down a hill from the plain into the Mississippi river bottoms to deliver to a small shop that services farmers. The road dead-ends at the river and, besides, he is restricted by regulation to driving only the secondary roads within a specific distance from his destinations.

While he and the shop owner were unloading tires, it started to snow lightly. He told the owner, "We gotta hurry or I'll never be able to climb that hill."

On a light dusting of snow he climbed most of the hill before loss of momentum due to lack of friction brought the semi to a halt. My friend told me, "You can't understand what a thrill it is to release the brakes to back down a steep dirt road, knowing that stopping is impossible and ever-increasing speed is inevitable."

On the second attempt to climb the hill, the shop owner was located at the top of the hill to ensure that any stray traffic would be parked out of harm's way. My friend took a long run at the hill, speeding as fast as he dared, but still had to skip gears while downshifting as he lost momentum on the climb up the hill.

...and all of this was on an immeasurably light dusting of snow.

Castro attacks Bush's State of the Union

Cuba's Castro Criticizes 'Demagoguery, Lies' of Bush's State of the Union

Fidel Castro called President Bush's State of the Union address a new low point in "demagoguery, lies and total lack of ethics" in a commentary published Wednesday.

The ailing 81-year-old leader wrote that "Bush tells us more with his external expressions than with the words written by his advisers," but added that "for a population that knows how to read, write and think, nobody can offer a more elegant criticism of the empire than Bush himself."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Castro_attacks_Bush_s_State_of_the_...
Castro and top Cuban officials routinely refer to the United States as "the empire."

In Wednesday's essay, called "The Antithesis of Ethics" and published on the front pages of government newspapers, Castro said Bush's latest speech was worse than earlier State of the Union addresses: "the worst for its demagoguery, lies and total lack of ethics."

I just heard about John Edwards. I immediately called his headquarters in NC and shamelessly pleaded and offered more money to the campaign. Although the staffer was grateful, an offer of $100 didn't seem to persuade him to call Edwards to stop him - Go Figure:( The staffer could not be specific about anything and just said Edwards would be commenting at 12 noon from New Orleans. I forgot whether that would be eastern or central, but I assume eastern. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Corporate media wins again X[

Okay, okay, so here's how I see it. The approaching elections are going to be our chance to decided between Barack and Hillary. The optimistic hopeful and the compromising politicer. I feel like the comparison of political ideaologies corresponds perfectly with the candidates. Hillary's approach reeks of compromise and sacrifice, of ceding specific points to win others, and of maneuvering her way through legislation. Mr. Obama's, on the other hand, is a bright, optimistic, political movement. Barack's campaign is about changing the world, Hillary's is about winning the White House. I'd like to make that abundently clear.

So, long story short, here's how I see it. It's not about Barack versus Hillary, it's Barack versus apathy. When the few of us who can vote go to vote, they won't be making a choice between Barack and Hillary, but instead a choice between Barack Obama and staying home. For the rest of you, you may not be able to vote yet, but to suggest you have no influence is absurd. Voting happens in a million ways a million times every day, just take your pick.

So, what I ask in this column is that anyone avoiding the polls do it consciously, as a political protest, and understand that while your lack of voting may be understood for the political protest it is, it won't stop the bad guys from winning in lieu of your political protest.

German Travel Group to Offer Nude Flights

An online travel Web site in eastern Germany will offer a clothes-optional flight to a lucky few this summer. Given the German love for all things naked, chances are it's already sold out.

Demonstrators even found last summer's G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, a perfectly good excuse to take it all off.

Demonstrators even found last summer's G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, a perfectly good excuse to take it all off.
If you know Germany, you know that Germans really love to be naked (more...), stripping off just about anywhere and any time. Now a new travel service is to indulge this German love for disrobing -- by letting them do it in the air.

An online travel agency, OssiUrlaub.de, has announced that it will offer a nude chartered flight between the eastern German town of Erfurt and the Baltic Sea island resort of Usedom.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,531807,00.html

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 10:55am.
...Money = Free Speech
---------
I don't expect for you to recognize the mathematical and philosophical paradox.

yup, that about says it.

if nothing else an Obama win will get rid of a lot of the old deadwood staffers Hil has on board.

Even Without Video, Proof of CIA Torture Exists
by: Jim Spencer
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 06:00 AM MST

When he didn't answer or provided an answer they didn't like, at first [name blacked out] would slap Mowhoush, and then after a few slaps, it turned into punches. And then from punches, it turned into [name blacked out] using a piece of hose.
Jim Spencer :: Even Without Video, Proof of CIA Torture Exists
It's been described [in] several ways. Some people have described it as a rubber hose, like a garden hose. Some people have said it was foamy, like a Nerf ball. But from the best we can tell, [it was] a piece of black insulation that you'd use to insulate water pipes in a house to keep them from freezing, about 3 feet or a meter long, and he was hitting Mowhoush with that when he provided answers that they didn't like. And then, you know, everybody else in the room is pretty much back, and this action is going on in one corner. But at some point, somebody outside that group of Mowhoush and [names blacked out] came forward, yelled something at Mowhoush. Mowhoush kicked at that person, and then a scuffle ensued, and then basically it was described as a free-for-all. The room collapsed on Mowhoush. Sergeant [name blacked out], for example, said he took out some frustrations by punching Mowhoush six or seven times. Mr. [name blacked out] said he punched Mowhoush a couple times and probably hit him with the heel of his hand a couple times. And that lasted 1 or 2 minutes. Nobody can really say for sure.

Here's what can be said for sure: While the CIA and the Bush Administration try to hide their torture policies by destroying a videotape of a brutal interrogation, other proof exists.

http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3385

horsin a semi around in the snow takes some doin.

I don't expect for you to recognize the reality of Edwards being forces to withdraw due to lack of funds. The political contributors voted Edwards off the island! Why should bad ideas be funded at the same rate a good ideas?

It is Capitalism, it is the American Way!

There were still many Germans who were skeptical of Hitler when he became chancellor in 1933. But Führer propaganda and military success soon turned him into an idol. The adulation helped make the Third Reich catastrophe possible.

"Today Hitler Is All of Germany." The newspaper headline on Aug. 4, 1934 reflected the vital shift in power that had just taken place. Two days earlier, on the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler had lost no time in abolishing the Reich Presidency and having the army swear a personal oath of unconditional obedience to him as "the Führer of the German Reich and People." He was now head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces, as well as head of government and of the monopoly party, the NSDAP. Hitler had total power in Germany, unrestricted by any constitutional constraints. The headline implied even more, however, than the major change in the constellation of power. It suggested an identity of Hitler and the country he ruled, signifying a complete bond between the German people and Hitler.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html

it's the sound of McCain's voice for the next 4 years.

Keeping him out - that's what I'm living for.

Dozens of words in the German language, from "degenerate" to "final solution," have become taboo because of their use by the Nazis. A new dictionary of Third Reich terms provides a guide through the linguistic minefield.

As if German weren't hard enough. Three genders, endlessly long words, verbs coming at the end of impossibly rambling sentences.

But there is another, more subtle, linguistic trap which both Germans and non-Germans can easily fall into -- and which is far worse a faux pas than a mere slip of the article. Mention that you've found the "Endlösung" ("final solution") to a problem you've been grappling with, or that you've made a "Selektion" ("selection") from a number of possible alternatives, and you will quickly find yourself the target of disapproving stares.

The reason is simple -- the aforementioned words are so tainted by their use by the Nazis that they are now completely taboo. To modern German ears, "Endlösung" will forever be associated with Hitler's genocidal "Final Solution to the Jewish Question," while "Selektion" is now verbum non grata due to its use to refer to the death camp practice of "selecting" inmates to be executed.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,531900,00.html

do you remember the far side cartoon which showed einstein at a blackboard covered in formulas.

the caption was einstein proves that time is money.

you might need to have suffered thru some math or engineering courses to truly appreciate it.

If you could agree on anything then do the work. What you can not expect is that the Democrats are going to carry your water.

if corporations and the ultra rich paid their fair share in taxes perhaps the voting off the island would have gone a little different.

Conyers on Impeachment on December 20 with Amy Goodman

A diary entry posted to enable comparison between Conyers on December 20 and Conyers with Rob on Jan 28th

Here is what Conyers said in response to questions as recently as December 20, on record - thanks to the folks at Democracy.now.

"AMY GOODMAN: Since last week, over 100,000 people have signed a petition on Congressman Wexler’s website supporting impeachment hearings. And we’re wondering, Congressman Conyers, now with your committee members taking up this issue, an issue that you actually long championed, what your feelings are today. Will you be supporting them in this?

REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, no, but there are a lot of things that can and will be done.(*1) We’re documenting the transgressions and errors of the administration in the Department of Justice, which have led to the firing of nine US attorneys. We’re looking at the protections of the right to vote. The election is coming up. We’ve got to protect everybody’s right to get out here and make a choice and make sure that it’s counted.

AMY GOODMAN: Why stop short of hearings on impeachment?

REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, because, unless we’re going to impeach the Vice President and the President within this space of time, I think we could be very seriously compromising the greatest important—most important thing, in addition to documenting any misdeeds that may have happened, whether we continue to have Bush enablers continue to shatter and tear the Constitution to shreds. And so, all of this, academically, (*2) is great. I’ve got a number of books from my friends (*3) about which articles would be best and which ones we should go after more. But it seems to me that the time element and also the feasibility of whether or not there is any possible chance of success—there is a very stark reality that with the corporatization of the media, we could end up with turning people who should be documented in history as making many profound errors and violating the Constitution from villains into victims. And those are the kinds of considerations that have entered my mind in thinking about this process, Amy. "

*1 Note. Conyers evades the pointed question. He offers consolation prizes and smaller deliverables to constituents who want their Constitution and their childrens Constitution defended.

*2 "Academically?" Conyers apparently thinks that upholding a personal oath when you are a Congressmen is academic. Imagine if young American servicemen and women in harms way took a similar attitude to upholding their own oath to the constitution. "What we have to patrol a road that contains IED's and risk snipper fire? because we took an oath at 18 years of age. To hell with that. How about we send you some nice photographs of us doing some great arms maintenance exercies back at base in Iraq instead mr congressmen and mr President?. We can't be too ready you know."

* 3. Perhaps Conyers needs to start losing a few friendships so that his friend's children have a better chance of keeping their constitution and growing up with the rule of law intact.

Is he broke? Did he make a bad investment? And who is the money going to? What a joke!!

Bush puts a price tag on his budget

Lawmakers to be charged $200 for previously free paper copies
In a move it says is aimed at saving money and trees, the Bush administration plans to charge lawmakers $200 for copies of this year's federal budget.

Democrats and Republicans alike groaned about the decision, telling The Hill that the extra expenses will not be easy to find in already strained budgets.

“It’s pennywise and pound-foolish,” Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC), a member of the House Budget Committee, told the newspaper. “I don’t think as a member of Congress that I should have to take money out of my account [for the president’s budget request].”

The Office of Management Budget will post the president's budget online at www.budget.gov and forego distributing 3,000 hard copies to lawmakers and federal agencies. The administration says its decision was meant to cut unnecessary spending and reduce wasted paper.

"This is a good business decision. ... It puts the focus on going green. It makes logical sense," Karen Evans, who is in charge of government technology issues at the OMB, told the Washington Post.

The environmental impact of charging for printed budgets remains to be seen, but Evans estimated it will save OMB $1 million over the next five years. The budget is generally about 2,200 pages long, so if every copy that normally was handed out for free was not printed, about 6.6 million sheets of paper would be saved. According to rough statistics compiled by ConservaTree that would save about 800 trees. Nearly 4 billion trees are harvested for paper around the globe every year.

While lawmakers will be able to pay the $200 fee from their office budgets, many complain they are barely able to pay their staffs a living wage as it is. And plenty of entry level Hill staffers would say they already don't get paid what they're worth.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_puts_price_tag_on_his_0130.html

But he is allowing logging again in Alaska!

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 11:17am.
...Why should bad ideas be funded at the same rate a good ideas?
---------
If the quality of the ideas were the only factor determining the success of a candidate for any elected office, you would be correct.

The CIA interrogation technique called waterboarding, or simulated drowning, could be used again, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told a Senate committee.

Mukasey made the remark in a letter Tuesday night to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was to have its first oversight hearing with him Wednesday, The New York Times reported.

The practice used on al-Qaida terror suspects by CIA interrogators was stopped several years ago when human rights groups claimed it constituted torture.

In his letter to the committee, Mukasey confirmed it wasn't being used as an interrogation technique anymore.

"I have been authorized to disclose publicly that waterboarding is not among those methods. Accordingly, waterboarding is not, and may not, be used in the current program," he wrote.

However, he said in the right set of circumstances in which it was requested by the CIA director, approved by the attorney general and finally the president, the technique could possibly be used again, the Times said.

You know nothing, and it's so fun to watch.

I'm so glad you like it here.

Hillary will be singing a happy tune this morning. She knows she will pick up all of Edwards' RedNeck votes. She will be even stronger going into Super Tuesday.

Prague - A 27-year-old Prague municipal policeman appears to have been responsible for stabbing to death a 44-year-old English- speaking man in the early hours of Wednesday, police said. Another report said the man was a US national employed by the Pentagon. The police declined to say whether the policeman was on duty at the time of the attack.

"We do not have any details yet," Prague police spokeswoman Eva Brozova told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "Nobody has so far said that he was on duty."

According to the news website of regional Denik newspapers, the drunken victim had made offensive gestures at a passing car. This stopped and one of the passengers got out, demanding an explanation.

The policeman then stabbed the man, who the CTK news agency said was a US citizen and civil employee at the Pentagon. According to Denik.cz, the victim was in Prague on a private visit.

i wonder what he's really up to. he has shown a total disregard towards the environment, and with the money he blows on iraq in a day we could all wipe our butts with the budget for the rest of our lives.

Officials in Brattleboro, Vt., have been inundated with e-mails and phone calls since outsiders learned about a petition that calls for local police to arrest President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the Associated Press says.

The town's Selectboard approved the measure last Friday, meaning that voters in Brattleboro will be asked to vote on the following resolution in early March:

Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities and shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them?

The Rutland Herald reports that town officials stopped answering the phone on Monday because of the "nastiness" of the calls they were receiving from websurfers across the country. "We're getting e-mails and phone calls, nasty, nasty e-mails, I've only a gotten a few," Town Clerk Annette Cappy tells the paper. "You couldn't repeat most of those calls, they are nasty and nasty."

i know you're making an important point cb but i don't understand it.

_ Jenna and Barbara Bush, the twin daughters of the president and the first lady.

_ Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney.

_ Lori Ball of Brookville, Ind., who has received help from the HOPE NOW alliance that helps people struggling to pay their mortgages.

_ James "Jim" Barnard, the chief financial officer of Barnard Manufacturing in St. John's, Mich., a small business that stands to benefit from an economic stimulus package that the Bush administration supports.

_ Staff Sgt. Craig Charloux of Bangor, Maine, who served in Iraq for 14 months and served as a leader of an Armored Reconnaissance Squadron. He was seriously wounded by two grenade blasts but was able to successfully complete the raid, in which eight al-Qaida operatives were killed.

_ John Danilovich, chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and former U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica and Brazil.

_ Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, who served as Health and Human Services Secretary under President Clinton. The two co-chaired the commission charged with helping wounded military veterans get better health care and return to civilian life.

_ Blanca Gonzalez, who lives in Miami, Fla. She is the mother of Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, a Cuban political prisoner arrested in 2003. He has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for reporting on the conditions of Cuba's state-run services and for criticizing the government's management.

_ Steve Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser.

_ Steve Hewitt, administrator of Greensburg, Kan., whose city was almost entirely destroyed by a tornado in May but has made progress in recovering.

_ 1st Lt. Andrew Kinard of the United States Marine Corps, who was deployed to Iraq and lost both legs when he was struck by an improvised explosive device. He is an outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

_ Dr. Bill Krissoff of the United States Navy Medical Corps. He applied to the Navy Medical Corps after his oldest son, Marine 1st Lt. Nathan Krissoff, was killed in combat in Iraq.

_ Tara Kunkel, an emergency room nurse in Indianapolis, Ind. One of her patients admitted herself to the hospital after reading an interview with Mrs. Bush in which the first lady described the signs and symptoms of hearts attacks in women.

_ Senior Airman Diane Lopes, who entered the U.S. Army in 1991 and joined the Air Force Reserves in January 2003. Lopes was wounded by a rocket attack in Iraq and is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

_ Irvin Mayfield, a jazz musician from New Orleans, who has helped aid the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

_ Dan Meyer, assistant to President Bush for legislative affairs.

_ Petty Officer Willard "Wil" Milam of the United States Coast Guard, who rescued four people in the Bering Sea in February 2007 after locating a life raft from a boat that sunk an hour earlier. His military decorations total nearly 45 awards.

_ Alma Morales Riojas, president and CEO of MANA, the oldest national Latina membership organization in the United States.

_ Tara D. Morrison, the superintendent of the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City.

_ Tatu Msangi, a 35-year-old single mother and registered nurse from Tanzania, and her 2-year-old daughter, Faith Mang'ehe. After discovering she was HIV-positive, Tatu enrolled in a program designed to prevent transmission from mother to child. She delivered a healthy daughter, Faith, who is HIV-free.

_ Staff Sgt. Andrew Nichols of the United States Marine Corps. He has served multiple tours in Iraq and was able to return recently to the United States when his unit was successfully replaced by a division of the Iraqi army.

_ Michelle Rhee, the new chancellor of the District of Columbia public school system.

_ Dr. Thomas "Tom" M. Stauffer, who is president, CEO and professor of management at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.

_ Kevin Sterne, a student at Virginia Tech, who was shot twice in the right leg during the massacre there last April. He was able to stop his own bleeding to help save his life, and he has since returned to Virginia Tech to pursue a master's degree.

_ Eric Whitaker, a team leader of a provincial reconstruction team in Baghdad, Iraq.

i wish my township would do something like that. i'd vote for it in a new york minute.

hell, i wish my congressman would do it. oh, nevermind, i forgot that impeachments off the table.

is there any evidence that this is a corordinated response by the rnc or limbaugh et.al.

The Weekly Standard is reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney displays in his home a chunk of the house that U.S. forces blew up to kill terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006. Beyond its obvious morbidity, the memento seems a bit unseemly in view of reports that the White House repeatedly passed on opportunities to blow up Zarqawi's house before he killed thousands of people in Iraq and elsewhere.

According to former CIA agent Michael Scheuer, the agency was closely tracking Zarqawi's activities after the 9/11 attacks and continually made known to the White House that he was in a terrorist training camp in Iraq that could be taken out: "Almost every day we sent a package to the White House that had overhead imagery of the house he [Zarqawi] was staying in." At the time, Scheuer was told that the White House didn't want to pull the trigger "because they were wining and dining the French in an effort to get them to assist us in the invasion of Iraq," and were concerned about giving them the impression that we were "gunslingers."

As things turned out, we didn't get French support, we did get a damaging gunslinger reputation, and we didn't drop Zarqawi until he had already massacred thousands of people. But once you work past these huge failures, that rock at Cheney's house is clearly something that should be celebrated and admired.

You could still be proven correct. But so far so good for Hillary and McCain. Both have risen to a stiff challenge. Both have fought off the 3%ers. Both still face a final assault by another strong 97% candidate.

But I stay fixed on the two candidates I feel best represent the 97% that run this country.

Hillary and McCain.

Never too early to begin transition planning. So there were Vice President Cheney and spouse Lynne out in McLean on Sunday afternoon, strolling about the house they're building in that tony suburb.

A Loop Fan spotted the veep -- attracted by three black SUVs, a limo and a marked Secret Service car all parked discreetly along the road outside the property -- taking the tour of what he described as a "large home under construction."

The "in-town home" -- as opposed to the Chesapeake Bay house -- is on a small lot (just under an acre) that the Cheneys bought for $1.35 million on Jan. 12, 2000, months before his selection as George W. Bush's vice presidential candidate, according to property records.

Cheney tore down the previous house, we were told, but left the lot vacant -- much to the consternation of the exceptionally well-heeled neighbors -- when he moved into public housing at the Naval Observatory off Massachusetts Avenue NW.

The area is close enough to the CIA that Cheney could easily wander over from time to time to make sure they're getting the real intelligence on Iran, North Korea and various nuclear wannabes. (We agreed to a request from Cheney's office not to provide an exact location for the new manse.)

Unclear when the 12,765-square-foot bungalow will be finished, but it's not a Halliburton project, so it should be done by Inauguration Day '09. The estimated cost of construction is only $1.5 million.

The four-bedroom, nine-bath (including a couple of powders) house includes his and hers bathrooms off the master bedroom on the first floor and his and hers libraries, each with a fireplace, according to a review of the plans by our colleague Michael Laris.

Two more bedrooms are on the second floor, along with a sitting room, an exercise room and three baths. There's a playroom in the basement for the grandkids. A spot above the attached two-car garage has a bedroom, bathroom and bar. The house has the usual elevator that runs from the basement to the second floor.

There don't appear to be fine hunting opportunities in the vicinity, but neighbors should take appropriate precautions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR200801...

Dear Dan,

The worst job at the circus is cleaning up after the elephants. The same goes for politics.

When George Bush gave his State of the Union on Monday, I thanked God it was his last. But the state of our union is a whole lot worse than it was when Dubya took office.

====

i'll give them something for clever use of imagery but until they start doing the will of the people don't expect money

:)

Edwards would be commenting at 12 noon from New Orleans. I forgot whether that would be eastern or central, but I assume eastern.

It's at 12 noon Central, 1pm eastern

Louisiana is Central, same as Chicago or toniD time ;)

Employees of CompUSA received notices from the Senior Director of Human Resources outlining the electronics retailer's severance packages, indicating it will begin major layoffs "on or before Febuary 8th," according to an internal communication obtained last week.

The memo indicates that certain employees may be retained on an as needed basis, but stops short of providing finite dates for termination, saying "we are not ready to provide specific end dates for your employment with CompUSA."

Downsizing is now handled by the Gordon Brothers Group, a firm specializing in the liquidation of ailing businesses, and store management has been systematically stripped of most administrative control, according to several employees who requested their names be withheld from publication to preserve anonymity.

The company has weathered financial challenges for over a decade, slowly losing its customer base to other big box chains like Best Buy and Circuit City, while also feeling a tight price squeeze from Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, which recently began selling an expanded selection of electronics such as LCD Televisions and Dell Computers.

But in early January, Tiger Direct, an electronics retailer owned by parent company Systemax, announced its purchase of the CompUSA brand and just over a dozen stores in the United States.

Communications intercepted in late January indicate that Tiger Direct plans to keep stores in McAllen and Plano open for business, however specific information pertaining to current employee retention, merchant relations, and reported visits to stores in North Texas by corporate personnel were not confirmed by store management, who referred media inquiries to corporate offices of Tiger Direct and CompUSA.

Messages left with both companies were not immediately returned Tuesday.

New thread!

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2292#new

too.

HARTFORD, Conn. - The state is suing a Branford company, but has reached agreement to collect some $600,000 from four other companies for water pollution.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is suing Atlantic Wire Co. of Branford, accusing it of discharges of toxic waste into the Branford River.

A lawyer for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment says four companies have agreed to consent orders.

The four companies are Electric Boat of Groton, which discharges into the Thames River; Whyco Finishing Technologies of Thomaston, which discharges into the Naugatuck River; and Allegheny Ludlum and Cytec Industries, both of Wallingford, which discharge into the Quinnipiac River.

In two years’ time some court cases in Poland will be settled via the Internet, vice-minister of justice Jacek Czaja has told Polish Radio Wrocław.

The majority of the cases will refer to minor offences, like overdue electricity or rental payments. This solution will speed up the process of reaching a verdict in simple cases, vice-minister Czaja explained.

According to Czaja, the introduction of electronic courts in Poland would mean a huge change in the justice administration in Poland.

“The concept is to create a vast IT platform, which would recognise banal cases which should end without further delay,” the justice vice-minister explained.

Currently, it takes even up to several months to settle such case in Poland. The e-Court would allow to shorten that time to just several days.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

pussy and rules!!!

Ralph Nader
Nader 2008 Presidential Exploratory Committee
Maybe we’re wrong.

Maybe the Democrats and Republicans will nominate Presidential candidates this year who will stand up against the war profiteers, the nuclear industry, the credit card industry, the corporate criminals, big oil, and the drug and health insurance industries.

We doubt it.

But hope springs eternal.

In the meantime, take a few minutes and explore with us an idea.

The idea is this—1,000 citizens in every Congressional district.

Each and every one committed to challenging the corporate powers that have a hammerlock on our political and economic systems.

Organized citizen power facing off against corporate power.

In this election year – 2008.

Instead of spending this election year sitting back and watching the corporate candidates spin their vapid mantras – hope, experience, change.

Instead of spending the year complaining about inertia, exhaustion, and apathy.

Let us instead weigh the possibility of pulling together half a million dedicated citizens collectively rising up off our couches and organizing a ground force in every Congressional district in the country.

A ground force of citizens who are informed, committed, tenacious advocates for a just future.

This is what we are contemplating.

Something new.

Something big.

Something bold.

Something that works.

Something that will prod young and old alike.

To join in a mass push back against the corporate powers that are dictating our future.

No one person can get us there.

But one person is ideally suited to lead this grassroots force – if he chooses to do so and runs as the citizens’ candidate for President in 2008.

And that one person is Ralph Nader.

In the 1960s, Nader brought together a group of young people who challenged the corporate status quo.

The press dubbed those young people Nader’s Raiders.

And the rest – as they say – is history.

Here's the idea—1,000 active and informed citizens in each Congressional district ready to take on the corporate political structure in this 2008 election year.

Half a million citizens – mobilized, informed and powerful, organized for a common cause – facing off against corporate power and corporate control.

To kick off this exploratory season, we make you this modest offer – for a donation right now of $300 to our exploratory committee, we will send you:

Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan’s new DVD Unreasonable Man. This is the classic documentary about Ralph’s work – from fighting GM to challenging the political duopoly.

Michael Moore’s new DVD – Sicko. This is a brilliant documentary about the health care industry in America. Moore strongly supports a single payer, full Medicare for all system. Everybody in, nobody out. If the Democrats nominate a corporate candidate opposed to single payer – and right now all of the corporate Democrats are opposed to single payer – Michael will be in a tight spot. Michael, which side are you on?

New York Times’ reporter David K. Johnston’s new book Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense. The book’s title says it all. Consider it a primer on corporate welfare. Which of the corporate candidates will challenge the corporate welfare kings? We’re not holding our breath.

MSNBC’s Bob Sullivan’s new book Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day and What you Can Do About It. Sick of $4 ATM fees? Seven dollar a gallon rental car gas? One day late on that electric bill? Gotcha. All your credit cards jump to a 29.99 interest rate. Your bank balance fell to $999.99 for one day. Gotcha. That will be $12. The massive overbilling by health care corporations. Which of the corporate candidates will fight the credit card companies, the rental car companies, the health care companies and the banks? Again, we’re not holding our breath.

Former New York Times’ reporter Stephen Kinzer’s book All The Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror – with a new preface – “The Folly of Attacking Iran.” With war cheerleader Bill Kristol now a columnist for the Times, time to turn back to Kinzer to counter the war hawks. It’s brilliant. And it shows that what goes around, comes around.

So, that’s two DVD’s – Sicko and Unreasonable Man – and three books destined to become classics – Free Lunch, Gotcha Capitalism, and All The Shah’s Men.

All for a donation of $300 ... to launch the exploratory season..

Join with us to help mobilize your fellow citizens and discipline the corporate crooks and lobbyists – and their corporate candidates.

It should be an exciting year.

Onward.

Peter Miguel Camejo
Matt Gonzalez
Theresa Amato
Jason Kafoury
Sally Soriano
Matthew Zawisky
Nate Coppernoll
Julie Coyle
Carl Mayer

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