the king and his court; where are they now???

and yeah, they're ALL still around, most have been promoted to roles of even greater responsiblities. it's mind boggling. it's sick-making, it's evil and i'm afraid at this point we may not be able to dig ourselves out of this crater we're in
and i still don't get how king george still has an approval rating of somewhere in the high 30s (sometimes going into the low 40s). WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? don't they have a mind? more importantly DON'T THEY HAVE A SOUL?


THE ARCHITECTS OF WAR: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

President Bush has not fired any of the architects of the Iraq war. In fact, a review of the key planners of the conflict reveals that they have been rewarded – not blamed – for their incompetence




................... DAN BARTLETT

Role In Going To War: Dan Bartlett was the White House Communications Director at the time of the war and was a mouthpiece in hyping the Iraq threat. Bartlett was also a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG). The main purpose of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Where He Is Now: Bartlett was promoted to Counselor to the President on January 5, 2005, and is responsible for the formulation of policy and implementation of the President’s agenda. [White House]
Key Quote: “President Bush understands that the need to disarm Saddam Hussein is necessary. He has made that case to the United Nations Security Council. He’s made that case to the United States Congress. The entire world rallied behind this resolution that gives him one last chance. He has that chance, but time is running out.” [CNN, 1/26/03] ...........


nice picture, huh???

the nutmeg grater: ned lamont

the nutmeg grater: ned lamont#links

Condi Tickles the Ivories

nero fiddles as rome burns

don't ask, don't tell, but you STILL get booted

how silly, stupid AND SAD it is to dismiss someone from the military simply because they are gay. they'll take people who rape 14 year olds, but dismiss someone based on their sexuality. someone with a skill the army benefits a great deal from... ah well,

Army Boots Decorated Linguist 'Outed' By E-Mail

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.
Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.
"I knew the policy going in," Copas said in an interview on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where he is pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser. "I knew it was going to be difficult."
An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 - less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country.
Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal. ...........

eff them

they say they are charging what they charge because prices are up. they're not gouging us or anything. they HAVE to pay the piper. yeah right. they ARE the piper and we are the rats being led to the drowning pool. (where's jed, jethro, grannie and ellie mae when you need 'em?)

Exxon Posts $10 Billion Profit, Shares at New High

By Deepa Babington, Reuters

NEW YORK (July 27) - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest public oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged 35 percent to more than $10 billion, driven by yet another quarter of sharply higher oil prices.
The results sailed past Wall Street forecasts and sent its shares to an all-time high, but quickly triggered a fresh wave of outrage from U.S. lawmakers and consumer groups angry at Big Oil's profiting handsomely while gasoline prices soar.
"While American families get tipped upside down and have their savings shaken out of their pockets at the gas pump, the Bush-Cheney team devises even more ways to line Big Oil's pockets," Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement on Exxon's profits. He is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee..........

it's worse than i thought

the deaths of the four un workers really WAS on purpose (not unlike the attack on the uss liberty i mentioned a few days ago). i don't get it. i will never get it. (don't misunderstand, i am NOT pro-hezbollah. i am NOT pro anything but PRO PEACE PRO UNDERSTANDING PRO LIVING IN UNITY)

Report: U.N. observers' calls unheeded


By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 26, 6:19 PM ET
U.N. observers in Lebanon telephoned the Israeli military 10 times in six hours to ask it to stop shelling near their position before an attack killed four observers and sparked international anger with Israel, U.N. officials said Wednesday.
The U.N. observation post near Khiam came under close Israeli fire 21 times Tuesday — including 12 hits within 100 yards and five direct hits from 1:20 p.m. until the peacekeepers' post was destroyed at 7:30 p.m., Jane Lute, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the U.N. Security Council in New York.
U.N. officials said Hezbollah militants had been operating in the area of the post near the eastern end of the border with Israel, a routine tactic to prevent Israel from attacking them.
"We did repeatedly in recent days say (to Israel) that this was an exposed position, that Hezbollah militants were 500 meters (yards) away shielding themselves near U.N. workers and civilians," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said. "That's why it is so inexplicable that what happened happened."
Israeli officials had told the United Nations that the bombing around the base was part of an "an aerial preparation for a ground operation," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.........

more on the united states NOT wanting a cease fire

now, when i say the united states here, i'm NOT talking about the citizens of the united states. i am only speaking of king george and his court jesters. i think the citizens of this land have souls so they indeed WANT a cease fire, not only in lebannon BUT EVERYWHERE.

No Consensus in Lebanon Cease-Fire Talks

Jul 26, 10:37 PM (ET)By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

ROME (AP) - Top U.S. and European officials agreed Wednesday on the need for urgent action to halt the fighting in Lebanon and on the creation of a multinational force to keep the peace. But the two sides had starkly divergent views of what that means.
Most Europeans want Israel to stop its offensive against Hezbollah now - which would leave Hezbollah battered but defiant. The United States wants to give Israel more time to pound the militia into submission as part of the wider war on terror.
The foreign ministers and other senior officials from 15 nations, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives from the European Union and the World Bank, agreed in Rome on a declaration that expressed "deep concern" for the high number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, where government officials say hundreds of people have been killed. Israel, Iran and Syria did not attend the meeting..........

Lebanon premier Fuad Saniora and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, attend a press conference at La Farnesina Foreign Ministry in Rome Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at the end of a Mideast conference on Lebanon. Top U.S. and European officials called Wednesday for an end to the violence in Israel and Lebanon and the establishment of an international force to keep the peace _ but they did not unanimously call for an immediate cease-fire or provide details on the proposed force. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

if you have a dog chained up in your yard

(all day and all night), well #1 i don't know why the hell you HAVE a dog if that's the case and #2 please please please make sure that dog has adequate shelter and water, especially in this intense heat. and of course i don't have to say this but i will NEVER leave your dog in the car in weather like this. YOU wouldn't last long in a hot car (it gets WELL OVER 100 degrees VERY quickly) so they wouldn't either.

Dogs who are left unattended in back yards, even for a few minutes, face
danger every day of the year. They are abducted, poisoned, and beaten, and they
suffer from stress and loneliness. In the winter, they suffer from frostbite,
hypothermia, and dehydration

Heat Wave Spells Death for ‘Backyard’ Dogs

What Climbing Temperatures Mean for Dogs

The “dog days” of summer pose a particularly dangerous threat to “backyard” dogs: heatstroke. Many people know about the danger of leaving dogs inside cars during the warm summer months, when temperatures can climb to well above 100°F in just a matter of minutes. But for backyard dogs chained outside and deprived of water, shade, and ventilation, the threat of death has nothing to do with cars—even though they might be tethered to an old jalopy. Baking in the summer sun in a barren yard—day after day, week after week—takes its toll and kills many of these animals.
Beating the HeatBeating the summer’s oppressive heat is extra tough for dogs, because they can only cool themselves by panting and by sweating through their paw pads. Heatstroke can occur quickly and can result in brain damage or a gruesome death that’s often preceded by panic and seizures.............

beam me up i'm scotty

capt'n, thar be whales........(one of my favorite scotty lines). i think scotty was always my favorite character in the original series. Space date set for Scotty's ashes Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played the engineer Scotty in the original TV series, will now have his remains blasted into space in October.
The actor's ashes were supposed to be sent into orbit last year, but the flight was delayed as tests were carried out on the rocket.
Doohan died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in July 2005, aged 85.
His family will hold a service on the day of the rocket's launch for fans to pay tribute to him.
The actor's ashes will be sent into space along with the remains of around 100 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went to space in 1963.
After a short flight, the rocket will return to Earth, with a subsequent launch putting Doohan's remains into orbit in December or January. ..

i am not a calm person

i am not a laid back person by nature. i do not take guff from many (it has nothing to do with who they are, it has to do with the mood i'm in). i rarely back down. i am quite a dominating presence. my usual tone of voice is rather menacing (unless you know me). i DO like to think of myself as non-violent though. i admire this woman but i sure as hell would NEVER say what she said about king george to a bunch of school children. i cannot stand the man. i think he is beyond redemption. i think he has led his country to ruin with NO chance of recovery (in my lifetime) but i would NEVER say what she said (to the kids). NEVER. it's unacceptable

Peace prize winner 'could kill' Bush

Annabelle McDonald
July 25, 2006
NOBEL peace laureate Betty Williams displayed a flash of her feisty Irish spirit yesterday, lashing out at US President George W.Bush during a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren.
Campaigning on the rights of young people at the Earth Dialogues forum, being held in Brisbane, Ms Williams spoke passionately about the deaths of innocent children during wartime, particularly in the Middle East, and lambasted Mr Bush.
"I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent," said Ms Williams, 64.
"Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." Her young audience at the Brisbane City Hall clapped and cheered.
"I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life." ..........

this is why NO civilian should own a gun

NONE, NO ONE, NADA, NE RIEN, NIET, NON

no no no no no.

there is NO reason anyone can give me from 'protecting the family/home' to 'hunting' that i will buy. there is NO need to own a gun and i don't give a shite who i piss off saying that

14 year old boy killed with Pennsylvania lawmaker's gun
07/25/2006 @ 1:33 pmFiled by RAW STORY

A gun owned by Pennsylvania State Senator Bob Regola (R-39th) has been used to kill a fourteen year old boy, the Associated Press has reported today.
RAW STORY has since found that Regola, a first term Republican, is a member of the National Rifle Association as well as the Police Rod and Gun Club, and received the endorsement of Firearms Owners Against Crime. .........

i read the headline "Bush Remains Opposed to Mideast Cease-Fire" and was taken aback. OPPOSES a CEASE FIRE? who in their RIGHT MIND would oppose a CEASE - FIRE anywhere, anytime, anyplace? when one opposes a CEASE FIRE that means one wants shooting, bombing, killing and maiming to CONTINUE, right? an opposition to a cease fire means you want to CONTINUE TO FIRE. i am rolling that over and over and over in my mind and i still cannot understand. that alone, take everything else king george has done to us (AND OTHERS) and put that aside, THAT ALONE, WANTING TO KILL PEOPLE INCLUDING INNOCENTS, MANY INNOCENTS should prove to the whole entire world the king has no clothes. (it's not who is asking for it or why they are asking for it. a cease fire means NO MORE KILLING. why not CHOOSE CEASE FIRE. you've said a million times before you're against MURDER. what's the difference in YOUR mind king george between an embryo and a 2 year old child?)

Bush Remains Opposed to Mideast Cease-Fire

By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer 1:21 AM PDT, July 24, 2006 WASHINGTON — White House officials said President Bush remains opposed to an immediate cease-fire to stop violence in the Middle East, despite personal pleas from ally Saudi Arabia that he help stop the bloodshed. Saudi King Abdullah beseeched Bush to intervene in Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the death toll is approaching 400 after less than two weeks of bombing. Abdullah's request was hand-delivered to Bush by Saudi officials who requested a meeting Sunday at the White House. "We requested a cease-fire to allow for a cessation of hostilities," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters as he departed the West Wing. "I have brought a letter from the Saudi king to stop the bleeding in Lebanon, and there has been an agreement to save Lebanese lives, Lebanese properties and what the Lebanese have built, and to save this country from the ordeal it is facing," Saud said. Saud's comment reflected Bush's past statements that all want the violence to stop. But Bush has refused to press for an immediate cease-fire. ........

how can we just stand by?

how can we not raise our voices? stop stop stop. us in iraq and israel in lebannon. STOP STOP STOP.


U.S. Reporters Chronicle Human Misery in Lebanon By E&P Staff Published: July 22, 2006 2:00 PM ET
NEW YORK Reports from inside Lebanon by reporters for major U.S. newspapers on Saturday made clear the extent of the humanitarian crisis in that country that has been downplayed by many officials in Washington and by some in the media. Here are excerpts from three of Saturday's reports.*Megan Stack, Los Angeles Times, from Tyre:They would bury their dead in mass graves, the doctors decided. The government hospital had run out of room for human remains by Friday. More than 100 bomb-wrecked bodies were already crammed into poorly refrigerated container trucks, and more corpses were pouring in daily.So they built cheap coffins of pine. Bulldozers carved 6-foot-deep trenches into a desolate lot littered with old telephone poles.........




Lebanese Forced to Bury Casualties in Mass Graves

are we not men, we are devo, d - e - v - o

i am reminded of that song when i hear stories
like this. there is NO corrolation, but the words turn over and over in my mind.
i substitute the words 'men' and devo' for HUMAN. are we not human? h - u - m -
a - n ??? ARE WE NOT HUMAN? do we not follow
rules?

U.S.: Soldiers Tell of Detainee Abuse in Iraq
23 Jul 2006 08:20:28 GMT 23 Jul 2006 08:20:28 GMT Source: Human Rights Watch (New York, July 23, 2006) Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to new accounts from soldiers in a Human Rights Watch report released today. The new report, containing first-hand accounts by U.S. military personnel interviewed by Human Rights Watch, details detainee abuses at an off-limits facility at Baghdad airport and at other detention centers throughout Iraq. In the 53-page report, "No Blood, No Foul: Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq," soldiers describe how detainees were routinely subjected to severe beatings, painful stress positions, severe sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme cold and hot temperatures. The accounts come from interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, supplemented by memoranda and sworn statements contained in declassified documents..........

they are scared, and i for one am happy

i'd be happier if they:
got our women and men out of iraq,
put back in force many of the environmental laws they repealed,
protected our senior citizens and children like they deserve,
MINDED THEIR OWN EFFING BID-NEZ
admitted to everyone THEY LIED (MANY times about MANY things)

please VOTE this year. it's not too early to remind everyone. VOTE. speak up. let your senators and representatives know how you feel NOW.

Time: Presidential adviser wants Bush to 'beef up' White House Counsel's office fearing possible Dem-controlled House probes
07/23/2006 @ 5:49 pm Filed by Ron Brynaert

An adviser to President George W. Bush wants the White House Counsel's office to be "beef[ed] up" in case a possibly Democratic controlled House pursues a "tangle of investigations," according to a Time Magazine web exclusive

Near the end of an article about how "the crisis in Lebanon has dragged the Administration into the role of potential peacemaker," Time's Mike Allen reports that the Administration's "outlook" for the midterm elections reads "ominous" for the Republican Party and for President Bush.
"As for Bush himself, he is curtailing his traditional August working vacation at the ranch so that he can barnstorm before the midterm elections," writes Allen for Time..........

Colbert Report: Julian Bond Interview

i take it back, it IS out there. in the previous post, i mentioned this video. it's a SCREAM

and we are surprised because??????

well no, we're NOT surprised. it's happening in ALL of the jobs king george is filling. i hope everyone got a chance to see julian bond on the colbert report the other day (mr bond end up agreeing to be mr colbert's 'black friend'). it is WICKED FUNNY. mr bond gave his opinion to mr colbert on king george's speech to the naacp. i tried to find the bond/colbert clip video, but as of now, it's not out there. of course in real life, it's NOT funny at all


Civil rights hiring shifted in Bush era
Conservative leanings stressed

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff July 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights, according to job application materials obtained by the Globe.
The documents show that only 42 percent of the lawyers hired since 2003, after the administration changed the rules to give political appointees more influence in the hiring process, have civil rights experience. In the two years before the change, 77 percent of those who were hired had civil rights backgrounds.
In an acknowledgment of the department's special need to be politically neutral, hiring for career jobs in the Civil Rights Division under all recent administrations, Democratic and Republican, had been handled by civil servants -- not political appointees.
But in the fall of 2002, then-attorney general John Ashcroft changed the procedures. The Civil Rights Division disbanded the hiring committees made up of veteran career lawyers.
For decades, such committees had screened thousands of resumes, interviewed candidates, and made recommendations that were only rarely rejected.
Now, hiring is closely overseen by Bush administration political appointees to Justice, effectively turning hundreds of career jobs into politically appointed positions.
The profile of the lawyers being hired has since changed dramatically, according to the resumes of successful applicants to the voting rights, employment litigation, and appellate sections. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Globe obtained the resumes among hundreds of pages of hiring data from 2001 to 2006.............

to the fcc: let us make our OWN CHOICES

war is not full of flowery thoughts OR language. war is horrid, it is evil, it is dark and full of blood. we, the world, should see (and in this case HEAR as well), everything those coming from wars (of the past in this case) have to say IN IT'S ENTIRETY. not only do i not need the fcc to protect me from words like shit i do not WANT them to protect me from WORDS. our communication devices (in this case televisions) come with ON AND OFF switches as well as devices for changing channels. i want to once again live in a FREE country where i CAN and DO make my OWN choices.

Soldiers' Words May Test PBS Language Rules

By Elizabeth Jensen
The New York Times

Saturday 22 July 2006

The PBS documentarian Ken Burns has been working for six years on "The War," a soldier's-eye view of World War II, and those who have seen parts of the 14-plus hours say they are replete with salty language appropriate to discussions of the horrors of war.

What viewers will see and hear when the series is broadcast in September 2007 is an open question.

A new Public Broadcasting Service policy that went into effect immediately when it was issued on May 31 requires producers whose shows are broadcast before 10 p.m. to adhere to tough editing requirements when it comes to coarse language, to comply with tightened rulings on broadcast indecency by the Federal Communications Commission.

Most notably, PBS's deputy counsel, Paul Greco, wrote in a memo to stations, it is no longer enough simply to bleep out offensive words audibly when the camera shows a full view of the speaker's mouth. From now on, the on-camera speaker's mouth must also be obscured by a digital masking process, a solution that PBS producers have called cartoonish and clumsy.

In addition, profanities expressed in compound words must be audibly bleeped in their entirety so that viewers cannot decipher the words. In the past, PBS required producers to bleep only the offensive part of the compound word.

Since May 31, bits of dialogue have been digitally obscured about 100 times in four PBS programs, most often in two episodes of the music documentary "The Blues."

Mr. Burns, in an interview, said he was not worried that his work, which he called a "very experiential take on the Second World War," would be affected by the policy, noting that while the series includes some "very graphic violence," there are just two profanities, read off camera.

But several other senior public broadcasting executives said "The War" was likely to become a test case for PBS and the FCC..............