Saturday Night Open Thread

Earth Wind & Fire - Sing A Song



Enjoy!

Anonymous

Urgent message from the President

STATE OF THE UNION

Anonymous

Men buying prepaid cell phones arrested on terrorism charges

(AP)
Saturday, August 12, 2006

Caro, Mich. - Three men of Middle Eastern descent were arrested Friday and were being held on terrorism charges after they purchased 80 prepaid cell phones from a Wal-Mart store, police said.

The men, who are from the Dallas area, were being held on charges of soliciting or providing material support for terrorism and obtaining information of a vulnerable target for the purposes of terrorism, Caro police Sgt. Dale Stevenson said. They were being held in Tuscola County Jail and were scheduled to be arraigned today.

Stevenson declined to explain why the men face terrorism-related charges. He said he did not know if the men are U.S. citizens.

Earlier Friday, Caro Police Chief Ben Page told The Bay City Times, "There's a very good possibility there are a number of laws that may have been broken."

Stevenson said the men, who are 18, 22, and 23, went to a 24-hour Wal-Mart store in Caro early Friday and purchased the cell phones despite a store policy limiting customers to three phones per purchase. A Wal- Mart clerk who thought the purchases were suspicious alerted police.

full story

Remind me to stay the hell away from Wal-Mart.

Anonymous

Judge Says Governor Can’t Be Tried in Office

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE?!

(AP)
August 12, 2006

A judge ruled Friday that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is embroiled in a hiring scandal, is protected by executive immunity and cannot be prosecuted while in office.

Mr. Fletcher, Kentucky’s first Republican governor in three decades, was indicted in May on charges that his administration rewarded political supporters with protected state jobs. He has accused the state’s attorney general, Greg D. Stumbo, a Democrat, of conducting a politically motivated investigation.

The judge, David E. Melcher, essentially stayed the case until Mr. Fletcher’s term expires, or unless he is removed through impeachment by the Legislature. He did not dismiss the case, though, as Mr. Fletcher’s lawyers had requested.

Vicki Glass, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said prosecutors were pleased that the motion to dismiss was denied.

Mr. Fletcher said in a written statement Friday that he was pleased with the ruling.

He has said he will seek re-election in 2007, and the ruling was considered pivotal to his campaign.

article link

And is planning on seeking re-election in 2007. He wouldn't if he didn't think he had a fair shot at it. Welcome to my state. You can't swing a cat without knocking down a 'voter of the idiot type'.

Anonymous

Bush administration accused of politicizing terror threat

Allan Woods
CanWest News Service
Saturday, August 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is under fire for trying to make political gains from the foiled London terror plot after Vice-President Dick Cheney, one day before and in full knowledge of the impending arrests, warned that the electoral defeat of a pro-Iraq war Democrat would only encourage "al-Qaida types."

Cheney's comments about the defeat of Senator Joseph Leiberman, a Democrat from Connecticut, are being viewed as a crass political effort to rehabilitate President George W. Bush and his Republican party in the eyes of the American public in the lead-up to the country's mid-term elections this November.

"There is nothing Americans want more than to win the war on terror," read the lead editorial in Thursday's New York Times, which was critical of Cheney. "It comes like a punch to the gut, at times like these, when our leaders blatantly use the nation's trauma for political gain. We never get used to this."

Lieberman's fate in the Democratic primary vote on Tuesday night was seen as gauge of support for the Iraq war and the larger war on terror, both of which the Lieberman, a former vice-presidential candidate, stands firmly behind.

The day after Lieberman's loss to political rookie Ned Lamont, Cheney called the outcome "disturbing" and "an unfortunate development."

"The al-Qaida types, they are clearly betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task," he said in a telephone interview with reporters.

"It's an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic party to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy."

Cheney also charged that there is "a significant body of opinion" among Democrats who want to return to "the pre-9/11 mindset in terms of how we deal with the world we live in."

The comments were initially interpreted as little more than a partisan jab until the country woke up Thursday morning to news that two dozen terror suspects had been rounded up in and around London. Cheney and Bush had known about the investigation since last weekend and were briefed on the upcoming arrests on the same day as Cheney reacted to the Lieberman loss.

The two men receive intelligence briefings together, according to White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend.

The "pre-9/11 mindset" has come under continued criticism from the American right, particularly in the last year following politically damaging revelations about some of the extraordinary measures the security and intelligence wings of the U.S. government have taken to track and investigate potential terror threats, including secretly monitoring telephone conversations and international banking records.

It was to these measures that Bush was believed to have referred when he made a statement on the terror arrests and said that it is "a mistake" to believe there is no threat to the U.S. "and that is why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people."

more...

And thanks to American media, it's all being bought hook, line and sinker. FOX-viewing Joe six-pack and Wanda wino-box will most assuredly vote to keep the scum in control this fall.

Anonymous

GOOOOOOOOD MORNING

Go make a difference today..... in whatever small way you can!

gloria estefan rhythm's gonna get you

Question Girl

CHALLENGE BY ACCUSED FORMER PRO ISRAEL LOBBYISTS REJECTED

CHANTILLY, Va. — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a constitutional challenge filed by two former lobbyists with a pro-Israel group who are charged under a World War I-era espionage law with receiving and disclosing national defense information.

Lawyers for the two former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee argued that the 1917 Espionage Act is unconstitutionally broad and vague, as it seeks to bar receipt or disclosure of “information related to the national defense” to “persons not entitled to receive it.”

Full article here

Question Girl

LEBANON'S SEVEN-POINT PLAN

Representatives of the Arab League are pressing the UN Security Council for changes to the draft resolution aimed at resolving the Middle East conflict.
They are backing Lebanon's seven-point plan, first put forward at the international conference on the crisis in Rome on 26 July.

Lebanon's seven-point proposal calls for:

An immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and a declaration of agreement on the following issues:

1. An undertaking to release the Lebanese and Israeli prisoners and detainees through the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross]

2. The withdrawal of the Israeli army behind the Blue Line, and the return of the displaced to their villages

3. A commitment from the [UN] Security Council to place the Shebaa Farms area and the Kfarshouba Hills under UN jurisdiction until border delineation and Lebanese sovereignty over them are fully settled. While in UN custody, the area will be accessible to Lebanese property owners there. Further, Israel surrenders all remaining landmine maps in South Lebanon to the UN

4. The Lebanese government extends its authority over its territory through its own legitimate armed forces, such that there will be no weapons or authority other than that of the Lebanese state as stipulated in the Taef national reconciliation document

5. The UN international force operation in South Lebanon is supplemented and enhanced in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operation, as needed, in order to undertake urgent humanitarian and relief work and guarantee stability and security in the south so that those who fled their homes can return

6. The UN, in co-operation with the relevant parties, undertakes the necessary measures to once again put into effect the Armistice Agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in 1949, and to insure adherence to the provisions of that agreement, as well as to explore possible amendments to or development of said provisions, as necessary

7. The international community commits to support Lebanon on all levels, and to assist it in facing the tremendous burden resulting from the human, social and economic tragedy which has afflicted the country, especially in the areas of relief, reconstruction and rebuilding of the national economy.

Question Girl

FORMER INTERIOR OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY IN ABRAMOFF PROBE

I wonder how many more there will be?

Associated Press
Posted August 11 2006, 2:14 PM EDT


WASHINGTON -- A former Department of Interior employee pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge for failing to report gifts he received from influence-peddler Jack Abramoff.

Roger Stillwell told a federal magistrate that he had been given hundreds of dollars worth of football and concert tickets from Abramoff, who at the time was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Continue reading here

Question Girl

ISRAEL TRIPLES GROUND TROOPS IN LEBANON

So what's the plan.....kill as many people and destroy as much of the country as they can before the U.N. resolution goes into effect? Oh wait, I forgot, they don't care about any stinkin resolutions.

By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press Writer
Posted August 12 2006, 8:05 AM EDT


BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Israel staged wide-ranging airstrikes and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland Saturday while the U.N. raced to begin enforcing its new cease-fire blueprint and stop combat. Airstrikes killed at least 19 people, including 15 in one Lebanese village.

Israel also blasted a highway near Lebanon's last open border crossing to Syria as it kept up its full-scale campaign against Hezbollah militants. Long columns of Israeli tanks, troops and armored personnel carriers streamed over the border.


The U.N. plan approved Friday night would create a peacekeeping force by combining a beefed-up version of the ineffective U.N. units already in the war zone and 15,000 soldiers from the Lebanese army. The force, which could number around 30,000, would stand between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

Full article here

Question Girl

The Piano Has Been Drinking!

A QuestionGirl special...



(Direct Link to MP3)

Enjoy!

Anonymous

U.S./FRANCE REACH AGREEMENT ON MIDEAST RESOLUTION

Real nice, but it means nothing. First of all, Israel doesn't have to withdraw until after the U.N. forces arrive. Second, there's no mention of a prisoner exchange. Demand that the two Israeli soldiers be released, but no mention of the hundreds of men, women and children in Israel's prisons who should be released. I wish I could believe this will stop the bloodshed, but I don't. No mention of Israel leaving Sheba Farms. No mention of Palestinian and Lebanon prisoners being released. No end in sight.....
Oh, and as they were reaching this agreement, Israel has ordered its military to step up the ground offensive.

By PAUL BURKHARDT, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - France and the United States reached a deal Friday on a final draft resolution that would authorize the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support a Lebanese force as it takes control of the region and Israel withdraws.

ADVERTISEMENT

The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, would ask the U.N. force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain control over an area that has previously been under de facto authority of Hezbollah militias.

It emphasizes the need for the "unconditional release" of two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture sparked the latest war, but does not make a direct demand for their freedom.

Additionally, it calls on Israel and Lebanon to agree to a long-term solution under which Hezbollah would be disarmed.

The Security Council was expected to vote on the draft later Friday.

About 2,000 U.N. troops and observers are now stationed in Lebanon. The draft would authorize an increase to a total of 15,000 troops.

The text of the draft does not specify which chapter of the U.N. Charter the force would be authorized under. Instead, it says the force's mandate would include several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access.

Read more here

Question Girl

CUNNINGHAM BRIBERY CASE STILL UNFOLDING

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: August 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 — The two top officials of Counterintelligence Field Activity at the Defense Department resigned this week amid investigations into their agency’s classified contracts with a businessman who has pleaded guilty to bribing department officials and Representative Randy Cunningham.

The resignations, which were first reported Thursday in The Washington Post, are the latest sign that the scandal surrounding Mr. Cunningham, a California Republican who stepped down last fall, is still unfolding. The new departures come as the House intelligence committee is preparing its own report on corrupt favors performed by Mr. Cunningham as a member of the panel.

Full article here

Question Girl

A LITTLE HUMOR......I SURE DO LOVE COLBERT!!

(TheBlueState.com) Colbert annoys U.S. Rep. Woosley

Question Girl

THE DAY IN IRAQ

08/11/06 NPR: Atmosphere of Suspicion Pervades Iraqi Society
The current climate of violence in Iraq, combined with the legacy of a totalitarian state, means that people have little trust in each other. Suspicion is a regular part of everyday interactions. Corey Flintoff reports.
08/11/06 AP: Lance Cpl. Joshua Rynders wounded in April
The first Marine to move in was Lance Cpl. Joshua Rynders, who was injured in April when a mortar round exploded 10 feet behind him. He was setting up an observation post for the Iraqi army east of Fallujah.
08/11/06 AP: Cpl. Jackson Luna wounded in June
A sniper shot Cpl. Jackson Luna, 23, through the lower back and into the intestines as he put fencing around a patrol base near Ramadi in June. Luna, who moved in Thursday, said he does not know what to do next or if he will be able...
08/11/06 Reuters: Bodies of U.S. soldiers found in helicopter wreck
The bodies of two missing U.S. servicemen have been discovered among the wreckage of their helicopter which crashed in Iraq's Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Friday.
08/11/06 AP: Shiite mob torches Kurdish party office
About 50 gunmen stormed the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by President Jalal Talabani, beat up the guards and set the building on fire, said police Lt. Othman al-Lami.
08/11/06 Xinhua: 14 bodies found in Baghdad
A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in an Iraqi northern town on Friday morning, killing two policemen and wounding four others, a police source said. The attack took place when the patrol was passing by in the outskirts of Hawija town
08/11/06 AFP: Battle for Baghdad: US and Iraq plan street by street offensive
Faced with a make or break struggle to wrest control of Baghdad from insurgents and sectarian death squads, US and Iraqi commanders plan an ambitious strategy to take back the Iraqi capital street by street, district by district
08/11/06 Reuters: U.S. Soldier wounded in Baiji
A U.S. soldier was wounded when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb near Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Full list here

Question Girl

WAR IN LEBANON MAY HAVE DEVASTATING RESULTS IN IRAQ

By Rajan Menon

LONDON: As Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade deadly blows, the Bush administration may have to brace itself for the possibility that the shock waves from the war in Lebanon could wreck its partnership with Iraq’s Shias and make Iraq’s fragmentation well-nigh unavoidable. Anger over Israel’s bombing of Lebanon has reached Iraq, whose population is roughly two-thirds Shia. Muqtada Sadr, the firebrand Shia cleric who heads the Al Mahdi militia, was first to rail against the Israeli bombardment and Washington’s fulsome support of it. He continues to do so. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of pro-Sadr supporters flooded Baghdad’s streets, chanting slogans of solidarity with Hezbollah and denouncing Israel and the United States.

Full article here

Question Girl

AMERICANS IN INDIA WARNED OF POSSIBLE TERROR PLOT

Americans were recommended to keep a "low profile." I got news... if I was anywhere in the world at this time, I'd be keeping a low profile as an American. Nothing about me would suggest I'm an American. That's where shit for brains has brought us. Thank you so much.....

By Patricia Nunan
New Delhi
11 August 2006

The U.S. Embassy in India has warned of a possible terror plot to bomb targets in the capital, New Delhi, and in Mumbai. In a message to U.S. citizens in India, officials say the plot may involve members of al-Qaida.


The warning says that foreign militants, possibly from al-Qaida, may be plotting to set off bombs at airports, Indian government offices or places where crowds may gather. No other details were given.

"The point of it is to alert Americans to this possible threat, and to encourage Americans to maintain a low profile over the coming days," said David Kennedy, the embassy spokesman.

Full article here

Question Girl

U.S. INTELLIGENCE SHOULD BE PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE

A little history about airplanes and liquids...... 12 years later, and our intelligence agency acts like.....oh what a shock. This could have been the big one. Oh my God....we had no idea. Yeah....keep voting for Republicans and allowing our government to remain the cesspool of incompetence that it has become. They'll keep you safe...... NOT.

Manila (dpa) - A foiled plot to bomb US-bound air planes in Britain bears a striking resemblance to a murderous plan hatched in the Philippines more than a decade ago and uncovered just days before a visit of late Pope John Paul II in 1995.

The 1995 plot, dubbed "Project Bojinka" or "Oplan Bojinka," would have been the first large-scale terrorist attack against commercial passenger air planes using "liquid bombs."

It targeted 11 US-bound airlines that had stopovers in East and South-East Asia. It was to have been carried out from January 21 to 22, 1995.

The plot was planned in Manila starting December 1994 by Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and associates Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah.

It was, however, foiled when Murad was arrested in January 1995 after a fire broke out in their rented apartment in downtown Manila, which the three militants had turned into a clandestine bomb factory.

Read more here

Question Girl

Air travelers feel effects of thwarted plot

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Ray Watson figured the ban on carrying liquids onto flights that forced thousands of travelers to discard cosmetics and other items would prove a boon for one industry: makers of toiletries.

"I can't imagine all the millions of dollars that the Colgate-Palmolives are going to reap from this," said Watson, 40 of Denver as he waited to pick up his luggage at Los Angeles International Airport.

"The Dumpsters in Phoenix were filled with shampoo and toothpaste."

U.S. authorities banned the carrying of nearly all liquids onto flights Thursday after British authorities arrested 24 people in an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes using explosives disguised as drinks and other common products.

Federal aviation officials said security screening at U.S. airports was expected to take considerably more time. It is not clear how long the restrictions will remain in effect.

One lawmaker, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, said the situation "eliminates the days of carry-on baggage."

full article

Anonymous

HEY CNN.....LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS

Red Cross Struggles to Deliver Aid in Lebanon

Question Girl

THIS JUST IN FROM CNN.....AND MSNBC....AND ALL AMERICAN MEDIA OUTLETS

This just in from CNN.....and MSNBC.....and all other American news source..... we will be asking stupid questions about the thwarted terrorist attack that the Britains figured out ( you know the incompetent American intelligence had no hand in this) for atleast another 2 days. What would of happened if..... should we call up the National Guard.....what you can and can't take on an airplane......liquids liquids liquids..... no liquids. Go to the airport early. Statistics about the airports. Number of international passengers at airports. Arrivals, departures, liquids liquids liquids, Passengers are so very happy to finally be on the ground, and for the love of Christ, don't try and bring any liquids on a plane with you... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.....

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL FOLKS...... war in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine..... gas prices..... pipelines......your civil liberties..... you know, the stuff they'd like you NOT to think about.

Question Girl

ANOTHER GOV'T LAPTOP STOLEN IN MIAMI

I wonder how many Americans have been affected by the security breaches in the past few years. It's unbelievable to me how many there have been. And it's also unbelievable that these people are running around with these laptops in their cars, their homes. What's up with that? Being the conspiracy theory girl this administration has made me.....I wonder who's actually getting this information and for what purpose. Something needs to be done about it.

A nationwide scramble is on to track down a government agent's laptop -- containing the personal information of more than 133,000 Floridians -- stolen from an SUV in Doral last month.
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ AND LESLEY CLARK
llebowitz@MiamiHerald.com

A laptop computer containing personal information of more than 133,000 Floridians was stolen in late July from a government SUV parked in front of a popular Doral cafeteria, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

Acting DOT Inspector General Todd J. Zinser said the laptop contained names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses for 80,677 South Florida commercial driver's license-holders whose licenses were issued out of Miami-Dade offices.

Full article here

Question Girl

BLAST KILLS OVER 30 NEAR SACRED SHI'ITE SHRINE IN IRAQ

At what point does "sectarian violence" turn into civil war?

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and wounded 100 near a sacred Shi'ite shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on Thursday, hospital sources said.

They said the bomber blew himself up when he was stopped at a police commando checkpoint as he was heading to the Imam Ali shrine.

Shi'ite al-Forat television channel said there were two attacks, including the suicide blast that was also near a market.

Ambulances drove through the streets of Najaf appealing for blood donations as the scale of devastation became clear and the numbers of injured rose.

The dead included police and civilians, police and hospital sources said

Full article here

Question Girl

US raises threat level for commercial flights

Todd Eastham
REUTERS

Washington - The US government said on Thursday it had raised the security threat level for all commercial aviation in co-ordination with security measures undertaken by Britain, which said earlier in the day it had foiled a plot to bomb aircraft travelling to the United States.

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the threat level for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom would be raised to "severe," or red, the highest US threat level and an unprecedented move for the United States in its war on terror.
...

"Currently, there is no indication ... of plotting within the United States," Chertoff said.

"We believe that these arrests have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted."

full article

"...but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted."

I knew they were close to bringing out the ol' terror alert colored chart... election time is near. (click image to enlarge)

Anonymous

ISRAEL AND THE OIL TRAIL

In all things.....follow the money.....or the oil!

Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more than a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?

Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon.

One day before the Israeli air strikes, the main partners and shareholders of the BTC pipeline project, including several heads of State and oil company executives were in attendance at the port of Ceyhan. They were then rushed off for an inauguration reception in Istanbul, hosted by Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the plush surroundings of the Çýraðan Palace.

Also in attendance was British Petroleum's (BP) CEO, Lord Browne together with senior government officials from Britain, the US and Israel. BP leads the BTC pipeline consortium. Other major Western shareholders include Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, France's Total and Italy's ENI. (see Annex)

Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was present at the venue together with a delegation of top Israeli oil officials.

Read more here

Question Girl

NO LACK OF CANDIDATES TO RUN AGAINST REP. WILLIAM (90 GRAND IN THE FREEZER) JEFFERSON

By DOUG SIMPSON

Associated Press Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A string of challengers jumped into the race Wednesday against Rep. William Jefferson, whose Washington office was raided by the FBI amid a federal bribery investigation.

The three-day filing period for entering the November elections started Wednesday. In Louisiana, there are no earlier party primaries; if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote on Election Day, the top two go to a December runoff.

State Sen. Derrick Shepherd filed his election paperwork Wednesday morning, saying the corruption allegations against Jefferson have weakened the congressman's ability to represent his New Orleans-area constituents as they recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Read more here

Question Girl

ARE THEY SCARED?

If you disagree with the extreme left they'll come after you.

Riggghhhtttt.. so it's only the EXTREME left that disagree with the war in Iraq? I don't think so. Funny they feel the need to spend so much time explaining the results of a DEMOCRATIC primary.

Snow Blasts Dems for Lamont Win

Question Girl

$400 MILL FEMA CONTRACTS NOW TOTAL $3.4 BILL

And Skeletor still has a job because.....

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page A08

Four no-bid contracts awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees have ballooned in value from $400 million to about $3.4 billion, prompting renewed scrutiny from Congress and federal auditors about the disaster agency's management of the aftermath of the storm.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is, for at least a second time, reviewing the contracts with construction and engineering firms Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Inc., Fluor Corp. and the Shaw Group Inc. to provide 150,000 trailers for hurricane victims, even as FEMA expects to competitively award at least $1 billion for similar work in future contingencies within days.

Continue reading here

Question Girl

STRESS AT WAR LOOKING LIKE THE DEFENSE FOR RAPISTS

I've never been enlisted. I've never been to war. I wouldn't even begin to try and understand the stress of it. Only the men and women who have experienced it would know that. But I don't believe PTSD can turn a "normal" person into one that would premeditate a rape and murder. Rape of a 14 year old girl. Killing her family, including a 5 year old. Killing her and burning her body. I don't believe it. And neither does the person I live with, who served in VietNam and has suffered PTDS. Like me, he believes these guys should be court martialed and suffer the consequences of their evil wicked actions.

By Andy Mosher
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page A13

BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 -- The constant fear of death and the trauma of several devastating incidents took a heavy toll on morale in the U.S. Army unit whose members included five soldiers accused of involvement in the rape and killing of an Iraqi teenager, witnesses testified Tuesday in a military court.

Pfc. Justin Cross said the 1st Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment was subjected to intense stress during the months it served in the area south of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death. Patrols, he said, put soldiers in constant fear for their lives.

Read the full article here

Question Girl

BUSH PUSHES FOR WAR CRIMES ACT CHANGES

But of course he does. He wants to eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees. Gee, wonder why..... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It ain't broke. What's broke is the run amok administration, military and CIA.

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page A01

The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners, according to U.S. officials and a copy of the amendments.

Officials say the amendments would alter a U.S. law passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties governing military conduct in wartime. The conventions generally bar the cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment of wartime prisoners without spelling out what all those terms mean.

Read more here

Question Girl

WIN, LOSE OR WITHDRAW

Win, Lose, or Withdraw

Question Girl

JOE LIEBERMAN TO RUN AS BULL MOOSE PARTY

Connecticut Senator and one time Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, stung by his Democratic primary loss to upstart Ned Lamont, has announced plans to run as the Independent, Republican, Know Nothing or Bull Moose Party's candidate in the November general elections…or in his words, "Any party, regardless of their philosophy, that will let me keep my cushy Washington job."

Read more at Unconfirmed Sources

Question Girl

Why Wal-Mart wants to sell ethanol

E85 is available at only a tiny fraction of gas stations. But Fortune's Marc Gunther says the giant retailer is poised to change that.

Marc Gunther
Fortune - August 9 2006

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- More than 5 million vehicles on U.S. roads today can run on ethanol - a renewable fuel that comes from corn - as well as gasoline. General Motors (Charts), Ford (Charts) and DaimlerChrysler (Charts) recently announced plans to double their annual production of so-called flex fuel vehicles to two million cars and trucks by 2010.

It's the single largest commitment to renewable fuels in the history of the auto industry - a good move for the automakers, and for the planet, too.

That's because running cars and trucks on E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, could turn out to be a cost-effective way to reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming and curb our dependence on imported oil.

There's just one big problem.

Only about 800 service stations in the United States, out of a total of 168,000, pump E85. There's not a single E85 pump, for example, in all of New England.

You won't be surprised to learn that the big oil companies are not, as a rule, interested in selling E85.

But Wal-Mart (Charts) is. The giant retailer is considering selling ethanol at the eight stations that it operates at Wal-Mart Stores and at about 380 more that it runs as part of its Sam's Clubs division.

It could also decide to sell ethanol in a partnership with Murphy Oil Corp. (Charts), which operates about 946 gas stations in Wal-Mart parking lots, and there's no reason why Wal-Mart couldn't sell E85 - which it calls "America's Fuel" - at the rest of its 3,000 U.S. stores.

"Our goal would be to make E-85 available across the U.S," Rich Ezell, senior strategy manager of fuel at Wal-Mart, said recently.

full article here

I'm certainly no fan of Wal-Mart's business practices, but I hope them much luck and success in this particular venture. Alternative fuels need to be available to the populace and Wal-Mart is the perfect catalyst to make that happen.

Anonymous

EVIL BASTARDS

Evil. Evil. Evil. It makes me sick to hear Israeli spokespeople on the tube saying how sorry they are for the deaths, and how they have nothing against the Lebanese people. May they rot in hell for what they've done to this country and it's people. Pure evil...... lying rotten evil bastards. Are there any protests in Israel? Do the people there think this is acceptable?

TYRE, Lebanon - The wail of ambulance sirens racing to the scene of the latest bombing came to a halt Tuesday. Fire brigades stood silent and impotent in the face of infernos farther south.

Tyre began to settle into an uneasy existence Tuesday during the first full day of an Israeli restriction on vehicular movement. Any vehicle traveling south of the Litani River, the people were warned, would be targeted by Israeli missiles.

"We could not get permission to move from the Israelis," said a dejected Khidr Delbani, a civil defense worker who has been among the first responders to countless scenes of destruction throughout southern Lebanon. "Is that the way a supposed democracy behaves? First they target civilians, now they won't let us help them."

Neither the Lebanese Red Cross, the International Red Cross nor the Lebanese civil defense moved Tuesday as Israel's relentless campaign to pummel Hezbollah continued, often at the expense of Lebanon.

Full article here

Question Girl

OLBERMANN ON BP PIPELINE SHUTDOWN

Here's my take.....The Alaska state legislature doesn't pass legislation that would allow oil companies to build a new pipeline through the states North Slope, through Canada to the Upper Midwest (my understanding is that they wanted Alaska to help pay for it and give them huge tax breaks, and Alaska would not profit from oil taken out of the state???), and shortly after, BP has to shut down, causing the state to lose revenue. Have I got this right? Anybody?

British Petroleum Pipeline Conspiracy?

Question Girl

60% OF AMERICANS OPPOSE IRAQ WAR

Duh.... I think the results in Connecticut yesterday proved that.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday.

And a majority of poll respondents said they would support the withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops by the end of the year, according to results from the Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last week on behalf of CNN. The corporation polled 1,047 adult Americans by telephone.

Article here

Question Girl

CONGRATS NED......HOPE YOU LIVE UP TO EVERYONE'S EXPECTATIONS

Celebration

Question Girl

ISRAEL-LEBANON CONFLICT NEWS

FRANCE BREAKS RANKS WITH U.S.

UNITED NATIONS — The French-American alliance at the United Nations over a Mideast cease-fire agreement is crumbling, sources tell FOX News.

The French U.N. delegation has joined with Arab nations and is now calling for a complete and immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a condition of any cease-fire, the sources said.

Full article here

Breaking:
Israeli helicopters shell Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Palestinian spokesman says. IDF says Hezbollah militant was targeted.
Red Cross says Israel stopping aid convoys.
Upset in Israeli military.

Question Girl

Lamont Congratulatory Party

(I hope!)

Anonymous

CONNECTICUT VOTING PROBLEMS IN NEW HAVEN

11:01 AM EDT, August 8, 2006
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, The Associated Press NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Both democratic gubernatorial candidates had problems at the polls today. Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy's campaign filed a complaint with the state, saying that a New Haven machine was "corrupted" because it didn't show Malloy's name. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said the ballot strip was merely misaligned.

New Haven Mayor DeStefano was unable to vote when he showed up at his precinct at 6 a.m. in New Haven. Mechanical difficulties forced the candidate, and other voters, to wait about 30 minutes before casting ballots.

Read more here

Question Girl

AOL USERS CAN SWITCH TO FREE ONLINE

By ERIC GERSHON, The Hartford Courant

America Online has relented, at least temporarily, and is permitting paid subscribers to switch to its free email service online.

However, this is one change AOL isn't shouting about.




After insisting last week that the only way existing customers could switch to the new free service was to call AOL and have a customer service worker make the change, AOL confirmed Tuesday there is a way customers can do it online.

Read how here

Question Girl

Lieberman Accuses Foe Of Hacking Site

Web Site, E-Mail Down, Senator's Staff Asks For Criminal Investigation

HARTFORD, Conn. , Aug. 8, 2006

(CBS/AP) Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was locked in a battle with an anti-war challenger in the nation's most closely watched primary race Tuesday, accused his opponent's supporters of hacking his campaign Web site and e-mail system.

Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith said the campaign has contacted the Connecticut attorney general's office and asked for a criminal investigation by state and federal authorities.

Lieberman, campaigning Tuesday in New Haven, said he has no proof that Lamont supporters are responsible, but is asking the state party chairman to intervene.

"I'm concerned that our Web site is knocked out on the day of the primary, you'd assume it wasn't any casual observer," Lieberman said.

Lamont, campaigning early Tuesday afternoon in Bridgeport called the accusation "just another scurrilous charge." His campaign denied involvement and said the primary day accusation is a sign of Lieberman's desperation.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office declined immediate comment. Calls placed to the FBI and the chief state's attorney's office seeking comment were not immediately returned.

full article here

"Lieberman, campaigning Tuesday in New Haven, said he has no proof that Lamont supporters are responsible"

Then WHY make the accusation, Rove? Whoops, I meant to say Joe... sorry!

Anonymous

BUSH PLANS SHIFT TO REUNITE CUBAN FAMILIES

And of course, he's going to reunite them HERE...not there. The majority of Cubans in Florida are staunch Republicans. Go figure.... It would be ok with me if many of them went back to Cuba to reunite with their families. But Bush will do all he can to keep that from happening!!! Wonder when they'll change the wet foot/dry foot law.

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press
Posted August 8 2006, 12:37 PM EDT


WASHINGTON -- Bolstered by Fidel Castro's surprise handoff of power, the Bush administration is preparing to ease some immigration rules for Cubans who want to live in the United States, focusing largely on reuniting families now separated by politics and the sea.

The draft plans, still under debate, seek to discourage a mass migration from Cuba over choppy waters _ a journey that violates current immigration law and risks lives. But administration officials said they also hope the relaxed rules will prompt Cubans to push the Castro regime for official permission to head to the United States.

Full article here

Other news on the subject

Question Girl

FOR MIRTHER......FEEL BETTER !!!

Humble Pie - Natural Born Boogie

Question Girl

Texas Republicans abandon DeLay fight

Suzanne Gamboa
(AP) Tue Aug 8, 2:43 AM ET

WASHINGTON - There will be no replacement for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on the November ballot.

Delay's name will remain on the ballot, unless he withdraws from the race for the Houston-area House seat he vacated earlier this year. In that case, there would be no Republican candidate to face Democrat Nick Lampson, a former House member. DeLay has until Aug. 25 to decide.

Texas Republicans on Monday abandoned their court fight to replace DeLay on the November ballot after being turned back at the Supreme Court.

The decision came after Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Texas Republicans' request to block an appeals court ruling saying DeLay's name should remain on the ballot.

"I think all our legal avenues are exhausted in terms of affecting the ruling prior to the election," said Jim Bopp Jr., the attorney who argued the Republican Party's case to allow party officials to substitute another candidate for DeLay.

full article

Scalia did the right thing. I'm surprized!

Anonymous

NEWS NEWS NEWS

11 EGYPTIAN STUDENTS MIA IN U.S.

KEY RACES IN TODAY'S PRIMARIES

PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZES U.S. STRIKE

U.S.-FRANCE SQUARE OFF

CONYERS REPORT: CONSTITUTION IN CRISIS

BUSH INCOMPETENCE

U.N. CHIDES U.S. ON GAY RIGHTS

VENEZUELA'S CHOCOLATE REVOLUTION

U.S. FIGHTS NORTH KOREA'S EFFORTS TO FORGE CURRENCY

Question Girl

LIEBERMAN'S FINAL CAMPAIGN AD....FUNNNY!

The sight of Beck gives me the creeps, but this is funny!

Liebermans Final Campaign Ad

Question Girl

Military court hears of combat stress in Iraq rape case

REUTERS
Tue Aug 8, 2006

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. military court deciding whether four soldiers should be court-martialled for rape and murder heard on Tuesday how troops were "driven nuts" by combat stress and got high on Iraqi cough syrup.

Private First Class Justic Cross described how conditions "pretty much crushed the platoon", which lived in constant fear of being killed in the Mahmudiya area south of Baghdad where the rape and murders took place in March.

"It drives you nuts. You feel like every step you might get blown up. You just hit a point where you're like, 'If I die today, I die'. You're just walking a death walk," he said.

On Monday, the court at Camp Liberty heard graphic testimony of how three of the soldiers took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before murdering her and her family.

The case has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Mahmudiya is part of what Iraqis call the "Triangle of Death" for its frequent attacks and kidnappings by insurgents and al Qaeda militants.

Private First Class Jesse Spielman, 21, Specialist James Barker, 23, Sergeant Paul Cortez, 23 and Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, face charges of rape and murder among others.

If court-martialled after the Article 32 hearing -- the military's equivalent of a U.S. grand jury -- and found guilty, they could face the death penalty. The hearing began on Sunday and is expected to last several days.

Private Steven Green, 21, faces the same charges in a U.S. federal court in Kentucky, home of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, his former unit. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a "personality disorder".

full article here

Raped and murdered because they were under stress and 'driven nuts'. JUST ONCE, I'd like to see someone under these conditions, oh I don't know... wash and polish their bullet-riddled jeep, or plant a tree in the desert, or give their commander a dye-job and perm. Does it always have to be rape and murder???

Anonymous

ISRAEL WITHDRAWS VENEZUELA ENVOY

Israel withdraws Venezuela envoy

Mr Chavez was welcomed warmly in Iran last week
Israel is withdrawing its ambassador to Venezuela as a row grows between the two countries over the war in Lebanon.
At the weekend President Hugo Chavez recalled his envoy to Israel and described the Jewish state's campaign in Lebanon as a "new genocide".

On Monday Israel said it would be flying its ambassador back for "consultations".

The BBC correspondent in Caracas says the row marks an all-time low in relations between the two governments.

Mr Chavez has railed against Israel in interviews and statements in recent days, describing its offensive in Lebanon as "genocide".

Read more here

Question Girl

SLICK DICK AND THE OIL COMPANIES

So Oil Slick Dick writes the Alaskan legislative leaders to go to bat for energy company interests. No.....this doesn't surprise me, but I do wonder how much this has to do with the shutdown.

Newsweek
August 7, 2006 issue - An effort by Dick Cheney to prod Alaska lawmakers to approve a controversial $20 billion natural-gas pipeline project has misfired amid charges from some legislators that the veep was seeking to benefit major energy-company interests. In a highly unusual intervention in a state dispute, Cheney recently wrote Alaskan legislative leaders urging them to "promptly" enact a bill that would allow three giant oil companies—British Petroleum (BP), ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil—to build a massive pipeline from Prudhoe Bay on the state's North Slope through Canada to the upper Midwest. Under a proposed contract negotiated by Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, the firms would get major tax breaks—an unpopular move at a time when all three are reporting soaring profits.

Read more here

Question Girl

From my old Tennessee stomping grounds...

BOB CORKER'S CHARACTER PROBLEMS MOUNT

Fudge Report

Millionaire Corker Opposes Minimum Wage...Then Says He Supports It THREE WEEKS LATER

Harold Ford Campaign Release... NASHVILLE -- Three weeks after looking the cameras in the eye during a Republican primary debate and opposing the very existence of the minimum wage, Bob Corker yesterday continued a campaign without character by changing his position 180 degrees in a record three weeks time, now saying he would have voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25.

Corker's transparent self-interest on the issue of wages should come as no surprise to the people of Chattanooga; when Corker was mayor of that city he raised his pay at the same time he eliminated cost-of-living raises for city employees, and he continues to take a city pension, despite making $12 million while he was mayor.

Corker still takes a pension from the City of Chattanooga: According to his Personal Financial Disclosure 2005 form that was filed with Secretary of Senate in May [Personal Financial Disclosure 2005 filed with Secretary of Senate]

Corker made $12 million while mayor: According to adjustment gross income figures released by the Corker campaign in April [Corker Release, Corker Releases 29 years of tax information, 04/14/06]

U.S. Senate nominee Harold Ford Jr. issued the following statement today:

"A leader with character doesn't oppose working people in July and claim to be for them in August. I have consistently voted to raise the minimum wage, and I did so last month when Bob Corker opposed me and the 450,000 Tennesseans who deserve a raise.

"Character is standing up for people who have no voice. Character is standing by them all the time--not just to win an election.

"When Tennessee newspapers said Bob Corker's lies during the primary should lead voters to question everything else he would say, this is exactly what they were talking about. You can buy all the false TV ads in the world, but you can't buy character."

"It is an issue of fairness to raise the minimum wage for hard working Tennesseans and Americans. If the people of this great state give me a chance to serve them in the Senate, I will stand up for them everyday and be a leader on the things that matter most."

"A decent wage isn't a Republican idea or a Democratic idea--it's just a good idea. That's what a new generation of leadership is about."

Developing...

A model Republican! Corker's foot fits in his mouth very well.
Two things you probably won't see anytime soon: Cheap gas and Corker holding office.

Anonymous

Party, Party,... PARTY!!!

Rep. Bob Ney won't seek re-election

Joe Danborn
(AP)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - U.S. Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), under scrutiny in a corruption scandal involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced Monday that he was abandoning his re-election campaign.

The Republican had insisted he would not resign, even if indicted over his dealings with Abramoff. In his first primary test in a decade, Ney won 68 percent of the vote May 2 against a little-known opponent.

But in a statement released by his campaign Monday morning, Ney said he had decided to withdraw from his race for a seventh term.

"Ultimately this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," said Ney, who has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

He plans to serve the remainder of his term, his statement said.

article here...

You see, my fellow atheists... there IS a God! I know... Sometimes his back is turned for too long of periods of time. He can also have a very slow reaction speed too. But when he does... whoa, Nellie!

Anonymous

BP shuts down major Alaskan oil field

Mary Pemberton
(AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Oil company BP has indefinitely shut down the nation's biggest oilfield after finding a pipeline leak, removing about 8 percent of U.S. oil production and stoking fears that already high gas prices will shoot up further.

Steve Marshall, president of BP Exploration Alaska Inc., said Sunday night that the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay would be shut down first, an operation anticipated to take 24 to 36 hours. The company will then move to shut down the west side, a move that could close more than 1,000 Prudhoe Bay wells.

Once the field is shut down, BP said oil production will be reduced by 400,000 barrels a day. That's close to 8 percent of U.S. oil production or about 2.6 percent of U.S. supply including imports, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

BP officials said they didn't know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line. "I don't even know how long it's going to take to shut it down," said Tom Williams, BP's senior tax and royalty counsel.

The shutdown comes at an already worrisome time for the oil industry, with supply concerns stemming both from the hurricane season and instability in the Middle East.

A 400,000-barrel per day reduction in output would have a major impact on oil prices, said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo. A barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil.

"Oil prices could increase by as much as $10 per barrel given the current environment," Emori said. "But we can't really say for sure how big an effect this is going to have until we have more exact figures about how much production is going to be reduced."

full story...

With oil companies reporting record profits, instead of saddling us with higher fuel prices at the pump, they can pull the extra crude needed from their own asses.
It would appear we have a bunch of 10-year-olds running the show. God help us all...

Anonymous

George Galloway on the Lebanon/Israel conflict

George Galloway, the British MP, speaks about Israel and Lebanon. Video found at: <http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html>

Question Girl

Open Thread Chat

Trying a different server...

Anonymous

NEWS YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW

MASTURBAT-A-THON.....YA, THAT'S RIGHT.

WOMAN STUCK ON TOILET SEAT....NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED

ANTI-STUPID PILLS (thanks SN for this one)

DOLPHIN BITES KID AT SEAWORLD
This I can understand....the dolphin probably thought....enuff is enuff

SEX STARVED WIFE ASKS POLICE FOR HELP

FIREFIGHTER DRYER PRANK PROBED

Question Girl

AL GORE SPOOF MADE BY REPUBLICAN PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM

Aug. 5) -- A tiny little movie making fun of Al Gore, supposedly made by an amateur filmmaker, recently appeared on the popular Web site YouTube.com.

At first blush, "An Inconvenient Spoof" seemed like a scrappy little homemade film poking fun at Gore and his anti-global warming crusade.

In the movie, Gore is seen boring an army of penguins with his lecture and blaming global warming for everything, including Lindsay Lohan's thinness.

But when the Wall Street Journal tried to find the guy who posted this film — listed on YouTube as a 29-year-old — they found the movie didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement.

The film actually came from a slick Republican public relations firm called DCI, which just happens to have oil giant Exxon as a client.

Exxon denies knowing anything about the film, and DCI says, "We do not disclose the names of our clients, nor do we discuss the work we do on behalf of our clients."

Read more here

Question Girl

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICES AT Q'S PLACE

Peace be with you my friends....... I'm in a Lie to Me mood this Sunday morning....


Jonny Lang Lie To Me Video

Question Girl

PENTAGON ARCHIVE LISTS VIETNAM ATROCITIES

Forty years from now, what will we be finding out about Iraq and Afghanastan war crimes?

By Nick Turse and Deborah Nelson
Originally published August 6, 2006

The men of B Company were in a dangerous state of mind. They had lost five men in a firefight the day before. The morning of Feb. 8, 1968, brought unwelcome orders to resume their sweep of the countryside, a green patchwork of rice paddies along Vietnam's central coast.

They met no resistance as they entered a nondescript settlement in Quang Nam province. So Jamie Henry, a 20-year-old medic, set his rifle down in a hut and lit a cigarette.

Just then, the voice of a lieutenant crackled across the radio. He said he had rounded up 19 civilians and wanted to know what to do with them. Henry recalled the company commander's response: Kill anything that moves.

Read more here

Question Girl

50% OF AMERICANS......"INDEPENDENT OF REALITY" THINKING

This isn't today's news, but it just blows my mind. The world must look on and think.....what idiots!!!

Half of America believes it: Why the enduring faith in 'Saddam's WMDs'?
Khaleej Times (AP) 6 August 2006 NEW YORK - Do you believe in Iraqi 'WMD'? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003? Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq. People tend to become 'independent of reality' in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull. The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million -plus (Ð700-million-plus) investigation, the US weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under UN oversight.

Read more here

Question Girl

Democrats see an opening to grab control of Congress

Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau
Sunday, August 06, 2006

Washington - After a dozen years of trying to wrestle congressional control from Republicans, Democrats are tantalizingly close to their goal.

"There's gonna be a tidal wave" in the November election, predicts Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Niles. Anger over rising gas, health care and college tuition costs, and displeasure with the Bush administration's mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war, are all signs of impending electoral change, he says.

Democrats are expected to say such things, of course, as they plot a different course for Washington, but a number of political analysts agree that the minority party has a good chance of retaking at least one house of Congress. Brookings Institution congressional expert Thomas Mann gives Democrats a 60 percent chance of taking control of the House of Representatives and a 40 percent chance of winning the Senate.

What would that mean for Congress, for the Bush administration and, most important, the country?

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have taken to passing out a six-point "New Direction for America" agenda they plan to implement if voters put them in charge. Copies distributed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California are laminated - presumably to withstand the elements when Ryan's tsunami hits the Capitol.

The Democrats' agenda, which goes by the slogan "Six for '06," features boosting the minimum wage and ending tax breaks for big oil companies and corporations that move jobs overseas. Democrats say they would improve the Medicare prescription drug system and halt any effort to privatize Social Security. College tuition would be tax-deductible and student loan rates cut.

On foreign policy, Democrats would require "Iraqis to take responsibility for their country" and begin the phased redeployment of U.S. forces. They aim to secure U.S. borders and double the size of the Special Forces contingent assigned to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

"Millions of Americans across the country have had enough," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada declared as he and Pelosi officially unveiled the platform. "They're tired of coming in second to Big Oil, big drug companies and the radical right."

Republicans acknowledge that they've lost ground in polls but say they expect to retain control of both houses of Congress this November. Although Democrats liken this election to 1994, when Republicans took over Congress, Springfield Republican Rep. David Hobson says it's not an apt comparison.

"The difference between now and 1994 is that they weren't expecting us at all and we have effectively prepared for the onslaught," says Hobson.

more...

"See an opening"??? It's a damn sad day when, with all the f__king CRAP that's been handed to the American people since '94 (especially these past six years), the Democrats "see an opening". If the voting American public is that damn stupid, then there's the argument the U.S. is not deserving of existence!

Anonymous

IT'S ABOUT ANNEXATION, STUPID!

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Officially, Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon is an act of self-defense against Hezbollah's threat, aimed at creating a security buffer zone until the arrival of a "multinational force with an enforcement capability". But increasingly, as the initial goal of a narrow strip of only a few kilometers has now been extended up to the Litani River deep in Lebanon, the real motives behind Israel's invasion are becoming crystal-clear.

It's about (de facto) annexation, stupid. This is a war to annex a major chunk of Lebanese territory without necessarily saying so, under the pretext of security buffer and deterrence against future attacks on Israel.

Continue reading here

Question Girl

ARTHUR LEE DIED THIS WEEK R.I.P.

Love singer Arthur Lee dies at 61

Arthur Lee died on Thursday with his wife Diane at his side
Arthur Lee, singer and guitarist of the influential 1960s band Love, has died in Memphis at the age of 61 following a battle with acute myeloid leukaemia.
A Memphis native who called himself the "first so-called black hippie", Lee formed Love in Los Angeles in 1965.

The multiracial band recorded three groundbreaking albums that fused rock, blues and psychedelia - the self-titled Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes.

In the 1990s Lee spent time in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.

Read full article here

Question Girl

STATE FAILURES LEAVE POLICYHOLDERS WITHOUT A NET

I'm not buying that the insurance companies paid out more than they took in. And if they did, too fucking bad. I know people with 4-500.00 a month home insurance bills. Add that to the ridiculous price of housing down here, and property taxes.....and the middle class citizen is out of the market. I wonder how the insurance sitiuation is on the Gulf coast after Katrina. Anyone know?

By Kathy Bushouse
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 6 2006


Florida's property insurance market is a mess, despite legislators' attempts to fix it for more than a decade.

The price of home and condominium insurance has soared to dizzying levels. Insurers have dumped longtime customers and slashed coverage for others. The state's home insurer of last resort now is the biggest property insurer in Florida.

More and more homeowners and businesses are forced to ponder whether they can afford the Sunshine State anymore.

Read more here

Question Girl

Ned Lamont

Lamont Riding Momentum

Peter Urban
Connecticut Post

Greenwich multimillionaire Ned Lamont, a political neophyte who was written off early by pundits, heads into Connecticut's Democratic primary Tuesday favored to defeat three-term incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman.

The latest Quinnipiac University Poll, released Thursday, showed Lamont with a 13-point lead over Lieberman among likely Democratic voters — a lead that once seemed unthinkable. "It is a great credit to the Lamont campaign to come from nowhere to be 13 points ahead," said Scott McLean, a professor of politics at Quinnipiac University in Hamden. "It is kind of amazing. I did not expect him to be that far ahead."

The poll showed Lamont with a 54-to-41 advantage among likely Democratic voters in the primary. A similar survey on July 20 showed Lamont with just a slight advantage. Lamont, 52, entered the race largely out of frustration with Lieberman, a Democrat whom he had supported in the past, but who he felt no longer represented the views of most Connecticut residents.

Lieberman, he charges, has become a mouthpiece for the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda by supporting the Iraq war and chastising Democrats who voiced concerns about its failures.

Lamont opposes the war and advocates a military withdrawal. He says the money being spent in Iraq could be put to better use providing health care to all Americans. Lamont has spent about $3 million of his own money to fund his campaign; much of that has gone to television advertisements.

full article

Lamont Ads Question Value of Lieberman’s Years in Office

Nicholas Confessore
NYT, August 6, 2006

GOSHEN, Conn., Aug. 5 — Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont released new radio ads on Saturday intended to dispel any concerns that he lacks enough political experience to replace the incumbent, Joseph I. Lieberman, even as a new poll showed Mr. Lamont continuing to run ahead of Mr. Lieberman just days from the Democratic primary.

“I think what we’re trying to say is that being a lifelong politician isn’t the best or the only experience you need to serve your country,” Mr. Lamont said at a campaign stop here, where he visited the Litchfield Jazz Festival.

In the advertisement, Mr. Lamont says that “experience can be a wonderful teacher” and describes how his experience as a businessman taught him how to create jobs and convinced him of the need for universal health care.

“But most of all,” he says, “experience has taught me not to be afraid. That’s what Connecticut needs right now. That’s what America needs right now. If Joe Lieberman is not willing to challenge President Bush and Vice President Cheney, I will.”

full article

Anonymous