Pinocchio-Oil chiefs claim "High prices not our fault..."

MSN has the video. (Hope this link works)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp=23901964�

Sparrow pissed off, and Richard too--see main page.
Anyone else?

Yeah me - I talked about the truckers and oil companies, but also that the Longshoremen on the west coast are going to try to shut down the ports on May 1, in protest of war.

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/04/trucker-strike.html

Karen, I would piss you off too, but I am pretty disgusted myself.

Every day it just gets worse.

In California, it's common knowledge that high oil and gas prices are a punishment for voting Democratic.

The cheapest gas is found in Orange County and Inland Empire - Republican strongholds.

The most expensive gas is in San Francisco.

Even within Los Angeles County, even though regulations/taxes are exactly the same, you will pay far more in Democratic Westside than in Republican Diamond Bar or La Mirada.

Vote Republican, and the relief comes - in small amounts, and briefly. Then the prices go up even higher, and the cycle starts again.

Ally
Yeah but if you're Republican you have to dress like a dork (golf pants etc.)

Even so, the memo noted, the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture.

"Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

The memo also offered a defense in case any interrogator was charged with violating U.S. or international laws.

"Finally, even if the criminal prohibitions outlined above applied, and an interrogation method might violate those prohibitions, necessity or self-defense could provide justifications for any criminal liability," the memo concluded.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Pentagon_releases_memo_on_harsh_tac_04012008.html

About the oil revenues... according to my brother, the oil companies are claiming that they are only making 9 cents per gallon profit. Anyone know where that stat comes from?

The underemployment rate is rising
Don't be fooled by the relatively low 4.8% unemployment rate. Other measures, such as the number of people only working part-time, are a sign of recession.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- An unemployment rate at 5% used to be called full employment. Today it's considered the sign of a recession.

When the Labor Department gives its March employment report this Friday, it's important to keep in mind that the relatively low unemployment rate isn't telling the whole story about the weakness of the U.S. labor market.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are forecasting a loss of 50,000 jobs from the nation's payrolls in the month. That would mark the third straight month of job declines.

The unemployment rate is expected to jump to 5.0% from 4.8% in February.

But some economists point to other readings, which show that the market is much weaker than the unemployment rate would suggest.

More part-time work, less full-time positions

For one, there has been an increasing number of people who want to work full time who are only able to find part-time jobs.

There is also a rise in the number of those who have stopped looking for jobs because they've become discouraged by the weak market. Finally, there has been a decline in the number of employees working as independent contractors.

more...
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/02/news/economy/jobs_outlook/index.htm

How many bloggers have been saying this exact thing for about 2 years now?

This has happened either by grand design (i.e. policies that favor corporations and squeeze the ever-lovin-sh*t outta the middle class) OR, OR, OR this continues to be the most incompetent administration of all time who is ALWAYS late to addressing a crisis.

Dominoes are falling everywhere.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. image abroad has begun to improve after worsening for years, but the country is still viewed more negatively than the European Union, Brazil, China, India and Russia, according to a BBC World Service survey released on Tuesday.

The survey, conducted in 34 countries, found that positive views of U.S. influence have risen by about 4 percentage points over the past year. The average positive rating was 35 percent, versus an average negative rating of 47 percent.

Among countries where the poll has been conducted in four consecutive years, positive views of the United States were expressed by an average 32 percent of the population, versus 28 percent a year ago. The poll listed no margin of error.

U.S. public image plummeted around the world in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Bush administration tried to counter the trend by creating a public diplomacy unit within the State Department.

Pollsters involved in the BBC World Service project said the U.S. presidential elections appeared to be behind the changing views of the United States.

"It may be that as the U.S. approaches a new presidential election, views of the U.S. are being mitigated by hope that a new administration will move away from foreign policies that have been so unpopular in the world," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

Despite the modest improvement for the first time in four years, public opinion of the United States was still overwhelmingly negative. The average negative rating was 47 percent, versus 52 percent a year ago.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23911776/

NMP

Yeah but if you're Republican you have to dress like a dork (golf pants etc.)

Not in SoCal. This is where all the Republicans look like fun-loving Democrats, complete with vanity license plates (on sexy import convertibles, at that) and Ally McLesbian miniskirt suits.

Of course, half of those vanity plates have Christian content. But you get the point - it's almost cool/hip to be a Republican here. And rightfully so - the SoCal Republicans are national trendsetters, and gave us Nixon and Reagan.

BTW, this will disappoint many of you...

Why I am no longer an Obama supporter (or anyone else's supporter for that matter):

http://rachelkso.blogspot.com/2008/04/im-not-voting-for-president.html

"Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

The precise reason why the Korean-American community (home to Yoo, Moon, and others) must be shut down.

Hey Democrats,

Keep this BS up, and I WILL really stay home.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_go_co/kennedy_gays

Stabenow's husband caught in Troy prostitution sting, police report says
Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News
TROY -- The co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio and husband of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow was caught in February by a Troy police sting aimed at catching prostitutes, according to a police report.

Thomas L. Athans was stopped Feb. 26 by undercover officers investigating a possible prostitution ring in a room at the Residence Inn near Big Beaver and Interstate 75. Athans paid a 20-year-old prostitute $150 for sex in a Troy hotel but was not arrested, according to police reports obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Detroit News. The police report said officers observed Athans enter a room under surveillance and leave 15 minutes later. Detectives followed and stopped Athans' silver 2002 Cadillac DeVille on Interstate 75 near Square Lake Road.

Athans told police he stopped at the hotel to see a female friend he met online. After calling her on his cell phone, he was given a room number and met the woman at the door. Once inside he placed $150 on a counter top. The woman collected the money and performed oral sex on him, Athans told police.

Officers entered the room and found sex toys, condoms, $431 in cash and a laptop computer. They arrested the woman, identified as Alycia Lorraine Martin, and charged her with prostitution.

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/METRO/804020443

So, only the prostitute was arrested.

Ofcourse she was! Because we all know arresting a single hooker will stop him from visiting multiple other hookers.

What a crock of sh*t.

Ally, as much as I have lived in and around black preachers, I have never known one that is NOT homophobic.

The same way I have never met a white preacher that is not totally homophobic.

I am not saying it is 'Ok'. I am saying it would be damn hard to find a 'christian' preacher in this country that is not rabidly homophobic.

Apparently Christians of all colors forget the teachings of Jesus Christ any time it is in direct contridiction to their own world view.

Lived in black preachers should be lived in black communities.

HAHA! My bad.

WALLINGFORD, Pa. — Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday he talks regularly with former vice president Al Gore and would consider putting him in a Cabinet-level position or higher.

A woman at a town hall asked the Illinois senator if elected president would he consider tapping the former vice president for his Cabinet, or an even higher level office, to address global warming.

"I would," Obama said. "Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues,'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/02/obama-id-hire-gore_n_94683.html

Christy

There ARE non-homophobic preachers, if you know where to look (UCC, UU, etc).

But the fact remains that homophobia is a SEVERE problem in ethnic communities, which do not buy into the white liberal mindset of pursuing individual happiness.

Obama could have become a hero by completely condemning his preacher's actions, and distancing himself from the guy. He has refused to do so, and is relying on the preacher more than ever.

And as I mentioned on my blog, anyone who lets ethnic homophobia flourish, and benefit from it, doesn't deserve my vote. And Obama is doing just that.

Seriously, the preacher in question clearly said that gay marriage is the GREATEST THREAT to black families.

that's unacceptable.

Yes, for us it is unacceptable.

However, the whole point of these endorsements is not to show an inclination to specific policy, but to show that 'christians' have declared him 'christian enough' and that other 'christians' can follow him.

But, to make him guilty by association is not really fair. My brother is a raging homophobe. In fact he is so homophobic I doubt his 'straightness'. But you can't really say I can't run for president, because my brother is an asshole. Even if he endoresed me all day long.

It does not surprise me one bit obamas endorsements are the same old kooks we always get, but then again, no one in this country attains powqer without such kooks. And I agree that the ethnic communities has an even bigger homophobe problem than whites. It is something though that I hope will be included in that 'dialouge'.

I am voting for Obama for 1 reason only. Because he speaks to all of us as if we are adults, and I am so freaking tired of not having that.

It is the first step needed to address all of these issues, but race and homophobia specifically can not be addressed until we are all back to addressing each other as adults.

In the end, those kooks do not really have any say in anything.

Christy

It's one thing if your homophobic brother endorsed your candidacy. But it's another if you were refusing to distance yourself from his remarks and homophobia.

And that's precisely the problem Obama has.

As I mentioned on the blog, ethnic homophobia is a severe problem, especially where I live. And remember that the government of South Korea has been funding Reverend Moon's calls to exterminate all LGBTs (not to mention funding his corruption of the rest of the American democracy). These are desperate times and call for desperate measures. Only someone who will say a clear NO will get my vote, and so far, there is NONE.

Christy

I do agree with you on dialogue, however. Not enough of it happening in the US right now, too much name-calling.

Again, I blame Moon and his media empire.

" But it's another if you were refusing to distance yourself from his remarks and homophobia."

But that is the point darlin, I CAN'T distance myself from my brothers words. I can disagree with them, but I can not 'distance' myself from them.

No matter how much I say 'My brother is wrong', simply standing beside him gives everyone the impression that ,Oh she must agree with him then'.

It is time to stop with the guilt by association. I have hard core homophobes and racists and even rapists and murderers in my family, just because I am standing beside someone who says 'Wow Christy I think you should be president' does not mean I am one of them or that I will be the president they want.

The idea of 'distancing' himself from people like Wright, who is obviously an important persn to him, is not an option. But it does not mean he is a mini wright.

It is not even so much about 'name calling' or the rudeness of the argument. It is about when people like georgie and his cabal stand up there and speak to us like we are just pathetic children who can not really understand any of the grand grand thoughts they have.

Calling people names is quite useful when they are in fact the name you are calling them by.

What pisses me off to no end is idiots like georgie assuming that we are all just as stupid as he is.

As a matter of a fact, Jane Fonda has now endorsed Obama.

Does that make him a Vietcong lover though? A lot of people will try to misconstru it to exactly that though, no matter how ridiculous it is on it's face.

Obama readies plan to reshape the electorate

Even as he fends off Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination contest, Senator Barack Obama is already turning his attention to the general election, and to an ambitious plan to reshape the American electorate in his favor.

Bringing new voters to the polls "is going to be a very big part of how we win," said Obama's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, in an interview. "Barack's appeal to independent voters is also going to be key."

Hildebrand said the campaign is likely to turn its attention and the energy of its massive volunteer army this fall on registering African-American voters, and voters under 35 years old, in key states.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9328.html

Hell yes. Count me in.

Ally
I told you once you drive a hard bargain.

There are some gay and lesbian ministers and ones that are not homophobic.

See
http://www.gaychristian.net/community/conference/speakers.php

I know some people base their voting on issues important to their heart and I respect that but I'm a pragmatic voter.

That hasn't always been the case.

NMP

Yes, I DO drive a hard bargain, though I did point out that non-homophobic ministers are out there if you know where to look (again, UU and UCC congregations come to mind). :)

Christy

What pisses me off to no end is idiots like georgie assuming that we are all just as stupid as he is.

Not just W, but Cheney, Rummy, and the whole lot has been notorious for this. And I am with you on being PO'd.

Back to Obama, I want to see a clear agenda. Soon. Something that shows the pitting of Chicago African-Americans against gays is a fluke in his campaign that he will personally not tolerate.

Pentagon Papers leaker calls Iraq invasion 'supreme war crime'
John ByrnePublished: Wednesday April 2, 2008
The man who leaked secret documents about the US war in Vietnam has a name for the invasion of Iraq.
"Supreme war crime."
He also has appellations for President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney: "domestic enemies of the Constitution" and "war criminals."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Pentagon_papers_leaker_calls_Iraq_invasion_0402.html

NATO allies say no to Bush on Ukraine, Georgia

BUCHAREST, Romania - President Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback Wednesday when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership in the Western military alliance.

The decision, to be made final on Thursday, was sure to be cheered by Moscow, which heatedly opposes NATO's eastward expansion.

In another sign of discord, Greece blocked Macedonia's request to join the 26-nation alliance because of a dispute over its name. Only Croatia and Albania will be invited as new members.

However, senior American officials said Thursday that NATO leaders have agreed to fully endorse U.S. missile defense plans for Europe and will urge Russia to drop its objections to the system.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23911149/

THIS JUST IN (from David Swanson)

We're Sitting In at the House Judiciary Committee Office Right Now

http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/32442

By David Swanson

A dozen of us have begun a sit-in at the House Judiciary Committee office. Come join us at Rayburn 2138. Leslie Angeline and Ellen Taylor of Code Pink are the leaders here. Laurel Jensen is here, and Michael Heaney, Thalia Doukas, Darryl Love, Ed Dickau, Michael Beer, Jes Richardson, Mike Marceau, Dan... People are joining us every few minutes. We're sitting around in the main room of the office. We have
two video cameras going, and we're discussing...

10:40 Actually, a staffer just came out and said that everyone could go back to another room to meet with Chairman John Conyers "except for David Swanson."

10:45 A few of us are talking in the big room while everyone else is in a back room with Chairman Conyers and some staffers. Staffers with whom I worked two-and-a-half years ago and who are mad at me for disagreeing with their turn against impeachment are all here: Perry Applebaum, Ted Kalo, Jonathan Godfrey. Back then they were working with us on impeachment and did not tell us that only elections mattered. Back then, the voters wanted impeachment and justice demanded it, so we didn't ask which was the motivation. In 2006, when the RNC demanded a ban and Pelosi complied, everything changed. The Judiciary Committee now acts on a pair of false beliefs: Elections are more important, and impeachment would be bad for elections. One is immoral, the other just uninformed.

*You can let the House Judiciary Committee know your opinion at (202) 224-3121. Please do so right now.* They're good people. I know they are. But something is blocking them. Help break the logjam!

UPDATES COMING AT:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/32442

People used to talk about Kerry's wife having money - check out Cindy McCain and her Budweiser fortune.

http://finance.comcast.net/www/news.html?x=http://absorigins.comcast.net/data/news/2008/04/03/927980.xml

No Annheiser Busch

NO BUD LIGHT!

monkey

No Coors Light either.

Very LGBT friendly yet at the same time, the worst imaginable reactionary scumbags.

Financial disclosure documents already filed by the New York senator show she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have made at least $50 million since leaving the White House in 2001. ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross takes an early crack at divining what details may be revealed from the Clinton's tax returns, which her campaign has said will be released within the next two weeks.

The tax returns, Ross says, "will answer a lot of questions about how they made so much and whether they paid their taxes like average Americans -- or the like the super rich they've become."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/ABC_investigates_Clinton_income_offshore_accounts_0403.html

HEHEHE!

FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS...?

Wow.

No wonder they have no qualms about using untold millions of other peoples money to get elected.

Ally, tell me, what CAN one buy or use today in the You Frightened States of AmeriCorp that doesn't have some taudry attachment to the worst within us?

"You Frightened States of AmeriCorp "

Damn. Monkey.

Can't you atleast offer a hug when you make us cry?

I don't want to be The You Frightened States of AmeriCorp! (Insert helpless weeping here)

I have a pre-paid unlimited hug plan.

monkey

I'll have to check Miller Light to see if it's acceptable.

For now, Heineken for me.

*hugs*

Want to see two REAL women - got to Obama's blog and scroll down to see the video of Teresa Heinz Kerry WITH Michelle Obama.

A black woman from North Carolina called me and I donated more. Obama has 40 million during last donation period and Clinton is withholding her totals til 4/21. Obama is funding summer internships for organizers that I just forwarded home to my unemployed son.

Voter registration is phenomenal in the upcoming primary states and it's part of the campaign.

Back to work.

More Than 1,000 in Iraq’s Forces Quit Basra Fight

By STEPHEN FARRELL and JAMES GLANZ
Published: April 4, 2008
BAGHDAD — More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.
The desertions in the heat of a major battle cast fresh doubt on the effectiveness of the American-trained Iraqi security forces. The White House has conditioned further withdrawals of American troops on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police.
The crisis created by the desertions and other problems with the Basra operation was serious enough that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki hastily began funneling some 10,000 recruits from local Shiite tribes into his armed forces. That move has already generated anger among Sunni tribesmen whom Mr. Maliki has been much less eager to recruit despite their cooperation with the government in its fight against Sunni insurgents and criminal gangs.
A British military official said that Mr. Maliki had brought 6,600 reinforcements to Basra to join the 30,000 security personnel already stationed there, and a senior American military official said that he understood that 1,000 to 1,500 Iraqi forces had deserted or underperformed. That would represent a little over 4 percent of the total.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?ex=1364961600&en=3412ef444ed63c5c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Air America's Randi Rhodes suspended
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, April 3rd 2008, 3:58 PM

Her audience reacted to Randi Rhodes' foul-mouthed Hillary Clinton comments with laughs and gasps. Her employers reacted by suspending her from the airwaves.

Air America Radio, which already has enough problems, suspended afternoon host Randi Rhodes Thursday for remarks she made during an off-the-air public event in San Francisco.

Rhodes called Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a "f------ whore," several times, in the course of a standup comedy routine built on political bits.

Her specific problem with Clinton, said Rhodes in the routine, is that she's disingenuous: "Her deal is, 'Read the fine print, a-------.' "

- more -

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/04/03/2008-04-03_air_americas_randi_rhodes_suspended.html#community

*****

I understand that Mark Green, the owner of Air America, supports Hillary - but the truth sometimes hurts. Hillary and Bill are often as phony as a three dollar bill. And they had their eight years in the White House. Randi Rhodes is entitled to her opinion, especially given the context in which her comments were made. She should be immediately reinstated. And Bill Clinton should immediately shut up about Bill Richardson betryaying Hillary. No one could ever betray Hillary more than Bill already has.

The Dawning of Irrational Pessimism?
April 4, 2008

81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track

By DAVID LEONHARDT and MARJORIE CONNELLY
"Americans are more dissatisfied with the country's direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll."

"In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track," up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002."

"Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems."

"A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off."

"The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country even though many say their own personal finances are still in fairly good shape."

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/us/04poll.html?hp

*****

Exactly five years ago, on April 3rd 2003, I wrote:

"Pluto will leave Sagittarius in 2008, when it will begin a 16 year passage through the more dour, fastidious, and emotionally realistic sign of Capricorn. If Pluto in Sagittarius has been marked by irrepressible optimism, and a willingness to see the glass as half full (and even three-quarters full), Pluto in Capricorn is likely to evoke the other side of the equation – pessimism, a painful awakening to the hangover brought on by excess, and the catastrophic damage that results from basing one's future largely on hopes and dreams."

http://www.hpleft.com/040303.html

Sometimes I feel like Nathan Lane's character in "The Producers", Max Bialystock, who early in the show translates a nonsensical Yiddish phrase uttered by a dying mentor as "who do you have f--k to get a break in this town?"

Rhodes went too far. She deserves the rip. She could have insuted her all day long without resorting to the lowest insult one woman can throw at another.

Not only did she do it, but she was there 'representing' Air America when she did it.

I agree Hillary can be prostitute like, in political theory, but she is not a whore. If anything, she is married to one, but what Rhodes did was wrong, she should take the rip and learn to mind her manners.

Please read the main thread header and, if you like it, share it.

Watch how this scumbag not only defends Big Oil, but then veers off to savage Al Gore... I swear, I hate this guy more than Rush.

Glenn Beck: Be thankful for big oil

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We all want to live in a world that's clean, healthy and prosperous.

We all want to hand that world off to our children in slightly better shape than we received it. No one, even the supposedly evil oil executive, has any reason to want anything different. But, for some reason, we find ourselves searching for villains. Surely they exist, but the endless quest to create them sometimes overwhelms our better judgment, whether intentional or not.

Congress has picked "Big Oil" as their enemy of the week. These companies inexplicably put profits above people, ravaging the environment and financially assaulting the poor to put another couple of dollars on their balance sheet. That's the storyline we've all been taught.

Yes, times are tough for many. Sure, oil companies make a lot of cash. But, for that money, they get us to work, get ambulances to the hospital, keep our homes warm, and employ thousands of our friends and neighbors while financing their retirement, paying their health care, and providing energy to millions. Because of capitalism, they have the incentive to do that. I've yet to see what our government does for us with their rather large chunk of each gallon of gas we buy, and I've yet to see them offer to return it or suggest a gas-tax-windfall-tax-tax.

The other villain of the moment is the global warming "denier." Anyone who disagrees, even in the slightest, must be ridiculed. On "60 Minutes" last weekend, Al Gore said: "They're almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the Earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off."

Approximately 6 percent of Americans believe in the fake moon landing theory, although I've always heard there was a conspiratorial consensus that it was staged in Nevada, not Arizona. I'm going to guess quite a bit less than 6 percent believe in a flat Earth, but no one seems to be asking that question in polls anymore, so I can't be sure. So, who are those people Gore was demeaning "a little bit" by these comparisons? There's a good chance it's you. That's because the vast majority of Americans believe something that categorizes them as a flat earther to environmentalists like Gore.

Despite the media's one-sided view (the Business and Media Institute says dissenting voices about global warming are outnumbered on CBS News broadcasts by a 38 to 1 ratio), only 21 percent of Americans say "the release of greenhouse gasses is the most important factor causing global warming" according to a 2007 New York Times/CBS News poll.

The "60 Minutes" piece wasn't just filled with misrepresentations of opinion; it had plenty of Gore-style hypocrisy. He was embroiled in controversy when it was revealed his mansion used 20 times more energy than the average American. His explanation? "Since then" his house has been retrofitted with solar panels. I'm sure Eliot Spitzer hasn't been renting many women since he was caught either. (Although I'm not betting my life on it.)

We then see footage of Gore's parents' farm that will, sometime in the future, be run on wind power. Apparently, the windmill store has been out of stock for the past 20 years.

Perhaps most comically, Gore is seen dragging an entire film crew on a jet to India to give a climate presentation to about 100 people. Gore claimed: "We just don't have any choice. I wish I knew a better way to do it. I constantly ask myself, 'How can I be more effective in getting this message across?' " The most effective thing you can think of is flying halfway across the world to speak with 100 people? Maybe you had other things to do while you were there, but I'd be surprised if there was anything essential that couldn't be accomplished with a telephone and a computer. The people in India will be able to see your fancy graphs on their screens, and you'll cut demand for those evil overseas flights.

The entire "60 Minutes" piece felt like a commercial for Gore's upcoming commercials. He's spending $300 million in advertising to convince people of something he claims there is already a consensus on. To put that much money into perspective; it's more than Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. John McCain, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul raised in all of last year combined. Think of it as going green by getting lots of green.

Where is all that money coming from? Gore says he's donating his profits from "An Inconvenient Truth," and his Nobel Peace Prize cash award. Let's be generous and say there's only $290 million left to explain. Apparently, a follow-up question to find the origins of this nine-figure sum would have involved six seconds that "60 Minutes" wasn't willing to commit.

What is there to learn from all of this? Whether it's politicians on both sides of the aisle or our vaunted environmental superheroes, the quest for power overwhelms even the slightest instinct of self-examination.

In the end, the timing of the Gore interview airing couldn't have been better. It fell on the same weekend as the first "Earth Hour," when the world supposedly came together to turn our attention to climate change by shutting the lights off for an hour. The imagery of monuments like the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, going dark was plastered over newscasts everywhere.

But those pictures highlighted the global warming movement and the congressional attacks on energy companies in an entirely unintended way.

Behind the darkened Sears Tower was the city of Chicago, with lights shining brightly as far as the eye could see. For one hour the Sears Tower knew what it was like to be Al Gore: A larger than life symbol, blocking our view of reality.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/03/beck.oilexecs/index.html

Look at this republican belittle one of our soldiers as a 'two bit security guard'.

During a public appearance on Saturday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) belittled a U.S. soldier in Iraq who was following orders and wouldn’t let McHenry go to the gym without the proper credentials. McHenry referred to the guard as a “two-bit security guard“:

"We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.

It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, “I want to see your supervisor.” Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn’t happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn’t need to work out anyway."

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/04/rep-mchenry-calls-us-soldier-in-iraq-a-two-bit-security-guard/

The only way to tame mankind, is for men to completely, knoeingly, and without reservation, ceed all power to women.

It is the only way to ensure the survival of our race.

As long as men hold onto power, our suicidal evolution will inevitably result in our complete annihalation. We are going to be eradicated, exterminated, extinghished.

Only when women heal and replenish the earth can mankind evolve past the last of his animal instincts.

Ummm. Amen.

There is, indeed, an inherent sense of wisdom that women possess.

On that very topic, if you have a little time to kill, give a listen to the message from just this past weekend at the cool little church we are now attending.

http://www.crosspointe.org/messages/mp3s/2008_03_30.mp3

Listen all the way through.

Matthew, Christy

Randi needs to save the "whore" comment for Mann Coulter.

Hillary's problem is in attacking Obama too much. To attack Hillary savagely in return will be to make the problem even worse, and make the entire Democratic Party a joke.

McCain is laughing all the way to the bank as we speak.

Christy

The only way to tame mankind, is for men to completely, knoeingly, and without reservation, ceed all power to women.

At the risk of offending the entire male contingent at DCP, I am nodding.

Seriously, feminine energy is in very short supply.

Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out...and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel. ..And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man"--with his mouth.

Mark Twain

I forgot this one

"There is nothing comparable to the endurance of a woman. In military life she would tire out an army of men, either in camp or on the march."

Mark Twain

The only ones that can stop men, are other men. The only ones that can save any of them, are women.

"Americans are more dissatisfied with the country's direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s....

... and who was the president in the early 1990's who presided over the previous high???

Jesus, McCain is not the ONLY one laughing all the way to the bank. How does a couple's income go from %350,000 in 2000 to $16,000,000 in 2001? The Obamas only recently paid off their student loans, I think!

There is a chance that for the first time in my adult life I could leave the top slot blank and only vote for the down-ticket names, especially since HC and JM are out today pandering.

What novel ideas - release tax returns on "dead-news Friday" - pander to gays and lesbians by going on Ellen - joke about being under sniper fire - talk to people on MLK assasination anniversary about a "poverty czar" - go to Fargo where you didn't win and there are hardly any delegates - put pressure on people - bring up negative stuff about the other person's background or get surrogatse to do it when your own religious background is with a wierd - send your husband around who obviously wants back into office -much more

Or maybe - pretend not to know about MLK because were a POW when it's patently false - when voting much later against MLK day - give back donations so as to appear more moral by accepting public funding - be too macho to accept secret service protection til the news leaks about it - go overseas and act as though you're already president - show up at NASCAR with your heiress wife - much more

I can not in good conscience vote for such people.

Blackwater Iraq contract to be renewed

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department will renew its contract with Blackwater to provide security in Iraq, Greg Starr, acting assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, said Friday.

No provisions have been added to the contract, Starr said, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered several changes to procedure after a September incident in which Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 people, including women and children.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/04/blackwater/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Obama draws 17,000 in NORTH DAKOTA!

If you're searching for more evidence of the Obama momentum sweeping the country, you need look no further than North Dakota. In the largest political rally seen in the state since 1934 when FDR visited the state, Sen. Obama addressed a packed house of 17,000 excited North Dakotans and Northern Minnesotans at the North Dakota Democratic Convention in Grand Forks.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/5/23917/85312/652/490577

Wow.

In the largest political rally seen in the state since 1934 when FDR visited the state, 17,000 people turned out to see Obama, and quite a few stayed to hear Clinton. People began to fill the arena five hours early! Does this mean ND has Democrats? I mean, my mom lives there and converted, after many years. Let's hope things are changing!

DailyKos account
Grand Forks Herald
Washington Post
weekend fix for poll junkies

"I'm having fun in North Dakota," said Obama, "We didn't just fly over. We landed."

Silenced Majority Portal

Today is 14th anniversary of Curt Cobain, reluctant icon.

(below)
the first two people in line to see Obama in Missoula this morning (note resemblance to Curt Cobain's hat)

SFist: Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco Formed to Honor George W. Bush

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. The group would like to rename the facility adjacent to the SF Zoo adjacent the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

Wayne Pickering (Interview with him here is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the plant's title changed, to honor our current leader of the free world with an "appropriate and enduring legacy, for no other president in modern American history has accomplished so much in such a short time.

Help in the effort by visiting Presidentialmemorial.org. God bless America and God bless the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco.

(Thanks to Nyc, with Alan C and Ben Doko contributing)

The Geoerge W. Bush Sewage Plant, OMG, that is brilliant!

From sea to lying sea.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. State Department's renewal of Blackwater's contract to provide security in Iraq "is bad news," an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.

Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 people, including women and children, last September, prompting an outcry and protest from Iraqi officials.

"This is bad news," al-Maliki adviser Sami al-Askari said. "I personally am not happy with this, especially because they have committed acts of aggression, killed Iraqis, and this has not been resolved yet positively for families of victims."

About 25,000 private contractors from three companies protect diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials in Iraq. Under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, security contractors have immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Al-Askari said he would push for the Iraqi government to contest the contract renewal.

"The U.S. government has the right to choose what contractors it chooses, but Iraq should also have the right to allow or ban certain contractors from operating on its territory," he said.

Al-Askari said there is a general mood of displeasure within the Iraqi government because of the contract renewal.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/05/iraq.blackwater/index.html

nmp that is perfect. Some people just have it don't they? They know exactly what's needed. You're one of those too monkey - you say it perfectly.

updated to include Montana - click on my name

I am not a delegate for Clinton or Obama. Our district caucusses are today and our district went overwhelmingly for Obama.

I got this in the mail:

If you were not selected as a delegate or alternate, you can still help by attending your caucus and showing your support for Hillary. We need to have a strong energetic showing tomorrow and we can't do it without you. Will you stand up for Hillary at your legislative caucus tomorrow?
Going to the caucus is easy and fun: Make signs, wear your Hillary gear and show up!

Wierd.

Make signs, wear your Hillary gear, show up, then run to avoid the sniper fire.

Beneath the photo from the REAGAN DIARIES is an actual quote that Reagan wrote about George 'W' in his diaries, recently edited by author Doug Brinkley and published by Harper Collins

A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well son
around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the olitical one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here
all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'

From the REAGAN DIARIES------entry dated May 17, 1986.

Monkey,

Re: http://www.crosspointe.org/messages/mp3s/2008_03_30.mp3

Good message....sounds like you have a pastor who "gets it". Lucky you.

Wisdom 101

Sparrow,

Thank goodness Ronnie was spared much awareness of the things the "shiftless kid" was up to the four years before his death. He would have been appalled, and is probably still rolling in his grave.

Ummm...where was this info in 2004?

Washington has district caucuses today, to determine delegates - here are the results so far for districts around where I live - 1st number is Obama, 2nd number of Clinton

LD 1- 32-12
LD 30- 22-12
LD 36- 52-15
LD 38- 22-11
LD 43- 53-14
LD 47- 27-11

Very early but Obama is outpreforming what he did on Caucus day in every district so far.

monkey said:
Make signs, wear your Hillary gear, show up, then run to avoid the sniper fire.

You know what the funny part is - I looked at it again and it told people to come at 8:45 PM instead of 8:45 AM - the caucusses are in the AM - how inept

The campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama sparred Saturday after Ed Schultz, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host well-known for his blunt criticisms of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, called Mr. McCain a “warmonger” at a North Dakota fund-raiser.

Mr. Schultz, a conservative Republican turned liberal Democrat, made the remarks late Friday while revving up a group of Obama supporters at a $100-a-head fundraiser at the North Dakota Democratic Party’s convention in Grand Forks. As soon as the Republican National Committee got word of the attack, it issued a statement criticizing Mr. Schultz and calling on Mr. Obama to repudiate the comments.

..........

As his position as the Democratic front-runner solidifies, Mr. Obama has stepped up his attacks on Mr. McCain’s views and policies. But he frequently tempers those criticisms, as he did Friday in Indiana and North Dakota and Saturday in Montana, by calling Mr. McCain “a genuine war hero who deserves our respect” and making clear that the differences between the two men are political, not personal.

The Republican primary was “nothing more than a contest to see who was best qualified to run for George Bush’s third term,” Mr. Obama said in a speech to the North Dakota Democrats on Friday evening. “John McCain won that contest, and now he’s offering four more years of the very same policies that failed us for the last eight.”

“We can’t afford to give John McCain the chance to carry on George Bush’s can’t-do, won’t-do, won’t-even-try style of politics,” he said. “We are a better country than that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/us/politics/06campaign.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Obama is smart.

The opposition likes to get him on the defensive. Best not to bite the bait. The speakers who come on before the candidate arrives always toss out some red meat.

It's especially interesting since Shultz was a conservative Republican before.

Hollywood legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

-snip-

Heston was also known for his political activism.

He was a high-profile supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights movement. He attended King's 1963 March on Washington and stood near the podium as King delivered his "I have a dream" speech.

He was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2002, a role that cast him as a conservative.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/04/06/heston.dead/index.html

Ok, Monkey, I'll bite.....

...and did they have to pry the gun out of his cold dead hands?

"Take your stinking paws off of me you damn dirty ape!!"

Frank Rich was truly outstanding today.

Tet Happened, and No One Cared
By FRANK RICH

REALLY, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of themselves for libeling John McCain. As a growing chorus reiterates, their refrains that Mr. McCain is “willing to send our troops into another 100 years of war in Iraq” (as Mr. Obama said) or “willing to keep this war going for 100 years” (per Mrs. Clinton) are flat-out wrong.

What Mr. McCain actually said in a New Hampshire town-hall meeting was that he could imagine a 100-year-long American role in Iraq like our long-term presence in South Korea and Japan, where “Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.” See for yourself on YouTube.

But Mr. McCain shouldn’t protest too much about the Democrats’ bogus attack. For him, this sideshow is a political lifeline, allowing him to skate away from his many other, far more worrying canards about Iraq. If anything, that misused quote may be one of his more benign fairy tales. How delightful to fantasize that staying the Bush-Petraeus course will transform Iraq into pacific postwar Japan. Iraq’s sects have remained at each other’s throats since their country was carved out of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Perhaps magical thinking can bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians, too.

Everything else Mr. McCain has to say about Iraq is more troubling, and I don’t mean just his recent serial gaffe conflating Shiite Iran and Sunni Qaeda. The sum total of his public record suggests that he could well prolong the war for another century — not because he’s the crazed militarist portrayed by Democrats, but through sheer inertia, bad judgment and blundering.

So far his bizarre pronouncements have been drowned out by the Democrats’ din. They’ve also been underplayed by a press that coddles Ol’ Man Straight Talk and that rarely looks more deeply into the “surge is success” propaganda than it did into Mr. Bush’s announcement of the end of “major combat operations” five years ago. The electorate doesn’t want to hear much anyway about a war it long ago soundly rejected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/opinion/06rich.html?hp

PEACE TRAIN - Dolly Parton with Lady Smith Black Mambazo

Gosh Christy, thought you were talkin to me for a second there.

A Morning After
by eric harger
http://www.opednews.com

I'm not holding my breath but maybe I am waiting to exhale.

Two scenarios at the end of this year confront me with equal increduality. I just cannot believe, Bush/Chenney being the two-headed monster of murderous criminality, that they will just leave office peacefully. Nor can I shake my naivite that such brazen siezing of power could occur under our sleeping noses. I think most of us has been completely shocked at the crimes this dynamic duo have committed, yet most of us must admit, we might have suspected yet just quite didn't see it coming in the magnitude that it did when it did.

Pondering the possiblities, my gut feeling is there will be a pretext to martial law. Yes, the Bushes have held a long and bloody role in world history, surviving wether in power or out. The '34 Wall St. Coup, bankrolling Hitler and Auschwitz, the CIA , assasinaiting Kennedy, Vietnam, Nixon and Operation Condor. Either in office or pupet master above offfice.

This time it feels different though. Escape doors in Paraguay. Private armies and private prisons. No Habeus Corpus. Presidential Directive to control all branches of the government. The Mussellini-esque goose stepping of the Supreme Court. 9-11 inside job. Utter contempt and disregard for law and the Constitition. War for industry. War for oil. War for profit and war for endless hate.

The Bush family has a long history of support for dictatorships so why should this time, why with so much criminal conduct ripe for exposure, why would they just walk away and leave themselves open for prosecution? My gut says they won't.

Now if two or three or thousands other fear this disaster looming, question is, what would be a course ahead under such a police state dictatorship? I mean, one far worse than the one we already have. How would we, not just survive, but what would bring back the avenues of justice, democracy and peace?

Obviously, with moron professors like John Yoo opining that Bush alone is the law unto himself, no legal recourse following such a coup, would in fact be legal. So If King Bush has paved the legal brick road to monarchy, then any discourse here could in fact be twisted to read seditous. Of course the opposite is the truth, that any illegal and unConstitional siezure of power would require opposition from the citizenry.

But Bush has an endgame for the system of checks and balances and this time we could not look within the system for self restoral. Similarly I would have little faith in external rescue. A hobby horse UN, a ghost of a World Court and a huge gallery of victimized nations to view our implosion with grim satisfaction.

One of the feasome components, one Dick's probably counting on, is the vehicle of fear-mongering they might foist upon us to justify the evil that they would do. Wether a collapse of the financial system, depression, fake terrorist attack, agricultural or natural disaster, we the people will have to live and function within this land of diminished capacity and that's with Adolph Bush watching our every move. What hope for the future would we be able to give our childre?. Will we indeed be able to feed and shelter our children?

I am aware that I am postulating discussion of response to a hypothetical illegal coup by Bush. As the coup itself would be an illegal act, action taken in opposition would not only be legal but obligatory. Up yours Yoo. But having been said, I soap-box to others who might fear a coup-a-coming, that we must look to history in not repeating mistakes in similar situations of the past. From Lenin to Mugabe, violent reaction to violent power will become itself, a violent repressor with a new name.

So, if Bush pulls another false-flag attack on the US, declares martial law and siezes all branches of the government, suspending the Constition, what then are we going to do about it?

I feel we must then look to the example of MLK, of Ghandi and though I'm not a christian, to the peaceful protests of the man Jesus. No power on earth, no matter the violence or threat, can sustain, if everyone, everyone just sat down and went on strike. Period. No work of any kind, no other action of any kind required.

Power extends only from the ability to control. All control evaporates in the face of complete non-violent refusal to be controlled. Peaceful non-violent protest is not just a consideration for when and if Bush pulls a coup, it should be the flavor of the day, today, tomorrow and every day leading up to when and if Pumpkin Head declares himself, Head Turnip.

I was proud to be part of the 2004 Republican Convention protests and the 2004 half million who protested the war at the White House, but what has happented to us since? Too many of us have relaxed our vigilance, playing the waiting game till Bush's term expires. Well, what if it never expires? Are we going to be able to orginze again, under oppression, under threat of police state tacticts and no internet or other alternative forms of media? We should be continueing non-violent protest en masse right up to and until it's Bush's time to leave office and if he doesn't leave office, we can be right there, geared up, fired up and urging others not to take it anymore. Shut the mother down.

So I keep my fingers crossed and refuse to believe, at least on the surface, that Thing One and Thing Two, won't peacefully leave office and cease to be a threat to all that is living. But I wonder what worries me most, that they might be scheming evil plots unhatching, or that I don't have a plan B if they do.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_eric_har_080406_a_morning_after.htm

Video of JFK's Bodyguards in Dallas Being Ordered to Stand Down This video shows the Secret Service officer ordering JFK's bodyguards away from JFK before entering the Grassy Knolls area where he gets shot.
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=56356

With regard to my picture and Reagan post above, Oncall mentioned that it's actually one of those false rumors that started via a satirical article.

People believed it because it seemed believable.

... well, quite frankly, it wouldn't have mattered to me cuz I absolutely despised Reagan well before he was elected president.

He epitomized the complete phonyness and stagecraft of the modern presidency, and his disdain for the people, things and culture that I loved so much made me want to vomit everytime I saw him on television... a feeling that would only be surpassed by the current smartass.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/kinsley.asp

I never understood why the independents and moderates became "Reaganites". I wasn't a Democrat then, but I didn't vote for him. To this day, I remember the poor, the beggers, the loss of funding to our infrastructure and the union breaking. And here we are with the same policies becoming part of our infrastructure though out all branches of the government.

Oh, and we get to hear what a wonderful President he was, even though he likely suffered Alzheimer's and allowed corruption to grow (probably via George Herbert Bush) in his own administration.

I don't think people signed on with Reagan because of his policies, but because he was the so-called "Great Communicator" and used to be in cowboy movies - appeal to nostalgia.

Didn't work for me, in fact had the complete opposite effect, but that's pretty predictable.

Once again, I never understood the "great Communicator" label... he could read a speech like nobody else, but man, him answering actual questions was borderline pathetic.

Every answer started with "well...." and the head immediately tilted sideways like a dog who just heard a whistle.

If anything georgie has taught us why reagan became such a myth. And John McCrazy.

Yes, he was going insane and a total moron when not on script, but, no one ever saw that, they saw the script. When Reagan was not on script it was never shown or even acknowledged. No one knew he was going crazy, or a flipper flopper.

People are smart when they are given all the facts. But when you subject them to constant half truths, flat out lies, and deliberate distortions and CREATE a new reality where only what is scripted will be seen, we all become blinded and deaf morons. We become sheep willing to follow other sheep as long as they promise to lead us out of the wolf filled night safely.

We watch the news and think we understand. We have all these 'factiods' and they SEEM to be true enough you never get to the 'iod' part. Even very smart people think they know what they need to know. And the next thing you know, you are a Reaganite, even though Ronny is freaking insane and despises you on every level. As long as he can lead you through the wolf filled night, that is all you need to know. That is all you will be told until you believe that is all that matters.

The truth is, our media did not 'break' as soon as georgie started jacking with it. They did not make up 'new rules' for him, they just applied the old ones to him, even knowing he was openly manipulating them. All the sudden he goes from drunk to World Leader, because that was the script they wanted to write.

The powers that be have been using flat out propaganda on us all since birth. Reagan was very good at propelling it. Bush may have gotten away with it too, if not for this newfangled handy dandy tool called 'Google'.

Flat out, nazi style propaganda. The ones doing it then, are the same damn ones doing it now. They have been 'conditioning' us, for DECADES.

Sometimes I honestly wonder if Reagan realized he was a true puppet, in every sense of the word. Or did he believe in his mind he REALLY REALLY was in charge?

Penn Resigns From Clinton Camp

Good riddance Mark Penn

I just went to a party - I met some older women who are Hillary supporters. I learned their biases:

1. Obama is all style and no substance.
2. It cannot be that he is raising all that money just from small donors.
3. The media is ganging up on Hillary.
4. Obama is going to win.

I got home, checked our blog and Kayakbiker had published a piece by his sister, who has been out registering voters in North Carolina all day in front of a Dollar Tree, next to a Walmart.

It's called "I Would Never Vote for A Woman or a Nigger."

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/04/i-would-never-v.html

My friend Alan is father of Josh, Ben Doko's friend that used to register votersin gay bars etc. - Alan has worked with homeless vets for years and is a Quaker

From: ALAN

>
> Josh is planning to go to Pennsylvania "TO WIN THE STATE FOR OBAMA" :>
> Great kid eh? AC

Monkey

Do you remember that Saturday Night Live skit where Reagan was receiving things to say from a radio and it accidentally got tuned to people like Jim Morrison and he'd just parrot it? I can't find a video of that, but this is good.

BEWARE THE GHOST OF RONALD REAGAN

Last week, I actually had two people look me up on messenger that I had not heard from in a long time. One is an investment banker in Cali and the other is more your average type of struggling single father in Ohio. Hit by job losses real bad. Both are real good friends.

Anyways, the investment banker flat out told me 'It is more dangerous in Detroit than it is in Iraq'. I just went 'Arrrrgghh!' to myself then told him exactly how that made him a liar.

So, the next night I am sitting there and my friend in Ohio says 'Well, I worry about Obama, and him being a muslim'. This time I inwardly went 'EEEEkkk EEEEkkk!' and so I explained to him how exactly that was a lie.

Sometimes I really do forget how badly the people around me have been lied too, and how...ignorant... it makes them. I don't like using that word, because I know they are both smart, hip, good people, but ...DAMN!

It is ridiculous.

Last week I also had to apologize to my mother, because after she pulled a very republican tactic on me in conversation I just unloaded on her, without even meaning too. I have never done that to her before, but I just could not take it anymore.

Even though we have all been betrayed it is so hard not to feel personally insulted when people who SHOULD know better just don't.

Every day I am finding it harder and harder to tolerate the people who insist on being consistantly wrong about everything. It is hard to feel any respect for them at all sometimes.

Jesse Ventura on Cheney and the Chickenhawks

Christy,
This candidate has Ku Klux Klan ties - maybe he can be knocked out
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120753339432393979-5FDA1XKiT_S2r2ovu7jEVkk0RBc_20080506.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top
Louisiana

(Wall Street Journal is supposed to be conservative but I pick and choose - sometimes the businessmen don't want to read all the sensationalism and the articles are more likely to have mostly just the meat)

David Duke.

HAHAHA!

There is a reason I do not get involved in local politics.

I told you down here even the democrats are republicans.

McCain: U.S. back from ‘abyss of defeat’ in Iraq
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee insists troop buildup is working

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Republican John McCain insists last year’s U.S. troop buildup in Iraq brought a glimmer of “something approaching normal” there, despite a recent outbreak of heavy fighting and an American death toll that has surpassed 4,000.

“We are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success,” McCain said in a speech prepared for delivery Monday.

The presidential nominee-in-waiting is closely tied to the unpopular, 5-year-old war. McCain was a vocal advocate of the troop increase strategy eventually adopted by President Bush, and is seeking to convince people the strategy is working.

-snip-

“The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi,” McCain said.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23991476/

Rift widens between Iraq’s Shiites
Basra offensive inflamed long-standing rivalry, redefining nature of conflict

BAGHDAD - As verses from the Koran floated from a loudspeaker, the Shiite militia commander's face glowered. Inside the cavernous funeral tent, a large portrait of his 16-year-old son, Mustafa, hung over the mourners. Abu Abdullah, who fought U.S. troops and Sunni insurgents for five years, never expected his son to die before him. Now, he said, his anger was directed at other Shiites.

An Iraqi soldier, he said, had shot Mustafa two days earlier as he approached a checkpoint in Sadr City, where Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army rule. Abu Abdullah blamed Sadr's Shiite rivals, who lead the Iraqi government.

"What do I feel inside me?" asked Abu Abdullah, dressed in black. "I want to do to them exactly what they did to my son, and even more."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23987459/

Rocket attacks kill 3 U.S. troops, wound 31

Prime minister to ban Sadrists from politics if Mehdi Army not disbanded

One arrested in kidnapping of a busload of college students, police say

Interior Ministry official says militia fighting U.S. troops in Sadr City

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/06/iraq.main/index.html

Sounds like something approaching "normal" to me, eh Senator McCain?

John Bruhns, United for Peace and Justice wrote:

*What You Can Do*

* Sign the open letter to Rep. John Murtha
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6DlvA%2Fyu2mj9vQQUqwwUKQdFuCL63b4A

* Thursday, April 10th: Join the nationwide congressional call-in day
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tvEi971GhoBd%2FW%2FxrQiAu8Cpii4k6r%2BR

* Participate in a town hall meeting in your area
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qPaLCWm7zCVW%2FMCcvDDotMCpii4k6r%2BR

* Call radio talk shows and write letters to the editor
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Dr6622msabSclDYySI1VwcCpii4k6r%2BR

This week General Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will testify before the House Armed Services Committee and both the Senate Armed Services and the Senate Foreign Relations Committees. What can we expect to hear? *More falsely optimistic accounts about the "success" of the surge in Iraq and arguments for why it is important for the U.S. to stay in Iraq.*

As if this isn't bad enough, in a few weeks Congress will take up a White House request for $110 billion more to keep the war and occupation going.

It is long past time for Congress to take action and use its power to end this nightmare. *It can provide funds needed for the safe and orderly withdrawal of our troops -- by some calculations those funds have already been appropriated -- but it must stop paying for war.*

Fear and excuses -- "we don't have the votes," "the Republicans are too stubborn," "the Democratic leadership will cave," "nothing can happen before the election" -- are the only things standing between our representatives and senators voting their conscience and following their constituents' wishes.

Too many members of Congress have learned to camouflage their actions with critical rhetoric, but in the end they capitulate to the White House. *This will happen again unless anti-war activists step up the pressure immediately and make this $110 billion request a contested issue that legislators cannot ignore.*

We must not allow Congress to sleepwalk until the next election. *If congressional representatives and senators continue to support the war and keep our troops needlessly in Iraq, then we must publicize their record and hold them accountable in November.

/*Here's what you can do:*/

*1) Sign on to a letter to Rep. John Murtha

who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. This letter, initiated by our friends at Win Without War, will be sent to every member of Congress, calling on them to:

*Stop funding the war: Give the Pentagon only enough money for
the safe and orderly redeployment of US troops out of Iraq;

*Support a diplomatic offensive -- as recommended by the Iraq
Study Group -- to build a comprehensive solution involving many
countries;

*Stop funding the construction of permanent military bases in
Iraq and military contractors;

*Refuse to fund any permanent "security agreement" between
President Bush and Iraqi President Maliki unless first approved
by Congress and the Iraqi parliament.

*2) On Thursday, April 10th, join the nationwide congressional call-in day

Let your representative and senators know that you don't buy the Petraeus line, and they shouldn't either. Tell them to vote no on more funding for the war and occupation in Iraq.

*3) Participate in Town Hall meetings *that are being organized in congressional districts all around the country. To find out what's happening in your area, or to learn how you can organize one, click here.

*4) Throughout this week, call radio talk shows and write letters to the editor

We are at a critical moment in our efforts to force Congress to act on the will of the people and use its power to end this war and occupation. For all of the hard work we've all been doing, now is the time to re-double our efforts. We cannot quietly sit by and watch another $110 billion be allocated for this war!

Yours, for peace and justice,

John Bruhns, Legislative Action Coordinator, UFPJ

Christy

Do you realize that it was the Moonies and their foreign funding sources that started "Obama = Madrassa Muslim" rumor?

The country that started that rumor (you know who it was) deserves good ol' fashioned bombing more than Iraq ever did.

Reagan was a puppet with a puppet master behind him.

His name was Moon.

Christy

"investment banker in California"

Sounds very Republican to me.

Paging Senator McCain...

As you give a speech today to veterans touting the "success" of the surge and the return to "normalcy" for the Iraqi citizens, I give you this...

• Nine Iraqis were killed and 65 others wounded Monday in clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen in the capital's Sadr City, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said. Fighting on Sunday, which also involved members of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, killed 20 people and wounded 52 more in the Baghdad slum, the Interior Ministry said.

• Al-Sadr has called for a demonstration Wednesday in Baghdad against the U.S. presence in Iraq. The protest would coincide with the fifth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime and with scheduled testimony in Washington from top U.S. officials in Iraq.

• Three U.S. soldiers were killed and 31 others wounded in two rocket attacks in Baghdad, one targeting the International Zone, known also as the Green Zone, the U.S. military said. The other attack targeted a U.S. military outpost in southeastern Baghdad, the military said. The number of U.S. troops who have died in the Iraq war stands at 4,020, including eight Defense Department civilians.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/07/iraq.main/index.html

(CNN) — John McCain said Sunday night he hasn't personally seen signals Condoleezza Rice is interested in running as vice president, following a report the Secretary of State is angling for the No. 2 spot on the Republican presidential ticket.

"I missed those signals," McCain told reporters on his campaign plane. "I think she’s a great American, I think there’s very little that I can say that isn’t anything but the utmost praise for a great American citizen, who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world."

The Arizona senator's comments come after Dan Senor, a leading Republican strategist, suggested on ABC Sunday that Rice is mounting a behind-the-scenes campaign to be McCain's running mate.

"Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this," Senor, a former Bush administration official said. Senor cited Rice's recent appearance at the weekly meeting of Americans for Tax Reform — a leading organization of Republican insiders led by Grover Norquist — as evidence she is attempting to cozy up to the conservative elite.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/07/mccain-not-seeing-signals-from-rice/

Oh good grief.

Let's see, how can we counter having the first potential black or female president on the dem side? Hmmm, how about a black female for VP?

And Senator, what makes her such a great American? You are out there stating how vehemently you were against the execution of the war until the "surge"... didn't this great American have a large hand in F-ing it up?

"The fun began when host Russert asked surrogate Rendell what the former foolishly framed as a "simple question" -- that being if superdelegates might still reject every known model of democratic leverage and hand the nomination to the loser, Hillary. Rendell was positively perky in his provisional deception: "Sure," Tim. "It depends on what trends are happening. And number one, Hillary Clinton's ahead in electoral votes, states carried with the most electoral votes, number one. Number two, popular vote, I think the popular vote will narrow decidedly in the next seven or eight contests. And if you count Florida and Michigan, in truth, Hillary Clinton would've won the popular vote."

At that, Russert went as ballistic as NBC's legal department permits. It was, as they say, a hoot: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," bleated Russert. "Stop there. Stop there, Governor, because Senator Clinton tried that yesterday, in terms of [moving] the goalposts. This is what she said in Oregon about Florida and Michigan." And this, indeed, is what she said:

"Now, some say their votes should be ignored and that the popular vote in Michigan and Florida should just be discounted. Well, I have a different view. The popular vote in Florida and Michigan has already been counted. It was determined by election results. It was certified by election officials in each state. It's been officially tallied by the secretary of state in each state."

Russert then reminded Rendell of what Hillary said last year: "You know, it's clear this election they're having in Michigan is not going to count for anything." Not only that, Russert then quoted Rendell on Rendell from that far saner era: "You can't make any argument in Michigan because Hillary was the only person who was on the ballot. I'm as avid a Hillary supporter as there is, but I don't think we can make an argument in Michigan."

So Russert had him dead to rights, right? No way out? Cornered like a rodent pol? Not really, because Rendell's absolute perfection of presumptuousness had yet to kick in. "I think," he began with questionable wording, "that I was talking about seating the delegates. You can't seat the delegates in Michigan because she had no one on the ballot against her. You certainly should seat the delegates from Florida, where she won by 300,000 votes.... But we can ... settle it right now. Let's revote in Michigan and Florida. We're willing. The Clinton campaign is willing to test our popular vote mandate. Let's revote in Florida and Michigan. What's wrong with that?"

I hope you've made it this far, for we've now arrived at the best, most staggeringly presumptuous part. Russert: "But, Governor, I want to make sure I got this down. You've said you can't seat the delegates in Michigan, but you can count the popular vote, even though Obama wasn't on the ballot?"

OK. Are you ready for this? Rendell: "Right, because, Tim, you're running against yourself. That's the hardest thing. You can ask any politician. What's the hardest contest to run against? It's [for instance] Bob Casey vs. we don't like Bob Casey. [Yet] Hillary Clinton got 55 percent of the vote in Michigan."

Now I put it to you: Have you ever heard anything so stupendously idiotic? What Gov. Rendell just said, in all purported sincerity, is that the toughest political race for any pol is the one in which he or she runs unopposed. Go ahead, just ask any politician.

These are the sordidly argumentative lengths the Clinton camp is willing to go; the demagogic depths to which it's willing to sink. Even "presumptuous" fails to capture their intelligence-insulting essence.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/carpenter/036

Kayakbiker's sister spent all day yesterday registering voters in North Carolina, in front of a Dollar Tree next to a Walmart, getting yelled at - it was at our site yesterday but now it's at DailyKos and please recommend it if you like it

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/7/115253/3969/614/491616

There they call it "I would never vote for a woman or a n****r"
but we didn't use asterisks.

The ripple effects are everywhere, and absolutely everything I felt COULD go haywire simply by her entering the race in the first place is playing out, and then some...

It's a no win situation that will sink us.

NMP

Read and recommended.

Ally
Thanks! They appreciate the support. It all adds up, hopefully, with less people disenfranchised, vote by vote, voter by voter. We can't stop trying.

What I just photographed:

Torch protesters scale Golden Gate Bridge

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Three protesters have scaled the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge as part of an advance protest to the coming Olympic torch relay in San Francisco.

The three protesters are tethered together at 150 feet up the bridge. They have strung banners across the cables that read, "One World One Dream," and "Free Tibet '08."

more...
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6066082

Soooo, the Golden Gate was talked about in the last few years for its potential as a high profile terrorist target, and assurances were made that it was safe, etc... so how the hell did three protestors make it up 150 feet?

Feel safer yet?

Ally - Doribell's diary (Kayakbiker's sister - their family gives them funny names) got 577 comments and "recommended" so far - at dKos. I'm going to actually read comments. SHould shed some light on racism and sexism in this country.

7 US occupation force soldiers killed in Baghdad : The US military in Iraq said on Monday that another US occupation force soldier was killed last night, raising the day's death toll of US soldiers killed in one day to seven.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1897523&Language=en

NMP

Very good comments there from LOTS of different people. 7 of those comments, btw, are mine.

'...and she described what happened next in her book. Brought into the "cage" one day on a special mission, she saw fellow soldiers hitting a naked prisoner in the face. "It's one thing to make fun of someone and attempt to humiliate him. With words. That's one thing. But flicking lit cigarettes at somebody -- like burning him -- that's illegal," Williams writes. Soldiers later told her that "the old rules no longer applied because this was a different world. This was a new kind of war."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/why-did-us-soldier-kill-h_b_95289.html

Christy

In my industry (construction), the overwhelming consensus is that torturing ragheads saves countless American Christian lives, so it's more than justifiable, it's mandatory.

Ally
It's a discussion that started in America with the Civil Rights movement and needs badly to continue. That can only be obstructed or delayed but the momentum is unstoppable and forward movement will occur eventually.

4 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

Four U.S. troops killed in three separate incidents Monday in Baghdad, Iraq

Fighting between U.S. troops, Shiite militiamen has intensified in recent weeks

U.S. death toll in Iraq now reaches 4,024

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/08/iraq.soldiers/index.html

“The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi” - John McCain, April 7, 2008

* * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * *

New clashes erupt in Sadr City as residents flee; Fighting between Iraqi forces, Mahdi Army rages despite PM's ultimatum

Hundreds of civilians have already fled Sadr City, where gunbattles have raged since last week. The neighborhood, the nerve center of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, has been under siege by about 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops.

-snip-

The boom of explosions could be heard across much of Baghdad, apparently coming from the neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. Low-flying jets circled the center of the capital several hours before sunrise.

-snip-

The rapid tumble back to street battles in Baghdad — at an intensity not seen since last year’s flood of U.S. troops into the city — is a worrisome backdrop to the planned appearance before Congress by Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to report on progress in Iraq.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23992978/

“The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi” - John McCain, April 7, 2008

WTF? I mean ....really... WTF...?

Mark Penn's lobbying shop is headed by John McCain's top adviser

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/02/mark-penns-lobb.html