ba-bye

no matter what i thought of general pace before and after his gays in the military outing (sorry, couldn't help that), i don't blame HIM for what is the debacle in iraq. is he going to get blamed? sure. not totally but he'll take some of the heat. we all know who is REALLY to blame though. king george and his court. they do NOT listen to ANY advice they are given. they do as they wish even if it is contrary to what is right, just and lawful and against the wishes of the people whom they serve, US

it's NOT the military leaders we have to fire, IT'S KING GEORGE AND HIS COURT. you know EVERYONE else is JUST A PUPPET

Joint Chiefs Chair Will Bow Out
Pentagon Wary of Thorny Reconfirmation Hearings


By Josh White and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers


Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that Marine Gen. Peter Pace will step down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September, a move that Gates said will avert the contentious congressional hearings that would be needed to reconfirm the nation's top military officer. Pace will leave after just two years in the post, the shortest stint as chairman in more than four decades.

The surprise announcement yesterday at the Pentagon amounts to Pace being fired before a customary second two-year term. He has served as the top military adviser to President Bush and the defense secretary since 2005, leading a war effort that has frustrated the American public and appears no closer to a conclusion.
.................

ha ha ha

Creationist actor's porno past

jessica to me you ARE a hero

and always will be.

i don't care if you fired off a shot or not (because your military rifle JAMMED). you were in iraq. sent there by a team of madmen (and women). that alone qualifies you. but you went a step further. you TOLD THE TRUTH

Ex-POW tells Glamour she still gets hate mail

The Associated PressPosted : Wednesday Jun 6, 2007 12:32:21 EDT

NEW YORK — Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch still receives hate mail, four years after her capture and long after publicly disputing the military’s exaggerated accounts of her capture and rescue in Iraq.
The former Army private from Palestine, W.Va., was severely injured and 11 other soldiers killed when their convoy was ambushed in Nasiriyah in 2003. Lynch, one of six soldiers captured, was later rescued by American troops from an Iraqi hospital, but the military’s account of the ambush embellished her role to make it sound more heroic.
Lynch, who testified before Congress in April, has received some 30,000 letters from people across the country. While most are from supporters, there are plenty of critics.
“People say, ‘You didn’t do anything in Iraq.’ Sometimes I think I’m the most hated person in America,” she told Glamour magazine for the July issue appearing on newsstands June 12..............

i HAD to post this buzzflash editorial

i read the original story a couple of days ago. i was going to post it but let it pass. i shouldn't have. the author of this piece is right. here we have the head of the arkansas gop saying a TERRORIST ATTACK ON AMERICA just like 9/11 will prove king george's policies are correct (actually it would do JUST THE OPPOSITE wouldn't it? if we had another attack that would mean we were NOT protecting ourselves, no???)

anyway, it's NOT so much what dennis milligan said at this point (yeah, it WAS f**ked up, i'm not denying that). it's how the 'media' DIDN'T react to what he said. does faux mews WANT another attack on us soil? does flush limburger?

if a democrat or someone else with a soul said something as idiotically insane as this, you KNOW the media would be ALL over that shite. what would happen if the democrats were in charge during katrina? and on and on and on. we KNOW what would happen.

this nonesense MUST STOP NOW. clear the dead wood out

p.s. i am NOT all too pleased with most of the pussy dems either. they're NOT doing the jobs WE ELECTED THEM TO DO (and i hope we all remember that come NEXT election time.)

A Republican State Party Chairman Wishes More Terrorist Attacks on U.S. to Prove George W. Bush "Right"

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 06/07/2007 - 7:48am. Editorials
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
There’s been a bit of commentary on the net about a statement by the Chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party in which he calls for terrorist attacks on the United States to prove that Bush’s anti-terrorism policies are necessary.
Okay, you don’t believe us? You think that this is BuzzFlash hyperbole?
Here’s the money quotation, right here:
"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country," Milligan said.
Yes, Dennis Milligan, the head of the Arkansas GOP, said this just a few days ago, posted in a June 3 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette........

......................A state Republican Party Chairman calls for terrorist attacks on the United States, and the GOP media megaphones (including FOX Republican Propaganda News and hedonist, drug user Rush Limbaugh) are attacking John Edwards’ haircut, but not one of their own, who wishes Osama accomplishes more missions!
Mr. Milligan represents a danger to our national security, as do so many Republicans, because he prefers to prove his party’s "leader" is "right" at the cost of American lives at home..........

the story (well part of it) of former u s attorney todd graves

and it ain't a pretty one

it's amazing how horrid a human being can be. not just a pharmacist who dilutes cancer drugs but our very own government

The Ninth Man Out: Was a U.S. Attorney Fired for Helping Cancer Victims?

By Murray Waas, HuffingtonPost.com. Posted June 7, 2007.


When a Kansas City pharmacist was convicted of diluting drugs for cancer patients, former U.S. Attorney Tom Graves thought the victims and their families should be compensated. The FBI thought otherwise.

The first sign that crimes may have been committed was when the victims no longer felt nauseous and their hair stopped falling out. Also, it wasn't cold going deep into the vein the way it was before. They needed that hurt. And when it was too long in coming, they grew anxious. Their discomfort after all was their comfort. That was the only way they knew that the chemotherapy was working.
When the FBI believed that they had enough to make a case, they brought the file to Todd Graves, the then-U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Missouri. Ultimately, Robert Courtney, a local pharmacist would be sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole for watering down chemotherapy prescriptions for thousands of cancer patients.
When the Bush administration ordered Graves to resign as U.S. attorney in Jan. 2006, the prosecutor wondered if it might have something to do with the Courtney case. Graves was the first of nine U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration for reasons that still are not entirely clear..............

............When Todd Graves was twenty one, he discovered a lump in his groin. It turned out he had a rare form of lymphoma. And the prognosis was not very good: He was told to put his affairs in order, because it was unlikely that he would survive very long.
For a full 18 years afterwards, he could not bring himself to touch -- even for a single moment -- the same place in his groin where the original lump was discovered out of fear that he might discover a new one.
In the end what likely saved his life was the chemotherapy...............

...........After surviving a cancer that nobody thought he would get through, Graves has the right perspective. He asks: "What possibly could Monica Goodling say about me that could have anything more than a passing consequence on my life?".............

'violence will continue to RAGE over the next year'

no. violence will RAGE for far longer than the next year. the factions have a history of violence and conflict. it was quelled though UNTIL we went in there and illegally, immorally and unjustly invaded their country. this time WE are at fault. we made grave errors and misjudgements. we are responsible for thousands of iraqis deaths and tens of thousands of displacements. we are responsible for thousands of dead american men and women. how much longer are we going to allow king george and his court to reign in this manner? there is NO end in sight. hell, now even the republican presidential candidates are distancing themselves from the insanity that is king george and big dick and maitress connddii

NOT ONE MORE DEATH

Nominee to Coordinate War Offers Grim Forecast on Iraq
General's Appraisal Echoes Secret Intelligence Findings


By Peter Baker and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writers

President Bush's nominee to be war czar said yesterday that conditions in Iraq have not improved significantly despite the influx of U.S. troops in recent months and predicted that, absent major political reform, violence will continue to rage over the next year.
Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, tapped by Bush to serve as a new high-powered White House coordinator of the war, told senators at a confirmation hearing that Iraqi factions "have shown so far very little progress" toward the reconciliation necessary to stem the bloodshed. If that does not change, he said, "we're not likely to see much difference in the security situation" a year from now..........

of guitars and greenpeace

who'd a thunk it?

i played for YEARS and years. everything from classical to blues - my forte (and i use that term VERY loosely) was folk though. i stopped playing but still have my gibson b something 12, could be 45 or 52 but i think it's a 25 -12, i don't remember (12 string). she's a beauty!

Saving Trees Is Music to Guitar Makers’ Ears

By GLENN RIFKIN
Published: June 7, 2007

Christian F. Martin IV is the sixth generation to run his family’s renowned guitar-making business, C. F. Martin & Company. But he is surely the first to worry about the availability of the distinctive woods needed to build Martin guitars, the choice of musicians like Sting, Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett and John Mayer.

As old growth forests have been razed and several species of tropical woods like mahogany, ebony and rosewood have become much scarcer, guitar makers like Martin, Taylor, Fender and Gibson have had to rethink the notion that there is an inexhaustible supply of the desired woods to make their instruments.
As small, privately held companies, these instrument makers have banded together to join the burgeoning corporate social responsibility movement, not just to appear politically correct but to ensure their long-term survival.........

the absurd

the absolutely ABSURD

i was reading the news (studio briefing) on imdb this morning (although it's from yesterday) and found this:

U.S.-Based Arabic Channel Faces Probe
The Virginia-based al-Hurra satellite television network that is financed by Congress and beams to the Arab world may be subject to an independent review following reports that it has routinely aired broadcasts that include denunciations of Israel or Jews. The station, which reportedly receives $62 million in funding annually (plus an additional $40 million for a station that targets Iraq), was reportedly set up as an alternative to the principal Arab news channel al-Jazeera, which has frequently been attacked by U.S. politicians as sympathetic to Arab militants. But the Associated Press reported Tuesday that al-Hurra has aired programs that have included a lengthy speech by Hezbolla leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian prime minister -- and Hamas leader -- Ismail Haniya -- and referred to the founding of Israel in 1948 as "the catastrophe."

FIRST off, even if it's NOT true the station is denouncing jews (i don't know one way or another) what the F**K are we doing giving 62 million in funding to ONE arabic tv station? ok ok ok, even if we don't spend the 62 million PLUS an additonal 40 million on better arming our troops in the middle east (which we SHOULD be doing) HOW ABOUT GIVING THAT 62 MILLION TO PBS? i'm writing to john larson on this one. this is beyond acceptable. well, NONE of this shite is acceptable. NONE OF IT

p.s. i did just write to john larson (emailed)

do you remember when you heard or read the words

'the disappeared' you ONLY thought of some south american country?

for the past few years though, that hasn't been the case. now when we hear the words the disappeared we think of the united states of america. i never thought i'd see the day when that would happen

Thirty nine people said to have 'disappeared' in US custody

"Six human rights groups released Wednesday a list of 39 people they believe have been secretly imprisoned by the United States and whose whereabouts are unknown and called on the Bush administration to abandon secret detentions," according to advance copy of an article to run in Thursday's New York Times.
Files Reuters: "Six human rights groups urged the U.S. government on Thursday to name and explain the whereabouts of 39 people they said were believed to have been held in U.S. custody and "disappeared." Excerpts follow.
The groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said they filed a U.S. federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act seeking information about the 39 people it terms "ghost prisoners" in the U.S. "war on terror.".........

yet another story

where someone from king george's court has been found to be 'MORE INVOLVED' than previously thought. more involved in what you ask? more involved in nefarious activities. ILLEGAL activities.

we have a constitution. why are we letting them spit upon it? bill clinton got a blow job and the country comes to a screeching halt.

THOUSANDS of our men and women are dead in a country we invaded for NO REASON. thousands of united states citizens are displaced (and worse) because of the disaster that was katrina. our citizens are being spied upon. our emails read (THEIR millions of emails have mysteriously disappeared, yet OURS are safe and sound in their lairs), our phone calls listened to. our snail mail read and goddess only knows what else.

yet, WE ARE ALLOWING KING GEORGE AND HIS COURT FREE REIGN. when will we COLLECTIVELY say ENOUGH?

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps
Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges Interference


By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.
The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.
Comey's disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program. ..........

if you happen to look up 'a big fat steamin' load' in the dictionary

you'll find the link to this article (i'm not dissin' the article, i'm dissin' big dick and all his good ol' white boy buds)

Letters Cast Light on Cheney's Inner Circle
Dozens of Prominent Figures and Insiders Praise Libby as Fundamentally Decent


By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer


For nearly seven years, the office of the vice president has been a virtual black hole for information about the Bush administration. But yesterday, a series of letters aimed at securing leniency for Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, provided a small, if selective, window on the world of Cheney and his aides.
Lewis A. Hoffman, the vice president's White House physician, asked Judge Reggie B. Walton to understand "the mindset that was pervasive" in the vice president's office after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the "real fear about what the future held.".....

BLACK HOLE is right!!!

big dick's doc says dick's mindset after 9/11 was full o' fear about the future. yeah, my big fat ass it was.

oh and another thing, i don't give a flying yoo hoo if scooter does time or not. he was only a bit player. a little guy. i want the BIG ONES to come down

i want the BIG ONES to do some hard time. i want, no I DEMAND PAYBACK

more on the death of col ted westhusing

Two Years After Col. Westhusing's Controversial Suicide in Iraq -- Documents Emerge

By E&P Staff

NEW YORK Two years ago today, shortly after noon, Iraq time, Col. Ted Westhusing took out a Barretta and put a bullet in his brain in his trailer at an Army camp near Baghdad airport. When he died, he was the highest ranking American officer to lose his life in the Iraq war. In a suicide note addressed to his commanders, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus (and also sharply critical of them) Westhusing wrote: “I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more.”Now documents from the investigation of Westhusing’s death, and the charges in his suicide note, are available online.E&P Editor Greg Mitchell has covered the Westhusing case since the autumn of 2005, when a portrait of Westhusing by T. Christian Miller appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Miller revealed that Westhusing, 44, had been deeply troubled by abuses carried out by American contractors in Iraq, including allegations that they had witnessed or even participated in the murder of Iraqis.........

from robert bryce dot com


FOIA Documents Regarding The Death of Col. Ted Westhusing
Amid the myriad tragedies and heartache caused by the Second Iraq War, the death of Col. Westhusing is among the saddest and most senseless.
I have been asked by a number of people who knew Col. Westhusing for some of the documents that I obtained from the Defense Department via the Freedom of Information Act over the course of my year-long inquiry into his suicide. Rather than distribute paper copies, it makes sense to make them available in electronic form. Herewith, a batch of the key documents, in PDF:
1. Anonymous letter sent to Col. Westhusing in May 2005 regarding alleged misconduct by contractors working for the U.S. military in Iraq.
2. June 17, 2005 interview of Westhusing’s widow, Michelle, by Army investigators.
3. Sworn statements from people who knew Col. Westhusing.
4. Bulk of the report done by the Army’s Inspector General.
5. Bulk of the report done Army Criminal Investigation Command.

no, you appear to be a decendent from asses

I'm not the descendent of a monkey!

i'm not going to get too excited

but this certainly sounds like the beginning not only of some good news but perhaps the end of our men and women being put in harm's way (over an illegal, unjust and immoral war)

we can hope

Breaking News: Iraqi Lawmakers Pass Resolution That May Force End to Occupation

By Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted June 5, 2007.

While Washington lawmakers play procedural games with an out-of-control executive branch, Iraqi legislators are working to bring an end to the occupation of their country.

While most observers are focused on the U.S. Congress as it continues to issue new rubber stamps to legitimize Bush's permanent designs on Iraq, nationalists in the Iraqi parliament --now representing a majority of the body -- continue to make progress toward bringing an end to their country's occupation.
The parliament today passed a binding resolution that will guarantee lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the UN mandate under which coalition troops now remain in Iraq when it comes up for renewal in December. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose cabinet is dominated by Iraqi separatists, may veto the measure..............

someone better tell mel gibson's father

and the iranians

NOT that they would believe this

another in a long line of things i don't understand. the holocaust deniers

may the souls of all of those found in this mass grave, rest in peace

Pipeline workers find mass grave of Jews killed by Nazis

Luke Harding in Moscow Wednesday June 6, 2007 The Guardian
A mass grave holding the remains of thousands of Jews executed by the Nazis during the second world war has been discovered in southern Ukraine by workers digging pipelines.
The workers stumbled upon the remains by chance last month in the village of Gvozdavka-1, near the Black Sea port of Odessa, Jewish leaders said yesterday.
The discovery provides further chilling evidence of the scale of Nazi brutality in Ukraine, which was occupied by both German and Romanian forces in 1941.......

this is THE coolest frog i have EVER seen

In this photograph released by Conservation International on Monday, June 4, 2007, an Atelopus frog is shown in this March 2006 file photo taken at the Nassau Mountains, eastern Suriname. Scientists said Monday that they have discovered 24 new species of wildlife in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, including this frog with fluorescent purple markings discovered by Surinamese scientists Paul Ouboter and Jan Mol. (AP Photo/Conservation International/Paul Ouboter)

Scientists Find 24 Species in Suriname

By ARNY BELFOR

PARAMARIBO Suriname (AP) - A frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles were among two dozen new species discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, scientists said Monday.
The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.
Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.
Among the species found were the atelopus frog, which has distinctive purple markings; six types of fish; 12 dung beetles, and one ant species, he said.
The scientists called for better conservation management in the unprotected, state-owned areas, where hunting and small-scale illegal mining is common..........

unfortunately, it along with all of the other new species discovered in suriname may not be around too very long. seems there is a lot of illegal mining in the area, thus creating a lot of poisonous conditions

if they don't stop digging these holes

they're going to be SO big, we're ALL going to swallowed up

Ex-Prosecutor Says He Didn't Think Charges Would Affect Election


By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer

A former interim U.S. attorney appointed by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales defended his decision to bring a controversial indictment before last year's elections, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no idea Missouri Republicans would use the case as part of their campaign against Democrats.
Bradley J. Schlozman, who temporarily replaced dismissed U.S. attorney Todd P. Graves of Kansas City, Mo., also said that career officials in the department's public integrity section approved the case, in which four former employees of a liberal-leaning group were charged with voter-registration fraud
"I did not think it was going to influence the election at all," Schlozman said.........

my friend jean sent me this

i don't know where it came from. i would certainly credit who wrote it if i knew



Why did the chicken cross the road?

Plato For the greater good.

Karl Marx It was a historical inevitability.

Machiavelli So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained.

Hippocrates Because of an excess of light pink gooey stuff in its pancreas.

Jacques Derrida Any number of contending discourses may be discovered within the act of the chicken crossing the road, and each interpretation is equally valid as the authorial intent can never be discerned, because structuralism is dead.

Noam Chomsky The chicken didn't exactly cross the road. As of 1994, something like 99.8% of all US chickens reaching maturity that year had spent 82% of their lives in confinement. The living conditions in most chicken coops break every international law ever written, and some, particularly the ones for chickens bound for slaughter, border on inhumane. My point is, they had no chance to cross the road (unless you count the ride to the supermarket). Even if one or two have crossed roads for whatever reason, most never get a chance. Of course, this is not what we are told. Instead, we see chickens happily dancing around on Sesame Street and Foster Farms commercials where chickens are not only crossing roads, but driving trucks (incidentally, Foster Farms is owned by the same people who own the Foster Freeze chain, a subsidiary of the dairy industry). Anyway, ... (Chomsky continues for 32 pages. For the full text of his answer, contact Odonian Press)

Thomas de Torquemada Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out.

Timothy Leary Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take.

Douglas Adams Forty-two.

Friedrich Nietzsche Because if you gaze too long across the road, the road gazes also across you.

Oliver North National Security was at stake.

B.F. Skinner Because the external influences which had pervaded its sensorium from birth had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own free will.

Carl Jung The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being.

Jean-Paul Sartre In order to act in good faith and be true to itself, the chicken found it necessary to cross the road.

Ludwig Wittgenstein The possibility of crossing was encoded into the objects chicken and road, and circumstances came into being which caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.

Albert Einstein Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference. Aristotle To actualize its potential.

Buddha If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken-nature.

Howard Cosell It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events to grace the annals of history. An historic, unprecedented avian biped with the temerity to attempt such an herculean achievement formerly relegated to homo sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurence.

Salvador Dali The Fish.

Darwin It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.

Emily Dickinson Because it could not stop for death.

Epicurus For fun.

Ralph Waldo Emerson It didn't cross the road; it transcended it.

Johann von Goethe The eternal hen-principle made it do it.

Ernest Hemingway To die. In the rain.

Werner Heisenberg We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on, but it was moving very fast.

David Hume Out of custom and habit.

Saddam Hussein This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

Jack Nicholson 'Cause it (censored) wanted to. That's the (censored) reason.

Pyrrho the Skeptic What road?

Ronald Reagan I forget.

John Sununu The Air Force was only too happy to provide the transportation, so quite understandably the chicken availed himself of the opportunity.

The Sphinx You tell me.

Henry David Thoreau To live deliberately ... and suck all the marrow out of life.

Mark Twain The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Catherine MacKinnon Because, in this patriarchial state, for the last four centuries, men have applied their principles of justice in determining how chickens should be cared for, their language has demeaned the identity of the chicken, their technonogy and trucks have decided how and where chickens will be distributed, their science has become the basis for what chickens eat, their sense of humor has provided the framework for this joke, their art and film have given us our perception of chicken life, their lust for flesh has has made the chicken the most consumned animal in the US, and their legal system has left the chicken with no other recourse.

Stephen Jay Gould It is possible that there is a sociobiological explanation for it, but we have been deluged in recent years with sociobiological stories despite the fact that we have little direct evidence about the genetics of behavior, and we do not know how to obtain it for the specific behaviors that figure most prominently in sociobiological speculation.

Joseph Stalin I don't care. Catch it. I need its eggs to make my omlette.

Malcolm X It was coming home to roost.

fast food

reality

i've made up my mind

i want al gore to be our next president (AGAIN)

Bob Herbert: The Passion of Al Gore

Al Gore is earnestly talking about the long-term implications of the energy and climate crises, and how the Arctic ice cap is receding much faster than computer models had predicted, and how difficult and delicate a task it will be to try and set things straight in Iraq.You look at him and you can’t help thinking how bizarre it is that this particular political figure, perhaps the most qualified person in the country to be president, is sitting in a wing chair in a hotel room in Manhattan rather than in the White House.He’s pushing his book “The Assault on Reason.” I find myself speculating on what might have been if the man who got the most votes in 2000 had actually become president. It’s like imagining an alternate universe............

i was going to participate in this

then i got to thinking. do the russian government or russian 'authorities' own stoli? no, they don't. why would boycotting stoli help gays in russia then?

it would be like foreign nations boycotting spam because they don't like the us presence in iraq. IT WOULDN'T MATTER

(horrible analogy i know stoli to spam)

i just can't see any connection between stoli and the treatment of gay people in russia.

i want to post this story anyway. i want the injustices to stop. not just in russia but everywhere.

Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violence

(New York, NY and San Francisco, CA) - Gay equality advocates in two American cities upset over the denial of full respect for the human rights of LGBT people in Russia, and the bloody confrontation on May 27 in Moscow as gays attempted to peacefully march, today announced they are launching a boycott of Stolichnaya vodka. Vigils will be held at two Russian consulates, where gays will pour Stolichnaya vodka in the gutter. The date for launching the Stoli boycott and vigils is Tuesday, June 5............

Vodka Wars Spill into U.S.

a big fat DUH!!!

Discontent Over Iraq Increasing, Poll Finds
Americans Also Unhappy With Congress

'unhappy'????

that is far from the word i would use


WE, the american citizens, voted for a change. not for a bunch of pussys who are too afraid of their own shadows. WE voted with our hearts AND our minds. so far i'm not too very happy.....

bitch slapping back at the fcc

unfortunately the decision was in favor of FAUX and rupert murdoch but overall it's a victory for freedoms and hopefully ALL networks and ALL airwaves

i am still recovering from seeing janet jackson's partially unclad breast a few years ago but i am a strong woman. i WILL survive (that was an embarrassement. with all going on in the world and the overreactions of just a few over a breast. i still can't believe it)

Broadcasters Win Appeal Of FCC's Profanity Ruling


By Frank AhrensWashington Post Staff Writer

A federal appeals court tossed out an indecency ruling against Rupert Murdoch's Fox television network yesterday and broadly questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission has the right to police the airwaves for offensive language.
In a 2 to 1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled that the FCC went too far in issuing a 2006 decision against Fox Broadcasting for separate incidents in 2002 and 2003 after singer Cher and celebrity Nicole Richie each uttered an expletive on live television............

caging. i'd never heard of it

but it's NOT legal.......... uh oh


Former White House Communications Deputy Tim Griffin Resigns after Evidence Ties Him to Alleged Voter Suppression

Posted by Jon Ponder

Big media is ignoring the story that former White House Deputy Communications Director — and former RNC Research Director — Tim Griffin resigned as the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas last week after evidence revealed he was directly involved in alleged voter suppression in the 2004 elections.
This may be the first time you’ve heard of the illegal tactic of “caging” voters, but if BBC investigator Greg Palast is correct, it will not be the last.
Caging is a form of voter suppression involving registered mail. Typically, campaigns send registered letters to voters who are are unlikely to respond — soldiers serving overseas, for example. A list is compiled of the voters whose mail is returned marked undeliverable, or “caged.” On election day, when people on the caging list arrive to vote, campaign operatives are on hand to float challenges to their residency in the precinct. Palast says caging is a felony.
Palast recently obtained hundreds of emails sent by White House officials to Bush-Cheney operatives during the 2004 campaign. Among these were emails containing caging lists sent by Griffin, apparently in his role as communications deputy..............

speaking of cronyism

(and more) i also came across THIS yesterday

it's on one of my favorite subjects, abstinance. it's also about many of my other favorite subjects. the good ol' white boy network, power, money, f**king people so badly they can't stand up and on and on



By mreyn
The Abstinence Gluttons
by Michael Reynolds
Over the past six years George W. Bush's faith-based Administration and a conservative Republican Congress transformed the small-time abstinence-only business into a billion-dollar industry. These dangerously ineffective sexual health enterprises flourish not because they spread "family values" but because of generous helpings of the same pork-heavy gumbo Bush & Co. brought to war-blighted Iraq and Katrina-hammered New Orleans--a mix of back-scratching cronyism, hefty partisan campaign donations, high-dollar lobbyists, a revolving door for political appointees and a lack of concern for results.
One of the chief cooks is a media-shy 63-year-old Catholic multimillionaire, welfare privatizer and Republican donor named Raymond Ruddy. With close ties to the White House, federal health officials and Republican power brokers that date back to W.'s days as Texas governor, Ruddy has leveraged his generous wallet and insider muscle to push an ultraconservative social agenda, enrich a preferred network of abstinence-only and antiabortion groups, boost profits for his company and line the pockets of his cronies--all with taxpayer dollars.
Following the money swirling around Ruddy offers an eye-opening glimpse into the squalor at the heart of the abstinence-only project. One top Bush adviser left to take a job at Ruddy's charity, Gerard Health Foundation, and a senior officer at Ruddy's for-profit company, Maximus, left to take a top-level position at the Department of Health and Human Services. Leaders of Christian-right organizations that are Gerard grantees have gained advisory HHS positions--and their organizations have in turn received AIDS and abstinence grants to the tune of at least $25 million. Maximus itself has raked in more than $100 million in federal contracts during the Bush era. ..

YET ANOTHER STUNNING NOMINATION

yup that's right. why toy with perfection? the king has done it again. you think i'd get tired of it, but nope. I REVEL in it. i LOVE it. it goes beyond the scope of what i can comprehend yet it still happens no matter what

and oh yes, i came across a most wonderful blog in the process



Weiwen's religion blog

and the posting: (and do go to the link, it's an amazing litany of incompetence, denial, homophobia and cronyism

Bush nominates anti-gay quack as Surgeon General

Jim gave me this, from United Methodist Daily News. I've excerpted the least complimentary passages.
President George W. Bush has nominated Dr. James W. Holsinger, Jr., 68, currently president of the United Methodist Judicial Council, to become the nation's 18th surgeon general....As word of the nomination spread, media outlets began raising questions about Holsinger's qualifications and past performance, along with questions of continued cronyism on the part of President Bush, as with his previous nominations of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court and Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General....A Kansas City, KS, native, Holsinger has a Ph.D. in anatomy and a medical degree from Duke University, along with a master's degree in hospital management from the University of South Carolina. He also has a master's degree in biblical studies from multidenominational Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.Although trained in general surgery and cardiology, and described in President Bush's announcement as a cardiologist, Holsinger has no national board certification in any speciality, according to the web site of the American Board of Medical Specialities.............

............After a stint as chancellor of the medical center at the University of Kentucky, Holsinger was tapped in 2003 by Gov. Ernie Fletcher, also a physician, to serve as the commonwealth's secretary of health.Holsinger's term reached a low point in July 2005 when the Louisville Courier-Journal published a special report showing that Kentucky citizens had the worst health in the United States, primarily through poor individual health habits such as smoking, bad nutrition and lack of exercise. Kentucky ranked second worst nationally for cancer deaths, fifth worst for cardiovascular deaths and seventh worst for obesity, according to the paper.................

rant: i can watch

the last waltz a million times. there is one thing i don't get. i'll never get

WTF is neil diamond doing there?

but that's not really what i wanted to say. i wanted to say i love joni mitchell. i love her a great deal. i was lucky enough to have seen her a few times (early on).

in the movie, she sang one of my favorite songs:

Coyote (joni mitchell)


No regrets Coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending
And I'll just be getting home with my reel to reel
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes
And the lips you can get
And still feel so alone
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay
You're not a hit and run driver no no
Racing away
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

We saw a farmhouse burning down
In the middle of nowhere
In the middle of the night
And we rolled right past that tragedy
Till we turned into some road house lights
Where a local band was playing
Locals were up kicking and shaking on the floor
And the next thing I know
That coyote's at my door
He pins me in a corner and he won't take no
He drags me out on the dance floor
And we're dancing close and slow
Now he's got a woman at home
He's got another woman down the hall
He seems to want me anyway
Why'd you have to get so drunk
And lead me on that way
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

I looked a coyote right in the face
On the road to Baljennie near my old home town
He went running thru the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down
And a hawk was playing with him
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes
He had those same eyes just like yours
Under your dark glasses
Privately probing the public rooms
And peeking thru keyholes in numbered doors
Where the players lick their wounds
And take their temporary lovers
And their pills and powders to get them thru this passion play

No regrets Coyote
I just get off up aways
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

Coyote's in the coffee shop
He's staring a hole in his scrambled eggs
He picks up my scent on his fingers
While he's watching the waitresses' legs
He's too far from the Bay of Fundy
From appaloosas and eagles and tides
And the air conditioned cubicles
And the carbon ribbon rides
Are spelling it out so clear
Either he's going to have to stand and fight
Or take off out of here
I tried to run away myself
To run away and wrestle with my ego
And with this flame
You put here in this Eskimo
In this hitcherIn this prisoner
Of the fine white lines
Of the white lines on the free free way

i don't understand why she never achieved the fame she deserves. well, i understand she never wanted to (or did for that matter) to bend for the suits at the record companies. i know she wanted to (and did) make records HER way. i know goodbye pork pie hat isn't to everyone's taste. but c'mon. i don't understand why someone gets to be so popular and they have so little talent and someone oozing talent like joni never got her due. this upsets me. i just mentioned something like this in a recent posting and i will mention it again many other times. i have to, it eats at me.

UPDATE: it's NOT 14 at all. IT'S 17

Attacks Kill 17 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
Dozens Sickened by Gaseous Cloud in Bombing Outside American Base


By Joshua PartlowWashington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, June 4 -- A car bomb attack outside a major U.S. military base in Iraq discharged a gaseous cloud that sickened dozens of people Sunday, punctuating a flurry of violence that left 16 American soldiers dead during the first three days of June.
A 17th U.S. soldier, Staff Sgt. Juan Campos, died Friday in a military hospital in Texas, according to local news reports there. He had been injured by a roadside bomb near Baghdad in May............

freedom of speech?

not in north korea, not in venezuela, not in china and it looks like NOT IN AMERICA EITHER

not only can't we let this happen to ANYONE in america, we ESPECIALLY can't let it happen to a VETERAN

'Anti-war' Iraq veteran fights military over war protests

Nick Juliano

A veteran of the Iraq war is accusing the military of trying to stifle the freedom of speech he volunteered to fight to protect.
After serving his country in Iraq, former Marine Sgt. Adam Kokesh grew disillusioned with US involvement there and became an anti-war activist. He participated in demonstrations around Washington, including Operation First Casualty, which was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War in March.
Kokesh's anti-war activity and his correspondence with Marine investigators has rankled the military enough that it is working to revoke the veteran's "honorable discharge" designation. Kokesh will appear before a military hearing in Kansas City, Mo., Monday to fight the military's attempt to change his discharge status to "other than honorable."............

i wanted to link up to this article

i in NO WAY am a proponent of torture. when one uses horrid methods one gets results which are NOT reliable. if you're being tortured you'll say just about anything (you think your torturers) THEY want to hear.

this article is from another point of view. it's from the point of view of "THEM"

an american solider who was in iraq, an isreali and a brit who was in northern ireland

(amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me................

i once was lost but now i'm found...........was blind but now i see............)

The Tortured Lives of Interrogators
Veterans of Iraq, N. Ireland and Mideast Share Stark Memories


By Laura Blumenfeld Washington Post Staff Writer

CHICAGO -- The American interrogator was afraid. Of what and why, he couldn't say. He was riding the L train in Chicago, and his throat was closing.
In Iraq, when Tony Lagouranis interrogated suspects, fear was his friend, his weapon. He saw it seep, dark and shameful, through the crotch of a man's pants as a dog closed in, barking. He smelled it in prisoners' sweat, a smoky odor, like a pot of lentils burning. He had touched fear, too, felt it in their fingers, their chilled skin trembling.........

..........."I tortured people," said Lagouranis, 37, who was a military intelligence specialist in Iraq from January 2004 until January 2005. "You have to twist your mind up so much to justify doing that."
Being an interrogator, Lagouranis discovered, can be torture. At first, he was eager to try coercive techniques. In training at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., instructors stressed the Geneva Conventions, he recalled, while classmates privately admired Israeli and British methods. "The British were tough," Lagouranis said. "They seemed like real interrogators.".............

14 more funerals

king george will NOT be attending. he sent them off into harm's way FOR NO REASON. yet he has not attended ONE funeral. how many more mornings are we going to wake up to news of more deaths?

one more morning is too many

Attacks Kill 14 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
Dozens Sickened by Gaseous Cloud in Bombing Outside American Base


By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, June 4, 2007; Page A08
BAGHDAD, June 3 -- A car bomb attack outside a major U.S. military base in Iraq discharged a gaseous cloud that sickened dozens of people Sunday, punctuating a flurry of violence that left 14 American soldiers dead over the past three days.
The bomb exploded near the main gate of Forward Operating Base Warhorse, the largest U.S. military facility in Diyala province, a restive territory north of Baghdad. An Iraqi employee on the base said the bomb unleashed chlorine gas. The U.S. military cited an "unconfirmed report of off-color smoke" that caused soldiers to complain of "minor respiratory irritations and watery eyes," according to a statement. Soldiers were rushed to the clinic on base for treatment, but there were no deaths...............

and of course the understatement of the day:

.........."This is going to get harder before it gets easier".............