And while we are on the subject of George W. Bush ...
And stupidity ...
And cowards ....
And ineptness ....
AND A COMPLETE AND TOTAL LACK OF INTEGRITY ....
AS WELL AS A FAILURE TO GET IT DONE ....
BECAUSE GEORGE JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT ....
THAT'S WHAT SERVANTS ARE FOR, AFTER ALL ....
And so ....
"Karzai: War not getting at terrorism cause"
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 17 minutes ago
KABUL, Afghanistan - One of America's closest allies says the war on terrorism fails to address its root causes.
Experts agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying Friday the major military offensive against the Taliban will not fix Afghanistan's larger crises — a lack of reconstruction and jobs, a booming drug trade, and a weak government.
"You won't win unless you can convince people that progress is being made," said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department analyst now a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
"One of the things we recognize is that we have failed to improve on the development side, especially in the south."
"In the areas with the greatest need, we have not gotten the reconstruction that was necessary."
On Thursday, a clearly frustrated Karzai criticized the coalition's anti-terror campaign, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more help for his government.
The coalition has killed hundreds, mostly Taliban militants, since May.
Karzai spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad said Friday the president wanted the international community to reevaluate its approach.
"We want to fight (terrorism) in a way that we fight the roots of it: where they get trained, where they get equipment, where they get money, where the recruitment centers are," he said.
Outside Kabul, there is little visible evidence of improvements in infrastructure or services since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001.
That has allowed forces loyal to the hard-line Islamic regime to regain strength and sympathy in their former strongholds in the poorer southern provinces of Uruzgan, Helmand, Zabul and Kandahar.
The Taliban also is being fueled by the return of a flourishing drug trade.
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's heroin supply with its poppy crop, and the profits of drug trafficking are helping fund the militants.
The government, backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and British money, has launched a campaign to eradicate poppies in many areas — a move that is believed to have prompted armed resistance from traffickers.
A government administration perceived as weak also plays into the hands of militants intent on disrupting Afghanistan's fragile gains.
Though Karzai has national appeal, he is being undermined by a divisive and ineffective Cabinet, lawmaker Shukria Barakzai said.
"I agree the corruption, lack of security, and lack of employment are challenges Afghanistan is facing," she said.
"Karzai, as one person, cannot solve this problem on his own."
"But he has failed to make a team work."
"It looks like ministers are working for themselves."
Taliban forces have been blamed for a surge of violence in recent months, using methods commonly used by militants in Iraq: suicide bombings, ambushes and beheadings.
In an effort to curb the bloodletting, some 10,000 troops from the U.S.-led coalition have been deployed in a major offensive across the nation's south.
The spasm of violent attacks and intense fighting has left more than 600 people, mostly militants, dead since May.
NATO is increasing its force in Afghanistan from 9,700 to 16,000, with an expansion into the south due to be completed by late July.
The alliance hopes to take on eastern Afghanistan by November, completing its expansion across the country and increasing its total numbers to 21,000.
Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghanistan's current situation was precarious.
"I would not be surprised if Afghanistan progresses to the level of Iraq's violence."
"There is an anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan now."
"That's where you see recruitment by militants," he said.
That sentiment was unleashed last month after a U.S. military truck crashed into a crowd in Kabul, killing up to five people.
The carnage sparked huge anti-American riots, fueled by increasing resentment of the 23,000 foreign soldiers in the country.
Rioters chanted "Death to America!" as they stoned the U.S. convoy, ransacked offices of international aid groups and searched for foreigners in a tide of anger.
At least eight people died and 107 were injured before Kabul's streets calmed.
Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Afghanistan's problems require long-term solutions.
"You have an Afghan army which is still too weak."
"You have an Afghan government which hasn't shown the initial promise of being able to expand outside of Kabul, and the Taliban are back," he said.
Full Version: Life in OUR America, Volume 5
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 23 2006, 05:44 PM)
"Karzai: War not getting at terrorism cause"
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - One of America's closest allies says the war on terrorism fails to address its root causes.
On Thursday, a clearly frustrated Karzai criticized the coalition's anti-terror campaign, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more help for his government.
Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghanistan's current situation was precarious.
"I would not be surprised if Afghanistan progresses to the level of Iraq's violence."
"There is an anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan now."
"That's where you see recruitment by militants," he said.
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - One of America's closest allies says the war on terrorism fails to address its root causes.
On Thursday, a clearly frustrated Karzai criticized the coalition's anti-terror campaign, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more help for his government.
Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghanistan's current situation was precarious.
"I would not be surprised if Afghanistan progresses to the level of Iraq's violence."
"There is an anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan now."
"That's where you see recruitment by militants," he said.
And speaking of IRAQINAM ....
"Iraq reconciliation may include amnesty"
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 47 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government will present a national reconciliation plan to parliament Sunday that would grant some insurgents amnesty and ask for approval of a series of steps for Iraqis to take over security from U.S. troops, according to a key politician and a draft of the document.
A draft of the 28-point proposal by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki contains an updated version of a sequence of moves — with no specific dates — preparing Iraqi forces to assume control of national security.
The U.S.-led coalition wants to hand over security in certain regions while withdrawing to larger regional bases in case of emergency.
A final stage would involve the drawdown of U.S. troops from those bases.
"There is no finite and U.N.-approved timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops," said Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman, a close ally of President Jalal Talabani, who was to present the plan.
The plan proposes a general pardon for thousands of prisoners who are determined not to have committed "crimes and clear terrorist actions."
The government already has been pardoning groups of such prisoners and releasing them by the hundreds in recent months.
The plan promises to open a review of the country's new constitution to address demands made by Sunni Arabs, while attempting to find a way to eradicate sectarian militias.
It also pledges to shield the crucial Defense and Interior ministries from outside political influence.
The early draft obtained by The Associated Press called for a joint stand by Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on a series of critical issues, before drawing up more detailed proposals.
It was not clear what progress had been made on that front, including a call for a "candid and clear stand" by all sides on policy toward supporters of former President Saddam Hussein and his outlawed Baath party.
The plan did not include a call for halting "anti-terrorist" operations by coalition forces, Othman said, contradicting some published reports.
Othman said committees would be formed to discuss the amnesty plans and the problem of dealing with members of the once-ruling Baath Party.
He stressed that those proposals remained on the drawing board.
"It is so hard to implement this package in a proper way," he said.
"It's so hard to bring all parties together on this package."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said June 18 that "the prime minister's made it clear that he's not going to grant amnesty to anybody with blood on their hands, and I'll let him define that."
The plan was to be presented last week, but al-Maliki delayed the announcement because of disagreements among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups.
___
Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 23 2006, 10:08 AM)
HADJI GIRL
I WAS OUT IN THE SANDS OF IRAQ
AND WE WERE UNDER ATTACK
AND I, WELL, I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO.
AND THE FIRST THINK I COULD SEE WAS
EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE BURGER KING
SO I THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
THEN SUDDENLY TO MY SURPRISE
I LOOKED UP AND I SAW HER EYES
AND I KNEW IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU?RE SAYING.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.
THEN SHE SAID THAT SHE WANTED ME TO SEE.
SHE WANTED ME TO MEET HER FAMILY
BUT I, WELL, I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAY NO.
CAUSE I DON?T SPEAK ARABIC.
SO, SHE TOOK ME DOWN AN OLD DIRT TRAIL.
AND SHE PULLED UP TO A SIDE SHANTY
AND SHE THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
CAUSE HER BROTHER AND HER FATHER SHOUTED
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY PULLED OUT THEIR AKS SO I COULD SEE
AND THEY SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
SO I GRABBED HER LITTLE SISTER AND PULLED HER IN FRONT OF ME.
AS THE BULLETS BEGAN TO FLY
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY
THEN I HID BEHIND THE TV
AND I LOCKED AND LOADED MY M-16
AND I BLEW THOSE LITTLE F***ERS TO ETERNITY.
AND I SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl" ......
sung by a Marine
Cpl. Joshua Belile ....
Who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
I WAS OUT IN THE SANDS OF IRAQ
AND WE WERE UNDER ATTACK
AND I, WELL, I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO.
AND THE FIRST THINK I COULD SEE WAS
EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE BURGER KING
SO I THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
THEN SUDDENLY TO MY SURPRISE
I LOOKED UP AND I SAW HER EYES
AND I KNEW IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU?RE SAYING.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.
THEN SHE SAID THAT SHE WANTED ME TO SEE.
SHE WANTED ME TO MEET HER FAMILY
BUT I, WELL, I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAY NO.
CAUSE I DON?T SPEAK ARABIC.
SO, SHE TOOK ME DOWN AN OLD DIRT TRAIL.
AND SHE PULLED UP TO A SIDE SHANTY
AND SHE THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
CAUSE HER BROTHER AND HER FATHER SHOUTED
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY PULLED OUT THEIR AKS SO I COULD SEE
AND THEY SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
SO I GRABBED HER LITTLE SISTER AND PULLED HER IN FRONT OF ME.
AS THE BULLETS BEGAN TO FLY
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY
THEN I HID BEHIND THE TV
AND I LOCKED AND LOADED MY M-16
AND I BLEW THOSE LITTLE F***ERS TO ETERNITY.
AND I SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl" ......
sung by a Marine
Cpl. Joshua Belile ....
Who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 23 2006, 05:44 PM)
"Karzai: War not getting at terrorism cause"
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - One of America's closest allies says the war on terrorism fails to address its root causes.
Experts agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying Friday the major military offensive against the Taliban will not fix Afghanistan's larger crises — a lack of reconstruction and jobs, a booming drug trade, and a weak government.
"You won't win unless you can convince people that progress is being made," said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department analyst now a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghanistan's current situation was precarious.
"I would not be surprised if Afghanistan progresses to the level of Iraq's violence."
"There is an anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan now."
"That's where you see recruitment by militants," he said.
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - One of America's closest allies says the war on terrorism fails to address its root causes.
Experts agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying Friday the major military offensive against the Taliban will not fix Afghanistan's larger crises — a lack of reconstruction and jobs, a booming drug trade, and a weak government.
"You won't win unless you can convince people that progress is being made," said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department analyst now a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said Afghanistan's current situation was precarious.
"I would not be surprised if Afghanistan progresses to the level of Iraq's violence."
"There is an anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan now."
"That's where you see recruitment by militants," he said.
After thinking about it all night ....
This CRAP above here ....
From what is alleged to be ....
A United States MARINE ....
I want to say .....
That I am very sorry ....
That I was educated ...
As an engineer .....
Instead of as an ENGLISH major .....
Because if I had been educated ....
As an ENGLISH major ....
Instead of an as engineer ....
I would likely be more erudite .....
And polished .....
LIKE A REPUBLICAN LAWYER ...
OR WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN .....
AND SO ....
I would be better able ....
TO EXPRESS MY ABSOLUTE DISGUST ....
With the sentiments .....
Expressed by this FAUX MARINE above here .....
Than I am ....
As an engineer .....
And so ....
My thought right now ...
IS THAT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH ...
FIELDING SORRY EXCUSES ...
LIKE THIS ABOVE SPECIMEN IS ....
AS WHAT ARE SUPPOSED TO PASS FOR UNITED STATES MARINES TODAY ....
NO WONDER ...
THERE IS ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT ....
ALL OVER THE WORLD TODAY ...
And so ...
The only thing I would really like to say in response to that ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT ...
IS THAT WITH FOOLS LIKE THIS ONE ABOVE HERE ...
BEING PUT FORTH ...
OUT THERE ...
IN THE WORLD ...
BY GEORGE W. BUSH ....
As "MARINES" ......
THAT ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT ...
IS WELL-FOUNDED .....
And so ....
As for me ...
I DO NOT SUPPORT THE "TROOPS" ....
I AM FOR THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ....
AND ANY OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S "TROOPS" ....
WHO SUPPORT HIM ....
AND WHO HAVE SWORN FEALTY TO HIM ....
ARE ENEMIES .....
OF THAT CONSTITUTION ....
AND HENCE .....
ARE ENEMIES ...
OF OUR AMERICA ....
And so .....
THAT IS WHERE I STAND ....
AS A LOYAL AMERICAN CITIZEN THIS MORNING .....
And so ....
Right now ...
I am out of here ...
Because I don't have any more to say, than that .....
AND BECAUSE I AM DAMN SICK AND TIRED ...
OF THIS PERVERTED VERSION OF "AMERICA" .....
THAT GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ...
AND GEORGE'S FAUX "MARINES" HAVE DEALT US UP ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 23 2006, 10:08 AM)
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl" ....
Sung by a Marine .....
Cpl. Joshua Belile .....
Who was videotaped during the performance;
Cited in Thomas Riggins,
"The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War"
(Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
Sung by a Marine .....
Cpl. Joshua Belile .....
Who was videotaped during the performance;
Cited in Thomas Riggins,
"The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War"
(Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
You know, Snuf ....
People down there where you are .....
Down there in Washington, D.C. .....
Well ...
They sure do have a different outlook on life than I do ...
And that is for sure ...
Maybe it is just a case of sophistication .....
Them folks having all of it that there can be .....
The sophistication, that is ....
And me having none ....
Because they are living in the CAPITAL .....
OF THE ONLY SUPERPOWER ...
THAT THERE IS IN THE WORLD ....
WHICH MAKES THEM ....
VERY POWERFUL PEOPLE, OF COURSE ....
SUPER-POWERFUL, IN FACT!
And I'm not ....
Not living in Washington. D.C. ....
And not having any power ....
And so ....
SNUF, I AM MISSING SOMETHING HERE, OBVIOUSLY ....
AND IT IS THIS?
WHERE IS THE DEBATE, HERE?
That is what I am missing ....
And who exactly is having this so-called "HADJI GIRL DEBATE"?
Some think-tank down there?
Some liberal talk show host?
I mean ....
I just don't understand here ....
WHAT IS THERE HERE TO DEBATE?
Are we debating this guy's right to have sung this song?
OR WHAT?
See, Snuf ....
Out here in the country ....
Well, let's face it, you and I ...
WE'RE JUST OUT OF THE LOOP, UP HERE .....
And so ....
We don't get filled in on a lot of the finer points of these intellectual debates down there in Washington, D.C. ...
Which is the CAPITAL ...
Of the WORLD'S ONLY SUPERPOWER ....
Where we are barely above the level of savages, ourselves, up here ....
And so ....
And maybe ....
In the end ...
I myself ...
Just don't have ...
The SAVOIR FAIRE ...
To really be a part of these sophisticated types of debates .....
That they have down there ....
In Washington, D.C. ....
Like this faux marine's right to perform his HADJI GIRL song ....
While in uniform ...
As an alleged United States Marine ...
As George W. Bush has them be ...
These days ...
And so ....
Maybe, Snuf ....
I am just too visceral a person, yet .....
But me ....
I don't see no debate here, at all ....
NONE ....
And what I would tell this faux marine ....
Is this ....
AND IT SURE WOULDN'T BE DEBATABLE ....
OR NEGOTIABLE ...
FROM MY END, ANYWAY ....
IF YOU DON'T LEARN SOME MANNERS TOWARDS WOMEN AND GIRLS, SLICK .....
BEFORE YOU ROTATE BACK HERE TO OUR AMERICA .....
STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY NEIGHBORHOOD ....
BECAUSE IF YOU COME AROUND HERE ...
WITH THAT ATTITUDE OF YOURS ....
TOWARDS WOMEN AND GIRLS ....
THAT COMES FORTH FROM YOUR LITTLE SONG HERE ....
I AM GOING TO SMELL YOU COMING ....
FROM MILES AWAY ....
AND I AM GOING TO HEAD RIGHT FOR YOU ....
AND I WILL FIND YOU ...
AND THEN ....
AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN ...
I WILL TAKE YOU ...
AND YOUR LACK OF MANNERS ....
AND I WILL PASTE THE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH YOU ....
I'LL TAKE YOU BY THE BACK OF YOUR STUPID IGNORANT NECK ...
NO MATTER HOW BIG YOU ARE ....
BE YOU TEN FEET TALL ....
IT DON'T MATTER NONE TO ME ....
AND I'LL RUN YOU THROUGH THE WOODS ....
ALL OVER THE PLACE ....
AND I WILL BOUNCE YOUR HEAD ...
OFF OF EVERY ROCK ....
AND EVERY TREE THAT I COME TO ....
AND WHEN I GET TO THE HIGHWAY ON THE OTHER SIDE ...
I'LL TOSS YOU ....
AND YOUR PRETTY LITTLE MARINE ZOOT SUIT ...
OUT INTO THE MIDDLE OF IT ....
LIKE A PILE OF TRASH .....
PUTTING YOU BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM ....
IN A LITTLE BETTER CONDITION THAN YOU CAME IN ...
BECAUSE I'LL HAVE TAUGHT YOU A LESSON IN MANNERS ....
THAT YOUR PARENTS SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT YOU ...
BY THE TIME YOU WERE THREE ....
AND IF I SCUFF MY SHOES ..
OR DIRTY MY CLOTHES ....
WHIPPING YOUR SORRY *** ALL OVER TOWN ....
I'M GOING TO SEND THE CLEANING BILL ...
TO BIG PETE PACE ...
THE TOP MARINE ...
DOWN THERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ....
FOR MY HAVING HAD ....
TO DO HIS JOB FOR HIM ...
TEACHING ONE OF HIS DAMN FOOLS ....
NOT TO **** WITH A REAL AMERICAN CITIZEN ....
WHO DON'T LIKE COWARDS ....
IN MARINE UNIFORMS ....
WHO MISTREAT WOMEN AND GIRLS ....
AND I'LL SEND BIG PETE A TUITION BILL, AS WELL ...
FOR HAVING HAD TO "LEARN" THAT FOOL ....
WHAT BIG PETE PACE ....
THE TOP MARINE ...
DOWN THERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ....
SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT HIM IN BASIC TRAINING ....
WHICH IS SOME BASIC AMERICAN VALUES ....
LIKE NOT MISTREATING ....
WOMEN AND GIRLS .....
LIKE A COWARD WOULD ....
And so ....
That's how I see it, anyway, Snuf ....
And so .....
I guess I just ain't much for debate on this issue ....
No SAVOIR FAIRE, me .....
No sophistication ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 24 2006, 02:05 PM)
And so ....
That's how I see it, anyway, Snuf ....
And so .....
I guess I just ain't much for debate on this issue ....
No SAVOIR FAIRE, me .....
No sophistication ....
And so ....
That's how I see it, anyway, Snuf ....
And so .....
I guess I just ain't much for debate on this issue ....
No SAVOIR FAIRE, me .....
No sophistication ....
And so ....
And while we are on the subject ....
Of my admitted lack of debating skills ....
And SAVOIR FAIRE ....
One day ....
Over in Viet Nam this was ....
And this would be back in 1969 .....
Out near the Cambodian border ....
Out beyond Trang Bang ....
In a 25th Infantry Division fire base .....
Someone came to me ....
And they told me about a patrol that they had just come back from ....
Where this new guy ...
This little punk ....
That reminds me a lot of this Marine with his song here, somehow ....
This little punk ...
Who had just got there ....
Had robbed this old lady ...
Of some gold chains that she had ....
And he roughed her up ...
And got her to shrieking ....
Which is a good way to attract attention to yourselves ....
In a place where everyone is armed ...
And don't like foreign invaders ....
Such as we were ...
****ING WITH THEM ...
And especially ....
Their women ....
And children ...
And old folks ....
And I told this guy ...
To go over ....
And call this guy out of his bunker ....
And when he came out ....
Which was through this passage he had to crawl through ....
I caught him on the way out ....
With the muzzle of my M-16 .....
Jammed right into the bridge of his nose ....
Which stopped him right dead ...
And snapped his head back ...
And opened up his mouth for him ....
And widened his eyes some ....
And when I was sure that I had this guy's real attention .....
When I thought that we had reached a sort of plateau ....
Of where we could communicate back and forth as equals ....
COMRADES IN ARMS, even ....
What I told him was this ...
THAT RIGHT THEN AND THERE ...
This fool ....
Was confronted with real DEMOCRACY .....
In just about as purest a form as it could be ...
Where he got to do anything at all ...
That he wanted to do ...
Like rob this old lady ...
Which he had done ....
AND I GOT TO DO ANYTHING THAT I WANTED TO DO, AS WELL ...
WHICH WAS TO BLOW HIS HEAD OFF ...
WHICH IS WHY I HAD THE MUZZLE OF MY WEAPON ...
ON THE BRIDGE OF HIS NOSE ...
INSTEAD OF IN HIS MOUTH ....
OR IN HIS EYE ...
And so ....
And I explained to him ...
Exactly how much control ...
That he had ...
OVER LIFE ...
AND DEATH ITSELF ....
IN THAT MOMENT ...
AND CONTROL OVER ME, AS WELL ....
Or at least my trigger finger, anyway ....
THAT IN A REAL DEMOCRACY ....
Well, we all get to make choices ....
Each and every one of us ...
And the choice that I was making right then ...
Was to give him a choice ...
As to whether I pulled that trigger right then ...
Or whether he got to live ...
For a moment more, anyway ...
Because after all ...
IN REAL LIFE ....
Well ...
Nothing is certain ....
And so ....
And for him ...
RIGHT THEN, ANYWAY .....
IT WAS ALL REAL SIMPLE ....
BLACK ....
OR WHITE .....
HIS CHOICE ....
NO SHADES OF GRAY ...
TO CONFUSE HIM ....
IN THAT MOMENT ....
WHERE I WAS WAITING TO SEE ....
WHAT DIRECTION ....
HE WANTED TO STEER THE DISCUSSION IN ....
And for him ...
And this is a real story ....
It all revolved around what his attitude was going to be ...
FROM THAT INSTANT, ONWARD ....
And out there ...
In the realest of real life ....
Where this was all happening ....
He chose not to die ...
BECAUSE KILL HIM I WOULD HAVE ....
And out there in the field ....
Where that fool's actions ....
Were going to cost other people their lives ....
No one was going to miss him when he was gone ...
And no one was going to do DOODLEY-SQUAT to me ....
For saving American lives ...
By ridding ourselves of him ...
And so ....
THAT IS REALITY ...
AS I KNOW IT, ANYWAY ....
And I'm not proud of any of that ...
Not by a long shot ....
But to me ...
That is just how simple ...
Life can really be at times ....
Especially in a time of alleged war .....
And so ....
One other thing that I would tell this faux marine with the little song to sing ...
BE DAMN GLAD THAT WASN'T ME IN THAT HOUSE ...
BECAUSE I WOULDN'T HAVE MISSED ....
AND IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN NO LITTLE GIRL THAT I HIT, EITHER ...
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BRIDGE OF HIS NOSE ...
WHICH PROBABLY WOULD HAVE CAUSED HIM SOME PROBLEMS ....
WITH THE REST OF HIS HEAD ...
BUT WHAT THE HEY ....
HE'S A REAL MAN ....
HE'S A U.S. MARINE ...
And everybody knows ...
You don't **** with one of those ....
And so ...
THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS PROBLEM TO DEAL WITH, OF COURSE ...
And so .....
Maybe there are just times in life ....
Where too much SAVOIR FAIRE ....
Can be a real hindrance ...
To the action that is needed ....
At that moment in time ....
And so ....
"Dean repeats call for Iraq troop drawdown"
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The head of the Democratic Party blamed the Bush administration's "failed political leadership and lack of foresight and planning" for turning U.S. soldiers into targets for the Iraqi insurgency.
In his party's weekly radio address Saturday, Howard Dean said the Republican plan of "stay the course" is not an option in the 3-year-old war and emphasized the Democratic call for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops to begin by year's end.
He also rejected the Republican criticism that Democrats want to "cut and run."
"Among the victims are brave American soldiers who are the targets of an insurgency because of failed political leadership and a lack of foresight and planning," Dean said.
"We don't want another wall with 55,000 names of courageous Americans who were let down by their government."
The reference was to the black granite memorial in Washington with the names of those who died in Vietnam.
Dean described the Democratic proposals offered in the Senate last week, including the start of a phased redeployment of troops and an accounting of the war's costs.
The Republican-controlled Senate soundly rejected two Democratic plans calling for the United States to begin withdrawing most of the 127,000 American forces in the war zone.
Republicans contend that leaving would amount to a policy of retreat that would threaten national security.
Vice President Dick Cheney said withdrawal of U.S. forces would be giving the terrorists what they want.
During the Senate debate, John McCain, R-Ariz., said leaving Iraq would "risk disaster" there.
"Withdrawal and fail, or commit and succeed," he said.
Dean argued that Republicans don't have a plan.
"'Stay the course' is not a plan."
"Saying the problems in Iraq will be left to the next president is not a plan."
"Our troops deserve better," he said.
Dean added that phrases such as "peace is at hand" and "the insurgency is in its last throes" are made by what he called an increasingly desperate administration.
Cheney said last week that he stood by his statement that the insurgency was in its last throes.
Dean rejected the "cut and run" moniker, saying Democrats "will defend America, but we will be tough and smart."
In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
Said Dean, "A majority of the American people don't believe the president is telling the truth, while the administration and its supporters question the patriotism of veterans who disagree with them, accusing them of 'cut and run.'"
end quotes
WHAT A MOCKERY!
KARL ROVE ....
And Dick Cheney ....
ATTACKING ACTUAL AMERICAN COMBAT VETERANS .....
MOCKING THEM, EVEN ....
AND CALLING THEM COWARDS ....
WHEN DICK CHENEY ...
AND KARL ROVE ...
ARE THE EPITOME OF COWARDS ....
HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....
NEITHER OF WHOM ....
WOULD EVEN BE THERE ...
IN THE FIRST PLACE ....
WHERE THE SHOTS WERE ACTUALLY BEING FIRED ...
HAVING RUN AWAY ...
THEMSELVES ....
TO HIDE ....
BACK IN THE VIET NAM DAYS ....
And so ...
KARL, DICK ....
Listen up, boys .....
Out in the country ...
Which is still most of OUR America ....
COWARD IS ....
AS COWARD DOES ....
And so .....
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The head of the Democratic Party blamed the Bush administration's "failed political leadership and lack of foresight and planning" for turning U.S. soldiers into targets for the Iraqi insurgency.
In his party's weekly radio address Saturday, Howard Dean said the Republican plan of "stay the course" is not an option in the 3-year-old war and emphasized the Democratic call for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops to begin by year's end.
He also rejected the Republican criticism that Democrats want to "cut and run."
"Among the victims are brave American soldiers who are the targets of an insurgency because of failed political leadership and a lack of foresight and planning," Dean said.
"We don't want another wall with 55,000 names of courageous Americans who were let down by their government."
The reference was to the black granite memorial in Washington with the names of those who died in Vietnam.
Dean described the Democratic proposals offered in the Senate last week, including the start of a phased redeployment of troops and an accounting of the war's costs.
The Republican-controlled Senate soundly rejected two Democratic plans calling for the United States to begin withdrawing most of the 127,000 American forces in the war zone.
Republicans contend that leaving would amount to a policy of retreat that would threaten national security.
Vice President Dick Cheney said withdrawal of U.S. forces would be giving the terrorists what they want.
During the Senate debate, John McCain, R-Ariz., said leaving Iraq would "risk disaster" there.
"Withdrawal and fail, or commit and succeed," he said.
Dean argued that Republicans don't have a plan.
"'Stay the course' is not a plan."
"Saying the problems in Iraq will be left to the next president is not a plan."
"Our troops deserve better," he said.
Dean added that phrases such as "peace is at hand" and "the insurgency is in its last throes" are made by what he called an increasingly desperate administration.
Cheney said last week that he stood by his statement that the insurgency was in its last throes.
Dean rejected the "cut and run" moniker, saying Democrats "will defend America, but we will be tough and smart."
In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
Said Dean, "A majority of the American people don't believe the president is telling the truth, while the administration and its supporters question the patriotism of veterans who disagree with them, accusing them of 'cut and run.'"
end quotes
WHAT A MOCKERY!
KARL ROVE ....
And Dick Cheney ....
ATTACKING ACTUAL AMERICAN COMBAT VETERANS .....
MOCKING THEM, EVEN ....
AND CALLING THEM COWARDS ....
WHEN DICK CHENEY ...
AND KARL ROVE ...
ARE THE EPITOME OF COWARDS ....
HERE IN OUR AMERICA ....
NEITHER OF WHOM ....
WOULD EVEN BE THERE ...
IN THE FIRST PLACE ....
WHERE THE SHOTS WERE ACTUALLY BEING FIRED ...
HAVING RUN AWAY ...
THEMSELVES ....
TO HIDE ....
BACK IN THE VIET NAM DAYS ....
And so ...
KARL, DICK ....
Listen up, boys .....
Out in the country ...
Which is still most of OUR America ....
COWARD IS ....
AS COWARD DOES ....
And so .....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 24 2006, 03:12 PM)
"Dean repeats call for Iraq troop drawdown"
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The head of the Democratic Party blamed the Bush administration's "failed political leadership and lack of foresight and planning" for turning U.S. soldiers into targets for the Iraqi insurgency.
"We don't want another wall with 55,000 names of courageous Americans who were let down by their government."
In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The head of the Democratic Party blamed the Bush administration's "failed political leadership and lack of foresight and planning" for turning U.S. soldiers into targets for the Iraqi insurgency.
"We don't want another wall with 55,000 names of courageous Americans who were let down by their government."
In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
"US raid in Iraq sparks outrage"
36 minutes ago
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda insurgents raided the home of a senior Sunni Arab religious leader in Iraq on Saturday, seizing him and four suspected terrorists, the U.S. military said.
The arrest of Sheikh Jamal Abdel Karim al-Dabaan sparked outrage among Iraq's Sunnis.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, whose leader is one of the country's vice-presidents, condemned it and many government officials in predominantly Sunni Salahaddin province suspended work in protest, the deputy governor said.
The U.S. military said it had been acting on intelligence gathered following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in a U.S. air strike on June 7.
Dabaan is a top mufti, or religious authority, for most of Iraq's minority Sunni Muslim community, which was dominant under Saddam Hussein and now forms the backbone of the insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government.
His arrest came the day before Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to present a national reconciliation plan to end sectarian tensions and defuse a Sunni insurgency.
An Iraqi security source at the joint Iraqi-U.S. coordination center in Tikrit 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad said Dabaan had been arrested along with two sons.
The Iraqi Islamic Party said another religious leader who had been a guest in Dabaan's home, Sheikh Abdalilah al-Hiti, was also arrested.
The U.S. military said it had not known beforehand that it was Dabaan's home and they had since released him.
They made no mention of his sons or Hiti.
The deputy governor of Salahaddin said earlier that most provincial government offices had suspended work in protest at the arrest of Dabaan and were refusing to return to work until he was freed.
The U.S. military said one of the suspects detained was "directly associated with several senior-level al Qaeda members and reportedly plays an important role in the network between Baquba and Tikrit."
It said troops had come under pistol fire from two suspects when they arrived at the sheikh's house, who were quickly overpowered and detained.
Five AK-47s assault rifles, 13 loaded magazines and two pistols had been recovered and destroyed on site.
Tikrit is the hometown of Saddam, who is on trial for crimes against humanity.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 24 2006, 02:05 PM)
WHERE IS THE DEBATE, HERE?
That is what I am missing ....
And who exactly is having this so-called "HADJI GIRL DEBATE"?
Some think-tank down there?
Some liberal talk show host?
I mean ....
I just don't understand here ....
WHAT IS THERE HERE TO DEBATE?
Are we debating this guy's right to have sung this song?
Whether it had a good beat?
Whether you could dance to it?
OR NOT?
OR WHAT?
That is what I am missing ....
And who exactly is having this so-called "HADJI GIRL DEBATE"?
Some think-tank down there?
Some liberal talk show host?
I mean ....
I just don't understand here ....
WHAT IS THERE HERE TO DEBATE?
Are we debating this guy's right to have sung this song?
Whether it had a good beat?
Whether you could dance to it?
OR NOT?
OR WHAT?
COMMISSIONING OATH OF OFFICERS IN OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY, TO INCLUDE THE OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, AS IT WAS BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH AND KARL ROVE AND DONALD RUMSFELD TOOK OVER AND PERVERTED EVERYTHING THAT WAS "AMERICAN" BEFORE THEY GOT THERE .....
I (name of American citizen who is actually taking the oath) DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR ......
THAT I .....
WILL SUPPORT ....
AND DEFEND .....
THE CONSTITUTION ....
OF THE UNITED STATES ....
AGAINST ALL ENEMIES ....
FOREIGN ....
AND DOMESTIC .......
THAT I WILL MAINTAIN .....
TRUE FAITH .....
AND ALLEGIANCE .....
TO THE SAME .....
THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION ....
FREELY .....
WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION ...
OR PURPOSE OF EVASION .....
AND THAT I WILL ....
WELL AND FAITHFULLY ....
DISCHARGE THE DUTIES ....
OF THE OFFICE ....
THAT I AM ABOUT TO ENTER ......
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 22 2006, 05:20 PM)
June 22, 2006
NY Times
"G.O.P. Decides to Embrace War as Issue"
By JIM RUTENBERG and ADAM NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON, June 21 — A senior adviser to Mr. Bush said the White House had concluded that it was better to plunge aggressively into the debate on Iraq than to let Democrats play upon clear, public misgivings about the war.
"This is going to be a big issue in this election," said the adviser, who was granted anonymity in exchange for agreeing to describe strategic considerations about the war.
"Better to shape and fight it — as good and strongly as you can — than to try to run away from it."
In a telephone interview, Ken Mehlman, the Republican chairman, disputed the notion that the latest difficulties in Iraq would set back the effort to push the debate onto newly favorable terms for Republicans.
Officials at the White House say they had always planned to use the formation of a new, permanent Iraqi government as a lever to seize control of a debate that had been slipping away from them.
NY Times
"G.O.P. Decides to Embrace War as Issue"
By JIM RUTENBERG and ADAM NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON, June 21 — A senior adviser to Mr. Bush said the White House had concluded that it was better to plunge aggressively into the debate on Iraq than to let Democrats play upon clear, public misgivings about the war.
"This is going to be a big issue in this election," said the adviser, who was granted anonymity in exchange for agreeing to describe strategic considerations about the war.
"Better to shape and fight it — as good and strongly as you can — than to try to run away from it."
In a telephone interview, Ken Mehlman, the Republican chairman, disputed the notion that the latest difficulties in Iraq would set back the effort to push the debate onto newly favorable terms for Republicans.
Officials at the White House say they had always planned to use the formation of a new, permanent Iraqi government as a lever to seize control of a debate that had been slipping away from them.
AND AS THE NEW, PERMANENT IRAQI GOVERNMENT WEIGHS IN ....
ON THE WORLD-WIDE DEBATE .....
KNOWN AS THE "HADJI GIRL DEBATE" ....
WHICH IS SLIPPING AWAY ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH ....
AND KARL ROVE ...
AT A FASTER AND FASTER RATE ....
EVERY DAY NOW ....
"Iraq amnesty offer upsets U.S. lawmakers"
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress on Sunday denounced any Iraqi plan that would grant amnesty to insurgents responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops.
As part of a plan to mend sectarian strife, Iraq's prime minister has proposed extending amnesty to insurgents and opposition figures who have not been involved in terrorist activities.
Lawmakers are still trying to ascertain the details of the reconciliation plan that Nouri al-Maliki released on Sunday.
It came out after a week of intense debate in Washington over the deployment of U.S. forces and political posturing on the war months before November's elections.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said extending amnesty to anyone responsible for killing U.S. troops was "unconscionable."
"For heaven's sake, we liberated that country," Levin said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We got rid of a horrific dictator."
"We've paid a tremendous price."
"More than 2,500 Americans have given up their lives."
"The idea that they should even consider talking about amnesty for people who have killed people who liberated their country is unconscionable."
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while he opposes amnesty, the United States must respect Iraq's sovereign right to decide its own future.
He said the U.S. government will not dictate, but will consult with Iraqi officials on all aspects of the plan.
"I want the Iraqi people to take this decision unto themselves and make it correctly," Warner said.
"And I hope it comes out ... no amnesty for anyone who committed an act of violence, of war crimes."
In presenting the plan to the Iraqi parliament, al-Maliki said Sunday that insurgent killers would not escape justice regardless of whether their victims were Iraqis or U.S.-led coalition forces.
"The launch of this national reconciliation initiative should not be read as a reward for the killers and criminals or acceptance of their actions," he said.
The White House welcomed the initiative, yet did not comment specifically on Iraqi plans to embrace certain insurgents, saying the plan was still being developed.
"Reconciliation must be an Iraqi process, led by Iraqis," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
"We, of course, stand by, ready to assist in this effort — if the Iraqis request our help."
"But it's important to note that this is the first step, and it's a process that will take time to fully develop."
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on ABC's "This Week" said he does not believe the Iraqi government intends to grant amnesty to people who killed Americans.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said if there is to be peace in Iraq, al-Maliki must find a formula for moving forward that is acceptable to all.
"I'm hopeful that one of elements of the formula that he presents to the Sunnis is not amnesty because that is going to run into solid opposition, obviously, in the United States," Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged President Bush to get a commitment from al-Maliki that there will be no amnesty for anyone who has killed U.S. troops.
end quotes
THE UNITED STATES DID NOT "LIBERATE" IRAQ!
THE UNITED STATES INVADED IRAQ!
AND SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS A UNITED STATES "PUPPET"!
And so ....
Me?
I am with Senator JOHN WARNER of Virginia on this one .....
IT IS THE CHOICE OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE ...
Who to give amnesty to ....
IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY ....
WHICH IS NOT THE "PROPERTY" ....
OF GEORGE W. BUSH ....
OR KARL ROVE ...
OR KEN MEHLMAN .....
AND THE WAR-MONGERING REPUBLICAN PARTY ....
OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD ....
And so ....
A lesson emerging here ....
WHICH AMERICA SHOULD HEED REAL WELL ...
IS THAT BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH INVADED IRAQ ....
PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE STUDIED ....
OUR OWN HISTORY ...
TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO INVADERS ....
IN WHICH CASE ....
HE MIGHT HAVE ACTED WITH MORE SENSE THAN HE DID ....
INVADING IRAQ ...
AS A PUBLICITY STUNT ...
TO GET HIM RE-ELECTED ...
TO A SECOND TERM IN THE WHITE HOUSE ...
And so ...
SUCK IT UP, GEORGE ...
If the Iraqi people ....
Decide to give amnesty ....
To those who only did ....
What a REAL AMERICAN would do in the same situation ....
IF OUR COUNTRY WAS BEING INVADED ...
BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU ...
COME TO STEAL OUR OIL ....
And so .....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 25 2006, 12:05 PM)
A lesson emerging here ....
WHICH AMERICA SHOULD HEED REAL WELL ...
IS THAT BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH INVADED IRAQ ....
PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE STUDIED ....
OUR OWN HISTORY ...
TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO INVADERS ....
IN WHICH CASE ....
HE MIGHT HAVE ACTED WITH MORE SENSE THAN HE DID ....
INVADING IRAQ ...
AS A PUBLICITY STUNT ...
TO GET HIM RE-ELECTED ...
TO A SECOND TERM IN THE WHITE HOUSE ...
And so ...
SUCK IT UP, GEORGE ...
If the Iraqi people ....
Decide to give amnesty ....
To those who only did ....
What a REAL AMERICAN would do in the same situation ....
IF OUR COUNTRY WAS BEING INVADED ...
BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU ...
COME TO STEAL OUR OIL ....
WHICH AMERICA SHOULD HEED REAL WELL ...
IS THAT BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH INVADED IRAQ ....
PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE STUDIED ....
OUR OWN HISTORY ...
TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO INVADERS ....
IN WHICH CASE ....
HE MIGHT HAVE ACTED WITH MORE SENSE THAN HE DID ....
INVADING IRAQ ...
AS A PUBLICITY STUNT ...
TO GET HIM RE-ELECTED ...
TO A SECOND TERM IN THE WHITE HOUSE ...
And so ...
SUCK IT UP, GEORGE ...
If the Iraqi people ....
Decide to give amnesty ....
To those who only did ....
What a REAL AMERICAN would do in the same situation ....
IF OUR COUNTRY WAS BEING INVADED ...
BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU ...
COME TO STEAL OUR OIL ....
George W Bush is known for his extreme lack of interest in history. Prior to "taking office," he never once even travelled outside of the US. He should be known as "Uncurious George."
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 25 2006, 07:21 AM)
COMMISSIONING OATH OF OFFICERS IN OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY, TO INCLUDE THE OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, AS IT WAS BEFORE GEORGE W. BUSH AND KARL ROVE AND DONALD RUMSFELD TOOK OVER AND PERVERTED EVERYTHING THAT WAS "AMERICAN" BEFORE THEY GOT THERE .....
I (name of American citizen who is actually taking the oath, to include UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHN FORBES KERRY, and UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN MURTHA) DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR ......
THAT I .....
WILL SUPPORT ....
AND DEFEND .....
THE CONSTITUTION ....
OF THE UNITED STATES ....
AGAINST ALL ENEMIES ....
FOREIGN ....
AND DOMESTIC .......
THAT I WILL MAINTAIN .....
TRUE FAITH .....
AND ALLEGIANCE .....
TO THE SAME .....
THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION ....
FREELY .....
WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION ...
OR PURPOSE OF EVASION .....
AND THAT I WILL ....
WELL AND FAITHFULLY ....
DISCHARGE THE DUTIES ....
OF THE OFFICE ....
THAT I AM ABOUT TO ENTER ......
And so ....
I (name of American citizen who is actually taking the oath, to include UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHN FORBES KERRY, and UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN JOHN MURTHA) DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR ......
THAT I .....
WILL SUPPORT ....
AND DEFEND .....
THE CONSTITUTION ....
OF THE UNITED STATES ....
AGAINST ALL ENEMIES ....
FOREIGN ....
AND DOMESTIC .......
THAT I WILL MAINTAIN .....
TRUE FAITH .....
AND ALLEGIANCE .....
TO THE SAME .....
THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION ....
FREELY .....
WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION ...
OR PURPOSE OF EVASION .....
AND THAT I WILL ....
WELL AND FAITHFULLY ....
DISCHARGE THE DUTIES ....
OF THE OFFICE ....
THAT I AM ABOUT TO ENTER ......
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 24 2006, 03:12 PM)
"Dean repeats call for Iraq troop drawdown"
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
As we approach the mid-term CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS ......
KARL ROVE ....
Who himself is not a veteran .....
Has decided to RATCHET UP .....
What he calls a DEBATE, here in OUR America .....
On what his REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
Claims is a WAR ...
But which in reality ...
IS AN EFFECT .....
THE CAUSE OF WHICH ....
WAS GEORGE W. BUSH'S PUBLICITY STUNT ....
Of giving Saddam Hussein 48 hours ...
Or something like that, anyway ...
"TO GET OUT OF DODGE CITY ..."
Er ....
Iraq ....
That's it ....
48 hours to get out of Iraq ....
AS THOUGH IRAQ were nothing more than DODGE CITY ....
And GEORGE W. BUSH ....
Was WYATT ERP ....
Or "LONG JOHNNY TEXAS BOY" .....
Or "TEXAS JIM BOB WILLY" .....
Or something like that, anyway ....
Some kind of GUN-TOTIN' SHERIFF ....
UP FROM TEXAS ....
With fire in his eyes ...
And sand in his belly .....
GONNA' CLEAN OUT THAT NEST ...
OF THEM THAR VARMINTS .....
LIKE IT WAS SOME KIND OF ZANY COWBOY MOVIE WE WERE WATCHING ....
Instead of an idiot ....
In over his head ...
And taking OUR America right in there with him ....
To God alone knows where ....
And so .....
When in truth ...
And in actual fact ....
GEORGE WASN'T NO SHERIFF, AT ALL ....
THAT WAS JUST A MYTH ....
AND A MIRAGE ...
A PHANTASM ...
COOKED UP IN THE UNDERGROUND LABRATORIES ....
OF KARL ROVE, INCOPORATED ....
And so ....
NO SHERIFF, GEORGE ....
TO THE CONTRARY ....
George was really not much more than a fool ....
If even that ....
And so ....
STUPID WAS ...
AS STUPID DID .....
And so ...
But that is a different issue right now, how stupid George really was ....
When he stood up there like he was BATMAN ....
Or SUPERMAN ...
Or "TEXAS JIM BOB WILLY" ...
And told the candid world ...
That he was giving Saddam Hussein ...
48 hours to get out of Dodge, er, Iraq ....
WHICH APPARENTLY ....
IS ONE OF THE MANY THINGS ....
THAT THIS REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT ....
This SHAYS ....
WANTS TO DO OVER AGAIN ....
TO TRY AND GET IT RIGHT, THIS TIME ...
And so ....
But that too is another issue, of course .....
And so ....
THE ISSUE NOW ...
THE "KARL ROVE ISSUE" .....
WHICH IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO THIS "HADJI GIRL DEBATE" .....
That is raging around the world right now .....
Which DEBATE centers around the "RIGHT" .....
Or "AUTHORITY" .....
That George W. Bush has ....
As COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ....
Of OUR MILITARY ....
TO INSTILL ....
UN-AMERICAN VALUES ...
SUCH AS BIGOTRY ...
AND HATE-MONGERING ....
IN THE ENLISTED RANKS ...
AND OFFICER CORPS ....
OF OUR AMERICAN MILITARY ....
WHICH HAPPENS TO BE GEORGE'S PRIVATE "KILLING MACHINE" RIGHT NOW ...
OUT TO DO SOME "GENOCIDE FOR GEORGE" ....
Out there in the candid world ...
Where those people have no CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ....
Nor protections ....
THE "KARL ROVE ISSUE" .....
Really has to do with an ADMISSION .....
THAT IS IMPLICIT ....
IN KARL ROVE'S VERY PUBLIC STATEMENTS ....
Concerning John Kerry ....
And Jack Murtha ....
BOTH OF WHOM SERVED AS OFFICERS OF AMERICA'S MILITARY FORCES ....
And hence ....
Swore or affirmed this OATH above here ....
TO WELL AND FAITHFULLY ....
DISCHARGE THE DUTIES ....
OF THE OFFICE ....
THAT THEY IN FACT DID ENTER ......
And so .....
While it may not be apparent to Americans who never served in OUR military .....
What KARL ROVE is really doing ...
With his comments ....
BESIDES THE OBVIOUS ....
WHICH IS MAKING UNFOUNDED SLURS ON THE CHARACTER OF BOTH JOHN MURTHA ...
AND JOHN KERRY ...
AND CASTING UNFOUNDED ASPERSIONS AGAISNT THEM AS WELL ....
IS REVEALING HOW KARL ROVE HIMSELF REALLY VIEWS THAT OFFICER'S OATH ....
IN THIS DAY AND AGE OF GEORGE W. BUSH ....
WHICH IS AS SOMETHING BOTH HOLLOW ....
AND EMPTY ...
And therefore ...
COMPLETELY WORTHLESS ....
Which would be a fitting comment ....
Coming from KARL ROVE, as it does ....
Because in this present administration ...
THAT IS ALL OATHS ARE ....
Mere formalities ...
And so .....
Taking KARL ROVE at his word here .....
It can be assumed ....
With a high degree of certainty ....
That any and all officers ....
COMMISSIONED IN OUR MILITARY .....
By George W. Bush ....
Have affirmed ....
NOTHING AT ALL ....
The OATH being empty and meaningless, now ....
In this day and age of George W. Bush ...
AND NO INTEGRITY ...
IN OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ....
And so ...
KARL, baby ....
AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN ....
I THINK THIS DEBATE YOU WANT TO HAVE ....
ON THE CHARACTER ...
OF JOHN KERRY ....
AND JACK MURTHA ....
AS OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ....
WELL AND FAITHFULLY ....
DISCHARGING THE DUTIES ....
OF THE OFFICES ....
THAT THEY OCCUPIED IN OUR AMERICAN MILITARY .....
IN TIMES OF WAR ....
VERSUS HOW YOUNG LIEUTENANT GEORGE W. BUSH SO CARELESSLY DISCHARGED HIS ....
Is not only a real good idea ....
But it is very timely ....
And healthy ...
FOR OUR REPUBLIC ...
And OUR democracy ...
And so ...
KARL, baby ....
BRING IT ON!
That is my thought, this evening ....
And so ....
QUOTE(jeffmoskin @ Jun 25 2006, 04:40 PM)
George W Bush is known for his extreme lack of interest in history.
Prior to "taking office," he never once even travelled outside of the US.
He should be known as "Uncurious George."
Prior to "taking office," he never once even travelled outside of the US.
He should be known as "Uncurious George."
Or just plain "GEORGE THE DOLT" ....
Before the 2000 elections ...
George W. Bush ...
When questioned ....
Was not really certain .....
That there really was anything ....
Outside of Texas ....
Let alone the United States ...
To travel to ....
Or be knowledgeable of ....
Or concerned about ....
And so .....
My father was born in the same year as John Kennedy ....
And I had respect for John Kennedy .....
AS A LEADER ....
While I myself was born ...
In the same year as George W. Bush ....
Who I have nothing but the utmost contempt for ....
BECAUSE HE IS NOT A LEADER AT ALL ....
Rather, he is a DIVIDER ....
And a HATE-MONGER ...
Doing what appears to be ....
A bit of GENOCIDE ....
Out there in that world that he didn't used to know about ...
Back in the days .....
WHEN HE DIDN'T HAVE ...
THE BOMBS ....
AND THE BULLETS ...
TO BLOW IT ALL TO HELL ...
And so .....
It seems we really took some kind of a dive there ....
IN QUALITY ...
AND INTEGRITY ....
From the kind of president ....
That my father's generation produced ....
To this one that my generation produced ....
And so .....
If that was the greatest generation ....
Based on people like John Kennedy ....
Mine will likely be known ...
AS THE ONE THAT WASN'T WORTH MUCH AT ALL ....
Based on George W. Bush as president ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 25 2006, 02:05 PM)
AND AS THE NEW, PERMANENT IRAQI GOVERNMENT WEIGHS IN ....
ON THE WORLD-WIDE DEBATE .....
KNOWN AS THE "HADJI GIRL DEBATE" ....
WHICH IS SLIPPING AWAY ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH ....
AND KARL ROVE ...
AT A FASTER AND FASTER RATE ....
EVERY DAY NOW ....
"Iraq amnesty offer upsets U.S. lawmakers"
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress on Sunday denounced any Iraqi plan that would grant amnesty to insurgents responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops.
As part of a plan to mend sectarian strife, Iraq's prime minister has proposed extending amnesty to insurgents and opposition figures who have not been involved in terrorist activities.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said extending amnesty to anyone responsible for killing U.S. troops was "unconscionable."
"For heaven's sake, we liberated that country," Levin said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We got rid of a horrific dictator."
"We've paid a tremendous price."
"More than 2,500 Americans have given up their lives."
"The idea that they should even consider talking about amnesty for people who have killed people who liberated their country is unconscionable."
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while he opposes amnesty, the United States must respect Iraq's sovereign right to decide its own future.
ON THE WORLD-WIDE DEBATE .....
KNOWN AS THE "HADJI GIRL DEBATE" ....
WHICH IS SLIPPING AWAY ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH ....
AND KARL ROVE ...
AT A FASTER AND FASTER RATE ....
EVERY DAY NOW ....
"Iraq amnesty offer upsets U.S. lawmakers"
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress on Sunday denounced any Iraqi plan that would grant amnesty to insurgents responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops.
As part of a plan to mend sectarian strife, Iraq's prime minister has proposed extending amnesty to insurgents and opposition figures who have not been involved in terrorist activities.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said extending amnesty to anyone responsible for killing U.S. troops was "unconscionable."
"For heaven's sake, we liberated that country," Levin said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We got rid of a horrific dictator."
"We've paid a tremendous price."
"More than 2,500 Americans have given up their lives."
"The idea that they should even consider talking about amnesty for people who have killed people who liberated their country is unconscionable."
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while he opposes amnesty, the United States must respect Iraq's sovereign right to decide its own future.
And let us be frank here this morning, America ....
THE LIVES ....
OF EVERY PERSON ...
KILLED IN IRAQ ...
SINCE GEORGE W. BUSH'S INVASION ....
WHETHER AMERICAN ....
OR OTHERWISE ....
ARE NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY ....
OF THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ!
THEY ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY ...
JUST AS ALL THOSE KILLED IN VIET NAM WERE THE RESPONSIBILITY ....
OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ...
WHO SENT THEM THERE TO DIE ...
Yes, America .....
That is right .....
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE ...
But America always wants to blame its mistakes on others ...
And so .....
Go ahead and look for scapegoats ...
But in the end ...
That don't change nothing at all ....
Those lives ...
Are on your hands ...
Not the hands of some Abu Zimbabwe Rhodesia or whoever 8,000 miles from the nearest American border .....
And the deaths of all those people ....
ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY ....
OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS ....
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE TO US, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ....
FOR THOSE LIVES ...
WHICH THEY CHOSE TO SQUANDER ....
IN A PUBLICITY STUNT .....
TO SALVE THE MASSIVE EGO ...
OF GEORGE W. BUSH ....
THE WORLD'S SMALLEST MAN .....
AMERICA CHOSE ...
TO PUT THOSE LIVES ...
INTO THE HANDS ...
OF A FOOL ....
AND LIKE A FOOL WOULD DO ....
GEORGE W. BUSH WASTED THOSE LIVES ....
FOR THE SAKE OF HIS EGO ...
AND STEALING IRAQI OIL, OF COURSE ...
AND SO ...
There is no real debate here, on the past ....
THE ONLY REAL DEBATE LEFT ...
IS HOW MANY MORE LIVES ...
AMERICA WANTS GEORGE W. BUSH ....
AND THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES .....
TO SQUANDER ....
AND SO ....
That makes life for us very easy over here .....
When you think on it ...
If you want a lot more misery ...
And death ...
And dying ...
And crying ...
Well ...
VOTE REPUBLICAN .....
And vote for DEMOCRAT CARL LEVIN, TOO ....
And if you want change ...
As I do ...
Well ...
God help us ....
BECAUSE THE DEMOCRATS ...
AND THE REPUBLICANS ....
SURE HAVE NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE TO OFFER US ...
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 24 2006, 03:12 PM)
"Dean repeats call for Iraq troop drawdown"
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, June 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In heated rhetoric, Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove have assailed Democrats such as John Kerry and John Murtha, both decorated Vietnam veterans.
Rove said those Democrats "may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles."
And another point that I would like to make incandescently clear in here this morning ...
Is that I do not want to debate ...
With KARL ROVE ...
Or anybody else, for that matter ...
What George W. Bush might or might not have been doing back in the Viet Nam days ...
When he went missing from duty ....
And nobody really knew where he was ....
Beyond the fact that George was fat and happy ....
Which was his due, of course ...
Coming from that "CLASS", here in OUR America ....
That gets to do that kind of "stuff' .....
While a lot of lesser Americans had to give their lives for their country ...
IN ANOTHER STUPID WAR .....
Because that is all a matter of record, now ...
And it is history ...
George found himself a good place to coop .....
So he wouldn't have to do any "heavy lifting" himself ...
And so ...
HEY!
C'mon, after all ....
It is AMERICA, after all ...
And we are a DEMOCRACY ...
And so ...
People like George W. Bush ...
Who wish to "skate" ....
And can ....
Because they had a "POWERFUL DADDY", like George did, to protect him from harm's way ....
ACTUALLY DO GET TO "SKATE" .....
Just like George did ....
And be irresponsible ....
While their lessers are dying in a foreign invasion ...
And so ....
And that is just how things work in a democracy ...
And I can handle that, me ....
No ...
The issue with KARL ROVE ...
Has to do with all of these false accusations that he is slinging around all the time ...
WHILE HE IS A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ....
And not just some schmoe .....
Out there running his mouth ...
And flapping his gums ...
Like this Mehlman dude .....
And so ...
SINCE KARL ROVE IS OUR EMPLOYEE ....
WHY DO WE HAVE TO TOLERATE THIS KIND OF CONDUCT OUT OF HIM?
WHY DOES KARL ROVE ...
WHO ISN'T ANYTHING OF VALUE TO MOST OF US ....
GET TO TAKE OUR MONEY ....
OUT OF OUR POCKETS ...
AND THEN LIE TO US ....
As he is doing above here .....
Where he FALSELY ACCUSING ...
John Kerry ...
And Jack Murtha ....
OF COWARDICE .....
Which is exactly what KARL ROVE is doing above here ....
MAKING FALSE ACCUSATIONS ....
TO US, THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA ...
WHILE HE IS LOADING UP HIS POCKETS ....
WITH OUR TAX MONEY ....
TO KEEP HIMSELF ...
IN HIGH STYLE ...
WHILE HE DOES SO .....
HOW DOES KARL ROVE GET THIS LIBERTY ...
TO LIE TO US ...
WHILE STEALING FROM US ....
FOR THE PARTISAN POILTICAL PURPOSES ...
OF THIS MEHLMAN ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?
WHY DO WE TOLERATE LIARS ...
IN THE HIGHEST LEVELS ....
OF OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
WHY IS KARL ROVE ...
NEVER CONFRONTED ...
WHEN HE TELLS LIES ....
AS WE WOULD BE ...
IF WE DID THE SAME?
IS IT BECAUSE KARL ROVE ...
IS SO MUCH HIGHER ....
AND MIGHTIER THAN US ....
THAT WE LET HIM LIE ...
WHEN WE WOULDN'T ACCEPT ...
THAT KIND OF CONDUCT ....
FROM OUR OWN CHILDREN ....
Or would we?
Maybe that is the point that I am missing here ....
WE TOLERATE KARL ROVE ...
AS A LIAR ...
IN THE HIGHEST LEVELS ...
OF OUR GOVERNMENT ...
BECAUSE EVERYTHING ABOUT AMERICA ITSELF ....
IS A LIE AS WELL ...
And so ....
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 23 2006, 10:08 AM)
HADJI GIRL
I WAS OUT IN THE SANDS OF IRAQ
AND WE WERE UNDER ATTACK
AND I, WELL, I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO.
AND THE FIRST THINK I COULD SEE WAS
EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE BURGER KING
SO I THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
THEN SUDDENLY TO MY SURPRISE
I LOOKED UP AND I SAW HER EYES
AND I KNEW IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU?RE SAYING.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.
THEN SHE SAID THAT SHE WANTED ME TO SEE.
SHE WANTED ME TO MEET HER FAMILY
BUT I, WELL, I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAY NO.
CAUSE I DON?T SPEAK ARABIC.
SO, SHE TOOK ME DOWN AN OLD DIRT TRAIL.
AND SHE PULLED UP TO A SIDE SHANTY
AND SHE THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
CAUSE HER BROTHER AND HER FATHER SHOUTED
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY PULLED OUT THEIR AKS SO I COULD SEE
AND THEY SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
SO I GRABBED HER LITTLE SISTER AND PULLED HER IN FRONT OF ME.
AS THE BULLETS BEGAN TO FLY
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY
THEN I HID BEHIND THE TV
AND I LOCKED AND LOADED MY M-16
AND I BLEW THOSE LITTLE F***ERS TO ETERNITY.
AND I SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
I WAS OUT IN THE SANDS OF IRAQ
AND WE WERE UNDER ATTACK
AND I, WELL, I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO.
AND THE FIRST THINK I COULD SEE WAS
EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE BURGER KING
SO I THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
THEN SUDDENLY TO MY SURPRISE
I LOOKED UP AND I SAW HER EYES
AND I KNEW IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU?RE SAYING.
AND SHE SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
HADJI GIRL I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.
THEN SHE SAID THAT SHE WANTED ME TO SEE.
SHE WANTED ME TO MEET HER FAMILY
BUT I, WELL, I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAY NO.
CAUSE I DON?T SPEAK ARABIC.
SO, SHE TOOK ME DOWN AN OLD DIRT TRAIL.
AND SHE PULLED UP TO A SIDE SHANTY
AND SHE THREW OPEN THE DOOR AND I HIT THE FLOOR.
CAUSE HER BROTHER AND HER FATHER SHOUTED
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY PULLED OUT THEIR AKS SO I COULD SEE
AND THEY SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
SO I GRABBED HER LITTLE SISTER AND PULLED HER IN FRONT OF ME.
AS THE BULLETS BEGAN TO FLY
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY
THEN I HID BEHIND THE TV
AND I LOCKED AND LOADED MY M-16
AND I BLEW THOSE LITTLE F***ERS TO ETERNITY.
AND I SAID
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
And while we are on the subject ...
Of some ordinary schmoe out there ...
Like this Mehlman dude .....
Running his mouth ....
And flapping his jaws ....
And mouthing inanities ....
Let's get back to this "HADJI GIRL MAH-RHEEN" above here .......
THIS CORPORAL JOSHUA BELILE .....
ALLEGEDLY OF THE UNITED STATES MARINES ...
WHO WHILE HE IS WEARING THAT UNIFORM .....
AS A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER .....
IN OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY ...
Clearly is no ordinary schmoe ...
NOT AT ALL .....
And so .....
AS A CORPORAL IN THE UNITED STATES MARINES ...
If in fact that is what this "HADJI GIRL SINGER" above here really is .......
THIS JOSHUA BELILE ....
IS IN FACT ...
A PART OF THE MILITARY CHAIN OF COMMAND ....
THAT GOES DIRECTLY THROUGH BIG PETE PACE ....
THE MARINE ...
WHO IS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF ....
RIGHT TO THE DESK ....
OF GEORGE W. BUSH ....
And so ...
And as an aside ....
THIS BIG PETE PACE .....
THE MARINE WHO IS CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEF OF STAFFS ....
WELL, LET ME TELL YOU ....
HE HAS TO BE ONE OF THE SPIFFIEST DRESSED MILITARY MEN ...
THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN ...
IN MY LIFE ....
I SAW HIM THE OTHER DAY ....
IN SOME KIND OF UNIFORM ...
ALL WHITE AND SPANGLY ....
THAT SIMPLY DAZED ME .....
I THOUGHT THAT I WAS SEEING A HAPSBURG ARCH-DUKE ....
OR A MALE BALLERINA PORTRAYING A ROMANOV TSAR ....
OR A SPANISH BULL FIGHTER, PERHAPS .......
WHICH I UNDERSTAND ...
IS A PART OF THE PAGEANTRY ....
THAT KARL ROVE HAS DESIGNED ...
FOR IMPERIAL WASHINGTON ...
HAVING PETER PACE ...
DRESSED UP LIKE A MALE BALLERINA PORTRAYING A SOLDIER IN THE NUTCRACKER SUITE ...
OR SOMETHING ANYWAY ..
WHATEVER ...
I'LL SAY THAT THAT UNIFORM THAT KARL ROVE HAD DESIGNED ....
FOR BIG PETE PACE TO WEAR IN THE PRESENCE ....
OF GEORGE W. BUSH ...
WAS SIMPLY STUNNING ....
AND IT IS TO KARL ROVE'S CREDIT THAT IT BE SO ...
SINCE IT IS SAID ...
THAT KARL PERSONALLY SUPERVISED ....
THE TAILORING OF THAT VERY PRETTY UNIFORM ....
AND ESPECIALLY ...
THE MEASURING OF THE INSEAM .....
OF THE PANT'S LEG ...
WHICH IS ONE OF THE REAL KEY COMPONENTS .....
IN GETTING A MILITARY UNIFORM "JUST RIGHT AND SO" .....
KNOWING WHETHER THE PERSON WEARING IT ...
WILL "DRESS RIGHT" ....
OR "DRESS LEFT" ....
WHICH IS A VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR ....
IN THE PROPER FITTING OF SUCH A UNIFORM ...
AND SO ....
TRUST KARL ROVE TO KNOW THOSE ARCANE .....
AND ESOTERIC ...
BUT VERY IMPORTANT DETALS ....
And so ....
But look at me ...
I have digressed .....
AS A CORPORAL ....
A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER ....
IN THE UNITED STATES MARINES ....
THIS JOSHUA BELILE DOES NOT SPEAK WITH HIS MOUTH ...
WHILE HE IS WEARING THOSE INSIGNIA OF RANK ...
ON THE UNIFORM ...
OF A UNITED STATES MARINE .....
HE IS IN FACT ...
THE "MOUTH" .....
OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ...
OF OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY ....
And so ...
WHEN THE MOUTH ...
OF THIS NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER ....
IN THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS ...
IS MOUTHING THESE "HADJI GIRL" LYRICS ABOVE HERE ......
HE IS DOING SO ....
AS A PART OF THE CHAIN OF COMMAND .....
IN OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY ....
THAT BEGINS .....
RIGHT AT THE DESK ...
OF MR. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ...
RIGHT DOWN THERE ....
IN RAIN-SOAKED WASHINGTON. D.C. .....
And so ....
THERE IS MY PERSONAL ISSUE WITH THIS "HADJI GIRL MAH-RHEEN" ABOVE HERE ......
WHO HE IS SINGING THAT SONG ON BEHALF OF ...
WHICH IS OUR AMERICA ... ....
And so ....
As a military veteran myself ...
Who was twice-wounded in combat in Viet Nam ...
And who never was tolerant ...
As George W. Bush is ....
OF BIGOTRY ...
AND BLATANT DISCRIMINATION ...
AND HATE-MONGERING .....
AND ACTS OF GROSS PERVERSION ....
INVOLVING THE PRIVATE AREAS ....
OF THE BODIES ...
OF MEN IN IRAQ .....
AS WELL AS BLATANT ACTS OF COWARDICE .....
INVOLVING WOMEN AND GIRLS .....
BY UNIFORMED MEMBERS ....
OF THE MILITARY ...
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ....
I WANT THE CANDID WORLD TO KNOW ...
THAT I PERSONALLY .....
FIND THIS CONDUCT ...
BY A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER ....
IN OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY ...
TO BE REPREHENSIBLE .....
But since I am basically a nothing over here ...
I am powerless to stop this depravity .....
WHICH GEORGE W. BUSH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ...
AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF OUR MILITARY ....
And so .....
If you want to hate America ....
Because of people like George W. Bush ...
And this MARINE NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER .....
WHO SPEAKS WITH THE VOICE ...
OF GEORGE W. BUSH ...
WHILE HE IS IN UNIFORM ....
As a human being ....
Before I was ever an American ....
I WOULD SAY THAT YOU WERE JUSTIFIED ....
And rightly so ....
BUT PLEASE ...
LEAVE ME OUT OF YOUR RIGHTEOUS HATRED ....
FOR GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THIS MARINE NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER ...
WHO IS SPEAKING ABOVE HERE .....
ABOUT THIS "HADJI GIRL" .....
AS A PART OF THE CHAIN OF COMMAND OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S MILITARY ....
BECAUSE I AM NOT A PART OF ANY OF THAT ....
NOT BEING A REPUBLICAN, MYSELF .....
NOR A SUPPORTER OF GEORGE W. BUSH ....
OR THIS MARINE NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER ...
And so ....
In a military uniform .....
That is to be worn .....
In an IMPERIAL PAGEANT .....
By a SEVEN-STAR GENERAL ....
Like Peter Pace .....
INSEAMS .....
ARE WHERE IT'S AT .....
IF THE FIT .....
IS TO BE JUST RIGHT ...
And so .....
When it has to be just right ...
Don't trust it to anyone other than Karl Rove ....
And so .....
In the meantime ....
I heard the BUSHCO PRIME .....
Going APOPLECTIC on the radio ...
FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED .....
OF COURSE .....
AND WHAT HE WAS SAYING ...
WITH ONE SIDE OF HIS MOUTH, ANYWAY .....
IS THAT THIS LATEST SECRET SPYING INTO PEOPLE'S LIVES ....
THAT GEORGE W. BUSH IS DOING .....
IS COMPLETELY LEGAL ....
AND THEN .....
WITH THE OTHER SIDE OF HIS MOUTH ...
GEORGE W. BUSH CONDEMNED THE NEW YORK TIMES ....
FOR LETTING PEOPLE KNOW .....
THAT GEORGE W. BUSH IS SNOOPING INTO PEOPLE'S LIVES ....
AND SO ....
IF IT'S LEGAL, GEORGE .....
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
AND SINCE YOU ARE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF A MOLEHILL .....
WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON HERE?
WHAT IS IT THAT HE IS REALLY UP TO HERE, SNOOPING AROUND AS HE DOES, IN PEOPLE'S LIVES?
And so .....
"Bush condemns leak of terror finance info"
By TERENCE HUNT, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:57 p.m., Monday, June 26, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Monday it was "disgraceful" that the news media had disclosed a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorist suspects.
The White House accused The New York Times of breaking a long tradition of keeping wartime secrets.
"The fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror," Bush said, leaning forward and jabbing his finger during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters in the Roosevelt Room.
The Times has defended its effort, saying publication has served America's public interest.
The newspaper, along with the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, revealed last week that Treasury officials, beginning shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, had obtained access to an extensive international financial data base -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or Swift.
The New York Times late last year also disclosed that the National Security Agency had been conducting warrantless surveillance in the United States since 2002 of people with suspected al-Qaida ties.
"Some in the press, in particular The New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs," Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech at a political fundraising luncheon in Grand Island, Neb.
"The New York Times has now twice -- two separate occasions -- disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials," Cheney said.
"They went ahead anyway."
"The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging."
Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, defended the decision to publish the story.
He said the Times had spent weeks discussing with the administration whether to publish the report.
"Most Americans seem to support extraordinary measures in defense against this extraordinary threat, but some officials who have been involved in these programs have spoken to the Times about their discomfort over the legality of the government's actions and over the adequacy of oversight," Keller said in a note on the paper's Web site Sunday.
"We believe The Times and others in the press have served the public interest by accurately reporting on these programs so that the public can have an informed view of them," Keller wrote.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the story represented "a highly unusual departure" from the practice of newspapers honoring the secrecy of sensitive matters during wartime.
"The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know, in some cases, might overwrite somebody's right to live, and whether, in fact, the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans," Snow said.
Snow said the Times and other papers had made inquiries about the money-tracking program.
"But this was one where the New York Times clearly was leading and everybody waited until it posted its piece on line to do their own publications," Snow said.
Using broad government subpoenas, the money-tracking program allows U.S. counterterrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium.
It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.
Some Democrats in Congress have said the program raises concerns about intrusions on privacy and was another step in an aggressive Bush administration expansion of executive-branch powers.
On the other side of the argument, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has urged the Justice Department to "begin an investigation and prosecution of the New York Times -- the reporters, the editors and the publisher."
Bush said Congress had been briefed on the program and "what we did was fully authorized under the law."
"And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful."
He said that Americans "expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and, at the same time, make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do."
"The 9/11 Commission recommended that the government be robust in tracing money."
"If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money."
"And that's exactly what we're doing. "
end quotes
IT'S HARD FOR YOU .....
TO WIN YOUR BOGUS WAR, GEORGE .....
NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING THAT THE NEW YORK TIMES DID ....
IT'S HARD FOR YOU .....
TO WIN YOUR BOGUS WAR ...
BECAUSE IT IS BOGUS!
PHONEY .....
AS A THREE-DOLLAR BILL ....
THE BOOGEYMAN ....
WHO IS ALWAYS OVER THE HILL .....
BUT ALWAYS SERVES ...
TO SCARE CHILDREN ...
WHO DON'T KNOW BETTER ...
JUST THE SAME ...
And so .....
And why is it ...
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
And so ....
That is to be worn .....
In an IMPERIAL PAGEANT .....
By a SEVEN-STAR GENERAL ....
Like Peter Pace .....
INSEAMS .....
ARE WHERE IT'S AT .....
IF THE FIT .....
IS TO BE JUST RIGHT ...
And so .....
When it has to be just right ...
Don't trust it to anyone other than Karl Rove ....
And so .....
In the meantime ....
I heard the BUSHCO PRIME .....
Going APOPLECTIC on the radio ...
FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED .....
OF COURSE .....
AND WHAT HE WAS SAYING ...
WITH ONE SIDE OF HIS MOUTH, ANYWAY .....
IS THAT THIS LATEST SECRET SPYING INTO PEOPLE'S LIVES ....
THAT GEORGE W. BUSH IS DOING .....
IS COMPLETELY LEGAL ....
AND THEN .....
WITH THE OTHER SIDE OF HIS MOUTH ...
GEORGE W. BUSH CONDEMNED THE NEW YORK TIMES ....
FOR LETTING PEOPLE KNOW .....
THAT GEORGE W. BUSH IS SNOOPING INTO PEOPLE'S LIVES ....
AND SO ....
IF IT'S LEGAL, GEORGE .....
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
AND SINCE YOU ARE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF A MOLEHILL .....
WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON HERE?
WHAT IS IT THAT HE IS REALLY UP TO HERE, SNOOPING AROUND AS HE DOES, IN PEOPLE'S LIVES?
And so .....
"Bush condemns leak of terror finance info"
By TERENCE HUNT, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:57 p.m., Monday, June 26, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Monday it was "disgraceful" that the news media had disclosed a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorist suspects.
The White House accused The New York Times of breaking a long tradition of keeping wartime secrets.
"The fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror," Bush said, leaning forward and jabbing his finger during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters in the Roosevelt Room.
The Times has defended its effort, saying publication has served America's public interest.
The newspaper, along with the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, revealed last week that Treasury officials, beginning shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, had obtained access to an extensive international financial data base -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or Swift.
The New York Times late last year also disclosed that the National Security Agency had been conducting warrantless surveillance in the United States since 2002 of people with suspected al-Qaida ties.
"Some in the press, in particular The New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs," Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech at a political fundraising luncheon in Grand Island, Neb.
"The New York Times has now twice -- two separate occasions -- disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials," Cheney said.
"They went ahead anyway."
"The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging."
Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, defended the decision to publish the story.
He said the Times had spent weeks discussing with the administration whether to publish the report.
"Most Americans seem to support extraordinary measures in defense against this extraordinary threat, but some officials who have been involved in these programs have spoken to the Times about their discomfort over the legality of the government's actions and over the adequacy of oversight," Keller said in a note on the paper's Web site Sunday.
"We believe The Times and others in the press have served the public interest by accurately reporting on these programs so that the public can have an informed view of them," Keller wrote.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the story represented "a highly unusual departure" from the practice of newspapers honoring the secrecy of sensitive matters during wartime.
"The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know, in some cases, might overwrite somebody's right to live, and whether, in fact, the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans," Snow said.
Snow said the Times and other papers had made inquiries about the money-tracking program.
"But this was one where the New York Times clearly was leading and everybody waited until it posted its piece on line to do their own publications," Snow said.
Using broad government subpoenas, the money-tracking program allows U.S. counterterrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium.
It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.
Some Democrats in Congress have said the program raises concerns about intrusions on privacy and was another step in an aggressive Bush administration expansion of executive-branch powers.
On the other side of the argument, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has urged the Justice Department to "begin an investigation and prosecution of the New York Times -- the reporters, the editors and the publisher."
Bush said Congress had been briefed on the program and "what we did was fully authorized under the law."
"And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful."
He said that Americans "expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and, at the same time, make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do."
"The 9/11 Commission recommended that the government be robust in tracing money."
"If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money."
"And that's exactly what we're doing. "
end quotes
IT'S HARD FOR YOU .....
TO WIN YOUR BOGUS WAR, GEORGE .....
NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING THAT THE NEW YORK TIMES DID ....
IT'S HARD FOR YOU .....
TO WIN YOUR BOGUS WAR ...
BECAUSE IT IS BOGUS!
PHONEY .....
AS A THREE-DOLLAR BILL ....
THE BOOGEYMAN ....
WHO IS ALWAYS OVER THE HILL .....
BUT ALWAYS SERVES ...
TO SCARE CHILDREN ...
WHO DON'T KNOW BETTER ...
JUST THE SAME ...
And so .....
And why is it ...
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 26 2006, 05:48 PM)
And why is it ...
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
And that answer is easy ...
Dick's LOYALTY is not to America ...
It is to his pocket, and so ...
He stuffs it .....
Simple as that ...
Because to a REPUBLICAN ...
That is what you buy your public office for ....
In the first place ...
So that you can milk the bejaysus out of it ....
While you hold it ...
As Dick is demonstrating here ...
And so ....
And while we are on the subject of lawlessness in the White House ....
Down there in Washington, D.C. ....
Here's the head of that lawlessness now .....
And his name is George W. Bush ....
"Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress"
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?
Not necessarily, according to the White House.
A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds.
That's the argument a Bush administration official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the administration's abuse of power.
"It's a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution," Specter said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I'm interested to hear from the administration just what research they've done to lead them to the conclusion that they can cherry-pick."
Apparently, enough to challenge many more statutes passed by Congress than any other president, Specter's committee says.
The White House does not dispute that, but notes that Bush is hardly the first chief executive to issue them.
"Signing statements have long been issued by presidents, dating back to Andrew Jackson all the way through President Clinton," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday.
Specter's hearing is about more than the statements.
He's been compiling a list of White House practices he bluntly says could amount to abuse of executive power — from warrantless domestic wiretapping program to sending officials to hearings who refuse to answer lawmakers' questions.
But the session also concerns countering any influence Bush's signing statements may have on court decisions regarding the new laws.
Courts can be expected to look to the legislature for intent, not the executive, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas., a former state judge.
"There's less here than meets the eye," Cornyn said.
"The president is entitled to express his opinion."
"It's the courts that determine what the law is."
But Specter and his allies maintain that Bush is doing an end-run around the veto process.
In his presidency's sixth year, Bush has yet to issue a single veto that could be overridden with a two-thirds majority in each house.
Instead, he has issued hundreds of signing statements invoking his right to interpret or ignore laws on everything from whistleblower protections to how Congress oversees the Patriot Act.
"It means that the administration does not feel bound to enforce many new laws which Congress has passed," said David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues.
"This raises profound rule of law concerns."
"Do we have a functioning code of federal laws?"
Signing statements don't carry the force of law, and other presidents have issued them for administrative reasons, such as instructing an agency how to put a certain law into effect.
They usually are inserted quietly into the federal record.
Bush's signing statement in March on Congress's renewal of the Patriot Act riled Specter and others who labored for months to craft a compromise between Senate and House versions, and what the White House wanted.
Reluctantly, the administration relented on its objections to new congressional oversight of the way the FBI searches for terrorists.
Bush signed the bill with much flag-waving fanfare.
Then he issued a signing statement asserting his right to bypass the oversight provisions in certain circumstances.
Specter isn't sure how much Congress can do to check the practice.
"We may figure out a way to tie it to the confirmation process or budgetary matters," he said.
end quotes
"Do we have a functioning code of federal laws?"
NOT UP HERE ....
IN REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI'S ....
CORRUPT ...
REPUBLICAN ....
EMPIRE ....
OF NEW YORK WE DON'T .....
Maybe somewhere else ....
But not up here ....
And so .....
If anyone knows of some place ...
In the United States ....
Where there might still be ....
A functioning code of federal laws .....
You might want to let this professor above here ...
And the rest of us know ....
Before we all begin to believe ...
That we are living ...
In NAZI GERMANY ....
Or STALINIST RUSSIA ....
Or some other pestilential hell-hole ....
With a mean small man for its dictator ....
Instead of the United States ....
And so .....
And if you are in the BID-NESS ...
Of supplying ....
George W. Bush's "KILLING MACHINE" ....
Well ...
For you, anyway ...
BID-NESS IS REAL GOOD ....
BOOMING, in fact ....
And so ....
"Wars force Army equipment costs to triple"
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The annual cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading Army equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to more than triple next year to more than $17 billion, according to Army documents obtained by the Associated Press.
From 2002 to 2006, the Army spent an average of $4 billion a year in annual equipment costs.
But as the war takes a harder toll on the military, that number is projected to balloon to more than $12 billion for the federal budget year that starts next Oct. 1, the documents show.
The $17 billion also includes an additional $5 billion in equipment expenses that the Army requested in previous years but has not yet been provided.
The latest costs include the transfer of more than 1,200 2 1/2-ton trucks, nearly 1,100 Humvees and $8.8 million in other equipment from the U.S. Army to the Iraqi security forces.
Army and Marine Corps leaders are expected to testify before Congress Tuesday and outline the growing costs of the war — with estimates that it will cost between $12 billion and $13 billion a year for equipment repairs, upgrades and replacements from now on.
The Marine Corps has said in recent testimony before Congress that it would need nearly $12 billion to replace and repair all the equipment worn out or lost to combat in the past four years.
So far, the Marines have received $1.6 billion toward those costs to replace and repair the equipment.
According to the Army, the $17 billion includes:
_$2.1 billion in equipment that must be replaced because of battle losses.
_About $6.5 billion for repairs.
_About $8.4 billion to rebuild or upgrade equipment.
One of the growing costs is the replacement of Humvees, which are wearing out more quickly because of the added armor they are carrying to protect soldiers from roadside bombs.
The added weight is causing them to wear out faster, decreasing the life of the vehicles.
Congress has provided about $21 billion for equipment costs in emergency supplemental budget bills from 2002-06.
All the war equipment expenses have been funded through those emergency bills, and not in the regular fiscal-year budgets.
Pentagon officials have estimated that such emergency bills would have to continue two years beyond the time the U.S. pulls out of Iraq in order to fully replace, repair and rebuild all of the needed equipment.
The push for additional equipment funding comes after the House last week passed a $427 billion defense spending bill for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, which includes $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A separate $66 billion emergency funding bill for the two wars was approved earlier in the month.
War-related costs since 2001 are approaching half a trillion dollars.
___
On the Net:
Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil
end quotes
IF YOU ARE AN OLDER AMERICAN ....
AND YOU FIND YOURSELF STARVING ...
AND UNABLE TO HEAT YOUR HOME ...
BE PROUD!
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....
ARE SACRIFICING YOU ....
FOR THE GOOD ....
OF THE PARTY ...
And so ....
WHAT OTHER COUNTRY ....
IN THE WORLD ...
WOULD DO THAT FOR YOU, EH?
LOVE IT ...
IF YOU LIKE BEING SACRIFICED ....
OR LEAVE IT ...
FOR SOME OTHER MORE CIVILIZED PLACE ...
IF YOU DON'T .....
And so ...
Whoever said that life was not simple ....
Here in OUR America?
No shades of gray here ...
NO NUANCE ....
Just BLACK ....
Or WHITE ....
And so ....
Of supplying ....
George W. Bush's "KILLING MACHINE" ....
Well ...
For you, anyway ...
BID-NESS IS REAL GOOD ....
BOOMING, in fact ....
And so ....
"Wars force Army equipment costs to triple"
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The annual cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading Army equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to more than triple next year to more than $17 billion, according to Army documents obtained by the Associated Press.
From 2002 to 2006, the Army spent an average of $4 billion a year in annual equipment costs.
But as the war takes a harder toll on the military, that number is projected to balloon to more than $12 billion for the federal budget year that starts next Oct. 1, the documents show.
The $17 billion also includes an additional $5 billion in equipment expenses that the Army requested in previous years but has not yet been provided.
The latest costs include the transfer of more than 1,200 2 1/2-ton trucks, nearly 1,100 Humvees and $8.8 million in other equipment from the U.S. Army to the Iraqi security forces.
Army and Marine Corps leaders are expected to testify before Congress Tuesday and outline the growing costs of the war — with estimates that it will cost between $12 billion and $13 billion a year for equipment repairs, upgrades and replacements from now on.
The Marine Corps has said in recent testimony before Congress that it would need nearly $12 billion to replace and repair all the equipment worn out or lost to combat in the past four years.
So far, the Marines have received $1.6 billion toward those costs to replace and repair the equipment.
According to the Army, the $17 billion includes:
_$2.1 billion in equipment that must be replaced because of battle losses.
_About $6.5 billion for repairs.
_About $8.4 billion to rebuild or upgrade equipment.
One of the growing costs is the replacement of Humvees, which are wearing out more quickly because of the added armor they are carrying to protect soldiers from roadside bombs.
The added weight is causing them to wear out faster, decreasing the life of the vehicles.
Congress has provided about $21 billion for equipment costs in emergency supplemental budget bills from 2002-06.
All the war equipment expenses have been funded through those emergency bills, and not in the regular fiscal-year budgets.
Pentagon officials have estimated that such emergency bills would have to continue two years beyond the time the U.S. pulls out of Iraq in order to fully replace, repair and rebuild all of the needed equipment.
The push for additional equipment funding comes after the House last week passed a $427 billion defense spending bill for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, which includes $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A separate $66 billion emergency funding bill for the two wars was approved earlier in the month.
War-related costs since 2001 are approaching half a trillion dollars.
___
On the Net:
Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil
end quotes
IF YOU ARE AN OLDER AMERICAN ....
AND YOU FIND YOURSELF STARVING ...
AND UNABLE TO HEAT YOUR HOME ...
BE PROUD!
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....
ARE SACRIFICING YOU ....
FOR THE GOOD ....
OF THE PARTY ...
And so ....
WHAT OTHER COUNTRY ....
IN THE WORLD ...
WOULD DO THAT FOR YOU, EH?
LOVE IT ...
IF YOU LIKE BEING SACRIFICED ....
OR LEAVE IT ...
FOR SOME OTHER MORE CIVILIZED PLACE ...
IF YOU DON'T .....
And so ...
Whoever said that life was not simple ....
Here in OUR America?
No shades of gray here ...
NO NUANCE ....
Just BLACK ....
Or WHITE ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 27 2006, 07:23 AM)
IF YOU ARE AN OLDER AMERICAN ....
AND YOU FIND YOURSELF STARVING ...
AND UNABLE TO HEAT YOUR HOME ...
BE PROUD!
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....
ARE SACRIFICING YOU ....
FOR THE GOOD ....
OF THE PARTY ...
And so ....
WHAT OTHER COUNTRY ....
IN THE WORLD ...
WOULD DO THAT FOR YOU, EH?
LOVE IT ...
IF YOU LIKE BEING SACRIFICED ....
OR LEAVE IT ...
FOR SOME OTHER MORE CIVILIZED PLACE ...
IF YOU DON'T .....
And so ...
Whoever said that life was not simple ....
Here in OUR America?
No shades of gray here ...
NO NUANCE ....
Just BLACK ....
Or WHITE ....
And so ....
AND YOU FIND YOURSELF STARVING ...
AND UNABLE TO HEAT YOUR HOME ...
BE PROUD!
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ....
ARE SACRIFICING YOU ....
FOR THE GOOD ....
OF THE PARTY ...
And so ....
WHAT OTHER COUNTRY ....
IN THE WORLD ...
WOULD DO THAT FOR YOU, EH?
LOVE IT ...
IF YOU LIKE BEING SACRIFICED ....
OR LEAVE IT ...
FOR SOME OTHER MORE CIVILIZED PLACE ...
IF YOU DON'T .....
And so ...
Whoever said that life was not simple ....
Here in OUR America?
No shades of gray here ...
NO NUANCE ....
Just BLACK ....
Or WHITE ....
And so ....
And speaking of a world ...
With NO NUANCE ....
Those .....
Who would ...
Take over the earth ....
And shape it ....
To their will ...
Never .....
I notice ....
Succeed ...
- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching
No NUANCE, there, anyway ....
And so ....
And there is no nuance, here, either .....
Just wet feet ....
And heads ......
In a lot of places ....
All at once ....
And so ....
"More rain likely for soaked Northeast"
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 27, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Workers pumped water from the IRS headquarters' flooded basement Tuesday and mopped up at other government buildings Monday after heavy rain swamped the nation's capital.
A brief break from the two-day deluge gave crews a chance to reopen commuter routes and set up sandbags to prevent more water from getting inside buildings.
More than 7 inches of rain fell on the nation's capital in a 24-hour period Sunday and Monday, shutting down several federal buildings and closing some of the city's busiest tourist attractions just days before the Fourth of July weekend.
Forecasters warned that more rain is likely every day this week.
In downtown Washington, the Justice Department, the IRS and the National Archives -- where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were safe under glass -- were among several buildings still closed because of flooding or other storm-related problems.
Some streets were also shut down because water from the flooded buildings was being pumped into the city sewers.
None of the flooded buildings had structural damage, but water in the basements damaged air-conditioning, wiring and other building systems, said Mike McGill, a spokesman for the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings.
Officials at the Justice Department said it could take a week to clean up and reopen the building.
The storm also toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn Monday.
Claudia Dickens, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, said the elm might be one of the trees depicted on the back of the $20 bill.
But she said it is also possible that the artist and the engraver took artistic license in depicting the greenery at the White House.
Commuters and tourists slogged through the muddy aftermath.
With the continuing threat of flash flooding, government employees were given the option of taking a personal day.
Flood warnings and watches remained in effect Tuesday along the Eastern Seaboard, and the National Weather Service warned that some places could get up to 8 inches rain. T
That could be dangerous for soaked communities that already absorbed as much as 10 inches of rain Sunday and Monday.
In Pennsylvania, countless small streams and creeks overflowed their banks.
The weather service predicted severe flooding along the Philadelphia area's Schuylkill River by Wednesday afternoon.
In Alexandria, Va., officials urged residents and businesses to prepare for high water on the Potomac River.
Rescuers searched for an 8-year-old girl swept away by floodwaters in Alleghany County.
------
Associated Press writers Marty Niland and Derrill Holly in Washington contributed to this report.
Just wet feet ....
And heads ......
In a lot of places ....
All at once ....
And so ....
"More rain likely for soaked Northeast"
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 27, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Workers pumped water from the IRS headquarters' flooded basement Tuesday and mopped up at other government buildings Monday after heavy rain swamped the nation's capital.
A brief break from the two-day deluge gave crews a chance to reopen commuter routes and set up sandbags to prevent more water from getting inside buildings.
More than 7 inches of rain fell on the nation's capital in a 24-hour period Sunday and Monday, shutting down several federal buildings and closing some of the city's busiest tourist attractions just days before the Fourth of July weekend.
Forecasters warned that more rain is likely every day this week.
In downtown Washington, the Justice Department, the IRS and the National Archives -- where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were safe under glass -- were among several buildings still closed because of flooding or other storm-related problems.
Some streets were also shut down because water from the flooded buildings was being pumped into the city sewers.
None of the flooded buildings had structural damage, but water in the basements damaged air-conditioning, wiring and other building systems, said Mike McGill, a spokesman for the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings.
Officials at the Justice Department said it could take a week to clean up and reopen the building.
The storm also toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn Monday.
Claudia Dickens, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, said the elm might be one of the trees depicted on the back of the $20 bill.
But she said it is also possible that the artist and the engraver took artistic license in depicting the greenery at the White House.
Commuters and tourists slogged through the muddy aftermath.
With the continuing threat of flash flooding, government employees were given the option of taking a personal day.
Flood warnings and watches remained in effect Tuesday along the Eastern Seaboard, and the National Weather Service warned that some places could get up to 8 inches rain. T
That could be dangerous for soaked communities that already absorbed as much as 10 inches of rain Sunday and Monday.
In Pennsylvania, countless small streams and creeks overflowed their banks.
The weather service predicted severe flooding along the Philadelphia area's Schuylkill River by Wednesday afternoon.
In Alexandria, Va., officials urged residents and businesses to prepare for high water on the Potomac River.
Rescuers searched for an 8-year-old girl swept away by floodwaters in Alleghany County.
------
Associated Press writers Marty Niland and Derrill Holly in Washington contributed to this report.
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 23 2006, 10:08 AM)
HADJI GIRL
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
"U.S. says Baghdad crackdown moving slowly"
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:16 p.m., Tuesday, June 27, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military issued a sober assessment Tuesday of the Baghdad security crackdown, saying violence had decreased slightly but not to "the degree we would like to see" in the two weeks since 75,000 Iraqi and American troops flooded the capital.
The evaluation came as 18 more Iraqis fell victim to sectarian and insurgent violence, including five people whose bodies were found dumped in Baghdad.
The U.S. military also announced the deaths of a Marine and three soldiers; three of the deaths were west of the capital in volatile Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said the overwhelming security operation launched two weeks ago to rein in violence in Baghdad was moving more slowly than hoped.
"It's going to take some time."
"We do not see an upward trend."
"We ... see a slight decrease but not of the degree we would like to see at this point," he said at a news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
However, Caldwell added, "we don't see this as turning into a civil war right now."
U.S. officials hope the willingness of leading Sunni Arabs to withdraw support for the insurgency will help heal the nation.
On Tuesday, an influential Sunni Arab cleric endorsed the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's 24-point reconciliation plan.
Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment, the state agency responsible for Sunni mosques and shrines, applauded the provision that calls for the release of all prisoners who have not been charged with crimes.
He called on the government to implement the plan quickly, but emphasized that it should include the disbanding of armed Shiite militias.
Minority Sunnis have accused Shiite-led militias -- who have infiltrated the police and armed forces -- of random detention, torture and killing.
"We bless this initiative," al-Samaraie said.
"We see a glimmer of hope in this plan, but at the same time we are noticing that some people are pushing the armed groups to attack some areas in Baghdad, spreading terror and chaos in the city in order to make this plan a failure."
"... The government will not be able to enforce the law while those militiamen consider themselves above the law."
Al-Maliki's plan is vague on this issue, saying only that the government should address the "problem of sectarian militias and illegal armed groups through political, economic and security measures."
Al-Samaraie urged the government to provide more details about the plan, which parliament will debate.
Al-Samaraie's endorsement came a day after key lawmakers said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups offered the government a conditional truce.
The seven groups do not include al-Qaida or Islamic terror groups.
They are mostly made up of former members or backers of Saddam Hussein's government, military or security agencies.
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie said he had met secretly in Jordan with exiled Sunni tribal leaders from Anbar province to win their support for al-Maliki's plan.
Al-Zubaie said the meeting took place before al-Maliki unveiled the plan Sunday.
"We have reached positive results so that they can try to persuade members of the honorable resistance to join the political process," al-Zubaie told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Many Iraqis refer to those who have attacked only foreign troops in Iraq as the "honorable resistance" because they do not target Iraqis.
"There is no dialogue with those who targeted Iraqis," said al-Zubaie, a member of the influential Sunni Arab Zubaa tribe.
He said the tribal leaders called for the release of detainees, an end to military operations in Sunni areas and a halt to detentions.
The Justice Ministry, meanwhile, said 453 more detainees were released from U.S. detention centers across Iraq, part of al-Maliki's plan to free 2,500 by the end of June as a goodwill gesture.
In the first tangible step after al-Maliki's reconciliation plan was announced, the Council of Ministers said it will reinstate the jobs of government employees who were detained and recently released.
It said the government will consider their service uninterrupted when considering bonuses, promotions and retirement privileges.
The ministers said they will allow freed students to return to school and take final exams, and that their absence in the 2005-2006 academic year will not be held against them.
Separately, the Iraqi High Tribunal announced that Saddam Hussein and six members of his former regime will be put on trial Aug. 21 for a 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds and saw thousands of their villages razed.
The trial will be the second for Saddam and top officials of his Baath Party regime.
More trials over crimes committed during his 23-year dictatorship are also expected.
An American soldier on a foot patrol south of Baghdad was killed Tuesday in a bombing, and a Marine died Tuesday in fighting in Anbar province west of the capital.
The military also announced the deaths of two soldiers killed Monday in Anbar fighting.
In other developments:
-- A suicide car bomb struck a busy gas station in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least three people and wounding 17.
-- A parked car packed with explosives blew up at an open-air market in a Shiite section of Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Dora neighborhood, killing three people and wounding 10, police said.
-- A university professor was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies said it will stage a sit-in at all universities Wednesday to protest kidnappings and violence against its employees.
-- Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying a tribal leader in Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing him and four drivers.
-- A tribal chief in the southeastern town of Amarah was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt.
Sheik Kadim al-Sebahawi's 22-year-old son died in the attack.
------
Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Sameer N. Yacoub, Bushra Juhi and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.
QUOTE(Livyjr@Jun 23 2006 @ 10:08 AM)
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA .....
AND ALL THE CANDID WORLD ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH .....
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ....
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS .....
BURGER KING ....
I KNEW ....
IT WAS LOVE ....
AT FIRST SIGHT ......
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
HADJI GIRL .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
HADJI GIRL .....
I LOVE YOU ANYWAY .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ...
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD .....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
LITTLE SISTER ....
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES ....
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY .....
AND I SAID .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH .....
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN .....
THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE .....
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
AND ALL THE CANDID WORLD ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH .....
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ....
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS .....
BURGER KING ....
I KNEW ....
IT WAS LOVE ....
AT FIRST SIGHT ......
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
HADJI GIRL .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
HADJI GIRL .....
I LOVE YOU ANYWAY .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ...
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD .....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH ....
LITTLE SISTER ....
THE BLOOD SPRAYED FROM BETWEEN HER EYES ....
AND THEN I LAUGHED MANIACALLY .....
AND I SAID .....
DURKA DURKA MOHAMMED JIHAD ....
SHERPA SHERPA BAK ALLAH .....
THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN .....
THEY WERE F***ING WITH A MARINE .....
--The lyrics to the "Hadji Girl," sung by a Marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who was videotaped during the performance; cited in Thomas Riggins, "The 'Hadji Girl' Debate and the Fog of War" (Political Affairs Magazine/Selves and others, June 21)
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article14713.html
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 27 2006, 05:35 PM)
Those .....
Who would ...
Take over the earth ....
And shape it ....
To their will ...
Never .....
I notice ....
Succeed ...
- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching
No NUANCE, there, anyway ....
And so ....
Who would ...
Take over the earth ....
And shape it ....
To their will ...
Never .....
I notice ....
Succeed ...
- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching
No NUANCE, there, anyway ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 27 2006, 05:54 PM)
"U.S. says Baghdad crackdown moving slowly"
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:16 p.m., Tuesday, June 27, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie said he had met secretly in Jordan with exiled Sunni tribal leaders from Anbar province to win their support for al-Maliki's plan.
Al-Zubaie said the meeting took place before al-Maliki unveiled the plan Sunday.
"We have reached positive results so that they can try to persuade members of the honorable resistance to join the political process," al-Zubaie told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Many Iraqis refer to those who have attacked only foreign troops in Iraq as the "honorable resistance" because they do not target Iraqis.
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:16 p.m., Tuesday, June 27, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie said he had met secretly in Jordan with exiled Sunni tribal leaders from Anbar province to win their support for al-Maliki's plan.
Al-Zubaie said the meeting took place before al-Maliki unveiled the plan Sunday.
"We have reached positive results so that they can try to persuade members of the honorable resistance to join the political process," al-Zubaie told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Many Iraqis refer to those who have attacked only foreign troops in Iraq as the "honorable resistance" because they do not target Iraqis.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 26 2006, 05:48 PM)
And why is it ...
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
And so ....
That every time we hear from Dick Cheney ......
He is out hitting people up for money .....
For the REPUBLICAN PARTY .....
INSTEAD OF DOING THE JOB THAT HE GETS PAID TO DO ....
WHICH IS TO FIGURE OUT ...
HOW TO GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQISTAN ....
AND TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE .....
And so ....
IF THIS WAR ...
IN IRAQISTAN ....
WERE TO END ....
IT WOULD PUT A HUGE DENT ....
INTO THE AMOUNT OF MONEY ...
THAT DICK CHENEY IS RAISING ...
FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY COFFERS ....
BASED ON THIS WAR GOING ON ...
FOR A LONG, LONG TIME TO COME ...
WHICH PUTS MONEY ...
BACK INTO THE POCKETS ...
OF THOSE ...
WHO ARE GIVING DICK CHENEY MONEY ...
TO KEEP THIS WAR GOING ...
AND SO ....
THOSE OF YOU ...
OUT THERE IN OUR AMERICA ....
WHO ARE BEING SACRIFICED ....
BY GEORGE W. BUSH ...
OVER THERE IN IRAQISTAN ...
BE PROUD!
IT IS FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARTY, AFTER ALL ...
And what other nation ....
On the face of this earth ....
IS GOING TO GIVE YOU THAT OPPORTUNITY THESE DAYS, EH?
And so ....
"Reservists shoulder heavy burden in Iraq"
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jun 27, 2:45 PM ET
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Unlike many Marines in this dangerous city, Staff Sgt. George Scott could have said "no."
He could have stayed home in Ohio with his two young sons.
Pentagon rules limit the number of times reservists like Scott can be called to duty involuntarily.
But Scott keeps coming back.
He's on his third tour now, and said he'd volunteer for a fourth.
"I like to be a Marine, leading Marines, and being around them," said Scott, who in civilian life is a car dealer service manager in Orwell, Ohio.
With the war in Iraq still raging after three years and the full-time military stretched thin, the Pentagon is counting on, and courting, committed volunteers like Scott to fill the ranks.
Scott served earlier in Iraq with another unit, but volunteered to help the 1st Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Marine Division, when it was looking for more troops.
Many others also agreed to deploy again: about half of the 500 original members of the 1st Battalion are in Iraq by choice, said Gunnery Sgt. Pete Walz, a spokesman for the reserve battalion stationed in Fort Devens, Mass.
The 1st Battalion's numbers shows the increasing reliance on volunteers from the reserves and the National Guard, even as the total number of reserve units is going down.
The extended Iraq conflict, and the Afghanistan fight, have forced U.S. commanders to use reserve forces more heavily than at any other time in recent decades.
During the Vietnam War, active duty troops did the vast majority of the fighting.
In Iraq, by comparison, the reserve troops made up half of the ground force for much of last year.
After signs that the reserve system was in trouble — including a major recruiting shortfall by the Army National Guard — the Pentagon moved to reduce the numbers of reservists called up.
Of the roughly 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today, the number has dropped to about 21 percent, said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
U.S. commanders have said part-time troops will play a much smaller combat role for the remainder of the war.
But reservists haven't shared only the duty, they've shared the toll.
In 2004, about 20 percent of the 845 U.S. military deaths in Iraq came from the reservists' ranks.
In the first nine months of 2005 — when an Army National Guard division was sent into battle for the first time since the Korean War — reservists accounted for 36 percent of 595 U.S. deaths.
Though many reservists and national guardsmen in Iraq have been assigned to support roles, others have been sent to some of the most violent areas of the country.
Scott's battalion is responsible for Fallujah, the former insurgent stronghold where militants are trying to make inroads.
It's no less dangerous for these reservists than for the active-duty Marines.
Last year one battalion of Marine reservists in western Iraq suffered 48 fatalities during a seven-month tour.
In the summer of 2005, the Army's Georgia National Guard was stationed in Mahmoudiyah, one of Iraq's most dangerous areas, and quickly suffered several deaths before being moved to a calmer area.
But despite the long deployments, the risks, and fears of an extended Iraq conflict that have driven many away, others continue to volunteer.
In Fallujah, the Marine reservists who volunteered said they did so for many reasons, ranging from patriotism, to a sense of camaraderie with other troops from their hometowns, to the opportunity to save money.
"What I tell a lot of people is that we've got to finish what we started," said Staff Sgt. Christopher Hale, of Albany, N.Y., a correctional officer back home who now oversees one of six checkpoints leading into Fallujah.
"I knew they needed a staff (noncommissioned officer), and the other guy wasn't going."
Some Marines, particularly those with wives and children, acknowledged the stress of being away for months.
Sgt. Mark Sabourin, a carpenter back home in Bellingham, Mass., said he had a child back home who was "attached to his hip" but yet he still agreed to deploy to Iraq for the second time.
"My biggest reason was to take care of my Marines," said Sabourin, 37, noting that his battalion had several young Marines with only two years of experience.
"I wouldn't feel right sitting at home watching these guys on TV, doing what they need to do."
"That's not why I joined the Marine Corps."
Sgt. Recordo Demetrius, a mechanic taking a break from repairing a Humvee damaged by a roadside bomb, said his wife was a "little reluctant" about his second tour in Iraq.
He acknowledged that the stress of deployments often falls on relatives back home.
"I think it's harder for the families back home than the Marines who are doing it."
"Some of them understand."
"Others are like, 'Why are you doing it?'" said Demetrius, a New York City police officer.
While sometimes their families lack confidence in the mission, many of these Marines said they see important gains in Iraq.
"Every day I think about going home."
"But if I had the opportunity, I wouldn't."
"I'd stay here," said Sgt. Manuel Felicio, 31, a native of Rhode Island, on his first tour.
Scott too says he thinks about home, and looks forward to spending time at the end of this deployment with his sons, ages 6 and 10.
"It's wearing a little bit, since my boys are at the age where I should be teaching them to throw a football, how to fish," he said.
end quotes
What George W. Bush started ...
In Iraq ....
IS A CAMPAIGN OF EXTERMINATION ....
Which will be over ...
When all the HADJI GIRLS are dead .....
And so ....
If there are 25 MILLION PEOPLE in Iraq .....
And half of them are HADJI GIRLS .....
Well, hell, folks ...
You're better at math than me ...
And so ...
You figure it out ....
And if you figure ....
That we've got a bit of slaughter yet to do ....
Over there ..
Before all the HADJI GIRLS are finally gone .....
You're into what Dick Cheney is collecting all that money for ...
FROM ALL THOSE "CONTRIBUTERS" ....
AT ALL THESE FUND-RAISERS ....
THAT DICK IS ALWAYS ATTENDING ...
FOR THE "GOOD" ....
OF THE "PARTY" ....
And so ...
And while George W. Bush ....
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
"Heavy rains lead to two deaths - 117-mile stretch of Thruway closed as central New York sees massive flooding and power outages"
Staff and wire reports, Albany, New York Times Union
Last updated: 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Two truckers were killed today when they drove into a chasm cut into Interstate 88 in Binghamton by drenching rains that flooded homes, closed roads, cut power and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people across upstate New York.
The state Thruway Authority has closed a 117-mile stretch of Thruway between Rotterdam and Syracuse after flooding left large sections of the highway impassable.
The eastbound and westbound lanes between Exit 25A in Rotterdam and Exit 34A in Syracuse will remain closed until noon Thursday.
Westbound traffic is being diverted at Exit 25A and eastbound traffic is being detoured at Exit 34A.
Thruway officials made the decision amid National Weather Service predictions that water levels will continue to rise until early Thursday morning.
The two truckers -- one headed east, the other west -- separately drove their trucks into the 25-foot deep hole about 6:20 a.m., said State Police Lt. Robert Galletto Jr.
It was raining hard at the time of the accidents and it was not clear if the truckers even saw the break, which created a jagged tear across the highway.
"All four lanes were washed out,'' Galletto said.
The highway was closed between exits 8 and 13 because of the gap created by Carrs Creek in Sidney.
The truckers' names were not immediately released.
The deluge that washed out the nation's capital earlier this week and is blamed for four other deaths cut across upstate New York Tuesday and today.
Though flood warnings were posted from the Catskills to the Adirondacks, the heaviest-hit area was around Binghamton.
A house was reported floating down the rain-swollen Susquehanna River near the city today and whole villages to the north in rural Delaware County were cut off by flood waters.
Rescue workers were searching for a vehicle washed away in Kortwright Creek; it was unclear if there was anyone in the missing vehicle.
"We have significant flooding throughout the county,'' said Delaware County planning director Nicole Franzese.
"... Widespread power outages, bridges washed out, roads washed out, the National Guard was operating all night.''
Tuesday's rainfall was the most ever received in a 24-hour period at the Binghamton airport, said National Weather Service meteorologist Theodore Champney.
A total of 4.05 inches fell during the day, breaking the former one-day record of 3.57 inches set on June 11, 2001, Champney said.
About 300 people were being cared for at a Red Cross emergency shelter set up at Binghamton University after the Susquehanna, Chenango and other rivers flooded.
College officials said they expected more evacuees to arrive throughout the day.
More homes were evacuated a few hours to the north, near the Mohawk River.
A small bridge in Charlotteville in Schoharie County was closed and floodwaters had risen to the bottom of at least one other area bridge.
Broome County emergency services director Michael Aswad reported a series of gas explosions in vacated homes in the town of Conklin, just south of Binghamton.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Ten counties declared states of emergency amid the heavy rains: Broome, Cortland, Tioga, Chenango, Madison, Delaware, Montgomery, Schoharie, Otsego and Herkimer.
Dennis Michalski, spokesman for the State Emergency Management Office, said Gov. George Pataki activated the National Guard for evacuation support and engineering.
Pataki canceled a visit to New Hampshire today and was headed to Binghamton to deal with the emergency.
The governor planned to issue a disaster declaration, the first step to gaining federal assistance to deal with the flooding, said William Howard, the governor's first deputy chief of staff.
Dam experts were dispatched to the Binghamton area by the Department of Environmental Conservation for inspections.
Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan said minor leaks have been reported in the floodwall that protects downtown from Susquehanna River.
All traffic heading west on the Thruway must exit at 25A (Schenectady, Binghamton, I-88).
Only vehicles with local destinations will be allowed to travel westbound between Interchange 25A and Interchange 28.
No westbound traffic will be allowed past Interchange 28.
All eastbound traffic must get off the Thruway at Exit 36 (Syracuse, Watertown, Binghamton, I-81).
Only local traffic can travel eastbound between Interchange 36 and Interchange 31.
No eastbound traffic will be allowed past Interchange 31.
In rural Schoharie County, about 90 miles northeast of Binghamton, a mudslide closed a road and prevented emergency crews from reaching residents of a home cut off by the debris.
The county's emergency management office said there were no reports of injuries from the mudslide, but reported "quite a few roads'' in the farming region were closed due to flooding.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown also was closed.
Michalski said emergency officials were tracking the storm as it moved east toward the Hudson Valley.
In the Catskills, the Esopus and Rondout creeks flooded, and the Delaware and Neversink rivers in Sullivan County neared flood stage in several spots.
Homes near those rivers were also evacuated.
The National Weather Service reported that the Delaware River at Port Jervis was at 18.4 feet, over flood stage of 18 feet.
The river was expected to rise to near 24.3 feet by Thursday morning.
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
"Heavy rains lead to two deaths - 117-mile stretch of Thruway closed as central New York sees massive flooding and power outages"
Staff and wire reports, Albany, New York Times Union
Last updated: 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Two truckers were killed today when they drove into a chasm cut into Interstate 88 in Binghamton by drenching rains that flooded homes, closed roads, cut power and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people across upstate New York.
The state Thruway Authority has closed a 117-mile stretch of Thruway between Rotterdam and Syracuse after flooding left large sections of the highway impassable.
The eastbound and westbound lanes between Exit 25A in Rotterdam and Exit 34A in Syracuse will remain closed until noon Thursday.
Westbound traffic is being diverted at Exit 25A and eastbound traffic is being detoured at Exit 34A.
Thruway officials made the decision amid National Weather Service predictions that water levels will continue to rise until early Thursday morning.
The two truckers -- one headed east, the other west -- separately drove their trucks into the 25-foot deep hole about 6:20 a.m., said State Police Lt. Robert Galletto Jr.
It was raining hard at the time of the accidents and it was not clear if the truckers even saw the break, which created a jagged tear across the highway.
"All four lanes were washed out,'' Galletto said.
The highway was closed between exits 8 and 13 because of the gap created by Carrs Creek in Sidney.
The truckers' names were not immediately released.
The deluge that washed out the nation's capital earlier this week and is blamed for four other deaths cut across upstate New York Tuesday and today.
Though flood warnings were posted from the Catskills to the Adirondacks, the heaviest-hit area was around Binghamton.
A house was reported floating down the rain-swollen Susquehanna River near the city today and whole villages to the north in rural Delaware County were cut off by flood waters.
Rescue workers were searching for a vehicle washed away in Kortwright Creek; it was unclear if there was anyone in the missing vehicle.
"We have significant flooding throughout the county,'' said Delaware County planning director Nicole Franzese.
"... Widespread power outages, bridges washed out, roads washed out, the National Guard was operating all night.''
Tuesday's rainfall was the most ever received in a 24-hour period at the Binghamton airport, said National Weather Service meteorologist Theodore Champney.
A total of 4.05 inches fell during the day, breaking the former one-day record of 3.57 inches set on June 11, 2001, Champney said.
About 300 people were being cared for at a Red Cross emergency shelter set up at Binghamton University after the Susquehanna, Chenango and other rivers flooded.
College officials said they expected more evacuees to arrive throughout the day.
More homes were evacuated a few hours to the north, near the Mohawk River.
A small bridge in Charlotteville in Schoharie County was closed and floodwaters had risen to the bottom of at least one other area bridge.
Broome County emergency services director Michael Aswad reported a series of gas explosions in vacated homes in the town of Conklin, just south of Binghamton.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Ten counties declared states of emergency amid the heavy rains: Broome, Cortland, Tioga, Chenango, Madison, Delaware, Montgomery, Schoharie, Otsego and Herkimer.
Dennis Michalski, spokesman for the State Emergency Management Office, said Gov. George Pataki activated the National Guard for evacuation support and engineering.
Pataki canceled a visit to New Hampshire today and was headed to Binghamton to deal with the emergency.
The governor planned to issue a disaster declaration, the first step to gaining federal assistance to deal with the flooding, said William Howard, the governor's first deputy chief of staff.
Dam experts were dispatched to the Binghamton area by the Department of Environmental Conservation for inspections.
Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan said minor leaks have been reported in the floodwall that protects downtown from Susquehanna River.
All traffic heading west on the Thruway must exit at 25A (Schenectady, Binghamton, I-88).
Only vehicles with local destinations will be allowed to travel westbound between Interchange 25A and Interchange 28.
No westbound traffic will be allowed past Interchange 28.
All eastbound traffic must get off the Thruway at Exit 36 (Syracuse, Watertown, Binghamton, I-81).
Only local traffic can travel eastbound between Interchange 36 and Interchange 31.
No eastbound traffic will be allowed past Interchange 31.
In rural Schoharie County, about 90 miles northeast of Binghamton, a mudslide closed a road and prevented emergency crews from reaching residents of a home cut off by the debris.
The county's emergency management office said there were no reports of injuries from the mudslide, but reported "quite a few roads'' in the farming region were closed due to flooding.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown also was closed.
Michalski said emergency officials were tracking the storm as it moved east toward the Hudson Valley.
In the Catskills, the Esopus and Rondout creeks flooded, and the Delaware and Neversink rivers in Sullivan County neared flood stage in several spots.
Homes near those rivers were also evacuated.
The National Weather Service reported that the Delaware River at Port Jervis was at 18.4 feet, over flood stage of 18 feet.
The river was expected to rise to near 24.3 feet by Thursday morning.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 28 2006, 05:41 PM)
And while George W. Bush ....
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
"Heavy rains lead to two deaths - 117-mile stretch of Thruway closed as central New York sees massive flooding and power outages"
Staff and wire reports, Albany, New York Times Union
Last updated: 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Two truckers were killed today when they drove into a chasm cut into Interstate 88 in Binghamton by drenching rains that flooded homes, closed roads, cut power and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people across upstate New York.
The state Thruway Authority has closed a 117-mile stretch of Thruway between Rotterdam and Syracuse after flooding left large sections of the highway impassable.
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
"Heavy rains lead to two deaths - 117-mile stretch of Thruway closed as central New York sees massive flooding and power outages"
Staff and wire reports, Albany, New York Times Union
Last updated: 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Two truckers were killed today when they drove into a chasm cut into Interstate 88 in Binghamton by drenching rains that flooded homes, closed roads, cut power and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people across upstate New York.
The state Thruway Authority has closed a 117-mile stretch of Thruway between Rotterdam and Syracuse after flooding left large sections of the highway impassable.
"Pennsylvania flooding forces evacuations"
By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer
14 minutes ago
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Up to 200,000 people in the Wilkes-Barre area were ordered to evacuate their homes Wednesday because of rising water on the Susquehanna River, swelled by a record-breaking deluge that had killed at least 12 people across the Northeast.
Thousands more were ordered to leave their homes in New Jersey, New York and Maryland.
Rescue helicopters plucked residents from rooftops as rivers and streams surged over their banks, washed out roads and bridges, and cut off villages in some of the worst flooding in the region in decades.
Wilkes-Barre, a northeastern Pennsylvania city that was devastated by deadly flooding in 1972 from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, is protected by levees, and officials said the Susquehanna was expected to crest just a few feet from the tops of the 41-foot floodwalls.
But Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said officials were worried about the effects of water pressing against the levees for 48 hours.
The floodwalls were completed just three years ago.
"It is honestly precautionary," Vonderheid said.
"We have great faith the levees are going to hold."
An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people in the county of about 351,000 were told to get out by nightfall.
The evacuation order applied to much of Wilkes-Barre and several outlying towns, all of them flooded by Agnes more than three decades ago.
Laura Lockman, 42, of Wilkes-Barre packed a car and planned to clear out along with her husband, three kids and a puppy named Pebbles.
They were not ordered to evacuate their brick home, a half-mile from the Susquehanna, but were going to nearby Scranton anyway for the children's safety.
Their home was inundated in 1972, when water reached the second floor.
"I just want to get out of here."
"I just want to be safe, that's all," she said.
A dozen helicopters from the Pennsylvania National Guard, the state police and the Coast Guard were sent on search-and-rescue missions, plucking stranded residents from rooftops in Bloomsburg, Sayre and New Milford.
Hundreds of National Guardsmen prepared to distribute ice, water and meals ready to eat.
Flooding closed many roads in the Philadelphia area, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
"We lost just about everything — the cars, the clothes, even the baby's crib," said James Adams, who evacuated his family's home near Binghamton, N.Y., after watching their shed float away and their cars get submerged.
"I'm not sure what we are going to do."
Elsewhere in the Binghamton area, an entire house floated down the Susquehanna.
The soaking weather was produced by a low-pressure system that has been stalled just offshore since the weekend and pumped moist tropical air northward along the East Coast.
A record 4.05 inches of rain fell Tuesday at Binghamton.
During the weekend, the same system drenched the Washington and Baltimore region with more than a foot of rain.
Although the bulk of the rain moved out of the area Wednesday, streams were still rising from the runoff and forecasters said more showers and occasional thunderstorms were possible along the East Coast for the rest of the week.
Earlier this week, floodwaters in the nation's capital closed the National Archives, the IRS, the Justice Department and other major government buildings.
The National Archives, several Smithsonian museums and some government office buildings were still closed Wednesday.
The National Archives moved in giant dehumidifiers to preserve its historic documents.
"The threat to the records is not floodwater, but humidity from the lack of air conditioning," spokeswoman Susan Cooper said Wednesday.
An estimated 2,200 people were ordered to evacuate the area around Lake Needwood at Rockville, Md., which was approaching 25 feet above normal.
Engineers reported weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam.
A swollen creek carved a 25-foot-deep chasm through all four lanes of Interstate 88, about 35 miles northeast of Binghamton, N.Y., and two truckers were killed early Wednesday when their rigs plunged into the gaps, officials said.
Thousands of people were evacuated from communities across New York state, and whole villages north of Binghamton County were isolated by high water.
Along the Delaware River, more than 1,000 people left low-lying areas of Trenton, N.J., and state employees in buildings along the river left work early.
Trenton's water filtration system was shut down because of debris floating down the Delaware, and Mayor Doug Palmer called for conservation, saying the city had only about two days of drinkable water.
The river was expected to crest Friday at nearly 8 feet over flood stage, the fourth-highest level on record for Trenton.
The weather was blamed for four deaths each in Maryland and Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and three in New York, including the two truckers.
The Agnes flood caused 50 deaths and more than $2 billion in damage in Pennsylvania, and remains the worst natural disaster in state history.
It left 20,000 families homeless in Wilkes-Barre and surrounding Luzerne County towns.
Afterward, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook one of the most ambitious flood-control projects east of the Mississippi River, raising the existing levees by 3 to 5 feet.
The $200 million project was finally completed in 2003.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report from Allentown, Pa.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 28 2006, 05:41 PM)
And while George W. Bush ....
And his crowd ....
Are out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
And his crowd ....
Are out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
WHAT IS THE EARTH ...
DOING BACK TO US ......
RIGHT HERE .....
AT HOME?
"Deadly Northeast deluge prompts evacuations"
By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Up to 200,000 people in the Wilkes-Barre area were ordered to evacuate their homes Wednesday because of rising water on the Susquehanna River, swelled by a record-breaking deluge that has killed at least 12 people across the Northeast.
Thousands more were ordered to leave their homes in New Jersey, New York and Maryland.
Rescue helicopters plucked residents from rooftops as rivers and streams surged over their banks, washed out roads and bridges, and cut off villages in some of the worst flooding in the region in decades, with more rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.
Wilkes-Barre, a city of 43,000 in northeastern Pennsylvania coal-mining country, was devastated by deadly flooding in 1972 from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes.
It is protected by levees, and officials said the Susquehanna was expected to crest just a few feet from the tops of the 41-foot floodwalls.
But Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said officials were worried about the effects of water pressing against the levees for 48 hours.
The floodwalls were completed just three years ago.
"It is honestly precautionary," Vonderheid said.
"We have great faith the levees are going to hold."
The river was expected to crest early Thursday at a level at least four feet below the tops of the levees, said Alan Pugh, county public safety chief.
An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people in the county of about 351,000 were told to get out by nightfall.
The evacuation order applied to more than half the residents of Wilkes-Barre, as well residents of several outlying towns, all of them flooded by Agnes more than three decades ago.
By late Wednesday, 50,000 to 70,000 people had heeded the call to evacuate, Pugh said.
Police and National Guard troops were patrolling the streets in the evacuated area and were under orders to arrest anyone who violated a 9 p.m. curfew.
Laura Lockman, 42, of Wilkes-Barre packed a car and planned to clear out along with her husband, three kids and a puppy named Pebbles.
They were not ordered to evacuate their brick home, a half-mile from the Susquehanna, but were going to nearby Scranton anyway for the children's safety.
Their home was inundated in 1972, when water reached the second floor.
"I just want to get out of here."
"I just want to be safe, that's all," she said.
The newsrooms of the Times Leader and The Citizens' Voice left their downtown Wilkes-Barre offices and planned to print their Thursday editions elsewhere.
A dozen helicopters from the Pennsylvania National Guard, the state police and the Coast Guard were sent on search-and-rescue missions, plucking stranded residents from rooftops in Bloomsburg, Sayre and New Milford.
Hundreds of National Guardsmen prepared to distribute ice, water and meals ready to eat.
Flooding closed many roads in the Philadelphia area, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
"We lost just about everything — the cars, the clothes, even the baby's crib," said James Adams, who evacuated his family's home near Binghamton, N.Y., after watching their shed float away and their cars get submerged.
"I'm not sure what we are going to do."
Elsewhere in the Binghamton area, an entire house floated down the Susquehanna.
The soaking weather was produced by a low-pressure system that has been stalled just offshore since the weekend and pumped moist tropical air northward along the East Coast.
A record 4.05 inches of rain fell Tuesday at Binghamton.
During the weekend, the same system drenched the Washington and Baltimore region with more than a foot of rain.
Although the bulk of the rain moved out of the area Wednesday, streams were still rising from the runoff, and forecasters said more showers and occasional thunderstorms were possible along the East Coast for the rest of the week.
Earlier this week, floodwaters in the nation's capital closed the National Archives, the IRS, the Justice Department and other major government buildings, and toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn.
The National Archives, several Smithsonian museums and some government office buildings were still closed Wednesday.
The National Archives moved in giant dehumidifiers to preserve its historic documents.
"The threat to the records is not floodwater, but humidity from the lack of air conditioning," spokeswoman Susan Cooper said Wednesday.
An estimated 2,200 people were ordered to evacuate the area around Lake Needwood at Rockville, Md., which was approaching 25 feet above normal.
Engineers reported weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam.
A swollen creek carved a 25-foot-deep chasm through all four lanes of Interstate 88, about 35 miles northeast of Binghamton, N.Y., and two truckers were killed early Wednesday when their rigs plunged into the gaps, officials said.
Thousands of people were evacuated from communities across New York state, and whole villages north of Binghamton County were isolated by high water.
After touring the region by helicopter, New York Gov. George Pataki said the heavy rain caused "unparalleled devastation" and estimated that property damage in his state would total at least $100 million.
He activated more than 300 National Guard members to help with evacuations and rescues and conduct traffic.
Along the Delaware River, more than 1,000 people left low-lying areas of Trenton, N.J., and state employees in buildings along the river left work early.
Trenton's water filtration system was shut down because of debris floating down the Delaware, and Mayor Doug Palmer called for conservation, saying the city had only about two days of drinkable water.
The river was expected to crest Friday at nearly 8 feet over flood stage, the fourth-highest level on record for Trenton.
In anticipation of more flooding, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine declared a statewide emergency Wednesday evening.
The weather was blamed for four deaths each in Maryland and Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and three in New York, including the two truckers.
The Agnes flood caused 50 deaths and more than $2 billion in damage in Pennsylvania, and remains the worst natural disaster in state history.
It left 20,000 families homeless in Wilkes-Barre and surrounding Luzerne County towns.
Afterward, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook one of the most ambitious flood-control projects east of the Mississippi River, raising the existing levees by 3 to 5 feet.
The $200 million project was finally completed in 2003.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report from Allentown, Pa.
Chris Floyd: The Bush War on Liberty Intensifies :
The recent "controversy" over the New York Times report on the Regime's surveillance of bank records is, as Greenwald astutely notes, based entirely on outright falsehoods. It is also being deliberately stoked by the White House, whose lies about the non-existent "damage" the NYT story has done to national security are exposed here -- by their own words
http://tinyurl.com/f63af
The recent "controversy" over the New York Times report on the Regime's surveillance of bank records is, as Greenwald astutely notes, based entirely on outright falsehoods. It is also being deliberately stoked by the White House, whose lies about the non-existent "damage" the NYT story has done to national security are exposed here -- by their own words
http://tinyurl.com/f63af
Nuke the Messenger
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, June 27, 2006; 1:34 PM
In accusing the press -- and specifically, the New York Times -- of putting American lives at risk, President Bush and his allies have escalated their ongoing battle with the media to nuclear proportions.
Here's what Bush had to say yesterday: "We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America."
Here's Vice President Cheney: "The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future."
Here's press secretary Tony Snow: "The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know, in some cases, might overwrite somebody's right to live, and whether, in fact, the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans."
It's a monstrous charge for the White House to suggest that the press is essentially aiding and abetting the enemy. But where's the evidence?
The White House first began leveling this kind of accusation immediately after a New York Times story revealed a massive, secret domestic spying program conducted without congressional or judicial oversight. See, for instance, Bush's December 17, 2005 radio address , in which he said the disclosure put "our citizens at risk."
But not once has the White House definitively answered this question: How are any of these disclosures actually impairing the pursuit of terrorists?
Terrorists already knew the government was trying to track them down through their finances, their phone calls and their e-mails. Within days of the Sept. 11 attacks, for instance, Bush publicly declared open season on terrorist financing.
As far as I can tell, all these disclosures do is alert the American public to the fact that all this stuff is going on without the requisite oversight, checks and balances.
How does it possibly matter to a terrorist whether the government got a court order or not? Or whether Congress was able to exercise any oversight? The White House won't say. In fact, it can't say.
By contrast, it does matter to us.
This column has documented, again and again , that when faced with a potentially damaging political problem, White House strategist Karl Rove's response is not to defend, but to attack.
The potentially damaging political problem here is that the evidence continues to grow that the Bush White House's exercise of unchecked authority in the war on terror poses a serious threat to American civil liberties and privacy rights. It wasn't that long ago, after all, that an American president used the mechanisms of national security to spy on his political enemies.
The sum total of the administration's defense against this charge appears to be: Trust us. Trust that we're only spying on terrorists, and not anyone else.
But what if the trust isn't there? And what if they're breaking the law?
That's why it's better to attack. It makes for great soundbites. It motivates the base. And perhaps most significantly, it takes attention away from Bush's own behavior.
The Coverage
Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush offered an impassioned defense of his secret international banking surveillance program yesterday, calling it a legal and effective tool for hunting down terrorists and denouncing the media's disclosure of it as a 'disgraceful' act that does 'great harm' to the nation.
"The president used a White House appearance with supporters of troops in Iraq to lash out at newspapers that revealed the program, which has examined hundreds of thousands of private banking records from around the world. His remarks led off a broader White House assault later amplified by Vice President Cheney and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. . . .
"Critics said Bush was trying to divert attention from his own actions. Bush, Cheney and other Republicans 'have adopted a shoot-the-messenger strategy by attacking the newspaper that revealed the existence of the secret bank surveillance program rather than answering the disturbing questions that those reports raise about possible violations of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. privacy laws,' said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Administration officials had argued strongly that in reporting on the financial tracking operation, The Times would endanger national security by prompting the Belgian banking consortium that maintains the financial data to withdraw from the program. On Sunday, Mr. Keller, the paper's executive editor, posted a letter on The New York Times Web site saying that the newspaper 'found this argument puzzling,' partly because the banking consortium is compelled by subpoena to comply. . . .
"Mr. Keller said in the letter that the administration had made a 'secondary argument' that publication of the article would lead terrorists to change tactics, but he said that argument had been made 'in a halfhearted way.' "
Here is Keller's letter .
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews spoke with Ron Suskind, author of the new book "The One Percent Doctrine." Matthews noted that Suskind specifically wrote in his book that Al Qaeda got wise to electronic transfer surveillance after a while.
Matthews: "So in other words, the bad guys figured out how we were catching them."
Suskind: "Right, it's a process of deduction. After a while, you catch enough of them, they're not idiots. They say, 'Well, we can't do the things we were doing.' They're not leaving electronic trails like they were.' "
Dean Baquet , the editor of the Los Angeles Times, explains his paper's decision to publish the story: "We considered very seriously the government's assertion that these disclosures could cause difficulties for counterterrorism programs. And we weighed that assertion against the fact that there is an intense and ongoing public debate about whether surveillance programs like these pose a serious threat to civil liberties.
"We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life. In this case, we believed, based on our talks with many people in the government and on our own reporting, that the information on the Treasury Department's program did not pose that threat. Nor did the government give us any strong evidence that the information would thwart true terrorism inquiries. In fact, a close read of the article shows that some in the government believe that the program is ineffective in fighting terrorism. . . .
"History has taught us that the government is not always being honest when it cites secrecy as a reason not to publish."
Kelly O'Donnell reports for NBC News: "Today's coordinated response is more than simply shared frustration. Analysts say there is political upside as well."
Charlie Cook tells O'Donnell: "They've got to motivate their base, and conservatives, Republicans, tend to distrust the media, so anytime you can play off and use the media as a foil, it's probably a good thing."
Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder Newspapers noted in his pool report from yesterday's event: "The president seemed determined to keep [taking] questions until he got the one he wanted -- regarding the media disclosures about the government's efforts to monitor financial transactions. He became quite animated during his response, speaking forcefully, and leaning forward and gesturing with his hands for emphasis."
And why so much ire specifically directed at the Times?
Julie Mason writes in the Houston Chronicle quotes Dennis Simon, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University: "The ardent conservatives in the Republican Party believe in biased mainstream media, and at the top of that list is the New York Times. So this is good politics for them."
What They Said
Here's the transcript of Bush's exchange with reporters yesterday.
"Q Sir, several news organizations have reported about a program that allows the administration to look into the bank records of certain suspected terrorists. My questions are twofold: One, why have you not gone to Congress to ask for authorization for this program, five years after it started? And two, with respect, if neither the courts, nor the legislature is allowed to know about these programs, how can you feel confident the checks and balances system works?
"THE PRESIDENT: Congress was briefed. And what we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America. What we were doing was the right thing. Congress was aware of it, and we were within the law to do so.
"The American people expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and, at the same time, make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do. The 9/11 Commission recommended that the government be robust in tracing money. If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money. And that's exactly what we're doing. And the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror."
On the issue of Congress being briefed, by the way, Peter Wallsten and Greg Miller write in the Los Angeles Times: "The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that she and many of her colleagues on the panel were briefed on the program by Treasury Department officials only after the administration learned it would be exposed in the press."
The White House e-mailed to reporters -- but didn't Web-post -- an excerpt from Cheney's remarks at a fundraiser in Nebraska: "The New York Times has now twice -- two separate occasions -- disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials. They went ahead anyway. The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging. The ability to intercept al Qaeda communications and to track their sources of financing are essential if we're going to successfully prosecute the global war on terror. Our capabilities in these areas help explain why we have been so successful in preventing further attacks like 9/11. The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future. Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts. These kinds of stories also adversely affect our relationships with people who work with us against the terrorists. In the future, they will be less likely to cooperate if they think the United States is incapable of keeping a secret.
"What is doubly disturbing for me is that not only have they gone forward with these stories, but they've been rewarded for it, for example, in the case of the terrorist surveillance program, by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding journalism. I think that is a disgrace."
Here's the transcript of yesterday's press briefing by Tony Snow.
Red Meat Watch
Heather MacDonald writes in the Weekly Standard: "By now it's undeniable: The New York Times is a national security threat. So drunk is it on its own power and so antagonistic to the Bush administration that it will expose every classified antiterror program it finds out about, no matter how legal the program, how carefully crafted to safeguard civil liberties, or how vital to protecting American lives."
And the editors of the National Review write: "President Bush, who said on Monday morning that the exposure 'does great harm to the United States of America,' must demand that the New York Times pay a price for its costly, arrogant defiance. The administration should withdraw the newspaper's White House press credentials because this privilege has been so egregiously abused, and an aggressive investigation should be undertaken to identify and prosecute, at a minimum, the government officials who have leaked national-defense information."
Ooh, that would show them. Banning Times reporters from the nearly meaningless rituals of noncommunication that pass for briefings? They should be so lucky.
Plots Averted?
Here's another reason that attacking is better than defending: The evidence that Bush administration policies have actually averted any serious terrorist plots appears pretty much nonexistent.
The closest they've come lately is their much-ballyhooed Friday announcement of the arrest of seven men indicted on conspiracy charges for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower.
Richard Cohen writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "But theirs was such a preposterous, crackpot plot that the only reason it rose to the level of a televised news conference by the nation's chief law enforcement officer was the Bush administration's compulsive need to hype everything. For this, Gonzales, like a good Boy Scout, is always prepared.
"Does it matter? Yes, it does. It matters because the Bush administration has already lost almost all credibility when it comes to terrorism. It said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and there were none. It said al-Qaeda and Iraq were in cahoots and that was not the case. It has so exaggerated its domestic success in arresting or convicting terrorists that it simply cannot be believed on that score. . . .
"Americans are being asked to surrender a measure of privacy and civil liberties in the fight against terrorism -- essentially the argument Cheney has been making. I for one am willing to make some compromises, but I feel downright foolish doing so if the fruit of the enterprise turns out to be seven hapless idiots who would blow up the Sears Tower, if only they could get to Chicago."
How can that be?
Well, look at the wording.
Here's the Gallup question: "Which comes closer to your view? Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (or) decisions about withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq should be left to the president and his advisers?"
In other words: Should Congress propose a timetable, or just leave it all up to Bush?
Here's the Post question, with my emphasis: "Some people say the Bush administration should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further casualties . Others say knowing when the U.S. would pull out would only encourage the anti-government insurgents . Do you yourself think the United States should or should not set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq?"
That's awfully close to: Are you in favor of cutting and running? What's amazing is that 47 percent of Americans said yes.
Susan Page writes in USA Today: "A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months.
"The poll finds support for the ideas behind Democratic proposals that were soundly defeated in the Senate last week. An uptick in optimism toward the war after the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this month seems to have evaporated. . . .
"Bush's approval rating is at 37%. After hitting the low point of his presidency at 31% in May, it rose to 38% in mid-June. His standing, which slipped below 40% in February, hasn't rebounded above that level since then."
Dan Balz and Richard Morin write in The Washington Post: "Americans are sharply divided along partisan lines over whether to set a deadline for withdrawing all U.S. forces there, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. . . .
"President Bush's approval rating rebounded from its lowest point a month ago and now stands at 38 percent. That is five points higher than it was in May, though still weak enough to cause Republicans to worry about their electoral chances in November."
Incidentally, Post polling director Morin is off to go work for Pew .
Signing Statements Get a Hearing
Laurie Kellman writes for the Associated Press: "A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?
"Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds.
"That's the argument a Bush administration official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the administration's abuse of power."
Here's a list of witnesses for today's hearing.
And over at NiemanWatchdog.org , I'm about to publish a review of what we know -- and more significantly, what we don't know, and need to know -- about Bush's signing statements.
As a result of their ambiguous language, it's not abundantly clear what practical effect the signing statements are having -- conceivably, not so very much.
It's also not clear what they really mean. Is the White House simply expressing abstract philosophical objections? Or is it documenting, right in front of our very eyes, an enormous ongoing expansion of presidential power?
'The President Is Wrong'
Bill Blakemore , who has spearheaded ABC's coverage of global warming, puts up with no guff from the president.
"Bush was addressed by a reporter, thus: 'I know that you are not planning to see Al Gore's new movie, but do you agree with the premise that global warming is a real and significant threat to the planet?'
" 'I have said consistently,' answered Bush, 'that global warming is a serious problem. There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused. We ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary . . . to be good stewards of the environment, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. . . . '
"The President -- as far as the extensive and repeated researches of this and many other professional journalists, as well as all scientists credible on this subject, can find -- is wrong on one crucial and no doubt explosive issue. When he said -- as he also did a few weeks ago -- that 'There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused' . . . well, there really is no such debate.
"At least none above what is proverbially called 'the flat earth society level.' "
More Addington
More from Jane Mayer's (not available online) New Yorker profile of Cheney chief of staff and longtime legal advisor David S. Addington:
"Bruce Fein, a Republican legal activist, who voted for Bush in both Presidential elections, and who served as associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department, said that Addington and other Presidential legal advisers had 'staked out powers that are a universe beyond any other Administration. This President has made claims that are really quite alarming. He's said that there are no restraints on his ability, as he sees it, to collect intelligence, to open mail, to commit torture, and to use electronic surveillance. If you used the President's reasoning, you could shut down Congress for leaking too much. His war powers allow him to declare anyone an illegal combatant. All the world's a battlefield -- according to this view, he could kill someone in Lafayette Park if he wants! It's got the sense of Louis XIV: 'I am the State.' "
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, June 27, 2006; 1:34 PM
In accusing the press -- and specifically, the New York Times -- of putting American lives at risk, President Bush and his allies have escalated their ongoing battle with the media to nuclear proportions.
Here's what Bush had to say yesterday: "We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America."
Here's Vice President Cheney: "The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future."
Here's press secretary Tony Snow: "The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know, in some cases, might overwrite somebody's right to live, and whether, in fact, the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans."
It's a monstrous charge for the White House to suggest that the press is essentially aiding and abetting the enemy. But where's the evidence?
The White House first began leveling this kind of accusation immediately after a New York Times story revealed a massive, secret domestic spying program conducted without congressional or judicial oversight. See, for instance, Bush's December 17, 2005 radio address , in which he said the disclosure put "our citizens at risk."
But not once has the White House definitively answered this question: How are any of these disclosures actually impairing the pursuit of terrorists?
Terrorists already knew the government was trying to track them down through their finances, their phone calls and their e-mails. Within days of the Sept. 11 attacks, for instance, Bush publicly declared open season on terrorist financing.
As far as I can tell, all these disclosures do is alert the American public to the fact that all this stuff is going on without the requisite oversight, checks and balances.
How does it possibly matter to a terrorist whether the government got a court order or not? Or whether Congress was able to exercise any oversight? The White House won't say. In fact, it can't say.
By contrast, it does matter to us.
This column has documented, again and again , that when faced with a potentially damaging political problem, White House strategist Karl Rove's response is not to defend, but to attack.
The potentially damaging political problem here is that the evidence continues to grow that the Bush White House's exercise of unchecked authority in the war on terror poses a serious threat to American civil liberties and privacy rights. It wasn't that long ago, after all, that an American president used the mechanisms of national security to spy on his political enemies.
The sum total of the administration's defense against this charge appears to be: Trust us. Trust that we're only spying on terrorists, and not anyone else.
But what if the trust isn't there? And what if they're breaking the law?
That's why it's better to attack. It makes for great soundbites. It motivates the base. And perhaps most significantly, it takes attention away from Bush's own behavior.
The Coverage
Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush offered an impassioned defense of his secret international banking surveillance program yesterday, calling it a legal and effective tool for hunting down terrorists and denouncing the media's disclosure of it as a 'disgraceful' act that does 'great harm' to the nation.
"The president used a White House appearance with supporters of troops in Iraq to lash out at newspapers that revealed the program, which has examined hundreds of thousands of private banking records from around the world. His remarks led off a broader White House assault later amplified by Vice President Cheney and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. . . .
"Critics said Bush was trying to divert attention from his own actions. Bush, Cheney and other Republicans 'have adopted a shoot-the-messenger strategy by attacking the newspaper that revealed the existence of the secret bank surveillance program rather than answering the disturbing questions that those reports raise about possible violations of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. privacy laws,' said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Administration officials had argued strongly that in reporting on the financial tracking operation, The Times would endanger national security by prompting the Belgian banking consortium that maintains the financial data to withdraw from the program. On Sunday, Mr. Keller, the paper's executive editor, posted a letter on The New York Times Web site saying that the newspaper 'found this argument puzzling,' partly because the banking consortium is compelled by subpoena to comply. . . .
"Mr. Keller said in the letter that the administration had made a 'secondary argument' that publication of the article would lead terrorists to change tactics, but he said that argument had been made 'in a halfhearted way.' "
Here is Keller's letter .
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews spoke with Ron Suskind, author of the new book "The One Percent Doctrine." Matthews noted that Suskind specifically wrote in his book that Al Qaeda got wise to electronic transfer surveillance after a while.
Matthews: "So in other words, the bad guys figured out how we were catching them."
Suskind: "Right, it's a process of deduction. After a while, you catch enough of them, they're not idiots. They say, 'Well, we can't do the things we were doing.' They're not leaving electronic trails like they were.' "
Dean Baquet , the editor of the Los Angeles Times, explains his paper's decision to publish the story: "We considered very seriously the government's assertion that these disclosures could cause difficulties for counterterrorism programs. And we weighed that assertion against the fact that there is an intense and ongoing public debate about whether surveillance programs like these pose a serious threat to civil liberties.
"We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life. In this case, we believed, based on our talks with many people in the government and on our own reporting, that the information on the Treasury Department's program did not pose that threat. Nor did the government give us any strong evidence that the information would thwart true terrorism inquiries. In fact, a close read of the article shows that some in the government believe that the program is ineffective in fighting terrorism. . . .
"History has taught us that the government is not always being honest when it cites secrecy as a reason not to publish."
Kelly O'Donnell reports for NBC News: "Today's coordinated response is more than simply shared frustration. Analysts say there is political upside as well."
Charlie Cook tells O'Donnell: "They've got to motivate their base, and conservatives, Republicans, tend to distrust the media, so anytime you can play off and use the media as a foil, it's probably a good thing."
Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder Newspapers noted in his pool report from yesterday's event: "The president seemed determined to keep [taking] questions until he got the one he wanted -- regarding the media disclosures about the government's efforts to monitor financial transactions. He became quite animated during his response, speaking forcefully, and leaning forward and gesturing with his hands for emphasis."
And why so much ire specifically directed at the Times?
Julie Mason writes in the Houston Chronicle quotes Dennis Simon, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University: "The ardent conservatives in the Republican Party believe in biased mainstream media, and at the top of that list is the New York Times. So this is good politics for them."
What They Said
Here's the transcript of Bush's exchange with reporters yesterday.
"Q Sir, several news organizations have reported about a program that allows the administration to look into the bank records of certain suspected terrorists. My questions are twofold: One, why have you not gone to Congress to ask for authorization for this program, five years after it started? And two, with respect, if neither the courts, nor the legislature is allowed to know about these programs, how can you feel confident the checks and balances system works?
"THE PRESIDENT: Congress was briefed. And what we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America. What we were doing was the right thing. Congress was aware of it, and we were within the law to do so.
"The American people expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and, at the same time, make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do. The 9/11 Commission recommended that the government be robust in tracing money. If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money. And that's exactly what we're doing. And the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror."
On the issue of Congress being briefed, by the way, Peter Wallsten and Greg Miller write in the Los Angeles Times: "The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that she and many of her colleagues on the panel were briefed on the program by Treasury Department officials only after the administration learned it would be exposed in the press."
The White House e-mailed to reporters -- but didn't Web-post -- an excerpt from Cheney's remarks at a fundraiser in Nebraska: "The New York Times has now twice -- two separate occasions -- disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials. They went ahead anyway. The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging. The ability to intercept al Qaeda communications and to track their sources of financing are essential if we're going to successfully prosecute the global war on terror. Our capabilities in these areas help explain why we have been so successful in preventing further attacks like 9/11. The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future. Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts. These kinds of stories also adversely affect our relationships with people who work with us against the terrorists. In the future, they will be less likely to cooperate if they think the United States is incapable of keeping a secret.
"What is doubly disturbing for me is that not only have they gone forward with these stories, but they've been rewarded for it, for example, in the case of the terrorist surveillance program, by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding journalism. I think that is a disgrace."
Here's the transcript of yesterday's press briefing by Tony Snow.
Red Meat Watch
Heather MacDonald writes in the Weekly Standard: "By now it's undeniable: The New York Times is a national security threat. So drunk is it on its own power and so antagonistic to the Bush administration that it will expose every classified antiterror program it finds out about, no matter how legal the program, how carefully crafted to safeguard civil liberties, or how vital to protecting American lives."
And the editors of the National Review write: "President Bush, who said on Monday morning that the exposure 'does great harm to the United States of America,' must demand that the New York Times pay a price for its costly, arrogant defiance. The administration should withdraw the newspaper's White House press credentials because this privilege has been so egregiously abused, and an aggressive investigation should be undertaken to identify and prosecute, at a minimum, the government officials who have leaked national-defense information."
Ooh, that would show them. Banning Times reporters from the nearly meaningless rituals of noncommunication that pass for briefings? They should be so lucky.
Plots Averted?
Here's another reason that attacking is better than defending: The evidence that Bush administration policies have actually averted any serious terrorist plots appears pretty much nonexistent.
The closest they've come lately is their much-ballyhooed Friday announcement of the arrest of seven men indicted on conspiracy charges for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower.
Richard Cohen writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "But theirs was such a preposterous, crackpot plot that the only reason it rose to the level of a televised news conference by the nation's chief law enforcement officer was the Bush administration's compulsive need to hype everything. For this, Gonzales, like a good Boy Scout, is always prepared.
"Does it matter? Yes, it does. It matters because the Bush administration has already lost almost all credibility when it comes to terrorism. It said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and there were none. It said al-Qaeda and Iraq were in cahoots and that was not the case. It has so exaggerated its domestic success in arresting or convicting terrorists that it simply cannot be believed on that score. . . .
"Americans are being asked to surrender a measure of privacy and civil liberties in the fight against terrorism -- essentially the argument Cheney has been making. I for one am willing to make some compromises, but I feel downright foolish doing so if the fruit of the enterprise turns out to be seven hapless idiots who would blow up the Sears Tower, if only they could get to Chicago."
How can that be?
Well, look at the wording.
Here's the Gallup question: "Which comes closer to your view? Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (or) decisions about withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq should be left to the president and his advisers?"
In other words: Should Congress propose a timetable, or just leave it all up to Bush?
Here's the Post question, with my emphasis: "Some people say the Bush administration should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further casualties . Others say knowing when the U.S. would pull out would only encourage the anti-government insurgents . Do you yourself think the United States should or should not set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq?"
That's awfully close to: Are you in favor of cutting and running? What's amazing is that 47 percent of Americans said yes.
Susan Page writes in USA Today: "A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months.
"The poll finds support for the ideas behind Democratic proposals that were soundly defeated in the Senate last week. An uptick in optimism toward the war after the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this month seems to have evaporated. . . .
"Bush's approval rating is at 37%. After hitting the low point of his presidency at 31% in May, it rose to 38% in mid-June. His standing, which slipped below 40% in February, hasn't rebounded above that level since then."
Dan Balz and Richard Morin write in The Washington Post: "Americans are sharply divided along partisan lines over whether to set a deadline for withdrawing all U.S. forces there, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. . . .
"President Bush's approval rating rebounded from its lowest point a month ago and now stands at 38 percent. That is five points higher than it was in May, though still weak enough to cause Republicans to worry about their electoral chances in November."
Incidentally, Post polling director Morin is off to go work for Pew .
Signing Statements Get a Hearing
Laurie Kellman writes for the Associated Press: "A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?
"Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds.
"That's the argument a Bush administration official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the administration's abuse of power."
Here's a list of witnesses for today's hearing.
And over at NiemanWatchdog.org , I'm about to publish a review of what we know -- and more significantly, what we don't know, and need to know -- about Bush's signing statements.
As a result of their ambiguous language, it's not abundantly clear what practical effect the signing statements are having -- conceivably, not so very much.
It's also not clear what they really mean. Is the White House simply expressing abstract philosophical objections? Or is it documenting, right in front of our very eyes, an enormous ongoing expansion of presidential power?
'The President Is Wrong'
Bill Blakemore , who has spearheaded ABC's coverage of global warming, puts up with no guff from the president.
"Bush was addressed by a reporter, thus: 'I know that you are not planning to see Al Gore's new movie, but do you agree with the premise that global warming is a real and significant threat to the planet?'
" 'I have said consistently,' answered Bush, 'that global warming is a serious problem. There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused. We ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary . . . to be good stewards of the environment, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. . . . '
"The President -- as far as the extensive and repeated researches of this and many other professional journalists, as well as all scientists credible on this subject, can find -- is wrong on one crucial and no doubt explosive issue. When he said -- as he also did a few weeks ago -- that 'There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused' . . . well, there really is no such debate.
"At least none above what is proverbially called 'the flat earth society level.' "
More Addington
More from Jane Mayer's (not available online) New Yorker profile of Cheney chief of staff and longtime legal advisor David S. Addington:
"Bruce Fein, a Republican legal activist, who voted for Bush in both Presidential elections, and who served as associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department, said that Addington and other Presidential legal advisers had 'staked out powers that are a universe beyond any other Administration. This President has made claims that are really quite alarming. He's said that there are no restraints on his ability, as he sees it, to collect intelligence, to open mail, to commit torture, and to use electronic surveillance. If you used the President's reasoning, you could shut down Congress for leaking too much. His war powers allow him to declare anyone an illegal combatant. All the world's a battlefield -- according to this view, he could kill someone in Lafayette Park if he wants! It's got the sense of Louis XIV: 'I am the State.' "
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...20010924-2.html
Fact Sheet on Terrorist Financing Executive Order
September 24, 2001
"We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them against each other, rout them out of their safe hiding places, and bring them to justice."
President George W. Bush
September 24, 2001
The President has directed the first strike on the global terror network today by issuing an Executive Order to starve terrorists of their support funds. The Order expands the Treasury Department’s power to target the support structure of terrorist organizations, freeze the U.S. assets and block the U.S. transactions of terrorists and those that support them, and increases our ability to block U.S. assets of, and deny access to U.S. markets to, foreign banks who refuse to cooperate with U.S. authorities to identify and freeze terrorist assets abroad.
Disrupting the Financial Infrastructure of Terrorism
Targets all individuals and institutions linked to global terrorism.
Allows the Treasury Department to freeze U.S. assets and block U.S. transactions of any person or institution associated with terrorists or terrorist organizations.
Names specific individuals and organizations whose assets and transactions are to be blocked.
Identifies charitable organizations that secretly funnel money to al-Qaeda.
Provides donors information about charitable groups who fund terrorist organizations.
States the President’s intent to punish those financial institutions at home and abroad that continue to provide resources and/or services to terrorist organizations.
Authorities Broadened
The new Executive order broadens existing authority in three principal ways:
It expands the coverage of existing Executive orders from terrorism in the Middle East to global terrorism;
The Order expands the class of targeted groups to include all those who are “associated with” designated terrorist groups; and
Establishes our ability to block the U.S. assets of, and deny access to U.S. markets to, those foreign banks that refuse to freeze terrorist assets.
Blocking Terrorist Assets
The Order prohibits U.S. transactions with those terrorist organizations, leaders, and corporate and charitable fronts listed in the Annex.
Eleven terrorist organizations are listed in the Order, including organizations that make up the al-Qaeda network.
A dozen terrorist leaders are listed, including Osama bin Ladin and his chief lieutenants, three charitable organizations, and one corporate front organization are identified as well.
The Order authorizes the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to make additional terrorist designations in the coming weeks and months.
Other Actions in War on Terrorist Financing
This Executive Order is part of a broader strategy that we have developed for suppressing terrorist financing:
A Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT) is up and running. The FTAT is a multi-agency task force that will identify the network of terrorist funding and freeze assets before new acts of terrorism take place.
The President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State and others are working with our allies around the world to tackle the financial underpinnings of terrorism. We are working through the G-8 and the United Nations. Already, several of our allies, including Switzerland and Britain, have frozen accounts of suspected terrorists
Fact Sheet on Terrorist Financing Executive Order
September 24, 2001
"We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them against each other, rout them out of their safe hiding places, and bring them to justice."
President George W. Bush
September 24, 2001
The President has directed the first strike on the global terror network today by issuing an Executive Order to starve terrorists of their support funds. The Order expands the Treasury Department’s power to target the support structure of terrorist organizations, freeze the U.S. assets and block the U.S. transactions of terrorists and those that support them, and increases our ability to block U.S. assets of, and deny access to U.S. markets to, foreign banks who refuse to cooperate with U.S. authorities to identify and freeze terrorist assets abroad.
Disrupting the Financial Infrastructure of Terrorism
Targets all individuals and institutions linked to global terrorism.
Allows the Treasury Department to freeze U.S. assets and block U.S. transactions of any person or institution associated with terrorists or terrorist organizations.
Names specific individuals and organizations whose assets and transactions are to be blocked.
Identifies charitable organizations that secretly funnel money to al-Qaeda.
Provides donors information about charitable groups who fund terrorist organizations.
States the President’s intent to punish those financial institutions at home and abroad that continue to provide resources and/or services to terrorist organizations.
Authorities Broadened
The new Executive order broadens existing authority in three principal ways:
It expands the coverage of existing Executive orders from terrorism in the Middle East to global terrorism;
The Order expands the class of targeted groups to include all those who are “associated with” designated terrorist groups; and
Establishes our ability to block the U.S. assets of, and deny access to U.S. markets to, those foreign banks that refuse to freeze terrorist assets.
Blocking Terrorist Assets
The Order prohibits U.S. transactions with those terrorist organizations, leaders, and corporate and charitable fronts listed in the Annex.
Eleven terrorist organizations are listed in the Order, including organizations that make up the al-Qaeda network.
A dozen terrorist leaders are listed, including Osama bin Ladin and his chief lieutenants, three charitable organizations, and one corporate front organization are identified as well.
The Order authorizes the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to make additional terrorist designations in the coming weeks and months.
Other Actions in War on Terrorist Financing
This Executive Order is part of a broader strategy that we have developed for suppressing terrorist financing:
A Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT) is up and running. The FTAT is a multi-agency task force that will identify the network of terrorist funding and freeze assets before new acts of terrorism take place.
The President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State and others are working with our allies around the world to tackle the financial underpinnings of terrorism. We are working through the G-8 and the United Nations. Already, several of our allies, including Switzerland and Britain, have frozen accounts of suspected terrorists
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getc...&friend=nytimes
Jump to: [Opinion] [Concurrence 1] [Concurrence 2] [Dissent 1] [Dissent 2] [Dissent 3]
HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al.
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit
No. 05-184. Argued March 28, 2006--Decided June 29, 2006
Jump to: [Opinion] [Concurrence 1] [Concurrence 2] [Dissent 1] [Dissent 2] [Dissent 3]
HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al.
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit
No. 05-184. Argued March 28, 2006--Decided June 29, 2006
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 29 2006, 07:03 AM)
"Nuke the Messenger"
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, June 27, 2006; 1:34 PM
Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Administration officials had argued strongly that in reporting on the financial tracking operation, The Times would endanger national security by prompting the Belgian banking consortium that maintains the financial data to withdraw from the program.
On Sunday, Mr. Keller, the paper's executive editor, posted a letter on The New York Times Web site saying that the newspaper 'found this argument puzzling' ....
Partly because the banking consortium is compelled by subpoena to comply. . . .
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, June 27, 2006; 1:34 PM
Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Administration officials had argued strongly that in reporting on the financial tracking operation, The Times would endanger national security by prompting the Belgian banking consortium that maintains the financial data to withdraw from the program.
On Sunday, Mr. Keller, the paper's executive editor, posted a letter on The New York Times Web site saying that the newspaper 'found this argument puzzling' ....
Partly because the banking consortium is compelled by subpoena to comply. . . .
And without looking to either the right ...
Or the left here, Snuf .....
There is my sticking point ...
This bit with the subpoenas ......
Because this company .....
THIS BELGIAN BANKING CONSORTIUM ....
Isn't American .....
NOR IS IT IN AMERICA .....
NOR IS IT SUBJECT TO AMERICAN LAWS .....
And so ....
A subpoena from America .....
Is essentially worthless .....
Since it can't be enforced against the Belgian company .....
And so .....
WHERE IS THIS COMPULSION TO COMPLY COMING FROM?
Except out of thin air .....
And speaking of thin air ....
Out here in the country ...
If something has a strong whiff of BULL **** about it .....
That's what it usually is .....
And so ......
If the BUSHCOS hadn't of brought up the business of the subpoenas ......
It might not have made itself .....
Look like it was lying again ...
To cover up something else ....
Unsavory ....
That it was doing ....
And so .....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 28 2006, 05:41 PM)
And while George W. Bush ....
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
Is out there ....
Destroying the earth .....
In the name ....
Of OUR America ....
"Rainy weather dries up business - Outdoor workers see drop in activity as damp ground prohibits job"
By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Thursday, June 29, 2006
ALBANY -- For landscapers, pool installers and other outdoor laborers, week after week of persistent rain has rendered backyards into a surreal scene: Holes fill with water as soon as they're dug and plants experience death by drowning.
While most of the Capital Region avoided the deluge that flooded several counties to the west, a range of local business owners have seen their June revenue disappear because of the about 14 inches of rainfall since May 1.
"The rain is killing us," said Bob Hale, owner of Bob's Rental Center in West Sand Lake.
Customers have been canceling rentals of tillers, backhoes, excavators and other equipment for do-it-yourself landscaping projects they've put off.
With twice the normal rainfall this spring, including a string of weekend washouts, Hale is having the worst season since he went into business in 1978.
Ed Engel, a sixth-generation farmer and proprietor of Engel's Farm & Market in Colonie, is on pace for the worst year of sales for bedding plants in 50 years, because gardeners have been driven inside by the rain.
Engel's planting and treating of 55 acres of sweet corn, tomatoes, cabbage and carrots has lagged far behind schedule, too.
"We can't get on the ground to plant or weed."
"The fields are just floating with water, and Colonie has a reputation for having sandy soil that drains well," Engel said.
Even if it does dry out eventually, the shortened season will make it difficult to harvest some varieties of corn, which take up to 110 days to mature.
The heavy rainfall has slowed pool installations considerably as well, said Rich Fenwick, vice president of Concord Pools in Latham, whose company builds about 300 pools in an average summer.
"We're weeks behind because the water tables are so high, our holes keep filling up with water as we dig."
"It's very hard to work in these conditions," Fenwick said.
Concord's masonry crews have been idled, because finished concrete decking can't be poured around pools in the rain.
Heavy rains have had an unexpected effect on Professional Diving Services of New York, a Galway firm that has three scuba divers who go into pools to detect and repair leaks.
"When we're getting 3 inches of rain in a day, no one realizes their pool is leaking, so it's slowed down our business a lot," said office manager Amy Bullock.
It's been a slow go for landscapers, too.
"Working in mud and slop is tedious and instead of shoveling soil, we're squeegeeing soil," said Bob Graves, an owner of Faddegon's Nursery in Latham.
"The ground is so waterlogged, we've had new plantings die because their roots are drowning."
Graves added that lawns, trees and shrubs are beginning to be stressed by fungi and molds created by continuously damp local conditions.
Wild animals are experiencing a mixed bag in the soggy weather, according to Craig Thompson, director of Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar.
Waterfowl are frolicking, while woodchucks are being displaced from their flooded below-ground burrows.
Baby otter, beaver and other critters that nest along riverbanks may have been drowned by high water.
"This will cut down our number of visitors the rest of the season because the trails will be muddy and very buggy for quite a while," Thompson said.
The rain also has driven window washers indoors in a switch to commercial building accounts.
"We've had to cancel a lot of outdoor residential work," said Gilbert Nadeau, owner of Ace Window Cleaning in Cohoes.
"Customers want to see dry, sparkling windows when we're done, so we don't do houses in the rain."
Golfers have been missing in action during the rainy spring and early summer as grounds crews scramble to pump water from bunkers and keep their layouts playable.
"Our course drains well, but with this much rain it's underwater," said Jesse Cone, assistant pro at Wolfert's Roost in Menands.
Wednesday's second round of a 120-woman invitational tournament was scratched due to flooding and the golfers played cards in the clubhouse instead.
At least two businesses enjoyed a boost in sales because of the prolonged precipitation.
"It's been busier than usual because of the rain," said Brian Alley, who works the front desk at Latham Bowl.
The Tan Shop in Guilderland was doing a brisk business in its $25 Mystic Tan, a spray-on chemical application that creates a bronze glow in just a couple hours.
"People are sick of the rain and want an instant tan," said manager Jennifer Miller.
Paul Grondahl can be reached at 454-5623 or by e-mail at pgrondahl@timesunion.com.
end quotes
I'm accepting of the rain ....
And I don't want anything instant ....
And so ....
Make it people minus one ....
And so .....
And from the rain .....
We go ...
Back to politics .....
And George W. Bush's CHOICE to have been .....
Director of his HOMELAND SECURITY .....
Which just might not be OURS ...
At all ....
And when I consider articles like this ...
In connection with George W. Bush ....
All I can think ...
Is that this George W. Bush ....
Can spot a man ...
With no integrity ...
A mile away ...
And when he does ...
George wants that person on his "TEAM" .....
And so ....
"Deal would spare ex-cop chief jail - Bernard Kerik, headed New York City department, seeks to end case involving bribery charges"
Associated Press
First published: Friday, June 30, 2006
NEW YORK -- Bernard Kerik, the former nominee for homeland security chief whose home improvement project made him the target of a bribery probe, on Thursday sought a plea deal designed to spare him jail time.
Negotiations with prosecutors had produced a tentative agreement in which Kerik would appear in court today and admit to noncriminal administrative violations, said his attorney, Joseph Tacopina.
"We're optimistic this will be resolved by the end of the week," the lawyer said.
Neither Tacopina nor Bronx district attorney spokesman Steven Reed would discuss details of the proposed agreement.
Kerik was accused of violating conflict-of-interest codes by accepting a gift -- $200,000 in renovations to his apartment courtesy of a New Jersey construction company with alleged links to the mob.
He was correction commissioner at the time, and later became police commissioner.
If the deal goes through, Kerik would have to pay a large fine but not go to jail, and therefore be able to continue as a security consultant in the Middle East.
Prosecutors had considered bringing felony bribery charges against Kerik based on allegations that in exchange for the renovations he helped the company, Interstate Industrial Corp., seek business with the city.
Through his attorney, Kerik had previously denied any wrongdoing, saying he paid every bill he received for the job -- about $30,000 -- and that he never intervened for Interstate.
The home, bought in 1999 for $170,000, sold for $460,000 in 2002.
Kerik first drew national attention while leading the New York Police Department's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
By late 2004, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief, but allegations of ethical lapses doomed his nomination.
end quotes
Should that last sentence actually read:
By late 2004, BECAUSE OF allegations of ethical lapses, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief ......
We go ...
Back to politics .....
And George W. Bush's CHOICE to have been .....
Director of his HOMELAND SECURITY .....
Which just might not be OURS ...
At all ....
And when I consider articles like this ...
In connection with George W. Bush ....
All I can think ...
Is that this George W. Bush ....
Can spot a man ...
With no integrity ...
A mile away ...
And when he does ...
George wants that person on his "TEAM" .....
And so ....
"Deal would spare ex-cop chief jail - Bernard Kerik, headed New York City department, seeks to end case involving bribery charges"
Associated Press
First published: Friday, June 30, 2006
NEW YORK -- Bernard Kerik, the former nominee for homeland security chief whose home improvement project made him the target of a bribery probe, on Thursday sought a plea deal designed to spare him jail time.
Negotiations with prosecutors had produced a tentative agreement in which Kerik would appear in court today and admit to noncriminal administrative violations, said his attorney, Joseph Tacopina.
"We're optimistic this will be resolved by the end of the week," the lawyer said.
Neither Tacopina nor Bronx district attorney spokesman Steven Reed would discuss details of the proposed agreement.
Kerik was accused of violating conflict-of-interest codes by accepting a gift -- $200,000 in renovations to his apartment courtesy of a New Jersey construction company with alleged links to the mob.
He was correction commissioner at the time, and later became police commissioner.
If the deal goes through, Kerik would have to pay a large fine but not go to jail, and therefore be able to continue as a security consultant in the Middle East.
Prosecutors had considered bringing felony bribery charges against Kerik based on allegations that in exchange for the renovations he helped the company, Interstate Industrial Corp., seek business with the city.
Through his attorney, Kerik had previously denied any wrongdoing, saying he paid every bill he received for the job -- about $30,000 -- and that he never intervened for Interstate.
The home, bought in 1999 for $170,000, sold for $460,000 in 2002.
Kerik first drew national attention while leading the New York Police Department's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
By late 2004, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief, but allegations of ethical lapses doomed his nomination.
end quotes
Should that last sentence actually read:
By late 2004, BECAUSE OF allegations of ethical lapses, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief ......
AN OPEN LETTER ......
TO: UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NEW YORK CHARLES SCHUMER
FROM: WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RESIDING IN THE FEDERAL NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
RE: THE JUDICIAL NOMINATION OF NEW YORK LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO BE A DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
DATED: JUNE 30, 2006
SIR:
In an article entitled "A gavel for Donohue? - Lieutenant governor confirms her name has been submitted by Gov. Pataki for federal district judge" by ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union, first published, Friday, March 3, 2006, it is reported that REPUBLICAN New York State Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue is up for an appointment to a federal judgeship after REPUBLICAN Gov. George Pataki submitted her name to the Bush administration.
In that same article, which is public domain, it is reported, and admitted by FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE that in her present public employment as REPUBLICAN Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE has little real responsibility, and that she personally has embraced the public role of being a CHEERLEADER for REPUBLICAN George Pataki without complaint.
QUESTION 1: HOW DOES SUCH WILLING SUBSERVIENCE TO REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI SPEAK TO HER ABILITY TO BE INDEPENDENT AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
That March 3, 2006 Times Union article further reports that as a "CHEERLEADER" for REPUBLICAN George Pataki, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE "attends ribbon cuttings, lectures at schools, heads task forces and never forgets to credit Pataki for everything."
QUESTION 2: HOW DOES THIS EXPERIENCE SERVE TO HELP PREPARE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO BE A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
It is then reported in that March 3, 2006 Times Union article that during her present term of public service in the State of New York, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE "has generally managed to keep a low profile during her time in office, with more attention paid to her ever-changing hairstyle than her public pronouncements.
QUESTION 3: HOW DO YOU SEE THIS TYPE OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK AS A CHEERLEADER FOR REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI AS SERVING TO PREPARE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE FOR THE SOLEMN TASK OF INTERPRETING THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
That March 3, 2006 Times Union article then reports that the reason for the NOMINATION of FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR by President George W. Bush was as a favor to REPUBLICAN New York State Governor George Pataki, to wit:
It has typically been assumed that if Donohue was given a judgeship, it would be a sign Pataki was about to leave office and wanted to pass New York into the care of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, rather than to the lieutenant governor, who -- like most of her predecessors -- has had little involvement in the day-to-day running of the state.
QUESTION 4: HOW WOULD THE APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO THE FEDERAL BENCH AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AS A FAVOR TO REPUBLICAN NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR GEORGE PATAKI SERVE TO PROTECT OUR CONSTUTUTIONAL RIGHT TO JURY TRIALS, AND DUE PROCESS OF LAW, AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RESIDING IN THE FEDERAL NORTHEN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
Sincerely ......
If any of you out there in OUR America .....
Or the world for that matter ....
Are concerned ....
As are we up here ...
In Rensselaer County ...
In the State of New York ....
With the INDEPENDENCE ....
And INTEGRITY ....
OF OUR FEDERAL JUDICIARY ...
WHO ARE APPOINTED FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES ....
And you wish to make comments ....
To Senator Schumer ....
Or anyone else in OUR government for that matter ....
And all of the news media ....
Here in OUR America as well ....
ON THIS JUDICIAL NOMINATION .....
Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/congressorg/pyv/electors/
Then look to your left ....
And click on CONGRESS ....
Then type in the name of Charles Schumer ....
Or whomever ....
And look by his name on his individual page for how to contact him ....
Which is a neat service ...
Where you scroll down to the bottom of the choices ...
And click on "compose your own letter" .....
Where you can simply "paste in" these questions above here ....
If you have no questions ...
Or comments ...
Of your own ....
And so .....
TO: UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NEW YORK CHARLES SCHUMER
FROM: WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RESIDING IN THE FEDERAL NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
RE: THE JUDICIAL NOMINATION OF NEW YORK LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO BE A DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
DATED: JUNE 30, 2006
SIR:
In an article entitled "A gavel for Donohue? - Lieutenant governor confirms her name has been submitted by Gov. Pataki for federal district judge" by ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union, first published, Friday, March 3, 2006, it is reported that REPUBLICAN New York State Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue is up for an appointment to a federal judgeship after REPUBLICAN Gov. George Pataki submitted her name to the Bush administration.
In that same article, which is public domain, it is reported, and admitted by FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE that in her present public employment as REPUBLICAN Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE has little real responsibility, and that she personally has embraced the public role of being a CHEERLEADER for REPUBLICAN George Pataki without complaint.
QUESTION 1: HOW DOES SUCH WILLING SUBSERVIENCE TO REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI SPEAK TO HER ABILITY TO BE INDEPENDENT AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
That March 3, 2006 Times Union article further reports that as a "CHEERLEADER" for REPUBLICAN George Pataki, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE "attends ribbon cuttings, lectures at schools, heads task forces and never forgets to credit Pataki for everything."
QUESTION 2: HOW DOES THIS EXPERIENCE SERVE TO HELP PREPARE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO BE A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
It is then reported in that March 3, 2006 Times Union article that during her present term of public service in the State of New York, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE "has generally managed to keep a low profile during her time in office, with more attention paid to her ever-changing hairstyle than her public pronouncements.
QUESTION 3: HOW DO YOU SEE THIS TYPE OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK AS A CHEERLEADER FOR REPUBLICAN GEORGE PATAKI AS SERVING TO PREPARE FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE FOR THE SOLEMN TASK OF INTERPRETING THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
That March 3, 2006 Times Union article then reports that the reason for the NOMINATION of FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR by President George W. Bush was as a favor to REPUBLICAN New York State Governor George Pataki, to wit:
It has typically been assumed that if Donohue was given a judgeship, it would be a sign Pataki was about to leave office and wanted to pass New York into the care of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, rather than to the lieutenant governor, who -- like most of her predecessors -- has had little involvement in the day-to-day running of the state.
QUESTION 4: HOW WOULD THE APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL JUDICIAL CANDIDATE MARY O'CONNOR DONOHUE TO THE FEDERAL BENCH AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AS A FAVOR TO REPUBLICAN NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR GEORGE PATAKI SERVE TO PROTECT OUR CONSTUTUTIONAL RIGHT TO JURY TRIALS, AND DUE PROCESS OF LAW, AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RESIDING IN THE FEDERAL NORTHEN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK?
Sincerely ......
If any of you out there in OUR America .....
Or the world for that matter ....
Are concerned ....
As are we up here ...
In Rensselaer County ...
In the State of New York ....
With the INDEPENDENCE ....
And INTEGRITY ....
OF OUR FEDERAL JUDICIARY ...
WHO ARE APPOINTED FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES ....
And you wish to make comments ....
To Senator Schumer ....
Or anyone else in OUR government for that matter ....
And all of the news media ....
Here in OUR America as well ....
ON THIS JUDICIAL NOMINATION .....
Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/congressorg/pyv/electors/
Then look to your left ....
And click on CONGRESS ....
Then type in the name of Charles Schumer ....
Or whomever ....
And look by his name on his individual page for how to contact him ....
Which is a neat service ...
Where you scroll down to the bottom of the choices ...
And click on "compose your own letter" .....
Where you can simply "paste in" these questions above here ....
If you have no questions ...
Or comments ...
Of your own ....
And so .....
George W. Bush ...
Openly mocks us ....
Up here in the State of New York ....
By nominating Mary Donohue ......
Who allegedly has had .....
Some 495 different hair styles ....
As her only real accomplishment ....
During her term as Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York ...
As a FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE ...
For the Northern District of New York ....
MOCKS .....
US ...
OPENLY ....
And so ....
"5 GIs being investigated in 4 Iraq deaths"
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
Some of the five soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
The U.S. command issued a statement saying only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family of four in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad.
At least 14 American troops have been convicted in other cases.
The United States also is investigating allegations that two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed by Marines in the western town of Haditha on Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing.
"The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening."
"We're not releasing any specifics of an ongoing investigation," military spokesman Maj. Todd Breasseale said of the Mahmoudiyah allegations.
"There is no indication what led soldiers to this home."
"The investigation just cracked open."
"We're just beginning to dig into the details."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he had no additional details on the incident but added that the military routinely investigates all allegations of misconduct.
However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and been arrested.
Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.
The official told the AP the accused soldiers were from the same platoon as the two slain soldiers.
The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded.
The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one of them to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.
According to a senior Army official, the alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine counseling-type session.
The official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said that soldier did not witness the incident but heard about it.
A second soldier, who also was not involved, said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes, and then later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the official said.
He also said the four people killed included three adults and a child, and one of the adults was the woman who allegedly was raped.
One of the accused soldiers already has been discharged and is believed to be in the United States, several U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The others have had their weapons taken away and are confined to Forward Operating Base Mahmoudiyah.
Senior officers were aware of the family's death but believed it was due to sectarian violence, common in the religiously mixed town, a U.S. official said.
The killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," the official said.
The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.
___
AP correspondent Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq. He was previously embedded with the 502nd Infantry Regiment in Mahmoudiyah.
__
The Associated Press News and Information Research Center and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
Openly mocks us ....
Up here in the State of New York ....
By nominating Mary Donohue ......
Who allegedly has had .....
Some 495 different hair styles ....
As her only real accomplishment ....
During her term as Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York ...
As a FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE ...
For the Northern District of New York ....
MOCKS .....
US ...
OPENLY ....
And so ....
"5 GIs being investigated in 4 Iraq deaths"
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
Some of the five soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
The U.S. command issued a statement saying only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family of four in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad.
At least 14 American troops have been convicted in other cases.
The United States also is investigating allegations that two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed by Marines in the western town of Haditha on Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing.
"The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening."
"We're not releasing any specifics of an ongoing investigation," military spokesman Maj. Todd Breasseale said of the Mahmoudiyah allegations.
"There is no indication what led soldiers to this home."
"The investigation just cracked open."
"We're just beginning to dig into the details."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he had no additional details on the incident but added that the military routinely investigates all allegations of misconduct.
However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and been arrested.
Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.
The official told the AP the accused soldiers were from the same platoon as the two slain soldiers.
The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded.
The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one of them to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.
According to a senior Army official, the alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine counseling-type session.
The official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said that soldier did not witness the incident but heard about it.
A second soldier, who also was not involved, said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes, and then later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the official said.
He also said the four people killed included three adults and a child, and one of the adults was the woman who allegedly was raped.
One of the accused soldiers already has been discharged and is believed to be in the United States, several U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The others have had their weapons taken away and are confined to Forward Operating Base Mahmoudiyah.
Senior officers were aware of the family's death but believed it was due to sectarian violence, common in the religiously mixed town, a U.S. official said.
The killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," the official said.
The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.
___
AP correspondent Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq. He was previously embedded with the 502nd Infantry Regiment in Mahmoudiyah.
__
The Associated Press News and Information Research Center and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 30 2006, 04:55 PM)
"5 GIs being investigated in 4 Iraq deaths"
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
"Guantanamo ruling heralds US political showdown"
By Patricia Wilson
21 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats see the Supreme Court's Guantanamo ruling as repudiation of a power-hungry White House.
Republicans say it shows how tough President George W. Bush is on terrorists and voters will eat it up.
Both parties face a contentious political debate over the decision declaring military tribunals illegal as they look to capitalize on a national security issue ahead of crucial congressional elections in November.
"How do you go back to Chicago, Illinois, or Las Vegas, Nevada, and say 'You know what? The president is just being too mean to these people," said Don Stewart, spokesman for Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
"That's a very difficult argument to make."
In Thursday's ruling, the nation's highest court found the tribunals, which Bush created right after the September 11 attacks for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, violated the Geneva Conventions and U.S. military rules.
The White House has been accused of using the war against terrorism to grab executive power at the expense of the U.S. Congress.
Vice President Dick Cheney has spoken publicly about restoring the powers of the presidency after what he saw as "an erosion"' in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Watergate sandal.
The Bush administration has turned that tide in many ways, ranging from the fight to keep secret the deliberations of its energy task force, to its assertion of authority after September 11, including secret domestic surveillance and financial tracking programs.
'LIPSTICK ON A PIG'
"The Guantanamo ruling is a repudiation of their entire governing philosophy," said Simon Rosenberg, founder of the centrist New Democrat Network.
"This philosophy has failed."
"It's not only failed, it hasn't passed the test of the Supreme Court."
"Unless they address that, they're just putting lipstick on a pig."
The Supreme Court rebuff pushes the issue into Congress where the road ahead is likely to be long and hard, especially with four months to go before mid-term elections that will decide if Bush's Republican Party keeps control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The president, who is struggling with the lowest poll ratings of his term mostly because of the unpopular Iraq war, and his political architect Karl Rove have played the national security card to successfully trump Democrats in previous elections.
And Republicans believe the Supreme Court has dealt them another winning hand, especially with voters in middle America.
"The president's fighting and killing terrorists and we think he has to be more gentle?" Stewart said.
"The Democrats are making a gigantic mistake by going out and talking about what will be translated into English as the president is too tough on terrorists."
Republican consultant Scott Reed said the court's decision served to "remind everybody what it was like right after 9/11."
"I think in raw politics, it is a net positive for Bush to bring clarity and remind people we're in this war," he said.
Democrats believe they're ready for any Republican onslaught and don't think voters will buy into the Democrats-are-weak argument again.
"They'll throw the biggest chunk of mud that they can come up with," a senior Democratic official said.
"That we must be heartened by this ruling because we don't want to see any terrorists get prosecuted."
"That is just ridiculous."
Bush and Rove already have stepped up their attacks on Democrats in the past couple of weeks, accusing some of wanting to "cut and run" and "waving the white flag" in Iraq.
"They haven't worked," the official said, citing polls showing most Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq and think the U.S.-led invasion was a mistake.
"I just don't think people are going to buy it," Rosenberg said.
"We've seen the movie before and we know what happens."
And instead of politics ....
Or IRAQINAM ....
Let's go to jeffmoskin's ....
Sunny city of Los Angeles .....
For some "history" ....
"Scientists dig up Ice Age bones in mid Los Angeles"
by Zachary Slobig
Fri Jun 30, 1:28 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The bone-digging season began Thursday in Los Angeles for paleontologists sifting through the world's only active Ice Age excavation site in a major metropolitan area.
Two months a year, scientists and volunteers descend 15 feet underground in the midst of Los Angeles, to remove, clean and catalogue a baffling array of Ice Age biodiversity at a site known as La Brea Tar Pits.
This abyss is tucked between world-class art museums, high-rise condominiums and some of the busiest automobile traffic in the United States.
The site is even an unknown to many city residents.
But since 1969, scientists have mined this urban bone yard and built a massive collection of pre-history, with some bones dating back 40,000 years.
"This is the richest Ice Age deposit in the world," chief curator of the Tar Pits, John Harris told AFP.
"We will still be pulling out bones in 20 years."
Last summer scientists removed some 3,000 bones from the site, from the jawbones of mice, to the leg bones of mastodons.
The site was first discovered in 1915 during construction of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The collections now approach four million items from 12 deposits spread over several acres, including more than 650 species of plants and animals.
"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles," US architect, Frank Lloyd Wright once joked.
Thousands of ancient mammals were just passing through the prehistoric Los Angeles basin when they were trapped in the bubbling black ooze formed by the petroleum deposit.
Much like the city of Los Angeles, the tar pit contains more transplants than it does natives.
The richness of the pit is staggering even to the excavators.
"Everywhere you look there's bones," said former anatomy professor and volunteer excavator, Jean Moore.
"In the twelve years that I've been digging in this hole, I've probably gone through 5,000 years of natural history," she said while picking at the pelvis of a prehistoric cat with tar caked fingernails.
With the issue of global warming entering mainstream dialogue, paleontologists believe their work at La Brea may become even more relevant.
"The more we know about prehistoric climate change, the more we'll know about what's going on right now," said chief excavator Kristen Vowells.
"We're looking back to look forward," she said while logging thumbnail sized finds and securing them in small envelopes.
The Tar Pits' research staff has such a backlog of fossils and bones that diggers could take a season or two off and cataloguers would still have more than enough work.
"We're absolutely running out of space," laboratory supervisor Shelley Cox told AFP surrounded by floor-to-ceiling stacks of various relics marked "waiting to be cleaned" and "waiting to be catalogued".
"But if we find something really cool, we'll bump it to the front of the line," she said.
Last summer, diggers discovered the skull of a 30,000 year-old saber-toothed cat with its jaws in place.
"He stepped into the tar in the prime of his life," said Cox while pointing at the teeth.
"We named him Max."
The tar deposits are believed to spread throughout the immediate area.
The neighborhood adjacent to the pits recently spent 10 million dollars to resurface and landscape the streets, according to Harris, and within a year the tar bubbled back up through the streets and sidewalks.
It continues to trap the occasional squirrel or loose house cat wandering into the muck.
Exciting finds often coincide with local development.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the pit's immediate neighbor to the south, recently began construction of a parking facility.
In the processing of digging, they found the entire skeleton of a mastodon, the size of a city bus.
Cox said a planned subterranean metro line down Wilshire Boulevard, known locally as Miracle Mile, just south of the pits, will turn up a whole new collection of deposits.
"As the city continues to develop, we're going to have a major storage problem," said Cox.
But the lack of space does not dampen her enthusiasm for her place as recorder of the natural history of Los Angeles.
Though thousands pass the site unaware, paleontologists world wide rely on La Brea's collection for comparative study.
"We are the Mecca for Ice Age mammals," said Cox.
Or IRAQINAM ....
Let's go to jeffmoskin's ....
Sunny city of Los Angeles .....
For some "history" ....
"Scientists dig up Ice Age bones in mid Los Angeles"
by Zachary Slobig
Fri Jun 30, 1:28 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The bone-digging season began Thursday in Los Angeles for paleontologists sifting through the world's only active Ice Age excavation site in a major metropolitan area.
Two months a year, scientists and volunteers descend 15 feet underground in the midst of Los Angeles, to remove, clean and catalogue a baffling array of Ice Age biodiversity at a site known as La Brea Tar Pits.
This abyss is tucked between world-class art museums, high-rise condominiums and some of the busiest automobile traffic in the United States.
The site is even an unknown to many city residents.
But since 1969, scientists have mined this urban bone yard and built a massive collection of pre-history, with some bones dating back 40,000 years.
"This is the richest Ice Age deposit in the world," chief curator of the Tar Pits, John Harris told AFP.
"We will still be pulling out bones in 20 years."
Last summer scientists removed some 3,000 bones from the site, from the jawbones of mice, to the leg bones of mastodons.
The site was first discovered in 1915 during construction of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The collections now approach four million items from 12 deposits spread over several acres, including more than 650 species of plants and animals.
"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles," US architect, Frank Lloyd Wright once joked.
Thousands of ancient mammals were just passing through the prehistoric Los Angeles basin when they were trapped in the bubbling black ooze formed by the petroleum deposit.
Much like the city of Los Angeles, the tar pit contains more transplants than it does natives.
The richness of the pit is staggering even to the excavators.
"Everywhere you look there's bones," said former anatomy professor and volunteer excavator, Jean Moore.
"In the twelve years that I've been digging in this hole, I've probably gone through 5,000 years of natural history," she said while picking at the pelvis of a prehistoric cat with tar caked fingernails.
With the issue of global warming entering mainstream dialogue, paleontologists believe their work at La Brea may become even more relevant.
"The more we know about prehistoric climate change, the more we'll know about what's going on right now," said chief excavator Kristen Vowells.
"We're looking back to look forward," she said while logging thumbnail sized finds and securing them in small envelopes.
The Tar Pits' research staff has such a backlog of fossils and bones that diggers could take a season or two off and cataloguers would still have more than enough work.
"We're absolutely running out of space," laboratory supervisor Shelley Cox told AFP surrounded by floor-to-ceiling stacks of various relics marked "waiting to be cleaned" and "waiting to be catalogued".
"But if we find something really cool, we'll bump it to the front of the line," she said.
Last summer, diggers discovered the skull of a 30,000 year-old saber-toothed cat with its jaws in place.
"He stepped into the tar in the prime of his life," said Cox while pointing at the teeth.
"We named him Max."
The tar deposits are believed to spread throughout the immediate area.
The neighborhood adjacent to the pits recently spent 10 million dollars to resurface and landscape the streets, according to Harris, and within a year the tar bubbled back up through the streets and sidewalks.
It continues to trap the occasional squirrel or loose house cat wandering into the muck.
Exciting finds often coincide with local development.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the pit's immediate neighbor to the south, recently began construction of a parking facility.
In the processing of digging, they found the entire skeleton of a mastodon, the size of a city bus.
Cox said a planned subterranean metro line down Wilshire Boulevard, known locally as Miracle Mile, just south of the pits, will turn up a whole new collection of deposits.
"As the city continues to develop, we're going to have a major storage problem," said Cox.
But the lack of space does not dampen her enthusiasm for her place as recorder of the natural history of Los Angeles.
Though thousands pass the site unaware, paleontologists world wide rely on La Brea's collection for comparative study.
"We are the Mecca for Ice Age mammals," said Cox.
"Stranded by too much water to sail - After crossing Atlantic, French family is marooned by flooding in Waterford; 'You don't know what will happen'"
By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
WATERFORD -- The Biziens left France in their 37-foot sailboat in September, and they've weathered a hurricane in the Canary Islands and crooked police in the Dominican Republic.
Now, 261 miles south of their destination in Quebec, the boat is moored indefinitely in Waterford at Lock 3.
Their 6-year-old daughter, Lilou, spends her days dangling a orange rubber worm from a fishing pole into the Erie Canal.
This is no big deal, said Pierre Bizien, sipping Chardonnay in the cabin on Friday afternoon.
"When you are on a boat, you can't plan anything," said Bizien, who works for a computer company.
"You don't know what will happen."
The family's boat, Atacapoum, was one of 35 stranded in the state canal system after two days of flooding.
On Friday, cleanup continued along rain-swollen and debris-littered waterways and in neighborhoods across the Capital Region.
But the canal system was still crippled, with 45 of 57 locks closed and some completely submerged.
It will be at least Tuesday before any locks are re-opened, and late next week before the damage is assessed, said the Canal Corporation's director, Carmella R. Mantello.
"There is so much debris out there, even if water recedes we couldn't get them to open right," Mantello said.
"We heard there's a Dodge Durango in there."
Boaters stuck in the east end of the canal, like the Biziens, will be allowed to head into the Hudson when the river recedes enough for them to fit under bridges and passage is deemed safe.
Those stuck farther west must wait until the locks are repaired.
Along the Mohawk River in Schenectady, fire, police and public works employees spent Friday pumping out flooded basements in the Stockade, checking electrical wires before turning on the lights.
More than 100 homes flooded -- some with 10 feet of water in their cellars, said the city's fire chief, Robert Farstad.
In Waterford, at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, crews cleaned debris off the roads and boat launch parking lot on Front Street, which had been underwater the day before, said Mayor Bert Mahoney.
Town employees have also visited the stranded boaters at Lock 3, offering to drive them to the grocery store and other spots in vans.
There was a small party for the boaters on Thursday at the village visitors center, where villagers handed out T-shirts for a tug boat meet that was supposed to take place today.
Pierre Bizien said he tried to pay for the rides, refreshments and shirts, but no one would take his money.
"It's something incredible for us," he said in a thick French accent.
"Nobody do that in France."
Bizien and his wife, Veronique, both took a year off work in the computer industry to make their trans-Atlantic sail.
They said they wanted to see the United States and have real interaction with Americans, who are stereotyped as arrogant in Europe.
The hospitality from Florida to New York, they said, proved otherwise.
They reached Guadeloupe on Dec. 29, 29 days in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the Dominican Republic, Pierre Bizien said, the family was on the way to the airport in a rented car to pick up visiting relatives when a police officer told them to hand over all of their money -- $220 -- or go to jail.
They did, and while it's not the happiest memory of their trip, the Biziens consider it part of traveling's calculated risk.
They spent the spring riding the current up the Eastern seaboard.
They hit a motorcycle rally in Myrtle Beach.
They scanned the grounds of the White House for President Bush.
They slipped into Manhattan at 1 a.m. and marveled at the lights and skyscrapers.
Lilou got a look at the "big Barbie," her pet name for the French import Americans call the Statue of Liberty.
When the rain started coming down hard this week, Veronique Bizien guided the boat up the Hudson in rain gear.
The Biziens are happy to stay until it's safe for them to sail north by way of Lake Champlain.
They'll fly home from Quebec and return to pick up their boat next year.
Perry can be reached at 454-5420 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com.
Staff writer Anne Miller contributed to this story.
By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
WATERFORD -- The Biziens left France in their 37-foot sailboat in September, and they've weathered a hurricane in the Canary Islands and crooked police in the Dominican Republic.
Now, 261 miles south of their destination in Quebec, the boat is moored indefinitely in Waterford at Lock 3.
Their 6-year-old daughter, Lilou, spends her days dangling a orange rubber worm from a fishing pole into the Erie Canal.
This is no big deal, said Pierre Bizien, sipping Chardonnay in the cabin on Friday afternoon.
"When you are on a boat, you can't plan anything," said Bizien, who works for a computer company.
"You don't know what will happen."
The family's boat, Atacapoum, was one of 35 stranded in the state canal system after two days of flooding.
On Friday, cleanup continued along rain-swollen and debris-littered waterways and in neighborhoods across the Capital Region.
But the canal system was still crippled, with 45 of 57 locks closed and some completely submerged.
It will be at least Tuesday before any locks are re-opened, and late next week before the damage is assessed, said the Canal Corporation's director, Carmella R. Mantello.
"There is so much debris out there, even if water recedes we couldn't get them to open right," Mantello said.
"We heard there's a Dodge Durango in there."
Boaters stuck in the east end of the canal, like the Biziens, will be allowed to head into the Hudson when the river recedes enough for them to fit under bridges and passage is deemed safe.
Those stuck farther west must wait until the locks are repaired.
Along the Mohawk River in Schenectady, fire, police and public works employees spent Friday pumping out flooded basements in the Stockade, checking electrical wires before turning on the lights.
More than 100 homes flooded -- some with 10 feet of water in their cellars, said the city's fire chief, Robert Farstad.
In Waterford, at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, crews cleaned debris off the roads and boat launch parking lot on Front Street, which had been underwater the day before, said Mayor Bert Mahoney.
Town employees have also visited the stranded boaters at Lock 3, offering to drive them to the grocery store and other spots in vans.
There was a small party for the boaters on Thursday at the village visitors center, where villagers handed out T-shirts for a tug boat meet that was supposed to take place today.
Pierre Bizien said he tried to pay for the rides, refreshments and shirts, but no one would take his money.
"It's something incredible for us," he said in a thick French accent.
"Nobody do that in France."
Bizien and his wife, Veronique, both took a year off work in the computer industry to make their trans-Atlantic sail.
They said they wanted to see the United States and have real interaction with Americans, who are stereotyped as arrogant in Europe.
The hospitality from Florida to New York, they said, proved otherwise.
They reached Guadeloupe on Dec. 29, 29 days in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the Dominican Republic, Pierre Bizien said, the family was on the way to the airport in a rented car to pick up visiting relatives when a police officer told them to hand over all of their money -- $220 -- or go to jail.
They did, and while it's not the happiest memory of their trip, the Biziens consider it part of traveling's calculated risk.
They spent the spring riding the current up the Eastern seaboard.
They hit a motorcycle rally in Myrtle Beach.
They scanned the grounds of the White House for President Bush.
They slipped into Manhattan at 1 a.m. and marveled at the lights and skyscrapers.
Lilou got a look at the "big Barbie," her pet name for the French import Americans call the Statue of Liberty.
When the rain started coming down hard this week, Veronique Bizien guided the boat up the Hudson in rain gear.
The Biziens are happy to stay until it's safe for them to sail north by way of Lake Champlain.
They'll fly home from Quebec and return to pick up their boat next year.
Perry can be reached at 454-5420 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com.
Staff writer Anne Miller contributed to this story.
"Northeast residents weary after floods"
By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press
Last updated: 1:11 a.m., Saturday, July 1, 2006
TRENTON, N.J. -- Even as they cleaned up the muck left behind by some of the Northeast's worst flooding in decades, some riverside residents wondered Friday how long it would be before they would be at it again.
Life along the swollen Delaware River was frustrating -- thousands evacuated, roads and bridges closed, utilities crippled and tens of millions of dollars in flood damage.
It was at times bizarre -- with a 4-foot alligator left behind in a Trenton apartment and foot-long carp flopping around on the streets of a nearby neighborhood.
But with storms having flooded many of the same homes and businesses in 2004 and 2005, there was a renewed call to finally do something about it.
"Our basement is destroyed -- again -- exactly what happened last time," Lambertville resident Dan Jacquemin said as he shined a flashlight at muddy water that still filled half his basement.
After touring areas along the Delaware, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine said he would take another look at flood task force report, released this year, that calls for redrawing maps to include more land in flood plains, further limiting development in those areas and having government buy out homes in especially flood-prone areas.
Upriver in Easton, Pa., residents along Bushkill Drive -- one of the most vulnerable blocks in the city, were similarly flood-weary.
Cliff Weasner hosed mud from his home's second floor as he motioned to a towering maple tree in his still-submerged back yard.
"That tree is probably worth more than my house," he lamented.
Buildings along the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers were among those battered worst by the this week's flooding, which forced tens of thousands to evacuate and left at least 20 people dead in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and Virginia.
"We should do what we can immediately ... to get people back to some degree of normalcy," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who toured some flooded areas Friday.
"But we've got to think about the longer-term picture, how we deal with these things in as quick a fashion as possible."
The politics could be complicated, but the science of flood damage is pretty simple, said Jonathan Husch, professor of geological and environment sciences at Rider University.
"Streams flood," he said.
"That's what they're supposed to do."
People make it worse by building on floodplains, and control measures like levees can make flooding even worse downstream, he said.
"I feel for these people, I really do," Husch said.
"But the science side of me says, 'OK, how much of a hint do you need to get?'"
Corzine on Friday formally asked President Bush to declare a major disaster area in New Jersey.
His counterparts in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia have done the same, seeking federal aid for people hurt by flooding, and Bush declared eight Pennsylvania counties disaster areas Friday evening.
Scores of roads in the region were rendered impassable by flooding, but some had been reopened by Friday and government officials and travel experts predicted mostly minor headaches over the busy holiday weekend.
One exception was Interstate 88, where two truckers died this week after floodwaters ripped out the highway over a culvert.
In the nation's capital, a popular Independence Day destination, most museums, monuments, memorials and attractions that were closed after flooding early in the week have reopened.
In Philadelphia, however, the Independence Day regatta on the Schuylkill River was canceled for the first time in 126 years because of debris, high water and fast currents.
In Maryland, water continued to leak through the 65-foot-high earthen dam that holds back Lake Needwood in Rockville, but the water was receding and about 2,200 people who had been evacuated were allowed to return Thursday night.
The Delaware, which peaked Thursday evening in Trenton at just over 25 feet, was not expected to fall below flood stage -- about 19 feet -- until very early Saturday morning.
The city's water filtration system was restarted around 3 p.m. Friday and was operating normally, Mayor Douglas Palmer said Friday night.
The plant had been shut down Wednesday because of debris in the river.
"We have to continue to monitor the water filtration system because there's so much debris and sediment in the water, but it seems to be running OK," Palmer said.
Many residents along the river had no idea when their homes would be inhabitable again.
Even after the water was removed, electricity and gas still needed to be restored.
Matt Skrebel helped pump water from six Lambertville homes -- including his own.
He removed all the furniture and appliances he could before the flood, but couldn't stop the extensive damage to his basement and first floor.
"I just went through this last April, and it was a little over $30,000," Skrebel said.
He planned to replace his furnace, washer, dryer, carpeting and drywall yet again.
------
Associated Press writers Wayne Parry and Angela Delli Santi in Trenton, Michael Rubinkam in Easton, Pa., Mark Johnson in Albany, N.Y., and Stephen Manning in College Park, Md., contributed to this report.
end quotes
People who do stupid things ....
Like building homes ...
Where it floods ...
Should be congratualted ...
For the depth ...
And breadth ...
Of their stupidity ...
When the inevitable happens .....
And outside of that?
Well .....
Why does the government ...
Or anyone else for that matter ....
"OWE A DEBT" .....
To these people ...
Because they were stupid ...
And we were not?
By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press
Last updated: 1:11 a.m., Saturday, July 1, 2006
TRENTON, N.J. -- Even as they cleaned up the muck left behind by some of the Northeast's worst flooding in decades, some riverside residents wondered Friday how long it would be before they would be at it again.
Life along the swollen Delaware River was frustrating -- thousands evacuated, roads and bridges closed, utilities crippled and tens of millions of dollars in flood damage.
It was at times bizarre -- with a 4-foot alligator left behind in a Trenton apartment and foot-long carp flopping around on the streets of a nearby neighborhood.
But with storms having flooded many of the same homes and businesses in 2004 and 2005, there was a renewed call to finally do something about it.
"Our basement is destroyed -- again -- exactly what happened last time," Lambertville resident Dan Jacquemin said as he shined a flashlight at muddy water that still filled half his basement.
After touring areas along the Delaware, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine said he would take another look at flood task force report, released this year, that calls for redrawing maps to include more land in flood plains, further limiting development in those areas and having government buy out homes in especially flood-prone areas.
Upriver in Easton, Pa., residents along Bushkill Drive -- one of the most vulnerable blocks in the city, were similarly flood-weary.
Cliff Weasner hosed mud from his home's second floor as he motioned to a towering maple tree in his still-submerged back yard.
"That tree is probably worth more than my house," he lamented.
Buildings along the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers were among those battered worst by the this week's flooding, which forced tens of thousands to evacuate and left at least 20 people dead in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and Virginia.
"We should do what we can immediately ... to get people back to some degree of normalcy," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who toured some flooded areas Friday.
"But we've got to think about the longer-term picture, how we deal with these things in as quick a fashion as possible."
The politics could be complicated, but the science of flood damage is pretty simple, said Jonathan Husch, professor of geological and environment sciences at Rider University.
"Streams flood," he said.
"That's what they're supposed to do."
People make it worse by building on floodplains, and control measures like levees can make flooding even worse downstream, he said.
"I feel for these people, I really do," Husch said.
"But the science side of me says, 'OK, how much of a hint do you need to get?'"
Corzine on Friday formally asked President Bush to declare a major disaster area in New Jersey.
His counterparts in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia have done the same, seeking federal aid for people hurt by flooding, and Bush declared eight Pennsylvania counties disaster areas Friday evening.
Scores of roads in the region were rendered impassable by flooding, but some had been reopened by Friday and government officials and travel experts predicted mostly minor headaches over the busy holiday weekend.
One exception was Interstate 88, where two truckers died this week after floodwaters ripped out the highway over a culvert.
In the nation's capital, a popular Independence Day destination, most museums, monuments, memorials and attractions that were closed after flooding early in the week have reopened.
In Philadelphia, however, the Independence Day regatta on the Schuylkill River was canceled for the first time in 126 years because of debris, high water and fast currents.
In Maryland, water continued to leak through the 65-foot-high earthen dam that holds back Lake Needwood in Rockville, but the water was receding and about 2,200 people who had been evacuated were allowed to return Thursday night.
The Delaware, which peaked Thursday evening in Trenton at just over 25 feet, was not expected to fall below flood stage -- about 19 feet -- until very early Saturday morning.
The city's water filtration system was restarted around 3 p.m. Friday and was operating normally, Mayor Douglas Palmer said Friday night.
The plant had been shut down Wednesday because of debris in the river.
"We have to continue to monitor the water filtration system because there's so much debris and sediment in the water, but it seems to be running OK," Palmer said.
Many residents along the river had no idea when their homes would be inhabitable again.
Even after the water was removed, electricity and gas still needed to be restored.
Matt Skrebel helped pump water from six Lambertville homes -- including his own.
He removed all the furniture and appliances he could before the flood, but couldn't stop the extensive damage to his basement and first floor.
"I just went through this last April, and it was a little over $30,000," Skrebel said.
He planned to replace his furnace, washer, dryer, carpeting and drywall yet again.
------
Associated Press writers Wayne Parry and Angela Delli Santi in Trenton, Michael Rubinkam in Easton, Pa., Mark Johnson in Albany, N.Y., and Stephen Manning in College Park, Md., contributed to this report.
end quotes
People who do stupid things ....
Like building homes ...
Where it floods ...
Should be congratualted ...
For the depth ...
And breadth ...
Of their stupidity ...
When the inevitable happens .....
And outside of that?
Well .....
Why does the government ...
Or anyone else for that matter ....
"OWE A DEBT" .....
To these people ...
Because they were stupid ...
And we were not?
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 1 2006, 02:47 AM)
"Scientists dig up Ice Age bones in mid Los Angeles"
I'll be on the look-out for any paleontologists staring at me.
QUOTE(jeffmoskin @ Jul 1 2006, 09:56 AM)
I'll be on the look-out for any paleontologists staring at me.
Keep your ear-flaps down, jeffmoskin .....
And don't get mistaken ...
For a mastodon .....
Or a sabre-tooth cat .....
They'll have you caught ...
And in a museum ....
In a heartbeat ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 30 2006, 05:14 PM)
"Guantanamo ruling heralds US political showdown"
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president, who is struggling with the lowest poll ratings of his term mostly because of the unpopular Iraq war, and his political architect Karl Rove have played the national security card to successfully trump Democrats in previous elections.
Bush and Rove already have stepped up their attacks on Democrats in the past couple of weeks, accusing some of wanting to "cut and run" and "waving the white flag" in Iraq.
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president, who is struggling with the lowest poll ratings of his term mostly because of the unpopular Iraq war, and his political architect Karl Rove have played the national security card to successfully trump Democrats in previous elections.
Bush and Rove already have stepped up their attacks on Democrats in the past couple of weeks, accusing some of wanting to "cut and run" and "waving the white flag" in Iraq.
I was thinking on this earlier .....
And it came to me ...
That George W. Bush ...
Is the first American president .....
That I have ever heard ....
Who publicly gives ....
All the credit .....
For him being in the White House ....
To someone ....
Other than himself ...
And his own talents ....
And abilities .....
And so ....
George W. Bush ...
IS BEHOLDEN ....
To his POLITICAL ARCHITECT ....
KARL ROVE .....
For putting George W. Bush ....
In OUR WHITE HOUSE ....
And for making ...
George W. Bush ...
The COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ...
Of OUR United States military forces ....
And all the candid world ...
Should consider that relationship .....
In judging who is in control of things ...
Here in OUR America ...
Vis-a-vis this IRAQINAM WAR ...
And so ....
"Va. candidate Webb: GOP can't fix Iraq"
By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:46 p.m., Saturday, July 1, 2006
RICHMOND, Va. -- Neither President Bush nor the Republican-led Congress can extract the United States from a bloody quagmire of their own making in Iraq, said a former Republican who is seeking a Senate seat in Virginia.
Democrat Jim Webb, who was President Reagan's Navy secretary in 1987-88, said he knows from his own past as one of the Vietnam War's most decorated Marines how to "bring the Iraq War to an early and honorable end."
Webb bolted the GOP in 2003 over Bush's decision to invade Iraq and this year announced he would challenge Republican Sen. George Allen, a conservative former governor who's exploring a 2008 White House bid.
Opposition to the war is a cornerstone of Webb's campaign.
"I have believed strongly that when things aren't working well, it is the responsibility of our leaders to admit it, and to fix the problem," Webb said Saturday in the Democrats' weekly radio address.
"Some say that speaking out against a war is disloyal to the troops."
"Whoever says that should consider what it's like to be a troop, wishing someone would speak the truth."
Webb said the Republicans are no more able today to wrap up the military entanglement in Iraq than the Democrats and President Truman could disengage U.S. forces from Korea in 1952.
It took a change of parties and the election of war hero Dwight Eisenhower to bring the troops home then, he said, and the same is true now.
"I'm reminded of another time, with a leader who truly understood war," Webb said.
"He claimed that 'the old administration cannot be expected to repair what it failed to prevent.'"
Webb said the open-ended commitment to Iraq must end to enable the military to battle terrorism globally and give it "the mobility to confront the other strategic challenges, such as the threat of an emerging China."
Allen's campaign says Webb has offered widely conflicting views on how and when to withdraw from Iraq and claims Webb would back a "cut-and-run" strategy similar to that offered by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a Webb supporter.
In Missouri last week, Bush accused Democrats of waving "the white flag of surrender" and insisted he will keep combat forces in Iraq as long as they are needed to achieve victory.
Webb's radio remarks capped a week of searing rhetoric between Webb and Allen's campaign over a constitutional flag-burning ban that the Senate killed Tuesday.
Allen supported the amendment and criticized Webb for opposing it.
That brought a scathing reply from Webb's campaign describing Allen a coward who sat out the Vietnam War "playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada."
Webb has begun referring to Allen using the middle name he is known to detest: Felix.
Webb is the first Democratic Senate challenger this year to offer the party's weekly radio address, said Phil Singer of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Webb won a rare preprimary endorsement last month from the DSCC and its chairman, New York Sen. Charles Schumer.
Both parties have targeted the Webb-Allen race as one of the nation's most competitive, and as an off-year test of Bush's policies and popularity.
------
On the Net:
Jim Webb: http://www.webbforsenate.com/
George Allen: http://www.georgeallen.com/
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 30 2006, 04:55 PM)
"5 GIs being investigated in 4 Iraq deaths"
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
Some of the five soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
BEIJI, Iraq - The U.S. Army will investigate charges that five American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday.
It's the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
Some of the five soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jun 30 2006, 05:14 PM)
"Guantanamo ruling heralds US political showdown"
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president, who is struggling with the lowest poll ratings of his term mostly because of the unpopular Iraq war, and his political architect Karl Rove have played the national security card to successfully trump Democrats in previous elections.
Bush and Rove already have stepped up their attacks on Democrats in the past couple of weeks, accusing some of wanting to "cut and run" and "waving the white flag" in Iraq.
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The president, who is struggling with the lowest poll ratings of his term mostly because of the unpopular Iraq war, and his political architect Karl Rove have played the national security card to successfully trump Democrats in previous elections.
Bush and Rove already have stepped up their attacks on Democrats in the past couple of weeks, accusing some of wanting to "cut and run" and "waving the white flag" in Iraq.
CUT, GEORGE?
AND RUN?
FROM WHAT?
FROM WHAT, GEORGE?
What on earth are you talking about, George?
CUT AND RUN FROM WHAT?
THE RAPES?
THE MURDERS?
THAT YOUR TROOPS ARE COMMITTING, GEORGE?
Or do you even know what you are talking about .........
Other than ...
It is what Karl Rove told you to say .....
And so ...
You do ...
MINDLESSLY .....
Because Karl said you should do that .....
To beat the Democrats ...
EXCEPT ...
Karl is a fool, George .....
And you are too ...
For listening to him ...
And so ....
GET IT IN YOUR HEAD, GEORGE ...
THERE ISN'T ANYTHING .....
TO CUT AND RUN FROM ....
THERE IS JUST A GREAT BIG MESS ...
OF YOUR MAKING ...
THAT WILL NEVER GET BETTER ...
WHILE OUR AMERICAN TROOPS ...
REMAIN ...
WHERE THEY NO LONGER HAVE BUSINESS BEING ...
And so ....
WAKE UP, GEORGE ...
Wake up and look around .....
At the MESS ....
You have made ...
Of people's lives ...
Over there in Iraq .....
And realize ...
THAT IT IS OVER, GEORGE ...
OVER .....
IT IS NOT YOUR COUNTRY .....
AND THOSE PEOPLE ARE NOT YOUR SUBJECTS ...
And so ....
STOP SUBJUGATING THEM, GEORGE ...
Get out of their lives ...
Where you don't belong ...
Just like you don't belong ....
SNOOPING AROUND ....
In OURS ....
And so .....
CUT AND RUN .....
WHAT A CROCK!
And so ......
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 1 2006, 03:57 PM)
CUT, GEORGE?
AND RUN?
FROM WHAT?
FROM WHAT, GEORGE?
What on earth are you talking about, George?
CUT AND RUN FROM WHAT?
THE RAPES?
THE MURDERS?
THAT YOUR TROOPS ARE COMMITTING, GEORGE?
Or do you even know what you are talking about .........
Other than ...
It is what Karl Rove told you to say .....
And so ...
You do ...
MINDLESSLY .....
Because Karl said you should do that .....
AND RUN?
FROM WHAT?
FROM WHAT, GEORGE?
What on earth are you talking about, George?
CUT AND RUN FROM WHAT?
THE RAPES?
THE MURDERS?
THAT YOUR TROOPS ARE COMMITTING, GEORGE?
Or do you even know what you are talking about .........
Other than ...
It is what Karl Rove told you to say .....
And so ...
You do ...
MINDLESSLY .....
Because Karl said you should do that .....
"GOP candidates in N.Y. turn on each other"
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 1, 9:31 AM ET
NEW YORK - The Clintons are no strangers to political soap opera, yet all the drama in New York revolves around the Republicans.
Accusations of bigamy and child abuse, illegitimate children and a tabloid description of one candidate curled in the fetal position after downing half a pint of ice cream sound like top-rated, daytime fiction.
Instead, it's the GOP Senate primary between a former Yonkers mayor, John Spencer, and a Reagan-era Pentagon official, Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland.
On top of a vivid clash of ideologies and social class, the two have given New Yorkers more than the usual amount of political theater.
Above all the drama is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is spending most of her time on Senate business and laying the groundwork for a possible 2008 presidential run.
The Democrat has more than $19 million in the bank and a comfortable, double-digit lead over the underfunded Spencer and McFarland in statewide polls.
With the state's GOP standard-bearer, Gov. George Pataki, stepping down this year, Republicans have struggled to identify promising candidates for statewide office.
Pataki's handpicked choice to challenge Clinton, former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, was forced to abandon the race after an embarrassing set of missteps and is running for attorney general instead.
Still, GOP operative Nelson Warfield said the Spencer-McFarland spectacle doesn't necessarily indicate a full-bore Republican collapse in the state.
"Primaries are often ugly and unusual contests," Warfield said.
"The ultimate test is in November, and we'll know for sure how strong the party is then."
Spencer, 59, a tough-talking conservative, was elected mayor of Yonkers in 1996 and served two terms.
He attracted controversy as mayor when he fathered two children with his chief of staff while still married to his first wife.
He has since divorced that wife and married the staffer.
McFarland, 54, has lived for 20 years in a Park Avenue duplex with her husband, an investment banker.
She has been criticized for telling a campaign audience that Clinton had sent helicopters to spy on her.
She claimed she was joking, but the remark seemed more bizarre than funny.
Tabloid newspapers began calling her "Kooky KT."
McFarland told a columnist last week that the helicopter hubbub nearly did her in.
"I sat in a ratty old robe, tears spilling down my face," McFarland told the New York Post's Cindy Adams.
"I killed off half a pint of ice cream."
"Next morning I was in a fetal position."
Throughout the campaign, Spencer has derided McFarland as a "liberal elitist" and mocked her upper-crust pedigree.
McFarland has relied on her pugilistic strategist, veteran operative Ed Rollins, to respond in kind.
In a recent New York magazine article, Rollins appeared to scoff at Spencer's service in the Vietnam War.
"There were so many guys getting killed in Vietnam that it wasn't so difficult (for Spencer to be made first lieutenant) and it wasn't so difficult to get a Bronze Star," Rollins was quoted as saying.
He later claimed the magazine misquoted him.
Earlier in the campaign, Rollins trashed the candidate's unconventional marital history.
"He runs around saying 'I'm a good Catholic.'"
"... That's bigamy where I come from," Rollins said in a television interview.
He also called Spencer's children with his former aide "illegitimate."
This week, McFarland's campaign was roiled by controversy after she went public with allegations that she had been beaten and whipped as a child by her father.
She made the disclosure after New York magazine published excerpts of a letter she sent to her parents in 1992, in which she said her father's abusive behavior had driven her gay brother into a sexually reckless lifestyle that led to his death from AIDS.
"This was the single most intimate thing I'd ever written in my life," McFarland said in an interview with The Associated Press, apparently mystified that the campaign had stripped her of so much privacy.
Her father, Augie Troia, denied McFarland's allegations after a New York Post reporter visited his Wisconsin home.
"You know darn well I never did any of that," Troia, 80, said in Friday's New York Post.
For her part, Clinton has had nothing to say about the Spencer-McFarland melodrama.
"My job is not to be a political commentator," she said.
"Kerry faces hard road in presidential bid"
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:56 p.m., Saturday, July 1, 2006
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Seeking the presidency is harder the second time around.
As the race for 2008 builds, Democratic Sen. John Kerry has left little doubt about his intentions to try again after his narrow loss to President Bush in 2004.
He isn't the only also-ran considering another marathon.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has the look of a White House hopeful.
Three Democrats -- 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware -- sound a lot like presidential candidates; Al Gore, the Democrats' nominee in 2000, says he has all but ruled out running for president in 2008.
Kerry faces a challenge of major proportions, convincing Democratic activists that a candidate who just lost an election can still carry his party's White House hopes.
"I think the Democratic Party, unlike the Republican Party, has had a historic reluctance to give people a second chance," said Democratic activist Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer who was chairman of Kerry's 2004 campaign in Iowa.
It's rare when Democrats give the nomination to a candidate who just failed.
Adlai Stevenson got a second chance against President Eisenhower in 1956, but many suspect that Democrats were pessimistic about the odds of unseating a popular president.
Their doubts were realized when Stevenson lost again.
Republicans, on the other hand, are more willing to give their nominees another try.
Richard M. Nixon lost the presidency in 1960 and won the White House in 1968.
Bob Dole sought his party's nomination in 1980 and 1988.
He secured the GOP nod in 1996 but lost the general election to President Clinton.
Dole said the climb gets steeper on the next try.
"I think the advantage is the first time you are fresh and new to a lot of people and they haven't formed a judgment about you," the former Kansas senator said.
"The second time around, some people might say he's had his chance, we need a new face."
Kerry's allies acknowledge the struggle but are unwilling to give up the cause.
"Historically, the Democratic Party has tended to shoot its wounded," said former New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Joe Keefe.
"John Kerry has done everything within his power to rewrite that chapter."
The Massachusetts senator has raised nearly $9 million for candidates and the party and has campaigned actively across the country.
In statements the party's liberal base has welcomed, Kerry has said he was wrong to vote for the Iraq war resolution in 2002 and has called for an end to the conflict.
The Vietnam War veteran also has come out in favor of a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
But he got precious little support, even among fellow Democrats, in recent Senate debate.
The amendment failed 86-13 and Kerry's push for the measure frustrated some in the party leadership.
Kerry has made three trips to Iowa.
The state's caucuses launch the nominating season and Kerry's surprising victory in January 2004 propelled him to the nomination.
Attitudes have changed among state Democrats, with a recent Des Moines Register poll putting Kerry a distant third behind 2004 running mate Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Democratic consultant and Kerry ally Jenny Backus said Kerry must overcome "the Democratic curse" of dismissing losing candidates, no matter how well they perform.
"He has grown from the devastation of the last election," said former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia.
"A lot of people who are reacting to Kerry are reacting to the Kerry of '04."
Kerry, who raised $233 million as a presidential candidate, had about $15 million left after the November 2004 election.
That was a sore point with many Democrats who questioned why he did not spend it all to unseat Bush.
Kerry gave about $3 million of that money to various Democratic committees and spent about $2 million to buy the e-mail donor list from his campaign.
After covering various campaign debts, he had millions left and has been adding to his accounts since then.
As Kerry moves to involve himself in the next campaign, some point to the flaws in his last run as evidence he shouldn't be the standard bearer again.
"I think he has to make an argument that he could do better than he did in 2004," said Democratic strategist Jeff Link, who is consulting with the political action committee of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a potential Kerry rival.
"We had an unpopular president who had launched an unpopular war and Democrats were as motivated as I've ever seen them, but he couldn't close the sale."
"I think that's going to give a lot of Democrats pause," Link said.
John Norris, who managed Kerry's campaign in Iowa and ran his field operations in the general election, said candidates learn valuable lessons in a national campaign that could be put to use in a second bid.
Sadly, he said, voters do not see it that way.
"That sentiment you talked about is really strong out there," Norris said.
"You know, 'He's had his chance.'"
"I think that's shortsighted."
Link said there is an inherent reluctance to give a candidate a second chance, regardless of how well they performed.
He worked for Gore during the disputed 2000 election.
"I was a very strong supporter of Al Gore and when he sort of put his toes in the water in 2004 he didn't find the support I think he had hoped for," Link said.
"And he had arguably won the 2000 election."
Veteran Democratic strategist Ron Parker said it isn't a very complicated set of dynamics.
"For most folks, Kerry's selling point was less about ideology, about experience, it was the fact that he was the most electable candidate," Parker said.
"It turns out that wasn't true and that opens the door for somebody new in 2008."
Crawford, a close ally of Bill Clinton, said electability is critical to the Democrats.
"We, as a party, are going to get to January of 2008 and take a look at the national landscape."
"And if it looks like Hillary Clinton can win a general election, the great possibility is she will be our nominee," Crawford said.
"If we get to January of 2008 and it looks like she can't win a general election, then it's open season and we'll go from there."
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:56 p.m., Saturday, July 1, 2006
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Seeking the presidency is harder the second time around.
As the race for 2008 builds, Democratic Sen. John Kerry has left little doubt about his intentions to try again after his narrow loss to President Bush in 2004.
He isn't the only also-ran considering another marathon.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has the look of a White House hopeful.
Three Democrats -- 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware -- sound a lot like presidential candidates; Al Gore, the Democrats' nominee in 2000, says he has all but ruled out running for president in 2008.
Kerry faces a challenge of major proportions, convincing Democratic activists that a candidate who just lost an election can still carry his party's White House hopes.
"I think the Democratic Party, unlike the Republican Party, has had a historic reluctance to give people a second chance," said Democratic activist Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer who was chairman of Kerry's 2004 campaign in Iowa.
It's rare when Democrats give the nomination to a candidate who just failed.
Adlai Stevenson got a second chance against President Eisenhower in 1956, but many suspect that Democrats were pessimistic about the odds of unseating a popular president.
Their doubts were realized when Stevenson lost again.
Republicans, on the other hand, are more willing to give their nominees another try.
Richard M. Nixon lost the presidency in 1960 and won the White House in 1968.
Bob Dole sought his party's nomination in 1980 and 1988.
He secured the GOP nod in 1996 but lost the general election to President Clinton.
Dole said the climb gets steeper on the next try.
"I think the advantage is the first time you are fresh and new to a lot of people and they haven't formed a judgment about you," the former Kansas senator said.
"The second time around, some people might say he's had his chance, we need a new face."
Kerry's allies acknowledge the struggle but are unwilling to give up the cause.
"Historically, the Democratic Party has tended to shoot its wounded," said former New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Joe Keefe.
"John Kerry has done everything within his power to rewrite that chapter."
The Massachusetts senator has raised nearly $9 million for candidates and the party and has campaigned actively across the country.
In statements the party's liberal base has welcomed, Kerry has said he was wrong to vote for the Iraq war resolution in 2002 and has called for an end to the conflict.
The Vietnam War veteran also has come out in favor of a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
But he got precious little support, even among fellow Democrats, in recent Senate debate.
The amendment failed 86-13 and Kerry's push for the measure frustrated some in the party leadership.
Kerry has made three trips to Iowa.
The state's caucuses launch the nominating season and Kerry's surprising victory in January 2004 propelled him to the nomination.
Attitudes have changed among state Democrats, with a recent Des Moines Register poll putting Kerry a distant third behind 2004 running mate Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Democratic consultant and Kerry ally Jenny Backus said Kerry must overcome "the Democratic curse" of dismissing losing candidates, no matter how well they perform.
"He has grown from the devastation of the last election," said former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia.
"A lot of people who are reacting to Kerry are reacting to the Kerry of '04."
Kerry, who raised $233 million as a presidential candidate, had about $15 million left after the November 2004 election.
That was a sore point with many Democrats who questioned why he did not spend it all to unseat Bush.
Kerry gave about $3 million of that money to various Democratic committees and spent about $2 million to buy the e-mail donor list from his campaign.
After covering various campaign debts, he had millions left and has been adding to his accounts since then.
As Kerry moves to involve himself in the next campaign, some point to the flaws in his last run as evidence he shouldn't be the standard bearer again.
"I think he has to make an argument that he could do better than he did in 2004," said Democratic strategist Jeff Link, who is consulting with the political action committee of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a potential Kerry rival.
"We had an unpopular president who had launched an unpopular war and Democrats were as motivated as I've ever seen them, but he couldn't close the sale."
"I think that's going to give a lot of Democrats pause," Link said.
John Norris, who managed Kerry's campaign in Iowa and ran his field operations in the general election, said candidates learn valuable lessons in a national campaign that could be put to use in a second bid.
Sadly, he said, voters do not see it that way.
"That sentiment you talked about is really strong out there," Norris said.
"You know, 'He's had his chance.'"
"I think that's shortsighted."
Link said there is an inherent reluctance to give a candidate a second chance, regardless of how well they performed.
He worked for Gore during the disputed 2000 election.
"I was a very strong supporter of Al Gore and when he sort of put his toes in the water in 2004 he didn't find the support I think he had hoped for," Link said.
"And he had arguably won the 2000 election."
Veteran Democratic strategist Ron Parker said it isn't a very complicated set of dynamics.
"For most folks, Kerry's selling point was less about ideology, about experience, it was the fact that he was the most electable candidate," Parker said.
"It turns out that wasn't true and that opens the door for somebody new in 2008."
Crawford, a close ally of Bill Clinton, said electability is critical to the Democrats.
"We, as a party, are going to get to January of 2008 and take a look at the national landscape."
"And if it looks like Hillary Clinton can win a general election, the great possibility is she will be our nominee," Crawford said.
"If we get to January of 2008 and it looks like she can't win a general election, then it's open season and we'll go from there."
And from now ...
We go back to "then" .....
For a moment ....
To the days .....
Before there was ...
An "OUR America" .....
And so ....
"Artifacts recall Arnold's heroism - Divers comb lake to find relics from Revolutionary War's Battle of Valcour Island"
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
PERU -- Gen. Benedict Arnold led a "wretched, motley" crew of sailors on Lake Champlain against a far superior British fleet near here on Oct. 11, 1776.
The rebels lost.
But their dogged fight delayed British movement south for a year, when they would be defeated in the Battles of Saratoga.
Historians today consider the Battle of Valcour Island a "victory in defeat" that gave Colonial forces a chance to win at Saratoga -- and eventually win the Revolutionary War.
Divers who have spent the last seven years combing the lake bottom in search of "battlefield scatter" from the pivotal fight pulled up dozens of artifacts this week.
They displayed them by the shores of the battle site Friday: cannon fragments, solid iron cannonballs, a brass powder scoop, a trigger guard, spectacles, bombs.
"The battlefield objects unveiled here today are tangible connections to the people and times when the concepts of liberty, independence, insurgency and freedom were being debated and defined by this country," said Art Cohn, executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vt.
The museum, a partner in the Valcour Bay Research Project, will begin exhibiting the artifacts Saturday.
A first peek was given during a lakeside ceremony across from Valcour Island.
The jewel among the finds is a cannon from a Colonial gunboat called the New York.
The cannon exploded -- no one knows why -- sending fragments flying into the water and killing a lieutenant named Thomas Rogers.
Portions of the gun were found a few years ago.
Divers have now recovered three more fragments, allowing them to jigsaw the pieces together.
They also have discovered a heavily oxidized sword nearby with the tip broken off that "may well have been Thomas Rogers' sword," said Adam Kane, an archaeologist with the museum.
Most people working on the project are volunteers, including one of the lead divers, Ed Scollon.
The finds so far come from where the Colonial ships lined up for battle, though divers hope to work their way to the British line.
Had Arnold died in the Battle of Valcour, he would be famous mostly for cunning and bravery, instead of treachery.
He took on the bigger British boats in a narrow straight that made it difficult for them to maneuver.
Pummeled by the British fleet all day, Arnold sneaked his boats past them that night in a retreat.
The British gave chase the next morning.
Arnold burned some of his boats to keep them out of British hands and led hundreds of men to Fort Ticonderoga on foot.
By the time fighting was over, snow was falling.
The British, fatefully, paused their campaign for the winter.
Arnold stalled the British attempt to take the Hudson Valley and cut the Colonies in two.
"His battle plan was brilliant," Scollon said.
We go back to "then" .....
For a moment ....
To the days .....
Before there was ...
An "OUR America" .....
And so ....
"Artifacts recall Arnold's heroism - Divers comb lake to find relics from Revolutionary War's Battle of Valcour Island"
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
PERU -- Gen. Benedict Arnold led a "wretched, motley" crew of sailors on Lake Champlain against a far superior British fleet near here on Oct. 11, 1776.
The rebels lost.
But their dogged fight delayed British movement south for a year, when they would be defeated in the Battles of Saratoga.
Historians today consider the Battle of Valcour Island a "victory in defeat" that gave Colonial forces a chance to win at Saratoga -- and eventually win the Revolutionary War.
Divers who have spent the last seven years combing the lake bottom in search of "battlefield scatter" from the pivotal fight pulled up dozens of artifacts this week.
They displayed them by the shores of the battle site Friday: cannon fragments, solid iron cannonballs, a brass powder scoop, a trigger guard, spectacles, bombs.
"The battlefield objects unveiled here today are tangible connections to the people and times when the concepts of liberty, independence, insurgency and freedom were being debated and defined by this country," said Art Cohn, executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vt.
The museum, a partner in the Valcour Bay Research Project, will begin exhibiting the artifacts Saturday.
A first peek was given during a lakeside ceremony across from Valcour Island.
The jewel among the finds is a cannon from a Colonial gunboat called the New York.
The cannon exploded -- no one knows why -- sending fragments flying into the water and killing a lieutenant named Thomas Rogers.
Portions of the gun were found a few years ago.
Divers have now recovered three more fragments, allowing them to jigsaw the pieces together.
They also have discovered a heavily oxidized sword nearby with the tip broken off that "may well have been Thomas Rogers' sword," said Adam Kane, an archaeologist with the museum.
Most people working on the project are volunteers, including one of the lead divers, Ed Scollon.
The finds so far come from where the Colonial ships lined up for battle, though divers hope to work their way to the British line.
Had Arnold died in the Battle of Valcour, he would be famous mostly for cunning and bravery, instead of treachery.
He took on the bigger British boats in a narrow straight that made it difficult for them to maneuver.
Pummeled by the British fleet all day, Arnold sneaked his boats past them that night in a retreat.
The British gave chase the next morning.
Arnold burned some of his boats to keep them out of British hands and led hundreds of men to Fort Ticonderoga on foot.
By the time fighting was over, snow was falling.
The British, fatefully, paused their campaign for the winter.
Arnold stalled the British attempt to take the Hudson Valley and cut the Colonies in two.
"His battle plan was brilliant," Scollon said.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 2 2006, 05:36 AM)
"Artifacts recall Arnold's heroism - Divers comb lake to find relics from Revolutionary War's Battle of Valcour Island"
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
PERU -- "The battlefield objects unveiled here today are tangible connections to the people and times when the concepts of liberty, independence, insurgency and freedom were being debated and defined by this country," said Art Cohn, executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vt.
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
PERU -- "The battlefield objects unveiled here today are tangible connections to the people and times when the concepts of liberty, independence, insurgency and freedom were being debated and defined by this country," said Art Cohn, executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vt.
And from then .....
In the early days of OUR American history .....
When the concepts .....
OF LIBERTY ....
INDEPENDENCE ....
INSURGENCY ...
AND FREEDOM ....
Were being debated ...
AND DEFINED ....
By this country ....
We come forward in time .....
TO WHEN ....
THE CONCEPTS ...
OF LIBERTY ....
INDEPENDENCE ....
INSURGENCY ...
AND FREEDOM ....
FROM GEORGE W. BUSH'S TYRANNY ....
And debasement of humanity ...
ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN ....
Are now being debated .....
For further definition ....
BY THE PEOPLE OF IRAQINAM ....
AS IS THEIR RIGHT ...
AS FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS ....
On this planet of OURS ...
And so .....
"Muslim group condemns reports of U.S. rape"
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An influential Sunni organization in Iraq said Sunday that allegations U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family were "a sign of shame to the American invaders."
U.S. officials have said a group of American soldiers entered the home of a Sunni family in the insurgent-ridden town of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, raped and killed the woman, then set fire to her body and killed three of her family members in an apparent cover-up attempt.
The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars condemned the alleged crimes and said "raping this girl then mutilating her is shameful and will remain as a sign of shame to American invaders."
The allegations threaten to stoke public anger in the wake of a series of other cases of U.S. troops accused of killing and abusing Iraqi civilians, although Iraqi media have so far paid little attention to the case.
The U.S. military has stressed it is taking the allegations seriously and a criminal investigation has been launched to determine who should stand trial.
"We can't undo anything that has happened, but we can and will hold accountable anybody found guilty of offenses," military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said in an e-mail.
"Before that happens, we must be given time to conduct a thorough investigation into the facts of what occurred," he said.
"The rule of law will prevail in this incident."
Iraq is a conservative, strongly religious society where many women are sheltered from contacts with males who are not family members.
"The mean behavior and terrible violations committed by the invaders show the truth of the ugly American face and shows that their claims of supporting humanity and liberation are false," said the Sunni association, a strong critic of U.S.-led efforts in Iraq.
"We call the world and all humanitarian organizations as witnesses to this ugly crime and urge them to face the American recklessness that went way too far," it added.
U.S. officials investigating the case said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died as a result of sectarian violence.
A local police official, Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman, said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that American soldiers had killed the family in the Khasir Abyad district about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya.
end quotes
IT IS ...
A REAL SIGN ...
OF THE TIMES ...
THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN ...
OR ME, ANYWAY ......
THAT WE ...
THE GREATEST COUNTRY ....
ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, ALLEGEDLY, ANYWAY ....
HAVE TO BE REMINDED ...
THAT RAPING ....
AND KILLING ...
YOUNG WOMEN ...
IS FAR BEYOND MERELY SHAMEFUL ....
BY SOME PEOPLE ...
OVER IN IRAQ .....
INSTEAD OF BY THIS NATION'S LEADERSHIP ...
WHICH ALWAYS REMAINS MUTE ....
AND INDIFFERENT .....
ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS ...
TO THESE WOMEN ...
AND GIRLS .....
And so ....
"Roosevelt, Wilson and today's war in Iraq"
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson don't bestride American history with the grandeur of George Washington.
They aren't credited with giving new life to the American Dream, like Abraham Lincoln.
With their granny glasses and watch fobs, they seem the product of an era of affectation; and, indeed, few political leaders cultivated their images more vainly than did Roosevelt and Wilson.
But this year, with the Fourth of July here, it is T.R. and Wilson -- not the Founding Fathers or the Great Emancipator -- who are being brought to mind in books, magazine covers and essays.
"We're all Wilsonians now," announced columnist Jonah Goldberg recently.
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
Meanwhile, Oxford Press last month issued the paperback edition of John B. Judis' book, "The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson."
Roosevelt and Wilson are the men of the hour because the war in Iraq so perfectly combines Roosevelt's big-stick approach to forcing smaller countries into line and Wilson's idealistic dream of promoting democracy.
Roosevelt and Wilson truly hated each other, probably more than any other two former presidents, but the Iraq war is clearly their turbulent, angry child.
Although the amiable, walruslike William Howard Taft served four years in the White House between Roosevelt and Wilson, the two self-styled Great Men dominated the first two decades of the 20th century.
It was an eventful two decades.
The Industrial Revolution had created wealth, but also great tension and disparities.
Neither Roosevelt nor Wilson put much faith in the businessmen of their era.
Instead, each used the levers of government to rein in the excesses of capitalism -- and can each be considered the fathers of modern liberalism just as easily as the fathers of modern neoconservatism.
But each also advocated for a strong U.S. presence in the world.
Roosevelt created the modern U.S. Navy to assert American power overseas.
A famous world-traveling big-game hunter, Roosevelt was fascinated by other cultures.
But he also viewed other nations as inferior to the United States, in somewhat the same way that the statesmen of Edwardian Britain assumed a parent-child view of the world.
During his years in power, Roosevelt was often accused of adventurism overseas; the U.S. ran the governments of Cuba and the Philippines, and the Panama Canal was cut through Central America due to his boundless aggressiveness.
Wilson also believed in American greatness and exceptionalism, but was less interested in running roughshod over the world; instead, he believed that American ideas should do the job for him, building a world in America's image.
Wilson's administration covered World War I, during which the monarchies of Europe turned on each other in a conflict so bloody and senseless that few could argue against the idea that an American-style government might be preferable.
Wilson knew he couldn't establish democracy everywhere; rather, his goal was to make the world "safe for democracy" by promoting a League of Nations to conduct diplomacy in an atmosphere of democratic idealism.
The president sailed triumphantly to Paris to help supervise the peace conference that would carve up the world; much of the carving centered on the Middle East and Africa, and the disputed boundaries of 1919 set the stage for many wars in the centuries that followed.
Iraq was cut out of the former Ottoman Empire and served up to Britain like a piece of meat.
The reasons for this -- balancing power with France, and creating an open air route to India -- may have seemed vital at the time, but the folly of creating a country with warring ethnic groups remains evident today.
Now, Bush is committing himself to Wilsonian principles -- or at least to what history considers Wilsonian principles -- in endeavoring to build a democracy in Iraq.
But there are other lessons to be taken from the Paris Peace Conference.
"There is danger, it seems to me, for great powers in looking outwards from their great capitals at the world and imagining all the things you might do," said Margaret MacMillan, a prominent historian of the 1919 conference, in a lecture in 2003, near the start of the Iraq war.
"The pieces out there in the rest of the world, however, are not as malleable as you might like and ordering them about may not be as easy as you think."
Peter S. Canellos writes for The Boston Globe.
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson don't bestride American history with the grandeur of George Washington.
They aren't credited with giving new life to the American Dream, like Abraham Lincoln.
With their granny glasses and watch fobs, they seem the product of an era of affectation; and, indeed, few political leaders cultivated their images more vainly than did Roosevelt and Wilson.
But this year, with the Fourth of July here, it is T.R. and Wilson -- not the Founding Fathers or the Great Emancipator -- who are being brought to mind in books, magazine covers and essays.
"We're all Wilsonians now," announced columnist Jonah Goldberg recently.
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
Meanwhile, Oxford Press last month issued the paperback edition of John B. Judis' book, "The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson."
Roosevelt and Wilson are the men of the hour because the war in Iraq so perfectly combines Roosevelt's big-stick approach to forcing smaller countries into line and Wilson's idealistic dream of promoting democracy.
Roosevelt and Wilson truly hated each other, probably more than any other two former presidents, but the Iraq war is clearly their turbulent, angry child.
Although the amiable, walruslike William Howard Taft served four years in the White House between Roosevelt and Wilson, the two self-styled Great Men dominated the first two decades of the 20th century.
It was an eventful two decades.
The Industrial Revolution had created wealth, but also great tension and disparities.
Neither Roosevelt nor Wilson put much faith in the businessmen of their era.
Instead, each used the levers of government to rein in the excesses of capitalism -- and can each be considered the fathers of modern liberalism just as easily as the fathers of modern neoconservatism.
But each also advocated for a strong U.S. presence in the world.
Roosevelt created the modern U.S. Navy to assert American power overseas.
A famous world-traveling big-game hunter, Roosevelt was fascinated by other cultures.
But he also viewed other nations as inferior to the United States, in somewhat the same way that the statesmen of Edwardian Britain assumed a parent-child view of the world.
During his years in power, Roosevelt was often accused of adventurism overseas; the U.S. ran the governments of Cuba and the Philippines, and the Panama Canal was cut through Central America due to his boundless aggressiveness.
Wilson also believed in American greatness and exceptionalism, but was less interested in running roughshod over the world; instead, he believed that American ideas should do the job for him, building a world in America's image.
Wilson's administration covered World War I, during which the monarchies of Europe turned on each other in a conflict so bloody and senseless that few could argue against the idea that an American-style government might be preferable.
Wilson knew he couldn't establish democracy everywhere; rather, his goal was to make the world "safe for democracy" by promoting a League of Nations to conduct diplomacy in an atmosphere of democratic idealism.
The president sailed triumphantly to Paris to help supervise the peace conference that would carve up the world; much of the carving centered on the Middle East and Africa, and the disputed boundaries of 1919 set the stage for many wars in the centuries that followed.
Iraq was cut out of the former Ottoman Empire and served up to Britain like a piece of meat.
The reasons for this -- balancing power with France, and creating an open air route to India -- may have seemed vital at the time, but the folly of creating a country with warring ethnic groups remains evident today.
Now, Bush is committing himself to Wilsonian principles -- or at least to what history considers Wilsonian principles -- in endeavoring to build a democracy in Iraq.
But there are other lessons to be taken from the Paris Peace Conference.
"There is danger, it seems to me, for great powers in looking outwards from their great capitals at the world and imagining all the things you might do," said Margaret MacMillan, a prominent historian of the 1919 conference, in a lecture in 2003, near the start of the Iraq war.
"The pieces out there in the rest of the world, however, are not as malleable as you might like and ordering them about may not be as easy as you think."
Peter S. Canellos writes for The Boston Globe.
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 2 2006, 06:23 AM)
"Roosevelt, Wilson and today's war in Iraq"
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
Teddy Roosevelt ....
IS DEAD .....
For quite some time, now, actually ......
So far as I know, anyway .....
And I think I would ....
Being from up here ...
Where I am ...
For as long as I have been .....
BECAUSE IF TEDDY ROOSEVELT ......
WERE STILL AROUND .....
IT IS MY BET .....
THAT IT WOULD BE ALL OVER THE NEWS .....
OLD TEDDY ROOSEVELT ...
CLEANING UP CORRUPTION ...
DOWN THERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. .....
BY GIVING ....
KARL ROVE ....
A GREAT BIG BOOT ....
RIGHT IN THE *** ....
TO ENCOURAGE KARL .....
TO GET HIS ACT ....
ALL HIS LIES ....
ALL HIS DECEITS ....
OUT OF THE PEOPLE'S TOWN ....
OF WASHINGTON, D.C. ......
And so ...
THAT IS THE LESSON .....
THAT KARL ROVE WOULD LEARN .....
FROM OLD TEDDY ROOSEVELT ....
IF TEDDY ....
WERE STILL AROUND ....
KEEP TELLING LIES ....
TO THE PEOPLE ...
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVE ...
IS GOING TO COME ....
AND KICK YOUR *** FOR IT .....
And so .....
And not only could Teddy Roosevelt do that .....
If he had to ...
If it was the necessary thing to do ...
That moment ....
Well, old Teddy Roosevelt .....
Wouldn't mewl ....
And whine ....
And cry ...
OR LIE ....
He would ...
GET IT DONE .....
AND GET IT GONE ....
Right then and there ...
Right in front of everybody .....
And in the other person's face ....
Not creeping ...
And crawling ...
Around ...
Behind people's backs ...
As Karl does .....
Doing them dirt ...
Through a host of surrogate liars .....
That form the CORE ...
Or CORPS ....
Of Karl Rove's POWER ....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 2 2006, 02:27 PM)
And so ...
THAT IS THE LESSON .....
THAT KARL ROVE WOULD LEARN .....
FROM OLD TEDDY ROOSEVELT ....
IF TEDDY ....
WERE STILL AROUND ....
KEEP TELLING LIES ....
TO THE PEOPLE ...
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVE ...
IS GOING TO COME ....
AND KICK YOUR *** FOR IT .....
And so .....
THAT IS THE LESSON .....
THAT KARL ROVE WOULD LEARN .....
FROM OLD TEDDY ROOSEVELT ....
IF TEDDY ....
WERE STILL AROUND ....
KEEP TELLING LIES ....
TO THE PEOPLE ...
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVE ...
IS GOING TO COME ....
AND KICK YOUR *** FOR IT .....
And so .....
People never think about it ....
But before he went to Washington, D.C. .....
Which is where most people know him from ....
Teddy Roosevelt .....
Was an Assemblyman up here .....
In the corrupt State of New York .....
And in the corrupt capital city .....
Of Albany, New York .....
Teddy Roosevelt ...
Stood out ...
Like a sore thumb ....
Because he was not "in it for his pocket" ....
And so ....
And then .....
He was the Governor up here .....
And his image ...
That remains ...
IS AS A MAN OF INTEGRITY ....
Who would never give credit .....
OR NEED TO .....
To an OPERATOR like KARL ROVE ....
For getting old Teddy Roosevelt ......
Into office .....
Like George W. Bush had to do ...
Because George couldn't get in there, on his own ....
UNLIKE TEDDY ROOSEVELT .....
Who George W. Bush shares little in common with ....
Outside of them both being presidents .....
Of OUR America ...
George with no integrity and all ....
Where Teddy had plenty .....
And so ....
QUOTE(Livyjr @ Jul 2 2006, 06:23 AM)
"Roosevelt, Wilson and today's war in Iraq"
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
By PETER S. CANELLOS
First published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Theodore Roosevelt "still has many things to teach us," opined presidential adviser Karl Rove in last week's Time magazine, which has Roosevelt on the cover.
Starting with INTEGRITY, KARL .....
Which means .....
NOT LYING TO US .....
And manipulating ...
The facts ...
Eliminating some ...
And enhancing ...
Or creating ...
Others ....
TO SERVE YOUR WHIMS, KARL ...
AND YOUR LUST ....
FOR POWER ...
OVER US ...
IN OUR OWN COUNTRY ....
WHICH IS NOT YOURS, KARL ...
TO BRING LOW ...
FOR YOUR OWN ENDS ...
And so ....
"Supreme Court ruling troubles GOP senators"
By PETE YOST, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:21 a.m., Monday, July 3, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Of all the steps the Supreme Court could have taken to undercut President Bush's legal position in the war on terror, applying international law to al-Qaida probably would have been the worst.
That development came to pass Thursday and now Republicans are rushing to protect the cornerstone of Bush's thinking:
Suspected terrorists are not entitled to protection under the Geneva Accords.
Sens. Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham said Sunday that Congress must address the Supreme Court ruling embracing Article 3 of the conventions in the military commission case of Osama bin Laden's former driver.
Article 3 prohibits outrages upon personal dignity, "in particular humiliating and degrading treatment," and bars violence, including murder, mutilation and torture.
In an election year, declaring that international law governs the war on terror reminds voters of some of the Republican administration's lowest moments: controversies over Justice Department "torture" memos and allegations of abuse against detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
McConnell, R-Ky., the second-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, said the 5-3 court decision "means that American servicemen potentially could be accused of war crimes."
"I think Congress is going to want to deal with that," McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
He called the ruling "very disturbing."
The Geneva Conventions' Article 3 is "far beyond our domestic law when it comes to terrorism, and Congress can rein it in, and I think we should," said Graham, R-S.C., assigned as a Reserve Judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.
Graham spoke on "Fox News Sunday."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also expressed concern about the decision, saying it "is somewhat of a departure, in my view, of people who are stateless terrorists." McCain appeared on ABC's "This Week."
McConnell wants Congress to deal with the Geneva Accords issue at the same time it addresses the court's overturning of the military commissions created to try a limited number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Addressing the commission issue, McCain and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Congress might devise broader changes than the White House wants in trials of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
As a starting point for debate, McCain said Congress should embrace the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the bedrock of military law protecting the rights of accused soldiers.
The Bush administration has skirted the code for nearly five years in dealing with Guantanamo Bay prisoners it has classified as enemy combatants.
Specter said "we have to reconcile" what the Bush administration thinks it can do and what the Supreme Court decision says.
Specter spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Many Republicans in Congress say detainees in the war on terror should not have the same legal protections as those in the military.
Congress, they say, should give its imprimatur with little or no change to the Pentagon's military commissions.
McCain agreed that justice afforded to enemy combatants "shouldn't be exactly the same as applied to a member of the military."
He added, however, that the Uniform Code of Military Justice is "a good framework."
The Supreme Court said Bush's military commissions violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949.
Under military commission rules, the court noted, such panels may block an accused and his civilian lawyer from ever learning of evidence the prosecution presents that is classified.
In addition, commissions can permit the admission of any evidence it deems to have probative value to a reasonable person.
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IT ELUDES ME .....
HOW ...
THE REPUBLICANS ...
CAN EQUATE ....
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
ACTING ...
IN A LAWLESS MANNER ....
AS THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ....
HAS JUST MADE CLEAR ....
WITH BEING TOUGH ON ANYTHING ....
OTHER THAN ...
THE RULE OF LAW ...
AND OUR UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ....
BOTH OF WHICH ...
GEORGE W. BUSH ...
AND THE LAWLESS REPUBLICANS ...
DISDAIN ....
And so ...
IT MUST BE ...
SOME TYPE ....
OF "NEW MATH" ....
THAT THESE LAWLESS REPUBLICANS ....
ARE USING ...
TO "BALANCE" ....
THEIR FAULTY LOGIC ...
IN THEIR "EQUATION" .....
TO HAVE US THINK ....
THAT ACTING ...
IN A LAWLESS MANNER ...
MAKES GEORGE W. BUSH ...
"TOUGH" .....
ON TAY-RIZM ....
WHEN ALL GEORGE IS REALLY DOING ....
IS OPENLY MOCKING ...
US ....
THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ....
AND THE CONCEPT ...
OF RULE OF LAW ...
HERE IN OUR AMERICA ...
And so .....
WHO WANTS ...
MANIPULATORS .....
AND LAWBREAKERS ....
AND OATH FORSAKERS .....
IN CHARGE ...
OF OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT?
BESIDES KARL ROVE ....
AND THE REPUBLICANS, THAT IS ....
And so .....
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