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.........................