the thinking blogger awards

cv rick has tagged this blog with a thinking blogger award

(why? i don't know but i AM honored)
i am not going to pick any of the blogs that were already picked even if they WERE in my top five. they've already been chosen so i don't need to.

Here are the rules-
Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

here are my five (and it WAS a tough choice. there are WAY more than five)

1) ramblings of a lexington parrothead beach bum writes about his life, his family, politics, strange creatures found in his house and on and on. i like him.

2) morning martini pissed off patricia (p o p as i like to call her) writes about politics, the land, fred the cat, mr p o p and has beautiful pictures too. i like her

3) the cool justice report andy thibault writes about many things but he is always seeking the truth. it's mainly a connecticut based blog. i like him

4) drinking liberally in new milford is of course a connecticut based blog by connecticut man 1. politics as well. great sense of humor. i like him

and
5) caffeinated geek girl by c g g. yet another connecticut blog. c g g talks about politics, houses, yoga, animals, familes. the works. i like her

i would have a coffee (or something a bit stronger) with ALL of these people. they're down to earth, HAVE BRAINS but even more importlantly have a heart and soul.

surge this

Attack is Worst Strike in Protective Green Zone

four YEARS worth missing?

that is NOT an accident. ONE deleted email, two perhaps, FOUR YEARS WORTH? no and no.

oh by the way, i KNOW even deleted emails CAN be and ARE retrieved.

luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucy, you got some 'splainin' to do

Rove E-Mail Sought by Congress May Be Missing
RNC Took Away His Access to Delete Files in 2005


By Michael AbramowitzWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 13, 2007; Page A01
A lawyer for the Republican National Committee told congressional staff members yesterday that the RNC is missing at least four years' worth of e-mail from White House senior adviser Karl Rove that is being sought as part of investigations into the Bush administration, according to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
GOP officials took issue with Rep. Henry Waxman's account of the briefing and said they still hope to find the e-mail as they conduct forensic work on their computer equipment. But they acknowledged that they took action to prevent Rove -- and Rove alone among the two dozen or so White House officials with RNC accounts -- from deleting his e-mails from the RNC server. Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was told the RNC made that move in 2005..........

i actually read this story in the nytimes yesterday

you know, the one about your CAR being gay (or i guess straight). how stupid. well it's beyond stupid. you know when a paper such as the times (we are NOT talking national enquirer here) publish such drek, it's time to indeed pick up the weekly world news (oh and by the way YEARS AND YEARS ago i took a quiz from the weekly world news. it was entitled, 'how to tell if your co-worker is an alien'. i answered YES to ALL of the questions on the quiz EXCEPT the one that said is your co-worker always calling in sick? so it turns out i AM an alien)

'NYT' Headline of the Week: 'Is Your Car Gay?'

By E&P Staff Published: April 12, 2007 10:15 AM ET
NEW YORK As if we didn't have enough to worry about, The New York Times today in a Styles articles made everyone aware that our sexual orientation is being judged, or decided, on the type of car we drive. Who knew that piloting a Mazda Miata convertible suggests that you are gay? Two men in a Mini Cooper --"a gay cliche." Or that lesbians give themselves away by driving Subaru Outback station wagons?It's all true, as reporter Alex Williams makes clear. While asserting that, of course, no car is inherently "straight or gay," Williams notes (and feeds) the perception that cars can "be statements" about sexual orientation.............

and the stupid-ass article itself...

Gay by Design, or a Lifestyle Choice?

By ALEX WILLIAMS
Published: April 12, 2007
RON GEREN, an actor in Los Angeles, commutes to auditions and jobs throughout Southern California in a sleek black Mazda MX-5 Miata convertible. But for a recent date with a woman, he rented a Cadillac Escalade because he was so used to friends saying his Miata is “gay.”
“Guys say, ‘Hey, that’s cute,’ ” Mr. Geren, 40, said, adding that the comments come from gay as well as straight men. “You have to fend off that perception.”
A few years ago, Meghan Daum, an op-ed contributor to The Los Angeles Times, wrote about a promising first date with a man that never led to a second one because, she later learned, the guy saw that she drove a Subaru Outback station wagon and concluded she must be a lesbian. ............

bye and don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out

yesterday, i was minding my own bid-nez (as i am KNOWN for doing). i was at the half door having a beverage and talking to my friend cathy. another friend, jack walked in. without missing a beat HE asked ME how i felt about the craggy faced vitriolic asswipe. i was NOT going to discuss that subject in public. i felt so strongly and had nothing but contempt for the craggy faced one. well i just let loose. jack said he listened to the craggy faced one and didn't really think what he said was so outrageous. i then said to jack, ok fine but remember your daughter has skin that is one shade darker than yours. jack said what the hell does that mean. another patron spoke up and said, she (meaning me) means WHAT IF IMUS WAS TALKING ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER? jack shut up then

what imus said (this time) wasn't the MOST horrid thing he has said. it wasn't. i have heard him say worse (well read quotes of what he has said since i don't listen to him). he IS racist. he IS homophobic. he IS misogynistic. it WAS the RIGHT THING to do to get rid of him. he NEVER should have been on the air to begin with. it never should have gotten this far. when i read the list of who has been on his show it shocked me. as an example when chris dodd announced his bid for the presidency. person after person on that show. people with 'higher moral values' sat in one of his chairs. as soon as they get up to leave, the craggy faced one and his gang of evil hearts start in on their hate filled speech. i know now even people who claim some type of higher moral character (yeah, you too liebs) give it ALL up for the chance to have themselves heard by the masses.

bye

CBS Radio drops Imus

Effective immediately, CBS Radio has fired radio host Don Imus in the wake of the uproar following a racially charged comment he made on his show April 4th.
CBS Radio first suspended Imus for two weeks after calling the Rutger's women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his radio program.
"Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when shock jock Howard Stern departed for satellite radio early last year. The program is worth about $15 million in annual revenue to CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station, WFAN-AM in New York, and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show across the country," writes CBS News................

and senator obama you are surprised because?????????

i do thank you for having the guts to question the appointment. it doesn't matter though. king george and his court are going to continue to ignore laws, ignore a moral code of conduct and most importantly IGNORE HUMAN SUFFERING THEY PERSONALLY ARE CAUSING

they don't give a flying yoo hoo. they don't. the sooner WE ALL realize that and IMPEACH THE BASTARDS the better

OUT OUT OUT get them OUT OUT OUT NOW

Obama questions Bush over VA nominee

Following a Salon.com article published yesterday, which revealed that President Bush's nominee for the Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Michael Kussman, led a task force that found serious problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as early as 2004, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has sent a letter to Bush expressing concerns about the nomination.
According to Salon.com, the report revealed that wounded veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were "frustrated, confused, sometimes angry" at the care they received at Walter Reed.
"The report shows that top VA officials were involved in the focus group process back in 2004. Michael Kussman, then the acting deputy undersecretary for health, was co-chair of the VA's Seamless Transition Task Force, which produced the final report," wrote Salon.com on Wednesday. "Not only is Kussman still at the VA, but he is also in line to be promoted."
Kussman was also in charge of Walter Reed in the late 1990s..........

a bit more on extended tours of duty

imagine how THEY feel. those who are serving and their families and friends

speak up. write your congress people, write to your senators. we must stop this. we must get OUT of iraq


Strained Army Extends Tours To 15 Months
Move Is Needed for Iraq Troop Increase


By Ann Scott Tyson and Josh White Washington Post Staff Writers

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that all active-duty soldiers currently deployed or going to Iraq and Afghanistan will see their one-year tours extended to 15 months, acknowledging that such a strain on the war-weary Army is necessary should the ongoing troop increase be prolonged well into next year.
The decision -- coming three months after President Bush put forth his new security plan for Iraq, including the deployment of at least 28,000 additional troops there -- reflects the reality that the new strategy is unfeasible without introducing longer Army tours..................

kurt vonnegut

has become unstuck in time

thank you mr vonnegut for billy pilgrim and everyone else too!

Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84

By DINITIA SMITH

Published: April 12, 2007
Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.
Mr. Vonnegut suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago, according to his wife, Jill Krementz.
Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States..................

eeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, welcome to the school of jeb!

don't ya just LOVE it?

that will show ya to not give jeb what he wants!

Florida Legislature Forces University To Idolize Jeb Bush

Two weeks ago, the University of Florida voted to deny Jeb Bush an honorary degree. By a 38-28 vote, the faculty Senate rejected the former governor’s nomination, citing concerns about some of Bush’s education initiatives, including his dismantling of affirmative action programs in the state:
In higher education circles, Bush’s greatest criticism came over his “One Florida” plan, which ended race-based admissions in state universities. Black enrollment dropped at UF and statewide after the change took effect, as critics predicted.............

................Over the faculty’s opposition, the school will now have “to erect ‘suitable markers‘ noting the college’s new name and include the revised name in all university documents, including catalogues and brochures.” The lawmakers acknowledge they “came up with the idea as an answer” to the faculty’s denial of Bush’s honorary degree..............

what would YOU do if your employer asked the date of your last menstrual cycle?

i know what i'd do.
UN EFFING BELIEVABLE
women: second class citizens, yet ANOTHER example

Outrage at India menstrual form

By Monica Chadha BBC News, Mumbai

Women civil servants in India have expressed shock at new appraisal rules which require them to reveal details of their menstrual cycles.
Under the new nationwide requirements, female officials also have to say when they last sought maternity leave.
Women civil servants say the questions are a gross invasion of privacy. One told the BBC she was "gobsmacked".
Annual appraisals and health checks are mandatory in India's civil service. The ministry was unavailable for comment.
But one of its most senior bureaucrats was quoted in the press as saying the new questions had been based on advice from health officials.
'No words'
The questions at the root of the controversy are on page 58 of the new appraisal forms for the current year issued by the federal Ministry for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Women officers must write down their "detailed menstrual history and history of LMP [last menstrual period] including date of last confinement [maternity leave]," the form says. ...........

immense suffering

and if anyone believes anything other than that, you are living in a fantasy world. what we are doing and have done is WRONG. we've destroyed a country and it's people.

Red Cross details 'unbearable suffering' of Iraqi civilians

Ian Black, Middle East editor

Iraqi civilians are experiencing "immense suffering" because of a "disastrous" security situation, deepening poverty and a worsening humanitarian crisis, according to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC also sees no sign that the US-led security "surge" in Baghdad is bringing relief to the capital, while hospitals struggle to cope with mass casualties as malnutrition as well as power and water shortages become more frequent across the country.
"The suffering Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations for the organisation, said at the group's Geneva headquarters.
The report, Civilians without Protection, provides a grim snapshot of the situation in Iraq but will carry special weight thanks to the ICRC's reputation as the scrupulously neutral "silent service" of international humanitarian work.............

whew! shout out to msnbc

for getting rid of the craggy-faced asswipe

i'm also going to write letters to bigalow tea, proctor and gamble and staples for pulling their advertising. thanks to those three corps

MSNBC cancels simulcast of 'Imus in the Morning;' Obama first presidential candidate to call for radio host's firing

Josh Catone
MSNBC announced Wednesday that it will cease its simulcast of the 'Imus in the Morning' program.
NBC News President Steve Capus said in a statement, "Over the course of the last week many of you have reached out to me and expressed your strong viewpoints on the Don Imus situation. I've had countless conversations, e-mail exchanges and phone calls with people throughout this company. I've heard you loud and clear. Therefore, we are announcing tonight that MSNBC will no longer simulcast the Imus radio program."
Capus cited concerns over the "integrity" of the NBC News division as the main reason for dropping the simulcast.............

a super secret society?

well not quite a SUPER and not quite a SECRET but iffy at the VERY best. uh oh

Justice employees' membership in GOP group seen as 'inappropriate'

Josh Catone

As scrutiny increases on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a new report reveals that dozens of Bush appointees are members of a partisan organization of lawyers.
The appointees and civil servants include "at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees," report Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev for McClatchy Newspapers. .........

................"There's a fine line between honoring the First Amendment rights of the employee and upholding the integrity of the Justice Department. It seems to me that we're teetering over that line here," former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson, told McClatchy.
"It's unknown how many of the government's lawyers, if any, are performing partisan election work on the side as result of being members of the group," concluded the report...............

Government lawyers' membership in GOP group seen as inappropriate

By Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - In his day job, Christian Adams writes legal briefs for the voting rights section of the Justice Department, a job that requires a nonpartisan approach.
Off the clock, Adams belongs to the Republican National Lawyers Association, a group that trains hundreds of Republican lawyers to monitor elections and pushes for confirmation of conservative nominees for federal judgeships.
Vice President Dick Cheney credited the 3,000-member association in 2005 with helping the Republicans win the previous two presidential elections. Last year, President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove shared with the group his insights on winning elections in key battleground states. At a conference the association organized last month, speakers called the controversy over whether eight U.S. attorneys had been fired for partisan political reasons "farcical" and "ridiculous."
According to the group's Web site, Adams is one of dozens of Bush administration appointees or civil servants who are members, including at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees. ..............

i made mine in cotton

my bainbridge scarf

in peaches and cream (by elmore-pisgah)

i made it in cotton so i could wear it year round. i have chronic neck problems and i thought this might help. i KNOW it will help when the air conditioning starts blowing on me from above at work.

i wanted to link to this

because gwen ifill turns out to be THE 'cleaning lady'

(at first, i was simply thinking in terms of racism, the quotes the craggy faced one made. it's more than that. it's also misogyny and of course MORE)

Trash Talk Radio

By GWEN IFILL
Published: April 10, 2007
Washington
LET’S say a word about the girls. The young women with the musical names. Kia and Epiphanny and Matee and Essence. Katie and Dee Dee and Rashidat and Myia and Brittany and Heather.
The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University had an improbable season, dropping four of their first seven games, yet ending up in the N.C.A.A. women’s basketball championship game. None of them were seniors. Five were freshmen.
In the end, they were stopped only by Tennessee’s Lady Vols, who clinched their seventh national championship by ending Rutgers’ Cinderella run last week, 59-46. That’s the kind of story we love, right? A bunch of teenagers from Newark, Cincinnati, Brooklyn and, yes, Ogden, Utah, defying expectations. It’s what explodes so many March Madness office pools.
But not, apparently, for the girls. For all their grit, hard work and courage, the Rutgers girls got branded “nappy-headed ho’s” — a shockingly concise sexual and racial insult, tossed out in a volley of male camaraderie by a group of amused, middle-aged white men.............

...........The sincerity seems forced and suspect because he’s done some version of this several times before.
I know, because he apparently did it to me. .............

.............“Isn’t The Times wonderful,” Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. “It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.” ............

the real hot 100

from feministing comes a link to

the real hot 100

just imagine this: stray rockets hitting YOUR child's school

imagine living like this day to day. sending your babies off to school and not knowing if they will come home or not

What police described as a stray Katyusha rocket struck a schoolyard in eastern Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy.
Photo Credit: Photos By Adil Al-khazali -- Associated Press Photo

Troops Backed by Helicopters Battle Insurgents in Baghdad
Fighting in Sunni Enclave Is Heaviest of Security Offensive

By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, April 10 -- With attack helicopters firing into the streets below, U.S. and Iraqi forces fought Sunni gunmen in a densely packed downtown enclave on Tuesday, the heaviest fighting seen in the capital since the launch of a security offensive eight weeks ago.
The U.S. military said four Iraqi army soldiers and three insurgents were killed and 16 American soldiers were wounded in a street battle that raged throughout the day in the Fadhel neighborhood. The military reported one civilian casualty, an injured child, but witnesses said that they saw at least 18 bodies, including those of civilians, and that a dozen people were injured.................

no, no and no

three retired FOUR STAR generals have turned the white house down. how many more will?

THEY know what we all (we all EXCLUDES king george and his court) know. this war is WRONG. this war is illegal, this war is immoral

3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'
Bush Seeks Overseer For Iraq, Afghanistan


By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writers

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military..................

a proposal?

i work in an insurance company. to me a proposal is determining rates and presenting those rates to a proposed client (through an agent of course). OR a proposal can be one person asking another to marry them

OR

it can be (apparently) extending the active duty of all army personnel in iraq by three extra months.

i'm thinking to myself....they are ALREADY in harm's way. they already must be suffering from stress (among many other things), why NOT eff up their brains even more? yeah, why not?

and who my dears is going to pay the toll in the long run? when (and if) they return? do YOU think they are going to be 'normal'? fit right back into society?
i don't
ABC News: Army proposing extending duty for everyone in Iraq

The following report from ABC News' Senior National Security Correspondent Jonathan Karl aired this evening on World News with Charles Gibson.
#
Introduction: NEXT, WE TURN TO IRAQ AND THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO ARE SERVING THERE.ABC NEWS HAS LEARNED THAT THE ARMY HAS PUT ON THE DEFENSE SECRETARY'S DESK A PROPOSAL TO EXTEND THE TOUR OF DUTY FOR EVERY ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIER IN IRAQ BY THREE MONTHS. ROBERT GATES COULD HAVE A DECISION ON THAT PROPOSAL LATER THIS WEEK OR EARLY NEXT. HERE'S OUR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, JONATHAN KARL, AT THE PENTAGON. JON?
Karl: THIS IS A PROPOSAL THAT WOULD AFFECT EVERY ACTIVE-DUTY SOLDIER IN IRAQ. THEY WOULD BE REQUIRED TO STAY LONGER, IN LARGE PART, BECAUSE THE SURGE OF FORCES THE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCED IN JANUARY IS ALMOST CERTAIN TO BE EXTENDED. UNDER THE PROPOSAL, ALL ACTIVE DUTY ARMY UNITS IN IRAQ WOULD HAVE THEIR TOURS OF DUTY EXTENDED FROM THE CURRENT 12 MONTHS TO 15 MONTHS.
General William Nash, Retired: THESE SOLDIERS HAVE PAID THE PRICE FOR THIS POLICY FOR FOUR YEARS. NOW, THEY ARE BEING GIVEN AN ADDITIONAL BURDEN TO BEAR AND IT WILL BE A CAUSE OF CONCERN FOR THE SOLDIERS AND EVEN MORE SO FOR THE FAMILIES.................

THIS my dears SAYS IT ALL (and more)

Imus Gets McCain's Vote Of Confidence
John McCain Says Don Imus Deserves 'Redemption'

from welcome to pottersville: 'do you think this is the first six year old we've arrested?'

even the comments are a good read

Bob Herbert: 6-Year-Olds Under Arrest

and i really did read this myself (elsewhere). it's NOT a joke

iglesias gets fired for absenteesim

(which was mainly caused BY HIM BEING AN OFFICER IN THE NAVAL RESERVES) yet all of these OTHER us attorneys are away from their jobs (at the bidding of gonzo of course), are getting complaints from their states YET still HAVE their us attorney jobs

will wonders never cesase

Six U.S. Attorneys Given 2nd Posting in Washington


By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff Writer
A half-dozen sitting U.S. attorneys also serve as aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales or are assigned other Washington postings, performing tasks that take them away from regular duties in their districts for months or even years at a time, according to officials and department records.
Acting Associate Attorney General William W. Mercer, for example, has been effectively absent from his job as U.S. attorney in Montana for nearly two years -- prompting the chief federal judge in Billings to demand his removal and call Mercer's office "a mess."...........

..............Iglesias filed a complaint with federal investigators last week, alleging that his dismissal amounted to discrimination based on his status as an officer in the Navy Reserve, which took him away from the job for 40 to 45 days a year. Alleged absenteeism has been the Justice Department's main public criticism of Iglesias, although officials have more recently added concerns about his handling of voter fraud and immigration cases to their arguments about him.
"It's a double standard and it's hypocritical," Iglesias said............

yankee go home:

THIS is progress?

(well we SHOULD go home but the people hating us is NOT progress)

White House Tells Press: Huge Anti-American Protest in Iraq Shows 'Progress'

By E&P Staff

NEW YORK A huge anti-American protest swept two cities in Iraq today, but White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters this only underscores how much "progress" the U.S. is making in that country. Four years since the fall of Baghad, Iraq "is now a place where people can freely gather and express their opinions, and that was something they could not do under Saddam." Johndrove said, traveling with President Bush to Arizona.He also noted that Moktada al-Sahr had called for "massive protests-- I'm not sure that we 've seen that, those numbers materialize." ..............

In Najaf, Protesters Demand U.S. Pullout

Sudarsan Raghavan and Saad Sarhan Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, April 9 -- Draped in Iraqi flags and chanting anti-American slogans, tens of thousands of Iraqis swept into the southern city of Najaf on the call of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to mark the fourth anniversary of the ouster of President Saddam Hussein, calling for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq.
"No, no to the occupier. Yes, yes, to Iraq," they chanted, as demonstrators burned and ripped apart American flags. "Get out, get out occupation.".........

ha!

the man JUST WON'T STOP
now, he was doing a FAVOR for a general by going out with protection. he didn't WANT the protection. he was doing his bud a favor


McCain says he would have gone into Baghdad market without escort
JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain said Monday he would have taken his tour of an Iraqi market last week even if he hadn't been accompanied by heavily armed U.S. soldiers.
The Republican presidential hopeful said he would have walked through the Bab al-Sharqi market in Baghdad without the military protection, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, had recommended the armed escort.
"I'm not notorious for being nervous about going anywhere," said McCain, R-Ariz. "I'll gladly go almost anywhere in the world, under any circumstances, but I did respond and do what General Petraeus asked me to do."
McCain and other members of a congressional delegation toured the market last week, traveling in armored military vehicles and wearing body armor during their hourlong excursion.............

i wasn't going to write about THIS either

but i'm steaming. if it was anyone else, NO suspension, but a FULL TERMINATION.

the man has made racist remarks before. it's nothing new. they won't fire him because he brings them in BIG money (WHY? i have NO idea.)

this craggy ass makes me shiver and NOT in a good way. if i'm not mistaken, several none-too-good stories have turned up about his 'cancer ranch for kids' too. some very credible stories from former employees

i personally do NOT believe for one moment the man is sorry for what he said. he's sorry he got in trouble for it is what he's sorry for. people have said FAR more innocuous things on the air and gotten canned for it. keep that in mind
MSNBC, CBS Radio suspend Imus for two weeks

Josh Catone

MSNBC will suspend morning simulcasts of the Imus in the Morning radio program beginning Monday April 16, following a remark made by host Don Imus on the program last Wednesday that has been blasted as racist.
CBS Radio, which airs the program, will also suspend the disc jockey for two weeks.
On last Wednesday's program, Imus referred to the players of the Rutger's women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."...............

oprah is a giant wind bag

i don't like her nor do i like anything or anyone she has on her show (as a rule). i don't watch her show, i guess i should say that too. i have seen it here and there, bits and pieces. she makes me want to puke. her false gushing. she gushes over EVERYONE on her show. i don't like gushers. like i said, IT MAKES ME WANT TO PUKE

this book is a piece of steamin' shite. cults work the very same way. they see a hole in someone's soul and they go RIGHT FOR IT. they find your weak spot and pick at it until they fill that weak spot with THEIR greed and wanting of power.

i DO believe in positive thinking. at the same time i KNOW me wishing for world peace or 100,000,000 dollars isn't going to happen JUST because i wish for it or WANT it. life doesn't work that way. AND I'M TELLING YOU THAT SECRET FOR FREE

(i also have a tape of the secret of the universe somewhere. if i ever find it i'll make copies and send them to anyone who wants one for FREE. i'm not kidding. it IS the secret of the universe. it involves singing at the top of your lungs every song you know along with all of your friends and neighbors doing the very same thing. there are also pencils and magnets involved and if i remember correctly a soft ball game (i may have been catching- smoking a butt in one hand and holding a beverage in the other). i may have been drunk when i made this movie, but it's STILL the secret of the entire universe. i swear it)

DEPT. OF SNAKE OIL
Self-Help's Slimy 'Secret'
By Tim Watkin

It's the publishing phenomenon of the year so far, a small book with a parchment-brown cover engraved with the image of a red wax seal.
"The Secret," its title proclaims matter-of-factly, as if the slim volume held the answer to life's deepest mysteries. Which is precisely what it purports to do. Written by an Australian television producer, this latest contribution to the bursting shelves of New Age self-helpiana has come out of nowhere to sell more than 1.3 million copies in the United States alone............

................It's all so laughably nutty. And it would be harmless but for the millions buying the book and DVD and the exposure that "The Secret" is getting from the likes of Winfrey and Larry King. And for the danger lurking in its philosophy..........

..............That isn't just implied, it's spelled out: "The only reason why people do not have what they want is because they are thinking more about what they don't want than what they do want." By this logic, Holocaust victims brought it on themselves, as did those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. Come on, New Orleans, get over it! Think positive..........

p.s. i just remembered another thing i'm pissed at oprah about. i wnet to the bookstore a while ago to get a friend a copy of 'one hundered years of solitude' by gabriel garcia marquez. slapped right there on the cover was something like, 'as chosen by oprah winfrey's book club'. SHITE now a bunch of asswipes is reading that book

no commentary from me is necessary

Ford President Alan Mulally, right, had to be quick on his feet to make sure President Bush plugged a power cord into the right socket on a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Plug it in, fire it up, Mr. President

The Detroit News

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.
Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovative vehicle, so the automaker arranged for an electrical outlet to be installed on the South Lawn and ran a charging cord to the hybrid...............

i'm the bombardier

those of you who read joseph heller's catch-22 (or even saw the movie) know what that means

it was real life then, but it's more so now only because of the sheer numbers of those that survive combat wounds

A Shock Wave of Brain Injuries

By Ronald Glasser
We can save you. But you might not be what you were."
Neurosurgeon, Combat Support Hospital, Balad, Iraq

This is the new physics of war. Three 155mm shells, linked together and combined with 100 pounds of Semtex plastic explosive, covered by canisters of butane or barrels of gasoline, can upend a 70-ton tank, destroy a Humvee or blow an engine block through the hood of a truck. Those deadly ingredients form the signature weapon of the war in Iraq: improvised explosive devices, known by anybody who watches the news as IEDs.
Some of the impact of these roadside bombs is brutally clear: Troops are maimed by projectiles, poisoned by clouds of bacteria-laced debris and burned by post-blast flames...............

god doesn't want her to testify

god wanted her to take an unexplained leave of absence. god wanted her to then quit without notice (or reason). god wanted her to (help) fire people because they didn't tow the line (THEIR line that is). that god, what a jokester!

Justice's Holy Hires


By Dahlia Lithwick Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page B02
Monica Goodling had a problem. As senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Justice Department liaison to the White House, she no longer seemed to know what the truth was. She also must have been increasingly unclear about who her superiors were. This didn't used to be a problem for Goodling. Everything was once very certain: Her boss's truth was always the same as God's truth. Her boss was always either God or one of His staffers.
Last week, through counsel, Goodling again refused to testify about her role in the firings of several U.S. attorneys for what appear to be partisan reasons. Asserting her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, she somehow thought she might be on the hook for criminal obstruction. Then on Friday, she resigned, giving no reason.
A 1995 graduate of Messiah College, an evangelical Christian school, and a 1999 graduate of Pat Robertson's Regent University Law School, Goodling is an improbable character for a political scandal..................

............Goodling is one of 150 graduates of Regent University who have served in this administration, as Regent's Web site proudly proclaims. Pretty impressive for a 29-year-old school. The university says that "approximately one out of every six Regent alumni is employed in some form of government work." And that's precisely what its founder desired. The school's motto is "Christian Leadership to Change the World." Former attorney general John Ashcroft teaches at Regent, and graduates have obtained senior positions in the Bush administration. The express goal is not only to tear down the wall between church and state in America but also to enmesh the two.............

i wanted to link directly to the article

by rich, but you have to be a times select member. i'm not. i do get the ny times in my mailbox (email) daily but i'm not a subscriber so i can't read all of it.

i can link you up to the raw story ABOUT what frank rich wrote though

Rich: McCain's marketplace visit indicative of a 'turning point' that will lead to withdrawal from Iraq

New York Times columnist Frank Rich says in his Sunday editorial, that Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) Baghdad marketplace photo op was not merely indicative of a flagging presidential campaign, but may also be emblematic of the inevitable withdrawal by the US from Iraq.
"In retrospect, his disastrous trip may be less significant as yet another downturn in a faltering presidential candidacy than as a turning point in hastening the inevitable American exit from Iraq," writes Rich.
McCain is a genuine war hero, says Rich, and by participating in a "embarrassing propaganda stunt" he has hurt "lesser Washington mortals who still claim that the 'surge' can bring 'victory' in Iraq" more than he has damaged himself........