Maybe we should all start wearing those resistance bands. (they could be cut into smaller pieces and used as armbands or wrist bands.)
sparrow said:
With lightening speed... you can dash over to the Home page and join the lightening round discussion on the debates last night.
I'm one who missed them, so if you saw them, I'd love to hear more about them. The great thing about online videos, you don't have to trust the media spin. (That bad thing is that they still are run by the media hacks.)
sparrow said:
Looks like I'm the only one here today. (Finally got a day off.)
I am busy calling Congress to tell them that the diplomats consider it a death sentence, well so do the soldiers!
Bring them home now!
Also, I discovered that when Congress feels heat they really MOVE. Apparently they fled the Dirksen Building due to reported fires.
Wonder what they think our soldiers are experiencing in Iraq? A little fire (of all kinds) every day!
Christy said:
I'm here Sparrow.
Just researching my next canvas. Unfortunately I was so into Monkeys placard last night I missed the debates too.
Not that I missed anything groundbreaking or even helpful, so I hear.
Although I see Kucinich did jump in with an IMPEACH!
God bless him!
sparrow said:
Yes, God Bless him, Christy.
Now if only one of the top runners said it, I'd be a lot happier.
Of course Sibel has posted the top ten obstructionist to whistleblowing testimony and Hillary Clinton was on that list. That means she's off my list, period!
Sorry. I can not stay a party line if that party is as corrupt as the otherone. And I at least know the whistleblowers are trustworthy.
Now that I am a mommy, holidays are a total pain in the arse. I bought 16 pounds of candy.
And I don't even eat candy.
Hillary was always off my list. She is simply too compromised for me. A moral abyss.
I do admire things about her, but I prefer to get a leader that can not be bought and paid for. I am sick of the compromised running this nation into the dirt. I want a hero.
I want an Untouchable.
You know Sparrow I think the democrats, the 'leadership' have seriously underestimated their party as far as 'As long as I get into power, that is all we care about..right?'
I am so freaking sick of it. One main reason georgie did what he did, was because democrats LET HIM do it. Helped him do it.
'Sign what? Ok! See what a good little patriot I am. I must be, because I 'support the Troops! Yeaaaa me!'
Ultimately, the responsibility of george w. bush, falls almost evenly on both parties, but it is the republicans that will go extinct over it. Rightly so.
May the democrats enabling him go to hell with him.
If that means I am no longer a democrat, well, then I guess I am no longer a democrat.
Dana Perino fielding questions from, hopefully, real reporters about the Phony FEMA press conference (this is reminiscent of the choreographied press conference just prior to the invasion of Iraq ) :
Christy said:
Ummm. It can not be a coincidence this keeps happening. Another one who voted anti gay too.
Cross-dressing state lawmaker blackmailed following late night tryst
State Representative Richard Curtis says he’s not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women’s lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis’ activities publicly….
Curtis, according to a search warrant unsealed Tuesday, went to the Hollywood Erotic Boutique on East Sprague on October 26th at approximately 12:45 a.m. The store clerk, who had talked with Curtis, referred to him as “The Cross-Dresser” and said that during their conversations he confirmed he was gay and was married with children at home.
During his visit to the video store Curtis was observed wearing women’s lingerie while receiving oral sex from an unidentified man in one of the movie viewing booths inside the store.
Which means: the base no longer matters at the Democratic Party. Contrast that with the Republicans, where the base is EVERYTHING.
Ain't that the truth
monkey said:
Who is more base than Republicans?
base - adjective
1. morally low; without estimable personal qualities; dishonorable; meanspirited; selfish; cowardly.
2. of little or no value; worthless: hastily composed of base materials.
3. debased or counterfeit: an attempt to eliminate the base coinage.
4. characteristic of or befitting an inferior person or thing.
5. of illegitimate birth.
6. not classical or refined: base language.
7. Old English Law. held by tenure less than freehold in return for a service viewed as somewhat demeaning to the tenant.
8. Archaic. a. of humble origin or station.
b. of small height.
c. low in place, position, or degree: base servitude.
A top US scholar of wartime Japan said Wednesday that the Bush administration's "war on terror" bore close parallels to Japan's past militarism through a defiance of international law.
Herbert Bix, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his landmark biography of wartime emperor Hirohito, said he believed US aerial bombings and alleged use of torture in Afghanistan and Iraq constituted war crimes.
"The current American rampage in Iraq and elsewhere, not to mention the Bush administration's threats of war against Iran, so clearly replicates Imperial Japan during the period when its leaders willfully disregarded international law and pursued the diplomacy of force," Bix said during a visit to Tokyo. http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Scholar_links_Bush_s_US_and_Hirohit_10312007.html
George W. Bush - Creeping Death
sparrow said:
Rossi,
Of course he (we) are guilty of war crimes! It goes without saying. All you need to do to decide if it's war crimes is to insert the name of a different President, like Clinton before anything done during the last five years and people would say it's impeachable.
Or you could insert the name "Russia" or "China" or "Iran" over anything related to our torture policy and they would say it's a war crime.
It's interesting how people who want us to believe it's about what the terrorist did to our country don't understand that you don't respond by breaking international laws. You don't respond by breaking MORAL laws. And you don't respond by torturing people, period.
sparrow said:
Ralph,
Good Mark Penn video. I didn't realize all that about her advisor.
I sense that Mark Penn is Hillary's Karl Rove.....
LOL!!!
Christy said:
Terrorists don't scare me.
A punk ass self absorbed silverspooner with a bloodlusty taste for torture in $15,000.00 suits having unlimited power and control of an awsome military... now that is a total freaking nightmare.
It's interesting how people who want us to believe it's about what the terrorist did to our country don't understand that you don't respond by breaking international laws. You don't respond by breaking MORAL laws. And you don't respond by torturing people, period.
========
Right on sparrow
Jury awards father $11M in funeral case
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago
BALTIMORE - A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.
Snyder's attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had urged jurors to determine an amount "that says don't do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again."
Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."
A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries. But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/funeral_protests
I just got this email about impeachment. I don't think it will happen but maybe it is worth a try.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich describes the process of how, within a few weeks, he'll force the issue of impeachment on the floor of the U.S. House. He does this to inform the public so that the public can assist in the process. The likely scenario is that a congressperson will immediately make a parliamentary move to 'table' the motion. The vote on whether to 'table' the impeachment motion WILL BE THE IMPORTANT VOTE. If the motion is tabled, it's dead. So, Kucinich is calling on every citizen (yes, that means you) to contact their representative to tell them to vote NOT to table the impeachment motion, but to let it be discussed on the floor of the U.S. House! Call Congress Toll Free at 800 828 0498.
During his visit to the video store Curtis was observed wearing women’s lingerie while receiving oral sex from an unidentified man in one of the movie viewing booths inside the store. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/xxxgay
Responding to Chuck's post here. (Sorry I was away at work and didn't catch this until now. I would link back to the prior thread but feel my responses would be clearer attached here.)
Chuck said:
Chuck said:
SParrow, responding to your reasons to impeach, these are my comments in bracket):
1. Starting a war on lies [what would the actual charge be? What crime and what specifics? Neither starting wars nor lying is a crime.]
My response: Nigerian Papers, Wilson's testimony, the DSM, and the SSM.
2. Treason [In what sense, specifically? If memory serves, treason has to do with aiding and abetting. It can't be hypothetical either, it has to be a concrete case, or else we run the risk that any interpretation of any political act could be deemed treason if you could get a majority to agree -- for example, the idea of defunding the war could be. Bad foreign policy and cynical domestic policy is not treason.]
My reason: Valerie Plame. Outing a COVERT SPY is TREASON!
3. War Profiteering and Torture. [War profiteering is a slogan, and a bad practice, not a crime. Torture is a crime. I doubt a direct case could be made against Bush on that. He is too careful. Good families like the Bushes don't do torture -- the help takes care of that sort of thing, I am guessing.]
My response: Jesselyn Radack who they have worked OVERTIME to silence, as well as MANY other whistleblowers who have been attacked by OUR GOVERNMENT with OUR TAX DOLLARS could speak on this. I know someone in particular but am not free to release his name to the public.
4. Spying illegally without warrants. [This one could fly, but (1) can the case be made and (2) would it be political suicide to make it? Or does that matter?]
My response: Records exist on this. Yes it matters.
5. Losing billions of dollars in Iraq. [Not a crime]
My response: Losing billions of dollars in Iraq is a crime if it's been done by a method called "embezzelment" and we have pretty good evidence of who lost that money and how.
6. Hatch violations and illegal vote purges. [I am sure many people n the apparatus of the GOP could be, and I believe have been, proscuted for this. There is probably a firewall around POTUS however.] Setting up the DOJ against Americans who aren't Republicans. [Ditto]
My response: Nothing has happened yet. We've scratched the surface. And even now, Bush hasn't released to Leahy the documents requested.
7. Violating the Geneva Conventions and signing off on treaties with other countries. [See: 3 above.]
8. Illegally utilizing a "no-fly list" to persecute dissenters. [See: 7 above.]
My response: So far we've got a list of people who have been on it. I'll name two: Jesselyn Radack (whistleblower against the torture of an American citizen and Ted Kennedy--Democratic Senator.
9. Illegally using our tax dollars to buy media publicity. [See: 7 above.]
10. Illegally using our tax dollars to persecute political dissenters like Jesselyn Radack and others ... [Don't know the reference, but probably,again,akin to 7 above.]
My response: Sibel Edmonds, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Col. Ann Wright, and how many 5 star Generals? Richard Clarke, Colin Powell, and others from the administration. (And that list doesn't include all the other whistleblowers.
11. Criminal neglegence in NOLA. [Not sure what the standards are for criminal negligence, but I am sure that it would not apply to the federal government's reaction to a crisis, cf: 2 above.]
Well, let's put the evidence forth in a trial, Chuck. Where we can SEE the documents and watch the videos to see what his/their response was.
12. Criminal care of Veterans. [See: 11 above.]
Chuck in Houston
Chuck...I am very sorry to disagree with you so strongly on the Impeachment and the Democratic Party's lack of response. My philosophy is that if one's representatives are crooked, then you impeach them. I agreed with Fein on the Moyer's show. And though I support more of the democratic 'ideas' than I do Republicans, I can not support their behavior over impeachment and FISA and a few other things.
I believe impeachment hearings are more than warranted.
I believe they are dropping the ball on ethics in government.
I had such hopes for them, but they have shown themselves to be untrue to my values. And my values begin with holding our government officials, paid for with my tax dollars, to the highest ethical standards.
Cashing In on Terror
Thanks to bin Laden and Bush’s exploitation of “war on terror” hysteria, the taxpayers have been hoodwinked into paying for a sophisticated military arsenal to fight a Soviet enemy that no longer exists. The Institute for Policy Studies calculated last year that the top 34 CEOs of the defense industry have earned a combined billion dollars since 9/11; they should give bin Laden his cut. http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071030_scheer_column_cashing_in/
Notice the framing? Notice they have attempted to switch the identity and association of Evangicals which in 2004 indicated DEMOCRATIC RELIGIOUS folks and the FUNDAMENTALISTS who were the REPUBLICAN "Value Voters".
Notice the different articles related to those name usages and the distance they are trying to apply towards their previous label.
sparrow said:
And this is another important reason to hold impeachment hearings. (Via D-Kos)
The U.S. has imprisoned hundreds of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay in a military legal system that Vokey denounces as "horrific." Vokey saw the system first-hand when he agreed two years ago to defend a teenager there who had been charged with murdering a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Vokey said he knew the case would be difficult, but he discovered that the legal system at Guantanamo is a "sham."
Vokey's 15 year-old Canadian client had been tortured into signing a confession, including being used a "human mop" to wipe his own urine off the floor after being left chained in painful positions for many hours at a time. Vokey was kept from meeting with his client, or from seeing the evidence against him.
"Anytime you want to subvert the rule of law to the power of a government, you've got a very bad thing brewing," Vokey told NPR. "As an officer in the Marine Corps I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And now we are perpetrating something that if any other country in the world was doing, we would likely step in and stop it."
Asked who was to blame for this subversion of justice, Vokey made a careful response.
Vokey went to his bookshelf, pulled out the Manual for Courts-Martial, and read from Article 88: "'Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, vice president, Congress'" and a list of other officials, he said, "'shall be punished as a court martial may direct.'"
If those in the military most familiar with the system are not afraid to call it as they see it, how can those sitting comfortably in Washington continue to support what goes on at Guantanamo
WASHINGTON -- October 31, 2007: Interrupting FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's opening remarks at Wednesday's FCC localism hearing was a woman dressed in a skimpy French maid's outfit, who successfully fended off two security guards' efforts to oust her from the room.
Samantha Miller, appearing on behalf of anti-consolidation group Code Pink, added some activist touches to her Halloween costume by writing the word faux in marker across her bosom, along with references to major media outlets like ABC, Viacom, and Disney elsewhere on her body.
Where's the pic??? of the "faux" across the bosom??
Wow the U.S. government is doing everything they can to stifle dissent and freedom of speech:
"Indeed, FCC guards didn't allow signs, hats, or banners promoting any agendas into the commission meeting room, and several people who attended the meeting had to leave signs opposing "big media" at the main entrance, though one woman did manage to get a similar sign past the guards."
"A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a
fundamentalist Kansas church [aka Fred Phelps] that pickets military
funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the
nation's tolerance of homosexuality."
Fine, we disagree. I still don't see in your response specific charges, just amplifications on bad things that have happened. I don't see a single thing on there that would be a bill of indictment on GWB.
Also, Roosevelt was not impeached for interning Japanese Americans and Lincoln was not impeached for suspending Habeus Corpus. There will be no impeachment unless something new and shocking comes to light. That is my prediction. I think it is time to move on.
By the way, when I said "see point 7" on your points 8-10, I meant point 6.
Christy:
If you think there is no difference between a GOP led by GWB and Tom DeLay and the Democrat Party led by Pelosi, Reid and Clinton(s), then we simply have between us no basis for a rational discourse on the issue of electoral politics in the USA.
Chuck in Houston
Chuck said:
Also. Sparrow, on your (4), I meant does it matter that US public opinion might side against impeachment on that one? That is sort of like the excuse for Roosevelt and the internment, by the way.
Christy said:
Christy:
If you think there is no difference between a GOP led by GWB and Tom DeLay and the Democrat Party led by Pelosi, Reid and Clinton(s), then we simply have between us no basis for a rational discourse on the issue of electoral politics in the USA.
For 1. I never said I did not see a difference.
I said that democrats leaders are sorely mistaken to believe We, as a party, will tolerate thier lies, excuses and cop outs simply because they have a D in thier name. I also said that is how republicans became how they are and if I am required to blindly follow a party over a cliff, then let's just say I am no longer a dem.
And for 2. You see no reason to impeach, and have constantly overlooked or dismissed any reason to do so, which told me a while back there was no basis of rational discourse left to occur between us.
But, I am glad we are both on the same page at last.
Christy said:
By the way Chuck...
The other day, when you several times refferred to asking 'Constitutional scholars' about impeachment... Because, you know, you were unsure...
It is funny because....
All the Constitutional Scholars I have heard on the subject all say impeachment is warrented and should go forth with no delay.
I wonder if you had realized that, would you have called to check with them, you know, since your 'rational discourse' had taken you in the complete opposite direction.
Christy said:
And Rossi,
No and no on Woz. Tried to send an email too but it is locked up again.
I hope she is ok.
Christy said:
On that story about the Dentist here in Shreveport ....
“He slept with an AK-47,” Scruggs said, recalling the last two years before Graham fell ill. “And he had a bag packed by the door. And he had a plan; if he had to leave, he was going to leave. I was always worried that we were all going to get killed. His clinic was going to get blown up, or my house that he was living in. He had several escape plans.”
Snip
“There are a lot of people to this day that will say, A: He did it for attention; B: It was an accident or, C: someone else did it to him but we’ll never push through that dark curtain to find out who it is,” Sledge continued. “A lot of people are just kind of scared. They don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Snip
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office in Shreveport has no autopsy on file for Graham
You can't trust the cops. You can't trust the DAs. Or the FBI. And even the Coroner seems a wee bit off.
Did you say 'terrorists'...hmm?
Who needs terrorists when the cops protect SERIAL KILLERS...?
OK. Now I will shut up before I have to buy a gun to sleep with.
One day, I swear to God, I am going to tell you the rest of that story. And I won't care who is listening.
But for now I am just going to go look at Louisiana and wonder how anything so beautiful can be so damn evil.
sparrow said:
Chuck,
The 'red' area where I live is begging for impeachment. THEY ADMIT he broke more laws than Billy the Kid. THEY think the Democratic Party is a bunch of spineless idiots and even though they voted Democratic in 06 to give them the chance to 'make it right', they are sickened by two things particularly:
1. The dems aren't ending the war.
2. The dems aren't impeaching.
3. "They aren't doing anything."
(I'm adding three because it's this area that is more grey but all of us who watch KNOW the Republicans are doing this TO THE DEMS and the Dems haven't come back with an appropriate action.)
Of course the more progressive area where I work all want to donate 10 bucks so that Bush can get a chick wearing a blue dress and a b.j. (Of course some here believe that we'd have to provide a male in a blue dress for him instead of a female.)
Regarding the list from above, I gave specific words ALL of which should lead to specific HEARINGS and would lead to the DOCUMENTATION and specific charges you're asking for. It's as simple as that, Chuck. By taking impeachment OFF the table, those charges will NEVER get investigated and they will never get implimented. And the documentation from the 'most secretive W.H." will never see the light of day.
By the way Chuck, in a legitimate democracy, would we have a special prosecutor like we did during Nixon's era? A special prosecutor who is without ties to the opposing party--unlike Kenneth Star--the Republican Party hack? Keep in mind that 10 years ago I was a Republican independent--not a Democratic leaning independent. And even I understood that Kenneth Starr over-reached his original duties and the best he could come up with was a lie in a civil suit and a little stain on a blue dress.
Christy said:
"...he broke more laws than Billy the Kid"
HAHA! Great line!
Me, too, Sparrow. 10 years ago, I was one of THEM. Newt and Tom pretty much ran me out with my gag reflex completely maxed out.
And people like Pelosi, who thinks her own bit of Constitutional dismantling just settles all that, will be why I leave the democratic fold.
I will not act like a lemming for any party. The US Constitution matters to me and I am an enemy to anyone who sweeps large and important pieces of it out of existance.
Just think, if we were all homeless, instead of talking politics, she could just have us arrested for loitering!
So says she.
Christy said:
Oh, and while we are at it, let's stop already with the ...'But Jefferson suspended, and Lincoln suspended...' comparisions already.
This is not the Revolutionary War period, nor is there a Civil War imminant with slavemongers threatening to break the nation in two, and george w bush is no Lincoln and he damn sure ain't no Jefferson.
Niether of those men ever appeared on national tv and lied repeatedly to our faces while committing OPEN HIGH TREASON to illegally start a LAND WAR IN ASIA.
And if they did, it didn't happen recently.
We have never ever as a nation faced anything similar to what is happening now. The only things it can be compared too, Nazi Germany, WW2 Japan, CALIGULLA, are all examples from places with far longer histories than ours.
No president, not even Jefferson has ever so totally and thouroughly assaulted nor disrespected the Constitution like this one has. He has NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER to hold up any of the principles and regulations set forth in it. He has proven that again and again.
No other president has come so close to literally installing a dictatorship in all ways. He has rendered the Constitution completely MOOT.
We should not only be compelled by the evidence to impeach him, we should do it just to find out exactly what in the hell is going on here.
Everything they have been doing must come to light, because it is certain what they have kept hidden is FAR WORSE than anything come to light so far.
They must be held accountable for it, or in the eyes of the entire world, we will all be damned for it. None of our future generations will be safe if it is left undone.
Christy said:
It is too late. He just graduated to a real live DICTATOR.
To Implement Policy, Bush to Turn to Administrative Orders
House Democratic leaders fired back at Bush with strong rhetoric of their own. "The president wants the same complacent, complicit Congress that was a co-conspirator in a coverup of what was going on in this country," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).
monkey said:
Torture suit against Rumsfeld filed in France
Groups: Ex-defense secretary OK’d war crimes at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo
PARIS - American and European rights groups filed a legal complaint in France accusing former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for torture in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.
The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor's office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit, according to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and two Paris-based groups, the International Federation of Human Rights and the League of Human Rights.
Lawrence Di Rita, former Pentagon spokesman under Rumsfeld, said: "These assertions have no merit, and they have been completely dismissed when made in other jurisdictions."
"Complaints such as this have zero foundation in the truth or the facts as presented in countless investigations," he said.
The rights groups say their complaint could go forward because people suspected of torture can be prosecuted in France if they are on French soil.
The complaint will now be examined by French prosecutors, who will decide whether it is well-founded and should be pursued or whether it should be rejected. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Friday night that it was checking whether Rumsfeld is protected by any sort of diplomatic immunity and whether he was still in France.
The complaint says Rumsfeld, in his former position as defense secretary, "authorized and ordered crimes of torture to be carried out ... as well as other war crimes."
Something tells me Freedom Fries are gonna be back on the menu soon...
Bon Apathy
monkey said:
Bush backs Mukasey on waterboarding stance
President defends nominee’s refusal to say whether procedure is torture
WASHINGTON - President Bush, seeking to salvage the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, on Thursday defended the former judge’s refusal to say whether he considers waterboarding as illegal torture.
Bush said it was unfair to ask Mukasey about interrogation techniques on which he has not been briefed. “He doesn’t know whether we use that technique or not,” the president told a group of reporters invited into the Oval Office.
Further, Bush said, “It doesn’t make any sense to tell the enemy whether we use those techniques or not.”
Bush called on the Senate to promptly approve Mukasey, saying the nation needs to have an attorney general in place to help wage the war on terror.
“Judge Mukasey is not being treated fairly,” the president said. Without saying whether interrogators use waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning, Bush said that “the American people must know that whatever techniques we use are within the law.”
Asked whether he considers waterboarding legal, Bush replied, “I’m not going to talk about techniques. There’s an enemy out there.”
CUZ YOU SAID THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT TORTURE!!!
DO YOU CONSIDER IT TO BE TORTURE, EVEN IF WE DIDN'T USE IT?
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
monkey said:
I swear to God, if someone doesn't call on this liar to clarify these statements this morning, then I've totally lost the last shred of hope I have left in this country...
It's one thing to not impeach based on lack of evidence, and another thing to NOT even start the investigations that may/may not lead to impeachment.
I expected the Dems to at least "pretend" to do the investigations to keep their base happy. I was so wrong.
The Dems, on the whole, have been spineless since the Reagan years - if they actually had a strong spine, then the "legacy" of the Reagan years would not be as grand as they are today.
Christy said:
Hey Monkey...
I am not sure if this will make you feel any better, but...
Since you can not be reached by US mail and I hate waiting.
Click on the first pic to see the details of her mask.
Christy said:
Ally, can you please email me if it will go through?
Christy said:
BTW, not sure why that happened, but that blue dress is not really blue, it is a deep purple.
Concord Grape, to be exact.
The other colors are right though.
sparrow said:
It's one thing to not impeach based on lack of evidence, and another thing to NOT even start the investigations that may/may not lead to impeachment.
Ally McRepuke said
I agree Ally. I was going to post the same thing about 5 hours ago but I got detoured (so to speak).
What's happened is like you calling the police and saying your house has been robbed, your children kidnapped, and the perpetrators are stalking you and then the police don't even show up for the investigation!
We needed a "Special INDEPENDENT" Prosecutor DAY ONE of 2007. They were too busy playing cheesy politics and too afraid to be labelled as a 'politician'. When in fact they had the LAWS of the land on their side.
No difference there anyway... CNN is just as much of a koolaid network as Fox is.
In fact, CNN is worse, because while Fox is consistently Republican, CNN is a flip-flopper.
Karen said:
Another interesting day in the Nation's Capitol. We heard last night that Pres. Bush was going to be around the corner at the Heritage Foundation.
Plans were made.
Richard got in to an overflow room, where he witnessed one of the flattest performances yet by an actual breathing human. Bush seems to have given up all pretense of interest in what he is saying. He seems finished with the role, the performance, and anything approaching actual belief.
However, he DID mention Code Pink (along with Move On bloggers, an animal unknown to us) so that gratified those who work so hard to bring the public's attention to criminal behaviors.
Outside, the police were very nice, but kept us away. A group of Heritage Foundation staffers grabbed the Code Pink banner and hung it upside down from the front of the building; this despite Bush's statement that entirely too much attention is being given to Code Pink.
hmmmm.
After that, I helped deliver copies of Naomi Wolf's new book, THE END OF AMERICA, to Senators, taking the opportunity to suggest that most Americans are not inclined to strike at Iran without diplomacy first.
And now we are calling in on the Mukasey nomination. Please join us and make those calls.
Here is JK's statemnt on that:
WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry made the following statement today on the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey for Attorney General of the United States.
"Judge Mukasey’s refusal to classify the barbaric practice of waterboarding as torture waves a red flag about his nomination to serve an Administration that has adhered to the Cheney doctrine on executive power and torture. I am not comfortable confirming anyone who cannot see that this method of interrogation is antithetical to American values and traditions – especially not to a position that is charged with representing our entire justice system. We need to reestablish faith in the Department of Justice.
“Many of us wanted to believe that Judge Mukasey could undo the damage of the Gonzales years. Unfortunately his lack of candor and his refusal to acknowledge this abuse of power suggest he is unable or unwilling to do so, and this is why I will be opposing Judge Mukasey’s nomination to be the next Attorney General of the United States."
Read Casey's piece on the main thread for backup info. Thanks!
Thanks to you and Dick for all the hard work last night at the Heritage Foundation - a place I know a bit, since some of my college acquaintances have worked there.
And of course... go CodePink! If W names CodePink by name, they are certainly making an impact.
Karen said:
Ally,
DiFi still not saying if she will vote against Mukasey. Feel free to share your concerns...
Karen said:
Hey everyone, Medea going nose-to-nose with Bill O'Reilly tonight.
Thanks for the heads up. Will let Feinstein know of my concerns, even though I'm not a big fan of hers.
Won't be tuning into O'Reilly as he's too much for me to handle right now, but thanks for the heads-up anyway.
Christy said:
Happy Birthday Sparrow!
Scorpio...oh lala.
Hey Ally, I just emailed you back, sorry it took so long, my mom intercepted me before I could hit send and we had an everything conversation before she finally decided her dog wanted to go home.
Here is Bush at Heritage Foundation: Same bullshII different day -
Christy said:
"PAUL TIBBETS, pilot who bombed Hiroshima, dies at 92."
You know, all my life I have thought, if there was a hell, certainly the pilot of the Enola Gay would be swallowed up by it the moment he takes his last breath. I mean, how could he avoid it ?
It really doesn't matter why we do what we do, does it? I mean, it really doesn't matter WHY he dropped that bomb...does it? He killed so many people it certainly must have cost him his soul.
I know this country regards him as some kind of 'hero'. But I just can't do it. I never could.
Some 'hero'.
Matthew Carnicelli said:
So, Microsoft seems to believe that DCP is suspicious website. My phishing filter goes off whenever I come here using Internet Explorer 7. I've alerted them twice that DCP is legit, but the message seems to not be getting through.
Karen said:
Yes, Matthew, I have filled out their stupid form twice already.
Chuck said:
Well, I know this is aimless and futile, but so what. First, I think it is ridiculous to open an investigation on impeachment without a specific bill of indictment, for example, a POTUS authorizing a buglary of the opposition party's internal files or a POTUS authorizing illegal clandestine activity to thwart acts of congress. Constitutional Scholars? I don't know any. I think moderation is a virtue and compromise is important, as is allowing the opposition to save face on occasion. I think that stridency on the left is destroying the left politically. I think group-think on the left is almost as harmful as group-think on the right. I hear the Christian Right is looking for a third party -- I sure hope so. I think we would do better with a four-party system: (1) the GOP "Base", (2) the old Mainstreet GOP, (3) the old Farm/Labor Democrat Party (me), and (4) the Greens or whatever. But I sure as heck won't encourage (4) until (1) is an up and going concern. Anyway, doesn't matter what I think about that.
On a deeper level, though, for me the desparate moment is over. I think the Bush/Rove approach is now discredited. I no longer feel worried about the state of US politics. I think the good run we took at them in 2004 and the victory of 2006 has caused the GOP to re-consider their radical divide-and-conquer approach, so the ballast has shifted and the ship will come right.
Got your email. Will elaborate further in my reply.
Chuck
There has been an arch-conservative third party for ages - the Constitution Party (known as American Independent in California, and stronger than Democrats in many parts of SoCal). All it needs is a strong presidential candidate of its own + a Republican candidate unacceptable to the Christian Right. If Rudy wins the Republican nomination, that may happen, despite all the transgender people Rudy has helped murder in NYC.
I'm not happy to hear about Microsoft singling us out.
Solution: switch to Firefox.
Better yet, do what NMP and I have done - get a Mac. :)
For me, the only remaining reasons to still run Windows are mapping software and games. (And a CAD program at work also requires Windows, but I don't run that at home.) Fortunately, all new Macs can dual-boot Windows.
sparrow said:
I think the good run we took at them in 2004 and the victory of 2006 has caused the GOP to re-consider their radical divide-and-conquer approach, so the ballast has shifted and the ship will come right.
Cheers!
Chuck in Houston
Hi Chuck,
I am not understanding what you mean when you say, "...the ship will come right." Do you mean left? Do you mean ethically right? Or do you just mean that it will stop sinking?
Sorry to disagree with you on impeachment. I very much appreciate your opinions, but I guess the impeachment discussion is one of those that people become entrenched...pretty much like many other issues like abortion, gay-marraige, etc...
I do think that Karen is correct when she mentioned on the front page yesterday that we need to keep talking to our Democratic and Republican candidates. Out where I live there seems to be a lot of interest in Ron Paul. I understand his Iraq stance. Does he want universal healthcare? Does he want anything that I want?
I do know in my state I can vote in the primaries on either ticket. I may vote for a Dem or I may vote for Paul. Or I may just write in Colbert's name.
Chuck said:
Ally:
What percent of the POTUS vote did they get nationally in 2000 or 2004? I've actually never heard of them. I've heard of the Libertarians and the LaRouche party (I forget what it's called).
Chuck in Houston
PS: I mean, there have always been "arch-left" parties too -- Third and Fourth International, etc., but I do not believe they ever played a significant role in US Presidential Election, such as the Bull Moose thing of that guy with glasses that ran with Carter and Reagan or the Greens with 5% with RAlph Nader in 2000. Was the Consitution Party the Pat Buchanan PArty that won all those Butterfly Ballots in Florida in 2000?
sparrow said:
Folks, give microsoft time to get it straight. It may be McAffee that does the information. I think it's way to early to jump to the conclusion that Microsoft gives a whoot about the DCP. They simply have thousands of new webpages all the time.
Chuck said:
SParrow:
Good catch! No, that "right" was totally inadvertant! I meant "right" as in "to right oneself." Nothing sinister intended!
Chavez wants presidential term limits abolished, and executive powers expanded to allow the suspension of the legislature in emergencies.
Smells like a dictatorship brewing - not much different from the fascist dictatorships I grew up in. The only difference is that this one is a socialist dictatorship.
Strangely enough, the speakers who bothered to mention Venezuela at last weekend's peace rally only emphasized the positives, like a 6-hour workday and lowered voting age...
Chuck said:
Sparrow:
The idea was that when you are looking at large social transformations, intertia is huge, and a deflection, once made, may be imperceptible in the short run but is overpowering in the longer run. My dad used to say "like trying to turn a battleship at flank speed." There is a great quote by Lincoln on that somewhere with respect to racism in America, and an echo to that Wilson used with the Japanese after WWI.
Just reading the letter that 29 Senators signed r/t it being illegal for Bush to invade Iran (in a nutshell). My two Senators signed it, as did Robert Byrd, John Kerry, & Hillary Clinton, though she voted for the Lieberman/Kyl amendment. Obama didn't sign it, though he didn't vote one way or another on the Lieberman/Kyl amendment. So those two muddy the waters for me.
Am trying to decide whether to brave cold, traffic, parking & fatigue & go see Bill Clinton talk about "Giving." I need something, as I was driving home & feeling a deep sense of shame, listening to a lawyer for Guantanamo detainees. I wish we'd all gone into the streets & insisted Gore not concede in 2000. I wish we'd moved to Canada when we were younger.
Am afraid my son didn't get a job and didn't qualify for unemployment so that means more time without health insurance. I'm afraid my brothers and their families will get sick - they're not covered, or that my mom's cancer will come back - she's on an HMO because she was too confused to sign up for Medicare Pt D so had to go off Medicare.
I'm afraid children in about half the states will go off the CHIPS program now that Bush has vetoed 3 or so versions of the law. Many of the children live in poor states that can't raise additional revenue. I just read that half of the children in the southern public schools are poor & on school lunch programs.
I was listening to a recording of the guy who flew the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. He tried to justify by it by saying there aren't moral laws r/t war because war is immoral in the first place and, as usual, he was just doing his duty. Why do people sign up for duties like that? Ignorance is no excuse. I was listening to FDR & as much as I admire him, he sounded almost as belligerent as Bush, vowing to bomb more as needed. They claimed they were saving lives but they bombed civilians.
I learned tonight while driving home that Guantanamo is larger than Manhattan. Most people are in there because of bounties paid & not because they were fighting anyone. A $5000 bounty would be like 1/2 a million bucks - who among us wouldn't be tempted to turn in someone we didn't like?! Honestly .. & then information was gained through torture. Who, with enough waterboarding, wouldn't say .. yeah I was at Tora Bora. It's so shameful.
Buchanan was the Reform Party candidate in 2000. He took the once socially moderate Reforms hard right, and pretty much killed them. Reform was fairly successful as a third party before then, with Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura.
LaRouche has always been associated with the Democratic Party, as much as the rest of the party refuses to associate with him.
The Constitution Party (constitution.com, I think) is probably the best-known secret in right-wing politics. They rarely run candidates at the local level, but at the state and national level they do have candidates, who suffer from dearth of media coverage - just like all Greens except Nader. They do exist in most states, not all, but most. Their platform is hardcore theocracy and xenophobia.
I'd estimate that the partisan breakdown in my neighborhood is 75% Republican, 15% American Independent (Constitution), and 10% Democratic/Green/all else. No hard data, just a glimpse of the voter roll as I sign it.
I sometimes torture my father on why he decided to relocate the family to the US, as opposed to another English-speaking country. I pushed him especially hard about ten years ago, when he had been scammed and the government was not going to help us (he was unable to pay my college tuition then).
His BS answer is that the US offered him the most opportunities and the most wealth. I don't believe it anymore. The only plausible answer is that Reagan needed more fascists and homophobes to consolidate his power, and South Korea, in the midst of democratization, had plenty of fascists and homophobes to dump into the American society.
Supporting my point is the immigration statistics. Korean immigration peaked during the Reagan years, decreased sharply under Clinton, and rose again under W.
I seriously wish my father instead followed one of his well-informed friends to Vancouver, even though I most likely wouldn't be here at DCP today if that were the case.
I only wish I had a small fortune, so that I could set up a business in Canada, and sponsor some of you to work for me.
Chuck said:
Ally -- Oh right, the Reform Party! Wow, I forgot all about that and Ross Perot. I guess I am getting old. Funny about how between them with the butterfly ballots in that one county and Nader with his 5% and SOS Harris and her well-oiled machinations FL went to the GOP in 2000.
Click here if you want to see Bill Clinton for one second.
woz said:
Ok - I've been gone so long I hardly know where to begin catching up. This is no doubt off topic for an open thread but since health is such an enormous issue in my life your circumstances are never far from front and centre of my thoughts in terms of importance.
It's going to take a while. I have just spent the last 12 days in hospital and after a week had major surgery of a mixture of types. When things were at their worst during the previous week, I reminded myself to think of you and your families. And to recognise my own good fortune.
Our health system isn't great and I have had to spend lots of hours in emergency before a bed can be found. BUT, our health system is free. And our doctors are right up with the best in the world. In fact my specialist presented a paper at an international Gastroenterology conference in Montreal last year (or the year before). Free doesn't mean the quackery of medicine. Free means that everyone has the right to the best health care available.
So, here I am - 5 days - not the expected 10 - after major surgery at home again to recover. And what stress is there for me now? Trying to remember the hospital clinic appointments and pathology. Nothing more dramatic than that. Yes, I'm in pain. No, it doesn't bother me. This pain will go. Sooner rather than later.
Please keep your candidates putting out their positions on National Health Care.
Christy said:
Woz,
Welcome back darlin. You were turning into a mystery.
I know your health care needs are met, but... Is there anything else you need? Anything, just ask.
We missed you. I am so glad to see you back.
Karen said:
woz!
We are soooo glad to hear from you and wish you the best possible recovery!
Yes, we envy your healthcare system but we certainly also have concerns about YOU!
Let us know how we can, at least, ENTERTAIN YOU while you recover.
Here's one to get you started:
In a world of criminals as leaders, war, crappy healthcare, etc. I, for one, am grateful for Mitchell Rose.
Christy said:
NMP,
I just got your email. So now I will reveal the secrets.
Do you see the hieroglyphs on the wall?
The cartouche (the big oval with a flat end), that is the name 'Cleopatra'. Only the names of royals and Gods are allowed in a cartouche.
Do you see the two lines of text between the cartouche and the painting of Anubis?
The first spells out 'D'C'P'. The line below it, beginning with a backwards crook, is my name 'Christy'.
Now. If you look at the line of text at the very top right, in front of her forehead, starting with a hand symbol.. that spells 'Dianne'.
And do you see the three symbols disappearing behind her neck? That spells your husbands name, 'Ken'.
Any text covered by the leaves spells nothing, since it would be obstructed, it is simply filler.
Well. Anyways, that is the secret. I am very glad you like it.
BTW, please do post a pic of her when you can. After it went out, I checked and every pic I took of her blurred so badly all of them are useless. Camera was on the wrong setting.
Karen said:
Also, at the risk of busting any stitches, there is always this:
Christy
I will do that & also add it as an addendum to the story at SMP, which you can link to anytime (like a "reference"). Love the mystery and embedded symbolism, esoteric yet personal! I am going to spend alot of time with it this weekend. Alarm went off at 6 AM & I'll be home at 7 PM. It will be a long day - getting dark & cold here. This was like Christmas and Halloween combined, the timing of the painting! I have a decent camera & will try different setting til the most detail/color shows up. That's the nice thing about digital.
Sign me up!
Christy,
Maybe we should all start wearing those resistance bands. (they could be cut into smaller pieces and used as armbands or wrist bands.)
With lightening speed... you can dash over to the Home page and join the lightening round discussion on the debates last night.
I'm one who missed them, so if you saw them, I'd love to hear more about them. The great thing about online videos, you don't have to trust the media spin. (That bad thing is that they still are run by the media hacks.)
Looks like I'm the only one here today. (Finally got a day off.)
The headline at Yahoo (via A.P.)
U.S. diplomats liken mandatory Iraq postings to 'death sentence'
I am busy calling Congress to tell them that the diplomats consider it a death sentence, well so do the soldiers!
Bring them home now!
Also, I discovered that when Congress feels heat they really MOVE. Apparently they fled the Dirksen Building due to reported fires.
Wonder what they think our soldiers are experiencing in Iraq? A little fire (of all kinds) every day!
I'm here Sparrow.
Just researching my next canvas. Unfortunately I was so into Monkeys placard last night I missed the debates too.
Not that I missed anything groundbreaking or even helpful, so I hear.
Although I see Kucinich did jump in with an IMPEACH!
God bless him!
Yes, God Bless him, Christy.
Now if only one of the top runners said it, I'd be a lot happier.
Of course Sibel has posted the top ten obstructionist to whistleblowing testimony and Hillary Clinton was on that list. That means she's off my list, period!
Sorry. I can not stay a party line if that party is as corrupt as the otherone. And I at least know the whistleblowers are trustworthy.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Let the kids ENJOY this or let the kid in you enjoy this link.
Awww man. Halloween.
Now that I am a mommy, holidays are a total pain in the arse. I bought 16 pounds of candy.
And I don't even eat candy.
Hillary was always off my list. She is simply too compromised for me. A moral abyss.
I do admire things about her, but I prefer to get a leader that can not be bought and paid for. I am sick of the compromised running this nation into the dirt. I want a hero.
I want an Untouchable.
You know Sparrow I think the democrats, the 'leadership' have seriously underestimated their party as far as 'As long as I get into power, that is all we care about..right?'
I am so freaking sick of it. One main reason georgie did what he did, was because democrats LET HIM do it. Helped him do it.
'Sign what? Ok! See what a good little patriot I am. I must be, because I 'support the Troops! Yeaaaa me!'
Ultimately, the responsibility of george w. bush, falls almost evenly on both parties, but it is the republicans that will go extinct over it. Rightly so.
May the democrats enabling him go to hell with him.
If that means I am no longer a democrat, well, then I guess I am no longer a democrat.
Dana Perino fielding questions from, hopefully, real reporters about the Phony FEMA press conference (this is reminiscent of the choreographied press conference just prior to the invasion of Iraq ) :
Ummm. It can not be a coincidence this keeps happening. Another one who voted anti gay too.
Cross-dressing state lawmaker blackmailed following late night tryst
State Representative Richard Curtis says he’s not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women’s lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis’ activities publicly….
Curtis, according to a search warrant unsealed Tuesday, went to the Hollywood Erotic Boutique on East Sprague on October 26th at approximately 12:45 a.m. The store clerk, who had talked with Curtis, referred to him as “The Cross-Dresser” and said that during their conversations he confirmed he was gay and was married with children at home.
During his visit to the video store Curtis was observed wearing women’s lingerie while receiving oral sex from an unidentified man in one of the movie viewing booths inside the store.
http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/xxxgay
Christy
Another Mann Coulter wannabe?
Some sodomites do deserve to be exterminated.
Sparrow
Excellent point about staying with the party line - or not.
It's amazing that Hillary continues to lead the Democratic field, with so little support from the party's base.
Which means: the base no longer matters at the Democratic Party. Contrast that with the Republicans, where the base is EVERYTHING.
Hillary's Mark Penn problem:
Sparrow
Excellent point about staying with the party line - or not.
It's amazing that Hillary continues to lead the Democratic field, with so little support from the party's base.
@@@@@@
Here is my bottom line video on Hillary Rodham Rodham's suitability to be president:
Sorry - the Mark Penn video is licensed so I can't use it... I guessed
Which means: the base no longer matters at the Democratic Party. Contrast that with the Republicans, where the base is EVERYTHING.
Ain't that the truth
Who is more base than Republicans?
base - adjective
1. morally low; without estimable personal qualities; dishonorable; meanspirited; selfish; cowardly.
2. of little or no value; worthless: hastily composed of base materials.
3. debased or counterfeit: an attempt to eliminate the base coinage.
4. characteristic of or befitting an inferior person or thing.
5. of illegitimate birth.
6. not classical or refined: base language.
7. Old English Law. held by tenure less than freehold in return for a service viewed as somewhat demeaning to the tenant.
8. Archaic. a. of humble origin or station.
b. of small height.
c. low in place, position, or degree: base servitude.
Synonyms 1. despicable, contemptible. See mean2. 2. poor, inferior, cheap, tawdry. 3. fake, spurious. 4. servile, ignoble, abject, slavish, menial.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/base
Eye H8 'em
Scholar links Bush's US and Hirohito's Japan
A top US scholar of wartime Japan said Wednesday that the Bush administration's "war on terror" bore close parallels to Japan's past militarism through a defiance of international law.
Herbert Bix, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his landmark biography of wartime emperor Hirohito, said he believed US aerial bombings and alleged use of torture in Afghanistan and Iraq constituted war crimes.
"The current American rampage in Iraq and elsewhere, not to mention the Bush administration's threats of war against Iran, so clearly replicates Imperial Japan during the period when its leaders willfully disregarded international law and pursued the diplomacy of force," Bix said during a visit to Tokyo.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Scholar_links_Bush_s_US_and_Hirohit_10312007.html
George W. Bush - Creeping Death
Rossi,
Of course he (we) are guilty of war crimes! It goes without saying. All you need to do to decide if it's war crimes is to insert the name of a different President, like Clinton before anything done during the last five years and people would say it's impeachable.
Or you could insert the name "Russia" or "China" or "Iran" over anything related to our torture policy and they would say it's a war crime.
It's interesting how people who want us to believe it's about what the terrorist did to our country don't understand that you don't respond by breaking international laws. You don't respond by breaking MORAL laws. And you don't respond by torturing people, period.
Ralph,
Good Mark Penn video. I didn't realize all that about her advisor.
I sense that Mark Penn is Hillary's Karl Rove.....
LOL!!!
Terrorists don't scare me.
A punk ass self absorbed silverspooner with a bloodlusty taste for torture in $15,000.00 suits having unlimited power and control of an awsome military... now that is a total freaking nightmare.
bin laden is a b*tch.
It's interesting how people who want us to believe it's about what the terrorist did to our country don't understand that you don't respond by breaking international laws. You don't respond by breaking MORAL laws. And you don't respond by torturing people, period.
========
Right on sparrow
Impeach now!
Jury awards father $11M in funeral case
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago
BALTIMORE - A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.
Snyder's attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had urged jurors to determine an amount "that says don't do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again."
Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."
A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries. But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/funeral_protests
Most Hated Family in America gets chased out of Seaford, DE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9IbtD7Kzrg
I just got this email about impeachment. I don't think it will happen but maybe it is worth a try.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich describes the process of how, within a few weeks, he'll force the issue of impeachment on the floor of the U.S. House. He does this to inform the public so that the public can assist in the process. The likely scenario is that a congressperson will immediately make a parliamentary move to 'table' the motion. The vote on whether to 'table' the impeachment motion WILL BE THE IMPORTANT VOTE. If the motion is tabled, it's dead. So, Kucinich is calling on every citizen (yes, that means you) to contact their representative to tell them to vote NOT to table the impeachment motion, but to let it be discussed on the floor of the U.S. House! Call Congress Toll Free at 800 828 0498.
During his visit to the video store Curtis was observed wearing women’s lingerie while receiving oral sex from an unidentified man in one of the movie viewing booths inside the store.
http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/xxxgay
========
Curtis resignation statment: 'Events have hurt people'
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Lawmaker_Extortion_Statement.html
Anyone heard from woz at all?
I emailed to check if all okay, no answer
Responding to Chuck's post here. (Sorry I was away at work and didn't catch this until now. I would link back to the prior thread but feel my responses would be clearer attached here.)
Chuck said:
Chuck said:
SParrow, responding to your reasons to impeach, these are my comments in bracket):
1. Starting a war on lies [what would the actual charge be? What crime and what specifics? Neither starting wars nor lying is a crime.]
My response: Nigerian Papers, Wilson's testimony, the DSM, and the SSM.
2. Treason [In what sense, specifically? If memory serves, treason has to do with aiding and abetting. It can't be hypothetical either, it has to be a concrete case, or else we run the risk that any interpretation of any political act could be deemed treason if you could get a majority to agree -- for example, the idea of defunding the war could be. Bad foreign policy and cynical domestic policy is not treason.]
My reason: Valerie Plame. Outing a COVERT SPY is TREASON!
3. War Profiteering and Torture. [War profiteering is a slogan, and a bad practice, not a crime. Torture is a crime. I doubt a direct case could be made against Bush on that. He is too careful. Good families like the Bushes don't do torture -- the help takes care of that sort of thing, I am guessing.]
My response: Jesselyn Radack who they have worked OVERTIME to silence, as well as MANY other whistleblowers who have been attacked by OUR GOVERNMENT with OUR TAX DOLLARS could speak on this. I know someone in particular but am not free to release his name to the public.
4. Spying illegally without warrants. [This one could fly, but (1) can the case be made and (2) would it be political suicide to make it? Or does that matter?]
My response: Records exist on this. Yes it matters.
5. Losing billions of dollars in Iraq. [Not a crime]
My response: Losing billions of dollars in Iraq is a crime if it's been done by a method called "embezzelment" and we have pretty good evidence of who lost that money and how.
6. Hatch violations and illegal vote purges. [I am sure many people n the apparatus of the GOP could be, and I believe have been, proscuted for this. There is probably a firewall around POTUS however.] Setting up the DOJ against Americans who aren't Republicans. [Ditto]
My response: Nothing has happened yet. We've scratched the surface. And even now, Bush hasn't released to Leahy the documents requested.
7. Violating the Geneva Conventions and signing off on treaties with other countries. [See: 3 above.]
8. Illegally utilizing a "no-fly list" to persecute dissenters. [See: 7 above.]
My response: So far we've got a list of people who have been on it. I'll name two: Jesselyn Radack (whistleblower against the torture of an American citizen and Ted Kennedy--Democratic Senator.
9. Illegally using our tax dollars to buy media publicity. [See: 7 above.]
10. Illegally using our tax dollars to persecute political dissenters like Jesselyn Radack and others ... [Don't know the reference, but probably,again,akin to 7 above.]
My response: Sibel Edmonds, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Col. Ann Wright, and how many 5 star Generals? Richard Clarke, Colin Powell, and others from the administration. (And that list doesn't include all the other whistleblowers.
11. Criminal neglegence in NOLA. [Not sure what the standards are for criminal negligence, but I am sure that it would not apply to the federal government's reaction to a crisis, cf: 2 above.]
Well, let's put the evidence forth in a trial, Chuck. Where we can SEE the documents and watch the videos to see what his/their response was.
12. Criminal care of Veterans. [See: 11 above.]
Chuck in Houston
Chuck...I am very sorry to disagree with you so strongly on the Impeachment and the Democratic Party's lack of response. My philosophy is that if one's representatives are crooked, then you impeach them. I agreed with Fein on the Moyer's show. And though I support more of the democratic 'ideas' than I do Republicans, I can not support their behavior over impeachment and FISA and a few other things.
I believe impeachment hearings are more than warranted.
I believe they are dropping the ball on ethics in government.
I had such hopes for them, but they have shown themselves to be untrue to my values. And my values begin with holding our government officials, paid for with my tax dollars, to the highest ethical standards.
Cashing In on Terror
Thanks to bin Laden and Bush’s exploitation of “war on terror” hysteria, the taxpayers have been hoodwinked into paying for a sophisticated military arsenal to fight a Soviet enemy that no longer exists. The Institute for Policy Studies calculated last year that the top 34 CEOs of the defense industry have earned a combined billion dollars since 9/11; they should give bin Laden his cut.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071030_scheer_column_cashing_in/
Another headline at the A.P. (Via yahoo)
Poll: Evangelical Republicans consider third-party vote'08 race
and this:
Father of slain Marine wins case against fundamentalist church
Notice the framing? Notice they have attempted to switch the identity and association of Evangicals which in 2004 indicated DEMOCRATIC RELIGIOUS folks and the FUNDAMENTALISTS who were the REPUBLICAN "Value Voters".
Notice the different articles related to those name usages and the distance they are trying to apply towards their previous label.
And this is another important reason to hold impeachment hearings. (Via D-Kos)
The U.S. has imprisoned hundreds of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay in a military legal system that Vokey denounces as "horrific." Vokey saw the system first-hand when he agreed two years ago to defend a teenager there who had been charged with murdering a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Vokey said he knew the case would be difficult, but he discovered that the legal system at Guantanamo is a "sham."
Vokey's 15 year-old Canadian client had been tortured into signing a confession, including being used a "human mop" to wipe his own urine off the floor after being left chained in painful positions for many hours at a time. Vokey was kept from meeting with his client, or from seeing the evidence against him.
"Anytime you want to subvert the rule of law to the power of a government, you've got a very bad thing brewing," Vokey told NPR. "As an officer in the Marine Corps I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And now we are perpetrating something that if any other country in the world was doing, we would likely step in and stop it."
Asked who was to blame for this subversion of justice, Vokey made a careful response.
Vokey went to his bookshelf, pulled out the Manual for Courts-Martial, and read from Article 88: "'Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the president, vice president, Congress'" and a list of other officials, he said, "'shall be punished as a court martial may direct.'"
If those in the military most familiar with the system are not afraid to call it as they see it, how can those sitting comfortably in Washington continue to support what goes on at Guantanamo
Here's an interesting one for you Christy, a hometown boy
The Strange Death of Dr. David M. Graham
Jordan Green
He warned the FBI about a ring of alleged Arab terrorists - before 9/11
http://gnn.tv/articles/3368/The_Strange_Death_of_Dr_David_M_Graham
Enjoy!
http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=139839&pt=todaysnews
WASHINGTON -- October 31, 2007: Interrupting FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's opening remarks at Wednesday's FCC localism hearing was a woman dressed in a skimpy French maid's outfit, who successfully fended off two security guards' efforts to oust her from the room.
Samantha Miller, appearing on behalf of anti-consolidation group Code Pink, added some activist touches to her Halloween costume by writing the word faux in marker across her bosom, along with references to major media outlets like ABC, Viacom, and Disney elsewhere on her body.
Where's the pic??? of the "faux" across the bosom??
Wow the U.S. government is doing everything they can to stifle dissent and freedom of speech:
"Indeed, FCC guards didn't allow signs, hats, or banners promoting any agendas into the commission meeting room, and several people who attended the meeting had to leave signs opposing "big media" at the main entrance, though one woman did manage to get a similar sign past the guards."
Does any one have a good picture of a Cheney mask and costume???
YIKES!!!! SCARRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY
"A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a
fundamentalist Kansas church [aka Fred Phelps] that pickets military
funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the
nation's tolerance of homosexuality."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/funeral_protests
Sparrow:
Fine, we disagree. I still don't see in your response specific charges, just amplifications on bad things that have happened. I don't see a single thing on there that would be a bill of indictment on GWB.
Also, Roosevelt was not impeached for interning Japanese Americans and Lincoln was not impeached for suspending Habeus Corpus. There will be no impeachment unless something new and shocking comes to light. That is my prediction. I think it is time to move on.
By the way, when I said "see point 7" on your points 8-10, I meant point 6.
Christy:
If you think there is no difference between a GOP led by GWB and Tom DeLay and the Democrat Party led by Pelosi, Reid and Clinton(s), then we simply have between us no basis for a rational discourse on the issue of electoral politics in the USA.
Chuck in Houston
Also. Sparrow, on your (4), I meant does it matter that US public opinion might side against impeachment on that one? That is sort of like the excuse for Roosevelt and the internment, by the way.
Christy:
If you think there is no difference between a GOP led by GWB and Tom DeLay and the Democrat Party led by Pelosi, Reid and Clinton(s), then we simply have between us no basis for a rational discourse on the issue of electoral politics in the USA.
For 1. I never said I did not see a difference.
I said that democrats leaders are sorely mistaken to believe We, as a party, will tolerate thier lies, excuses and cop outs simply because they have a D in thier name. I also said that is how republicans became how they are and if I am required to blindly follow a party over a cliff, then let's just say I am no longer a dem.
And for 2. You see no reason to impeach, and have constantly overlooked or dismissed any reason to do so, which told me a while back there was no basis of rational discourse left to occur between us.
But, I am glad we are both on the same page at last.
By the way Chuck...
The other day, when you several times refferred to asking 'Constitutional scholars' about impeachment... Because, you know, you were unsure...
It is funny because....
All the Constitutional Scholars I have heard on the subject all say impeachment is warrented and should go forth with no delay.
I wonder if you had realized that, would you have called to check with them, you know, since your 'rational discourse' had taken you in the complete opposite direction.
And Rossi,
No and no on Woz. Tried to send an email too but it is locked up again.
I hope she is ok.
On that story about the Dentist here in Shreveport ....
“He slept with an AK-47,” Scruggs said, recalling the last two years before Graham fell ill. “And he had a bag packed by the door. And he had a plan; if he had to leave, he was going to leave. I was always worried that we were all going to get killed. His clinic was going to get blown up, or my house that he was living in. He had several escape plans.”
Snip
“There are a lot of people to this day that will say, A: He did it for attention; B: It was an accident or, C: someone else did it to him but we’ll never push through that dark curtain to find out who it is,” Sledge continued. “A lot of people are just kind of scared. They don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Snip
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office in Shreveport has no autopsy on file for Graham
http://gnn.tv/articles/3368/The_Strange_Death_of_Dr_David_M_Graham
Ahhh. Louisiana.
You can't trust the cops. You can't trust the DAs. Or the FBI. And even the Coroner seems a wee bit off.
Did you say 'terrorists'...hmm?
Who needs terrorists when the cops protect SERIAL KILLERS...?
OK. Now I will shut up before I have to buy a gun to sleep with.
One day, I swear to God, I am going to tell you the rest of that story. And I won't care who is listening.
But for now I am just going to go look at Louisiana and wonder how anything so beautiful can be so damn evil.
Chuck,
The 'red' area where I live is begging for impeachment. THEY ADMIT he broke more laws than Billy the Kid. THEY think the Democratic Party is a bunch of spineless idiots and even though they voted Democratic in 06 to give them the chance to 'make it right', they are sickened by two things particularly:
1. The dems aren't ending the war.
2. The dems aren't impeaching.
3. "They aren't doing anything."
(I'm adding three because it's this area that is more grey but all of us who watch KNOW the Republicans are doing this TO THE DEMS and the Dems haven't come back with an appropriate action.)
Of course the more progressive area where I work all want to donate 10 bucks so that Bush can get a chick wearing a blue dress and a b.j. (Of course some here believe that we'd have to provide a male in a blue dress for him instead of a female.)
Regarding the list from above, I gave specific words ALL of which should lead to specific HEARINGS and would lead to the DOCUMENTATION and specific charges you're asking for. It's as simple as that, Chuck. By taking impeachment OFF the table, those charges will NEVER get investigated and they will never get implimented. And the documentation from the 'most secretive W.H." will never see the light of day.
By the way Chuck, in a legitimate democracy, would we have a special prosecutor like we did during Nixon's era? A special prosecutor who is without ties to the opposing party--unlike Kenneth Star--the Republican Party hack? Keep in mind that 10 years ago I was a Republican independent--not a Democratic leaning independent. And even I understood that Kenneth Starr over-reached his original duties and the best he could come up with was a lie in a civil suit and a little stain on a blue dress.
"...he broke more laws than Billy the Kid"
HAHA! Great line!
Me, too, Sparrow. 10 years ago, I was one of THEM. Newt and Tom pretty much ran me out with my gag reflex completely maxed out.
And people like Pelosi, who thinks her own bit of Constitutional dismantling just settles all that, will be why I leave the democratic fold.
I will not act like a lemming for any party. The US Constitution matters to me and I am an enemy to anyone who sweeps large and important pieces of it out of existance.
Just think, if we were all homeless, instead of talking politics, she could just have us arrested for loitering!
So says she.
Oh, and while we are at it, let's stop already with the ...'But Jefferson suspended, and Lincoln suspended...' comparisions already.
This is not the Revolutionary War period, nor is there a Civil War imminant with slavemongers threatening to break the nation in two, and george w bush is no Lincoln and he damn sure ain't no Jefferson.
Niether of those men ever appeared on national tv and lied repeatedly to our faces while committing OPEN HIGH TREASON to illegally start a LAND WAR IN ASIA.
And if they did, it didn't happen recently.
We have never ever as a nation faced anything similar to what is happening now. The only things it can be compared too, Nazi Germany, WW2 Japan, CALIGULLA, are all examples from places with far longer histories than ours.
No president, not even Jefferson has ever so totally and thouroughly assaulted nor disrespected the Constitution like this one has. He has NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER to hold up any of the principles and regulations set forth in it. He has proven that again and again.
No other president has come so close to literally installing a dictatorship in all ways. He has rendered the Constitution completely MOOT.
We should not only be compelled by the evidence to impeach him, we should do it just to find out exactly what in the hell is going on here.
Everything they have been doing must come to light, because it is certain what they have kept hidden is FAR WORSE than anything come to light so far.
They must be held accountable for it, or in the eyes of the entire world, we will all be damned for it. None of our future generations will be safe if it is left undone.
It is too late. He just graduated to a real live DICTATOR.
To Implement Policy, Bush to Turn to Administrative Orders
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/30/AR2007103000558.html
And look what Hoyer had to say..
House Democratic leaders fired back at Bush with strong rhetoric of their own. "The president wants the same complacent, complicit Congress that was a co-conspirator in a coverup of what was going on in this country," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).
Torture suit against Rumsfeld filed in France
Groups: Ex-defense secretary OK’d war crimes at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo
PARIS - American and European rights groups filed a legal complaint in France accusing former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for torture in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.
The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor's office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit, according to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and two Paris-based groups, the International Federation of Human Rights and the League of Human Rights.
Lawrence Di Rita, former Pentagon spokesman under Rumsfeld, said: "These assertions have no merit, and they have been completely dismissed when made in other jurisdictions."
"Complaints such as this have zero foundation in the truth or the facts as presented in countless investigations," he said.
The rights groups say their complaint could go forward because people suspected of torture can be prosecuted in France if they are on French soil.
The complaint will now be examined by French prosecutors, who will decide whether it is well-founded and should be pursued or whether it should be rejected. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Friday night that it was checking whether Rumsfeld is protected by any sort of diplomatic immunity and whether he was still in France.
The complaint says Rumsfeld, in his former position as defense secretary, "authorized and ordered crimes of torture to be carried out ... as well as other war crimes."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21570133/
Something tells me Freedom Fries are gonna be back on the menu soon...
Bon Apathy
Bush backs Mukasey on waterboarding stance
President defends nominee’s refusal to say whether procedure is torture
WASHINGTON - President Bush, seeking to salvage the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, on Thursday defended the former judge’s refusal to say whether he considers waterboarding as illegal torture.
Bush said it was unfair to ask Mukasey about interrogation techniques on which he has not been briefed. “He doesn’t know whether we use that technique or not,” the president told a group of reporters invited into the Oval Office.
Further, Bush said, “It doesn’t make any sense to tell the enemy whether we use those techniques or not.”
Bush called on the Senate to promptly approve Mukasey, saying the nation needs to have an attorney general in place to help wage the war on terror.
“Judge Mukasey is not being treated fairly,” the president said. Without saying whether interrogators use waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning, Bush said that “the American people must know that whatever techniques we use are within the law.”
Asked whether he considers waterboarding legal, Bush replied, “I’m not going to talk about techniques. There’s an enemy out there.”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21577367/
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT SH*T???
WELL, DO WE USE THOSE TECHNIQUES, MR. BUSH?
CUZ YOU SAID THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT TORTURE!!!
DO YOU CONSIDER IT TO BE TORTURE, EVEN IF WE DIDN'T USE IT?
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
IMPEACH
I swear to God, if someone doesn't call on this liar to clarify these statements this morning, then I've totally lost the last shred of hope I have left in this country...
I cant even type what I am thinking right now.
monkey
I'm past that stage already.
And to think that the very reason I was allowed into this country was to help Reagan & Co. f*ck it up beyond hope...
sparrow
That male in a blue dress who would give W a blowjob - that would be Mann Coulter.
sparrow, Chuck, Christy
It's one thing to not impeach based on lack of evidence, and another thing to NOT even start the investigations that may/may not lead to impeachment.
I expected the Dems to at least "pretend" to do the investigations to keep their base happy. I was so wrong.
The Dems, on the whole, have been spineless since the Reagan years - if they actually had a strong spine, then the "legacy" of the Reagan years would not be as grand as they are today.
Hey Monkey...
I am not sure if this will make you feel any better, but...
Since you can not be reached by US mail and I hate waiting.
http://christysartblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/monkey-ball-2008.html
Click on the first pic to see the details of her mask.
Ally, can you please email me if it will go through?
BTW, not sure why that happened, but that blue dress is not really blue, it is a deep purple.
Concord Grape, to be exact.
The other colors are right though.
It's one thing to not impeach based on lack of evidence, and another thing to NOT even start the investigations that may/may not lead to impeachment.
Ally McRepuke said
I agree Ally. I was going to post the same thing about 5 hours ago but I got detoured (so to speak).
What's happened is like you calling the police and saying your house has been robbed, your children kidnapped, and the perpetrators are stalking you and then the police don't even show up for the investigation!
We needed a "Special INDEPENDENT" Prosecutor DAY ONE of 2007. They were too busy playing cheesy politics and too afraid to be labelled as a 'politician'. When in fact they had the LAWS of the land on their side.
Cheney relishes being Darth Vader
http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/odd/2007/11/01/Cheney.Darth.Vader/?cvqh=itn_cheney
Blackwater's New Mercenaries: DC's Most Powerful Lobbyists
Blackwater Mounts a Defense With Top Talent
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/washington/01blackwater-sub.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1193943687-g6cWIJj3IkBS7nyoWf9GrA
Giuliani Faces Investigation Of 9/11 Radios
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/01/giuliani-faces-investigat_n_70709.html
Largest Cable Provider In Israel Drops CNN From Platform, Replaces With Fox News
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/cnn_off_israeli_cable_system_70215.asp
Christy
Just sent you an email. Check your inbox.
Kangaroo said:
Largest Cable Provider In Israel Drops CNN From Platform, Replaces With Fox News
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/cnn_off_israeli_cable_system_70215.asp
November 1, 2007 4:01 PM
-----
No difference there anyway... CNN is just as much of a koolaid network as Fox is.
In fact, CNN is worse, because while Fox is consistently Republican, CNN is a flip-flopper.
Another interesting day in the Nation's Capitol. We heard last night that Pres. Bush was going to be around the corner at the Heritage Foundation.
Plans were made.
Richard got in to an overflow room, where he witnessed one of the flattest performances yet by an actual breathing human. Bush seems to have given up all pretense of interest in what he is saying. He seems finished with the role, the performance, and anything approaching actual belief.
However, he DID mention Code Pink (along with Move On bloggers, an animal unknown to us) so that gratified those who work so hard to bring the public's attention to criminal behaviors.
Outside, the police were very nice, but kept us away. A group of Heritage Foundation staffers grabbed the Code Pink banner and hung it upside down from the front of the building; this despite Bush's statement that entirely too much attention is being given to Code Pink.
hmmmm.
After that, I helped deliver copies of Naomi Wolf's new book, THE END OF AMERICA, to Senators, taking the opportunity to suggest that most Americans are not inclined to strike at Iran without diplomacy first.
And now we are calling in on the Mukasey nomination. Please join us and make those calls.
Here is JK's statemnt on that:
WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry made the following statement today on the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey for Attorney General of the United States.
"Judge Mukasey’s refusal to classify the barbaric practice of waterboarding as torture waves a red flag about his nomination to serve an Administration that has adhered to the Cheney doctrine on executive power and torture. I am not comfortable confirming anyone who cannot see that this method of interrogation is antithetical to American values and traditions – especially not to a position that is charged with representing our entire justice system. We need to reestablish faith in the Department of Justice.
“Many of us wanted to believe that Judge Mukasey could undo the damage of the Gonzales years. Unfortunately his lack of candor and his refusal to acknowledge this abuse of power suggest he is unable or unwilling to do so, and this is why I will be opposing Judge Mukasey’s nomination to be the next Attorney General of the United States."
Read Casey's piece on the main thread for backup info. Thanks!
Thanks for the report, Karen.
Thanks to you and Dick for all the hard work last night at the Heritage Foundation - a place I know a bit, since some of my college acquaintances have worked there.
And of course... go CodePink! If W names CodePink by name, they are certainly making an impact.
Ally,
DiFi still not saying if she will vote against Mukasey. Feel free to share your concerns...
Hey everyone, Medea going nose-to-nose with Bill O'Reilly tonight.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPARROW!!
We love you!
Karen
Thanks for the heads up. Will let Feinstein know of my concerns, even though I'm not a big fan of hers.
Won't be tuning into O'Reilly as he's too much for me to handle right now, but thanks for the heads-up anyway.
Happy Birthday Sparrow!
Scorpio...oh lala.
Hey Ally, I just emailed you back, sorry it took so long, my mom intercepted me before I could hit send and we had an everything conversation before she finally decided her dog wanted to go home.
Cnn is a flip flopper.
HeHe. Another great line.
Here is Bush at Heritage Foundation: Same bullshII different day -
"PAUL TIBBETS, pilot who bombed Hiroshima, dies at 92."
You know, all my life I have thought, if there was a hell, certainly the pilot of the Enola Gay would be swallowed up by it the moment he takes his last breath. I mean, how could he avoid it ?
It really doesn't matter why we do what we do, does it? I mean, it really doesn't matter WHY he dropped that bomb...does it? He killed so many people it certainly must have cost him his soul.
I know this country regards him as some kind of 'hero'. But I just can't do it. I never could.
Some 'hero'.
So, Microsoft seems to believe that DCP is suspicious website. My phishing filter goes off whenever I come here using Internet Explorer 7. I've alerted them twice that DCP is legit, but the message seems to not be getting through.
Yes, Matthew, I have filled out their stupid form twice already.
Well, I know this is aimless and futile, but so what. First, I think it is ridiculous to open an investigation on impeachment without a specific bill of indictment, for example, a POTUS authorizing a buglary of the opposition party's internal files or a POTUS authorizing illegal clandestine activity to thwart acts of congress. Constitutional Scholars? I don't know any. I think moderation is a virtue and compromise is important, as is allowing the opposition to save face on occasion. I think that stridency on the left is destroying the left politically. I think group-think on the left is almost as harmful as group-think on the right. I hear the Christian Right is looking for a third party -- I sure hope so. I think we would do better with a four-party system: (1) the GOP "Base", (2) the old Mainstreet GOP, (3) the old Farm/Labor Democrat Party (me), and (4) the Greens or whatever. But I sure as heck won't encourage (4) until (1) is an up and going concern. Anyway, doesn't matter what I think about that.
On a deeper level, though, for me the desparate moment is over. I think the Bush/Rove approach is now discredited. I no longer feel worried about the state of US politics. I think the good run we took at them in 2004 and the victory of 2006 has caused the GOP to re-consider their radical divide-and-conquer approach, so the ballast has shifted and the ship will come right.
Cheers!
Chuck in Houston
Christy
Got your email. Will elaborate further in my reply.
Chuck
There has been an arch-conservative third party for ages - the Constitution Party (known as American Independent in California, and stronger than Democrats in many parts of SoCal). All it needs is a strong presidential candidate of its own + a Republican candidate unacceptable to the Christian Right. If Rudy wins the Republican nomination, that may happen, despite all the transgender people Rudy has helped murder in NYC.
Matthew and Karen
I'm not happy to hear about Microsoft singling us out.
Solution: switch to Firefox.
Better yet, do what NMP and I have done - get a Mac. :)
For me, the only remaining reasons to still run Windows are mapping software and games. (And a CAD program at work also requires Windows, but I don't run that at home.) Fortunately, all new Macs can dual-boot Windows.
I think the good run we took at them in 2004 and the victory of 2006 has caused the GOP to re-consider their radical divide-and-conquer approach, so the ballast has shifted and the ship will come right.
Cheers!
Chuck in Houston
Hi Chuck,
I am not understanding what you mean when you say, "...the ship will come right." Do you mean left? Do you mean ethically right? Or do you just mean that it will stop sinking?
Sorry to disagree with you on impeachment. I very much appreciate your opinions, but I guess the impeachment discussion is one of those that people become entrenched...pretty much like many other issues like abortion, gay-marraige, etc...
I do think that Karen is correct when she mentioned on the front page yesterday that we need to keep talking to our Democratic and Republican candidates. Out where I live there seems to be a lot of interest in Ron Paul. I understand his Iraq stance. Does he want universal healthcare? Does he want anything that I want?
I do know in my state I can vote in the primaries on either ticket. I may vote for a Dem or I may vote for Paul. Or I may just write in Colbert's name.
Ally:
What percent of the POTUS vote did they get nationally in 2000 or 2004? I've actually never heard of them. I've heard of the Libertarians and the LaRouche party (I forget what it's called).
Chuck in Houston
PS: I mean, there have always been "arch-left" parties too -- Third and Fourth International, etc., but I do not believe they ever played a significant role in US Presidential Election, such as the Bull Moose thing of that guy with glasses that ran with Carter and Reagan or the Greens with 5% with RAlph Nader in 2000. Was the Consitution Party the Pat Buchanan PArty that won all those Butterfly Ballots in Florida in 2000?
Folks, give microsoft time to get it straight. It may be McAffee that does the information. I think it's way to early to jump to the conclusion that Microsoft gives a whoot about the DCP. They simply have thousands of new webpages all the time.
SParrow:
Good catch! No, that "right" was totally inadvertant! I meant "right" as in "to right oneself." Nothing sinister intended!
Chuck in Houston (I'm left-handed by the way)
Off-topic but necessary to mention:
Here is proof that not all is necessarily well in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7074204.stm
Chavez wants presidential term limits abolished, and executive powers expanded to allow the suspension of the legislature in emergencies.
Smells like a dictatorship brewing - not much different from the fascist dictatorships I grew up in. The only difference is that this one is a socialist dictatorship.
Strangely enough, the speakers who bothered to mention Venezuela at last weekend's peace rally only emphasized the positives, like a 6-hour workday and lowered voting age...
Sparrow:
The idea was that when you are looking at large social transformations, intertia is huge, and a deflection, once made, may be imperceptible in the short run but is overpowering in the longer run. My dad used to say "like trying to turn a battleship at flank speed." There is a great quote by Lincoln on that somewhere with respect to racism in America, and an echo to that Wilson used with the Japanese after WWI.
Chuck in Houston
Just reading the letter that 29 Senators signed r/t it being illegal for Bush to invade Iran (in a nutshell). My two Senators signed it, as did Robert Byrd, John Kerry, & Hillary Clinton, though she voted for the Lieberman/Kyl amendment. Obama didn't sign it, though he didn't vote one way or another on the Lieberman/Kyl amendment. So those two muddy the waters for me.
Am trying to decide whether to brave cold, traffic, parking & fatigue & go see Bill Clinton talk about "Giving." I need something, as I was driving home & feeling a deep sense of shame, listening to a lawyer for Guantanamo detainees. I wish we'd all gone into the streets & insisted Gore not concede in 2000. I wish we'd moved to Canada when we were younger.
Am afraid my son didn't get a job and didn't qualify for unemployment so that means more time without health insurance. I'm afraid my brothers and their families will get sick - they're not covered, or that my mom's cancer will come back - she's on an HMO because she was too confused to sign up for Medicare Pt D so had to go off Medicare.
I'm afraid children in about half the states will go off the CHIPS program now that Bush has vetoed 3 or so versions of the law. Many of the children live in poor states that can't raise additional revenue. I just read that half of the children in the southern public schools are poor & on school lunch programs.
I was listening to a recording of the guy who flew the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. He tried to justify by it by saying there aren't moral laws r/t war because war is immoral in the first place and, as usual, he was just doing his duty. Why do people sign up for duties like that? Ignorance is no excuse. I was listening to FDR & as much as I admire him, he sounded almost as belligerent as Bush, vowing to bomb more as needed. They claimed they were saving lives but they bombed civilians.
I learned tonight while driving home that Guantanamo is larger than Manhattan. Most people are in there because of bounties paid & not because they were fighting anyone. A $5000 bounty would be like 1/2 a million bucks - who among us wouldn't be tempted to turn in someone we didn't like?! Honestly .. & then information was gained through torture. Who, with enough waterboarding, wouldn't say .. yeah I was at Tora Bora. It's so shameful.
Need to decide what to do.
Chuck
Buchanan was the Reform Party candidate in 2000. He took the once socially moderate Reforms hard right, and pretty much killed them. Reform was fairly successful as a third party before then, with Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura.
LaRouche has always been associated with the Democratic Party, as much as the rest of the party refuses to associate with him.
The Constitution Party (constitution.com, I think) is probably the best-known secret in right-wing politics. They rarely run candidates at the local level, but at the state and national level they do have candidates, who suffer from dearth of media coverage - just like all Greens except Nader. They do exist in most states, not all, but most. Their platform is hardcore theocracy and xenophobia.
I'd estimate that the partisan breakdown in my neighborhood is 75% Republican, 15% American Independent (Constitution), and 10% Democratic/Green/all else. No hard data, just a glimpse of the voter roll as I sign it.
NMP
I sometimes torture my father on why he decided to relocate the family to the US, as opposed to another English-speaking country. I pushed him especially hard about ten years ago, when he had been scammed and the government was not going to help us (he was unable to pay my college tuition then).
His BS answer is that the US offered him the most opportunities and the most wealth. I don't believe it anymore. The only plausible answer is that Reagan needed more fascists and homophobes to consolidate his power, and South Korea, in the midst of democratization, had plenty of fascists and homophobes to dump into the American society.
Supporting my point is the immigration statistics. Korean immigration peaked during the Reagan years, decreased sharply under Clinton, and rose again under W.
I seriously wish my father instead followed one of his well-informed friends to Vancouver, even though I most likely wouldn't be here at DCP today if that were the case.
I only wish I had a small fortune, so that I could set up a business in Canada, and sponsor some of you to work for me.
Ally -- Oh right, the Reform Party! Wow, I forgot all about that and Ross Perot. I guess I am getting old. Funny about how between them with the butterfly ballots in that one county and Nader with his 5% and SOS Harris and her well-oiled machinations FL went to the GOP in 2000.
Here's a CodePink report on our Karen doing the hard work handing out Naomi Wolf's "End of America":
http://codepinkdc.blogspot.com/2007/11/naomi-wolfs-end-of-america-blankets.html
Go Karen! Go CodePink!
Click here if you want to see Bill Clinton for one second.
Ok - I've been gone so long I hardly know where to begin catching up. This is no doubt off topic for an open thread but since health is such an enormous issue in my life your circumstances are never far from front and centre of my thoughts in terms of importance.
It's going to take a while. I have just spent the last 12 days in hospital and after a week had major surgery of a mixture of types. When things were at their worst during the previous week, I reminded myself to think of you and your families. And to recognise my own good fortune.
Our health system isn't great and I have had to spend lots of hours in emergency before a bed can be found. BUT, our health system is free. And our doctors are right up with the best in the world. In fact my specialist presented a paper at an international Gastroenterology conference in Montreal last year (or the year before). Free doesn't mean the quackery of medicine. Free means that everyone has the right to the best health care available.
So, here I am - 5 days - not the expected 10 - after major surgery at home again to recover. And what stress is there for me now? Trying to remember the hospital clinic appointments and pathology. Nothing more dramatic than that. Yes, I'm in pain. No, it doesn't bother me. This pain will go. Sooner rather than later.
Please keep your candidates putting out their positions on National Health Care.
Woz,
Welcome back darlin. You were turning into a mystery.
I know your health care needs are met, but... Is there anything else you need? Anything, just ask.
We missed you. I am so glad to see you back.
woz!
We are soooo glad to hear from you and wish you the best possible recovery!
Yes, we envy your healthcare system but we certainly also have concerns about YOU!
Let us know how we can, at least, ENTERTAIN YOU while you recover.
Here's one to get you started:
In a world of criminals as leaders, war, crappy healthcare, etc. I, for one, am grateful for Mitchell Rose.
NMP,
I just got your email. So now I will reveal the secrets.
Do you see the hieroglyphs on the wall?
The cartouche (the big oval with a flat end), that is the name 'Cleopatra'. Only the names of royals and Gods are allowed in a cartouche.
Do you see the two lines of text between the cartouche and the painting of Anubis?
The first spells out 'D'C'P'. The line below it, beginning with a backwards crook, is my name 'Christy'.
Now. If you look at the line of text at the very top right, in front of her forehead, starting with a hand symbol.. that spells 'Dianne'.
And do you see the three symbols disappearing behind her neck? That spells your husbands name, 'Ken'.
Any text covered by the leaves spells nothing, since it would be obstructed, it is simply filler.
Well. Anyways, that is the secret. I am very glad you like it.
BTW, please do post a pic of her when you can. After it went out, I checked and every pic I took of her blurred so badly all of them are useless. Camera was on the wrong setting.
Also, at the risk of busting any stitches, there is always this:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/246/popup/index.php?cl=4274384
Christy
I will do that & also add it as an addendum to the story at SMP, which you can link to anytime (like a "reference"). Love the mystery and embedded symbolism, esoteric yet personal! I am going to spend alot of time with it this weekend. Alarm went off at 6 AM & I'll be home at 7 PM. It will be a long day - getting dark & cold here. This was like Christmas and Halloween combined, the timing of the painting! I have a decent camera & will try different setting til the most detail/color shows up. That's the nice thing about digital.