guess what's available on dvd???

oranges poranges
(thanks cass)

john martyn - muscian of the day

you know when i was looking for the lyrics to my favorite john martyn song, all i could find was 'may you never' BY ERIC CLAPTON. that azz wipe DID NOT write the song. it is NOT BY eric clapton. he recorded it yes, but did NOT write it. (see my paul zunno posting where i say i CANNOT understand why clapton has fame and zunno does not. i'll NEVER understand that). john martyn anyway, here is......................

May You Never
by John Martyn
May you never lay your head down without a
hand to hold. May you never make your bed out in the cold. May you never lose your
temper if you get hit in a barroom fight. May you never lose your woman
overnight.
Well, you're just like a great, strong sister to me, And I know
that your love is true, and you hold no blade for to stab me in my back; I know
that there's some that do.
So please, won't you please, won't you bear it in
mind: Love is a lesson to learn in our time. Please, won't you please, bear it in
mind for me.
Chorus
Well, you're just like a great, strong brother to
me, And I know that your love is true, And you never talk dirty behind my back; I
know that there's some that do.
Bridge
Chorus
May you never lose your
woman overnight. May you never lose your woman overnight.

i have NOT clicked on the link

nor will i. i do not wish to see the photos but i felt this was worth posting

The American Iraq
John Byrne

An anonymous expatriate harvests raw images of Iraq taken by American soldiers
Warning: The photographs that accompany this article are graphic and not for the faint of heart. If you wish to see some of the images but not the macabre ones, look at only the first two pages of photos. The link from the first sentence is very graphic.


A face, frozen in an expression of muted surprise, trails a wormy, bloodied vertebrae. Below it, a caption penned by an American soldier: “new meaning to giving head.” A bearded man, his bloody-crusted shirt accordioned below his neck, bears, “come on and give me some sugar.” Typed beneath a cross-eyed, lacerated corpse with one arm extended, are the words, “oo, ooo, pick me.”

These are the raw images of Iraq, taken by American soldiers. Besides the underbelly of war they reveal a quintessentially American aesthetic: tourist snapshots, boys toting beers and smoking cigars, notes taped to slumbering soldiers’ backsides, mohawks on fire. They reveal a fascination with brutality and death: charred corpses, severed limbs, and an American soldier whose face has been blown in so far that his brain is exposed.
Some are intimate and at once quotidian. Scores of photographs document the dull hallways of palaces, gaudy jewelry, even crystal chandeliers. Dozens display helicopters hovering in bare blue skies and silhouetted against rich, pumpkin-colored sunsets. A palatial, empty room is festooned with the sign “GOD BLESS TASK FORCE IRON HORSE.” In another, a GI looks stolidly into the distance, his helmet hugged against his chest, vaunts the caption, “yes, yes i am a sexy man-beast.”
These images are collected at UnderMars.com, an online library dedicated to photographs taken and captioned by American soldiers who have served in Iraq. The site was created by an American expatriate and computer programmer, Mark, who spoke to RAW STORY on the condition his full name not be used..................

i couldn't resist posting this buzzflash headline

it is GREAT and says it ALL (well ALMOST ALL)



Here's a president who has not vetoed one bill from the GOP troglodytes in Congress in five years. And now he says he's going to reject the first civilized bill they pass -- the one banning torture.

Bush will veto anti-torture law after Senate revolt

mmmmm let's see, now he is blaming ME for what he said?

the commercial for this weekend's d l hughley comedy central show weekends at the d.l. has him saying something like (i can't remember EXACTLY); 'run black babies, RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN'

(i like d l, he's witty and funny)

Bennett suggested his critics are racist: "I hit too close to what they believe, not what I believe"

Radio host Bill Bennett continues to modify his explanation for his controversial remarks that if "you wanted to reduce crime -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." As Media Matters for America has previously documented, Bennett initially defended his remarks by falsely claiming they were based on a theory endorsed by Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005).
Now, Bennett has offered a new defense -- liberals were outraged over his comments because they hit too close to home. On the October 5 broadcast of the nationally syndicated Focus on the Family radio program, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson suggested that the "[reason] the left has reacted so viciously to you [Bennett] is that their own abortion movement is rooted in racism." Bennett agreed and expanded on these remarks by stating that "this is the sort of thing, I think, that was probably in their minds. On a conscious or subconscious level, that had something to do with the viciousness of the attack. In using this noxious hypothetical, I hit too close to what they believe, not what I believe."
Bennett further insinuated this belief while appearing on the October 5 episode of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto. In explaining his personal reaction to the controversy his words caused, Bennett commented: "I guess the irony is, I'm the pro-life guy. I don't advocate abortion for anyone, any group. ... And my critics are pro-choice, pro-abortion, but we'll clear the air." ..........

when clinton lied NO ONE DIED

i will forgive someone for getting their d**k 'serviced' in the oval office. i will NOT forgive someone for getting the d**k's and c**t's of our service people BLOWN APART FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

CBS' double standard: Network refuses to interview former Clinton administration officials for upcoming Freeh story

October 9 broadcast of CBS' 60 Minutes will feature an interview with former FBI director Louis Freeh, whose upcoming book My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror (St. Martin's Press) reportedly contains "scathing" criticism of President Clinton.
But, according to an October 7 New York Sun article (subscription required), CBS "refused to tape interviews with former Clinton administration officials who disagree with the former FBI director's allegations, according to people familiar with the situation." Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz reported that "[t]he Clinton camp says '60 Minutes' would not accept any surrogate to rebut Freeh on camera once the former president declined to be interviewed."
60 Minutes' refusal to accept a surrogate in place of Clinton is inconsistent with the way the show handled a similar story about a book critical of President Bush. On March 21, 2004, 60 Minutes ran a segment about former National Security Council counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke's then-upcoming book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror (Free Press, March 2004). The segment included not only an exclusive interview with Clarke but also an interview with Bush administration National Security Council official Stephen Hadley, who was given time to defend Bush from Clarke's criticism.

i've not seen this movie yet

Director George Clooney on the set of Good Night, And Good Luck.photo: Melinda Sue Gordon

but i LOVE david strathairn AND skippy my personal favorite blog mentioned it in passing as well............

Celebrity Journalist Confessions of a Democratic Mind: George Clooney presses for freedom of the press
by J. Hoberman October 4th, 2005 12:07 PM

Like Robert Redford and Warren Beatty, George Clooney is a politically aware movie star who has taken the American political spectacle as his subject. Clooney's second feature as a director, the classy, credible docudrama Good Night, and Good Luck, restages the 1954 vid-screen prizefight in which newsman Edward R. Murrow vanquished demagogue Joe McCarthy. It's an unusually scrupulous reconstruction and, in a powerfully restrained performance, David Strathairn evokes Murrow as Brecht would have wished, by quoting him. Murrow's CBS colleagues—Fred Friendly, Shirley and Joe Wershba, Don Hollenbeck, and the network owner William Paley—are all played by actors. McCarthy plays himself, as do all the news subjects. Focusing on the issues that rise out of the spectacle, Clooney has made a movie that is both true to its period and relevant to present-day America. "I'm an old Jeffersonian," he told me last week before Good Night's American premiere at the New York Film Festival. "I think it's more important to have a free press than a free government."
Good Night, and Good Luck may be set in 1954, but it seems very much a post–9-11 film. You've said that you and Grant Heslov began writing the script three years ago. That's during the run-up to the Iraq war. Did you find yourself changing your conception in response to what was going on? I was getting beat up pretty good around that time. But I thought there were more important issues than Bill O'Reilly doing a show about my career being over because of my political views. I was concerned about the lack of debate. The conception changed only in that a book came out about how great McCarthy was and how wrong Murrow was . . . ..

welcome home!

Battalion that lost 48 members returns to cheers
A Marine waves as supporters cheer his return Thursday, in Brook Park, Ohio.

Friday, October 7, 2005; Posted: 11:01 a.m. EDT (15:01 GMT)

BROOK PARK, Ohio (AP) -- A Marine Corps battalion that lost 48 members in Iraq arrived home Thursday to cheers and a parade attended by thousands of people.
Crowds lined the one-mile parade route from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to welcome back the 160 members of the Headquarters & Service Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines.
The route led to a recreation center where the Marines could enjoy private reunions with friends and family.
"I'm really excited to see him," said Melissa Schlabach, 25, who brought her 21/2-year old son, Josh, to welcome home her brother, Cpl. Brent Monastra, 23, of Canton. "Growing up with him you don't realize what you have until he's not around."
The Marines' fallen comrades were on their minds as they returned.......................

i mean this from the bottom of my heart - WELCOME HOME

breaking news breaking news breaking news

from one of my absolute favorite 'news' sources, the onion

Halliburton Given Contract To Rebuild Cheney
October 5, 2005 Issue 41•40
WASHINGTON, DC—Halliburton was awarded an $85.5 million contract to rebuild damaged U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney Monday. "We are proud to serve the executive branch in their hour of need," CEO David J. Lesar wrote in a statement released later that day. "Due to our vast experience with oil-well fires and refinery mishaps, we are well-versed in the sort of reinforcement, rewiring, and exoskeleton refitting Mr. Cheney so desperately needs." The Department of Ways and Means defended awarding the contract to Halliburton on the grounds that they had done the original work on Cheney in the 1970s.

ewwwwwwwwwww

In this photo provided by the Everglades National Park, the carcass of a six-foot American alligator is shown protruding from the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Everglades National Park, Fla., after the snake apparently swallowed the alligator resulting in the deaths of both animals. (AP Photo/Everglades National Park)

Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

By DENISE KALETTE, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 6, 7:13 AM ET
MIAMI - The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.

A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.
The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.
"It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.
Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners.
The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter — the fourth documented in the past three years — was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.
The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

they're NOT saying BOOOOOOOOOOOOO they're saying LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

(how can you not like a guy who pointed out that mar had a run in her hose during her job interview???)

Ed Asner Speaks Out on the Far Right's Misuse of Power
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
When you ask about the right-wing attacks on performers, these are old scripts. These have been readied for decades, prepared by the right wing, knowing that in the main, artists will not be in support of their programs and their ideas. So they are ready to attack. They are ready to vilify and they will resort to anything.
* * *
Ed Asner is perhaps best known for playing the character of Lou Grant on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spin-off, "Lou Grant." In addition to acting in countless television roles and films, Asner has been a producer, writer, and political activist.
Following a strike by actors and writers that delayed the 1980 – 1981 TV season, Ed Asner was elected president of the Screen Actor's Guild in 1981. In the 1980s, Asner became an outspoken critic of the Reagan administration's support of right-wing death squads in El Salvador, as well as many other causes. Asner admits that his political activism adversely affected his acting career.
"The First Amendment is most precious, and yet it's meaningless to people when they don't have the guts to practice it," said Asner, who has never stopped speaking his mind.
That's why BuzzFlash recommends Misuse of Power: How the Far Right Gained and Misuses Power by Ed Asner and Burt Hall, a former Group Director on matters of national security with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Misuse of Power offers a compelling and highly resourceful survey of American politics from 1992 to the present day and documents how the right wing has seized control of America.
* * *
BuzzFlash: What are the most egregious examples of the Bush administration’s misuse of power in the last five years?
Ed Asner: I first want to say that I’m appalled with the limited press scrutiny that has occurred during the Bush administration's tenure, including the rigged election in 2000. This is an administration of promises made, promises broken. But it is the apathy of the public that I find so difficult to comprehend. One of the reasons I wrote the book with Burt Hall was to state the Bush administration's malfeasance in very simple terms and see if it serves as a wake up call for anybody -- because, clearly, the mainstream press won't do it...........

ed's work

it's just not his day

NEW COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST KARL ROVE WITH KERR COUNTY, TX DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL VOTER REGISTRATION

Texas Officials State That Previous Complaint Filed by CREW Lacked Standing
Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced that Frances Lovett, a registered voter in Kerr County, Texas, sent a complaint this week to Kerr County District Attorney, E. Bruce Curry, urging an investigation into whether Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, violated Texas state law by illegally registering as a voter in Kerr County, despite never residing there.CREW had filed a complaint regarding this matter with the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State’s office on September 6, 2005. On September 8th, however, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Texas Secretary of State’s office does not have jurisdiction over this matter and that it must be investigated by county officials. They also said that CREW does not have jurisdiction to file a complaint, only a Kerr County registered voter can file such a complaint. “I have lived in Kerr County for the past 15 years and have never even heard that Mr. Rove or his wife lived in the area,” Frances Lovett said today. “Reading about Mr. Rove’s illegal voter registration in the paper, and knowing that a complaint could not be filed unless a Kerr County resident took action, I resolved to take this next step and send a letter to District Attorney E. Bruce Curry.”According to a report in The Washington Post on September 7, 2005, Mr. Rove and his wife, Darby, registered to vote in Kerr County in 2003 after they sold their Austin, Texas home. County property records show that Mr. Rove and his wife have owned two tiny rental cottages in Kerr County since 1997, the largest of which is only 814 feet and is valued by the county at $25,000. In contrast, the Roves’ Washington, D.C. home is valued at over $1.1 million. Other local Kerr County residents have stated that they have never seen Mr. Rove in the area. Texas law requires that a “qualified voter” be a resident of Texas and the county in which the application for voter registration is made. ...........

and of course THIS as well

Rove Said to Testify in CIA Leak Case


By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 6, 7:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Presidential confidant Karl Rove will testify for a fourth time before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a
CIA officer's identity even though prosecutors have warned they can no longer guarantee he will escape indictment, lawyers said Thursday. Rove's offer was accepted by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the last week as the grand jury's wraps up its work and decides whether Rove, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby or any other presidential aides should face criminal charges.
Rove's lawyer said Thursday that Fitzgerald has assured him that he has made no decisions yet on charges and that his client has not received a so-called target letter, usually the last step before a grand jury indictment.
"I can say categorically that Karl has not received a target letter from the special counsel," attorney Robert Luskin said. "The special counsel has confirmed that he has not made any charging decisions in respect to Karl."
Luskin said that Rove "continues to be cooperative voluntarily" with the investigation but that he could not further discuss his dealings with Fitzgerald's office...........

ya know, i sure don't believe there is going to be too much truth-telling ANYWHERE

with friends like these..........

Tom Parker (center) poses with Leonard Wilson (left), a board member of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, and Mike Whorton (right), Alabama state leader of the neo-secessionist League of the South.

Honoring the Confederacy In Alabama, a well-known Supreme Court candidate lauds an antebellum slave trader and appears with hate group leaders
By Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok

Tom Parker, Republican candidate for the Supreme Court of Alabama, isn't shy about touting his conservative credentials. He despises "liberal judges" who are "trying to take God out of public life." He is an "ardent opponent" of gay marriage, and "a national leader in the fight against Political Correctness." He underlines his close ties to Christian Right leaders like Phyllis Schlafly and James Dobson.
Most importantly, of course, Parker is running as the protégé of Roy Moore, the Alabama chief justice ejected from his job after defying a federal court order to remove his two-ton Ten Commandments monument from the Supreme Court rotunda.
But Tom Parker has some other friends, too. It's just that he doesn't spend much time bragging publicly about this batch of colleagues and supporters.
In July, Parker made his way to the Selma home of Pat and Butch Godwin, who were holding a birthday party to honor Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a wealthy slave trader who became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. (Forrest also presided over the massacre of some 250 black prisoners of war at Ft. Pillow, Tenn.) The Godwins run Friends of Forrest Inc., which owns a Forrest statue the Godwins spent two years unsuccessfully trying to place on public property.
Standing on his friends' Confederate battle flag-bedecked front porch, Parker rallied the crowd. Later, one listener lauded him as "a man not afraid of the flag." ...........

wtf????????????????

State Sen. Patricia Miller acknowledged that the legislation before her panel would be 'enormously controversial.'


next thing you know, they'll be scooping up babies BORN of natural means to gay/lesbian people and to single people. what next? taking babies born to people with a certain hue to their skin, a certain religious or NON-religious persuasion?

Indiana bill would limit reproduction procedures for gays, singles Panel to make recommendation to Legislature on Oct. 20
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Oct 4, 4:18 PM
An interim legislative committee is considering a bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child. Sen. Patricia Miller (R-Indianapolis) said state law does not have regulations on assisted reproduction and should have similar requirements to adoption in Indiana."If were going to try to put Indiana on the map, I wouldn't go this route," said Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana. "It feels pretty chilling. It is governmental intrusion into a very private part of our lives."Miller acknowledged that the legislation would be "enormously controversial.""Our statutes are nearly silent on all this. You can think of guidelines, but when you put it on paper it becomes different," she told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne for a story Tuesday. Miller is chairwoman of the Health Finance Commission, a panel of lawmakers that will vote Oct. 20 on whether to recommend the legislation to the full General Assembly. The bill defines assisted reproduction as causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection. It then requires "intended parents" to be married to each other and says an unmarried person may not be an intended parent....................

mother, may i?

Commerce Department tells National Weather Service media contacts must be pre-approved
Larisa Alexandrovna

The Department of Commerce has issued a blanket media policy to employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requiring that all requests for contact from national media be first approved by the Department, RAW STORY has learned.
According to a leaked Sept. 29 email memo sent out to NOAA staff, including employees of the National Weather Service (NWS) -- both of which are under the Department of Commerce -- employees must collect information from reporters and forward it to the Department.
The memo was leaked to RAW STORY last week

'cause white folks never have out of wedlock babies

Defending Bennett's comments, Rev. Peterson cited alleged violence at Superdome to claim that most blacks "lack moral character"
September 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson argued that the controversy surrounding remarks made by nationally syndicated radio host Bill Bennett, the former secretary of education under President Reagan, linking crime rates to abortions by blacks was simply "an attempt by the liberals to prevent white, conservative Republicans from speaking the truth about black America." Peterson, who is the founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), then suggested that "the root cause of crime is a lack of moral character." He explained that "crime and out-of-wedlock birth, black folks having babies without being married, and stuff like that is out of control." According to Peterson, "Not all ... but most of them lack moral character. Look what they did to the [Louisiana Super]dome. In three days, they turned the Dome into a ghetto."
As the New Orleans Times-Picayune, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times have noted, the reports of widespread violence at the Superdome in the days following Hurricane Katrina -- which apparently served as the basis for Peterson's accusation that evacuees had "turned the Dome into a ghetto" -- have been called into question.
From the September 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
PETERSON: You know, [co-host] Alan [Colmes], first I want to say I know Bill Bennett. He is not a racist, he is a good man. As a matter of fact, we use his book, The Book of Virtues, with our BOND After School Character Building Program. This attempt is by -- this is an attempt by the liberals to prevent white, conservative Republicans from speaking the truth about black America.
COLMES: Wait a second, you say "liberals, but The White House has said today --
[crosstalk]
PETERSON: Whether it's on race issues or moral issues, this is an attempt to shut down white, Republican conservatives..................

a little tidbit

Miers Briefed Bush on Bin Laden PDB, But Papers Handle Photo From That Day Quite Differently
By E&P Staff Published: October 04, 2005 10:45 AM ET

NEW YORK
On its front page Tuesday, The New York Times published a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch “in August 2001,” the caption reads.USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply “2001,” but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001.Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous “PDB” that declared that Osama Bin Laden was “determined” to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency “Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.”So the Aug. 6 photo may show this historic moment, though quite possibly not. In any case, some newspapers failed to include the exact date with the widely used Miers photo today. A New York Times spokesman told E&P: "The wording of the caption occurred in the course of routine editing and has no broader significance."The photo that ran in so many papers and on their Web sites originally came from the White House but was moved by the Associated Press, clearly marked as an “Aug. 6, 2001” file photo. It shows Miers with a document or documents in her right hand, as her left hand points to something in another paper balanced on the president's right leg. Two others in the background are Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Steve Biegun of the national security staff.The PDB was headed “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” and notes, among other things, FBI information indicating “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

does this make sense?

no, but very few things do these days

U.S. Soldiers Lightly Punished for Iraqi Abuses, Reports Dayton Paper

Published: October 04, 2005 11:07 AM ET
DAYTON, Ohio Charges against U.S. Army soldiers in Iraq accused of crimes against Iraqis are dismissed or withdrawn at a higher rate than charges in which the victims are fellow soldiers or civilian military employees, a newspaper reported. An analysis by the Dayton Daily News of previously undisclosed records from the Army Court-Martial Management Information System database found that 226 U.S. soldiers were charged with offenses between the first deployments in March 2003 and Jan. 1, 2005. Of the 1,038 separate charges, fewer than one in 10 involved crimes against Iraqis. Virtually all of the rest involved crimes against other soldiers, property drug or alcohol offenses, and violations of military rules, the Daily News said. Charges involving Iraqi victims were three times more likely to be dismissed or withdrawn by the Army than cases in which the victims were fellow soldiers or civilian military employees -- 44% compared with 15%, the newspaper said. The Daily News also said that despite evidence and convictions in some cases in which the victims were Iraqis, only a small percentage resulted in punishments approaching those routinely imposed for such crimes by civilian justice systems. The newspaper cited one case in which two U.S. soldiers were convicted of robbing an Iraqi shopkeeper. One soldier was sentenced to five months' confinement and the other to one month. The median sentence imposed for all types of robbery in the United States, with or without the use of firearms, is five years.“I've been surprised at some of the lenient sentences,” said Gary Solis, a former military judge and prosecutor who teaches military law at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “I have an uneasy suspicion that it relates to the nationality of the victim.”Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Pamela Hart defended the Army's handling of criminal cases in Iraq, saying every allegation of abuse is investigated. “Each investigation is unique and has various facts and circumstances,” Hart said yesterday. “When wrongdoings are revealed, the commanders do punish appropriately. ”Solis said criminal acts by soldiers -- and the lack of punishment -- could add to the hatred fueling insurgents in Iraq, putting soldiers at greater risk.........

what a vile creature - what an idiotic concept

As part of the SEE Program, members have access to the Energy Hog Mascot.The Energy Hog is a public service advertising campaign geared toward 4th to8th graders. The campaign features a dastardly character, the Energy Hog andis designed to make children and their parents aware of energy-efficient behavior through a spokes-villain, the Energy Hog, an energy waster.

(more like a TIME waster to me)

US govt unveils Energy Hog to promote conservation
03 Oct 2005 20:13:29 GMT Source: Reuters (Recasts first sentence, adds Democrats' response paragraphs 11-13)
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - With U.S. heating bills expected to hit record highs this winter, the Bush administration on Monday launched a conservation campaign featuring a cartoon mascot "Energy Hog," which critics said does little to discourage energy use.
Americans face higher heating bills due in part to crippled oil refineries, natural gas processing plants and producing platforms from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
In the Midwest, the region most dependent on natural gas for heating, winter bills will jump by 71 percent from last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Nationally, heating oil expenses will rise 34 percent and electricity bills 11 percent, the EIA recently forecast.
Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and the Alliance to Save Energy consumer group on Monday launched what was billed as a major campaign to encourage Americans to cut energy use this winter. It dusts off mostly old energy-conservation tips such as adding home insulation and turning down thermostats.
To help sell the plan, the White House created a cartoon mascot, the Energy Hog. The pig, who wears blue jeans and a leather biker jacket, will follow in the footsteps of Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog by appearing in ads.
Public service announcements sent to 4,500 radio stations say that consumers "have the power" to manage their energy bills and ease "the pinch of high energy prices."...........

what an odyssey!

Lost island home of Odysseus found after 3,000 years

By Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent

FOR almost 3,000 years, its location has been a mystery, but classical scholars around the world are now convinced that a British businessman and amateur archaeologist with a passion for Homer has found the island of Ithaca, home of the Greek hero Odysseus and the site of his palace.
Many thought that the island existed only in the imagination of the Greek poet Homer and in his epic, the Odyssey. Certainly his description of it did not match the Ionian island now called Ithaca, but, after following a detective trail of literary, geological and archaeological clues, scholars led by Robert Bittlestone, a management consultant, have identified Paliki, an area of Cephalonia, as the site.
Calssicists have been overwhelmed by the compelling evidence.
NI_MPU('middle');
James Diggle, Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University and co-author of a book on the discovery, said that almost all of the 26 locations that Homer described in detail can be identified today in northern Paliki and its neighbourhood.
The topography of Homer’s island fits the area “like a glove”, he said.
Paliki was once a separate island. Since Homer’s day, earthquakes triggering massive landslides had filled in a narrow sea channel that separated it from the island of Same — modern Cephalonia, the setting for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. ............

wow, this is rather cool. now if we could only find bushwhacked's brain...........i take that back. i mean his HEART

uh oh, bushwhacked is THE most brilliant man she has ever met?

(what's that in the sky? a bird? a plane? NO, it's super YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME)
that ALONE should be enough for rejection

Immediately Oppose the Outrageous Nomination of Harriet Miers

Don't delay, send your senators a message that this insult to the judicial syste
by Rob Kall


http://www.opednews.com

Dear Senator Spector

I hope you are feeling the same level of outrage as I am. You have been handed a nomination that smacks of pure cronyism, an instant replay of the vice presidential nomination—where the person delegated to help select the nominee selected herself.

We have a nominee who accepted a plum partisan appointee job as Lottery director for six years. This is not in itself, bad, but it is not good enough for a member of the supreme court. A person who takes a job like this is allowing herself to coast, unchallenged by growth opportunities, accepting an easy path to comfortable income. This is not the character we want in a member of the supreme court.

Based on this nomination, president Bush must believe we must have zero good judges who have enough experience and competence.

This woman is a purely partisan player who promises to make Michael Brown look good.

Even Chris Matthews says that this is patronage.

How partisan is she? David Frum, White house speechwriter, reports, “In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met,"

As an attorney, as someone who respects the law, you must find this nomination an obscene abomination—a total disregard for the sanctity and integrity of the supreme court.


..............

and more tidbits (including from the RIGHT side)

from direland

October 03, 2005
Breaking: BUSH NAMES STEALTH CONSERVATIVE MIERS TO SUPREME COURT (Updated: conservatives say she's an 'indentured servant' of Bush)

President Bush's appointment of a Texas corporate lawyer who has never been a judge before to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court is an effort to end-run the Senate confirmation process. By naming Harriet Miers, Bush has appointed a stealth conservative corporate stooge and political crony who has no judicial record to examine.
A former Republican member of the Dallas City Council, Meirs is former head of the 400-memberTexas corporate law firm Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell, and former chair -- and this is a great credential for being named a guardian of the Constitution! -- the former chairperson of the Texas Lottery Commission!
Moreover, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch, on his blog Attytood, has dug up the report in 2000, from the top-notch investigative journalist Mike Isikoff of Newsweek, showing that Miers was involved in the attempt to stifle the scandal and controversy over George Bush's now-you-see-it-now you don't service in the National Guard during the Vietnam war. Isikoff wrote that, "A hard-nosed Dallas lawyer named Harriet Miers was retained to investigate the issue; state records show Miers was paid $19,000 by the Bush gubernatorial campaign." There's more: click here to read the reults of Bunch's excavations from the news archives.
Miers' firm, Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell have given at least $65,000 to Bush campaigns, have been major backers of the attempt to deny ordinary Americans the right to sue corporations, doctors, pharmaceutical and tobacco companies, greedy corporate execs who steal pension funds through inflated salaries and double bookkeeping, and the whole range of corporate liabilities from which Corporate America is shielded under the GOP plan mis-labeled "tort reform," which Miers' law firm -- on behalf of its corporate clients -- has militantly opposed. .
Bush has called Miers "a pit-bull in size six shoes" -- but she really is a Bush lapdog who can be expected to lick her masters' hand and follow Bush's Constitution shredding, anti-civil liberties, pro-corporate agenda. Miers was Bush’s personal lawyer in Texas -- meaning she was named because she will cleave to the Bush line on the bench. When Bush was elected president, Miers moved from Texas with him -- becoming first the person who checks all documents before they go to the president, then deputy White House counsel, and finally she became White House counsel after Alberto Gonzalez was named Attorney General. ..............

pure and simple id-jits

Top US court OKs Bible use death penalty rejection
03 Oct 2005 14:58:38 GMTSource: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court let stand on Monday a ruling that overturned the death penalty for a Colorado murderer because jurors during deliberations had been improperly influenced by passages from the Bible.
The justices declined to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that imposed a sentence of life imprisonment for Robert Harlan because jurors brought a Bible into the jury room and discussed the passage about an "eye for eye, tooth for tooth."
Without comment or recorded dissent, the nation's top court rejected an appeal by Colorado prosecutors who argued the introduction of the Bible into death penalty jury deliberations did not automatically violate the defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial.
Harlan was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a cocktail waitress who was on her way home from work at a casino. He also was convicted of shooting another woman who had given the waitress a ride.
According to the evidence, jurors brought a Bible, a Bible index and hand-written notes containing the location of passages into the jury room to share with another juror.
One passage stated: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. And whoever kills an animal shall restore it, but whoever kills a man shall be put to death."...............


what a bunch o' weenies! five words you id-jit jurors; SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
WHAT HATH YE WROUGHT?

just when you thought this crackpot had finally gone away

he suddenly gives us something to take our minds off of OTHER world problems (remember this is the dude that used to conduct the marriage ceromonies of TONS of couples; arranged, and NOT by love)

Visiting Rev. Moon promotes spiritual 'U.N.'Religious leader preaches about peace and a tunnel

By GREGORY ROBERTS SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
World peace, and a $200 billion tunnel under the Bering Strait to link Alaska and Russia.
That's the dual mission that brought the notorious Rev. Sun Myung Moon to Seattle Wednesday for the 10th stop on a 12-city tour. Should be no problem for the man his followers revere as the messiah -- though not Jesus Christ himself, let it be said.
Hundreds of those believers, once known as Moonies, crowded into the Bell Harbor conference center on Alaskan Way to hear the man introduced as "God the father's beloved son." The presentation was delivered by an African American ex-Catholic priest; it capped a stirring buildup featuring a youth chorale, an inspirational video of Moon's life and the exhortations of a silver-maned Pentecostal preacher flanked by a bearded rabbi in a prayer shawl and a black Muslim.
The appearance of Moon himself came as something of an anticlimax: A balding 85-year-old, he mumbled his speech in raspy Korean, with frequent clearings of his throat. Tiny, individual FM radios handed out to the audience provided an English translation.
Moon is promoting a new, spiritually driven international organization to do the job the United Nations can't seem to manage. He also wants to see a 52-mile tunnel tying together the old Cold War adversaries of the United States and Russia.
The ecumenical roadshow accompanying Moon underscored his message of interracial and inter-religious love and understanding, and the crowd included devotees of all ages and colors. Among them was Dallas Stafford of Renton, an acolyte of Moon's for 30 years who believes, as the rally was styled, that "the peace kingdom is at hand."...........

sad truths

Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort, inquiry finds
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 03 October 2005

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed. The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission. The shortcomings in dealing with Katrina have rocked George Bush's administration. Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has resigned from his post and polls show that a majority of Americans feel the President showed inadequate leadership. The report was commissioned by the Office of Secretary of Defence as an "independent and critical review" of what went so wrong. In a hard-hitting analysis, it says: "The US military has long planned for war on two fronts. This is as close as we have come to [that] reality since the Second World War; the results have been disastrous." The document was compiled by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor of the US Army's War College and an adviser to the Pentagon who was a deputy-director in the Louisiana relief efforts. It charts how "corruption and mismanagement within the New Orleans city government" had "diverted money earmarked for improving flood protection to other, more vote-getting, projects. Past mayors and governors gambled that the long-expected Big Killer hurricane would never happen. That bet was lost with Hurricane Katrina."..........

what do you expect

from a tubby (believe me i of all people CAN say that), draft-dodging, pill popping id-jit?

Limbaugh falsely accused Media Matters of taking Bennett out of context

On the September 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh falsely accused Media Matters for America of quoting radio host Bill Bennett out of context, describing us as a "Democrat [sic] hack website."
According to Limbaugh, Media Matters reproduced only the following segment of Bennett's September 28 comments:
BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.
Limbaugh's charge is false. In exposing Bennett's comments, Media Matters reproduced the entire quote, including the segments that Limbaugh claimed had been omitted.
During the program, Limbaugh played a segment of Bennett's September 28 radio show, stopping immediately after the statement that has provoked controversy: "[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Limbaugh then falsely claimed that "[t]hat last sentence is what appeared. From this whole call, that last sentence is what appeared. ... But what he says after this is even better, and it also wasn't reported." In fact, Bennett's subsequent statement that it "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," was faithfully reproduced in Media Matters' post.
Limbaugh later exclaimed that Bennett "should have been applauded," then claimed that his statement would be taken out of context and challenged Media Matters to post his comments. Limbaugh's comments, with their full context, follow.
From the September 30 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: This Democrat hack website, which has become a source authority for the liberal media, puts an out-of-context, incomplete version of what Bennett said. And of course, this place is required reading of the staff of Senator Harry Reid [D-NV] and Ted Kennedy [D-MA] and the mainstream press. Oh, look! Look what Bennett said the other day! Bam, here come their statements. And then, of course, the media said, "Ohhh, what do you think about what Bennett --" Blah, blah, blah..............

next year is only a few short months away

let's hope we don't lose any more of our service people (we will but we can wish........)

Retired general: Iraq invasion was 'strategic disaster'

The Lowell Sun

WASHINGTON -- The invasion of Iraq was the “greatest strategic disaster in
United States history,” a retired Army general said yesterday, strengthening an
effort in Congress to force an American withdrawal beginning next year., Retired
Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a Vietnam veteran, said the invasion of Iraq
alienated America's Middle East allies, making it harder to prosecute a war
against terrorists.
The U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, he said, and
reposition its military forces along the Afghan-Pakistani border to capture
Osama bin Laden and crush al Qaeda cells.
“The invasion of Iraq I believe
will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history,” said Odom,
now a scholar with the Hudson Institute.
Homeward Bound, a bipartisan
resolution with 60 House co-sponsors, including Lowell Rep. Marty Meehan,
requests President Bush to announce plans for a draw-down by December, and begin
withdrawing troops by October 2006.
The measure has not been voted on, nor
has the House Republican leadership scheduled hearings. But supporters were
encouraged yesterday, pointing to growing support among moderate conservatives
and the public's rising dissatisfaction with the war.
Meehan, one of the
first to propose a tiered exit strategy in January, when few of his Democratic
colleagues dared wade into the controversial debate, pointed to “enormous
progress.” ................

two words (not counting the and) florida AND ohio

are we shocked? we shouldn't be

Monitors Find Significant Fraud in Afghan Elections

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: October 3, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 2 - Election officials and observers said Sunday that with 80 percent of the ballots counted in Afghanistan's national and provincial elections, they had found significant incidents of fraud.
Whole districts have come under suspicion for ballot box stuffing and proxy voting, said Peter Erben, the chief of the United Nations-assisted Joint Election Management Board. He said ballot boxes from 4 percent of the 26,000 polling places - about 1,000 stations - had been set aside for investigation on suspicion of fraud and other irregularities.
The European Union observer mission said the reports of fraud and possible voter intimidation in places were "worrying." In a statement, the mission said, "While these phenomena do not appear to be nationwide, they are a cause for concern."
Mr. Erben promised strong action and said that if there was a clear indication of fraud, the votes in question would be excluded from the general count. The Election Complaints Commission could also warn, fine and disqualify candidates if there was evidence of tampering, he said.
"We are taking irregularities very seriously," he said.........

(perhaps more seriously than WE took OUR irregularities)

i wanted to post this the other day

but couldn't due to my frying laptop. this man is VERY funny! i ran across his 'tap dance tyrout' short video a few years ago (i can't seem to find a working link to that or i would have posted it. if you can find it, it's worth a watch. make sure you've 'freshened up' first, or you may wet your pants).

Eccentric on 'S.N.L.' Is 'Jus' Keeeeding!'
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: September 30, 2005
Fred Armisen's office at "Saturday Night Live" is deceptively small, barely big enough to fit a desk, a couch and an iPod. Yet the glorified closet on the 17th floor of the NBC headquarters at Rockefeller Plaza can simultaneously house a wisecracking Latin American bandleader, an enigmatic rock 'n' roll guitarist, a gay movie monster, a stand-up comic who is both deaf and racist, and several dozen more oddities and eccentrics.

These offbeat, seemingly incompatible personalities - and many, many others - are all contained within the slender frame of Mr. Armisen himself. "They're in here somewhere," said the comedian, 38, pointing to a spot on his head just above his black Buddy Holly spectacles. "So is my need for lots of attention."

As he begins his fourth year on "S.N.L." (which returns for its 31st season tomorrow at 11:30 p.m.), Mr. Armisen has certainly been receiving his share of it, having used his time on the sketch comedy show to originate numerous memorable bits and characters, from the drummer Fericito, a master of percussion and corny punch lines, to an impression of the rock musician Prince so dead-on it could make doves cry....................

here is fred's website (although i cannot get it to do anything!)

had a great night saturday

although i DID stay up WAY past my bedtime. it was worth it.

went to see one of my personal favorites paul zunno play at the half door
why he doesn't have the following and the recording contracts clapton does, is beyond me. in my most humble opinion, paul outshines eric by MILES. the boy (paul) can play. he really CAN play. if anyone reading this ever has a chance to see him, please do so. it is WELL worth it.

the opening act (there is rarely if ever an opening act at the half door) was stoll vaughn who did a nice little acoustic set reminescent of a dylan/springsteen combo.

pi (two)

my laptop exploded saturday morning. not to worry, it is SUPPOSED to be fixed something this week (i hope i hope i hope). until then, postings may be sporadic