more on OUR new BEST FRIEND from a woman whose daughter was MURDERED by him

(i DO have to disagree with ms cohen. we didn't want to become best buds with moa because of his oil, condolloosseerr wanted some FASHION TIPS is all!!!). he's a butcher, he's a despot, he's evil AND he has untreated syphilis

U.S. trades justice for oil


By Susan Cohen Tue May 16, 6:40 AM ET
Sometimes, holding your nose just isn't enough. You have to do the whole "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkey routine. That's what Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and the rest of the Bush administration want us to do about their Libyan decision.

Rice would have us believe that
Iran and
North Korea will follow Libya's lead in giving up weapons of mass destruction. That's a bad joke because Iran and North Korea do have weapons of mass destruction or soon will have them. That's real power.
Libya had nothing except some stuff it purchased from Pakistan that might some day, somehow, have been used to make nuclear weapons. They traded nothing of value for full exoneration for blowing up Pan Am 103.
The secretary of State also says we will now be discussing human rights, freedom of speech and expression, and "political reform consistent with
President Bush's freedom agenda" with Libya. This is even a worse joke. Anyone in Libya who criticizes or even questions the wisdom of Col. Moammar Gadhafi has the life expectancy of an ice cube in the desert.
No, our new embrace of the murderous and megalomaniacal Gadhafi is all about oil. He has it and we want it, and we will pay even more than $70 a barrel for it. We will pay with our own security and with our national dignity.
No one in the world will be fooled byRice's attempt to put a blanket of respectability over this deal. Gadhafi blew up an American plane, and my daughter was on it. He has never shown any remorse for this act of terrorism; indeed, he has never even admitted Libya was responsible. The Bush administration just pretends he did in order to get around that sticky little point. ...............

i'm begging right now

i'm begging for your help my dearest friends in the entire universe. I CANNOT STOP




please just tell me i'm on a bad acid trip. please................please..........please............please......

this one is just too damn good

to wait until monday to post. for YOU once again, ALL of my DEAR PEEPS over ta green with envy guerrillas in the midst please take a moment of your precious time to sit down, relax, get a cool glass of iced tea and enjoy this, one of

my top ten favorite videos of ALL times

(all i can say is; for a dane, that tommy SURE can shake his moneymaker)

p.s. cass, this goes out to YOU as well

for my close personal friends over at

guerrillas a music lesson continued.....


(setting aside the music - IF you can, please note the SCREAMING fans)

(oh i was going to say ignore the beginning announcer BUT it's well worth listening to his VERY funny joke)

i'm guessing this ad is real

but i'm praying it's not:

May 18, 2006
Have A Heart
This has to be just about the nastiest piece of direct mail we've ever seen.
A candidate for State Assembly in the central valley region of CA, Bill Conrad (R) is apparently running on the platform that his opponent won't survive his term because he had a heart transplant.
Attack line: 'Tom Berryhill doesn't have the HEART for State Assembly'
The full mail can be found here and here. ...............

my dad had his (hip replacement) surgery on monday. things went VERY well, much better than i expected as a matter of fact. he was fine monday and tuesday. all doped up (he had one of those self-medicating pumps. don't know what he had but i'm guessing it was morphine) but fine. wednesday when i went to see him, his color was off and he was snapping at me (he NEVER does that. i do, but he doesn't). as it turns out, they removed the pain meds entirely (he got some type of pain pill right before he went to physical therapy each time he said though) as well as some kind of machine they had hooked up to booties on his feet and legs (from what i understand the machine sort of pumps your legs and feet so you don't get blood clots) and the other ivs they had hanging there. he WAS getting a transfusion (i asked and they said that was fairly routine - but it WAS two days AFTER the surgery i thought to myself). his bp was VERY low as well. all is good now though. when i called him yesterday morning to find out if they were transferring him to a rehab facility i could tell just by his voice he was WAY better (and as it turns out he was). they did transfer him and it's great for me. no more josteling for parking place (IN THE POURING RAIN I MIGHT ADD) at the hospital. no more meters and no more parking garages. the part of the hospital he was in was newer and rather nice though. he had his own room (not really requested, it's just how it turned out) with a big window (facing the children's hospital) and a nice big comfy couch! the rehab is cool. nice view and the staff seem nice too. he has a roommate but i didn't even see him, he was with someone and the curtain was partially drawn.

it has been raining on and off here for two weeks now. it was sunny yesterday though and i was able to mow pop's front lawn. the back was WAY too wet to mow and it looks like i don't have to do it today either because it's downpouring out there right now.

one of my sisters lives with my dad. she cannot cook a lick (i don't really think she's my sister. i think they gave my parents the wrong baby at the hospital) so i've been cooking her dinner at night. yesterday i made tri-color farfalle (i used a brand calle rao's homemade and it was great) with vegetables that i had on hand; potatoes, fresh tomatos (although not home grown YET), peas and carrots, onions, baby bella mushrooms, italian green beans and red peppers and corn. i tossed in a bit of olive oil and some herbs and voila!

i wonder when god is going to tell you

you're an ASSWIPE

Preacher: God told him about storms, tsunami
Robertson says warning was for this year; tsunami might hit Northwest

The Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - In another in a series of notable pronouncements, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.
Robertson has made the predictions at least four times in the past two weeks on his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded.
Robertson said the revelations about this year's weather came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January..........

the end is near

and i'm not kidding

Mo. Town Denies Unmarried Couple Permit
May 17, 9:24 PM (ET)
BLACK JACK, Mo. (AP) - The city council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.
Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.
The town's planning and zoning commission proposed a change in the law, but the measure was rejected Tuesday by the city council in a 5-3 vote.
"I'm just shocked," Shelltrack said. "I really thought this would all be over, and we could go on with our lives."
The current ordinance prohibits more than three people from living together unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption." The defeated measure would have changed the definition of a family to include unmarried couples with two or more children.
Mayor Norman McCourt declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that those who do not meet the town's definition of family could soon face eviction.
Black Jack's special counsel, Sheldon Stock, declined to say whether the city will seek to remove Loving and Shelltrack from their home.

a video near and dear to my heart

over at the rev's place; less people less idiots

damn fine article on the

'pro-life' groups that as it turns out (and we all knew any way) are ANTI-CONTRACEPTION. that's right no protection against diseases or pregnancies. so when you get sick we have to pay for medical care. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and when you get pregnant do they give a shite? HELL NO. are they there holding your hand as you are having that child? HELL NO. are they there in line with you while you're counting out the last of your change to buy some diapers for that child? HELL NO. are they there when you're waiting for four hours so your child can see a doctor in the free clinic? HELL NO. are they there to make sure your child has all the tools necessary to get a GOOD solid education? HELL NO

they're all a bunch of ass wipes as far as i'm concerned. it's MY body it's MY right

I AM PRO LIFE AND I AM PRO CHOICE

The War On Sex
By Cristina Page, TomPaine.com Posted on May 18, 2006, Printed on May 18, 2006 http://www.alternet.org/story/36371/
The architects of the South Dakota ban on abortion have a bold plan for our country. Certainly, they have already given a jolt to the majority of Americans, or at least the 66 percent who want Roe v. Wade to remain law of the land. But there's a great deal more the American public should know about these legislative campaigners. Especially since there's a lot more of their agenda they hope to realize.
They have a plan for you, and if you are anything like the 85 percent of American couples who have sex once a week, you're not going to like it. The pro-life groups who are the most committed to ending legal abortion -- and gotten the furthest in their goals -- are also leading campaigns against the only proven ways to prevent abortion: contraception. Shocking as it may be, there is not one pro-life organization in the United States that supports the use of contraception. Instead the pro-life movement is the constant opponent of every single effort to provide Americans with the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
If the South Dakota ban is upheld and Roe v. Wade is toppled, it's safe to say the pro-life movement is not going to send out a brigade to furnish Americans with the most effective contraceptives. In fact, pro-life groups' most recent activities suggest the exact opposite.
Take Leslee Unruh, the South Dakota native considered the primary force behind the near-total ban on abortion in her state. Unruh is, in many ways, the perfect representative of the modern pro-life movement. She is lauded in pro-life circles as the president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a group that promotes abstinence-until-marriage. Under Unruh's leadership, the Abstinence Clearinghouse has spearheaded campaigns to stop people from using the condom. ............

what a bunch of ugly (figuratively that is) close-minded, uneducated evil bio-tches

gay or not, these types of organizations should not only sicken you but frighten you as well. why do their men allow them out from behind their stoves and from out of their bedrooms anyway? they BELONG AT HOME SERVING THEIR MENFOLK DAMMIT!!!

children do NOT turn gay because a school has a NO-HATE policy. (i am a believer children do NOT turn gay for any reason. they are born gay or they are not born gay and if you're gay there IS NOT CHANGING TO STRAIGHT EVER EVER EVER.)

what's next, who's next? jews? feminists? blacks? latinos? catholics? people with wavy hair? if this organization or any like it is anywhere around YOUR schools, FIGHT BACK. they're nothing but ignorant-heads.

Conservative women's group launches grassroots effort targeting schools that accept homosexuality

Filed by RAW STORY
The largest conservative Christian organization targeted at women has quietly introduced a grassroots "risk audit" program aimed at rolling back gay, lesbian and HIV programs in American schools, RAW STORY has found.
Concerned Women for America, a $10 million-a-year nonprofit and lobbying group, announced their "risk audit plan" in late April. The plan seeks to engage parents in a broad national effort to target schools which "promote" gay and lesbian activity by embracing non-discrimination policies and safe-sex curricula or harbor "objectionable" gay and lesbian novels aimed at children.
"Every school district in America has an absolute responsibility to protect children while they are at school," the group writes in their 24-page audit plan. "There is no legitimate rationale for giving or implying endorsement of homosexual, bisexual or gender-variant behaviors among children of any age."
"It is not a viewpoint," they write, "but a high-risk and often lethal behavior."
According to the document, homosexuality increases the risk of anal cancer, smoking, domestic violence, breast cancer and promiscuity.. (where are they getting THESE figures i wonder?)

........"It almost seems that Concerned Women for America would rather that GLBT youth continue to get beaten up, continue to be at high risk for suicide and continue running away from home," said Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman Candace Gingrich. "It's really sad, because that's the statement they"re sending. They"d rather people remain silent and our children remain at risk."............

........Concerned Women for America was founded in 1979 by the wife of fundamentalist Baptist minister and Moral Majority co-founder Tim LaHaye. The organization pioneered a "kitchen table activist" grassroots lobbying strategy, spreading the fight from Washington to a panoply of local chapters across the country. The group claims to be the largest women's organization in the country and has a subscription mailing base of 200,000............

for my dear friends over at

guerrillas in the midst


seems they think THEY know music. THEY don't know music AT ALL. i left the link to this in one of their comments sections BUT i wanted to share it on here as well. it is one of THE best music videos ever made. it is by a MASTER vocalist. now THIS is REAL MUSIC, REAL ENTERTAINMENT!!! oh don't worry, I'LL HAVE MORE

someone got a new pair (well her FIRST pair) of birks

at sierra trading post (no, i don't work for them BUT they have GREAT deals on shoes)

wow, this professor sticks to his beliefs

i admire him. mr almond went beyond words. he stood up for what he felt (and i feel as it so happens) is right (and what is WRONG). tio o' the hat to you professor almond (and it does surprise me no end jesuits would even THINK of inviting condolloosseerr to speak)

Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit

By Steve Almond May 12, 2006
An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College.
DEAR Father Leahy,
I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College.
I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation.
Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive.
But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar.
She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.
The public record of her deceits is extensive. During the ramp-up to the Iraq war, she made 29 false or misleading public statements concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda, according to a congressional investigation by the House Committee on Government Reform.......

and these people are our 'friends'

i use the term loosely. i choose my OWN friends and believe me king abdullah wouldn't even come close. i don't have an open mind about this. i am NOT accepting of this type of behaviour against women, period.

Saudi King Prohibits Pictures of Women in Newspapers
Published: May 16, 2006 5:45 PM ET
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.The king's directive, made in a meeting with local editors, caused surprise as the monarch has been regarded a quiet reformer since he took office in the ultra-conservative country last August.In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women - always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf - to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia - such as women having the right to drive and vote.The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was inappropriate."One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this," the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying."The youth are driven by emotion ... and sometimes they can be lead astray. So, please, try to cut down on this," he said.....

the hartford courant does a special report

on the mental health and well being of our troops. it has been picked up by the national media, but here are the links to all of the stories, in the same place. it's an eye opening series. props to the courant and it's reporters for their investigation AND bringing it to our attention.

About This Special Report

May 14 2006 To report this series, The Courant obtained records under the federal Freedom of Information Act, including never-before-released pre-deployment screening data for nearly a million troops and investigative reports into dozens of service members' deaths. The Courant also interviewed more than 100 mental health experts, service members, family members and friends. The military does not publicly identify suicide cases. But The Courant was able to identify - in most cases for the first time - the service members who killed themselves in Iraq through records and interviews. Details of their deaths came from investigative reports and interviews with family, friends and fellow troops.
Contact Lisa Chedekel at chedekel@courant.com and Matthew Kauffman at kauffman@courant.com
`Jeffrey Was Really Messed Up'

Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight

Slipping Through The System

Health Chief Responds

Amid Patriotism, Anger And Questions

Potent Mixture: Zoloft & A Rifle

Still Suffering, But Redeployed

molly ivins on the madness of king george

1) mexico
2) taxes
3) iraq
4) caring for our service people
5) katrina
6) oil
7) dishonesty
8) failure after failure after failure
9) there is way more, but you get the point

SOMEONE, ANYONE, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP THEM (POLITICALLY) FROM FURTHER HURTING OUR COUNTRY AND IT'S PEOPLE (MUCH LESS THE ENTIRE WORLD)

Is Bush a Lunatic?
By Molly Ivins, AlterNet Posted on May 17, 2006, Printed on May 17, 2006 http://www.alternet.org/story/36327/
I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain amount of sense.
I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National Guard, but then you assure everyone it's not very many soldiers and just for a little while.
Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat-herder from Redford, Texas.
That's the definition of crazy -- repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
I suppose politics could explain it, too. It's quite possible that lunacy and politics are closely related. It's still damned hard cheese for the Guard, though. The Guard is heavily deployed in Iraq, currently 20 percent of those serving, down from 40 percent last year. Some soldiers are sent back for multiple tours. Lt. Gen. James Helmly, head of the Army Reserve, said the Reserve is rapidly degenerating into "a broken force" and is "in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements"........

perhaps he should have chosen another term

if he has to 'splain WHY he used it and WHAT it is (in HIS context that is), then he maybe should have chosen OTHER words, no?

Snow 'hugs the tar baby' at first press briefing
At his very first briefing as new White House press secretary, Fox News personality Tony Snow has raised eyebrows by using the phrase "hug the tar baby" to describe the prospect of commenting on the NSA wiretap and phone traffic database programs. The phrase is considered by many to be racist in origin.
"I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program," Snow remarked, interrupted by laughter. "The existence of the alleged program--the existence of which I can neither confirm or deny."
"We could trace that back to American lore," he explained of the description ................................


tar baby
The expression tar baby is also used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people (in the U.S. it refers to African-Americans; in New Zealand it refers to Maoris), or among blacks as a term for a particularly dark-skinned person. As a result, some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context.

Glenda in the Land of Oz: Impeach Bush! Posters

once again glenda in that land of oz has been working overtime

Glenda in the Land of Oz: Impeach Bush! Posters

elephants in tennessee? yup!

i believe i've mentioned this in the past, but it won't hurt to mention it again. i do NOT attend ANY circus (or anything else) that involves animals. many are abused and/or not well cared for. please don't support them.

click on the above link in the title and go to the pictures. i love the ones of bella and tarra and the first picture of winkie and co-founder scott blaise

Elephant rescue offers mud, bath, and lots of space
A Tennessee sanctuary reintroduces elephants to a natural habitat after years of captivity and abuse.
By Melanie Stetson Freeman Staff photographer
HOHENWALD, TENN. – Circuses and zoos aren't always fun - at least not for some of their biggest stars

Jenny, for example, severely injured her back leg but still was forced to perform. Billie and Frieda were kept in isolation for 10 years. Liz's trunk is partially paralyzed, perhaps because of malnourishment or being struck repeatedly across the face.
But that was then. Today, they're part of a group of 19 retired zoo and circus elephants that have made it to The Elephant Sanctuary. Instead of enduring steel pens and chains, the pachyderms roam 2,700 acres of forest and pasture land in the rolling hills of central Tennessee. America's largest private natural refuge, the sanctuary boasts a climate, terrain, and vegetation surprisingly similar to the elephants' native Asian and African birthplaces. The animals are not on public display, and they set their own schedules...........

the elephant sanctuary and the elecam

we're BUDS now? this man is a terrorist. he is at the VERY least equal to hussein if not WORSE

yet, we're making nice-nice? i'm sick to my stomach

U.S., Libya establish full diplomatic relations after 26 years

By Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The United States announced Monday that it's re-establishing full diplomatic relations with Libya and removing it from the State Department's list of terrorism sponsors, completing a remarkable turnabout with a country whose leader was once at the top of the U.S. enemies list.
Senior State Department officials acknowledged that the move was aimed in part at influencing Iran to give up uranium enrichment, a process that can create fuel for nuclear weapons, and comply fully with the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi voluntarily gave up his oil-rich country's nuclear weapons program in December 2003. The message to Iran, U.S. officials said, is that it will reap concrete benefits if it does likewise - although that prospect now seems remote.
"Libya serves as an important model as we push for changes in policy by other countries, such as Iran and North Korea," said Assistant Secretary of State David Welch.
Monday's action, announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will put a full U.S. Embassy in Tripoli for the first time since 1980. The United States and Libya established small diplomatic offices in each other's capitals in 2004, after Libya gave up its weapons of mass destruction programs under international inspection. .......

this is from 2004, but it's a bit of background on our new peep moammar!

Libyan Dictator Moammar Gadhafi: Learning the Lessons of Stalin
by Alexander Marriott (January 3, 2004)

The Bush Administration is declaring victory now that the dictator (or for the BBC, "Leader") of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi, has agreed to let in United Nations Weapons Inspectors and to dismantle all Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. To "reward" Gadhafi for his "compliance" there is already talk of taking Libya off of the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror and easing the economic sanctions that were imposed by much of the western world in the 1980's after a series of heinous acts of war and terror that culminated with the Pan Am 103 bombing in 1988. This deal that has been struck with Gadhafi is a sign of one of three things, 1) Gadhafi has been frightened by our actions towards and against Iraq and has decided to give up his weapons programs, 2) He is attempting to pretend that he is giving up his weapons programs to get the economic restrictions lifted, hoping that the UN Weapons Inspectors won't figure out what's really going on, or 3) he has learned the lessons of Joseph Stalin and Communist China and has realized that the West will fund and supply their enemies if they give up totally non-essential things like weapons programs..........

.........Gadhafi has never had to pay for his crimes beyond the absurd "justice" of financial payment and a few bombs back in the 1980's. The fact that he is a terrorist, tyrant, and murderer isn't changed by the fact that he is twenty years older or a few billion dollars poorer. Would we allow men like Jeffrey Dahmer and Gary Ridgway to buy their way out of prison to "make up" for their murders (even if the families of the victims thought it was ok)? Hopefully not, because the Justice system is not in place to extract money for crimes like rape and murder or to appease the families of the victims, it is in place to exact Justice on criminals in the form of imprisonment and/or death in the name of the victims and in the name of civil society which these men have violated so heinously............

condolloosseerr'ss top ten favorite songs - as requested by bono

and yes, it's for real

'Acid' Queen? Condoleezza Rice Picks Her Ten Top Musical Favorites--for Bono's Newspaper

an unreasonable search - a GREAT op-ed by laurence h tribe

in the boston globe

Bush stomps on Fourth Amendment

By Laurence H. Tribe May 16, 2006
THE ESCALATING controversy over the National Security Agency's data mining program illustrates yet again how the Bush administration's intrusions on personal privacy based on a post-9/11 mantra of ''national security" directly threaten one of the enduring sources of that security: the Fourth Amendment ''right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."
The Supreme Court held in 1967 that electronic eavesdropping is a ''search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, recognizing that our system of free expression precludes treating each use of a telephone as an invitation to Big Brother to listen in. By 2001, the court had come to see how new technology could arm the government with information previously obtainable only through old-fashioned spying and could thereby convert mere observation -- for example, the heat patterns on a house's exterior walls -- to a ''search" requiring a warrant. To read the Constitution otherwise, the court reasoned, would leave us ''at the mercy of advancing technology" and erode the ''privacy against government that existed when the Fourth Amendment was adopted." This decision, emphasizing the privacy existing when the Bill of Rights was originally ratified in 1791, was no liberal holdover in conservative times. Its author was Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the majority. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the dissent. This issue should not divide liberals from conservatives, Democrats from Republicans.........

i STILL don't believe the numbers

just how many terrorists do they think are in amercia, 300,000,000? c'mon now. 41% believe it's OK FOR US TO BE SPIED UPON WITHOUT WARRANTS AND WITHOUT CAUSE? i have to keep pinching myself and saying, this is america! this is america! this is america!

UPDATE: Early 'Wash Post' Poll on NSA Phone Spying Refuted

By E&P Staff Published: May 13, 2006 1:15 PM ET
They may be owned by the same company, but two polls commissioned by The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine on the important issue of public approval of the National Security Agency's gathering of phone records produced quite different results. Now a USA Today/Gallup poll suggests that the original Washington Post poll was highly misleading. On Friday, a widely-publicized Washington Post/ABC survey revealed that 63% of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44% who strongly endorsed the effort. Only 35% said the program was unacceptable. This apparently inspired Time magazine to produce an article that suggested that President Bush might actually benefit from the revelations.Then a Newsweek poll released Saturday found that 53% of Americans believe that reports that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens goes too far in invading people's privacy. Some 41% feel it is a necessary tool to combat terrorism. On Sunday, the USA Today/Gallup survey came up with almost the same results. By 51%-43%, those polled disapprove of the program........

the good news just keeps rolling in!

sure we have BILLIONS to spend in iraq. where else? certainly NOT to feed, provide sheleter to, provide health care to and education to OUR citizens much less protect our environment so we can live LONG HEALTHY lives. the rapture is coming so we shouldn't care about any of this shite any damn way!

from the washington post via rawstory

Budget Cut Would Shutter EPA Libraries

Budget Cut Would Shutter EPA Libraries
By Christopher Lee Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, May 15, 2006; A15
Proposed budget cuts could cripple a nationwide system of Environmental Protection Agency libraries that government researchers and others depend on for hard-to-find technical information, library advocates say.
The $2 million cut sought by the White House would reduce the 35-year-old EPA Library Network's budget by 80 percent and force many of its 10 regional libraries to close, according to the advocates and internal agency documents.............

you know what ms fisher doesn't deserve to be in a phscho ward

this babe (and the WHOLE REST OF THE COURT) DOES. wtf news media does she watch or listen to or read? MOST of them are ALL pro king. MOST of them do NOT tell the WHOLE truth. TALK ABOUT DELUSIONAL.........


Laura Bush Doesn't Believe Bad Polls on Husband WASHINGTON (May 14) -

First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not
believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low
levels.
Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush said she did not think
people were losing confidence in President George W. Bush, despite a series of
polls showing support for him at its lowest point in his five-year presidency
and among the lowest for any president in the past 50 years.
"I don't really
believe those polls. I travel around the country. I see people, I see their
responses to my husband. I see their response to me," she said..........

my pirate name

My pirate name is:

Iron Anne Flint

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

thanks to roxy's world

a bit more background on a story i posted the other day (this sounds like a horror story)

carol fisher's actual account of what initially happened to her:
Brutalized & Arrested in Cleveland for Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters

The following is a first-hand account of police harrassment and brutality against a World Can't Wait organizer in Cleveland. If anything like this happens to you, let us know asap! Contact info@worldcantwait.org.

My name is Carol Fisher, and I am on the staff of Revolution Books in Cleveland OH. At the bookstore we have been immersed in building and supporting the initiatives of World Cant Wait. Yesterday, 1.28.06, while putting "Bush Step Down" posters on telephone poles along a major thoroughfare on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was brutalized by Cleveland Heights police, charged with 2 counts of felony assault and held incommunicado under police custody in the hospital! This outrage and others like it must be exposed and opposed by all who hate the direction that the Bush regime is taking this country and the world.


Here is what happened:


I had set out from my house with a full agenda, to contact lots of people and get out materials about our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State of the Union address, and the call to march around the White House on Feb. 4th. My first stop was the an area known for its community of artists and progressives, where I stapled up posters for blocks and was greeted warmly by those who saw and appreciated what World Cant Wait is doing. I talked to an artist, and a Palestinian store owner who took fliers to distribute to customers.........
.............I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesnt heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete. By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a parkbench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the EMS, and a fire squad shows up. The cop superviser appears and puts his finger in my face: "I dont like it when people treat my men like this and if you don't obey the law you will suffer the consequences."...........

and from the current the world can't wait

Update: on May 11, 10pm, Carol Fisher was released from jail, after word got out over the internet and many angry phone calls and emails went to city officials. We'll send out more info when we have it. In the meantime, this is an excellent development. But it's also NOT over. We don't know what the judge and other authorities will do next. Carol's sentencing date is June 2. She still faces 3 years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines, all for posting a "Bush Step Down" poster. We plan to appeal the verdict and challenge all the gross violations of her rights. [read more]

what i want to know is, WHY wouldn't anyone meet with mr tice PRIOR to now?

seems like he attempted to meet with the senate and house intelligence committees and no one wanted to listen. even if they thought he was simply being vindictive he was OWED an ear because of the sensitive nature of his allegations (which i believe by the way). at this point it most likely doesn't matter. seems like shite just don't stick to 'em

Former NSA Officer Alleges Illegal Activities Under Hayden By Chris Strohm CongressDaily
Friday 12 May 2006
A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens.
Russell Tice, who worked on what are known as "special access programs," has wanted to meet in a closed session with members of Congress and their staff since President Bush announced in December that he had secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a court order. In an interview late Thursday, Tice said the Senate Armed Services Committee finally asked him to meet next week in a secure facility on Capitol Hill.
Tice was fired from the NSA last May. He said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden, who has been nominated to become director of the CIA. Tice said one of his co-workers personally informed Hayden that illegal and unconstitutional activity was occurring.
The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to hold Hayden's confirmation hearing next week. "I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe," Tice said. "I hope that they'll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn't exist right now."
Tice originally asked to meet with the Senate and House Intelligence committees, but they did not respond to his request. The NSA did not reply to written questions seeking comment for this story.............

a cool find in peru

GATEWAY: Archeologist Robert BenferÂ’s team found this clay sculpture of a frowning face at the Buena Vista site near Lima. The disk, marks the position of the Southern HemisphereÂ’s winter solstice.
(Robert Benfer / University of Missouri)

NOTE: for our 'intelligent' design friends, i mossincerelyly believe the observatory was used to supervise and watch the people out riding dinosaurs

Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site
The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer
May 14, 2006
Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as the stone pillars of Stonehenge. The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-tall pyramid with precise alignments and sightlines that provide an astronomical calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri said.The people who built the observatory — three millenniums before the emergence of the Incas — are a mystery, but they achieved a level of art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in the region until at least 800 years later.Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture — an ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice. "It's really quite a shock to everyone … to see sculptures of that sophistication coming out of a building of that time period," said archeologist Richard L. Burger of Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the discovery.The find adds strong evidence to support the recent idea that a sophisticated civilization developed in South America in the pre-ceramic era, before the development of fired pottery sometime after 1500 BC...............

this from the hartford courant

a thought provoking article. something perhaps we haven't thought about. something i didn't know. the suicide rate of soliders has risen. in some instances it appears superiors were aware of problems yet nothing was done (i.e. no counseling - at the very least that is)


Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight

May 14, 2006
Story By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN Photos By Mark Mirko, The Hartford Courant
Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.Once at war, some unstable troops are kept on the front lines while on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, with little or no counseling or medical monitoring. And some troops who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq are being sent back to the war zone, increasing the risk to their mental health.These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.The Courant's investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress. In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems, military investigative records and interviews with families indicate. ...................

msnbc picked up the story too