i did watch it

well i can see why the book of daniel created such controversy. it promoted love and family values and acceptance and the importance of parents listening to children and humor and dealing with illness and all sorts of things we ALL deal with in our day to day lives (with a few problems thrown in for good measure).

you go religious right! let's stamp these evil things out once and for all! let's live in a world where those who think for themselves are shunned. where homosexuals are stoned to death. where we welcome with open arms people who spew words of hate. yeah, that's the kind of society I WANT TO LIVE IN

fredo, you NEVER go against the family.....

more on my favorite vile, hate-filled, vendetta-wishing, invective-spewing NON christian, the NOT-right "reverend" pat robertson


Pat Robertson's ''God as Luca Brasi'' - Putting the hit on Sharon by August Keso, January 7th, 2006
Pat Robertson seems to believe Jesus -- his perverted version of "Jesus" anyway -- is operating some kind of Christian Cosa Nostra, and God is to the Son what Luca Brasi was to Don Corleone. According to Robertson, 911was America's punishment from God, for allowing gay people to exist without being publicly stoned. Last year's devastating tsunami was God's hit on the people of that region, for not converting to Christianity. Robertson also claimed Katrina was God getting even with the heathens of New Orleans - how dare they allow women to flash their breasts, for a few beads! Finally, if Robertson had his way, God would off Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Who knew God was Christ's hitman? Just when a person thinks Robertson can't possibly out-crazy himself, he finds a way to do just that. Robertson's latest crazier than thou performance involved the recently stroke stricken Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. Again, pressing his notion that God is Jesus' personal Luca Brasi, Robertson claimed Sharon's near-death medical condition was the result of the Prime Minister trying to make peace with, but more specifically surrendering land -- "God's Land" -- to Palestinians. "He was dividing God's land," Robertson said. "And I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America.' God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'"Robertson makes God seem oh-so very Luca Brasi, doesn't he? Wonder if, before performing the "stroke hit" on Sharon, God didn't try scaring him first, with a horse head tucked beneath the sheets?Pat Robertson has a very strange understanding of God and the bible. For Robertson -- along with Falwell, Dobson, Wildmon, and many American Christian leaders -- the reformation never happened. He -- and the entire gaggle of evangelical madmen -- continues to interpret the bible literally. Sure, the devil is bad...but God is a badass Cosa Nostra Luca Brasi wannabe, and He'll - if He must, drop a 9 on your sinning and disobeying six, so you'd better mind your Ps-n-Qs. Well, forget the 9mm reference. Robertson is after all, talking about God - He will drop a terror attack, tsunami, hurricane, and a timely stroke on any that don't believe as Robertson believes they should believe. .................

great commentary by nick turse in mother jones

there is nothing to be added to this, especially by me.

Repealing the Magna Carta

Commentary: Wondering just how far back the Bush administration would roll our constitutional system?
By Nick Turse
January 6, 2006

What might happen to an "often cruel and treacherous" national leader who "ignored and contravened the traditional" norms at home and waged "expensive wars abroad [that] were unsuccessful"?
On June 15, 1215, just such a leader arrived at Runnymede, England and --under pressure from rebellious barons angered by his ruinous foreign wars and the fact that "to finance them he had charged excessively for royal justice, sold church offices, levied heavy aids," and appointed "advisers from outside the baronial ranks"-- placed his seal on the Magna Carta. The document, which was finalized on June 19th, primarily guaranteed church rights and baronial privileges, while barring the king from exploiting feudal custom. While it may have been of limited importance to King John or his rebel nobles (as one scholar notes, "It was doomed to failure. Magna Carta lasted less than three months"), the document had a lasting impact on the rest of us, providing the very basis for the Anglo-American legal tradition.
Over the years, the Magna Carta came to be interpreted as a document that forbade taxation without representation and guaranteed trial by jury. In the U.S., it is seen as providing a basis for the 5th Amendment to the Bill of Rights that holds: "No person shall? be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law?" (The Magna Carta states: "No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned? but by lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land.") While many progressive and democratic understandings of the document, popular from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, have now been dismissed as misinterpretations, the Magna Carta has one absolutely significant feature. As the website of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) notes, "When King John confirmed Magna Carta with his seal, he was acknowledging the now firmly embedded concept that no man -- not even the king -- is above the law." ..............................

from crooks and liars

seems like there is a 'secret' pentagon study that says many of our troops (80%) who perished with upper body wounds COULD have survived if they had the proper armor (which of course has been available since 2003). once again, get the bushwhacked twins out there WITHOUT the proper tools, armor, weapons AND REASONS We go to war without the Armor we could have had

this would be funny - if it wasn't so sad

4-year-old turns up on government ‘no-fly’ list

Confusion over boy's name trips up family’s journey home for the holidays
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:58 p.m. ET Jan. 5, 2006
HOUSTON - Edward Allen’s reaction to being on the government’s “no-fly” list should have been the tip-off that he is no terrorist.
“I don’t want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma,” the 4-year-old boy said, according to his mother.
Sijollie Allen and her son had trouble boarding planes last month because someone with the same name as Edward is on a government terrorist watch list.
“Is this a joke?” Allen recalled telling Continental Airlines agents Dec. 21 at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. “You can tell he’s not a terrorist.”
She said it took several minutes of pleading and a phone call by the ticket agent to get on the plane to New York..............

it's NOT murtha's comments that are effecting recruitment

it's the dirty unjust unethical WAR. where are the sons and daughters of congress and the senate? are THEY signing up? are the sons and daughters of the pentagon officials signing up? why do recruiters target men of color i wonder? why are recruitment ads now being shown before movies in theaters?

Murtha Responds To Criticism From Pentagon

WASHINGTON -- Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha said the military is suffering from what he calls "the administration's constantly changing, undefined, open-ended military mission in Iraq."
Murtha was criticized during a Pentagon news conference Thursday, when the chairman of the joint chiefs said Murtha's weekend criticism was "damaging" troop recruitment efforts.
In a statement released by Murtha, the decorated Marine veteran responded that the real damage to recruitment comes from prolonged deployments, inadequate equipment, and the "lack of any connection between Iraq and the brutal attacks of 9/11." ..........

and i was VERY glad to see this........

this phelps dude is one sick f**ker. the good news is MOST of the people in his 'church' group are members of his own family (i'm not going to say it, but i'm thinking it). like i said about robertson a few postings back, when one of HIS family members gets sick or dies, is their god punishing them because there are homosexuals in the world? mmmmmmmmmm i wonder

Bill Would Limit Protests At Military Funerals
POSTED: 11:50 am EST January 5, 2006
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Disturbed by protests at military burials by members of a church who say God is punishing American soldiers, a Nebraska lawmaker wants to limit how close such protests can be to a funeral service.
Sen. Mike Friend of Omaha has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to picket within 100 feet of any part of a funeral service.
Similar measures have been introduced in Missouri, Indiana and Oklahoma.
The Rev. Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., contends that U.S. soldiers are being killed in Iraq as God's punishment for America's acceptance of homosexuality.
Westboro's members have protested at the funerals of scores of troops killed in the war.

if only i was a judge

Vacationing Parents Get Sitter For Dogs, Leave Kids Alone

9-Year-Old Had To Care For 5-Year-Old With Autism
POSTED: 8:17 am EST January 5, 2006
MANTECA, Calif. -- A married couple who got a dog sitter for their puppies but left the man's young children home alone while they vacationed in Las Vegas were arrested Wednesday, police said.
Jacob Calero, 39, and Michelle De La Vega, 32, were taken into custody as they arrived home on a flight to Oakland. They had left town Friday to celebrate the new year, authorities said.
The couple apparently told 9-year-old Joshua to look after his 5-year-brother, Jason, who is autistic. The children spent one night alone before police found them.
The grandmother, Libbey Holden, said she called police because she had suspected the couple left the children at home in San Ramon, about 35 miles east of San Francisco.........

no comment on this except to say

if i had a magic wand, i'd wave it and rep troy woodruff would have breastsesesesesseesses, ovaries AND a big ol' vagina.

Bill Would Make Abortions Illegal In Indiana
Lawmaker Sees Proposal As Way To Get Issue To Supreme Court
POSTED: 2:39 pm EST January 5, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS -- A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill to make abortion illegal in Indiana, saying if it became law, it could ultimately be a vehicle to get the U.S. Supreme Court with new members to overturn abortion rights.
But Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday that his sense was "it would have a very limited prospect of ultimate success."
The bill by Rep. Troy Woodruff of Vincennes would change Indiana's feticide law to make it a Class C felony, punishable with a two- to eight-year prison sentence, to perform an abortion. The only exception would be when carrying a pregnancy to term would pose a "substantial permanent impairment of the life or physical health of the pregnant woman."
Woodruff said he filed the bill Wednesday in part because there will be a new U.S. Supreme Court and a state must pass a law and then appeal it to the highest court to see if the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling would stand.
"Also the people have never had an opportunity (through their lawmakers) to vote on the matter," Woodruff said.........

once again, robertson is one sick f**k

what sort of person turns their god into a killing machine (over LAND of all things?). we ALL die, it's a fact. no intelligent design nothing - we just do. some of us get sick before we die, some of us just expire with no warning. soooooooooooo when the right good reverend dies, does that mean his god is punishing HIM? i'll tell you this much, I'D like to punish him but i don't want to contaminate myself

from raw story

Robertson 'said Sharon being punished by God'

Rev. Pat Robertson has claimed the deteriorating health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is divine punishment for a soft stance on Israel. Sharon, who turns 78 next month, is currently believed to be in critical condition following a cerebral hemorrhage.
Robertson also pointed to the November 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as further evidence that God is punishing leaders willing to divide Israel.
The group People for the American Way has released the following transcript of the broadcast:.................

holy steamin' piles of scheist

i CANNOT believe this. a station in indiana is refusing to air the book of daniel on friday. WHY? because they got emails and letters of complaints. SO EFFING WHAT! you have a remote or dials on your tv. CHANGE THE CHANNEL OR TURN IT OFF you stupid ass wipes.

i find fear factor (which i believe nbc also produces) to be the WORST and MOST OFFENSIVE show on television. guess what? I DON'T WATCH IT

TV Station Refuses To Air 'The Book Of Daniel'
POSTED: 9:08 pm EST January 4, 2006
UPDATED: 9:11 pm EST January 4, 2006
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- An Indiana television station is refusing to air NBC's new series, "The Book of Daniel," which debuts Friday.
On its Web site, WTWO in Terre Haute said its decision is "due to e-mails and calls from viewers."
"The Book of Daniel" is about an Episcopal priest with a drug-dealing daughter and two sons, one gay and the other promiscuous. The priest and his wife have substance abuse problems, and he's shown having regular chats with a hip, therapeutic Jesus.
The American Family Association's Don Wildmon predicts that viewer protests will prompt more stations to cancel the show.
"We are tired of NBC's anti-Christian bigotry," Wildmon said.
The WTWO general manager said he won't let the network "make unilateral decisions affecting our viewers."

wtwo


Due to emails and calls from viewers, WTWO will not be airing NBC's The Book of Daniel.


Statement Issued Regarding Pre-Emption of "The Book of Daniel" WTWO Station General Manager Duane Lammers has issued a statement regarding WTWO`s decision to preempt the NBC show "The Book of Daniel".

once again i must say how much i LOVE letterman!

o'rongly appeared the other night spouting his usual vile half and untruths. i wish letterman had more ammo (as presented in the piece below from media matters, wow what GREAT research they and the folks at think progress did) but he STILL gave o'rongly what-for!

In Letterman appearance, O'Reilly repeated false claim that school changed "Silent Night" lyrics

Summary: On CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, Bill O'Reilly resurrected his false claim that a Wisconsin elementary school banned the singing of the Christmas hymn "Silent Night," erroneously attributing the school's changed lyrics to political correctness. In fact, the new lyrics were merely part of a 1988 Christmas play called The Little Tree's Christmas Gift. Later in the interview, Letterman admonished O'Reilly, asserting, "I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap."

..On the January 3 edition of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly appeared as a guest and resurrected his false claim that a Wisconsin elementary school banned the singing of the Christmas hymn "Silent Night." As he discussed his Christmas crusade with Late Show host David Letterman, O'Reilly told Letterman that the school "[k]nocked out the words [to "Silent Night"] and told the little kids to sing" alternative lyrics. According to O'Reilly, this incident "proves there are pinheads at the Ridgewell [sic] Elementary School in Wisconsin. That's what it proves."
But as the weblog Think Progress first noted, O'Reilly and others have falsely attributed the changed lyrics to political correctness. For example, on the December 9 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly stated that Ridgewood Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, "forced the kids to sing" the different lyrics. The conservative legal group Liberty Counsel condemned what it called the "secularized rendition" of the song, which it claimed "mocks one of the world's best-known Christmas songs," and threatened to sue the school district.
In fact, the new song lyrics are part of a 1988 Christmas play called The Little Tree's Christmas Gift, in which a scraggly Christmas tree is informed it may not be sold and will instead become firewood, prompting it to croon the revised version of "Silent Night" while lamenting its situation. Think Progress further explained that the play's creator, Dwight Elrich, is the musical director of the New Covenant Singers at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles -- which a December 20 Washington Post article noted was "former president Ronald and Nancy Reagan's church in California" -- and his play has been performed by churches across the country. According to Elrich's website, his products "make it easy for you to produce a fantastic Kids Christmas Musical Program." Elrich told the Post: "I'm just flabbergasted. I'm a choir director in a church! I perform 'Silent Night' 40 or 50 times each year! I thought the play was a really charming, wonderful, positive story about love and acceptance ... removing it from the Christian tradition was something I never thought anyone could ever come up with. We were telling a story about a little tree, so we used a familiar tune to help the kids get it."..............
////////////////////////////////////////

Letterman: I don't believe you.
O'Reilly: It's true.
Letterman: I don't believe you. I don't...I don't believe you.
O'Reilly: You think I'm making this up?
Letterman: I do.
and here's the WHOLE transcript from: a la gauche

i've always said, if you don't have a penis, you shouldn't be allowed to go to school

and SO DO THE TALIBAN! which is why all people born penis-less should go out and buy one (or two) and keep them close at hand (so to speak).

in all seriousness, what sort of effed up beliefs prohibit women from going to school? certainly NOT islam. the taliban are just a bunch of power-hungry bullies doing what they do in the name of god but for their OWN selves NOT for their god. they beheaded this man in front of his TWO YEAR OLD CHILD! what sort of god do they believe could and would justify that?

Taliban is blamed for beheading teacher
By NOOR KHANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls study.
Four men stabbed Malim Abdul Habib eight times late Tuesday before decapitating him in the courtyard of his home in Qalat, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial government of Zabul, where the attack took place.
The assailants made Habib's wife, four sons and four daughters watch, Khail said. His children were between the ages of 2 and 22. No other family members were hurt.
The insurgents killed Habib, 45, after he refused to go with them to meet their commander, said the victim's cousin, Esanullah, who goes by only one name.
The attackers fled and Habib's wife called the police, Khail said. Police are questioning three people who were guests in the victim's home at the time.
Habib was the headmaster of Shaikh Mathi Baba high school, which is attended by 1,300 boys and girls.
Zabul, a remote and mountainous province populated mainly by Pashtuns and bordering Pakistan, is a hotbed of Taliban militancy. The former Taliban regime prohibited girls from attending school as part of its widely criticized drive to establish what it considered a "pure" Islamic state.
Zabul province's education director, Nabi Khushal, blamed Taliban rebels for the killing.
"Only the Taliban are against girls being educated," he said. "The Taliban often attack our teachers and beat them. But this is the first time one has been killed in this province."
Cleric Sayed Omer Munib, a member of the nation's top Islamic council, said there was no justification in Islam's holy book, the Quran, to prevent girls from studying............

i wonder how many times this man will be audited by the irs

or how many times he'll walk out to his car to discover his tires are flat or how many times he'll wonder what that clicking noise is when he talks on the phone......

NSA whistleblower asks to testify

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published January 5, 2006
A former National Security Agency official wants to tell Congress about electronic intelligence programs that he asserts were carried out illegally by the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Russ Tice, a whistleblower who was dismissed from the NSA last year, stated in letters to the House and Senate intelligence committees that he is prepared to testify about highly classified Special Access Programs, or SAPs, that were improperly carried out by both the NSA and the DIA. "I intend to report to Congress probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted while I was an intelligence officer with the National Security Agency and with the Defense Intelligence Agency," Mr. Tice stated in the Dec. 16 letters, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Times. The letters were sent the same day that the New York Times revealed that the NSA was engaged in a clandestine eavesdropping program that bypassed the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. The FISA court issues orders for targeted electronic and other surveillance by the government. ..........

jean FINALLY got the wrist warmers i made her

my FIRST cable project! i had trouble getting them to her. for some reason, that big stuffed envelope just did NOT want to get to jean before yesterday.

i got the pattern at: wine and needles. it's GREAT, EASY (even i could follow it, albeit with a couple of mistakes, but it wouldn't be made by ME if it was perfect) and i added a row of crocheted eyelash on the bottom (wouldn't be ME without an embellishment).

(please note the mermaid ornament in the right hand picture. hand made with PINK hair i must say, she is to the right of that carrot ornament). i have a spaceman too that i'm quite fond of)

and you thought barbie was bad?

(cute doll no? notice she has a baby bottle AND a thong on)

well, i STILL do. i think she's JUST as bad as these bratz babyz actually. she may not be wearing a thong, but her body doesn't present a good message for children, boys and well as grrrls. i know so very few grrrls and women (american) who are happy with their bodies. it's a shame. we are who we are and our society should be teaching us that from the time we're babies. we are NOT all going to fit into a size 2 dress but what's more, it's NOT IMPORTANT IF WE DO OR DON'T

At Least One Bratz Babyz Has Abandoned Her Thong

Susan Campbell
January 4 2006
Just after the wrapping paper hit the floor on Christmas, Kendra Toodle-Register was suffering buyer's remorse. She and her husband bought their 4-year-old daughter, Dejah, a Bratz Big Babyz doll named Sasha. They'd done so advisedly. They know the Bratz line of dolls are dressed provocatively, but the Babyz togs are at least a little toned down. In the box, Sasha, with her perky pigtails and almond eyes, looked adorable.That's the packaging. Out of the box, Dejah turned the doll over and discovered that beneath the khaki green skirt (and baby bottle attached to a bling chain), Sasha was wearing a thong. That's right. A black mesh one.Dejah turned to her father and said, "Daddy, there's something wrong with my doll."After furious whispers with her husband, Toodle-Register took the doll from her confused daughter. Later, the girl explained to the people at the day-care center, "Santa made a mistake. He put a strap on my doll." She also told them that Mommy was giving the doll back to Santa to fix it.The mother took the doll to her workplace at a Manchester skilled nursing facility, where she asked, Am I dreaming? Is this doll wearing a thong? Yes, her colleagues said. Then they shared their stories of other be-thonged Bratz dolls and pre-teen nieces who will wear only lingerie purchased at Victoria's Secret..............


(notice the fully dressed bratz boyz please. what's wrong with THIS picture???)

wow, this is certainly going to be an interesting case

i believe all of the prophets existed by the way. i just don't believe in religion. i also know i choose to belive in god because of my fear of the unknown. the god i believe in is NOT the god i was taught about in catholic school though. that is for day um sure.

Prove Christ exists, judge orders priest


From Richard Owen in Rome

AN ITALIAN judge has ordered a priest to appear in court this month to prove that Jesus Christ existed.
The case against Father Enrico Righi has been brought in the town of Viterbo, north of Rome, by Luigi Cascioli, a retired agronomist who once studied for the priesthood but later became a militant atheist.
Signor Cascioli, author of a book called The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago after the priest denounced Signor Cascioli in the parish newsletter for questioning Christ’s historical existence.
Yesterday Gaetano Mautone, a judge in Viterbo, set a preliminary hearing for the end of this month and ordered Father Righi to appear. The judge had earlier refused to take up the case, but was overruled last month by the Court of Appeal, which agreed that Signor Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was “abusing popular credulity”. ...............

my thoughts and prayers are with all the miners of the world and their families

when i woke up at 1:00 am ish and saw the news, i was overjoyed. 12 out of 13 of the miners survived! a miracle i thought. now they are saying only ONE survived and is in critical condition. what must those families be going through? first hope beyond hope then someone sticks a dagger into their very souls. i shall light candles for you

'Believe in miracles': 12 miners found alive this at 2 am
and this at 3 am
Only 1 survivor rescued from W. Va. coal mine

due to circumstances beyond my control

i didn't get a chance to post any news today. that doesn't mean i didn't read the papers or news web sites. in EVERY (well almost EVERY) paper and news web site, there was an article about how CHEERLEADING was hazardous (these days). i didn't read one of the articles but let me tell you something, I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF**k whoops, i mean YOO HOO about cheerleaders (and people of that ilk), cheerleading, football, football players (except my steelers of course). was it THAT slow a news day?

global warming, WHAT global warming?

a wonderful posting from pensito review

Ten years ago, what American would have believed they’d someday be living in a country that denies global warming and evolution? In 2005, nature provided all the proof of herself we need.
The Sierra Club is calling it Year One. Bill McKibben:

So far we’ve raised the temperature of the planet by about one degree, and that’s been enough to set the poles to melting and the winds to roaring. Even if, right now, we started doing all that we could to overhaul our energy economy, we’d probably still be stuck with a couple more degrees of warming, and the world would change more profoundly than at any time in human history.
…a month before Katrina hit, [the] Massachusetts Institute of Technology…published a landmark paper in the British science magazine Nature showing that in the past half century tropical storms have been lasting 60 percent longer and spinning winds 50 percent more powerful. Two weeks after Katrina struck, Science published another paper, by a Georgia Institute of Technology team, demonstrating that Category 4 and 5 hurricanes have become twice as likely in recent decades… Katrina, a Category 1 storm when it crossed Florida, roared to monster size in the abnormally hot waters of the Gulf. Within a day, a million people were homeless. That’s far too many, we soon found out, for the federal government to cope with. And it’s just the beginning…
Katrina cast up ironies like so much flotsam and jetsam. The storm, for instance, wreaked particular vengeance on Mississippi, a state governed by Haley Barbour (R), who in an earlier incarnation as a GOP power broker and energy lobbyist helped persuade President George W. Bush to renege on his promise to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Thanks to Barbour and the other lobbyists-turned-administrators who throng the White House, the federal government has done exactly nothing to slow the progress of climate change. Today we’re emitting 20 percent more carbon than we were in 1990, when scientists were first issuing their prescient warnings...............

how the hell can he keep saying he (they) didn't lie?

i don't get it. HE LIED. it's right out there, HE (and the rest of his deferment inflicted cronies) LIED. 'they'' attacked us he said. yup, he's right THEY did attack us, but THEY do NOT equal the people of iraq (well NOW yes, on 9/11, NO). i've said it before, i KNOW our government has to do things they cannot reveal to us. i understand that and i understand it's for the safety of our nation and her people. what this administration has done is simply WRONG. just wrong in each and every way. everything bushwhacked touches (way prior to his being king) turns to a steaming pile of drek.

Bush Defends Spy Program and Denies Misleading Public
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - President Bush continued on Sunday to defend both the legality and the necessity of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, and he denied that he misled the public last year when he insisted that any government wiretap required a court order.
"I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking, and that's what we're doing," Mr. Bush told reporters in San Antonio as he visited wounded soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center.
"They attacked us before, they'll attack us again if they can," he said. "And we're going to do everything we can to stop them."
Mr. Bush's strong defense of the N.S.A. program, which he authorized in 2002 to allow some domestic eavesdropping without court warrants, came as a leading Democratic lawmaker called on the administration to make available current and former high-level officials to explain the evolution of the secret program.
Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has already pledged to make hearings into the program one of his highest priorities.
In a letter to Mr. Specter on Sunday, Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who is also on the committee, said the panel should also explore "significant concern about the legality of the program even at the very highest levels of the Department of Justice."
The New York Times reported Sunday that James B. Comey, then deputy attorney general, refused to sign on to the recertification of the program in March 2004. ..............

happy new year!

some 2006 tips for our friends on the OTHER side:


Offering our Republican friends a little advice for them to ponder in the New Year by August Keso, December 31st, 2005
Republicans have had a pretty tough time of it in 2005. In the spirit of George W. Bush's election 2000, promise to return cooperation to Washington politics, we offer our Republican friends the following tips, which should ensure they have a better 2006:
1 Dick Cheney: You requested and received 5 Vietnam deferments. Nobody believes you've suddenly gained a great deal of respect for the troops - you refused to serve with the "troops" 5 times. Quit hiding behind them every time someone points out your many -- and we do mean many -- Iraq lies (pre and post-war). Do this and 2006 should improve! Then again, maybe less lying would help too.
2. Republicans: God didn't "give" you Terry Schiavo, so you could finally impose your pro-life theocracy on America. You brazenly attempted to exploit one families pain and suffering, for political gain - it back-fired. The American people don't want religious zealots in their personal life decisions, so next time a family has a tough choice to make - pretend, as Republicans, you really are the Party of "limited government," and stay the hell out of people's personal business. 3. George W. Bush: You can't act as if the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution doesn't apply to you, and then claim to either support the Constitution, or pretend to be protecting citizen's civil liberties. Simply confess yourself the Emperor President, and let the people decide whether or not they wish to be ruled by such a person. It appears many are ready to ditch democracy, so you've little to fear in 2006. ...............