Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wal-Mart Nation
WASHINGTON, DC -- President George W. Bush today announced his intention to recess appoint Paul DeCamp as head of the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing the nation’s wage and hour laws, including overtime laws, workplace discrimination laws, and child labor laws. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today on the recess appointment:
“Enforcing the nation’s wage and hours laws is a critical task that ensures that employees are not cheated out of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. The person in charge of enforcing wage and hour laws must be objective and willing to take on powerful employers if they are abusing the wage laws.
“As a lawyer, Paul DeCamp has never represented American workers in a single case. He has worked on behalf of Wal-Mart – a company with an abhorrent record of labor relations – and other companies against the interests of American workers and consumers in numerous cases.
Heckuva job, Georgie.
-Desi
Failed Policy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Rockets slammed into homes in Baghdad just before nightfall on Thursday, killing 50 people and wounding 200, a senior Interior Ministry official said.
I take it Bush gave another 'speech' today, eh?
-Desi
I take it Bush gave another 'speech' today, eh?
-Desi
Today's Katy
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Congresswoman Katherine Harris holds a double-digit lead in the race for Florida's Republican U.S. Senate nomination less than a week before the primary, according to a poll released Thursday.
Tee~hee! I mean, you go, Katy! We love ya.
-Desi
Tee~hee! I mean, you go, Katy! We love ya.
-Desi
Oh, the stupid ... it burns!
It sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke: "My wife has become a lesbian", a terrified husband told his rabbi. The rabbi gave him a sack and assured him: it contains special sand, simply pour it on your her lover's doorstep and when she steps on it she'll come running back.
If your partner shows lesbian tendencies and you want her to get rid of them, it's not a problem. All you have to do, according to a rabbi in Bnei Brak, is to pour "special sand" on her lover's doorstep and your wife will come running back.
This strange tale, which sounds as though it were taken from the Tales of the Wise Men of Chelem, began when a Bnei Brak resident was surprised to find out that his wife had lesbian tendencies and that she was cheating on him with another woman.
She even informed him that she would like a divorce. The man panicked and turned to the city rabbi to seek his advice.
The Rabbi provided a quick magical solution: He gave him a heavy sack of sand and told him to pour it on the doorstep of his wife's lesbian lover, telling him that the moment his wife will step on it the curse will be lifted. "Your wife will come running back," he said.
Oy.
-Desi
If your partner shows lesbian tendencies and you want her to get rid of them, it's not a problem. All you have to do, according to a rabbi in Bnei Brak, is to pour "special sand" on her lover's doorstep and your wife will come running back.
This strange tale, which sounds as though it were taken from the Tales of the Wise Men of Chelem, began when a Bnei Brak resident was surprised to find out that his wife had lesbian tendencies and that she was cheating on him with another woman.
She even informed him that she would like a divorce. The man panicked and turned to the city rabbi to seek his advice.
The Rabbi provided a quick magical solution: He gave him a heavy sack of sand and told him to pour it on the doorstep of his wife's lesbian lover, telling him that the moment his wife will step on it the curse will be lifted. "Your wife will come running back," he said.
Oy.
-Desi
Wow, way to get on a story ...
'04 Ohio election ballots:
The critics, including an independent candidate for governor and a team of statisticians and lawyers, say preliminary results from their ballot inspections show signs of more widespread irregularities than previously known.
The critics say the ballots should be saved pending an investigation. They also say the secretary of state’s proposal to delay the destruction does not go far enough, and they intend to sue to preserve the ballots.
I fully expect that eventually the truth will come out about how the election was stolen, although it's hard to tell how history will explain it for the record. But, now matter how much any repug may dislike hearing the outcome, it won't be nearly as bitter a feeling as any Dem will no doubt feel.
-Desi
The critics, including an independent candidate for governor and a team of statisticians and lawyers, say preliminary results from their ballot inspections show signs of more widespread irregularities than previously known.
The critics say the ballots should be saved pending an investigation. They also say the secretary of state’s proposal to delay the destruction does not go far enough, and they intend to sue to preserve the ballots.
I fully expect that eventually the truth will come out about how the election was stolen, although it's hard to tell how history will explain it for the record. But, now matter how much any repug may dislike hearing the outcome, it won't be nearly as bitter a feeling as any Dem will no doubt feel.
-Desi
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
~QOTD~
Nancy Pelosi: "I have long thought that the secretary of Defense's judgment has been impaired. Two and a half years ago, I called for his resignation.
He speaks for the administration, so I can only assume that his words are the words of the president."
(Video with link Via RawStory)
-Desi
He speaks for the administration, so I can only assume that his words are the words of the president."
(Video with link Via RawStory)
-Desi
Oxycontinhead
Media Matters:
Summary: Rush Limbaugh blamed "the left" and the United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF) for "the latest crisis" of "obesity among those who are impoverished," adding that Americans "[d]idn't teach them how to ... slaughter a cow to get the butter; we gave them the butter." Limbaugh also called the "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" campaign "[o]ne of the biggest scams on the face of the earth" because its goal was to "get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people."
If 'the left' were to blame for obesity among the impoverished, why are the highest obesity rates in the red, repugnican states? Of course, that's a straw man all itself, as poor tubby Oxycontinhead seems not to understand that proper nutrition is often hard to achieve even when -- or especially when -- it's doled out in the form of free fat-laden butter.
As for UNICEF, with their biggest fundraiser 'trick-or-treat for UNICEF' fast approaching, I hope someone sues the rat bastard if they aren't able to meet their fund raising goals because of his slander. Afterall, he's just begging for a 'treat', isnt' he?
-Desi
Summary: Rush Limbaugh blamed "the left" and the United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF) for "the latest crisis" of "obesity among those who are impoverished," adding that Americans "[d]idn't teach them how to ... slaughter a cow to get the butter; we gave them the butter." Limbaugh also called the "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" campaign "[o]ne of the biggest scams on the face of the earth" because its goal was to "get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people."
If 'the left' were to blame for obesity among the impoverished, why are the highest obesity rates in the red, repugnican states? Of course, that's a straw man all itself, as poor tubby Oxycontinhead seems not to understand that proper nutrition is often hard to achieve even when -- or especially when -- it's doled out in the form of free fat-laden butter.
As for UNICEF, with their biggest fundraiser 'trick-or-treat for UNICEF' fast approaching, I hope someone sues the rat bastard if they aren't able to meet their fund raising goals because of his slander. Afterall, he's just begging for a 'treat', isnt' he?
-Desi
Wheeeeeeee...
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A new Harris Poll finds no evidence of a bounce for U.S. President Bush from the arrests in Britain of a group suspected of plotting to blow up passenger jets.
A poll of 1,000 adults conducted from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21 found 34 percent approve of Bush's job performance, while 65 percent disapprove. Those numbers were almost identical to a poll conducted in early August before the arrests.
The top issue with those polled? The Iraq war.
-Desi
Sacraficial Limbs
An Iraqi child lies in a hospital after losing both his arms by a bomb attack outside an Iraqi army recruitment office in Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, August 30, 2006. A bomb targeting a crowd of men outside an army recruitment office killed 12 people and wounded 38. Hilla police spokesman Captain Muthanna al-Mamuri said the bomb was on a parked bicycle. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ)
Stay the course is not a substitute for a foreign policy
An Iraqi policeman gets down from his vehicle as he transported unidentified bodies to a hospital mortuary, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday Aug. 30, 2006. Violence in Iraq Wednesday has left more than 50 people dead, with most of it occurring in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Atmosphere of Reconciliation
Bodies are covered with blankets after a bomb attack outside an Iraqi army recruitment office in Hilla, August 30, 2006. (Ali Abu Shish/Reuters)
An Iraqi girl queues at a kerosene outlet. Hard-pressed Iraqi government forces have been forced to strike a truce with Shiite militia fighters, as fierce fighting followed by a pipeline explosion left 155 people dead.(AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
A woman watches a march commemorating the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, near a sign protesting President George Bush's policies, in New Orleans, August 29, 2006. (Lee Celano/Reuters)
Rice is back from shoe shopping
"If we abandon the Iraqi people before their government is strong enough to secure the country, then we will show reformers across the region that America cannot be trusted to keep its word," said Condoleezza Rice. "We will embolden extremists, enemies of moderation and of democratic reform. We will leave the makings of a failed state in Iraq like that one in Afghanistan in the 1990's which became the base for al-Qaida and the launching pad for the September 11th hijackers."
Rice said that terrorists in Iraq, if they are not defeated, would continue to attack U.S. interests, which is why, she said, President Bush has called Iraq a central front in the war on terrorism.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addressed the American Legion gathering earlier Tuesday and President Bush is scheduled to speak there later in the week.
Okay, if this is the route they want to take to try to dredge up support for their war in Iraq, where the fuck is Osama, Condi? And how can she claim to be worried about the reputation of the U.S. in the middle east after supplying the bombs to blast Lebanon to bits?
I really believe our Veterans are much more intelligent than this administration gives them credit for.
-Desi
Rice said that terrorists in Iraq, if they are not defeated, would continue to attack U.S. interests, which is why, she said, President Bush has called Iraq a central front in the war on terrorism.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addressed the American Legion gathering earlier Tuesday and President Bush is scheduled to speak there later in the week.
Okay, if this is the route they want to take to try to dredge up support for their war in Iraq, where the fuck is Osama, Condi? And how can she claim to be worried about the reputation of the U.S. in the middle east after supplying the bombs to blast Lebanon to bits?
I really believe our Veterans are much more intelligent than this administration gives them credit for.
-Desi
Oh my
The Editor's of the Orlando Sentinel:
Almost daily, Katherine Harris' misguided campaign offers another opportunity to prove she is unfit to represent Republicans in the November election for the U.S. Senate.
[...]
For the good of his party and, indeed, for the good of a political system that relies on vigorous debate of real ideas, it's time for Gov. Jeb Bush to get involved in this race as he has in other Republican primaries. There is still time for Mr. Bush to endorse Orange County attorney Will McBride in Tuesday's primary. Mr. McBride has the resources to run a campaign statewide and stands clearly as the Republicans' best candidate.
[...]
Rather than attempt election to the U.S. Senate, Ms. Harris ought to enroll in a high school civics course. The Founding Fathers drafted the Bill of Rights including the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a state religion.
Katy, you should get revenge for this. How 'bout spilling the beans on record about the 2000 election vote recount? Hmm?
-Desi
Almost daily, Katherine Harris' misguided campaign offers another opportunity to prove she is unfit to represent Republicans in the November election for the U.S. Senate.
[...]
For the good of his party and, indeed, for the good of a political system that relies on vigorous debate of real ideas, it's time for Gov. Jeb Bush to get involved in this race as he has in other Republican primaries. There is still time for Mr. Bush to endorse Orange County attorney Will McBride in Tuesday's primary. Mr. McBride has the resources to run a campaign statewide and stands clearly as the Republicans' best candidate.
[...]
Rather than attempt election to the U.S. Senate, Ms. Harris ought to enroll in a high school civics course. The Founding Fathers drafted the Bill of Rights including the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a state religion.
Katy, you should get revenge for this. How 'bout spilling the beans on record about the 2000 election vote recount? Hmm?
-Desi
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The Atmosphere of Reconciliation
BAGHDAD -- In a city with few real refuges from sectarian violence -- not government offices, not military bases, not even mosques -- one place always emerged as a safe haven: hospitals.
So Mounthir Abbas Saud, whose right arm and jaw were ripped off when a car bomb exploded six months ago, must have thought the worst was over when he arrived at Ibn al-Nafis Hospital, a major medical center here.
Instead, it had just begun. A few days into his recovery at the facility, armed Shiite Muslim militiamen dragged the 43-year-old Sunni mason down the hallway floor, snapping intravenous needles and a breathing tube out of his body, and later riddled his body with bullets, family members said.
Authorities say it was not an isolated incident. In Baghdad these days, not even the hospitals are safe. In growing numbers, sick and wounded Sunnis have been abducted from public hospitals operated by Iraq's Shiite-run Health Ministry and later killed, according to patients, families of victims, doctors and government officials.
As a result, more and more Iraqis are avoiding hospitals, making it even harder to preserve life in a city where death is seemingly everywhere. Gunshot victims are now being treated by nurses in makeshift emergency rooms set up in homes. Women giving birth are smuggled out of Baghdad and into clinics in safer provinces.
In most cases, family members and hospital workers said, the motive for the abductions appeared to be nothing more than religious affiliation. Because public hospitals here are controlled by Shiites, the killings have raised questions about whether hospital staff have allowed Shiite death squads into their facilities to slaughter Sunni Arabs.
"We would prefer now to die instead of going to the hospitals," said Abu Nasr, 25, a Sunni cousin of Saud and former security guard from al-Madaan, a Baghdad suburb. "I will never go back to one. Never. The hospitals have become killing fields."
Three Health Ministry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being killed for discussing such topics publicly, confirmed that Shiite militias have targeted Sunnis inside hospitals. Adel Muhsin Abdullah, the ministry's inspector general, said his investigations into complaints of hospital abductions have yielded no conclusive evidence. "But I don't deny that it may have happened," he said.
See? The Sunnis are willing to sacrafice their own lives! Definately a conciliatory action. No civil war here, no siree. Ethic cleansing, perhaps. But certainly not a civil war.
-Desi
So Mounthir Abbas Saud, whose right arm and jaw were ripped off when a car bomb exploded six months ago, must have thought the worst was over when he arrived at Ibn al-Nafis Hospital, a major medical center here.
Instead, it had just begun. A few days into his recovery at the facility, armed Shiite Muslim militiamen dragged the 43-year-old Sunni mason down the hallway floor, snapping intravenous needles and a breathing tube out of his body, and later riddled his body with bullets, family members said.
Authorities say it was not an isolated incident. In Baghdad these days, not even the hospitals are safe. In growing numbers, sick and wounded Sunnis have been abducted from public hospitals operated by Iraq's Shiite-run Health Ministry and later killed, according to patients, families of victims, doctors and government officials.
As a result, more and more Iraqis are avoiding hospitals, making it even harder to preserve life in a city where death is seemingly everywhere. Gunshot victims are now being treated by nurses in makeshift emergency rooms set up in homes. Women giving birth are smuggled out of Baghdad and into clinics in safer provinces.
In most cases, family members and hospital workers said, the motive for the abductions appeared to be nothing more than religious affiliation. Because public hospitals here are controlled by Shiites, the killings have raised questions about whether hospital staff have allowed Shiite death squads into their facilities to slaughter Sunni Arabs.
"We would prefer now to die instead of going to the hospitals," said Abu Nasr, 25, a Sunni cousin of Saud and former security guard from al-Madaan, a Baghdad suburb. "I will never go back to one. Never. The hospitals have become killing fields."
Three Health Ministry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being killed for discussing such topics publicly, confirmed that Shiite militias have targeted Sunnis inside hospitals. Adel Muhsin Abdullah, the ministry's inspector general, said his investigations into complaints of hospital abductions have yielded no conclusive evidence. "But I don't deny that it may have happened," he said.
See? The Sunnis are willing to sacrafice their own lives! Definately a conciliatory action. No civil war here, no siree. Ethic cleansing, perhaps. But certainly not a civil war.
-Desi
Ugh, Santorum
Please, PA, get rid of this nutball in November:
HARRISBURG - U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum highlighted Iran as the next front on the "War with Islamic Fascism," saying the country's nuclear-bent leader is attempting to destroy the West in his apocalyptic beliefs over the return of a messiah who will make Islam the global religion.
In a speech before the Pennsylvania Press Club, the two-term Pennsylvania senator offered a broad historical context to "the enemy of our generation" by saying the war against Islamic fascists didn't begin on Sept. 11, 2001.
Santorum said the U.S. embassy takeover in Iran 27 years was part of this war, as was the Marine killings in Beirut, the bombing of the USS Cole and the 1993 World Trade Center attacks.
Today's aggression by Hezbollah against Israel in Lebanon also is part of the picture, he said, as is Iran's efforts to gain a nuclear bomb. The 1,000-year-old messianic legend of the return of the Twelfth Imam is driving Islamic radicals in their larger mission to destroy the West, Santorum said.
Aside from hello, Israel invaded Lebanon, Iran wants to take over the world with not even "a" nuclear bomb, but an imagined nuclear bomb. Remember, Iraq? Weapons of mass destruction, tons of 'em, nuclear, bio, you name it they gots it? Not to mention how dare the little shit say this when you know gotdamn good and well he's thinking "Eveybody knows that *MY* messiah is going to return and make christianity the global religion"! The shit is just getting so deep. Make sure you vote, people. Save us.
-Desi
HARRISBURG - U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum highlighted Iran as the next front on the "War with Islamic Fascism," saying the country's nuclear-bent leader is attempting to destroy the West in his apocalyptic beliefs over the return of a messiah who will make Islam the global religion.
In a speech before the Pennsylvania Press Club, the two-term Pennsylvania senator offered a broad historical context to "the enemy of our generation" by saying the war against Islamic fascists didn't begin on Sept. 11, 2001.
Santorum said the U.S. embassy takeover in Iran 27 years was part of this war, as was the Marine killings in Beirut, the bombing of the USS Cole and the 1993 World Trade Center attacks.
Today's aggression by Hezbollah against Israel in Lebanon also is part of the picture, he said, as is Iran's efforts to gain a nuclear bomb. The 1,000-year-old messianic legend of the return of the Twelfth Imam is driving Islamic radicals in their larger mission to destroy the West, Santorum said.
Aside from hello, Israel invaded Lebanon, Iran wants to take over the world with not even "a" nuclear bomb, but an imagined nuclear bomb. Remember, Iraq? Weapons of mass destruction, tons of 'em, nuclear, bio, you name it they gots it? Not to mention how dare the little shit say this when you know gotdamn good and well he's thinking "Eveybody knows that *MY* messiah is going to return and make christianity the global religion"! The shit is just getting so deep. Make sure you vote, people. Save us.
-Desi
Monica Landrum toed the waters of the Gulf of Mexico after a sunrise prayer vigil in Waveland, Miss.
[Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
2633
The Toll.
The latest casualty:
PHILADELPHIA - A volunteer firefighter inspired to join the military following 9/11 was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq on Sunday, his family said.
Army Spc. Tristan Smith, 23, of Bryn Athyn, was on patrol northwest of Baghdad when he was killed, his father said Monday.
Smith joined the volunteer Bryn Athyn Fire Company at the age of 16. He quickly rose to lieutenant after becoming trained in firefighting and emergency medical services.
Smith's father, Grant Smith, said his son had considered joining the military while he was in high school, but the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and the deaths of firefighters in the World Trade Center - drove him to enlist. He joined the Army in July 2004 after two years at Bryn Athyn College.
Where is Osama Bin Laden?
-Desi
The latest casualty:
PHILADELPHIA - A volunteer firefighter inspired to join the military following 9/11 was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq on Sunday, his family said.
Army Spc. Tristan Smith, 23, of Bryn Athyn, was on patrol northwest of Baghdad when he was killed, his father said Monday.
Smith joined the volunteer Bryn Athyn Fire Company at the age of 16. He quickly rose to lieutenant after becoming trained in firefighting and emergency medical services.
Smith's father, Grant Smith, said his son had considered joining the military while he was in high school, but the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and the deaths of firefighters in the World Trade Center - drove him to enlist. He joined the Army in July 2004 after two years at Bryn Athyn College.
Where is Osama Bin Laden?
-Desi
Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?
You know, if we had leaders who were actually fighting terrorists instead of creating mayhem in innocent nations, more people might actually want to help in the efforts. But, we don't. So there.
-Desi
More Bush Failures
Be sure to read the report on the Bush record = More Poverty, and more uninsured @ ThinkProgress.
-Desi
-Desi
Free for All
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is continuing its operations against the terrorist PKK which is mainly based in northern Iraq. According to reports, Turkish F-16 jets took off from a military air base in Diyarbakir and bombed several PKK targets. In addition, operations continue in the mountainous regions of southeastern Turkey.
It seems the U.S. is leaving the Kurds hanging once again.
-Desi
Update: Oh Jeebus.
It seems the U.S. is leaving the Kurds hanging once again.
-Desi
Update: Oh Jeebus.
The interior of a damaged restaurant is seen after an explosion in Antalya, Turkey, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. An explosion in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya killed three people and injured 18 others. The blast came a day after a bomb attack injured 21 people, including 10 British tourists, in the resort of Marmaris. (Photo: AP Photo/Vedat Dusun)
A woman passes the golden domed Alexander Nevski cathedral as a reflection of them is seen in a puddle after a heavy rain storm in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. (Photo: AP Photo/Petar Petrov)
Residents carry a body from a crater after an explosion near Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, August 29, 2006. An explosion killed at least 20 people who were siphoning petrol from pools formed around a breach in a disused fuel pipeline in central Iraq late on Monday, witnesses said on Tuesday. [REUTERS/Imad al-Khozai ](IRAQ)
"Improvement"
At least 100 people were killed across Iraq yesterday in a day of intense gun battles and suicide bombings, contradicting US military claims that the security situation in the war-torn nation was improving.
A total of 34 bodies, including seven civilians and 25 Iraqi government soldiers, were brought into the central hospital in the town of Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, after fighting between government forces and gunmen of the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Fifty militiamen were also killed in the gunfight, according to the Iraqi defence ministry.
In a separate development, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the Interior Ministry in Baghdad during the midmorning rush hour, killing 16 people, including 13 policemen, and wounding up to 62.
On Sunday, a further 60 people were killed in attacks across the country from Kirkuk in the Kurdish-held north to Basra in the south.
The latest violence was a reminder of how easily Iraq could slip back into the type of endemic sectarian violence that characterised much of the first half of this year after the destruction in February of a Shia shrine in the town of Samarra.
More than 10,000 Iraqis - the vast majority in Baghdad - have been killed in the past four months alone, a figure that would send shockwaves through the international community were it in any other part of the world.
Yes, it seems life is returning to normal in Iraq. People are being slaughtered at rates that would make Saddam himself proud. Heckuva job, Rummy.
-Desi
A total of 34 bodies, including seven civilians and 25 Iraqi government soldiers, were brought into the central hospital in the town of Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, after fighting between government forces and gunmen of the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Fifty militiamen were also killed in the gunfight, according to the Iraqi defence ministry.
In a separate development, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the Interior Ministry in Baghdad during the midmorning rush hour, killing 16 people, including 13 policemen, and wounding up to 62.
On Sunday, a further 60 people were killed in attacks across the country from Kirkuk in the Kurdish-held north to Basra in the south.
The latest violence was a reminder of how easily Iraq could slip back into the type of endemic sectarian violence that characterised much of the first half of this year after the destruction in February of a Shia shrine in the town of Samarra.
More than 10,000 Iraqis - the vast majority in Baghdad - have been killed in the past four months alone, a figure that would send shockwaves through the international community were it in any other part of the world.
Yes, it seems life is returning to normal in Iraq. People are being slaughtered at rates that would make Saddam himself proud. Heckuva job, Rummy.
-Desi
Mounds of debris fill a waste collection point in New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. As political arguments continued over the federal response to the disaster, President Bush vowed yesterday in Biloxi, Miss., to renew the government’s commitment to the region. (Alex Brandon/ Associated Press)
Monday, August 28, 2006
WATB
FALLON NAVAL AIR STATION, Nev. (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in ''manipulating the media'' to influence Westerners.
''That's the thing that keeps me up at night,'' he said during a question-and-answer session with about 200 naval aviators and other Navy personnel at this flight training base for Navy and Marine pilots.
Rumsfeld was asked whether the criticism he draws as Pentagon chief and a leading advocate of the war in Iraq is an impediment to performing his job. He said it was not and he knows from history that wars are normally unpopular with many Americans. ''I expect that,'' he said. ''I understand that.''
''What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is,'' he continued, launching an extensive broadside at Islamic extremist groups which he said are trying to undermine Western support for the war on terror.
''They are actively manipulating the media in this country'' by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
''They can lie with impunity,'' he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.
If by high standards of conduct Rummy means that I/we expect the troops to *not* get wasted, plot the rape and murder of a 14 year-old and her family before they BBQ some chicken wings, well yeah. I hold them to much higher standards of conduct.
The wingnuts are just bummed out that no one wants to fight their dirty war for them.
-Desi
Assholery
Via ThinkProgress:
BLITZER: I interviewed the prime minister, Senator Lugar, of Iraq in the first hour of “Late Edition,” Nouri al-Maliki. He insists there is no civil war, and there won’t be a civil war in Iraq.
What do you think?
LUGAR: Well, we pray he’s right, but obviously, as General Abizaid has pointed out and our ambassador, Zal Khalilzad, we’re heading toward that. Now having said that, the fact is that we must do all we can to work with the president of Iraq to prevent it, or to hold it down.
The idea, somehow, that civil war means that we leave is a non- starter, because Iraq’s physical integrity is important. By that I mean, if Iraq deteriorates and Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds begin picking up partners in other countries, then we have a conflagration that dwarfs anything which is occurring presently in the deteriorating problems of Iraq.
BLITZER: There’s a potential for a horrible situation to become even much worse.
LUGAR: Yes.
BLITZER: That’s what you’re saying.
Shorter Lugar: we've fucked it up really good and so we're obligated to stay and fuck with as many other nations as we can drag into the conflagration.
I don't think so.
-Desi
BLITZER: I interviewed the prime minister, Senator Lugar, of Iraq in the first hour of “Late Edition,” Nouri al-Maliki. He insists there is no civil war, and there won’t be a civil war in Iraq.
What do you think?
LUGAR: Well, we pray he’s right, but obviously, as General Abizaid has pointed out and our ambassador, Zal Khalilzad, we’re heading toward that. Now having said that, the fact is that we must do all we can to work with the president of Iraq to prevent it, or to hold it down.
The idea, somehow, that civil war means that we leave is a non- starter, because Iraq’s physical integrity is important. By that I mean, if Iraq deteriorates and Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds begin picking up partners in other countries, then we have a conflagration that dwarfs anything which is occurring presently in the deteriorating problems of Iraq.
BLITZER: There’s a potential for a horrible situation to become even much worse.
LUGAR: Yes.
BLITZER: That’s what you’re saying.
Shorter Lugar: we've fucked it up really good and so we're obligated to stay and fuck with as many other nations as we can drag into the conflagration.
I don't think so.
-Desi
Aia Kawai and Manuel Albarracin, from Japan, dance the tango "Gallo ciego" during the semi-finals of the Tango Escenario at the IV World Tango Championship in Buenos Aires. (AFP/Daniel Garcia)
Today's Birthday
Happy Birthday! Be sure to leave your birthday wishes for SSquirrel, as well as get well wishes for his brother who is having some serious health problems.
-Desi
~QOTD~
"The violence is not increasing…. No, we're not in a civil war," Maliki said. "In Iraq, we'll never be in civil war. What you see is an atmosphere of reconciliation."
-- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki
While the released "official" numbers of the dead in the Baghdad area would appear to be significantly lower during the latest security sweep, it is unknown exactly where the daily gathered bodies that are found dumped in and around Iraq are taken, and statements such as "The morgue does not count victims of explosions, whose remains often are mutilated."this leave one wondering how else the numbers are manipulated.
With at least 55 dead -- those who are counted -- just on Sunday, and another 7 dead US troops as I was sleeping last night, Mr. Maliki's words seem more those of a marionette with strings that are pulled by the Bush administration.
-Desi
~Edit~Make that 8 US troops dead as I slept, and another 50 dead bodies(those that are counted) in Baghdad.
-- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki
While the released "official" numbers of the dead in the Baghdad area would appear to be significantly lower during the latest security sweep, it is unknown exactly where the daily gathered bodies that are found dumped in and around Iraq are taken, and statements such as "The morgue does not count victims of explosions, whose remains often are mutilated."this leave one wondering how else the numbers are manipulated.
With at least 55 dead -- those who are counted -- just on Sunday, and another 7 dead US troops as I was sleeping last night, Mr. Maliki's words seem more those of a marionette with strings that are pulled by the Bush administration.
-Desi
~Edit~Make that 8 US troops dead as I slept, and another 50 dead bodies(those that are counted) in Baghdad.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Hell No, They Won't Go
It is impossible to put a precise figure on the number of American troops who have left the army as a result of the US involvement in Iraq. The Pentagon says that a total of 40,000 troops have deserted their posts (not simply those serving in Iraq) since the year 2000. This includes many who went Awol for family reasons. The Pentagon’s spokesmen say that the overall number of deserters has actually gone down since operations began in Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is no doubt that a steady trickle of deserters who object to the Iraq war have made it over the border and are now living in Canada. There they seek asylum, often with the help of Canadian anti-war groups. One Toronto lawyer, Jeffry House, has represented at least 20 deserters from Iraq in the Canadian courts; he is himself a conscientious objector, having refused to fight in the Vietnam war – along with 50,000 others, at the peak of the conflict. He estimates that 200 troops have already gone underground in Canada since the war in Iraq began.
These conscientious objectors are a brave group – their decisions will result in long-term life changes. To be labelled a deserter is no small burden. If convicted of desertion, they run the risk of a prison sentence – with hard labour. To choose exile can mean lifelong separation from family and friends, as even the most trivial encounter with the police in America – say, over a traffic offence – could lead to jail.
Many of the deserters are not pacifists, against war per se, but they view the Iraq war as wrong. First Lt Watada, for instance, said he would face prison rather than serve in Iraq, though he was prepared to pack his bags for Afghanistan to fight in a war that he considered just.
With the intelligence manipulated to support the case for war, and so much of the nation believing that this war is wrong -- possibly even 'illegal' -- will they ever be forgiven? When this nightmare ends, someday, I'd like to see someone enact some legislation to require individual reviews of each deserter. I recall early in the Iraq violence when the 'mercenaries' were hung from the bridge at Fallujah. They were some of the most skilled military Veterans in the country that were burned and hung there. I certainly couldn't hold it against anyone who saw those images and said no fucking way, man. Or signing on to go to Afghanistan after 9/11 and getting an order to go to Iraq. We're still here at home shaking our heads at that. We'll need a lot of healing when this war, and administration reaches it's long awaited conclusion. Forgiveness of those who said hell no should be a part of that.
-Desi
These conscientious objectors are a brave group – their decisions will result in long-term life changes. To be labelled a deserter is no small burden. If convicted of desertion, they run the risk of a prison sentence – with hard labour. To choose exile can mean lifelong separation from family and friends, as even the most trivial encounter with the police in America – say, over a traffic offence – could lead to jail.
Many of the deserters are not pacifists, against war per se, but they view the Iraq war as wrong. First Lt Watada, for instance, said he would face prison rather than serve in Iraq, though he was prepared to pack his bags for Afghanistan to fight in a war that he considered just.
With the intelligence manipulated to support the case for war, and so much of the nation believing that this war is wrong -- possibly even 'illegal' -- will they ever be forgiven? When this nightmare ends, someday, I'd like to see someone enact some legislation to require individual reviews of each deserter. I recall early in the Iraq violence when the 'mercenaries' were hung from the bridge at Fallujah. They were some of the most skilled military Veterans in the country that were burned and hung there. I certainly couldn't hold it against anyone who saw those images and said no fucking way, man. Or signing on to go to Afghanistan after 9/11 and getting an order to go to Iraq. We're still here at home shaking our heads at that. We'll need a lot of healing when this war, and administration reaches it's long awaited conclusion. Forgiveness of those who said hell no should be a part of that.
-Desi
"Oops, mybad."
Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn't thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame's identity. "I'm afraid I may be the guy that caused this whole thing," he later told Carl Ford Jr., State's intelligence chief. Ford says Armitage admitted to him that he had "slipped up" and told Novak more than he should have. "He was basically beside himself that he was the guy that f---ed up. My sense from Rich is that it was just chitchat," Ford recalls in "Hubris," to be published next week by Crown and co-written by the author of this article and David Corn, Washington editor of The Nation magazine.
CIA agents who work on weapons of mass destruction intelligence are just water-cooler gossip fodder for quirky D.C. types? Oh. Kaay.
-Desi
Thrilled that we're blasting them over there so we don't have to blast them here.
An Iraqi father carries his son, who was injured during a car bomb explosion, as U.S. soldiers, right, investigate at the site of explosion, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday Aug. 27, 2006. A car bomb exploded in the parking lot of a government-run newspaper in the capital Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring 30, police said.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Now 40% Safer
A man stands at the entrance of the destroyed building of the state-run newspaper in Baghdad August 27, 2006. A car bomb exploded outside the offices of the state-run newspaper al-Sabah in Baghdad on Sunday, killing two people and wounding 20 and causing extensive damage to the building, police said. [REUTERS/Ali Jasim] (IRAQ)
New and Improved Baghdad
Police said 20 bodies had been found in various districts of Baghdad on Saturday. Some bore signs of torture and most had been killed by gunshots to the head, a typical feature of the communal bloodshed between the Shi'ite and Sunni sects.
Again, why are we here?
-Desi
Again, why are we here?
-Desi
Name Unknown
If you haven't yet read the NYT's piece as they trace the path of the man found dead, and face up on Union Street in New Orleans from the street with the orange cone markers, to the isolated warehouse where his body remains today, I hope you'll take the time to do so.
-Desi
The Baghdad Shuffle
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A series of explosions killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens Sunday as Iraq's relentless violence remained unabated despite an appeal from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an end to sectarian fighting.
A bomb planted in a minivan used as a public bus detonated near the pedestrian entry point to the Palestine Hotel in downtown Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 18, police and witnesses said.
Another car bomb exploded in the parking lot of the government-run al-Sabah newspaper in a Sunni-dominated area of the capital, killing at least three people and wounding 30. At least 25 cars also caught fire in the blast, and the newspaper building was badly damaged.
State-run TV reported that al-Maliki called the newspaper director to ask about the attack.
A bomb also exploded in the town of al-Khalis, on the outskirts of Baqouba just north of Baghdad, killing six and wounding more than a dozen, provincial police said.
The attacks occurred a day after the Shiite prime minister appealed to Iraqis to support his national reconciliation plan to end sectarian fighting between Shiites and Sunnis, and terrorism by Sunni Arab insurgents.
The bombings - which came a day after 26 people were killed in dozens of attacks - showed that national reconciliation is a distant goal even though it was endorsed by hundreds of tribal chiefs at a conference on Saturday.
And so the destruction and killing continues in spite of the occupation forces being regrouped to focus on Baghdad, at the expense of troops left in other even more volatile regions. If you read through the links when I post 'the toll' updates, you'll notice that the majority of American troop deaths seem to be centering in and around the Anbar province, at what seems to be increased rates since the Baghdad shuffle.
Now what?
-Desi
A bomb planted in a minivan used as a public bus detonated near the pedestrian entry point to the Palestine Hotel in downtown Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 18, police and witnesses said.
Another car bomb exploded in the parking lot of the government-run al-Sabah newspaper in a Sunni-dominated area of the capital, killing at least three people and wounding 30. At least 25 cars also caught fire in the blast, and the newspaper building was badly damaged.
State-run TV reported that al-Maliki called the newspaper director to ask about the attack.
A bomb also exploded in the town of al-Khalis, on the outskirts of Baqouba just north of Baghdad, killing six and wounding more than a dozen, provincial police said.
The attacks occurred a day after the Shiite prime minister appealed to Iraqis to support his national reconciliation plan to end sectarian fighting between Shiites and Sunnis, and terrorism by Sunni Arab insurgents.
The bombings - which came a day after 26 people were killed in dozens of attacks - showed that national reconciliation is a distant goal even though it was endorsed by hundreds of tribal chiefs at a conference on Saturday.
And so the destruction and killing continues in spite of the occupation forces being regrouped to focus on Baghdad, at the expense of troops left in other even more volatile regions. If you read through the links when I post 'the toll' updates, you'll notice that the majority of American troop deaths seem to be centering in and around the Anbar province, at what seems to be increased rates since the Baghdad shuffle.
Now what?
-Desi
CIA, Help Wanted
I caught a commercial this morning whilst the tv was on, it was advertising "help wanted" for the CIA. They need scientists and engineers. I was rather stunned to see it, did anyone else catch it where they are?
I kinda pictured al Qaeda sitting around watching and laughing their asses off at it.
-Desi
I kinda pictured al Qaeda sitting around watching and laughing their asses off at it.
-Desi
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Down, down, down!
Newsweek:
Bush’s approval rating has taken a slight dip since the last NEWSWEEK Poll in mid-August. While 38 percent of respondents approved and 55 percent disapproved of his job performance back then, now 36 percent approve and 56 percent disapprove. That approval figure nearly matches the president’s all-time low of 35 percent in May.
63% of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq. Although the poll calls his 49% approval rating on the handling of terrorism a 'bright spot' it, too, is down from his prior rating of 55% in August of this year.
-Desi
Update 1-800-SUICIDE
August 25th:
The Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have reached an agreement that will allow 1-800-SUICIDE to remain open and continue to be answered. Additional information will be forthcoming. All parties are grateful to the field for their ongoing support.
Will keep y'all posted on further developments.
-Desi
The Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have reached an agreement that will allow 1-800-SUICIDE to remain open and continue to be answered. Additional information will be forthcoming. All parties are grateful to the field for their ongoing support.
Will keep y'all posted on further developments.
-Desi
On the Katrina Anniversary
A TPM reader who lived in New Orleans, and now lives in Georgia shares her thoughts:
"What to say about Katrina and the aftermath? I find I have a hard time saying anything, and I hope that doesn't sound overly dramatic.
I don't say much, because I just feel weighed down when I try, but I dream about it a lot. Every night so far this week, in fact. What I dream about is not my house or my job or anything like that, although my cat does show up sometimes because that guilt is alive and well. (And I really do miss that annoying little bastard.) I dream that I am leaving people.
You know, I really do have good memories of the Superdome and the convention center, almost all of them from college. Tulane football games down at the Dome; walking down the aisle of the convention center to get my diploma. But I don't understand how anyone can look at either of those two places ever again and not be shattered by the absolute abandonment of the poor by their government in the days after Katrina. Heck, who can look at the entire city and not think about that?
But I feel like the knowledge of that is slipping away somehow. I feel like people think oh, that's just in New Orleans, you know, that crazy banana republic down South. But you rip the lid off any major urban setting in this country the way the lid was ripped off N.O., and I think you get the same thing. But we aren't really talking about that. I think that Katrina proved that America has absolutely abandoned its underclass. We don't like poor people. And that serves up a big dollop of shame to go with my sorrow.
Yes, New Orleans was built in a f------up way in a f------up place. And yes, the local and state govt has done nothing at this point to get things -- anything -- going again. And yes, we need to knock some Corps of Engineers heads because of the levee situation. And yes, the insurance companies are screwing OLD PEOPLE every which way they can to get out of paying. And yes, Nagin is a jackass and Bush is a nincompoop.
I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about any of that. But sweet Jesus, how are we not talking about poverty and class? I can't watch that footage, I really can't. It tears me up.
I think individual Americans responded with amazing generosity after the storm; I think as an aggregate, though, we suck. Because, so far, we've been unwilling to look in the mirror of New Orleans and see what we have allowed to happen.
I hate this stupid anniversary."
"What to say about Katrina and the aftermath? I find I have a hard time saying anything, and I hope that doesn't sound overly dramatic.
I don't say much, because I just feel weighed down when I try, but I dream about it a lot. Every night so far this week, in fact. What I dream about is not my house or my job or anything like that, although my cat does show up sometimes because that guilt is alive and well. (And I really do miss that annoying little bastard.) I dream that I am leaving people.
You know, I really do have good memories of the Superdome and the convention center, almost all of them from college. Tulane football games down at the Dome; walking down the aisle of the convention center to get my diploma. But I don't understand how anyone can look at either of those two places ever again and not be shattered by the absolute abandonment of the poor by their government in the days after Katrina. Heck, who can look at the entire city and not think about that?
But I feel like the knowledge of that is slipping away somehow. I feel like people think oh, that's just in New Orleans, you know, that crazy banana republic down South. But you rip the lid off any major urban setting in this country the way the lid was ripped off N.O., and I think you get the same thing. But we aren't really talking about that. I think that Katrina proved that America has absolutely abandoned its underclass. We don't like poor people. And that serves up a big dollop of shame to go with my sorrow.
Yes, New Orleans was built in a f------up way in a f------up place. And yes, the local and state govt has done nothing at this point to get things -- anything -- going again. And yes, we need to knock some Corps of Engineers heads because of the levee situation. And yes, the insurance companies are screwing OLD PEOPLE every which way they can to get out of paying. And yes, Nagin is a jackass and Bush is a nincompoop.
I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about any of that. But sweet Jesus, how are we not talking about poverty and class? I can't watch that footage, I really can't. It tears me up.
I think individual Americans responded with amazing generosity after the storm; I think as an aggregate, though, we suck. Because, so far, we've been unwilling to look in the mirror of New Orleans and see what we have allowed to happen.
I hate this stupid anniversary."
More Katy
TAMPA - After months of hearing members of even her own party second-guess her run for the U.S. Senate, Katherine Harris said she would pump $10-million of her own money into her financially strapped campaign.
In an emotional announcement on national TV in March, Harris said she would use every penny her late father had left her.
Minutes later, while still in the New York studio where she made the announcement, Harris received a call from her sister. She and their brother were furious that she had not told them she was going to spend family money on her campaign, according to her former senior consultant Ed Rollins, who was with her that night.
In the days that followed, several former staffers, including Rollins, said Harris learned she would not directly receive any inheritance from her father. Instead, his assets, reported to be as much as $100-million, were left to her mother, Harriet.
Will it help if Katy manages to cough up $10 million from somewhere, or . . .
"She might as well put it in the middle of the street and light a match," said Pat Roberts, a Republican lobbyist and longtime Harris friend.
Oh my.
-Desi
In an emotional announcement on national TV in March, Harris said she would use every penny her late father had left her.
Minutes later, while still in the New York studio where she made the announcement, Harris received a call from her sister. She and their brother were furious that she had not told them she was going to spend family money on her campaign, according to her former senior consultant Ed Rollins, who was with her that night.
In the days that followed, several former staffers, including Rollins, said Harris learned she would not directly receive any inheritance from her father. Instead, his assets, reported to be as much as $100-million, were left to her mother, Harriet.
Will it help if Katy manages to cough up $10 million from somewhere, or . . .
"She might as well put it in the middle of the street and light a match," said Pat Roberts, a Republican lobbyist and longtime Harris friend.
Oh my.
-Desi
Everything FEMA touches ...
NEW ORLEANS A New Orleans couple waited nearly a year for a FEMA trailer, only to have it explode minutes after they got inside.
A neighbor says the man appeared to have been burned to the bone on his arms.
Fire officials say flammable vapors somehow ignited, causing an explosion and a rolling wave of fire throughout the trailer. The cause is under investigation.
-Desi
A neighbor says the man appeared to have been burned to the bone on his arms.
Fire officials say flammable vapors somehow ignited, causing an explosion and a rolling wave of fire throughout the trailer. The cause is under investigation.
-Desi
Palestinians ride on top of buses as they leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt at the Rafah border crossing Friday Aug. 25, 2006. The border opened for a day Friday, after weeks of closure following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-allied militants in Gaza. (Photo: AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A woman carrying a child walks past the Trinity Cathedral with fire raging and the central dome collapsed in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Aug. 25, 2006. A fire raged in the 19th-century cathedral in St. Petersburg, bringing down the main cupola atop the stately church in Russia's former Imperial capital. (Photo: AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Friday, August 25, 2006
Joementum
Earlier today, after Atrios reported that the repub Chris Shays had almost word for word claimed Ned Lamont's line on Iraq for his own and offered cookies to the first reporter to call the Lieberman people to ask them if Chris Shays' Iraq policies would be a "tremendous victory" for terrorists,I called Holy Joe's DC office and was told by an aid that Joe hadn't had a chance yet to look at Chris Shay's Iraq plan in order to comment. Seems he was busy campaigning with his repub friends whilst he's supposed to be serving CT as their 'Dem' Senator at large. But it seems Joe is keeping an open mind on Mr. Shay's call for withdrawal from Iraq:
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen.
Joe Lieberman, the three-term Democrat whose independent campaign for re-election is being seen as a referendum on the
Iraq war, said Friday he would consider taking a look at a fellow lawmaker's proposal for a timeline for troop withdrawals.
The proposal was floated by Republican Rep. Chris Shays, another Connecticut politician facing a tough re-election battle with an anti-war candidate. Shays has long been a supporter of the war and previously opposed withdrawal timetables.
"It seems to me that Chris is saying, maybe we ought to set some goals for when we want to get out, and I'd like to see what he has in mind before I comment on it," Lieberman said while campaigning in New Haven.
I can hardly wait to find out if Ned Lamont's plan would be a "tremendous victory" for terrorists when it comes from one of Joe's repub buddies. As Joe knows we're waiting, I expect it will be a full-mouth with lots of tongue whirling action masterpiece of a review.
-Desi
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen.
Joe Lieberman, the three-term Democrat whose independent campaign for re-election is being seen as a referendum on the
Iraq war, said Friday he would consider taking a look at a fellow lawmaker's proposal for a timeline for troop withdrawals.
The proposal was floated by Republican Rep. Chris Shays, another Connecticut politician facing a tough re-election battle with an anti-war candidate. Shays has long been a supporter of the war and previously opposed withdrawal timetables.
"It seems to me that Chris is saying, maybe we ought to set some goals for when we want to get out, and I'd like to see what he has in mind before I comment on it," Lieberman said while campaigning in New Haven.
I can hardly wait to find out if Ned Lamont's plan would be a "tremendous victory" for terrorists when it comes from one of Joe's repub buddies. As Joe knows we're waiting, I expect it will be a full-mouth with lots of tongue whirling action masterpiece of a review.
-Desi
No Plan
Bush: No clear policy to deal with terrorism.Time:
While President Bush may be getting a slight uptick in his job-approval numbers, the situation in Iraq and Lebanon has been a setback in the war on terrorism, Americans say. According to a new TIME poll, 54% of those surveyed said the U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq has hurt America's standing in the war on terrorism, vst. 40% who feel it has helped. U.S. handling of the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel has caused harm as well, said 51%, vs. 29% who said it has had a positive effect. The Bush Administration does not have "a clear and well thought-out policy to deal with terrorism," said 59%, vs. 36% who disagreed with that statement. Forty-nine percent said the Bush Administration is using the threat of terrorism for political reasons; 45% didn't feel that way.
The "uptick" in his approval rating? A whopping big 38%. If we have the standard +/-3 point error spread, we may well be exactly where we were in the last poll at 35%. No uptick, just stagnant ... not moving, and foul.
-Desi
Worst. President. Ever.
Sean Wilentz assesses the fiery wreck in the White House in Rolling Stone, and a look back at the warning we were all given in 1999.
-Desi
It's tough work destroying the world: The post-vacation, vacation.
[REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi]
Former President George H.W. Bush (L), United States President George W. Bush (C), and daughter Jenna fish in Kennebunkport, Maine August 24, 2006.
Poor Katy doesn't even know who her enemies are.
But the troubles keep coming for Harris.
Dozens of staffers have quit her campaign. And even top Republicans like Gov. Jeb Bush encouraged her not to run for the statewide seat.
In an interview before her appearance in Davie, Harris brushed it all aside -- including the larger-than-life image she knows everyone has of her.
''I think it's a caricature that they like to create, and it's not going to stick,'' Harris said. ``When people meet me, they say I'm nothing like what the liberals have tried to make of me.''
Here all this time we've been loving the hell out of her campaign, and she wants to blame us libs for her public image issues? Well, tit for tat, Katy. Feh.
-Desi
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Heh
Mary Maxwell, repub candidate for congress in New Hampshire, says that 9/11 was a "hoax" and her campaign web site says that Dick Cheney is 'dragging down the republican party.'
Oh my.
Sneak home and pray you'll never know, the hell where youth and laughter go.
While his peers from St Augustine's Catholic school were this month contemplating university careers or first jobs, Jason Chelsea was preoccupied with a different future: his first tour of duty in Iraq.
The 19-year-old infantryman, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, was tormented by concern about what awaited him when the King's Lancaster Regiment reached Iraq, where 115 British soldiers have been killed since 2003.
He had even told his parents that he had been warned by his commanders that he could be ordered to fire on child suicide bombers.
It was a fear that he never confronted. Within 48 hours of confessing his concerns to his family, Pte Chelsea was dead after taking an overdose of painkillers and slashing his wrists.
On his death bed, he told his mother, Kerry: "I can't go out there and shoot at young children. I just can't go to Iraq. I don't care what side they are on. I can't do it."
As if it weren't tragic enough, Pte Chelsea might have survived his suicide attempt were it not for the exceptionally heavy drinking he took up during his time in Iraq that damaged his liver so severely that his family was told it was 'similar to someone who had been an alcoholic for 20 years' and that he would never survive a transplant.
Drinking that much while serving time in the military? Yes, and his parents believe that drinking led to their son's first suicide attempt in his barracks in 2004.
Yet still the war drums beat ...
-Desi
The 19-year-old infantryman, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, was tormented by concern about what awaited him when the King's Lancaster Regiment reached Iraq, where 115 British soldiers have been killed since 2003.
He had even told his parents that he had been warned by his commanders that he could be ordered to fire on child suicide bombers.
It was a fear that he never confronted. Within 48 hours of confessing his concerns to his family, Pte Chelsea was dead after taking an overdose of painkillers and slashing his wrists.
On his death bed, he told his mother, Kerry: "I can't go out there and shoot at young children. I just can't go to Iraq. I don't care what side they are on. I can't do it."
As if it weren't tragic enough, Pte Chelsea might have survived his suicide attempt were it not for the exceptionally heavy drinking he took up during his time in Iraq that damaged his liver so severely that his family was told it was 'similar to someone who had been an alcoholic for 20 years' and that he would never survive a transplant.
Drinking that much while serving time in the military? Yes, and his parents believe that drinking led to their son's first suicide attempt in his barracks in 2004.
Yet still the war drums beat ...
-Desi
See Ann. See Ann run. Run, Ann, run!
Coulter: Catching Osama bin Laden is 'irrelevant' and 'things in Afghanistan are going swimmingly'
A big thanks to John for getting this up so quickly. I still can hardly believe what I just heard.
-Desi
Pass it On
1-800-SUICIDE has just until 5 PM EST tomorrow -- August 25, 2006 -- to raise another $67,000 in order to remain open!
"We need to raise $67,000 for outstanding bills with our telephone company by 5pm EST 8/25/06 to keep the 1-800-SUICIDE running privately. When this is done, KBHC’s expenses will be approximately $36,000 per month until the end of 2006 and that sum includes the old AT&T debt. After that the monthly bill will go down to $20,000."
Can you help?
-Desi
"We need to raise $67,000 for outstanding bills with our telephone company by 5pm EST 8/25/06 to keep the 1-800-SUICIDE running privately. When this is done, KBHC’s expenses will be approximately $36,000 per month until the end of 2006 and that sum includes the old AT&T debt. After that the monthly bill will go down to $20,000."
Can you help?
-Desi
Rare newborn albino Pygmy Marmoset monkeys perch on a zookeeper's fingers at Froso Zoo in Ostersund, Sweden August 22, 2006. The Pygmy Marmoset, which lives in the upper Amazon basin in South America, is the world's smallest monkey and reaches 35 cm (13.7 inches) in length and weighs up to 100 grams (3.5 ounces) at maturity. Picture taken August 22, 2006. [REUTERS/Froso Zoo/Handout](SWEDEN)
Involuntary Recall
Paul Hackett, an attorney from Cincinnati, thinks his background as a civil affairs specialist makes him a prime candidate for an involuntary recall — there is a shortage of Marines like him.
Two weeks ago, he received a packet from the Navy requesting updated information for a security clearance — a sign, he believes, that a recall order could be coming.
Gotdamnit.
-Desi
Two weeks ago, he received a packet from the Navy requesting updated information for a security clearance — a sign, he believes, that a recall order could be coming.
Gotdamnit.
-Desi
Weasels
The party benefited Ken Blackwell. The keynote speaker was Karl Rove. The election at hand is this November. But the fund-raiser at the Inverness Club last night sounded and felt like a George W. Bush rally, circa 2004.
Mr. Rove, a White House adviser and the architect of Mr. Bush’s winning presidential campaigns, peppered Democrats on taxes and national security, invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and called the Iraq war “the heart of the battle” in a global war against “Islamic fascists.”
The 20-minute speech echoed Mr. Bush’s 2004 campaign themes. He said Mr. Bush would not abandon the war and said of terrorists to the audience: “Who thinks if we come home, that they’re not going to follow us?”
Well we know where Bush got the 'islamic fascist' line now.
Yet Ohioans lapped it up at a minimum 1k per person last night. Boggles the mind.
-Desi
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