it should have been 100,000,000!

after what i saw last night

i saw and read about the story a while ago. i thought how horrid for the young woman (to put it mildly). i thought both the woman and her boyfriend who conducted the strip search should have been jailed (he is she not only is NOT i believe she also won a 1,000,000 against micky d's - WHICH IS ABSURD)

anyway, last night i'm flipping channels and i see the story on 20 20. i stopped and watched it. at the trial (where the young woman was suing micky d's) the DEFENSE had a 'doctor' on that said, sure the young woman DID have ptsd, BUT IN THE END IT HELPED HER. IT MADE HER A BETTER MORE WHOLE PERSON. can you believe that? micky d's should be made to eat their words. a young woman was SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND THEY CLAIM (a doctor they found mind you) SHE IS BETTER OFF FOR IT

i can't boycott micky d's because i never go there anyway. i'm asking all of you though to think twice before giving them ANY of your business

McDonald's employee gets 6.1 million dlrs for strip search hoax
A US jury awarded 6.1 million dollars Friday to a McDonald's employee who was strip searched in a hoax that had been played on dozens of fast food restaurants across the country, local media reported.
Louise Ogborn, who was 18 at the time of the strip search, sued McDonald's for failing to warn its employees of the persistent trickster even after it had been sued by other employees, the Louisville, Kentucky Courier Journal reported.
A female assistant manager told Ogborn to strip when she got a call from a man pretending to be a police officer who said Ogborn was accused of stealing a purse and could either be searched at the store or arrested and searched in jail.
Over the course of nearly four hours she was spanked and sexually humiliated at the direction of a man who called himself "Officer Scott" while she cried in the office of the restaurant. Her clothes and car keys were taken away from her.
The trickster had already duped supervisors in at least 68 different fast food restaurants in 32 states over nearly 10 years, the paper reported...........


Strip-Search Case Victim Awarded $6.1 Million
An Extra Shift Led to a Terrifying Strip-Search and a Civil Suit

women back in the kitch

and bedroom WHERE THEY BELONG
(NOTE; i'm not so much concerned with ms allred. i AM concerned about women's roles - period)

Warner's Robinov Bitchslaps Film Women; Gloria Allred Calls For Warner's Boycott

This comes to me from three different producers, so I know it's real: Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead". This Neanderthal thinking comes after both Jodie Foster's The Brave One (even though she's had big recent hits with Flightplan and Panic Room) and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion (as if three different directors didn't have something to do with the awfulness of the gross receipts) under-performed at the box office recently. "Can you imagine when Gloria Allred gets hold of this? It's going to be like World War III," one producer just told me. (I put in a call to Glo, who comments below.) ..............

the understatement of the century

Tony Snow: Bush sometimes 'makes you want to just dash your brains out'

from pam spaulding

of pam's house blend
via america blog
a great piece on some of the racism incidents just past.

The difficult dicussions people don't want to have


started out intending to do a short piece on this ridiculous incident in Louisiana about college students who thought it was knee-slapping funny to roll in the mud and play blackface on video depicting the Jena 6.As I typed this out (again another wee hours of the AM post), it occurred to me the there are some interesting parallels that can be drawn about our difficulties discussing race and in the case of ENDA, transgender issues. Read on and see if you can make the connection.***White Louisiana students re-enact 'Jena 6' in blackfaceFrom The Smoking Gun. The fact that these people thought it was hysterically funny to do this is all the evidence one needs to confirm that an honest discussion about the third rail topic of race is sorely needed..........

clarification

when we say, 'we do NOT torture' what we REALLY mean is ' we will NEVER admit to torturing' so nah nah nah nah

and believe me, these people ALL sleep soundly each and every night (while i average about 2 to 3 hours)

Responding to Startling 'NYT' Story: White House Denies 'Torture'

WASHINGTON The White House on Thursday denied reports that a secretly issued Justice Department opinion in early 2005 cleared the way for the return of painful interrogation tactics that the Bush administration had earlier seemed to renounce."This country does not torture," White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters. "It is a policy of the United States that we do not torture and we do not."Under then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' leadership, the Justice Department issued a secret opinion in 2005 authorizing use of painful physical and psychological tactics against terror suspects, including simulated drownings and freezing temperatures, The New York Times reported Thursday's editions.That secret opinion, which explicitly allowed using the painful methods in combination, came a year after a 2004 opinion in which Justice publicly declared torture "abhorrent" and the administration seemed to back away from claiming authority for such practices..........

here's how we're going to

make some of the money back we've spent on iraq

1.4 billion dollars in possible US arms sales to Mideast announced

nice, huh
i'm getting the warm and cozies

one day

yup, one day is all it took. these men and women were deployed for 729 days. if they were deployed for 730 days, THEY WOULD HAVE GOTTEN BENEFITS TO PAY FOR SCHOOL.

whoever said king george and his court were stupid is wrong. they're NOT. what they ARE is, cold, heartless, evil, cruel, liars, commiters of crimes against humanity, souless, non-troop honoring, money grubbing, pieces of steamin' shite
AND they have the BALLS to say people who question the war are NOT supporting the troops! look at what they're doing - from the care of injured vets, to vets getting disability to vets getting help with jobs and housing to vets NOT getting the OTHER benefits such as education -that they are due........

National Guard Troops Denied Benefits After Longest Deployment Of Iraq War
Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge. 1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill."It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership... once again failing the soldiers."Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days. Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school."Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement........

what killed ciara durkin?

was it the same thing that killed lavena johnson? (sign the petition)

will we ever know? at the very LEAST, their FAMILIES DESERVE TO KNOW

Soldier once warned family: Investigate if I die
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Ciara Durkin warned her family before returning to Afghanistan, "If anything happens to me, you guys make sure it gets investigated."
What seemed a joke at the time could have been eerily prescient as Durkin, a National Guard specialist, was found dead, shot once in the head, within the fortified walls of Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The Pentagon is releasing no details aside from confirmation that Durkin's was a "non-combat" death.
"We just want full disclosure," Durkin's sister Deirdre said on CBS's Early Show Thursday.
Now Durkin's family is demanding an independent investigation and has enlisted the help of Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, who represent their home state of Massachusetts........

and


SLDN calls for an investigation into the death of lesbian servicemember

you can believe what you want to believe

i can't help every a**hole out there. the fact is GLOBAL WARMING DOES EXIST. are there some things in an inconvenient truth that may NOT be 100% right on? could be, i don't know.

i DO know we are ALL killing our earth. you may not care because your rapture is coming. i DO care because mine is not. don't f**k with MY earth
CNN weatherman considers Gore's An Inconvenient Truth fiction
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
CNN reported on Thursday that a British judge has called Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth unfit for schools "because it is politically biased and contains scientific inaccuracies and sentimental mush." British schools may now have to preface any showing of the film with a warning.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano responded to this story by applauding and saying,"Finally, finally," before commenting sarcastically that "the Oscars, they give out awards for fictional films as well."

Marciano said he objected in particular to the film's claim that global warming causes stronger hurricanes, noting that the current hurricane season has only been average........

surprise surprise surprise

blackwater GUILTY of crimes against humanity (not unlike king george and his ENTIRE court).

ok, we all knew that. what we DON'T know is WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NOW?
will they have to pay a price (and i DO NOT mean monetarily)? will they be booted out of iraq? will our government terminate all contracts with them? will ANYONE be held accountable?

i'm just rambling. we know what's going to happen

Blackwater Faulted In Military Reports From Shooting Scene


By Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Oct. 4 -- U.S. military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The reports came to light as an Interior Ministry official and five eyewitnesses described a second deadly shooting minutes after the incident in Nisoor Square. The same Blackwater security guards, after driving about 150 yards away from the square, fired into a crush of cars, killing one person and injuring two, the Iraqi official said. The U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded. ...........
..............Blackwater, whose primary task in Iraq is to protect U.S. diplomats, has been unwilling to share information about the incident with the U.S. military, the official said, adding that military officials went to Blackwater's compound in the Green Zone but were denied access to company managers.
Anne Tyrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said the company was "cooperating with all investigations" and deferred further comment until they are complete. ..............

and see, they're not even cooperating. yet, i'll bet NOTHING will be done. lives were lost. sure NOT those of us diplomats, but INNOCENT LIVES. mothers, sons, fathers, daughters.........

a terrorist attack in london?

well nooooooooooooo, not quite
c'mon peeps, let's use our heads here
Thai chilli triggers chemical alert in London
A Thai chef cooked up fears of a chemical attack in London when fumes from his eye-wateringly hot chilli sauce led to the emergency services being called out, the Times reported Wednesday.
Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon, who works at the Thai Cottage restaurant in the Soho entertainment district, was dry-frying bird's eye chillies as he prepared a huge batch of nam prik pao, an extra-hot dip served with prawn crackers.
The smoke from the kitchen drifted out in the street, creating an acrid cloud which sent shoppers spluttering for cover and prompted police to seal off several streets and evacuate homes and businesses...........

i haven't written about the hellhole

that was once burma. i have my reasons. i did want to share this though. further proof the big corporations (especially oil - as it is in this example) ARE indeed satan

Amid Deaths, Censorship, Oil Companies Continue Myanmar Operations

like blackwater, they too have excuses

Avni Patel Reports:
Despite a bloody government crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Myanmar, Chevron and other oil giants continue to operate in the country, paying billions in taxes and fees that support Myanmar's repressive regime.
Myanmarese dissident groups say the government has killed hundreds and detained thousands of monks and citizens in camps as part of its recent efforts to violently quash a pro-democracy movement that threatens their rule. The government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, says only 10 people have died in the violence.
President Bush, Secretary State Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other world leaders have all strongly condemned the violence. U.S. congressional leaders from both parties sent a videotape message to the people of Myanmar supporting their struggle for democracy.
The oil companies, who have argued their business in Myanmar helps its citizens, have expressed concern over the crackdown -- and kept their operations going. .......

what a bunch of losers

right king george? getting their knickers all in a twist about children's healthcare when EVERYONE knows the rapture is right around the corner. therefore, our kids don't HAVE to be healthy or have medical or dental care. they'll ALL be happy and healthy in the afterlife

Bush Vetoes Health Measure
President Says He's Willing To Negotiate

By Michael Abramowitz and Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writers
President Bush yesterday vetoed a $35 billion expansion of a popular children's health insurance program, a move that left him as politically isolated as he has ever been and had even Republican allies questioning his hard-line strategy.
Bush advisers said they remain hopeful that they can secure an extension of the 10-year-old program with a lower price tag, saying they want to open negotiations soon.

.........The veto, only the fourth of his presidency, underscored how Bush and Congress have yet to find a way to work effectively together, nine months after Democrats took control. White House aides were quick to criticize Democrats, but even some administration allies on Capitol Hill and K Street said Bush had only himself to blame for not finding common ground on a children's health program that both sides profess to like. ..........
........"Look, I disagree with the [White House] legislative staff on all of this," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a key negotiator on the vetoed bill. "Frankly, I think the president has had pretty poor advice on this..............

i just sit here and wonder

what will happen to blackwater? ah, the same thing that will happen to debra cagan
at least debra cagan didn't kill anyone (that we know about)

it's a problem all right

it's a problem because of id-jits like the author of this article. is this a cosmo article for someone in junior high? sure sounds like it. a 'how to keep your man' article. listen why isn't the article written from the OTHER way? as in 'hey dude, here's how to relax and adjust if your babe earns MORE than you'. f**k all that shite. there is NO problem in reality. keep women down, even OTHER women are in that head space. what a waste

Earn more than your man? 5 relationship tips
Financial editor Jean Chatzky on how high-earners can keep a happy home

(note; how the BABES can 'keep a happy home'. of course that is ALL women are good for even if they ARE money earners. what is this, 1950?)

A recent “New York Times” story focused on the problems some high-earning women are having in the dating arena. The men they have been going out with are, to some degree at least, having trouble with the fact that these women are now the breadwinners.
This is understandable. Women as the primary wage earners is a big shift. On average it is true that men working full-time still outearn women working full-time. But it is also true that since the 1970s almost all the income growth in this country has come from women. Today, 30 to 40 percent of women earn as much or more than their husbands. The younger a woman is, the likelier she is to outearn men her age. And research predicts that by the year 2030 the average woman will outearn the average man. ...........

.............And it's a problem. We like our traditional roles. Men and women are happier in marriages in which the husband earns more money. Men and women are happier in marriages in which the woman does more of the housework. ..........

(problem to WHO or WHOM? NOT to anyone i know. let's stop pushing the values where the wifey wears an apron all of the time. )

.......Be his biggest cheerleader Make the effort to understand why your husband gets such a kick out of his career (even if he doesn't get as big a paycheck). Tell him you admire what he's doing. And if he's home with the kids, tell him how you believe it's helping the family as a unit................

i want to f**king BARF. BARF do you HEAR ME? i'm not bending over for ANYONE. get down on your knees and be a CHEERLEADER? you HAVE to be kidding me

i love

jimmy carter

can you see king george fighting for someone ELSE'S human rights?

Jimmy Carter gets in shouting match in Sudan
Angry ex-president is prevented from visiting part of Darfur refugee camp

hey peeps, he's 83!!!
shout out to richard branson and graca machel too!

king george

honoring those who kicked the shite out of a father who lost his son in iraq

Bush Meets With and Honors Man Three Days After He Attacked Gold Star Father

This post, written by Hannah Johns, originally appeared on After Downing Street
On September 18, 2007, three days after members of the pro-war Gathering of Eagles were involved in the verbal, then physical, attacks on Gold Star Father and war opponent Carlos Arredondo (and to a much lesser extent myself) at the march in DC, the president, Laura, Condi, Karen Hughes, and Darth Cheney hosted groups they deem supporting the troops at a breakfast on the south lawn of the Whitehouse. Here are three pictures which show that the administration is not too choosy in the terrorists it invites for eggs and bacon.
There is a photo of Chris Hill, 'National Director of Ops' for the Gathering of Eagles, with the prez himself, one of Chris Hill over Carlos during the altercation, and one just after as he distances himself from the police questioning. These people continue to encourage physical confrontation with those they disagree with, which now polls show is a strong majority.....

my original posting

this is our next generation

one would hope we'd just keep getting better. grow spiritually and morally. have a soul.

these people aren't and don't
(if you click on the link there is a short video and a few still pictures)
Students In Blackface "Jena 6" Reenactment

OCTOBER 2--A group of white Louisiana college students dressed in blackface and reenacted the "Jena 6" assault while a friend snapped photos and videotaped the staged attack, images that were later posted to a participant's Facebook page. The photos, which you'll find on the following pages, were taken late last month on the bank of the Red River, where students from the University of Louisiana at Monroe giddily acted out the racial attack. The photos (and the short video clip at right) were posted to the Facebook page of Kristy Smith, a freshman nursing student. The album of images was entitled "The Jena 6 on the River." In the video, three students with mud smeared across their bodies stomp on a fourth student, while two of the participants are heard to say, "Jena 6." One man can also be heard saying, "Niggers put the noose on." ..........

i'm sure the SADDEST and SICKEST part of this is these people probably don't understand what they did is BEYOND WRONG

christopher shays

making your stomach turn at every opportunity.....

a few minutes ago on bbc world service (on npr) i heard shays asking erik prince some questions (from yesterday i would assume). he asked something like, how many diplomats (who were under blackwater protection) died in 2005, 2006 and 2007 - NONE replied prince. shays then said,

"Thank you for doing a perfect job."

granted i didn't hear the whole session BUT i'll bet stomach-churning-shays didn't ask, 'HOW MANY INNOCENT CIVILIANS DID YOU BUTCHER in 2005, 2006, 2007???' could prince answer, NONE to that?

piece o' steamin' shite
In House hearing, Democrats assail Blackwater
By Brian Knowlton and John M. Broder
WASHINGTON: Guards working for a private American security firm in Iraq have an aggressive and sometimes reckless record - involvement in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005 - and their use by the U.S. State Department amounts to an expensive and perhaps indefensible privatization of the military, congressional Democrats said Tuesday.But the head of the Blackwater security firm, Erik Prince, said his workers, operating in hostile and chaotic conditions, had been the victims of a "rush to judgment."Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of a House committee that is studying the record of the firm in Iraq, said that companies like Blackwater amounted to an inadequately controlled private military force."If we don't have enough troops to do the job, then we need to get more troops," Waxman said at a hearing Tuesday of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Privatizing security services was "causing us problems with the Iraqi people," he said.But Prince - commenting publicly for the first time on a shooting in Baghdad on Sept. 16 in which Blackwater guards have been accused of killing at least eight civilians - rejected the depiction of his employees as trigger-happy "cowboys."..........

and no one is up in arms

about this, because???????????????

each day king george and his court are DIRECTLY responsible for the deaths of many men and women. ours AND theirs. each day people suffer because of king george and his court, the kids with no medical insurance, the people living in fema trailers and so much more. king george's appointments have been LESS than stellar. THEIR staffs have been far less than stellar as well (look at the 'i hate all iranians' babe). king george and his court have committed CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. we are doing nothing.

here is yet ANOTHER blip on the radar screen

Man Bush chose to lead Pentagon contracting probes left under fire to become Blackwater COO
Jason Rhyne and Nick Juliano
The private security firm Blackwater USA, which has faced mounting criticism following an incident earlier this month in which armed guards from the group purportedly killed 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians, has numerous links to the White House as well as many current and former Republicans.
The connections include the firm's chief operating officer Joseph Schmitz, who was tapped by President Bush in 2002 to "oversee and police the Pentagon's military contracts as the Defense Department's Inspector General."
The relevation was first reported by Ben Van Heuvelen in Salon.
Serving until 2005, Schmitz went on to preside over "the largest increase of military-contracting spending in history" and joined Blackwater just a month after his departure from the Pentagon, according to Van Heuvelen.
"The resignation comes after Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) sent Schmitz several letters this summer informing him that he was the focus of a congressional inquiry into whether he had blocked two criminal investigations last year," according to a 2005 article in the LA Times.........................

he's right in one way,we ARE human

we ALL do make mistakes. at work, just last week i made one. it was small and caused no damage but it upset me horribly. i wrote up a system change request a while ago. it's now in it's testing stage. i don't test (any longer), someone else does. part of that request was to be able to stop most people from making changes on certain individuals who reside on one of our main systems. i had to list out individually ALL of the items that would generate a stop so people couldn't mess with the individuals who reside on this system. when i did the name section, i listed the first name, middle name, nickname and a couple of other items we get to choose from. what i DIDN'T LIST and what of course was BLATENTLY OBVIOUS WAS THE LAST NAME. i just missed putting ONE word in my sytem change request. that word was 'LAST'. of course the it person who coded my request already INCLUDED the last names. but, i was visibly upset AT MYSELF. i made a stupid idiotic mistake. i am human, i make stupid mistakes.

this is NOT a mistake. killing someone is NOT a mistake. it's not to be taken lightly and brushed off like forgetting one obvious word. when you're human and you make a little mistake, it SHOULD bother you a bit. when you're human and you kill and innocent it SHOULD tear you apart inside. you shouldn't take it in stride and shrug your shoulders and say, 'hey, i'm human, i made a mistake'. NO YOU DIDN'T MAKE A MISTAKE. YOU TOOK A HUMAN LIFE

Blackwater boss defends contractors' 'honorable' work
.............In response to some of the allegations raised by Waxman, Prince said, "If we put 1,000 guys out in the field, humans make mistakes and they do stupid things sometimes. We try to catch those as much as we can." ............

A HUMAN LIFE is not a STUPID mistake. you don't just forget about it (like my adding the word 'last' to my document) and go on. you don't if you ARE indeed human

of course it's misdiagnosed

AND misunderstood in grrrls. after all, they ARE JUST grrrls...........

(it's changing a bit today......but when they used to study things such as heart attacks WOMEN WERE ALWAYS EXCLUDED. women and grrrls, don't get 'sick'. it's ALWAYS in their heads)

Girls Are Often Neglected Victims of Concussions
By ALAN SCHWARZ
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Hannah Stohler sat beside the piano she could no longer play, in the living room that spun like a carousel, in the chair in which she tried to read but could not remember a word. Ten months after her third concussion while playing high school soccer knocked her into a winter-long haze of headaches and dizziness and depression that few around her could comprehend, Stohler recalled how she once viewed concussions. “I thought they were a football injury — a boy thing,” said Stohler, a junior at Conard High School in West Hartford, Conn. “Those guys are taught to hit hard and knock people to the ground. But anyone can get a concussion, and I don’t think a lot of girls recognize that. They have no idea how awful the effects can be — it changes your life.”
Stohler, 16, has more company than most people know. While football does have the most concussions (and controversy over their treatment) in high school athletics, girls competing in sports like soccer and basketball are more susceptible to concussions than boys are in the same sports, studies show.............

what's the answer? well for one, all grrrls should be BANNED from playing sports. they should be taken out of school at age 10, further taught (because of course the training of grrrls should start at birth) how to cook, sew, keep house and greet their manly man when he comes home and of course married off to their first cousin when they turn the ripe old age of 14!

can you imagine how

really BAD one has to be in order to be FIRED as a mercenary? i'm guessing that is PRETTY bad....

i'm sitting here blogging about it, thousands of OTHERS are blogging about it, even OUR MILITARY has issues with blackwater.........yet...............what will be done?


Blackwater Portrayed As Out of Control
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Blackwater USA is an out-of-control outfit indifferent to Iraqi civilian casualties, according to a critical report released Monday by a key congressional committee.
Among the most serious charges against the prominent security firm is that Blackwater contractors sought to cover up a June 2005 shooting of an Iraqi man and the company paid, with State Department approval, the families of others inadvertently killed by its guards.
Blackwater has had to fire dozens of guards over the past three years for problems ranging from misuse of weapons, alcohol and drug violations, inappropriate conduct and violent behavior, says the 15-page report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Just after the report was released, The Associated Press learned the Federal Bureau of Investigation is sending a team to Iraq to investigate an incident that has angered the Iraqi government.......
............The 122 personnel terminated by Blackwater is roughly one-seventh of the work force that Blackwater has in Iraq, a ratio that raises questions about the quality of the people working for the company.
The only punishment for those dismissed was the termination of their contracts with Blackwater, says the report, which uses information from Blackwater's own files and State Department records...............

and................in the name of the lord, let's KILL KILL AND KILL SOME MORE (i know when i think of christianity i think of guns)

Erik Prince

.....Gender: Male Religion: Born-Again Christian Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Business, Military Party Affiliation: Republican....
..........Erik Prince is a multi-millionaire right-wing fundamentalist Christian from a powerful Michigan Republican family. His wealth came from his father, Edgar Prince, who headed Prince Automotive, an auto parts and machinery manufacturer.
A major Republican campaign contributor, he interned in the White House of President George H.W. Bush and campaigned for Pat Buchanan in 1992, finding time to intern for conservative congressman Dana Rohrabacher as well. Prince founded the mercenary firm Blackwater USA in 1997 with Gary Jackson, another former Navy SEAL.
Prince's sister Betsy DeVos is a powerful conservative in her own right. Married to the son of Richard DeVos (Republican bankroller and co-founder of Amway), she served as chair of Michigan Republican Party in the 1990s.............

i didn't even want to mention

that shite show 'kid nation' (in all fairness i've NOT seen it. but who the f**k would allow their kid to participate? it's NOT for social GOOD, it was for F**KING MONEY) at any rate, i DO have to mention it now because of this

Tell CBS to Stop Killing Animals in Cheap Attempts to Boost Ratings!
.............For those unfamiliar with the show, Kid Nation features a group of kids who are "left" in an Old West-style town for 40 days. In the latest episode, some of the kids are shown arguing about whether or not to kill three chickens for dinner. Several of the children had grown close to the chickens during their time on the show and didn't want them to be killed. Eventually, a small group of children convinces the others to go along with killing the animals because no other protein sources are available to them. The kids proceed to chop off the birds' heads on air. Some of the children were clearly traumatized.
Moonves and CBS should have ensured that these kids had access to vegetarian protein sources (such as beans, nuts, whole grains, veggie burgers, etc.) so that they could have gone with their compassionate instincts and not killed these animals. Under the premise of showing "reality," Moonves and CBS have now caused animals to die and kids to be scarred, just so the network could make more money. ....................

RADIOHEAD IS A COOL BAND

and this just is icing on the cake (oh i like cake too, the band AND the food)

Radiohead to give away new album

By Angela Monaghan

Radiohead, the internationally renowned band, has taken the unusual step of telling fans that they can pay as much or as little as they like for the band's new album In Rainbows.
Shane Richmond: It's been done before, but this time it is Radiohead

In a break from industry tradition the UK band famous for hits including Creep, Paranoid Android and Karma Police, has told fans "it's up to you" what they pay to digitally download the album.
This isn't the first time that an artist has opted to charge nothing for its album, but the move is significant because Radiohead remains one of the biggest bands in the world.
Radiohead is free to sell its album directly from its official website because it is no longer tied to a record label. So far the album is only available to pre-order from the website, where it can be downloaded on release on October 10..............

no balls, NONE

and i hope we ALL remember this come the next time they are up for election

Senate approves $150B in war funding

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Thwarted in efforts to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats on Monday helped pass a defense policy bill authorizing another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 92-3 vote comes as the House planned to approve separate legislation Tuesday that requires President Bush to give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals.
The developments underscored the difficulty facing Democrats in the Iraq debate: They lack the votes to pass legislation ordering troops home and are divided on whether to cut money for combat, despite a mandate by supporters to end the war.
Hoping the political landscape changes in coming months, Democratic leaders say they will renew their fight when Congress considers the money Bush wants in war funding.............

i have a friend.............

who is NEVER going to 'bama..........


Court Leaves Ala. Sex Toy Ban Intact

not homer's d'oh, but DUH!!!

Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut
Bush's Approval Rating Ties All-Time Low

photo of the week

Photo of the week "Jesus is a Dead Iraqi Child," reads a sign held by a student from Abilene Christian University at a Sept. 21 antiwar demonstration. Photo by Greg Kendall-Ball.

the question

BEGS asking American Conservative Mag Mocks Petraeus As 'Sycophant Savoir' - Will Congress Condemn It Life They Did the Moveon.org Ad?

Posted by Jon Ponder

The cover of the October 8, 2007, issue of Pat Buchanan’s magazine, American Conservative, shows a photo of Gen. David Petraeus under the headline, “Sycophant Savior.” The cover story is subheaded, “General Petraeus wins a battle in Washington — if not in Baghdad.”
Compare the criticism implied in that headline with the much vilified headline of the ad from Moveon.org: “General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House.”
Beyond the headline, the American Conservative article is harshly critical of the general and the partisan political role he has chosen to play. The writer, Andrew J. Bacevich, describes Petraeus as a “politcal general of the worst kind — one who indulges in the politics of accommodation that is Washington’s bread and butter but has thereby deferred a far more urgent political imperative, namely, bringing our military policies into harmony with our political purposes.”..........

the scariest woman in america?

you tell me

if 'she' IS a woman (and of course i mean NO offense to the trans-gendered community here)

and is that some sort of nazi brooch or neckpiece 'she' has on? what's up with that? hey sista grrrlfren, RED IS NOT YOUR COLOR.

if this 'woman' isn't IMMEDIATELY FIRED well then.........

(wonder how 'she' feels about blacks, latinos, eye-talians???????????)

I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs

By SIMON WALTERS

Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."
And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.
The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month. The six MPs were taken aback by the hardline approach of the Pentagon and in particular Ms Cagan, one of Mr Bush's foreign policy advisers.
She made it clear that although the US had no plans to attack Iran, it did not rule out doing so if the Iranians ignored warnings not to develop a nuclear bomb.
It was her tone when they met her on September 11 that shocked them most.
The MPs say that at one point she said: "In any case, I hate all Iranians."
Although it was an aside, it was not out of keeping with her general demeanour. .........

...........Tory Stuart Graham, who was on the ten-day trip, would not discuss Ms Cagan but said: "It was very sobering to hear from the horse's mouth how the US sees the situation." ..............

huh? A TAX EXEMPT CHARITY

that does millions of dollars worth of work for the pentagon? that 'hires' someone to work for them at over $13,000 a MONTH who only came to a christmas party (who NEVER actually WORKED for them)

and our children aren't receiving health care. and our people are still suffering from events such as storms in the gulf. and we're invading countries who NEVER did any harm to us.........

wtf??????????

Air Force Arranged No-Work Contract
Experts Question Official's Deal With Nonprofit


By Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer
While waiting to be confirmed by the White House for a top civilian post at the Air Force last year, Charles D. Riechers was out of work and wanted a paycheck. So the Air Force helped arrange a job through an intelligence contractor that required him to do no work for the company, according to documents and interviews.
For two months, Riechers held the title of senior technical adviser and received about $13,400 a month at Commonwealth Research Institute, or CRI, a nonprofit firm in Johnstown, Pa., according to his r¿sum¿. But during that time he actually worked for Sue C. Payton, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, on projects that had nothing to do with CRI, he said. Riechers said in an interview that his interactions with Commonwealth Research were limited largely to a Christmas party, where he said he met company officials for the first time.
"I really didn't do anything for CRI," said Riechers, now principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. "I got a paycheck from them."

besides being responsible

for so much destruction, despair, death..................

he IS also responsible for NOT trying to save our planet. no amount of his words NOW can change that. he revoked laws (which just happened to have been passed by bill clinton) making big bid-nez accountable for THEIR contribution to the killing of our planet. he never believed (or just flat out doesn't care) in global warming and pollution killing our earth. he's a disgrace AND a liar

Bush struggles to stay relevant in climate debate

By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush, hosting major polluting nations last week, sought to convince skeptics that he wants to help shape the next global deal on climate change, despite his long history of shunning such efforts.
But with only 15 months left in office, his chances of becoming a major player in the debate over climate change are diminishing quickly, analysts and diplomats said.
They added that his resistance to the kind of mandatory emissions limits sought by many allies in Europe and Japan may further weaken his influence as negotiations intensify over a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. That treaty, which Bush rejected, expires in 2012.
Bush told a gathering of envoys from the 17 biggest emitters of greenhouse gases that he took global warming seriously and that the United States would do its part to combat it.
His acknowledgment of a problem highlighted a shift from his previous questioning of the science linking human activity to rising temperatures..;.;.......

i thought i was doing my good deed of the day

well, I THOUGHT WRONG

i was at the corner of asylum and prospect (the very same corner i found mambo sven wandering around at) at about 2:30 ish am this morning. stopped at the light, smoking a butt listening to npr. i hear something and turn to my leftt. it's a young woman, short hair, glasses with a backpack. she asked me for a ride. #1) there is NO room in my car for anyone but the driver. i'm not exaggerating not one little bit. there is NO room front OR back OR even in the trunk. and #2) there is NO way (even if there WAS room in my car) i would give a stranger a ride at 2:30 am. i told her, no, i couldn't give her a ride and of course i pointed out there was NO place for her to sit. she started crying and told me she had just walked from the base of avon mountain (which is quite the haul in the middle of the night). her brakes went out (in avon) and her car was towed. she added the avon police were the ones who gave her a ride to the bottom of the mountain. well, i told her i'd give her some money to call a cab. i handed her $10.00. she didn't have a phone (no surprise there at this point). sooooooooo, i called a cab for her on my cell phone. i gave the location as the corner of prospect and asylum. the dispatcher said they MUST have a street address. they couldn't pick someone up at a corner. ok i said, i'd call right back. i told the young woman to walk down prospect a bit to the first house and i'd meet her there. i drove over, got the address of grace church (870 prospect) and called the cab company again. i gave them that address and told them the woman was going to broad street (oh, that's where she told me she lived). i backed my car up a bit (she hadn't quite made it to 870) and told her a cab would be there in 5 to 20 minutes. then I GAVE HER ANOTHER $5.00. i drove off into the darkness. picked my coffees up at dunkin' and came into work. no sooner than i sat down but my cell rang. it was a man asking if i was at the church. noooooooo i said (and i felt a chill). well he then asked if i was the woman he picked up. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i said. turns out he was a couple of blocks from the address she gave him (on broad) and the meter was at $8.00. she told him she only had $5.00!!!! so she gave him the 5, started to cry and got out. i told the man no. she had MORE than 5 (i didn't tell him i gave her 15). now i felt bad for him. i even entertained the though (i got it AFTER i hung up with him) of calling the cab company back and asking him to stop by and i'd GIVE HIM the rest of her fare (i didn't though). i told him i found her wandering around prospect, her telling me her car got towed, me giving her money and me calling her a cab. that's it, i didn't know her, i just felt badly for her. he mentioned something about calling the police (not on me of course, on her).

those wild and wacky

italian nuns!

liliana, annamaria and gianbattista
mother superior jumped the guuuuuuuuuun, mother superior jumped the guuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnn
Italian archbishop closes convent after nuns come to blows
A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows, press reports said Sunday.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.
Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their religious vocation" and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent............

my blood is boiling

remember, a 'christian' president is directly responsible for destroying the whole nation of iraq. for killing tens of thousands of it's citizens, for destroying homes, for displacing millions AND of course for the 3,803* deaths of OUR men and women

these men (and a few women) have one f**ked up view of what christianity is

McCain: I'd prefer Christian president
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain said in an interview published Saturday that he would prefer a Christian president over someone of a different faith, calling it "an important part of our qualifications to lead." In an interview with Beliefnet, a multi-denominational Web site that covers religion and spirituality, the Republican presidential hopeful was asked if a Muslim candidate could be a good president.
"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith," McCain said. "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president."............

*figure as of 1:50 am et

sick, queasy, afraid, ANGRY

that's how i feel. remember the words to the who song...........WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN

now i think iran is being run by madmen, no doubt about that. iraq was as well. HOWEVER, we had NO RIGHT to invade. sure saddam SHOULD have been taken out but not like he was. look at what we did. are we going to allow this to happen again? oh yeah and remember, iran is MUCH BIGGER than iraq. how many more men and women are we willing to lose? my answer, NONE
was ANYONE a threat to us BEFORE we invaded iraq? well certainly NOT iraq....THEY didn't bomb the world trade center, the pentagon and crash the plane in pa
Hersh: 'War with Iran will be about protecting the troops in Iraq'
Greg Wasserstrom
The only thing different about the Bush Administration's rhetoric about Iran and statements made regarding Iraq before the US invasion in 2003 are the words chosen, says journalist Seymour Hersh.
"They've changed their rhetoric, really. The name of the game used to be nuclear threat," Hersh said on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, adding a moment later, "They've come to the realization that it's not selling, it isn't working. The American people aren't worried about Iran as a nuclear threat certainly as they were about Iraq. So they've switched, really."
The Bush Administration is all but set to authorize a campaign of limited, surgical airstrikes against Iranian targets, Hersh reports in the New Yorker's latest edition. In his piece, Hersh writes, "During a secure videoconference that took place early this summer, the President told Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, that he was thinking of hitting Iranian targets across the border and that the British 'were on board'... Bush ended by instructing Crocker to tell Iran to stop interfering in Iraq or it would face American retribution."..........

i'm not one to

assume someone is gay based on their attire





BUT LOOK AT THIS DUDE




methinks he doth protest (as in ALLEGED gay bashing) too much if you get my drift (hey peeps it's my idea of humor here, but really that tie HAS to go - well so does the ken burns do)

Son of fallen Bush aide suspected in Washington gay-bash
Nick Langewis
(via PageOneQ)--A Georgetown University sophomore, implicated in a gay-bashing by a fellow student, has ties to the Bush Administration, RAW STORY has learned.
19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, pictured here in the spring of 2005, is the son of fallen Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney.
Phil Cooney was appointed chief of staff with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, suffering criticism for his lack of environmental experience. After his resignation and subsequent hire to a position with ExxonMobil, it was found that Cooney had reportedly tampered with data to support the Bush line on climate change..........